Vang Vien
Thursday, October 5th, 2006VV is an interesting place that seems somewhat out of time. It’s what I sorta imagine the old West in America would have looked like back in the days of gunslingers only without the sheriff element. There are no guns here, but the building progress is everyday in the streets. New places are going up everyday. The town seems to be in a constant state of construction. Existing places are adding on new additions or changing the existing configuration. There are many bars and restaurants all over the town that seem to serve pretty much the same food. The only difference is whether they have: Friends, Simpsons, Family Guy or some movie on TV. The Laotian people as a whole are very friendly and generally very nice and welcoming. This town is not exactly typical of Lao tho. It’s more of a small village that has grown into a backpacker haven. The Nam Song River is relatively clean and the town is set amongst picturesque rock formations 
sorta like Guilin or Halong Bay if you’ve been there. On clear sunny days, the views are spectacular. 
They’ve set up an area on the river where the current is swift, but managable with an inner tube. For $3.50 they take u 3Km up the river to a drop in spot and let u loose into the current. Along the way, there are bars set up that will throw you a rope to drag u in from the current. It’s truly a beautiful sight. One bar we stopped at had a huge swing that was about 50ft high (15M). Man that can be painful if u hit the water the wrong way from that high. Ouch! Nothing like a Nam Song Enima. I’ve spent many days lazing by and on the river. It’s great right now in the first week of October just before the boat races because you get to see all the teams practicing along the river. 
All in all a pretty chill place. I was going to leave today, but I found a 24 hour bar, Smile Bar/Island Bar, and didn’t manage to get up in time for a bus to Luang Prabang.
Kane