This morning we took a big bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng. It was a comfortable ride through the main highway. Not so much of the highway we imagined we know. The Highway has single lanes on both sides with houses very close to the road. No pedestrian walk or road divider. The padi field has already been harvested. The bulls and cows grazed lazily in the hot day sun.
The bus arrived in Vang Vieng after 4 hours drive with a break half way through the journey. The bus arrived in the centre of town. Passengers disembark and have no choice but to pull whatever baggage along the dusty and narrow road to their accommodation. There is no taxi waiting at the bus station.
The roads are line with souvenirs and eateries and tour agencies mainly to cater for the tourists.
There are plenty of accommodations in Vang Vieng, backpacker’s hotel, guest houses and small hotels. We stayed and Mountainside Resort Boutique Hotel. The accommodation is decent but the internet is excruciatingly slow and intermittent
VANG VIENG
The small town of Vang Vieng is located 150 kilometers north of the Vientiane Capital. This is a place of a dreamlike landscape of bizarre limestone mountain peaks and scenic cliffs with the Nam Song (Song River) bisecting the town. At the base of the town’s limestone mountains are a network of caves. There are a variety of well-developed tourism services in Vang Vieng and a wide range of accommodations. Water sports such as kayaking and tubing are popular and rock climbing is also a growing pastime. Vang Vieng also offer some peaceful places like several 16th and 17th century monasteries and the small Hmong villages.
Just off route 13 north are two of Vientiane Province’s well known attractions: a small man-made reservoir known as Nong Nok near Ban Sivilay which is a great bird watching site; and the ancient Vang Xang Buddha images and sculptures that are carved into the side of sandstone escarpment.
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