Along the Nam Song - Paradise Found?

*This is the 112th post of the year. As of this post, 2018 has been my blog's most prolific year to date!

After just a few days here, I'm beginning to see how travelers fall in love with Laos so quickly. It really is a remarkable country.

While Laos does have its troubles - dangerous roads, poor infrastructure, and poverty - it certainly lacks nothing in natural beauty.

On our last day in Vang Vieng, we again returned to the peaceful banks of the Nam Song River for a quiet and relaxing afternoon. As we sat, we watched a local woman fishing with a huge net in the river, pulling up dozens of tiny fish.

a local woman fishing in the Nam Song River

At one point, as we sat comfortable and dry in our hammock cabanas, the monsoon storms poured down in force. It rained so heavily, although the storm didn't last longer than an hour or so. After the sky cleared, we were treated to a beautiful, cool afternoon and the most amazing double rainbow I've ever seen in my life.

double rainbow

And if you think that these photos are good, you should have seen it in person!

the sky after a rain storm

Once again, we had the whole place to ourselves. The monsoon storms had scared off most of the would-be tubers on the river too, so the guy whose job it was to throw the line out to the tourists floating down the river instead headed down to the river to catch a few fish in his free time.

a Lao fisherman

beautiful evening

One popular activity in Vang Vieng that I couldn't afford this time, but hope to do one day, is to take a hot air balloon ride over the town and surrounding jungle. As we sat, we saw the balloonists returning after an afternoon trip over the countryside.

balloons in Laos

I've enjoyed my time in Vang Vieng immensely. The nicest thing is that there is actually very little to do. If you don't want to do any of the adventure travel, like tubing down the river or going caving, and if you aren't into partying, the only thing to do is to relax for a day or two along the river.

I really like it here, but three days was more than enough. I'm ready to head deeper into the country, and I'm excited to learn more about the history and culture of Laos.

sunset

In the next few days, we will be heading further north to Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage city and the former Laotian royal capital. Stay tuned!