VANG VIEN

Before I left Auckland I meet a couple of young friends who had recently
travelled through Laos. When they heard that I planned to stay a few
nights in Vang Vieng, there was a look of horror on their faces. They
asked if I knew anything about the place. I commented on hords of
drunken back packers and drugs and dangerous tubing and so on. But then
I added that I understood that there was fabulous mountain scenery and
caves. They agreed with that, in fact they agreed with each of my comments.


So here I am in Vang Vien and I haven't seen tubing but I have seen a
pile of tubes. I haven't seen any drunken youth, but then I have not
been out late at night. I have seen some amazing karst limestone
mountains. Today I have seen around lunchtime several young women going
along the street in brief bikini tops, in one case a brief bikini, with
bare topped males. One woman was even in the cafe I was eating in. Now
obviously they have not read the comments in Lonely Planet about modesty
and not showing off too much by either gender.


Coming back from a walk in a farming valley a male just in swim shorts
and his girlfriend in shorts and bikini top rode their bicycles past me.
Both were pale skinned, sweating and although the evidence of sun cream
could be seen, they were already showing a bright pink tone. I suspect
that they will be somewhat tended and painful this evening.


Being around 1pm it was certainly hot even hotter, so I understood their
lack of attire. I was feeling hot too and stopped off at a little local
resturant for a cool bottle of soda water. I find this bottle soda
water, from Thailand I was told, is a great drink to cool down with.
Shop price here is 5000 kip and that is what I paid today. However I
have had times where there has been an attempt to charge me 15000 kip. I
did not pay that.


Vang Vieng is an interesting small town. It is obviously undergoing
rapid development to cope with an increasing tourist interest. It
specialises in adventure activities such as river tubing, caving,
kyaking and cycling. As such it is a young persons town and this is
obvious from the majority of tourists I have seen here. There are some
older adults but few or none at presnt who would seem to be my age.
Consequently, the tours and activities which would suit me better are
not running for lack of customers. Having said that, I could pay an
inflated price and have the tur all to myself.


There are a mixture of sealed and unsealed streets, but generally the
more commercial streets are sealed and have good quality footpaths.
Smaller lanes and less commercial streets are generally unsealed and
lack formed footpaths.


I am staying at Pan's Place, a somewhat quirky relaxed guesthouse which
was set up by a New Zealander and is now run by another kiwi and his Lao
partner. He original owner Niel, a New Zealander, is still around, while
the present expat partner, Chris is a friendly guy who enjoys a good
conversation. Chris's Lao wife is the actual owner and is also on duty
during the day.


Price is low end and compeditive. My room has ensuite a good fan and
also an expell air unit. Pan's Place has a lounge and resturant area
which opens up onto the espresso bar on the road frontage. There is an
honesty system for the drinks refrigerator for guests. Upstairs is a
small TV lounge with a large supply of movies on hard drive. The only
problem with this was that I could not get the TV set to actually work.
It did not seem to switch on. And I did try!


Vang Vieng is full of guest houses of all kinds and price levels. Some
look very up market and have a hotel look about them. Others, well, you
could find yourself disappointed on arrival. More guest houses are being
constructed. This seems to be a norm for Laos at the moment. Obviously
they are expecting tourism to grow even bigger. But this is the off
seasonfor tourists and the streets are largely empty most of the day. I
walk past empty cafes and restuarants by the dozen. Yesterday around 4pm
I went to a large bar/resturant for a cool drink. I would have expected
it to be crowded at that time. But no, there was just one other guest
the whole time I spent there. So I was able to have one of the Oriental
style reclining bed/seats with a great river and valley view. And there
was a lovely cool breeze blowing in the open sides.


At night there is a small area of food stalls. The main feature here are
a couple of BBQ stands with their rotating spits. Along another nearby
street is the place for pancakes. Why would you find a dozen pancake
waggons all togther and all offering the same menu? Wouldn't it be
better to scatter around the streets? Perhaps but there are some other
pancake stands doing that. But these ones are up market as they sell crepes.


Shops are mainly clothing based but some with other items such as tables
of hardware items. Most also have some sandles and jandels on sale. Then
there are the travel agents each trying to outdo the other with the
largest signs. Most are offering the identical packages plus bus
bookings. There some kyaking and tubing outlets. All interspersed with
guesthouses.


It is interesting to wander around the streets and look into the various
business. I have seen shop owners asleep on hamocks and camp type beds.
Mothers with their young child in their arms or quietly asleep near
them. Around meal times whole families or groups gather in the shop for
their meal. It seems a very social way of mixing work and family. I
guess this is to compensate for the long hours the shops remain open.


It must be dissappointing for a shop owner to stay open long hours and
do little – perhaps no – business. In the clothing shops so much of the
stock appears identical, how does the shopper decide which shop to
enter. The Lao shop leepser is genrally friendly and quietly hopeful.
But they are not pushy or inistant you buy, buy, buy.


While there are many caves around the area, some are easier to access
and some are more interesting than others.


On my first afternoon here I walked for perhaps 30 minutes to inspect
the closest.This was Tham Jang. I had to walk to Vang Vieng Resort and
pay 2000 kip to cros their land and bridge. Once on the other side it
was just a few minutes walk along a part, past food and dring sellers to
the cave enterance. At the foot of the cliff a stream came out of a cave
and formed a small swimming pool which some locals and tourists were
using. Some just jumed in fully clothed as there was no obvious changing
facilities. It is possible to swim a short distance into the cave; about
80 metres I believe. Although I had swimming togs with me the lack of
changing facilities made me reluctant to try to change and with long
pants on I didn't want to go in fully dressed.


Admission to the actual cave, for non-Lao individuals is 15,000 kip.
Having paid this you then climb a steep stairway of a couple hundred or
more ( I stopped counting half way) concrete steps. At the top is a
small shrine and young children selling flowers and incense to place on
the shrine.

Inside the cave is a wooden and or paved pathway going in different
directions. There are bare light bulbs along the walls to dimmly
illuminate the way. The interior is generally a high cavern which winds
around various rock formations. The stellatites and stelamites are often
quite tall and thick. Some are impressive but with the low lighting
often not the easiest to define.


I was able to take photographs and movies but sometimes the results were
rather dim. I did try using my torch to help lighten rock shapes but
this tended to be too artifical and provide a curcular patch of light.


I must have spent close to an hour exploring as it was quite a large
cavern. Then back down the many steps to ground level.


This morning I set out and walked across the toll bridge (4000 kip
return) and along the rocky and muddy valley road. I headed for the
closest cave, ham Pha Daeng. Not the best or most exciting cave to visit
but the closest along the road. It was dissappointing and did not match
the roadside descriptive notice. Nowhere could I find the promised
crystal swimming pool. Although the young boy selling the 10,000 kip
tickets could say the price he was not able to answer questions about
swimming. However, I did enjoy the long walk along the bung path between
fields of paddi rice. I spied small fish in the water races and chased
butterflies trying to photograph the most attractive ones. Very
difficult to do I must add and I did not manage to catch any of the
large swallow tail ones which seemed so colourful. Well later I did get
some shots of one with its wings closed and I think it must have been
asleep. Do butterflies sleep?


When I finally located the cave after a few false tracks in the bush,
found it quite small and with a sort of cave foyer. A narrow passage
went donwrds from this but with the light of my small torch, the wooden
ladder, two thin tree truncks with a few attached cross prieces, did not
seem safe to use. So after a few minutes it was outside again and
butterfly stalking. The best shot was of the butterly which rested on my
bootlaces.


It was even hotter walking back to town so I stopped off at a small
local resturant on the island between the two bridges. Cool soda water
was the drink of the day. The establishment was all made of local
materials with a palm leaf roof. All sides of the eating area were open
to the coolling breezes. An nice place to pause at. I would assume from
watching the people dynamics, that it was family owned and run. There
were a number of children assisting and I wondered why they were not at
school. I had passed the town's primary school on the way out and seen
all the pupils in a playground break.


It is now four pm as I write this account. Looking up from my table in
Pan's Place I can see that the streets are a little busier. Half a dozen
young visitors are walking along the road with large back packs. Perhaps
they are looking for a guest house to book into. The sunlight is
developing that special late day light. Shaddows are lengthening and I
sense a cooling of temperature. Mind you it is still warm. It will get
quickly dark around six pm. Across the road the shop keeper is closing
and removing his large sun umbrellas.


A girls has just cycled past hold up an umbrella. That's one of the
things you notice – people riding along the road holding open umrellas.
They can be on bicycles or scooters. Sometimes it is the scotter
passenger who holds the umbrella over them both. I have seen several
Buddist monks cycling along holding umbrellas too. Quite common to see
monks walking along with umbrellas up.

At Pan's Place, Chris explained to me that the Lao prefer lighter skin
and that they want to avoid getting tanned in the sun. A Lao person with
darker skin is seen as inferior. It implies that they work in the fields
and are likely to be poor. The ideal male to marriy apparently is
someone with a long nose and a pale face – and hopefully a full wallet.


Soon I will need to think about tea. I have had an Israeli pork snitzel
with Israeli salad. Do Israellis really cook pork?There are at least
three resturants here with an Israeli theme. The meal was nothing
special. Last evening I went to a local pizza house but had Lao Laap.
This is a dish of finely minced meat (in my case pork) mixed with local
herbs. Not too spicy and quite enjoyable. I also had a papaya salad
which was much more spicy and I am not too sure just where the papaya was.


Tonight I visited the Aussie Bar and had fish and chips with the fish
being especially good and not oily or fatty. I got chatting to an older
guy called Steve who was the owner. Steve wandered around in just a pair
of baggies and nothing else. It seemed strange to me that the bar
manager would do that. However we had an enjoyable hour and more
chatting away and I was able to learn a little more about living and
running a business in the town. He pointed out his partner, her daughter
and his child as well as other members of the family working around the
bar. Steve had come from Perth so running the Aussie Bar seemed a
suitable business. As with other expats in town, the way to stay in Lao
was to have a local business partner who actually owns the business and
then they apply for an annual visa renewal for the expat. All the
business men I talked to actually had a Lao female partner. It is easy
to understand why someone would want to live in the town as the setting
is so pleasant.


Incidently, I would try to aviod the many establishments which seem to
be screening a continous supply of 'Friends". There is a limit to how
many episodes I can watch in a row.


While wandering around the town I came across Wat That. The main
buildings are very decrative and colourful. Restoration work seems to be
in progress and a painter high on a scafulting, much like Leonardo de
Vinci, was painting frescos onto the top of the ordamental gateway.

In the centre of a hall or temple, a groups of ladies with food baskets
was sitting waiting. Soon a group of monks arrived and sat down at the
front facing the ladies. Finally the senior monks arrived and small
tables of food were carried from the ladies to the monks who moved into
groups of four to siz around the tables. However before they ate, the
group of monks chanted what I suppose would be the equivilent to a
Christian grace.

Pan's Place also provides meals but they are Western so I tend to just
have breakfast here. Yesterday a nice omlette and today Scottish
porridge where both well prepared. For my final breakfast it was again
omlette, but this time with bacon and vegetables in it. The New Zealand
owner/partner has trained his staff to make western dishes with an
attention to detail which should have them appealling to western
visitors. Looking and the many menus displayed in front of eating
establishments I can not help but wonder how well they prepare the range
of meal styles on offer. European, American, Itallian, Israelli, Thai.
Lao, Chinese, Korean, Japanese.


One thing I have noticed is the regular rubbish collections. In fact a
large green truck is slowly coming down the street collecting the binned
rubbish out on the curb side. Some is in baskets some in plastic bins,
bags, boxes, in fact any sort of container seems to be ok. No authorized
council bag or wheelie bin system as in New Zealand.


In addition there are individuals who go around on bikes or with hand
carts collecting re-cyclable plastics. They pay a small amount based on
weight to the provider of the plastic. Chris tells me that the staff at
Pan's Place sort out the plastic drink bottles and similar from the
rubbish bins around the guest house and on sell them to the collector.
This is a small 'perk' which they share the proceeds from.


So while I didn't get to all the caves and villages that I would have
perhaps wished for, even just sitting at a shady table in front of Pan's
Place, or anywhere actually, gives me the opportunities to observe the
local life and interplay of activities. I find this equally fascinating.


Would I come back to Vang Vieng? Yes I would do that. It is different
enough to provide an enjoyable stay of a few days. Perhaps sometime I
will return with Robyn?