Vang Vieng is touristy, but its different from Chiang Mai or Luang Prabang. Unless you go trekking, take a class, or really like seeing a lot of wats, there’s not much for the traveler in Chiang Mai. There’s even less to do in mintue Luang Prabang. It was still touristy, but it attracts older, more sedate travelers who are content to sit around and do nothing but enjoy the fake atmosphere of the “old town” (I hate being so sarcastic and cynical about the place, but its just people sitting around in this one section (bubble) of Luang Prabang that has been designed especially for them). Okay, both places are nice, but there’s not much to do in either. That’s where Vang Vieng is different. There’s a ton of stuff to do. There’s swimming, kayaking, and tubing on the river. There’s many walking trails, which you can walk or bike to villages or vistas. There’s hiking to caves and mountains. Perhaps Vang Vieng is just as touristy, but it has the touristy things that I enjoy. It does attract a totally different demographic than Luang Prabang, but the town has a totally different atmosphere than LP. I think perhaps the difference is that there are attractions besides sitting/relaxing, eating, and shopping (perhaps the axis of evil of tourist traps).

loungin on our balcony

In addition to beautiful natural scenery and lots of stuff to do, I thought a bit about the things I like in touristy areas. Plenty of nice rooms to pick from is nice. Hot water is a touristy thing I can live with. Variety of food is nice, although not as important to me as to Joylani- I could eat (and have several times in Lao so far) pho for every meal. I enjoy the adventure or novelty activities that locals don’t do. Internet cafes are nice. At first, I didn’t really like to go online very often. But at some point, we both realized that we’re not on a one or two week vacation, traveling is our current ‘home.’ So we usually go online a few times a week to check our mail, read the news, chat and check the social networking sites (Joylani), check what’s going on in the markets (me), plan, update this blog, or just zone out at random websites. I think the only thing I could live without in Vang Vieng are the many restaurants that play episodes of Friends all day. Some play Family Guy and some play The Simpsons, while one place has a big sign with a dozens-long list of American and European TV shows and the seasons it has available (at the bottom, it says: NO Friends!!!). I don’t know how every restaurant can play Friends episodes non-stop all day, but there’s always a few tables of people at each place watching. Besides that and being a bit touristy, there’s a lot of fun stuff to do.