Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng

You know the drill, nice breakfast blah blah blah. Yesterday, we booked a buggy for 2 hours for no other reason than they looked awesome and I wanted to do some fun driving. We get picked up around 10am and taken to a yard where there were a few buggies parked up. We get given the keys to a small 2 seater buggy and told to head in a direction and go. Honestly, when we booked it, we thought it was more of a guided buggy tour where they show you some fun spots to drive like an idiot but I guess not. Also, we were meant to be given goggles and dry bags but we were given a rickety buggy with only 1 seat belt but that didn't stop me from having a good time. We set out towards a circuit through around the mountains where most the lagoons and viewpoints were, still not really sure what or where we were meant to be doing or going. We passed some other buggies who had the full set up, along with some race car style seat belts but oh well, gotta make the most of the 2 hours we have.

The acceleration wasn't very good as it was a weird combo of a semi automatic gear stick but worked like an automatic which was really confusing but I eventually got used to it. Plus, the brakes were really shitty and sometimes the accelerator pedal got stuck down. But other than that, it was as good as new! I got my first opportunity to drift around a gravel road corner which felt super bad ass but Michelle wasn't a fan so I had to tone it down a bit. We got to a bridge where there was an alternative path down through a shallow river for heavy vehicles and I knew immediately what I wanted to do. I turned around and prepared myself to head down the slope, through the river, and back up the other side. We got absolutely soaked but for me it was worth it as that felt awesome. Michelle didn't close her dry bag though, so all of her stuff as well as my stuff got pretty wet. After delicately placing my wet paper money in a plastic bag, I handed my stuff to Michelle and whilst she stood outside, I went for round 2 through the river. Somehow, I got even more wet the 2nd time but still, was well worth it. Afterwards, we headed to Lagoon 2 to meet up with Kasper and Rasmus who were chilling on some loungers. We didn't have much time so I quickly went for a swim then jumped off a big platform into the Lagoon.

The lagoons are absolutely awesome as they're super clean, super blue, and super deep which allow you to do some fun stuff into the water. Unfortunately, we had to rush off as we needed to return our buggy. With no time for tomfoolery, we got our buggy back to the yard with 1 minute to spare then had to wait around for 15 minutes to be picked up and taken back to our hostel. Luckily, the open air of the buggy had pretty much dried me off but we asked if we could sit in the bed of the truck on the drive back which was a goal of mine in Laos and I'm very happy I did because it felt awesome.

When we got back, we changed into some drier clothes, as well as lying out all my money and passport to dry, before I gave a bunch of clothes to be washed, then we headed back to the same place as yesterday for some lunch as it was really good the day before. Afterwards, we rented a scooter and we still wanted to see some more lagoons and go to a viewpoint for sunset. Due to my timeline, I could only spend 1 full day in Vang Vieng which is a shame as I would have loved to spend more time exploring the lagoons and viewpoints without having to rush around.

We headed along the highway to Lagoon 4, meant to be out of the way and not very busy, though Lagoon 2 was pretty much empty earlier. The road was super weird to drive on as I'm pretty sure it was half melting in the heat but other than that, it was a super bumpy and not very comfortable ride. The track to the lagoon was even worse than the road and we managed to take the long way around but eventually we got there and it was surprisingly pretty busy. Not wanting to waste time, I changed into my signature LIDL swim shorts and jumped straight in. This lagoon was cool as it has a zip line into the water, as well as a rope swing, a falling apart wooden jumping platform, and a bunch of inflatable rubber tubes to float in.

I did my fair share of zip lines and rope swings but one thing I've learnt is that I absolutely cannot do a flip from a swing and it really hurts when you slap down on the water on your neck or back - which I did repeatedly. Other than the pain, it was an awesome time, and again I wish we had more time but we had to drive 40 minutes to the viewpoint and make it up in time for sunset. We left quite late (my fault) so had less than ideal time to make it up the viewpoint in time for sunset. Our plan was to meet Kasper and Rasmus there but even us being 15 minutes late, they still weren't there so we started making our way the short but steep climb. All of a sudden Rasmus ran up and caught us up, saying he was late because an ATM swallowed his card and Kasper couldn't make it as he was feeling sick. We made it to the top in time to get our pictures on the in situ motorbike with the sunset in the background before the sun fell behind a cloud.

We got to chill for a little bit at the top, but didn't want to walk down in the dark so made our way down, with me playing a game of the floor is lava and trying to climb down as much bamboo hand rails as I could before I ran out of bamboo to climb on. We drove back to town in the dark, accidently driving the long way as I was driving the same way that I drove the buggy back but eventually we got back and had time to chill for a bit before meeting up with Rasmus and Kasper for dinner.

We went to a seemingly nice restaurant that was riverside and had a nice candlelit vibe to the tables. Apparently they were known for their pizzas but I instead ordered some Lao food which was pretty horrible so I ended up ordering a pizza anyways which was decent but definitely not the best pizza I've had. With no time to go anywhere for dessert as everywhere seemed closed, I had to go without and head to bed instead.Read more