We left Luang Prabang by bus on our longest bus trip to date, heading south down the main highway in Laos which in reality is a patchwork of dirt and paved sections of very rough, narrow and windy road. It took seven hours to travel less than 220km thanks to the condition of the road, the precipitous cliffs not to mention a few cows, chicken and children often found wandering on the road. However the scenery was quite stunning – rugged and mountainous.

The main choices of transport were Express bus, mini-bus which was a bit faster, but on the very windy roads stories of travel sickness were rife so we elected to travel by VIP bus – the main selling point being it had a toilet and they provide water and lunch at the one stop enroute. The cost of the bus was 150 000 kip or approx $20 per person (no discount for the kids) which was quite steep considering the distance.
Four hours into the journey with Phoebe needing to use the toilet, David found it locked and when asked to unlock it was met with a ‘no, you must wait for stop in two hours’ – so much for the selling point! At his insistence that we needed it NOW, they very reluctantly gave the key and David said the toilet looked like it hadn’t been used in months.

Vang Vieng is nestled in some of the most spectacular scenery – souring karst mountains, rivers, swimming holes (one not far from our guesthouse that we rode bikes to, two days in a row!) and trails in and around villages, reminding us of Yangshou, southern China.

It is the Queenstown of Laos – mountain/rock climbing, whitewater rafting, kayaking, motorbike riding … and unfortunately what really put it on the backpacker map – tubing. For those who haven’t heard, tubing is a ‘pub crawl’ on water where participants use truck inner tubes to float down the river, visiting the numerous bars which have been established. In order to keep patrons as long as possible, the bars have constructed diving platforms, slippery slides, and flying foxes that would be dangerous when the user is sober let alone after a afternoon of hard drinking. It is the tubing accidents and incidents that have made Vang Vieng the most dangerous destination for backpackers – when alcohol, drugs, bravado, stupidity and lack of common sense and any safety guidelines come together to claim many lives – we heard that 20 foreign lives were claimed here in 2011 and many more non-fatal injuries. We were not in the least bit interested in the tubing scene. Our reason for stopping here was only because it was the logical place to break what would have otherwise been a 12 hour bus trip to the capital Vientiane and to enjoy the scenery and possibly do an activity of some sort.

A visit to the Arts and Ethnology centre back in Luang Prabang had shed more light on the ethnically diverse country Laos is – the majority of the population is made up of many different and minority ethnic groups – perhaps this is this reason that has made Laos people hard to work out – there is not a ‘typical’ Laotian person. Thus we found the Laos people quite peculiar and harder to work out especially in Vang Vieng. Perhaps this is a reaction to the backpackers that have unfortunately tainted all westerners with the same brush? We have found them to be quite gentle and kind, but certainly not with obvious friendliness that is common with Thai people. Most sing out their ‘sabaidee’ welcome as you go past but we have had some frustrations with their seemingly indifference and standoffish nature, there never seems to be a straight answer to anything and it left us feeling a bit confused and wary. At the same time, we have encountered some exceptionally nice Laotians like Thy at the Thongbay guesthouse. But on the whole we definitely picked up a different vibe from the locals and not all good.

David had read some great feedback about Tom, an Englishman and Tom Jones look-alike, who has just started up a business running guided motorbike trips through the countryside and convinced me to give it a go. The last time I had ridden a motorbike was in Greece, 20 years ago and the brakes had failed coming down a hill! David was really keen though to give it a go and trusting his judgement and ability, agreed for the kids to also accompany us on the motorbikes. So on our penultimate morning in Vang Vieng, David contacted Tom on the off-chance of going on a half-day trip. We made our way by bicycle to his workshop and after trying his 125cc trail bikes on for size and not being able to touch the ground I decided I would feel safer on a semi-automatic scooter instead, with the girls going on the back of Dave and Tom’s motorbikes. We hired the scooter from a woman down the road from Tom’s shop for 40 000 kip ($5.00) for the half day.

Another guy Jason also joined us for the ride and we set off at about 10.30am. The tracks were reasonably good and I knew the guys really wanted to open up the throttles so I did my best to keep up on my scooter! The speedo, horn and fuel gauge were all not working and a little up the track, Tom had to syphon some fuel from one of the 125cc into my tank.

The scenery was fantastic and we passed many creeks and rode over timber sway bridges with kids swimming in the water below.

Past rice paddies, enclosed by bamboo fencing round the towering karst mountains it was quintessential Asian rural scenery at its best.

They say all good things must come to an end and I was conscious of my scooter making more and more of a ‘clunking’ noise, but couldn’t work out what was wrong. We stopped for a cold drink in a village about two and half hours into our circuit and as we set off Dave noticed the chain sproket on the rear wheel separating from the rest of the wheel hub.
We wheeled the bike back to the village shop and sought out two local ‘mechanics’ for their assistance but they weren’t able to help without replacement parts. Nothing short of a new wheel was going to get this baby back on the road, so after some carefull deliberation including enquiring whether there was a truck or transport to get it back to town (there wasn’t) we took the key out of the ignition and left the broken down bike with the man at the shop for safekeeping. Fortunately Jason had come for the trip so we were able to juggle passengers around and I rode on the back of Tom’s motorbike for the 8km or so trip home.

We learned from Tom that when anything happens with a motorbike the unspoken rule is generally to return the bike back to the owner, but as we couldn’t do this we thought honestly was the best policy and we took the key back explaining where we had left their scooter and that we couldn’t get it fixed, nor get it transported back. I thought some kind of apology from the owner was in order for hiring me an unsafe bike in the first place – and very lucky that the wheel had not disintegrated underneath me causing an accident, but instead the woman was angry at us for not bringing her bike back. In turn I got angry that she was not in the least bit sorry for causing us to miss out on some of our trip, or that we could have got stuck in the middle of nowhere, or even had a serious accident.
Despite the assurances from Tom that the scooter was safe at the shop in the nearby village before he left to take another tour, she was not letting us go and held onto our bicycle demanding we pay an exorbitant rate to get the bike back. When we refused, things began escalating; we were surrounded by locals and the woman had picked up a rock and threatened us, and it began to get a bit scary, especially for the children. This Mexican standoff lasted easily another hour with neither party backing down! I demanded to speak to the police so in the end they agreed to take us to the local police station and but not before the woman rammed David’s bike with a scooter buckling the front wheel.
Eventually we made it to the local tourist police, wondering on the way whether we would be going ‘from frying pan into the fire’ as police in poor countries can sting a ‘falang’ or foreigner with any kind of fine and we weren’t sure what we were in for. In for a penny in for a pound I say, and although they only wanted David to go into the Police Station we insisted that we all go together – a family with children surely would come across more honest and respectable that a single male…

Our faith in the Laos law enforcement was restored when the Station officer, dressed down in his Sunday afternoon attire asked for our version of the events. I stepped him through what had happened along with how my understanding is when you accept money for the hire of a scooter then there should be the expectation that it should be in good order and that we were very lucky that no one was hurt in the process. He carefully considered both sides and we came to the agreement that we would pay a further 50 000kip ($6.00) to help with the recovery of the scooter which we were happy to pay. The woman wanted David to go with them to bring back the scooter (perhaps not believing it was really there) and when we said we would either go and not pay any money or pay the money and stay in town. Being late in the afternoon on our last night the policeman agreed there was no need for us to accompany the recovery team, and instead took our hotel name and room number in case we were needed further. I had a sleepless night that night wondering whether we would receive a visit from the ‘mob’ at our door during the night, so we remained at our hotel for dinner, not venturing out again until our pickup arrived at 9am the next morning. It was a shame the day ended on a bad note as I had really enjoyed the mornings ride through the countryside, and it is a day we won’t forget – for all the wrong reasons.