2005 LAOS a trip revisIted by heart 18 later

After Cambodia I moved on to the neighboring Laos arriving in Luang Prabang, the old capital and major tourist attraction of the country, on the Mekong bank full of ancient temples, a beautiful night market that attracts everyone, a panoramic hill, nearby caves with Buddhas and waterfalls of water. I crossed the river by boat and with a rented bicycle I went to see the countryside and the villages inhabited by poor but dignified peasants. The second stop was the crazy Vanvieng where many come to eat the pizza with hallucinogenic mushrooms which I avoided, but also for some adrenaline sports which I did not miss. First kayaking along the river and inside a cave, then tubing, that is, being carried by the current for about ten km sitting inside a large truck tyre. There is a peculiarity, in addition to the landscape that can be seen along the way, you are pulled ashore by guys who have improvised bars near small beaches, so you drink and dance while listening to the music fired from their hi-fi systems . Practically after a few stops you become drunk and the route is more fun. I arrived after sunset in the village already in the dark but the tire had stopped a km before because the current was weak, suddenly the little heads of two children came out of the water who towed me to the shore and whom I rewarded with a dollar each, arousing their joy . I saw a massage place and entered all wet and cold, they offered me hot tea, a towel and then I underwent a pleasant massage before returning by taxi to my hotel. Furthermore there are wooden structures always along the river with stairs that you climb and at the top there is a trapeze to which you attach yourself with your hands and then you slide for about fifty meters along a path suspended about 5 mt above the river and before the end you let yourself fall into the river waters with a nice refreshing flight since for each climb you have to buy a beer. Vanvieng is a very bucolic and very green place with beautiful hills and rice fields and various wooden bridges over the river which you have to pay to pass through. I rented a bicycle and had a nice outing meeting peasant houses and then a large swimming pool and a huge tree from which you could dive into the water after having slipped with a small trapeze. Even the last stage towards the capital Vientiane was ... sporty, in fact I signed up for a passage with minibuses and canoes. In practice, we traveled the first stretch in a canoe for a few km, then we stopped for a packed lunch at a panoramic rock from which we could dive into the river and then continued on in the minibus. Vientiane is a quiet, beautiful capital that I discovered by bicycle visiting an interesting museum of the socialist revolution which illustrated the achievements of the regime, then the national museum and a couple of Buddhist temples. In the evening I dined along the river while the opposite iron bridge lit up intermittently with various colors. I advise everyone to combine a trip to this beautiful country with that of nearby Cambodia for a beautiful cultural and sporting holiday