Happy and fun for you!

Vang Vien, Laos

After the gruelling 6 hour drive, Vang Vien looked to bring promises of a better adventure; and yes it sure did. (For me anyways). We arrived somewhere between 5 -6pm and decided to hunt for a guesthouse to suit our needs (cheap and definitely worth it). Ro seemed to have the most fun haggling a price we thought we'd never get. But about 5 guest-houses later, we found one that accepted the offer. Having a vegetarian on the team was a good thing for my sister and I, as it made it easy to agree on a place to eat. We were both piscatarians on the trip

due to concerns of Halal and non-Halal meat;
being Muslims; and the other two guys were just great enough to go along with anything. Little did we know in the first cafe we settled on, what Vang Vien had to offer was a lot more than just "normal food". We found an item on the menu that was scripted in bold and a tad larger font size than the rest of the other items; which was:
"SPACE PIZZA"
"Excuse me, what is SPACE Pizza?" we queried innocently
"Oh, yess, yes, you want? Special, happy, err...Marijuana?" the waiter bumbled Glances were exchanged and we laughed.

Ah, and so it began.

Another part of the menu was titled" "FUN AND HAPPY FOR YOU" and beneath it were food items with the word special in it:
1. Special brownies
2. Special Omelette
3. Special fruit juice I found it amusing.

The waiter was just so eager to please and make us all "Happy". No, we didn't get any special items. Although an order of baguette for the table became a bit confusing for the owner when he came out with red bull, whisky and a bucket for us.

"Bucket?"
"no! No...Baguette, baguette, Bread?"
"oh!, mistake..sorry." He was a nice man, too bad he wasted the drinks on us teetotalers and had to offer the next table for a bucket of alcohol which was accidentally opened for us.

And after a hearty non-special laden meal, we explored the area of Vang vien and saw that the 'Bucket' was the major attraction or choice of beverage for all the cafe's lining the streets. And this place, to me was filled with tourists, tall, short, accents, slangs all enjoying the slower pace of life chilling in one of the cafe's watching reruns of Friends, or Family Guy. Street vendors were in almost every corner selling roti (which were pancakes) and souvenirs. Although i think the locals were thinking we were one of them just travelling with some tourists too.

pancakes. yummy nutella banana pancakes

Vang Vien

Swings and Tubing down the River


One of the major attraction of Vang Vien, was its tubing and caving expeditions. As you walk the streets of this small town, ads for caving tours and transportational services would greet you in between the cafe's. And Tubing, was one thing you would HAVE to do. Otherwise, all you do is lounge around in a cafe all day.

So we set out to the tubing post, where a life jacket and one tube would cost you $ 22 USD each, and of course, you'd want a dry bag to put all your gear in while you traverse the waters, and that costs $ 6 USD.
After registering your number, names and tubes; we were driven up the river on a tuk tuk with some like-minded travellers: an Irish, and 2 Dutch gals.

As you reach the starting point, a view of a small tiki bar greets you; and standing next to the river is a towering tree with some nifty mechanics for us tourists to swing and jump from. In my mind's eye, the height of the swing was maybe about 3 floors? i couldn't be sure but yes. I wanted to jump along with the others.


Seeking approval from the older sibling wasn't so tough, she wanted to proove she was cool about it and hide her worry. i wasn't a very strong swimmer, No wait. I wasn't even a GOOD swimmer. but yes, i jumped.

Adrenaline rush was AWESOME. i felt i was falling. the height made an even better adrenaline rush then anyhting else. But the dismount into the water was a big splash of surprise for me.

I took in too much water, i was disoriented, and i was drifting, FAST.
I saw the shore, swam for it (or later they would say, did i even swim?), saw it getting close, swallowed more water then the shore was getting further. wait, what? And my head was back under the water. I heard yelling.

And Dan pulled me out of the river. Uh-oh.
Did i drown?
i wouldn't admit it. but yes, i was close to drowning.
And THAT, was the highlight of the day.

regardless, i caught my breath, thanked my life-saver ( it was quite awkward. i didn't know what to do with myself)
and rejoined the group in the water for tubing.

the swing

Bobbing tubes and life-jackets

One might say i was non-chalant about the jump as i treaded water again right after, but this time, i had a life-jacket on. J and Dan made sure i kept it on.