There are several tour companies that offer kayaking trips bundled with cave exploration
and stops at small villages just north of town. These tour companies are found along the
main street in town. They all have small billboards in front of their shops covered with
items such as photos from previous trips and pleased customer comments. One day trips range
in price from $6 to $9 dollars US. Its always a good idea to shop around for price. Some of
the tour companies offer free Lao beer in the evenings for their clients. Because of the
free beer for customers, the evenings are a great time to walk around shopping at the tour companies because you get to talk to their customers in person about their days experiences
with their particular tour guide.
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See this man -
(click photo to the left for larger image) he was our tour guide and his name was dubbed
"Mr. Lao". He is an excellent guide. You can print this
photo out and take it to main street Vang Vieng - show it to some of the
locals and have them point you in the direction of his trekking company.
Vang Vieng is not a large town - most of the locals along the main street
near the "tour guide shops" should recognize him! |
Many of the kayaking trips are offered north of Vang Vieng along the Nam
Song River. A typical kayaking trip is one in which you are mini-bused north
of town and then spend a couple of hours kayaking down the river until you
end up at the bamboo bridge along the banks of Vang Vieng. During the
dry season the rapids are minimal along the Nam Song just north of Vang
Vieng. During the rainy season this portion of this river can be quite a bit
more challenging.
Inner tubing and drinking (and or smoking) is a very popular past-time on
the Nam Song only a few kilometers north of Vang Vieng. Basically a tour
guiding company will drop you off in the river and you slowly float down -
they will pick you up near the bamboo bridge in Vang Vieng.
Fellow travelers and some of the tour groups told me the kayaking between
Vang Vieng and the capital (Vientiane) is much more challenging. If you do
not stop very often it takes about 4 hours to kayak this distance. If you
decided to make this journey, it is probably wise to hire a guide, and yes,
there are guides in Vang Vieng who will make this trip.
About 20-30 minutes south of Vang Vieng (back towards Vientiane) is Laos's
largest lake, the man-made Ang Nam Ngum. This vast reservoir of water was
dammed in 1971. Today there are many small villages along its shores and
many picturesque islands. There is a small town along Route 13 (called
Ban Thahua) right at the edge of this lake, just before the guard's
checkpoint station. There is a particular restaurant in which I rented a
dugout canoe complete with a guides services. My rental was from the closest
restaurant located to the guard's checkpoint station. (this is the only
guard checkpoint station between Vientiane
and Vang Vieng.
This turned out to be a rather unpleasant trip. I originally told the guide
I wanted to cruise around the lake for 1 hour for a set price and that we
would visit an island village. One hour came and went and still no island
village - so I told the guide to turn around....he did not turn around and
in fact slowed the boat down. I made motions to speed the boat up but no
luck. Finally after 2.5 hours we ended up at the restaurant again having never
seen an island village and having missed our 1 hour deadline. My point is to
be aware of renting a boat with a guide from this restaurant.
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