Now that I knew I needed to head back south, coupled with the fact that I hadn’t wanted to leave the first time, I decided to go back to Vang Vieng again. I booked my same hostel, told some friends who were still there to expect me, and eagerly got on the bus to go back.
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The ride to get there was SUPER interesting. There were some low clouds stuck in the valleys we passed through, and it made for really interesting scenery.
I also saw this poorly-worded sign in the bathroom at our pee break. It sounds like I’m supposed to protect germs…
As soon as I arrived at the hostel, I messaged my friends to say that I was there and got a response that they were down the road on their way to go tubing and that they would wait for me. I didn’t even finish checking in; I dropped my bags, changed, and headed down the road to join up.
Tubing is fun and relaxing, so I was excited to go again. At the first stop, I ran into the Dutch girl from my hostel in Luang Prabang, and that was fun. Friendly faces make for good times.
I spent more time eating at Victor’s (where they show Family Guy) and found a favorite sandwich cart (where the lady memorized my order and would ask me “same same?” to see if I was ordering something different).
The big news at the hostel was that the mama dog, who was pregnant when I’d left, had given birth to puppies. Who doesn’t love puppies? Here’s Dodo, the proud father. By “proud,” I mean that he completely ignored the puppies at all times.
On day 3, I paid $2 to swim at the pool at a fancy hotel in town, with one of the other people from our hostel. We had the place to ourselves, and it was both fun & really refreshing. We did this, instead of taking the “hot ail balloon,” which sounds like being really sick in a warm place…
My last night in town, there was a “jungle party,” which was basically a DJ and a bar outside town, with lots of dancing (including in the rain, which came down for a bit). I ran into a bunch of people I recognized from Luang Prabang, made more friends, and stayed out dancing until after 3am at the jungle party.
I really like the laid-back, everyone-knows-everyone feeling in Vang Vieng. This visit wasn’t exceptionally different than the previous one, I didn’t do anything earth-shattering, but I enjoyed my time a lot, even when it was just having lunch with new friends.
Plus, how could you not like this view from outside the hostel?
After 4 days, it was time to begin my journey toward the Bangkok airport, in order to fly to Myanmar. I didn’t want to do it all in one chunk, so I took the bus to Vientiane with 3 other people from the hostel.
Before getting on the bus, I went and bought a sandwich to take with me, and the lady was sad to hear that I was leaving. She gave me a bunch of bananas to share with my friends on the bus and said to “come back next year.” How sweet.
Vang Vieng will always be in my heart.
Next post: Vientiane, round 2 – it’s better this time.
