Vang Vieng
Nestled beside the Nam song (Song River) amind stunningly beautiful limestone karst terrain, Vang Vieng provokes a mix of responses. It's more of a love and hate relationship - which parts of you love depend on who you are.
The area's main attraction has always been the drama landscape surrounding Vang Vieng. Honeycombed with unexplored tunnels and caverns, the limestone cliffs are a spelunker's heaven. Several caves are named and play minor roles in local mythology - all are said to be inhabited by spirits. These caves and cliffs have also earned a reputation for some of the best rock-climbing in the region.
The Nam Song, meanwhile, plays host to kayakers and travelers floating along on tractor inner tubes - a pastime so thoroughly enjoyable and popular that it has become one of the rites of passage of the Indochina backpacking circuit Other activities include rafting, trekking and bicycle and motorbike trips. Or you could just find a riverside seat for one of the regular postcard sunsets when, if you're lucky, you might see thousands of bat pouring forth from the karst like an oil slick flooding the skyline.
So what's to dislike, you might ask. The most common complaint is that in earning its stripes as a fully paid-up member of back- packer world, Vang Vieng has lost its soul. It's probably not as bad as that, but the growth of Vang Vieng has taken its toll. Inevitably, the profile of the town has changed and the reason travelers first came here - to experience small-town Laos in a stunning setting - has been replaced by multistorey guesthouses. Even the local market has moved to a big, soulless slab of concrete north of town.
But if we accept that most visitors are going to enjoy the scenery and at least some of the activities, if not the misfit Greco-Laotian architecture of the guesthouses, then it's the TV bars' and their 'happy' menus that provoke the real love and hate. For some travelers, sitting on an axe pillow, sucking down a shake laced with marijuana/mushrooms/opium/yaba (methamphetamine) and tripping through endless reruns of Friends is heaven on earth. For others, it's a nightmare.
If you're in the latter camp then take heart because it's easy enough to escape this scene by staying a bit away from the centre. It's also re-assuring that the locals seem to have accepted this influx of falang without losing their sense of humor. And as Vang Vieng continues to evolve, its accommodation options have too. There are still plenty of cheap guesthouses for your holiday search where you can sleep off a hangover between long nights in the island bars, but there are now also more luxurious offerings.
No matter what you think of the Khao San Rd side of Vang Vieng's personality, you can't deny that this is a beautiful part of the world. So even if you're not a fan of Friends, it's worth stopping for at least a day or two.
Information
Internet cafes have popped up almost as fast as the mushrooms in Vang Vieng, most charging 300 kip per minute. New lines should reduce this price in coining years.
Agricultural Promotion Bank
Add: Th Luang Prelung
Exchanges cash only.
BCEL
Tel: 511434 - Open: 8.30am - 3.30pm Mon-Sun
Exchanges cash, traveller cheques and handles cash advance on Visa, Master card and JCB.
BKC Bookshop
Open: 7am - 7pm.
Second-hand novels plus guidebooks and maps.
Post office
Tel: 511009
Beside the old market.
Provincial Hospital
Tel: 511604
The flash new hospital is a reflection of the money coming into Vang Vieng. It now has x-ray facilities and is fine for broken bones, cuts, malaria and most noninternal injuries.
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