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Vang Vieng

Table of Contents:
Culture and History / Travel to Vang Vieng, visa requirements / Get around / City tours / Shopping, Vang Vieng souvenirs / Good restaurants and cheap meals / Vang Vieng nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs. / Hotels, youth hostels, lodging / Get out

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Vang Vieng (also Vang Viang) is a tiny riverside town located in Laos.

Culture and History

Once no more than a bus changing station on the long haul between Vientiane at the Thai border and the World Heritage Site city of Luang Prabang, it has managed to become a destination of its own. There still isn't more to the town than three streets and a bus station, the attractions comprising the nearby river (on which there is a rope swing), laid back countryside and cave-filled rock formations. However, the backpacker scene is so enthusiastic that many people stay for nearly a week and consider it the highlight of their trip.

There is one ATM that takes Mastercard and Plus cards. Otherwise you can take money out at one of the banks with a Visa card, make sure you have your passport ready and if it's not a recognised instituition they won't let you take money out.

Travel to Vang Vieng, visa requirements

Vang Vieng is at the halfway point on the bus ride from Vientiane to Luang Prabang - about 6-8 hours (road and bus conditions permitting) from Luang Prabang.

The ride to Vientiane takes about 3-4 hours. Local buses to Vientiane leave bright and early between 5-7 AM and cost a fixed 20,000 kip; you can also try to share a tuk-tuk for slightly more. Less crowded and more humanely timed tourist buses leave at 10:00 am and 1:30 pm (in theory -- they tend to wait until full before departing) and cost 4$. A minibus leaves at 9 am and costs $5. Tickets can be bought in almost every guesthouse in the city (for a $1 commission).

Get around

Don't listen to any of the touts offering cyclo or taxi rides from the bus station into town. It's a 5 minutes walk to the center of town (and about a 2 minute walk out the other side).

Your only other transportation option is on one of the day or overnight trips down the river by inner tube or kayak. Packages from one of the tourist shops include a van ride back to town. On the smaller scale, locals will rent you an inner tube (read: old tractor tire) and pick you up on their motorbike...

City tours

Lao-style steam sauna
Movies shown at a few restaurants
Walk out to the nearby caves
Lay by the river on plastic mats and drink Beer Lao
Tubing down the river. $3.50 includes ride to start point. Dry bag $1. Some dry bags may not be of the best quality, often digital cameras get ruined by faulty dry bags rented to tourists, so beware and if in doubt, don't bring your camera. Many beer and other pitstops along the way. Also, try the diving stop.
Kayaking the river.
Playing on the swing down the river. Please be careful - people frequently suffer permanent hearing damage and perforated eardrums from falling the wrong way. The local hospital is not equipped to diagnose or treat this injury - Vientiane has the closest (if spartan) ENT facility but no English speaking specialists, so you may have to head all the way to Bangkok for treatment.
Go to an empty restaurant and get drunk on lao lao with the hosts.
3 km north of Vang Vieng, where the main tubing run commences, there's an organic farm. Here you can escape the town's derge, teach knowledge to village kids, build adobe buildings, learn/teach farming, eat some good quality food and stay a night, a week, a year...

Shopping, Vang Vieng souvenirs

There is one government office where you can change traveler's checks and that's about it. Locals will accept Thai baht or US dollars. There's a Lao Development Bank where you can change money at a good rate and get cash advances.

Good restaurants and cheap meals

All your basic backpacker fare and a few local dishes. See the article on Laos for more about local food. There are numerous places specialising in pizza, which is fresh but often of indifferent quality: the Enjoy Restaurant makes very good ones. Many will frown this type of activity, but many restaurants along the main road also offer special shakes and pizzas of various sorts, just be careful!

Vang Vieng nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.

The newly instituted killer pool competition at the Xaliph cafe bar finishes at about midnight, then the tendency is to migrate down to the Island Bar (really several places on a bridge across the river) offering bonfires and beer.
Nearly all bars screen movies during the evening (mostly episodes of friends). Buy dinner, stay for the movie and order a milkshake.
Be prepared to listen to a lot of Bob Marley, (It seems someone in the village went and bought the complete Friends box set and Bob Marley Legend and burnt copies of them for the entire town!)
Hang out on the river. Play some cards. Some places will build small bonfires.
Some bars near the river have DJs or at least loud music and an outdoor dancefloor. This is the scene for people looking for a more rawkus time.

Hotels, youth hostels, lodging

Double rooms go for $1-$5, make sure you see the room (and bathroom!) before paying. More local, low-key (which is pretty low-key in Vang Viang to start with) places are by the market and more shiny set ups are on the main road. The party crowd tend to advocate choosing a bungalow on the island, but expect it to be quite noisy if you want to sleep during the night.

Most guesthouses have large tv-viewing areas, practically coated in the Southeast Asia signature triangular cushions, where they serve food. But be forewarned - you'll be hard pressed to find a place screening something other than Friends.

Babylon Guest House, [1]. In the centre of town at the start of the main bar street. Clear and comfortable with hot showers, views from every room and English speaking staff.

Phoudingdeang Organic farm (3km north of Vang Vieng). Peaceful & serene, an employer of orphans, mountain views. short term simple rooms. Long term residence in adobe houses.