From Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng
Train to Vang Vieng
I hate packing. The older I get, the more I hate packing. I am sad to say goodbye to Luang Prabang. 
It is a thirty minute taxi ride to the train station. The train is a bit of an anomaly. Much of Laos is very rural and poor. The train is a modern high speed system built by China. You would think you were getting on the TGV in France or bullet train in Japan. The train travels at 160 km/h and in an hour we arrive in Vang Vieng. Our tickets for the ride are 26 CAD each.
Upon arrival, everyone gets out of the train station and disperses into one of dozens of mini buses. It is rather confusing, but we are told to take the green bus which drops us off in front of our hotel for the cost of 2.70 CAD each.
Getting our Bearings in the Heat
It is sunny and really hot…30°. Thank goodness, our hotel has a really nice pool. 
We head to a nearby restaurant with a view that serves healthy food for lunch. I choose a Buddha bowl with tofu and pineapple kombucha. Yum.
It’s now getting close to 35°. We decide to explore the town…however, I keep fantasizing about the hotel pool. I notice 
many of the locals wearing jackets, pants, some even in sweat pants??!!??!
I am unlikely to run into anyone I know here. I contemplate stripping down to my undies before remembering running into a long lost friend at Macchu Picchu or being on the same Thailand Elephant tour with people from John’s work. Not worth the risk…or is it?
Vang Vieng is not as pretty a town as Luang Prabang. It also has a backpackers party reputation with lots of youthful tourists. It’s most famous activity is “tipsy tubing” in which you float down the river on inner tubes 
while stopping at numerous riverside bars. However the countryside has lush mountains and valleys that are very picturesque offering lots of other things to do than just tipsy tubing.
In November 2024 Vang Vieng was in the news due to the deaths of six tourists who died from drinking alcohol tainted with methanol. Yep, no tipsy tubing for John and I.
While exploring, we cross a rough, long bamboo walking bridge to the other side of Nam Song River. This part of the town is lined with resort hotels. Lots of people are kayaking on the river.
We check out a small temple and head back to the hotel for a break from the heat and a dip in the pool until it cools down a bit.
Balloons at Sunset
In a couple hours the temperature drops and it’s much more manageable. We head over to the PullMind Cafe/Bar to watch the sunset. Lots of people have had the same idea. The view on the terrace is gorgeous. Suddenly I am in shadow. I look up and there is a brightly coloured balloon floating above in the late afternoon sun. In a short time, there are as many as five balloons in the sky. So cool.
We head to a recommended Thai restaurant for supper (The Happy Mango). Unfortunately there is a long lineup so we head to another nearby restaurant (Bamboo Garden Bistro).
The night ends with massages. On the way back to our hotel we hear some scary sounds coming out of a karaoke place.