Vientiane to Vang Vieng

Sabaidee!

We had a relaxing few days in Vientiane. We visited the Malibayphit family home in Vientiane and got to meet Angela, Bou and little Belle. Mrs Malibayphit and her family prepared a wonderful Laos home cooked dinner for us which was amazing! We had many drinks and talked for hours, such a wonderful visit and so glad to have gotten to meet the extended family. After the rain eased later in the evening we made our way back to the hotel and spent the next few days relaxing and exploring the city. 

Vientiane is a bustling city with plenty of markets and amazing places to dine. We thoroughly enjoyed our stop in Vientiane and at the S Park Design Hotel which is now our Number 1 spot in town. We also got to see Luna (Vongsamay's Second Youngest Daughter) sing with her band at the Musso Bar and Restaurant directly below the hotel. Luna recently won a national contest to become the Pepsi Ambassador in Laos. She can be seen all over town on massive billboards, such an amazing voice and such a beautiful person. The last night we were in Vientiane, Luna invited me to get up and sing a number with the band (Who is famous in Laos) which was so much fun.

Due to the National Boat festival and public holidays, we were unable to purchase our AGL Insurance for the motorbikes in Thakhek. Thankfully we had safe rides and on Monday morning in Vientiane we purchased our insurance before heading north to Vang Vieng.

With our insurance stickers on the bike, we road north out of town towards Vang Vieng, our next stop for for the evening enroute to Luang Prabang to see our good friends Joy, Paul, Dan and Little Chris who many will remember from previous years blog posts. Little Chris works in Luang Prabang as the number 1 motorbike tour operator in town! Such an awesome knowledgeable bloke from the UK. He has saved us with the bikes many times over the years and we are so glad to call him our good friend.

The ride to Vang Vieng was quite short (Only 167kms) which we knocked over in about 4hrs including a Lunch Stop for some fried rice enroute. As we rode into Vang Vieng, nothing much has changed except for the increased number of hotels and guesthouses. Still quite a part spot for Contiki Tours and Drunk Foreigners looking for a "Good Time", not so much to our liking but if you put that aside such amazing views over the river to the limestone mountains surrounding the town. We at at Gary's Irish restaurant in the evening and had a lovely Steak and Ale homemade pie with Chips, Cheese and Gravy! Yes i know not Laos Cuisine but glad we tried it as it was amazing! We headed back to the hotel for an early night before our 190km ride the following day north along Route 13 and over Route 4 (What a road!) enroute to Luang Prabang.

Stay tuned as we piece together some of the amazing video footage of the rides and sunsets etc which we will post asap in the coming days.

Thanks for joining us for our journey and we hope you enjoy the ride as much as we are!