Vang Vieng and Vientiane

Leaving Luang Prabang was harder than tought. We were picked up by our minivan about in time and left. We drove with about 20km/h for about one hour. Turning here and there, scooters overtaking us, continuing the slow drive. The driver also did not want to drive faster. He was waiting for another bus. Ok. We stopped at a gas station. Then continued. After a while he started to speed up. Yeah! Then I saw a sign on the roadside. I recognized the villages name. We have been here yesterday. With the bikes. 10km outside Luang Prabang. And now we reach this place after almost 2 hours driving? What was going on? Some tour organization stuff apparently. Two people had to change into the other van. Which left 2 hours after ours. Annoying! And then another 4 hours going by bus to the South. But at least we were driving faster now. More or less. The hills, switchbacks and sharp curves were slowing down a lot.

panoramic view during our roadtrip

Arriving in Vang Vieng we looked for a guesthouse and rested afterwards. The town is or better was famous for partying with a lot of alcohol and other drugs. It changed now and it is more calm but you can still tube down the river. We rented some bikes instead to see the surroundings and did a kayaking tour and tubed into one of the caves. Another cave we climbed into without any guide but some guiding arrows and a headlight. Very cool to discover it on your own.

riverview in Vang Vieng





view from a restaurant

tubing in the cave

kayaking instead of tubing

Mandy kayaking

cave at the Blue Lagoon

view during our biking trip

another blue lagoon

Last stop in Laos was Vientiane, the small and laid-back capital. Nothing much to do there except a bustling night market on the Mekong riverbank, a view from the Lao l'Arc de Triumphe and a bar with view over the Mekong to Thailand on the other shore. But we wanted to get our 30 day visum for Vietnam here and take the sleeper bus to Hanoi. Apparently they changed some procedure at the embassy and now you can not get a same day visum anymore but have to wait one day. Too much for us as we booked the bus already. So we try to extend our free15 day visum in Hanoi to stay more time in Vietnam. Plans can change fast here.

Lao l'Arc de Triumphe

rooftop bar on the Mekong river with night market

fair on the riverbank

presidential palace