Yippee was finally back on the road again doing what I enjoy most – Traveling!! But was really fukin disappointed with traveling & seeing most of the center of Laos which was fukin boring!

Hell when left Luang Prabang it was with mixed emotions cuz it seemed when I left on my own that it was kind of like the end of our friendship!! But hell would find out later as time will tell but we didn’t travel together after Luang Prabang which kind of sucked! But think maybe a lot of that was my fault as my pride and stubbornness was party the problem!!!

The bus left Luang Prabang down highway 13 which connected Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and Vientiane in the south! But I took it only to Vang Vieng as it was 7 long hours down highway 13 which is asphalt and in relatively good shape during dry season all the way to Vientiane. But, it is long, bumpy, and winding road trip. The road resembles a lunar landscape and there are endless potholes due to poor quality surface, the top layer eroded to reveal the gravel under layer, which causes a bumpy ride. Though there have been incidents of violence along this stretch of road in the past, although at present it is safe!

Many of us who have traveled around South East Asia have heard about tubing, an activity that dominates Vang Vieng and its visitors. Originally opened up by hedonistic backpackers, the atmosphere of the town itself is one of lethargy by day and debauchery by night: tourists sprawl out in the pillow-filled restaurants, termed "TV Bars", watching re-runs of US sitcoms, Friends and Family Guy episodes until the sun goes down, and then party heavily until the early hours. But fuk that wasn’t my style and it just reminded me of an drunken University town!

While a couple of kilometers up the river flowing thru the town, there was pulsating music, drinking games and drug-fuelled debauchery of the increasingly lively riverside "tubing" bars starts at lunch-time. NOTE: That there we signs for peep to be aware that roughly one tourist dies every month while jumping or tubing. Several more get severe injuries - every month, as there are many sharp rocks not visible under the water in many places along the river.So peep are told not to jump at all if you are drunk. It's very difficult to always predict where you will land in the water while jumping and there are almost always some rocks nearby!  

U can rent the tubes to float down the river and organize transportation up the river a few miles. Most peep go from around noon to 2 pm which is the best times to go because any earlier & fuk everyone would be still asleep. U get to look at the magnificent view of the mountains rising directly beside the river. U also see a lot of beer and other pit stops along the way. Also they encourage peep to try the diving stop and the swing if you deem it safe - and before drinking.             

But guess what really surprised me was that Laos had a closing time of 10 pm for all bars and restaurants! But hell Vang Vieng could have established itself as the exception to the rule that Laos doesn't have nightlife! Cuz it does have the potential as a base for adventure tourism to attract a few more sedate foreign sightseers. However, it can be considered a noisy "back-packer hell" and so those wishing to avoid noisy, selfish teenagers away from their parents for the first time! So f*ck instead these more sedate foreign sightseers some time seek something Laotian would do as well to either use Vang Vieng only as a base to explore the surrounding countryside or avoid it all together.

But FOUND I REALLY DISLIKED VANG VIENG as only stayed there about 2 days! Hell Vang Vieng is so small that I walked around as everything is easily reachable by foot so just walked around town and outside town along the river and to some caves called Tham Poukham - Blue Lagoon, which is 7 km west from town as maps are provided where you can rent bicycles but fuk had all day so just walked as was open 8 am -6 pm. As I kept to the main road & was OK. Found a spring fed a lagoon at the bottom of "Golden Cave"! It’s a nice place to relax, swim and play on the rope swing. The water is inhabited with a few hundred carp that will eat locally sold fish food out of your hand. The cave above requires a modest 100 m climb up a makeshift bamboo ladder. Once inside, there is a short walk to the Sleeping Golden Buddha and glimmering stalactites about 300 m further inside. 10,000 kip entry and 10,000 kip to rent a head-lamp, mandatory if you go deeper into the cave than the Buddha! Guides for the cave were advertised for 50,000 kip but was probably negotiable. But Guides were recommended to find the best way to climb through the cave as it can be quite difficult.

But fuk after 2 days I realized just how much I disliked Vang Vieng and especially the young peep who hang out there! Hell they’re a bunch of mostly young drunken English & Europeans prob away from home for the first time thinking that they were backpacking but fuk tho they may carry a back pack around they are far from being Backpackers! Hell I hate to be labeled a Backpackers cuz to me it’s similar to being a fukin drunk party person which I dislike with a passion!!

Well I finally got fufed up & decided to leave that fukin God forsaken shit hole! But first had to decide where I wanted to go??? I definitely didn’t want to go to Vietiane (the capital of Laos) so decided I’d go to southern Laos instead to Tha Khaek! Then could go to the Tham Nong Pafa Cave in Khammouan Province of Central Laos which is reputed to be awesome! It a popular base for exploring the Phou Hin Boun National Park including the famous Konglor Cave. It was also a popular base for exploring the Phou Hin Boun National Park including the famous Konglor Cave!

So bought a ticket from Viet Vieng to Tha Khaek with stop over for a bus change in Vietiane! Then another bus from Vietiane to Tha Khaek! The entire trip prob took about 12 hrs in total! Of course the trip was on a bloody full bus and which  dropped us off on some street instead of a bus station in Vietiane (after about 5 hrs) where we had to wait for 30 mins for a bus to take us to Tha Khaek which took another 7 hrs & 60'000 kip! But fuk we go to Tha Khaek about midnight to realize didn’t know anything about this shitty little town! Hell all the other foreigners who got off the bus with me were it seemed from Austrian! Hell most of them only seemed to speak German!! There was one Austrian chick who spoke pretty good English! But at least they didn’t mind me sharing a tuk tuk to find a guesthouse for the night as it was about midnight! Well we finally found a guesthouse but had to find someone to let us know if any rooms were empty then we found out that there were only 2 empty! Well some of the Austrians took one room so the Austrian chick who could speak English was traveling alone and was willing to share a room with me to get a room & to save some $!!! Funny thing was I didn’t even know her name but wtf never saw or spoke to her after that night sharing a room in that shitty little town!

Hell the next morning had to really search for a place to eat as the town was a real shit hole! But had kinda decided that shit the hell with checking out the touristy caves cuz seen one cave (already check out one in Viet Vieng) well seen them all! So decided that would skip the caves here and go on to Pakse considered the gateway to the Wat Phu ruins and the "Four Thousand Islands" (Si Phan Don)!