Vang Vieng truly has magnificent mountains! I call them Suessian mountains: they are cliffs with funny round tops. Covered in bright green and pop out of nowhere! They totally belong in a Dr. Suess book.
(This is the view from the cheapo restaurant where we frequently ate. Awesome.)
Nestled in the suessian mountains are dramatic limestone caves, dusty villages, and natural mineral springs. Since we were still recovering from our rollercoaster of a drive to this city, we decided to take transportation into our own hands and cycle a 28 km loop which gave great views and easy access to caves.
It sounds like a great idea, huh. Well, that's what we (austin, Steph, and Germans) thought too...
The views were truly magnificent and the villages quaint. Little kids loooove to stare at Austin's beard and practice their English greetings, so they would run after our bikes or stop dead in the road and stare. The kiddos are one of my favorite things about south east Asia, and they are everywhere! At all hours!!
So the problem with our adventure was the duration and terrain. No hills, just a road full or rocks! Not gravel, not sand, large pebbles and small boulders that keep your bum off your seat until you develop blisters or loose your footing, then they abuse the undercarriage of your chassis relentlessly and ceaselessly for 15 more km. This leaves you, ok it was me, crying by the side of the road. I couldn't sit normal for two days!! Never do the full cycling adventure. Just take bikes to the blue lagoon and cave, the highlight of vieng Vang.
The mineral-filled water is deep aqua and freezing! This is mecca for the dude-bros and backpackers but is still worth going to. Austin and Philipp jumped into the lagoon from high trees and swung in from rope swings. I "iced' in the arctic waters.
We expected the cave at such a touristy location to be lame. However, this one delivered! Too cheap to rent the 'mandatory' flashlights, Austin and I just stayed real close to our pals while exploring the cave. Almost a really stupid idea: it was full of chasms, drops, low hanging formations, and worst of all, gargantuan spiders!!
Philipp was the worst person to entrust with the flashlight. He'd scuttle off to some corner and leave the three of us clinging to a dripping stalactite. In our flip flops, per usual!
The cave was enormous, and we spent over an hour exploring its depths. Honestly, I was just trying to avoid the inevitable bike ride back! Oh the horror.
Your poor butt! :( That cave sounds awesome, though, and so do those waterfalls you wrote about in the last post! I can't wait to see pictures of those.
ReplyDeleteDid you remember to shake out Austin' beard for spiders afterwards?
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