It was so wonderful to be in the capital and it seemed so beautiful in the centre at night... mostly because it was the first industrialized city we'd seen in over 3 weeks and I really really wanted a cheeseburger!
Food was really the only noteworthy aspect of Vientiane. It was nice to have access to (good) Western food again because one really does get sick of rice and noodles when it's all that's available! We also found the very popular Scandinavian Bakery full of tourists and pastries and chocolate and baked goods and actual coffee. Pretty much all coffee you get is instant so Brock was pleased to have real brewed coffee for only the third time this whole trip!
We stayed in Vientiane for 4 days and it was alright except that it was ridiculously expensive compared to everywhere else we'd been so when you're used to paying $4 a night for accommodation and most places demand about $12, it hurts a little. But I did get my fill of chocolate and cheeseburgers so all is right with the world again!
We then found ourselves in a delightful town called Vang Vieng and found a great little bungalow with a river view. The only stupid thing is that our place was on the opposite side of the river than the town and you have to pay a toll everytime you cross the bridge. Now, I full support tolls, but come on, it was a dubious looking suspension bridge made of bamboo and twine and every plank was loose, so why the hell should I pay for the upkeep and maintenance of something that won't receive any upkeep or maintenance and will probably actually be the cause of my untimely and, undoubtedly, tragic death?
The silly fees really annoy me, only because I know that nothing is being done with the money other than feeding government coffers. It's gotten so that you can't even climb a hill without paying a flippin' dollar. Again, I'm more than happy to pay for something that I benefit from or at least to pay to prevent the locals from suffering or being exploited in the name of tourism... but nobody really benefits because none of the "parkland" is maintained and I've seen zero evidence of environmental protection policies. So it's really frusterating to pay to see natural wonders that are filled with garbage.
My theory is that most people come from small villages or secluded communities and either moved to the cities or cities were built around them and they never made any real transitions. In the jungle, it's okay to toss things wherever you want because everything is organic and the attitude is: "from the Earth - to the Earth," but they don't understand that they can't use that attitude with plastic, tin, and styrofoam. Some places are so ugly because there is just garbage everywhere and no initiative to educate people on ecology or environmental degradation. Pisses me off.
Vang Vieng was fun though! There's a large river that runs aside it called the Nam Song and the biggest attraction it holds is tubing! You just sit in an inner tube and float down the river. We had heard a lot of horror stories about how it's always packed with young travelers that get hammered and do stupid crazy things, but we were lucky and it was completely quiet when we went. The first stretch is loaded with bars on the river banks and the employees whistle to you and try to reel you into their bars by tossing empty Sprite bottles tied with rope at you.
All the bars also offer death traps for free! There are slides and swings and zip lines to play on... but I didn't even consider it. You see a business called the Tubing Company Ltd. was given a government sponsored monopoly on the use of the river... that's right. It means no one else is allowed to make money by providing entertainment on the river, one couldn't even bring their own tube to use, you have to go through the Tubing Company.
Private bars are allowed though, and like all groups of uneducated, untrained entrepreneurs... there comes an overabundance of one business type: bars. How, you ask, are all the clubs/pubs supposed to attract customers amidst a sea of like businesses? They let you use all their crazy apparatus's in the hopes that you'll stick around and buy liquor. AND since they don't charge for the use of their playground equipment, they don't have to abide by any standards of service or safety. Hence, deathtrap.
Someone actually did die a few weeks ago. We, however, had a swell time and only stopped in one bar for a small beer and then continued on our merry way.
A strange thing about Vang Vieng is the outrageous amount of video restaurants. I think 1 in 4 restaurants had tv's set up to play back to back episodes of the Friends or Family Guy. It was cool at first because we haven't watched much TV, but when you've finished your meal and realize you've been staring at the tv for an extra hour it freaks you out a bit. Haha funny to see all these catatonic tourists gazing at televisions for hours.
What else? We rented a small scooter to go check out the other sights, but halfway into it I stupidly got heatstroke and effectively ended the day. I say "stupidly" because I was fully hydrated (I'd had an Oreo milkshake, that counts) and I've been in over +35 degree weather for 14 weeks now. I shouldn't get heatstroke, but I did and it sucked and later that day Brock's hammock broke and he bruised his tailbone and it was not a good day.
Haha who gets greviously injured by a hammock? Brock, that's who. Poor thing, but I don't think he was really hurt, though he never complains so I can't be sure... he just had an extra glass of whiskey and that was that.
