Missing… Presumed Having A Good Time

VV 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.

A funny thing happened to me on the way to V V. I went to the local bus station to catch a public bus to V V, I suggest doing this, $2. The bus didn’t leave for another hour and already looked pretty crowded. It looked like the sort of bus that would have chickens on it. In the heat of the middle of the day, I decided to listen to a Tuk Tuk driver and let him take me to the VIP bus ticket place back in town near where i started. I bought a ticket for a VIP A/C bus, $6 and started to see the scam unfold in front of my eyes. They bus didn’t leave at 1:30 as promised, but picked me up from the ticket seller in a pickup truck around 1:40 and proceeded to drive all around town picking up other suckers. We actually stopped in front of my guesthouse at one point. We finally get to a different bus station after 2 and am told that we are waiting for other suckers until about 2:45. When we get on this shitty bus it has no A/C and the guy says that there’s something wrong with it. No shit Sherlock! It’s a 100 degrees in here. About 2 hours into our trip a loud sound of a tire delaminating fills the bus and we pull over to the side of the road. We have no spare so we have to wait for a bus from VV to come and get us. Not only do we wait, but when the bus does get there we have 2 wait some more until they fix the old bus. Guess what, the new bus also has some problems with the A/C too. Go figure! Finally, 8 hours after I leave on a 3 hour tour, I arrive in a strange little town after dark. I need a beer Lao, Now!

It’s strange. This is the second time I’ve paid extra for a bus to make sure it’s a nice one and this is the second time it’s broken down on me. (See Hoi An to Nha Trang post in Vietnam.)