Having received a double-entry Thai visa, we realized that during VientianeThere is nothing special to do and moved to Vang Vieng. After all, as they say, Laos is famous for its national parks and nature. And where, if not in the center of the country, you can see them. Without visiting another town, the idea of Laos would not be so complete. Therefore, it is very good that such a thought came.
Travel information can be read here Vang Vieng - guesthouses, what to see, how to get there, bus schedule, and here Vang Vieng map.
Vang Vieng is a small village located in the north of the capital, between Vientiane and Luan Probang. Ten years ago, there was one road here, and that one without asphalt, and the tourist flow was minimal. Now, a huge number of backpackers hang out here, and the attitude of local residents is no longer as a person, but as a wallet..
Vang Vieng
The main trouble is that almost every step is paid: to cross the bridge - pay, if you want to go to a cave or lagoon - give money. And I'm not sure that all this is legal - a local resident came to the cave in the morning, stood at the entrance with a sign, and let's collect tribute. And the cave is the most ordinary, in it no one removes light or debris. Another thing, of course, is to pay for the refined caves. But the Lao are very lazy along the way, especially when there are so many tourists, and you don't have to strain too much.
Backpackers come here, it seems to me, not entirely correct - alcohol flows like a river and crowds of drunken and noisy people dump every evening into the street. Even a special cocktail was invented for farangs in a children's plastic bucket - something very strong + cola + energy drink + ice. It turns out that adult drunk children with buckets.
For those who like to travel to other worlds, they prepare cocktails of extraordinary lightness. The entrance to the teleportator is marked with a special shield with painted astronaut mushrooms.
From a hangover and in the intervals between trekking and tubing (rafting on the river on car cameras), all the tourist fraternity stuck in a cafe watching the Friends series, broadcast non-stop or in an Internet cafe, with proud youtube and facebook inscriptions. By the way, the internet speed is amazingly slow..
In fact, many come here to delight their eyes with natural beauty. You don't have to go anywhere for this. Just get out of town a little and you are surrounded by rocks from the Avatar and the jungle. Go even further and you can get to numerous caves, the main thing is not to forget the flashlight.
School in Wang Vieng
Since we just walked most of the time, and did not drag along the promoted attractions, we accidentally wandered into a Lao school. The doors were plowed open, the windows too, and there was no one around. And really, what are they afraid of if there is absolutely nothing to take away from there?.
And finally, a photo showing the result of our struggle with the sockets of Laos. True, it is probably only our guesthouse that distinguished itself so much, I have never seen sockets anywhere that, by definition, are not intended for plugs. Well, the fork cannot hold on there, well, no matter what, whatever it is.