It’s time to explore western part of Laos. In this video we will travel from Huay Xai all the way to Vang Vieng: beautiful trip with a lot of stunning views and adventures.
First section: boat trip from Huay Xai to Pak Beng. The trip takes approximately 6 hours and it’s a really nice and relaxing cruise. Mekong has a strong current, so the boats are moving even faster. There is a lot of traffic on the water and you can feet the racing spirit between the captains. So you would need to be really skilled to race in these conditions. Most of the passengers are tourists as one way ticket costs 20 euro. It’s almost a meditational ride as there is not much you can do apart of observing nature and life on the river. It’s almost like a full day tour and we even saw some elephants on the way!
From Pak Beng we decided to drive to Vang Vieng instead of taking a boat and we are quite happy about our decision. There were really nice mountains and scenic roads. Sunny weather helped to enjoy Our ride as well; our motorcycle wasn’t happy that much. Due to steep roads, our engine was overheating and we needed to wait until we could restart it. Probably Chinese version of our bike is not designed for extended trips on steep Laos roads. It’s not just our bike that was suffering on the hilly roads of Laos but trucks were having a hard time there as well so very often you will see their rocky "handbreaks" left behind on the road.
It takes a bit of time to drive to Vang Vieng, so we planned to split the trip in 2 days with an overnight stop in provincial capital Xayaboury. Here surrounding areas are largely unpopulated due to a rugged terrain that's dominated by Laos' largest elephant population. Even if it’s not very touristy, you can still find things to do in the area.
By the time of New Year’s celebrations we arrived to Vang Vieng. Our first stop was at the most popular attraction of Vang Vieng. Blue Lagoon 1. You can say even from the entrance gate that it is going to be very commercial and touristy, especially during the holiday period. At the Blue Lagoon you can also visit Tham Poukham or Cave of the Golden Crab. It was a bit frustrating to climb all the way and find overcrowded first chamber of the cave but then we moved further away and our opinion changed. Don't forget to bring a torch with you, or can rent one as well and be ready to sweat a lot
There are several attractions in the area and you might need several day to check them all. We decided to give a try to tubing, that is much more relaxing experience nowadays that is used to be even 10 years ago. Everything changed because of too many fatalities related to alcohol and drug abuse in the past. Probably for a lot of youngsters it’s gonna be quite boring experience.
Sadly the year is officially over but luckily new year with new opportunities and new adventures just arrived. See you in the next video!