KayakVangvieng.com

A small and beautiful town surrounded by mountains and rivers, Vangvieng is a place of delight and wonder for visitors from around the world.

The city is about 150 km north of Vientiane, situated between the capital city and the World Heritage town of Luang Prabang. The main attractions are the clean and clear water of the Nam Xong river, karst outcroppings, caves and mountain scenery. The town has more than 30 natural caves, and most places of interest are accessible to visitors all year round.

Kayaking in Vangvieng, Laos

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This entry recalls the author’s last week in Laos. They passed through Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane. Especially in Vang Vieng, they took part in an kayak tour.

Tuesday 25 November 2008

Am writing from Hanoi, but will try and flash out our last week in Laos.

At my last time of writing I finished at our arrival in Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang used to be the capital of Laos, until the royal family ‘disappeared’. Its known as being beautiful and is a UNESCO site. I’m not sure we really got the beauty of the city, but we certainly had a nice time traveling around the places nearby. We hired bikes to explore one day, and on our second day there we went to a stunningly waterfall at Kuang Si national park. It was really beautiful with some great swimming holes. It felt so refreshing to take a swim. It wasn’t until we had a swim that we realised how much we’d been craving one. Kuang Si also has a really good sanctuary for Asiatic Bears, so interesting place all round.

After our various dodgy modes of transport in the last few weeks we thought we would ourselves to a VIP bus trip to Vang Vieng (7hours from Luang Prabang). Pathetically, I was actually quite looking forward to it, having heard tales of buses of luxury plying the routes in Thailand, with super reclining seats, movies and hostess service all on board. hmmm…. guess this isn’t the case in Laos. We got onto a rattling old bus and once again felt that similar feeling of my knees around my ears… (ok maybe not that bad!).
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The kayaking, trekking, caving and tubing – all is in this tour. Read the entry to know the author’s feeling

October 13th 2008

So we survived the road show downs and enter a sparsely populated tourist town that is Vang Vieng. It’s a one road town really, with a few side roads. Even by Luang Prabang standards it is pretty empty. I guess the only reason people come here is to open a tourist type shop, guest house or you are a tourist yourself.

Once we decamp to our hotel, paying the extortionate rate of $6 a night we wander the main road. The first thing you notice is that most of the bigger cafes and restaurants have a kind of raised lounge seating, and the second thing is they all have tv’s playing Friends or Family Guy. Weird!

Now the main draw for this place is the river and the landscape around the river. It’s another really beautiful place away from the town. The main activity on the river is either tubing (anyone remember that 80′s arcade game Toobin’) or kayaking.

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