Laos, You've Left Me No Choice!

My adventure through Laos began with a three day two night adventure on a slow boat down the Mekong River. This method of travel is more for the experience rather than practicality and efficiency. The actual time on the Mekong was two full days and a stop off on the second night in a little town in Laos called Pak Beng. The journey was nice and consisted of hanging with my newly acquired travel buddies. 

After the slow boat, our first stop was Luang Prabang. One of the larger cities in Laos, it is a common destination for travelers. The town doesn't have too many attractions other than a stunning waterfall. Local bars close at 11pm and any further drinking must be conducted at the local bowling alley. Sounds fun right? Bowling and social drinking is always fun but less so when the entire place is lit up with bright florescent lights unlike the mellow mood of black lights from back home. 

After four or so nights there, my travel buddies and I decided to head to Vang Vieng. For those of you who don't know, Vang Vieng was once a crazy mecca for drunk and illegal partying by way of tubing down the local river. About one year ago the river through Vang Vieng was littered with over 20 bars with zip lines and rope swings leading out over the water. However, due to many deaths of foreign travelers, the Laos government was forced to shut it down entirely. Now, what is left is a bit of a ghost town. The local scenery is absolutely beautiful and the town has slowly regained some access to opening bars along the river. This has allowed the town to not lose all traffic from the traveler's scene. 

I spent a few nights there with some familiar faces and my recent travel group before everyone had to part ways. By part ways I mean I didn't have a strict timeline to follow so I decided to chill out and enjoy the scene a bit longer. A few extra nights turned out to be a total stay of a week and a half. Some places are just easy to get stuck in. 

But I'm glad I got out when I did. That town seems to have an interesting way of gripping people (or at least me) and... well.. taking them out of their normal behavior... Other than tubing, I had a few great days at this Blue Lagoon, kayaking, and caving. Of course, there were a few lazy days in there too.