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Laos: Adventures in a land of serenity III

Caving and Kayaking in Vang Vieng

 

It was dark. Very dark. So dark it was impossible to distinguish between having your eyes open and having them closed. And it was quiet. Not a sound in the still air apart from the odd drop of water from a stalactite and the occasional little rustle as one of us shifted to a more comfortable position. We were sitting on a rock deep in a limestone cave some 20 km north of Vang Vieng – Lois and I, a German fellow-tourist, and our Lao guide. And we had switched off our head torches for a while to take in the awesome silence and stillness of the underworld.

I don’t think I have ever experienced such total darkness and silence. It was awesome. And, surprisingly, not at all oppressive. There was a certain peace and majesty in it – something that touched beyond time, beyond the frantic busyness of the world outside. We were perhaps half a kilometre deep in the mountain and all was still and unchanging. And yet, at the same time, it was changing – imperceptibly, gently, one water drop at a time – the stalactites were growing, changing, forming their wonderful, mysterious shapes in the darkness.

Our one day ‘Discover Vang Vieng’ excursion with Green Discovery was proving to be a good choice of activity – the ‘trekking’ was, in fact, a very gentle amble round to the caves and then past a Hmong Village. But that suited us well, as Lois was struggling with a nasty chest infection while I, unbeknown at the time, was brewing my own mystery fever. We visited three caves – one great tortuous cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites; a second smaller tunnel into the rock which apparently was used by local villagers to provide a route through to the other side of the outcrop and fresh fishing grounds; and a third, flooded cave which we entered in large rubber tubes. As we first got into them, the water, coming straight out of the cave, was cold. But we soon got used to it, and enjoyed the experience pulling ourselves along with a rope into the low-ceilinged darkness.

Outside, the sky was clear and blue as the sun beat down on dry, harvested rice paddies. Water buffaloes wallowed in mud patches, and villagers scooped water from irrigation channels onto their vegetable plots. A profusion of butterflies of exotic shapes and colours fluttered by. And ever over us, the limestone karst hills towered, carrying their own sense of mystery and grandeur.

After a half hour amble along a water course, we were picked up by our tuk tuk and transported to a launching place 10km up river from Vang Vieng. A gentle kayak down the Nam Song in the shade of the limestone hills brought us slowly back to the town. Ignoring the fleets of mad Korean tourists, shouting and splashing from their kayaks, and the riverside rave bars for the young Western backpackers as they went tubing down the river, we simply enjoyed our own leisurely pace, speeding in places over shallow rapids, then drifting slowly down in the deeper stretches, all the while taking in the beauty and peace of this land of serenity, to arrive an hour or two later beside the main bridge in Vang Vieng, pleasantly tired and ready for a refreshing iced tea and a shower.

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Laos: Adventures in a land of serenity II

Vientiane to Vang Vieng

 

It may not be big population-wise, but Vientiane does seem to spread out – its buildings sprawling out many kilometres along the road North to Vang Vieng. In true Asian style the shop fronts spilled out onto the streets with their varied merchandise of all manner of plastic goods, electrical goods, rattan goods, and textiles. And with vividly coloured Buddhas, elephants, storks and stupas with which to decorate your garden, office or temple.

The minibus was packed with tourists like us. And clearly not made with tall foreign site-seers in mind. So, sitting at the back we had only a limited view of the roadsides as we drove past. But they did gradually give way to more rural scenes of paddy fields, coconut palms and the occasional wallowing buffalo. After a quick lunch break (“we stop here 17 minutes”) of grilled pork and sticky rice, we left the flat Mekong plain and started to climb into the wooded hills of central Laos (our driver at this point told us all to put our seatbelts on (protection in case we didn’t manage to stay on the winding road?) The road here did become even worse with just short stretches of pot-holed tarmac interspersed with ungraded gravel and dust – I don’t think they were ever made to cope with the volume of traffic or the impact of each year’s rainy season. The little glimpses we caught of the scenery though were promising, and eventually after five hours and 157km we rolled into the backpackers’ Mecca of Vang Vieng.

A few years ago, the influx of young Western backpackers had brought Vang Vieng a very bad name, flooding the town with alcohol, drugs and low-quality hostels and bars. Safety standards were appalling and apparently several tourists died on the various adventure activities. The Wikipedia description of the town hardly paints an inspiring picture:

There are concerns that the town is in danger of losing its charm as it becomes full of tourists, mushroom shakes, and episodes of Friends, a US sitcom shown in many bars.[11] The New Zealand Herald wrote, “If teenagers ruled the world, it might resemble Vang Vieng”.[12] Safety measures for the tubing have been described as “non existent”. Tubing combined with heavy drinking has resulted in tourist drownings.[13] It was reported that 22 tourists died on the river in 2011. – Wikipedia

 

The authorities have worked hard to improve its image, so, while still heaving with backpackers and bars, it does have a certain charm, and nothing can really detract from the stunning beauty of the surrounding limestone mountains.

 

 

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Laos: Adventures in a land of serenity

I   Vientiane

 

Staying with Trim and Konnie and their children in their spacious high-ceilinged house tucked away down a little side street not far from the centre of town has provided a gentle introduction to Vientiane. In among the children’s activities and evenings catching up on family news, Lois and I have ventured out a couple of times on Trim and Konnie’s bikes to explore the city and the somnolent banks of the Mekong.

It is a bit like stepping back in time to the Phnom Penh I knew in the early 1990s (minus all the UNTAC Land Cruisers and blue-bereted peace keeping forces). The French influence seems even stronger here and the city comes across as a curious blend of French colonialism, democratic communism, animistic Buddhism, and 21st century backpacker tourism. The most striking and welcome side of this is the profusion of cafés serving wonderfully smooth Lao coffee with fresh-baked croissants or Vietnamese dumplings (whichever takes your fancy).

But what has most surprised me is how calm, gentle and clean the city is. It may be the only one of the world’s least developed countries situated in S.E. Asia, and still ranking very low on life expectancy and GDP, but there is very little in the way of overt poverty. Unlike so many Asian cities, Vientiane seems to have avoided the gross extremes of opulence and destitution dwelling side by side. We have not seen any areas of slum dwellings, no beggars have been wandering the streets or pestering us for change, no children tapping on your car windows as you wait at traffic lights. Is this socialism as it should work I wonder?

And, it seems too, to have avoided – so far – the frantic noisy chaos of cars, motorbikes pedestrians and trucks that characterise Bangkok, Delhi, Manila, or the technological efficiency and relentless drive of Hong Kong and Singapore. The residents may complain of the traffic, but it hs none of the clamour, noise and chaos of the rest of Asia.

So a gentle cycle ride beside the Mekong finishing off with a leisurely cappuccino makes for a wonderful way to spend a lazy afternoon.