Fours hour north of the capital, Vientiane, is the small town of Vang Vieng on the Nam Song River. It's a beautiful spot surrounded by limestone caves where you can go river-rafting and kayaking. When I was there, an American went missing while he was rafting, so it can also be dangerous if you don't take precautions. It's a back-packer town filled with restaurants, bars, guesthouses and travel agencies. If you like the television sit-com Friends come here because every open-aired restaurant plays endless re-runs of the show, until you want to run away screaming for the nightmare to end. It rained most of the time I was there in May, but when it cleared up the scenery was awesome.
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It rained and rained without let-up after I got to Vang Vieng and shortly after that I lost my mind.
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I met a fabulous Laotian man named Toi, who spoke well-articulated English. He had lived in France for years and had worked as a diplomat. He was very well-educated and had many interesting stories to tell. Now in his retirement he had a little restaurant in Vang Vieng and lived with his family. He was intelligent and funny, and his restaurant offered the best food in town. When he told me he was nearing 80 years old, I didn't believe him. Can you see why?
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