Vang Vieng

WED 15 MAR 2017

Hmong girl

Today we travel 7 hours by road to 245 kilometers to Vang Vieng, a small village nestled in a scenic bend in the Nam Song River and surrounded by breathtaking limestone scenery. This is rapidly becoming Laos's premier destination for eco-tourism. The outcrops have inspired many Lao legends and stories in Lao literature and are known as Phou Suan Mon Nang Eua, meaning Silk Tree Garden Mountains of the Princess. The area also contains an extensive network of caves some of which are outlets for underground streams.

Limestone cliffs on the Nam Song river

The road is mountainous and provides some amazing scenery.  We make several stops for breaks and photo opportunities one being a local Hmong village. The Hmong people generally come from the hill and mountain area just south of China. According to genetic evidence, Hmong people lived in China for 2000 years before generally migrating south in the 1700s. Here we meet a family that has just has a new baby and we see the local village school. 

Hmong family

We stop for lunch at a view road side restaurant however the air is thick with smoke from the annual burning of vegetation before the rains come. The latter part of our drive is truly spectacular limestone cliffs and sheer drops. About 20 kms before Vang Vieng, we'll stop at a bridge with a view of karsts. There's also an attractive wat immediately before the bridge that we stretch our legs and walk around.

After checking in at our hotel we take a swim in the pool and watch the sunset over the river and the mountains to our west.  We walk around town and get some dinner before retiring.