Vientiane - Vang Vieng ( Day 9 19-Feb-2010)

It's day 9 of our 12 days of fast & furious TransIndohina trip 2010. Today we are heading north to the paradise town of Vang Vieng. This town gained it's popularity in recent years when backpackers & tourist started to flop in to this sleepy & quiet town. Most people come to Vang Vieng for outdoor activities such as kayaking, caving, tubing, hill trekking and so on! However this town gained it's notoriety for being a heaven for drug abuse! Bear in mind any drugs related crime in Laos carried a mandatory death sentence is you are found guilty! 

It took us roughly 4 hours to reach Vang Vieng from Vientiane by this so called VIP Hyundai made bus!! There is a slight delay in our journey......due to the fact that our bus run down a Laotian woman when we passed by a small village! Eventually the bus turn into an ambulance and speeding all the way to hospital in Vang Vieng.....hopefully the woman is all right and healthy by now!

We have pre booked our hotel at Thavounsok but we are one day late when we are forced to overnight at Udon Thani, Thailand. so our room is not available anymore. We manage to find a room at a resort next door....."Villa Nam Song"! The reason why we wanted to stay here is because of the magnificent view of the red cliff and the Nam Song river. However that's a price to pay for everything.....the room for 3 cost us a whopping USD70 per night inclusive of breakfast! I told myself after 8 days of tiring journey...it's time to reward ourself with some luxury & comfort. 

Villa Nam Song triple room

Why we really paid USD70 per night for this room? The view form this resort is excellent & for me its majestic! look how's the view from the resort's restaurant & garden:-

The red cliff of Vang Vieng

The Nam Song River early morning

Nam Song river in the evening

Remarks:- These are some of my favorite's photo snapped in Vang Vieng. If time permitted in the future, I would love to be back here again....laid back, relaxing & peace of mind. We only manage to stay overnight here but if you have the luxury of time I would say a 3 days 2 nights itinerary will be great! We are late for the tubing by the time we are here....even said so.....looking at the Nam Song river itself....really completed our day!