Tag Archives: Laos

Vang Vieng

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Found that there is nothing much to see in Vientiane and I asked the hotel to refund the second night room charge. The lady said the hotel has to pay Agoda S$2.87 as I have booked 2 nights online. I paid for the fine and get back the balance S$10.98 to buy the bus ticket to Viang Vieng. I paid S$8.44 for a VIP bus but I guess there were not enough people to fill the bus and the 9 of us were directed to take the mini van. The journey from Vientiane to Vang Vieng is about 3.5 hours.  

Vang Vieng a lovely place and my 2 days of visit was worth every cent of it. The city is rather small but there are some adventurous things to do, like rafting in the river, tubing through the water cave, kayaking in the blue lagoon, taking hot air balloon ride, trekking into the dark caves, walking along the street with shops on both sides and others.

         

I got the day trip for tubing, kayaking, trekking and visiting the caves from a small travel agency set-up along the road. Later I realised that I should get the ticket from the organising company directly instead of from the hotel or the road side tour agent as they do mark-up the prices.

                                    

Luang Prabang 琅勃拉邦

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Days of wonders and nights of tales. I have learned a lot of the history, cultures, food, languages and the people of Cambodia and Laos during my travel. Seeing is believing. Experience touches the heart. Travelling is to gain knowledge that are unable to obtain from books.

   

The road to Luang Prabang was not that smooth. The driver stopped twice during the 6 hours journey. Eventually we reached the Northern bus station at about 4.15 am feeling pleasantly drowsy. We walked around the station trying to find a tuk tuk driver to take us to the city, at the same time trying to fight against the urge to sleep. I shared the tuk tuk ride with the 2 young Taiwanese girls, a European couple with each paying S$3.67.

        

I reached the Villa (a home that was converted into a hotel) at 4.55 am but the gate was locked. Though there were lights from the moon and stars, but the road was quiet and I couldn’t see anybody within the vicinity after the tuk tuk left. I got a bit uneasy and pressed the gate bell repeatedly for a few minutes. I also made noises at the gate. Out of nowhere a fat man appeared quietly from my behind and told me not to make so much noise. He spoke with a slow and low voice saying that the people in the house were sleeping.

                                 

Got to know that this fat helpful young housekeeper of the Villa. I could have woke him up (from he sleep in the small house opposite the Villa. He opened the gate and gave me the key to a room. I jumped into the king size bed and slept throughout till 10 am.