Short trip to Lao what's Vang Vieng like?

[kimamey]

My sister and her husband are coming to visit me and my Thai wife in February next year (I'm sure my grammar is wrong there.). We live in Mahasarakham so we’ll be taking them around Isaan to show them what it’s like outside of the tourist areas. We were thinking of crossing over to Lao for 2 maybe 3 days. I’ve been to Vientiane a couple of times for visa purposes as I can’t see the point of crossing the bridge at Nong Khai and then coming straight back unless you have to. I think it’s worth visiting although maybe not for too long.

My wife suggested Vang Vieng although I’d never heard of it. Now I’ve checked it out it looks like it may not be such a good idea unless you like drunken backpackers. Has anyone been there recently as I’ve heard it may have improved a little. Don’t mind a drink or two but I don’t want to spend my time drunk. Luang Prabang is another possibility but it’s the distance with our short time scale that may be a problem although I’ll definitely do it at some point with the wife.

I did go to Pakse a couple of years back which I quite liked although the bus from Ubon isn’t much of a pleasure.

I have considered that travelling out to see places nearby these destinations might be an idea so has anyone rented a vehicle at any of these towns?

I realise it’s all a bit vague but as I said I’d never heard of Vang Vieng before my wife told me and I didn’t know about it’s reputation either so I would be interested to hear from anyone who has had experience of travelling in these areas.

[andrewrooney]

The main town center in Vang Vieng has a very "SPRING BREAK, WHOOO!!!!" sort of vibe, lots of young backpackers getting trashed. At least, it did last time I was there, about 2 years ago. I've read online that the government has cracked down a little bit, closing a lot of the riverside bars, etc., but I haven't been there to see it for myself.

The surrounding area is absolutely gorgeous, though. I stayed up there for a few weeks. I rented a room and a motorbike from a cheap guest house, the cost for both together was less than 200 baht. I did the tubing thing on the river a couple times, got sick of it, and after that spent a lot of days just riding around in the surrounding countryside, checking out caves, hill tribe villages, that kind of thing. I really enjoyed myself.

[kimamey]

The main town center in Vang Vieng has a very "SPRING BREAK, WHOOO!!!!" sort of vibe, lots of young backpackers getting trashed. At least, it did last time I was there, about 2 years ago. I've read online that the government has cracked down a little bit, closing a lot of the riverside bars, etc., but I haven't been there to see it for myself.

The surrounding area is absolutely gorgeous, though. I stayed up there for a few weeks. I rented a room and a motorbike from a cheap guest house, the cost for both together was less than 200 baht. I did the tubing thing on the river a couple times, got sick of it, and after that spent a lot of days just riding around in the surrounding countryside, checking out caves, hill tribe villages, that kind of thing. I really enjoyed myself.

IMG_0791.jpg

Thanks for the quick reply. I heard that there had been a bit of a crackdown but of course it's difficult to turn back the clock. The countryside does look good and I think that would appeal to us.

Not sure about the bike though. I do ride in our village although I don't have a licence as I don't ride in the UK. I was intending to do the test whilst I was there but I wanted to have my wife there in case there were language problems although I'm sure it would have been OK but she didn't have the time. I'll probably try to do the test while I'm in the UK as obviously it's a bit harder and I reckon at my age and riding in Thailand I need all the skills I can get. I know my sister wouldn't ride a bike but I don't know about my brother in law. So I'm thinking of 4 wheels rather than 2 although I would love to explore the quieter areas on a bike sometime.

I don't know if it possible to rent a vehicle or not particularly outside of Vientiane. Of course being a Brit the driving on the right isn't so easy as Thailand.

[andrewrooney]

As far as renting a car, I didn't see anyplace to do so while I was there. It might be possible to rent one in Vientiane though. Or, if you own a car in Thailand I'm pretty sure you can take it up there with a little paperwork. Might be weird driving a Thai car on the other side of the road.

Also, for what it's worth, when I rented the bike nobody in Vang Vieng seemed to care if I had a driver's license or not. The guesthouse didn't ask for one, and I saw no traffic police in that area. I did get stopped once in Vientiane (illegal left turn, no license, no registration, no helmet ) but the "fine" only came to 20,000 kip... about 60 baht.

Edited August 8, 2013 by andrewrooney

[phuketrichard]

its all changed.

was up there last year an it was full on party town with drunks, pot smokers and even Magicc mushrooms and opium on the menu an discos open allnight.

was there last month an it is 100% reversed,

Lao goverment cracked down;

all drugs are off the menus, Music shuts off at 10 pm!

still they do the inner tubes down the river but all the bars along the route are shut down;

Its a fantastic beautiful area and well worth visitng an very very cheap, WE had an air con room right on the river for $15/night and lots of inexpensive restaurnts.

It will rebrand itself in the next few years to a middle /upper class resort area,

go now before that happens Its about a 4 hour drive up from Vientaine, Lunag Prabang is another 4

we took a detor and went to Phonsavan ( plain of jars) ( turn off is north of Vang Vieng) and thats a trip worth doing if ur in the area.

I take my thai car to Laos ( been there 3 times in the past 4 years) an its easy to drive up there as not much traffic

Last year; http://phuket.zenfolio.com/p409010745 Photo13 is Vang Vieng at night, 27 is the drug menu :-)

last month; http://phuket.zenfolio.com/f475905242

[nottocus]

Was there last week.

Pretty quiet ......no more loud pumping music all the time and drunk people everywhere.

Still, were a couple of places to get a weed if that's what one is into.

8oo baht for a quiet air conned room room right on the river...was good.

Quite a few older chinese/korean groups kayaking down the river but not that many western tubers.

Rained on and off with periods of sun...was dammed hot in the sun.

[kimamey]

its all changed.

was up there last year an it was full on party town with drunks, pot smokers and even Magicc mushrooms and opium on the menu an discos open allnight.

was there last month an it is 100% reversed,

Lao goverment cracked down;

all drugs are off the menus, Music shuts off at 10 pm!

still they do the inner tubes down the river but all the bars along the route are shut down;

Its a fantastic beautiful area and well worth visitng an very very cheap, WE had an air con room right on the river for $15/night and lots of inexpensive restaurnts.

It will rebrand itself in the next few years to a middle /upper class resort area,

go now before that happens Its about a 4 hour drive up from Vientaine, Lunag Prabang is another 4

we took a detor and went to Phonsavan ( plain of jars) ( turn off is north of Vang Vieng) and thats a trip worth doing if ur in the area.

I take my thai car to Laos ( been there 3 times in the past 4 years) an its easy to drive up there as not much traffic

Last year; http://phuket.zenfolio.com/p409010745 Photo13 is Vang Vieng at night, 27 is the drug menu :-)

last month; http://phuket.zenfolio.com/f475905242

I think that's put my mind at rest. My only problem now is I'll probably want to stay longer than I'd planned.

Thanks for the info and for the pictures which are stunning. My bil job is installing satellite dishes for Sky in the UK so he'll be impressed by the one in photo 36.

[Tomtomtom69]

As far as renting a car, I didn't see anyplace to do so while I was there. It might be possible to rent one in Vientiane though. Or, if you own a car in Thailand I'm pretty sure you can take it up there with a little paperwork. Might be weird driving a Thai car on the other side of the road.

Also, for what it's worth, when I rented the bike nobody in Vang Vieng seemed to care if I had a driver's license or not. The guesthouse didn't ask for one, and I saw no traffic police in that area. I did get stopped once in Vientiane (illegal left turn, no license, no registration, no helmet ) but the "fine" only came to 20,000 kip... about 60 baht.

Of course you can rent a car in Vientiane. There's a place called AVR (formerly known as Europcar) and they advertise all over Vientiane and Laos. AVR is the largest and most professionally run vehicle rental agency in Laos and the only one in SE Asia that I am aware of that let's you drive their cars to neighboring countries even self-drive - although only trips to Thailand are straightforward with journeys to Vietnam and Cambodia often being subject to ever changing regulations on bringing across foreign registered vehicles. China is OK too at least near the border.

And yes you can drive a Thai car across to Laos - it's easy and there are tons of Thai vehicles traveling throughout the country - nothing "weird" about driving on the right with right-hand steering, 80% of Myanmar vehicles are exactly in that configuration.

[Tomtomtom69]

Was there last week.

Pretty quiet ......no more loud pumping music all the time and drunk people everywhere.

Still, were a couple of places to get a weed if that's what one is into.

8oo baht for a quiet air conned room room right on the river...was good.

Quite a few older chinese/korean groups kayaking down the river but not that many western tubers.

Rained on and off with periods of sun...was dammed hot in the sun.

Depends - I was there in June and while I saw quite a few middle aged Koreans, most travelers were still young western backpackers although the vibe has definitely changed from the first time I was there in 2009. Perhaps it will go back to what it used to be like until last year, perhaps not.

[andrewrooney]

its all changed.

was up there last year an it was full on party town with drunks, pot smokers and even Magicc mushrooms and opium on the menu an discos open allnight.

was there last month an it is 100% reversed,

Lao goverment cracked down;

all drugs are off the menus, Music shuts off at 10 pm!

still they do the inner tubes down the river but all the bars along the route are shut down;

Its a fantastic beautiful area and well worth visitng an very very cheap, WE had an air con room right on the river for $15/night and lots of inexpensive restaurnts.

It will rebrand itself in the next few years to a middle /upper class resort area,

go now before that happens Its about a 4 hour drive up from Vientaine, Lunag Prabang is another 4

we took a detor and went to Phonsavan ( plain of jars) ( turn off is north of Vang Vieng) and thats a trip worth doing if ur in the area.

I take my thai car to Laos ( been there 3 times in the past 4 years) an its easy to drive up there as not much traffic

Last year; http://phuket.zenfolio.com/p409010745 Photo13 is Vang Vieng at night, 27 is the drug menu :-)

last month; http://phuket.zenfolio.com/f475905242

Was there last week.

Pretty quiet ......no more loud pumping music all the time and drunk people everywhere.

Still, were a couple of places to get a weed if that's what one is into.

8oo baht for a quiet air conned room room right on the river...was good.

Quite a few older chinese/korean groups kayaking down the river but not that many western tubers.

Rained on and off with periods of sun...was dammed hot in the sun.

Glad to hear it! I may want to go back sometime, I really liked the area. If the loud, crappy club music and obnoxious drunks are gone, that just sounds all the better.

As far as renting a car, I didn't see anyplace to do so while I was there. It might be possible to rent one in Vientiane though. Or, if you own a car in Thailand I'm pretty sure you can take it up there with a little paperwork. Might be weird driving a Thai car on the other side of the road.

Also, for what it's worth, when I rented the bike nobody in Vang Vieng seemed to care if I had a driver's license or not. The guesthouse didn't ask for one, and I saw no traffic police in that area. I did get stopped once in Vientiane (illegal left turn, no license, no registration, no helmet alt=facepalm.gif> ) but the "fine" only came to 20,000 kip... about 60 baht.

Of course you can rent a car in Vientiane. There's a place called AVR (formerly known as Europcar) and they advertise all over Vientiane and Laos. AVR is the largest and most professionally run vehicle rental agency in Laos and the only one in SE Asia that I am aware of that let's you drive their cars to neighboring countries even self-drive - although only trips to Thailand are straightforward with journeys to Vietnam and Cambodia often being subject to ever changing regulations on bringing across foreign registered vehicles. China is OK too at least near the border.

And yes you can drive a Thai car across to Laos - it's easy and there are tons of Thai vehicles traveling throughout the country - nothing "weird" about driving on the right with right-hand steering, 80% of Myanmar vehicles are exactly in that configuration.

Good to know. I had a feeling it was possible but I'd never done it myself. Do you know what sort of paperwork (if any) you need to take a Thai car across the border? I'm thinking next time I go up that way I'd prefer to drive myself. Also do you know if a Thai driver's license is ok, or do you need an international license?

[Deserted]

its all changed.

was up there last year an it was full on party town with drunks, pot smokers and even Magicc mushrooms and opium on the menu an discos open allnight.

was there last month an it is 100% reversed,

Lao goverment cracked down;

all drugs are off the menus, Music shuts off at 10 pm!

still they do the inner tubes down the river but all the bars along the route are shut down;

Its a fantastic beautiful area and well worth visitng an very very cheap, WE had an air con room right on the river for $15/night and lots of inexpensive restaurnts.

It will rebrand itself in the next few years to a middle /upper class resort area,

go now before that happens Its about a 4 hour drive up from Vientaine, Lunag Prabang is another 4

we took a detor and went to Phonsavan ( plain of jars) ( turn off is north of Vang Vieng) and thats a trip worth doing if ur in the area.

I take my thai car to Laos ( been there 3 times in the past 4 years) an its easy to drive up there as not much traffic

Last year; http://phuket.zenfolio.com/p409010745 Photo13 is Vang Vieng at night, 27 is the drug menu :-)

last month; http://phuket.zenfolio.com/f475905242

Yes, this is correct. Thankfully, its nothing like it used to be. Like L.P, it is attempting to go upmarket. It may well get there one day.

[phuketrichard]

Good to know. I had a feeling it was possible but I'd never done it myself. Do you know what sort of paperwork (if any) you need to take a Thai car across the border? I'm thinking next time I go up that way I'd prefer to drive myself. Also do you know if a Thai driver's license is ok, or do you need an international license?

You of course, need ur cars Blue book in your name , also u need the International transport permit ( the purple passport for the car) you obtain that at the same place u get ur yearly sticker)

I only have a Thai 5 year license an it has been fine for me in every country (including the states) for the last 25 years

Your required to buy Laos insurance, ( places right over the border) last trip i paid 350 baht for 2 weeks (Honda Civic)

Edited August 10, 2013 by phuketrichard

[Briggsy]

It's become like Pai but the demographic is even more backpacker than Pai. Not my cup of tea but it might well have been 20 years ago.

[phuketrichard]

and some Korean an chinese tour groups........ I enjoyed it there and the scenery, is as i said, Fantastic

Edited August 10, 2013 by phuketrichard