I’ve been in Vang Vieng now for three nights and was originally supposed to be leaving this morning for Vientiene, but I’m enjoying it so much more than Luang Prabang that I feel as if I could stay another week and still not be tired of it.
The thing that makes Vang Vieng so much better is that it is ‘rough’ in basic terms. The roads have huge potholes, the sidewalks are used more as parking lots for the scooters than they are for walking, and the overall sense is that the city is what it is without trying to be something special. This to me makes it special beyond words. There is a heavy backpacker vibe and many of the businesses have geared themselves to cater to them, but from my experience most backpackers don’t care about superficial things, they care more about experiences. Having to take an excruciating six-hour bus ride in cramped seats is awful, (or taking cold showers at 7am) when you are doing it, but it makes for something to remember, and maybe a fun story to tell.
When I was planning my time here I had a list of things that I wanted to do, the first was to go Kayaking down the Nam Song River like I did six years ago. This time I was going to go for a 40km trip down the river; a whole day. So I booked my ticket and headed out to dinner. On my way back I realized that I was getting a little low on cash so I stopped at the ATM and proceeded to get some money. Somewhere through the process though, the ATM screen blanked out and up came the desktop for Windows. Soon some other screens popped up with text like DOS. Crap! I tried to get my card and no luck, the ATM was no longer an ATM, it was a Windows computer and none of the buttons had any effect. I decided to go to the hostel and see if they could do something to help, maybe call the bank. When I explained what happened, the guy asked if it was the blue ATM at the corner, and I said yes. He told me that it happens quite a bit and everyone so far has gotten their card back.
Hearing the news eased my concern a little, but the reality was that I didn’t have my card on my possession and I wasn’t going to be comfortable until I did. So the next morning I headed to the bank and eventually I got card back but I missed my kayaking trip down the river.
The whole ATM thing kind of messed with my head. It really showed just how vulnerable I am with only one card. There is a real possibility that it could happen again and I could be stuck somewhere without any money.
Except for the mess up with the ATM I am having a good time. I haven’t been doing very much and I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve spent more time in my room than out on the city or hiking some park somewhere. I do have my excuses why I’ve been somewhat boring, but in reality I think I’d just be rationalizing.
I have been exploring the city and I have been going to some great little restaurants, but in the end I think I’ll regret that I didn’t do the kayaking or tubing down the river. I think this is one of the times that I really needed to be traveling with someone else, someone to kind of push me a little. I mean, I wanted to do those things, but I never got the inertia up to break my laziness.
