Vang Vieng

The drive to Vang Vieng was the normal mad, no regard for road rules affair. At one stage the driver overtaking on a blind corner took his hands off the wheel to pray – I burst out laughing, no one else on the bus had seen it so thought I was a bit mad…

In a lot of countries, you just have to accept your fate on the road and enjoy the crazy manoeuvres of the not really law-abiding citizens!

Nick and I met up in Vang Vieng and started exploring the sights together. We took the famous Vang Vieng booze tube cruise down the river, not the mayhem of yesteryear but lovely to float down the river grab a beer along the way chat to some really fun people from the U.K.

We hired scooters the day before so we could hit the road at sunrise (a little grumble from Nick on the early start – he forgave me…).

First stop was the Blue Lagoon, we knew it was supposed to be a little over exaggerated as to its beauty but wanted to have a look anyway. The water was blue but not much else going for it. As we were there at 7.30am we had the place to ourselves. The best part was the drive there, beautiful mountains, hot air balloons, mist sitting low in the valleys – so pretty.

Next, we decide to go further out of town and visit a waterfall and do a big loop. Stunning scenery on the way to the waterfall, dirt gravelly roads, got a bit challenging at times for me – but fun. After the waterfall, we started riding on some very steep

After the waterfall, we started riding on some very steep stoney roads, we got lost and were really pushing my riding ability. Nick gave me a few pointers riding off road – who knew to not look immediately in front of you but where you want to go – made it a lot easier!!! When we found the right road, we drove up and down through the mountains on really steep rocky roads. If the scenery wasn’t some of the most magnificent I had driven through it might have been really scary, but I was laughing out loud with the exhilaration and the beauty of what we were doing – was on a big high afterwards.

We decided to drive further out to look at the views – the mountains covered in different coloured trees and vegetation loom over the roads you feel so small but so connected with this beautiful land, every corner reveals another breathtaking sight.

We got eventually got back to town, tired, sunburnt, very happy with the world and what we were able to accomplish off roads on our little scooters!

After the ride, I went for a Lao massage to try and make the next day less painful. The massage therapist saw all my bruises and scars from my scooter mishaps in Bagan and started telling me off – not quite what I was expecting, maybe women are a bit more lady like over here!