Vang Vieng: Jewel Blue Lagoons

Vang Vieng.

It has been awhile since I last posted and I’ve decided to revive this sleeping virtual space once again since life got in the way many moons ago.

A quick search on google shows you blue lagoons, party scenes, countryside, tubing and varies exhilarating activities. These depictions were accurately true. Years ago, I was still a young, carefree, wild, risky; life of a party solo-traveler. However, it was also a place were I made meaningful connections, of which many are still in contact with each other today.

I left for Vang Vieng from Vientiane around 10am on a local bus arriving the party-city veiled by the quaint countryside around 2pm. My thirst on a quest for adventure got me to renting a local e-bike for my discovery of Vang Vieng.

I was excited to be finally hitting the awesome photogenic spots in Vang Vieng promoted by instagram influencers. As fate would have it, I did not find myself dipping into the lagoons or tried tubing. Day one of my lagoon-venture got my bike tripping over the bridge. My right pinky got caught between the bike and the bridge thus cutting short my first day’s itinerary in Vang Vieng, only to find myself spending it in a local hospital tending to my injuries. It’s nice that I now have a little souvenir scar on my right pinky to tell this wild story. Haha

All this time, I kept thanking God who protected me throughout; my bike didn’t flip over the bridge, so no serious injuries or death thankfully. My new Egyption friend from the hostel took care of me the first day, he literally saved my life. Local healthcare was very basic and I did accidentally ingested Amoxicillin (an antibiotic), almost lost my life since I’m allergic to it – but that’s a story for another time. Do remind me not to pour any iodine on my open wounds ever again though. THAT SHIT HURTS.

Despite my bloody finger; I still had a blast with high spirits on my first night, enjoying live band performances, western dinner, cheap good beers and some raving at the local club till 2am.

The next day, I rented my own private Tuk Tuk and hit the 3 famous blue lagoons of Vang Vieng. Handicapped in my functional hand from a bloody finger, I even did the impossible and ascended a limestone cave above the second blue lagoon. Yes I know, I was amazing. But I was still pretty obedient and resisted diving into those gorgeous blue lagoons. I will let the pictures do the talking and share with you the marvelous blue lagoons and caves of Vang Vieng.

I spent the rest of my time getting a Laotian hair wash at a local salon for $3 because I cannot wash it myself due to those bloody fingers. The $3 local Laotian version of a Jamaica Blue coffee was a tad too delicious, I wanted a second cup afterwards.

I ended my moments in Vang Vieng with a 6 to 7 hours VIP sleeper night bus from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang, during which the toxicity from the Amoxicillin drug in me took full effect and I felt so sick when I arrived at Luang Prabang at 4am during the wee morning hours. The rest is history, and a story for another day. Till then!