That evening

I went to a small restaurant without many people. The food was very lemongrass and ginger in the food. I forgot what to do and ate it. The food is good, but not every restaurant always has a good taste. On backpacking trips like ours, you can get a lot of cheap food and food that quickly upsets your stomach.

The night market.
Every place we went to in Laos had a night market option. The clothes, shoes, etc. in the night market in these villages were cheap. I wasn't that interested in those markets and the goods. It seemed that our friends were buying items from them.

The people who sell goods in those night markets are like the people who sell goods in our weekly markets. In the evening, they come with their own basic carts loaded with luggage and push them along the road. They come and set up their tents and put their belongings on. Even though it is a tourist area, there are not many. Some of the ideas we hold in our minds are not always correct. For example, even the price of goods in tourist areas is sometimes wrong. The goods in this tourist night market are really cheap. Oh my, I thought that Bangkok would be cheaper than Laos, but I was wrong. Bangkok goods are more expensive than Laos.

Searching for suspicious massages
This is also a very fun hobby. For some reason, it is a bit difficult to find massages that give more sexual pleasure in Laos. Every massage is the same. We look at the massage and measure it in our minds. Was there a young woman in shorts in front of it? Is the massage visible? We also used various maths to find massages that were extra fun, such as whether the girls would talk to us or not. Sometimes it worked. We might be doing these things for the sake of sex or something else. But there are a lot of uncooperative people like us. That's why there are places like that in those tourist areas.

Anyway, it's fun. Some massages that look really wild from the outside and go in are not really fun at all, they just massage until you're exhausted. "This place looks good, has a traditional look, and needs a good massage," he said, and then went to the counter and started calculating how much it would cost for the massage therapist, how much for the hand massage, and how much for the full service.

Sakura Club
The club is just a model club like the ones in Sinhala movies. You can get drinks. There were a few more balloons and it must have been an intoxicating gas. Even then, the people were drunk. The prices of beer, arrack, and cocktails were not very high. They were about twenty percent higher than the market price.

A girl called me and said, "Where did you get the call?"
This is a rare scene in life. I had a beer and stood alone at that table and was drinking. The next table was filled with four girls and a boy. One of them was laughing with me. After a while, the girl handed me the Summersby that was in the bottle and we both put a bottle cap on my bottle. It was so loud inside that club. So we didn't get a chance to talk. Besides, we weren't shy guys. It didn't make much sense to talk to girls like that. However, a local set also goes to those clubs. Knowingly or unknowingly, if we had talked a little, we might have had a chance to do something.

 

Along the Brown Road

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We went to the Blue Lagoon, the Water Cave and the Dark Caves and got ready to return to the forest canopy. We got there along a brown Road. When before 2000 came, there were such roads in our Village. The Brown  Road was muddy in the rain and dusty in the heat. Although there were vast roads in Laos, there are such Brown Roads in Village.

Land Master
Since we also have a bar at home, I took a good look at the Land Master there or the small tractor. A group of people were cutting the paddy fields and loading them on that hand tractor and throwing the paddy leaves on the side of the road. Due to the rain, the paddy leaves might not have been thrown in the paddy fields. The trailer of that hand tractor did not have a box for the driver to sit in, like the trailers in Sri Lanka. The driver sits on a short bench on the board and raises his arms to control the small tractor.

Paddy fields
These paddy fields are just like in Sri Lanka. I don't know how to say whether the harvest is better than in Sri Lanka. Most of the rice grown there is sticky rice. I have heard that some sticky rice is good for fried rice.

Food stop and rain
When we rode our bikes, it was dark. There was a rustic restaurant in a beautiful place near a wide watercourse that had to be crossed by a bridge. We got into it. When it started raining like us, other white people came and got into it. We ate Chinese noodles, papaya salad, coffee and something else. I saw white people eating as they usually do.

After a while, a heavy rain came. The tables of the people who were sitting next to that small restaurant were getting wet. The heavy rain fell on the roof of the restaurant where we were, flowing down and falling all around. When a wind came, the water from the rain soaked the entire group in the restaurant.

In that rain, the little ones from the nearby houses would come out and jump from the bridge into the nearby water. They would jump and run, grab the bank and land. The little ones can't play that much. They would play in a place where the tide was low..but those little faces were filled with joy as they came out and danced in the rain. The little one inside the restaurant we went to, who was so excited by the excitement of the little ones dancing outside, also took off his school uniform and went to dance in the water in his jeans. The parents didn't seem to mind dancing in the water. It must have been normal.

The little ones who said no to photos
When we went to see the boat ride, two little ones climbed a fence and waved at us. When we went to take pictures, they got scared and left. Did we do something wrong by taking pictures, because the little ones missed their fun because of us. Actually, the fence was near the fence.. In the distance, the mountain range would have been beautiful with the two of them, but they ran and danced.

Near the river
There is also harvesting work on the other side of the river. Harvesting has been delayed due to the rain. Like in our rivers, we take food and go on bikes and park the bikes near the river and work on the fields. When I used to go to help in the fields, my favorite thing was when I stopped work and said, "Come on, let's eat together." After sharing the rice brought in plastic plates and sat on the table, I remembered how the life was like a meal. The beautiful flowing river road where we went was also there. The water-logged palm trees in the shade were all the same as in Sri Lanka. Even when we met those Laotian people because of the language barrier, it was difficult to find anything more than a smile.

Getting wet
During our trip to Laos, we had fun in the rain several times. That evening, we could have taken a boat ride if the rain had stopped. I thought it would not be so good to ride a boat when it was raining heavily. Somehow, we missed the boat ride, which was the best fun we had in Van Vieng.

 

 

Water Cave Tunnel

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There is a big board called Water Cave. Underneath it, there is a large rock wall above the water path. I saw a white man floating in a tube filled with air once or twice through that gap. There is a kind of river there. So we are ready to go now.

Entering the Water Cave
You don't have to walk to the Water Cave. You have to climb into a tube and float on the water. There is no path to go. There was a rope to hold on to. We sat in the tube and slowly moved forward along that rope. We had no idea where we were going. It was dark inside the cave. The tube was only a foot or two from the wall at the top of the water cave. We floated on the tube and slowly moved forward. There must have been about four or five meters of rope left. It was dark inside. A white man who was there came back.

When I reached the end, I realized that water was flowing. Oh.. I don't know if it was raining outside. What would happen if the water level increased at this time? I was scared. If the water level in that cave suddenly increased, we would go straight up with the water. If it went and filled completely, we would be trapped inside the cave. It would drown the entire cave. I was a little scared.

When I felt that there was water, I realized that the water was flowing quickly after I reached the end. Then I put aside our photo-taking, video-taking, and shaking rituals and started to grab the rope again and come out. Even then, I realized that the water was flowing. However, there was no real sign that the water level was going up. I came out of the cave before the other two because I was scared.

I came out and went a little further and saw that there was water there, but there was a sluice to control the water level. If there was a problem, if that sluice was opened, the water would flow out and the water level would stop rising. However, we don't know the language to hear anything about it. The Lao people don't speak English as well as we do.

Next, Blue Lagoon 4
This Blue Lagoon was also near the cave complex. We went to it too. The ticket was a small amount. It was like the previous ones, you had to go up and down. There were slides and other things that you could get into the water from a boat. The young white gentlemen who had come to that place were bathing a few women. They swam and boarded a boat-like boat and were relaxing. The white ladies were very beautiful when they were just standing there and when they took off their clothes and bathed. We looked because we could see it, but we didn't focus on them. We weren't important people.

We also went and ran around a bit and came back from there. It was a little late at night when we left the shelter in the morning. We couldn't eat. So we were a little hungry. And there was also a rainy sky. With both of those, we got back on the scooters and started coming back to the shelter. That side was beautiful. We stopped along the way and tried to take photos at one place.

Also, to see if we could go for a boat ride in the morning or that afternoon, we went to the river. We went to a place where we could suspect that boats were brought and put into the river by vehicles. But there were no boats or people. We could see a few people working in the rice fields on the other side of the river.

To the caves

 15

We left the station with the intention of returning to the station. As we saw, there are caves etc. about 15 kilometers away. We walked on wide roads. In some places, the scooter even overturned. That scooter was good. Also, the roads were wide, so there was no big fear. Like in almost every city in Laos, we could see multi-axle long and wide cargo trucks. We got them on this trip too. So, giving way to those vehicles, we left for the caves. On the way, we found a view point, a small stream. We could also see the mountains. We stopped there and took about 5 minutes to take pictures.

Stopover
On the way, we stopped at a small shop to get something to drink. My friend bought a Sumersby apple. My good friend, who was completely free from alcohol, bought some water. I bought a Lao beer dark. There is no difference in the taste of the beer. The quality of the beer is not that bad because Lao beer is cheap.

Caves
To go to these caves, you need to pay for a headlamp that you can put on your head. Without it, you can't see anything in the world inside the cave. The first cave we went to was not that difficult to enter, it was like a regular rail tunnel. There was a lot of space inside. This is not a cave at all, but a thick tunnel. Even when the lights were turned off, it was pitch black. At least there was no fireman. When we turned off all the lights, we went out to test the darkness. After a while, the white people in the distance also turned off their lights. The darkness that came was ultra-dark. A thick darkness with no light.

A guide had said that there was no end to this huge rock formation we were talking about. The guide had brought two white men. He had walked a little further with them. Although the inside of these tunnels was large, the path to go through was not flat. You had to climb and crawl over the rocks and climb over uneven rocks. In some places, there were Buddha statues inside the caves. We also worshipped them with sincere hearts.

The second cave
These caves are really fantastic. We have to pay another twenty thousand kip for this second cave and buy a set of lights. I think that's the ticket. But if you go into these caves alone and disappear inside, no one seems to know. They don't even ask for any information before you go.

The second cave is more difficult than the first one. You have to climb up and dig a hole to enter it. The stairs to go up and down were made of iron and wood. So when we went down, we saw different types of rocks and structures that had been formed by water over time. It was even more chaotic than the first one. You have to jump and crawl over slippery rocks. It was raining when we went, so water was dripping on the rocks everywhere.

There is no way to take photos of the beautiful natural rock formations inside these dark caves. Even though we took a torch and put on the light and took pictures with difficulty, the photos don't fully capture the fun there.

The book mentions that these rock caves were used by the Vietnamese to hide during the Vietnam War. I didn't realize until I went inside that there was so much space in these caves. These caves can really hold tens of thousands of people without any problem.

 

To the another View Point

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The white people who danced and drank until late at night sometimes get up before sunrise and crawl to the mountain tops to watch the sunrise. We also stayed in the town clubs until late the previous day, but we got up early the next day and set out to see another view point.
This view point and the previous one are in the same region, but the height, booming view and fun are different from each other. In the morning, my friend dropped me off at the climbing point. There, He must have slept soundly on a net made of two trees. He did not come to climb up. I climbed alone, I bought a bottle of water and a small one from the shop and started climbing the mountain. It was a little difficult because of the mud and the slippery rocks. The rocks were a little slippery because of the rain on the days we went.

This is also a mountain with a bit of a steep climb like the previous one. So, after crawling for about half an hour, we finally reached the top. By that time, a few white ladies had already arrived. When we climbed, what kind of adventure was this? Why would Sri Lanka have mountains without them? We thought we were going to climb a mountain in a hut. But when we got to the top, the breathtaking view was amazing. Then the difficulty of climbing became unbearable.

When we reached the top and looked to one side, we saw several balloons rising from that side. There were not many hot air balloons, but there were a few. Also, when the sun shone on the other sides, the way it lit up was amazing. It was literally a beautiful viewpoint with a view of three hundred and sixty degrees. The Chinese aunts came here and were very interested in taking pictures. There was an old bike parked nearby. It was made for photos. I climbed on it and took photos of the Chinese Antilles. I thought to myself.. "We'll have to find some pieces if we wear a scarf."

The white girls, that is, European girls, were a little calmer than the boys who were playing in the Chinese and Vietnamese rivers. They were a little more reserved when they got to a dangerous place after drinking and dancing in clubs.

I climbed on it and took the photos and started to descend slowly. I got down at eight or nine.

The food
Breakfast is served at our hotel. It's a great hotel. The food is served on the top floor. The dining area has a nice view of the surrounding mountains. People from several countries sat at tables and ate from the buffet, which had a basic menu of fried rice, toasted bread, eggs, noodles, etc. There was also the opportunity to drink tea, water, coffee, and soda. I thought that people from those countries usually eat a lot of nutritious food, even if they don't eat rice with rice.

Bike exchange
The electric bike we had bought was not enough for pickup. It can go at a maximum speed of about fifty kilometers per hour. There were super bikes at the shop next door. We walked around a bit, handed over the two electric bikes, and came back and rented another bike from the same place. Petrol 125 Honda scooters. Those two bikes were super bikes.

Back to the station
The only big problem with train tickets on the China-Lao Railway is that foreigners cannot book directly. So foreigners either have to find a local who has the app and book it. Or they have to go to the station. We went to the station to book tickets from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. Although there were tickets for that sector, the system did not show it when we went. As I remember, we had to go back to book tickets.

 

Vang Vieng View Points

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We talked about going to View Point 1 and went. It was a little late when we went to View Point. We had to buy a ticket. There were two mens selling tickets. After we went beyond there, there was a small shop. There was an older woman and a younger man in the shop. We bought a bottle of water from it.

We took it and started climbing. Why didn't anyone help us after buying the ticket? We had to climb the mountain to go to View Point. It is a steep mountain with many hills. The climb is difficult, just like in Sri Lanka. You sweat. On top of that, it rains. But since it was evening, there were a few people. We climbed slowly.

Up
When we climbed up, we could see a beautiful landscape of about 300 degrees around. We could see the underworld below. We could see the fields and roads. It was raining as we went up. I took off my shirt and let it dry. It wasn't raining hard, just a little. There was a shop at the top. I looked for a way to drink some tea, but they said there was no way to light the stove because of the rain. I put the idea of ​​boiling tea aside. There was an old go-kart nearby, and a friend got on it and started taking pictures.

Next, we got off. We talked about going down to see Blue Lagoon 4. Blue Lagoon 4 was right there.

The water that falls from the mountains in these valleys has a strange greenish-blue color. That's why the water in the small reservoirs where that water comes from is different in color. So we went to Blue Lagoon 4. The blue water is deep. Our friends climbed up and jumped into the water. There were also times when they hung on ropes and went like a zipline and jumped down. They were really fun. We went to Blue Lagoon 4. That means there are several other Blue Lagoons in Wanwien.

An American family had come with three small children. They must be in grades 4-7 of Montessori and school. The children were jumping and the mother was taking pictures from a distance. The father was encouraging the children to jump by saying things like "If you are thinking, you will lose your ability to jump". These children are not even five feet tall, but about ten meters high and the parents are encouraging the children to jump.

After that, we came to Wanwien. When we arrived, we went to a pub there. Cocktails etc. are not very expensive. Cocktails are available for three to four hundred rupees in Sri Lankan money. So, after having a cocktail and watching the various drinks that have come from different countries, we came to the accommodation for the night.

There are a lot of young people among the tourists who come to places like Vanvien. There are also people from China and Korea. The Chinese have a special kind of fun in their karaoke centers called KTV. The Koreans go to clubs and pubs where ordinary white people go and have fun.

There are also various types of massages in Vanvien. I thought that those massages were just massages. Lao massage is a bit hard. They climb on you. They push and pull. Some massages offer additional services. They charge separately. The massage I went to was just a massage. I got a good massage to relieve the tired legs from hiking in the mountains during the day.

I went to a restaurant where there were a lot of people, thinking that the food would be delicious. Oh my. I had to wait there for about an hour for the food to come. Since we don't have the facilities to cook and serve food like in our country, it takes a lot of time to prepare and serve food. If there is less staff, it takes even longer.