Been there, Don Det

One night in Pakse with the Loop Troupe, before we split off and the remaining four of us went to Four Thousand Islands for four days on Dondet before crossing into Cambodia.

After finishing the bike loop, waking up back in Tha Khaek and returning our bikes, the six of us loaded onto a morning bus to Pakse. Again, Momma Bear and Drunken Uncle (ie, those with data) kindly took charge of hostel-booking and they chose a place called 1918’s hostel. It took us a good 7 hour, slightly less obnoxious (Charlie was the only one who just didn’t wake up to give up her second seat – we were all secretly proud/jealous), bus journey to get there.

Pakse was just a place we were passing through, so we didn’t go and see anything culturally important here, but it was, importantly, the last spot where the Lion Pride was seen together, as Sian and Georgia were leaving us the next day. We arrived in the late afternoon/evening and were in a twelve person dorm but there was only one other person in there with us (poor guy). It was a really nice hostel, thinking about it actually – I’d definitely recommend! The staff had lot of tips and recommendations for us, including a discount code for Jasmin’s Indian restaurant, which we took. We really liked the food and made friends with the owner, who told us we should visit his brother’s restaurant in Dondet, where the remaining four were going next. We even ended up taking several selfies with him before we left!

That evening was spent utterly wonderfully, with the six of us packed onto a little table out front of our hostel, drinking far too much beerlao and playing only our favourite parts of drinking games. Both of these points require some extra context so I’ll explain both here. First, beer. Somehow, in our time together, we had started sharing beer: like, if you wanted more but didn’t know how much more (not necessarily a full bottle for example – they’re pretty big) you could get a share beer. Usually one-between-two but we once had five-between-six of us and the drink-and-pass culture meant we actually drank them much faster than we would have nursed our own-unshared bottle, had we had it. Anyway, ‘share-beers’ were a thing, as were ‘safety beers’. You get a safety beer for later, just in case the shops close etc, then you definitely have one spare. Charlie introduced us to the concept, after insisting we all go for ‘safety wees’ before long journeys. Anyway, these concepts are not especially important, except that they should tell you that we have even more obnoxious in-jokes (although we always share the joke to anyone hanging out with us so they can join in) and that we casually drank a lot in Laos.

Over the course of knowing each other, and before we were ever #6friends, we’d often played Ring of Fire (aka, King’s Cup) in large groups and one of the usual rules I knew had been replaced by the A & B rule. In case you’ve not heard it (I hadn’t) the person who draws the relevant card (I’ll call them the drawer for now), nominates one other person in their group (I’ll call them the nominee) for all to witness. The drawer then closes their eyes, and the nominee silently chooses two people from group (we’ll call them A and B). Note that the nominee can choose any two people, including themselves and the drawer, if they choose. Then the drawer, without knowing who A and B are, sets a task or dare for them to complete, bearing in mind that they may well find themselves having to do it. Mack and I originally met because of this rule, back in Luang Prabang when, as the drawer, I had to babybird another member of that group some beerlao. Gross, I know but at least I was A and not B.

Anyway, A & B became our favourite rule due to ridiculous instances like this, so we skipped the rest of the game and just A & B’d each other. It was a good mixture of stuff, including loved up rules, liked A declaring to B how much they loved them, and more of Mack’s signature babybirding, where I had to feed Sian a leaf. The group became utterly hysterical when I chewed it up first, later explaining that they all thought I would just pass it to her with my mouth. Uh, what baby bird is going to be able to swallow that guys? *holds head in hands at taking game far too seriously*. Anyway, it was a great last night for us all before going our separate ways the next day.

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The remaining four of us were travelling to Four Thousand Islands in the south of the country. I knew nothing about this but was told to expect a super chilled out island vibe. Silly me, I was looking forward to a beach, but quickly realised that since these are river islands, and it’s monsoon season, it’s really not the beautiful crystal clear bays that I’d become accustomed to island-hopping in Indonesia. In fact, the Dondet vibe was definitely unique compared to everywhere else I’d been, with Luang Prabang maybe feeling the closest in terms of laziness.

Anyway, when our bus got us to the ferry port, Anthony and I went looking for a cashpoint as we’d been told that there are no atms on the islands. We may have gotten a tad lost and gotten back to Mack and Charlie long after the rest of our bus had departed on their ferry. This actually worked out well, however, as it means that rather than cramming into one with twenty other people, the four of us had to share one with only the owner and a black and white dog, which we aptly named ‘Boat Dog’ who I can only assume was captaining the boat.

Upon arriving we went for a short wander to find somewhere to stay, as there were no real options online. We ran into a group we’d met in Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng who recommended some cheap Bungalows on the river front, saying they were all basically the same standard anyhow. We ended up taking their recommendation and taking two bungalows between the four of us. They had hammocks on porches which is where we ended up spending most of our time as a group.

Dondet, in low season, was like nothing I’ve experienced before on this trip. There is nothing to do there but that’s kind of the charm of the place. Our days were spent literally doing nothing: a kind of calm lethargy takes over where, with all of our sitting around, I was so happily lethargic that I didn’t even manage to catch-up on this blog although I was already pretty far behind by that point. It was definitely enjoyable as an experience, and gave us time to recharge after the loop, but I couldn’t do it long term. One day we attempted to cycle to the other island, Don Kong to see the waterfalls, but it started raining heavily and the roads were already difficult, so we gave up and just lay in our hammocks instead. It was that kind of place.

We did eat at the Dondet Jasmin’s – twice actually, but before we ever even set foot in the place, the owner ran out to greet us, waving the group selfie his brother had sent him from Pakse. We never did get a discount there but we were included in family facetimes so it’s all good.

Two days in Charlie had to leave us, as she had to go to Koh Tao in Thailand to do a diving course. Our little group of six officially became three, although Eustya did arrive on the island a day later so we got her to come and stay at our bungalows with us for our last day. We drank a lot of beerlao and ate a lot of delicious, $1 noodle soup (forgive me, it’s easier to think in dollars right now as I still can’t find the pound sign on this keyboard). We spent several hours a day in our usual spot, the cafe where we had run into the other group, and each of us had a specific seat and a specific food/drink order (noodle soup for me, obvs).

One day we came in when Eustya had joined our group and there was a guy sat at our usual table, specifically in my usual spot. We ended up talking to this guy, and even joining him at his (our) table, but I may have held a slight grudge about my seat for the first several interactions with him. Especially since every single time we went there since then, he was always in my spot. Grrrrr.

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When I first left Luang Prabang with Mack and Eustya, Mack had joked that I’d follow them all the way to Cambodia. I thought it was unlikely, as I’d been to Cambodia five years previously, and, although I try to soften it in my blog post, I didn’t actually like it very much and felt no real pull to go back. I was open to it though, especially being the only country on mainland Southeast Asia I haven’t been to this trip (Lol, remember when I was only going to spend two months in Asia?!). Now I had travelled with them to basically the border crossing, and had yet to make any further travel decisions. I think I accepted, subconsciously (and even consciously) a while ago, that I would be coming with Mack and Anthony to Cambodia. Eustya was coming too, but not for a few more days. I was hoping that with great people and more time to explore I’d see it’s charm, plus, I really wasn’t ready to leave mainland SEA and noodle soup just yet. So, we loaded into a (packed this time) ferry, and got in a bus to go to the border.

I’ve heard and read since that the journey from Dondet to Siem Reap is notoriously tricky and requires a lot of research. Years ago, I definitely would have done it, as it was that first border crossing into Cambodia that initially turned me off of the country five years ago. Having travel chums and my ongoing happy-go-lucky attitude, however, meant that I was fine to just see what happened. In all honesty, we just booked the cheapest bus – I actually wouldn’t recommend this if you want the smoothest journey. We’d run into Amber (from the loop), who was also border crossing today but had paid a bit more for her ticket, who left far sooner than we did and had a much smoother journey.

First of all, when we arrived at the little ferry port town, Amber’s bus was right there waiting, whereas ours was a ten minute walk (with our packs on) towards the edge of the town. We had to wait a while to board but go to the border smoothly enough I guess. We were dropped at what was clearly a scam VISA office and made to get our VISAs there, rather than when actually crossing. It was broad daylight and there were twenty people so I wasn’t worried about them stealing my passport or the VISAs not working (scams it’s worth being aware of) but I knew it was going to cost slightly more than it should, and be less neat in my beautiful passport than it could. Oh well, I’m certain we could have just walked to the actual border and demanded to buy them there, but the extra $5 and the visual aesthetic just weren’t worth the argument. So there we were with our heavy packs and our scam VISAs, crossing the border into norther Cambodia. Once on the other side, we had a good hours’ wait for our next transport, as, from what I understood, someone was extremely ill so they rushed him off in our minivan and we had to wait for another. We just had some food and a safety beer so we were fine.

When we finally did get picked up, we were immediately dropped off at what looked like someone’s house to wait for our real bus. This turned out to be another mini van, which was no where near big enough for all of us and our luggage. I’m so used to Asia travel, and have nothing of value in my bag, that I wasn’t too fussed by mine being shoved under the back seat, and the back seat being precariously balanced on top of it, although the (not sure exactly where they were from) European group in front were not even slightly pleased. The other bags were being piled into the aisle next to them and they made a massive scene and demanded we all get out of the bus to show our comradeship and dissatisfaction in the arrangements. There were four, stocky German guys crammed into three seats in the front row, so, in all honesty, I think the Europeans didn’t have it as bad as they thought, given the German’s had given up their original row for them so they could have comfier seating.

The driver and (I assume) his wife, were becoming visibly stressed (after all, this is just how things work here, surely) and in the end it became clear that if the angry group wanted another bus, they would have to spend the night here and wait until tomorrow. That shut them up, and off we cruised. In all honesty, I felt bad for the poor driver who was doing what he could with the job he’d been given and the resources he had. I do get that life here can be very very different to what you’re used to but I’m glad I’ve mostly adjusted now, and when things like this happen, rather than get upset, I usually just make a mental note to include them in this blog.

Scooting with the Loop Troupe

One night in Ventiane, then three days riding a scooter around the Tha Khaek bike loop.

We’re now onto the bit of the blog where I didn’t even have time to scribble notes about my adventures in my notebook, let alone type them at the time. This was also quite possibly my favourite experience so far of all of my travels, and I suspect even if I was able to write at the time, it would still be hard to explain why to anyone who wasn’t right there with us. It just worked. We just worked.

Mack, Eustya and I left Vang Vieng on a midday bus. Our friend Charlie, who’d we’d met originally in Luang Prabang and reunited with a few days ago in Vang Vieng was also bussing it at that time, but for some reason, even though we booked through exactly the same company, we ended up on a different (and mostly empty) bus than her. Oh Asia! The three of us researched (and when I say three, really I mean Eustyia with vague nods from us) and chose a hostel on the bus – I can’t remember the reasoning for not just following where the others had gone but it sounded fair at the time. When we got to the capital of Laos, we checked in and hunted down some food (no soupy noodles for me this time – we went family style with a bunch of veggie/vegan dishes as Mack doesn’t eat egg or meat). Then we walked a good half an hour for the highlight of our evening: reuniting with our Vang Vieng crew and watching The Lion King at the local cinema. Hilariously, even with Mack and I making up the majority of our little walking group, we arrived on time. The queue was huge but luckily Charlie had gotten there much earlier and was already in it. Georgia, Sian, Anthony and two others they’d brought along got there just in time for the movie, although it was tight and they missed half of the trailers (best bit of the cinema).

I bloody love watching movies whilst travelling. I got really into the cinema last year anyhow as I lived next door to one and had an infinity pass so my favourite thing became solo cinema at all hours of the day (best was crawling out of bed on a weekend morning and buying coffee and a croissant and watching whatever family movie was on at the time, but I diverge!). Anyway, I went in Chang Mai a couple of years ago to see Despicable Me II, I went to see Aladdin in Perth a few months ago and now we were going to see the live action version of The Lion King. We loved it, and it took us at least a week to stop singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight at random intervals (yes, it’s actually in it this time!). It wasn’t right at that moment, but I think we can safely blame this movie for the fact that Mack, Charlie, Anthony, Georgia, Sian and I became a Lion Pride over the next few days whilst scooting the Tha Khaek Loop.

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The main reason Georgia, Sian and Anthony were waiting for us in Ventiane was that we had all agreed to drive the loop together. Yes, you read that correctly, after all of my b*tching and moaning and justifications, I will be full-on renting a motorised scooter. And, spoiler alert: as you can see from this clearly retrospective blogpost – I survived. After the ebike in Bagan and riding around on the back of so many, my hesitance for driving one of these things slowly turned into anticipation and my biggest, not quite regret, but ‘need to come back and do one day’ moment goes to not driving the Ha Giang Loop in Vietnam, which I’ve only heard incredible things about. At some point, mostly when I left Asia for the first time this trip and it felt too late to safely learn, driving a scooter in Asia added itself to my bucket list. So when these people who I already liked promised to ride slowly, teach me how to drive and watch my back, I agreed. After all, I still hadn’t done my own Laos research so had, let’s face it, no alternative plan.

Unfortunately Eustya had to wait in Vientiane to meet her cousin so couldn’t come with us on the loop (and we had some imminent flight plans on our end so couldn’t wait an extra day) so the morning after the cinema, after booking all six bus tickets from the same place, at exactly the same time, Georgia, Sian, Mack, Anthony, Charlie and I, loaded ourselves onto a bus (the same one this time) to Tha Khaek to begin. Enter the #lionpride and #sixfriends. We noticed, and were weirdly proud of the fact that together, we are incredibly obnoxious. When you have five people you have so much fun with that it’s hard not to be loud and ridiculous all of the time (and when your group is made up of two American’s, three Brits and one Irish), obnoxiousness is just going to follow. I’m warning you now because a lot of my favourite moments with these guys are harmless but admittedly a bit loud and annoying. Even on that bus we hogged the entire back of it, having two seats each (don’t worry, we weren’t blasting music or anything, we were mostly just napping but it did mean that we didn’t wake up when the bus filled up and by the end we were the only people with a ton of space still around us).

Without Eustya, Charlie became our ‘momma bear’ with, I guess, Mack filling the role of the ‘drunken uncle’. We’ve learned since that Anthony is the secret ‘dad’, being quietly responsible in a way none of us saw coming. I offer literally nothing – it’s like when I join a pub quiz team, I always warn my teammates in advance that I can offer witty banter, a scapegoat for when we lose and (this last time) horror movie knowledge, but very little of actual value to the task at hand. It’s probably surprising for anyone who knows me from real life, as I’m so organised and on top of things (to the point where I’ve been described as having an OCD personality type), but here I just don’t seem to need to be. We don’t need six different people trying to organise things, and I’m happy, for once in my life, to sit back and trust the people who were responsible enough to buy mobile data in this country. I actually don’t know why they like me at all. Apart from bringing in the phrase ‘sh*t sonnnn’ and forcing everyone to eat far too much noodle soup I really don’t know where my value lies. That’s kind of okay though: we just work.

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I’ve travelled with people before on this trip (I define ‘travelling’ with someone as actively choosing to move to a place of accommodation with someone else): my German boys for northern Vietnam, Raschelle for a few days from Hoi An to Dalat, the Lembongan Lads in Indonesia, but I’ve never travelled in a larger group before now. I kind of absolutely love it. You can basically takeover entire dorms. We didn’t have too many options in Tha Khaek and ended up booking a four bed dorm and a double (for Sian and Georgia who were friends from home) in KGB guesthouse. We checked in and the six of us went to a very aptly named local eatery: six friends. This became a very ‘you had to be there’ running joke with us. The rest of our evening was spent singing along to Anthony’s Ukele on the roof until being politely asked to shut up and go to sleep by a fellow lodger. Our bad.

At breakfast the next morning we reunited with Torben and Amber, two people we’d vaguely met in Vang Vieng, who were also doing the loop. They ended up doing it at a different speed to us, but are worth introducing now for reference. We arranged scooters through our guest house, took photos of them from all angles (on the off-chance we got blamed for previously existing scratches) and the experienced drivers (Mack and Anthony) test drove them all for us to check on things like brakes etc. Once we decided my scooter was up to scratch, Anthony gave me a quick lesson and I went for a little loop around the road. I’m not going to lie, my maximum speed was about 17 kms per hour at this point, and it did cross my mind that scooting several hundred kilometres might be slightly out of my capabilities. Getting out of the city was similar, I barely went above 20 and luckily, many of us were at a very similar level so this worked and no one seemed worried about time at that point. Navigating city roads, other traffic and especially three lane roundabouts going the opposite way to what I’m used to was pretty intimidating and there was no way I could have done 100 of kms of that, even with the two veterans metaphorically holding my hand at every step. But then unexpected relief: when we finally hit some beautiful open roads my main job was just to drive straight in my lane and not get too distracted by the awe-inspiring scenery. It was here that we got a bit more comfortable and were able to up our speed to a reasonable amount. I knew I liked scooting (is that a verb?) from my short stint in Bagan, but just cruising through the stunning greenery of a wide, flat road, surrounded by rice paddies and limestone cliffs with the wind beating at you in the midday Asia heat is utterly euphoric. Whilst I’m still a cautious driver, I knew early on I was right to rent my own scooter for the trip, rather than hop on the back of someone elses. It won’t all be easy driving like this (spoiler alert) but I think that these kind of roads are really what any kind of open top driving are really about. There are lots of viewpoint and stops along the loop, but in all honesty, we weren’t moving fast enough to really spend a longer time than a gawp and several snaps at these, but the ride itself was incredible anyhow.

The traditional first overnight stop of the loop is a place called Thalong but there wasn’t room for all of us there so we ended up staying nearby in Nakai, which was earlier on the loop so we got there before dark. A place called Nakai resort looked good (I presume, remember I was not in charge of anything needing a responsible adult), and from inquiring upon arrival, we managed to rent a six-person bungalow for the night. Upon dropping our bags off, I spied Mack walking towards our bungalow, with an entourage of staff carrying a crate stuffed with beerlao, following close behind him. He’d basically bought them out of whatever they had on site (which worked out at about 3 large beers each). Amber and Torben, and some other people we met in a cafe on the loop met us there, and we had an utterly mental and hilarious night. This was definitely one of the most surreal nights of the entire trip. I was very wary of being hungover whilst driving so I was careful with the amount I drank, but not careful enough to avoid the random onsite karaoke. Again. In fact, there is an awkward and hilarious video of our little group attempting to sing a song in the Laos language that they kindly played for us. It was extremely fast. I think we thought we were doing far better than we were. Mack still talks about the Laos record deal he’s expecting any day now.

I have memories of being an utter mic hog *holds face in shame*, and of Mack talking to my Mom on the phone when I called (the drunkest I have ever (to my memory) called home) and telling her I was doing well on my scooter – luckily for me my Mom’s vehicle of choice is actually a scooter so she was not alarmed by this. I also have memories of having the best fun with my little gang, including the six of us piling onto one of the beds and warbling (yes, that is the only possible word that could apply to describe what we were doing) what sounds like Total Eclipse of the Heart. Thanks video phones for that lovely memory of how beautiful and terrible we are.

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The next morning, after a reasonably early start, the six of us were gathered around a breakfast table in the restaurant, where a small Laos child was playing with a toy gun and pretending to shoot us. We had intended on a very early start but the problem we’ve been noticing is that most eateries are not equipped to prepare more than one meal at a time, and with there being six of us… well, meal times can take several hours longer than originally planned. In this time the small child turned his attention to me and, forever the drama queen, I seemed to get shot with enough flair that he spent an entire hour shooting at me with that toy gun. Eventually I came back as a zombie but my god, I still have bruises on my knees from all the kill shots from this kid. It’s alarming how many kids his age we saw playing with similar toys. It was at least 10 or 11 before we left, and since we’d not seen them yet, we’d assumed Amber and Torben had left already, until they emerged from their room, promising to catch up with us later in the day as they’d slept in.

As we tried to leave, shooty child came back with a football which he insisted I kick to him. God, why do I always give into small childs’ requests to embarass myself with the fact that I lost all team sport skills when puberty kicked in? Anyway, long story short, my kicks were well aimed but the sole came off of my climbing boots (that I’d been wearing as a solid form of bike footwear) and I had to say goodbye to them. Hilariously, the main reason I brought them on this trip was for South America and they will now never see that continent. Oh well. We were all on very limited supplies (whatever fit in a bag/bike seat) but luckily I had my flipflops, so newly shod in these and whilst the kid was distracted, the six of us set off for day two of the loop.

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We’d sort of formed an order in our driving, which I liked as it took away the need to show off or compete with overtaking each other or anything. It was constantly drizzling that whole first day, which wasn’t ideal but did make us look like some kind of gang in our coloured rainmacs, and I’d gotten used to following Georgia’s bright orange blur in front and seeing Anthony’s blue in my mirrors. Apart from our late start, scooting that second day, in nice weather was incredible, but did involve at least two cases of sunburn as none of us had thought to bring sunscreen with us. We stopped in a town for lunch at a roadside shack that only served noodle soup and fried rice – my two favourite dishes in Laos anyway. Todays’ drive took us through windy roads through the hills (lots of blind corners so we slowed down), through a lot of small villages (lots of small kids waving so we slowed down), and there was also a moment, mid-afternoon on a giant stretch of highway where the sun behind the clouds created the weirdest phenomenon of colour. It legitimately looked like a portal to another worldy dimension and I know this sounds extreme but I think it may genuinely be where unicorns come from. Anyway, it was weird and pretty so we stopped and took photos of it and didn’t arrive in the second destination until after dark.

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Unfortunately it was down a very bumpy dirt road and I, um, didn’t know how to turn my lights on. I thought I had managed but I could barely see and Anthony’s brights behind me were putting the area directly in front of my scooter in shadow. I definitely drove a way in the dark before I was able to ask how to turn them on, and when I did ask, it turns out that my lights didn’t work properly anyway. Awkward. Luckily, we only had a short way to go and arrived safely in one piece. The second night was fun but definitely less eventful than the first, and Amber and Torben never did catch us up.

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Day three we were running incredibly behind schedule, so had lot of ground to cover. We went to see the famous Konglor caves on the boat trip. We were loaded into two separate boats, and taken through the cave with a short stop to climb over bits in the middle where we reunited with the other boat. Mack had, of course, brought his speaker so we may have turned this beautiful and famous tourist attraction into a, uh, ravecave. I told you we were obnoxious. It was great fun though, just having a little dance with my crew. We were, of course, incredibly late starting out for the rest of the day’s drive though.

Everyone was exhausted, it was getting dark, I got hit several times in the eye by massive bugs with a deathwish and by this point was driving barefoot as my flipflops didn’t feel very stable. Oh yeah, and I had no lights. Those last few hours were not fun at all, and cars in Laos do not turn their highbeams off when passing each other. I didn’t feel safe that last hour of driving to be honest. Driving that speed in the dark with no lights in heavy traffic was beyond my capabilities as a three day driver. I know the reason that we were going faster than I would like was because everyone was too exhausted to drive for much longer but it was uncomfortable and at one point, I lost the guys in front of me, realised they’d turned onto a different road but couldn’t see the road divisions because of my lights. I braked in a panic not to lose them when I realised I wasn’t on th right road and stopped in a slightly uneven bit of shoulder. Hard. So hard, I had to put my bare foot down, on the uneven stones and since the road wasn’t level my balance was off and a I toppled, bike on top of me. Yes, okay, I fell off of a parked bike. Anyway, that was the most eventful incident until we made it back to our original guesthouse. Actually, that’s a lie, we tried another guesthouse first, who tried to add a ton of extra costs on until Mack threated to, erm, well, his exact words were ‘I’ll f*ck you up on booking.com’ followed, genuinely by ‘Thanks, love you, bye’. Needless to say that both of those became group injokes.

Hanging in Vang Vieng

4 nights in Vang Vieng, eating noodle soup, making friends and of course, tubing. Visiting lagoon 3 in a buggy and hiking to the famous nam xay viewpoint.

Vang Vieng in Laos is known for one thing: tubing, specifically, drunken tubing.

When I agreed to follow Mack and Eustya on the bus to this border town, I wrote in my notebook (that I use for scribbling notes when I’m really really behind on this blog, i.e., now!) that I didn’t really have the energy for a party place. It’s weird reading that now – that I didn’t feel up for being incredibly social – because, predictably, that is exactly what I bloody loved about Vang Vieng. I don’t know what it is with me and utterly falling for the crappy party towns in Asia, but Vang Vieng was completely brilliant in my experience.

I know I should be more ashamed that my blog posts and my instagram stories are less about the amazing once-in-a-lifetime cultural experiences and sights and more about my ridiculous social antics and new friends. I know I’ve fallen into the partying pit of travel and if I’d have even realised this was a thing, maybe I’d have taken more preventative measures – but I’m glad I didn’t. Making friends and remembering life with no responsibilities is freeing in a way that I never expected travelling to be, and, although I joke that I’m destroying my liver occasionally, I’m experienced enough and responsible enough to still be sensible in a way I might not have been had I done this at 18. I do like this aspect of travel – I always think I won’t but then it turns out I still really do. I also really really like the cultural side – I think it’s just about finding the right balance. And, for better or for worse, I know exactly which side Vang Vieng falls on so bear with me for this post, which will read more like a list of Fresher’s Week antics than a travel blog.

The mini bus was actually incredibly fast and comfortable. Two left at the same time but we definitely arrived a good hour or so before the second one – maybe because we didn’t stop for lunch (we arrived at half 12 so we didn’t need to). We checked into Nana’s: this was crowd mentality – apparently everyone from Sunrise goes to Nana’s even though the reviews aren’t utterly amazing, and so Mack, Eustya and I booked ourselves in. Since we booked separately we got separate rooms, and I got a pretty big dorm with a bottom bunk that I was really happy with. I know the other two got less comfortable rooms so liked it less, but I could have stayed there for ages with my set-up. And, hilariously, everyone from Sunrise was there. Even people I never saw at Sunrise that I met later had apparently been there at the same time as us. It made it incredibly easy to make friends, as did the free spirits that were available between 7-9pm each night (BYO mixer)!

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That first day we walked around the town to get a feel for it, and explored the night market. We also realised that there are cheap soupy noodles everywhere and I instantly fell in love with Laos style Noodle soup – especially because so many places do it with tofu instead of meat (I’m not vegetarian but I prefer vegetarian food a lot of the time). We formed a crew with a lot of the old Sunrise people: Sian and Georgia, two girls studying at Glasgow uni who’d been in my room at Sunrise but who I’d not spoken to that much, became staples, as did Anthony, a new yorker who knew Mack from Thailand, as well as a few others. There were so many familiar faces that it was actually impossible to form one single group, but there was a nice sense of sort of knowing everyone.

I know Mack and I could not be bothered to go out that first night, so instead we went to the movie room, got snacks and absolutely failed at working the TV. There was netflix on there, but we couldn’t get off the YouTube page and, in the end, settled for watching 20 minutes of some weird exorcism movie that was literally the first thing that came up. It took so long to type that we didn’t try for anything else and KO’d after that in preparation for tomorrow.

It had become apparent that lots of our crew (or ‘Gang Vieng’, if you will) were planning on tubing the very next day. That’s the main selling point of this town so the three of us travelling together decided to go too. You don’t start until midday so the morning was spent acquiring noodle soup and buying dry bags (which they sell literally everywhere). I bought a tiny one for my personal items (ie, waterproof camera and money – I’m so so so glad that I didn’t risk taking anything else as my dry bag was 100% ineffective and it took days for the notes I’d taken with me to be usable again!) and Mack and I bought a much larger one and a bag of ice. We then filled the large bag with ice and stored our Lao-lao and fanta mix in there (take your own alcohol! You can buy it there but definitely take your own first). We also had Mack’s waterproof speaker so we were set for a pretty full-on day.

Tubing was incredibly, incredibly fun. But… I can see why they’ve had to clamp down on safety laws there. For those that don’t know, you get big rubber rings and float down the river stopping at bars on the way. It’s an incredibly alcoholic day (and apparently they used to sell much stronger substances at the bars). I remember I jumped out of my ring and just swam alongside the group at several instances and it was only much later on that Mack told me he hadn’t even noticed that I was missing from my ring – this could have been incredibly dangerous if I’d have been so far gone that I couldn’t swim properly, as has apparently happened in the past. We were all fine though – the biggest casualty of the day was that I lost the necklace Jack had given me on Nusa Lembongan but luckily I didn’t lose anything more important (although I did spend a good 20 minutes looking for my sunglasses at the second bar!). Word of warning, don’t take anything you’re not prepared to lose, including your dignity.

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The day was amazing. Lots of drunk young people running around in swimwear and tubing down the river. You bond incredibly well (even by travel standards). We formed a little group where we all held onto each other’s hands or feet or rings to float in a little group, sharing alcohol and listening to music, before emerging at the next bar. It’s a full day activity and we got back to the hostel just in time to obnoxiously all jump into the pool. Hilariously you realise this is an everyday event, where the drunk tubers will always come back and get straight into the pool and the sober people drink the free alcohol to try and hurriedly catch up.

We all went for dinner in one mass group, and of course, couldn’t all fit onto the same table. Mack and I, and probably some others, were on a sub-table, where we invited a Japanese guy who was dining alone to join us. This poor guy, Kozu, I believe his name was, then witnessed Mack drunkenly demand, and I drunkenly acquiesce to, rubbing tiger balm on Mack’s nipples. I still, to this day, do not know why, but the memory of Mack howling in laughter soaked, mentholy pain is still one of my favourites.

We were all asleep by 11pm that night.

*

The next morning, after acquiring more noodle soup, we meant to go out and do other things, but basically stayed lazing around until 4pm. The dynamic was pretty funny by this point, as Eustya, the youngest of the three of us, at 19 years old, was by far the biggest organiser of the group. Mack and I joke that we’re just so far past caring now that we just take life as it comes and poor Eustya has to be the responsible one trying to get us to do things and plan for all eventualities. It’s not even slightly a problem, but fairly ironic as we’re both at least ten years older than she is, but she is definitely the most ‘together’ one of the three of us.

Eventually the girls and Anthony (Mack and the other guys were decidedly too lazy) decided to climb to a famous viewpoint together. Awkwardly, it turns out that there are two viewpoints, and the group hadn’t specified between them which one they wanted to go to. Queue madness and mayhem: this meant an awkward argument with the poor tuk-tuk driver where half of the group were adamant we’d been taken to the wrong place and demanded a reroute. Eustya and Anthony were still trying to work out why Eustya’s phone said it was a different direction than Anthony’s when they clocked what was going on. I have to admit that I did sort of register the issue but for some reason just let it play out – I’d blame the hangover but I actually don’t think I had much of one (I’m not just jammy, I swapped to water at about 3pm the previous day). Anyway, I’m happy with the viewpoint we went to in the end.

People said that it was a really hard climb, which makes me think I must be getting fit from all of those 2000-step-viewpoints (or they were super hungover), as I found it decidedly pleasant if not a little slippy. There are points when you’re literally rock-climbing but it’s not hard work, just slightly more awkward than steps would be. We got back just in time for the day’s tubers to drunkenly get into the pool and to play our own catch-up on the free alcohol, which was not being poured even slightly by the measure. I’m pretty sure this was the evening I was dragged, fully clothed, into the pool by an attractive Canadian with an Irish accent. I didn’t mind half as much as I should have.

After drying off, my little crew and I went out for food. I was really very tipsy at this point, and, in an attempt to be helpful, Eustya told me I should drink some water, indicating the clear bottle on the table. I knew it wasn’t mine, but assumed it was someone’s in the group and it would be fine for me to drink. Nope. Vinegar. I drank straight vinegar. And that, right there, is the danger of getting drunk, kids.

*

For our final full day in Vang Vieng, Mack and I had promised Eustya for days that we would rent a buggy and go visit the lagoons nearby. I think by this point Eustya had realised that Mack and I fail as human beings, and so by 10am, she was already off in a buggy with some more responsible friends with the two of us promising we’d follow in an hour. 5 hours later, we, along with two other girls we knew, were cruising through the Vang Vieng countryside and swimming in Lagoon 3. The most fun was driving through puddles and covering ourselves and our buggy in mud. I’m legitimately amazed that all of the mud washed out of my new jean shorts (that someone had left for Eustya and she’d given to me as she already had a pair – gotta love travel clothes swaps).

Before this, and one of the reasons we were so late starting out, was that some of our friends were leaving that morning. Sian, Georgia and Anthony were all going to Ventiane, and Eugene was on his way back to Malaysia, where he was working. We stuck around to say goodbye, promising to meet the first three when we got to the capital the next day, and somehow got roped into doing an 11am (you heard me) joss shot. Oh Vang Vieng!

Lazing in Luang Prabang

My first experience of Laos, staying in Luang Prabang and exploring the waterfalls and night markets, but mostly playing cards and panicking about bedbugs.

I’m going to warn you now, if you thought Gili T or Singapore was bad, in a surprising turn of events, Laos was definitely my most alcoholic destination so far. I had no idea what to expect at all from this country, but it was the one on the Southeast Asian mainland that I was a little sad I couldn’t incorporate into my original route (you know, back when this trip had a plan or any sense of reasonable direction). For this reason, I was pretty excited to finally experience this place and get back to what I thought would be hardcore cultural Asia and to ‘hardcore cultural travel’, like I’d had on Java, rather than the more social elements that seem to have taken priority in many places.

Oh silly, silly me.

*

Getting from Luang Prabang airport to the town is pretty straightforward as there’s a set taxi rate, and you book your taxi through the airport desk for 8000kip which is about 8GBP (realising my new Singapore keyboard does not have a pound symbol on it). I arrived at Sunrise Hostel which had been recommended to my by both the Lembongan lads and Penang Pete, who was currently staying there, just before noon, and was almost immediately met by my old (in travel terms anyhow) pal. We went to a nearby place called Utopia for lunch where I tried the tofu larp and Adam, another friend of Pete’s, joined us. These guys, plus 10s of other people we met around the social area in the hostel became my crew for LP, or my ‘Luang Prabang Gang’, if you will.

Luang Prabang wasn’t what I expected at all. I’d been told it was a cute Unesco Heritage style town so I was expecting to instantly get a kind of Hoi An-esque adoration for it. The first thing to say about it is that it is very very chilled out. Like, extremely chilled out. I think I spent five nights there and spent literally 80% of my waking hours playing cards (Kaboo, anyone?), 5% swimming in a pool so chlorinated the visibility was literally about half a foot, 5% at the night market, 9% visiting sites and 1% checking for bedbugs. I was very very paranoid about bedbugs (mostly because Pete had told me he’d seen some and because I think there was a review from years ago mentioning them). One of my friends stayed somewhere with bedbugs about a year ago and whilst the bites were bad, the hassle and paranoia of trying to cleanse all of her stuff stuck with me to the extent that, every single place I go to, the first thing I will do before putting anything I own on the bed is take the flashlight on my phone and start checking all of the bedding for any sign of the things. Unfortunately, with this one, I definitely did see something that first night, although retrospectively I think I was so worked up by my paranoia that it was probably something else (a small beetle maybe). I changed beds anyhow and then was constantly paranoid about my second bed, checking it every 20 minutes or so. I definitely also saw something in that one too but, upon closer inspection, had that only-in-Asia relief you get when you realise your bed is crawling with ants and not something worse. I also want to point out that the hostel clearly have preventative measures as I saw them working on my old bed after I mentioned it, so don’t take my paranoia as a strike against this place – I honestly think it’s the place to stay in LP.

Anyway, because of my fear of my own bed, it meant a lot of late nights. And because there was very very little to do in Luang Prabang (or maybe there was just very little motivation to actually do the things) ‘beer o’clock’ became a thing and we would often find ourselves in the very sketchy pool with a giant bottle of beerlao each before 3pm. This would then evolve into dinner (usually somewhere western and therefore slightly pricier, which I was, admittedly, slightly resentful about as I was kind of back in a cheap noodles mood, but choose to be social rather than cash-conscientious), and then into more drinks and Kaboo, or variations on ring of fire. By about the third night, Eustya and Mack, two people I didn’t know brilliantly but were part of the evening card group, had become my ‘a bottle of spirits are literally the same price as a bottle of beer so let’s get on the Lao-Lao‘ crew.

It’s so so easy to meet people at this hostel: unlike other places I’ve been to, you don’t tend to swap social media straight away because you know you’ll run into each other in the common area. We do nothing all day except sit around and play cards and drink alcohol, but there’s literally no time to do anything else. Luang Prabang has a very weird blackhole kind of effect, where you just can’t account for time passing at the speed that it does, or the weird lethargy that overcomes you, leaving you no other options than to drink and play cards (I blame lack of aircon, but, surprisingly, not hangovers). Maybe you’ll get the energy up to go late-night bowling once in a while. This is another quirk of this place: nightlife isn’t a thing so you go bowling at 11pm instead. Turns out I’m slightly better than I thought I was too.

Amongst this haze of alcohol and card games, we did take a tuk-tuk to the Kuang Si Waterfalls one day. The hostel organises a tour where you pay 45000 kip per person to go (+entrance fee), but if you negotiate your own tuk-tuk you can go for a lot less and be on your own time frame. Pete had a bluetooth speaker so we had a hilarious journey blasting out the tunes through the Laos countryside. The falls were beautiful and well worth the visit. There are three pools you can swim in and some outcrops that you can jump off of into the water. Just beware of the fish as they do nibble! Bloody carnivores.

I also went with Eustya and another girl to see the UXO museum one of the days, in another attempt to actually experience some of the offerings of the city. It was very tiny, but very effective. I knew almost nothing about this before going, and, like the war remnants museum in HCMC, it is both eye-opening and devastating to witness. I won’t say anything more because I think this sort of thing is intimate and personal for everyone and is best experienced first-hand. But do go, if you get the chance.

I, also, after trying to go for days but getting caught up in card games, went to the night market and finally restocked my travel wardrobe a little. I’d been wearing literally the same four outfits on rotation for weeks now although, annoyingly, a disproportionate amount of my 40 litres of backpack space are being used to store the thermals I sent to myself in Australia when I still thought I’d be doing New Zealand and South American winters. I know it’s an age-old rule of trips and one I really should have followed but I’ll say it now: buy things when you get there. There are some exceptions to this rule that have worked well for me (I would have froze to death on Burmese night buses if I’d have waited to buy a sleeping bag liner in Vietnam, for instance) but I wish I wasn’t carrying 15 litres of thermals that I’m just, financially, not willing to dump. My poor little backpack is at maximum capacity and definitely doesn’t pass for hang-luggage anymore. I might post some things home, but I haven’t figured out when I’m going back to Oz, or how long for yet, so may still need them. I assumed I’d go mid-August but, now that I’m travelling again, I don’t feel the pull to go back and stand still there as much as I did a month ago. We’ll see.

*

After five nights I didn’t feel done with Luang Prabang, but weirdly, when Mack and Eustya made a pact to both get on a bus together the next morning for Vang Vieng, and invited me to join them, my instincts said to go. I definitely could have stayed longer in LP: the night market and catching up on my blog alone could have entertained me for days, but it very much feels like a place you can get stuck (Adam and Pete had been there for weeks) and so, since I had no specific thing to actually stay for, I agreed to get on a last minute bus twelve hours from then.

When I landed in Laos, I knew I would go to Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng, and I suspected I would make it to at least Ventiane, probably to fly out of, but I had no idea what else there was in the country to see. For this reason I thought I’d spend a good proportion of my entire Laos trip in LP, researching what else there was to do. I also sort of thought it would be my favourite place in Laos but, actually, as nice as everyone was, being there felt almost like a non-trip. It was a pleasant way to pass some time but it definitely wasn’t a reason to add a whole country to your list. After my time in Luang Prabang, I did slightly worry that going out of my way to finally see Laos might not have been worth it after all.

Don’t worry. It gets better.

It gets way way better.