Day 80! I feel like every time I see the day end in a zero it feels like an accomplishment. And today was a great day for another “milestone” day! I traveled from Vientiane to Vang Vieng, had ANOTHER run in with Laotian police… and ended up meeting up with some amazing friends in this new town! After a long couple weeks of mainly alone time, it’s time to be social in Vang Vieng!

After a great day of exploring Vientiane, it was time to move on from the sleepy capital to a more lively environment!

Around 150 kilometers away is a small town called Vang Vieng that is very popular for travelers. Crazily enough, one of my friends from college is currently there too, so I was excited to set out and see her!

I started my morning out with some bread and fried eggs, packed my bags on my bike, and then had a quick FaceTime with my friend Ally (who’s currently in Costa Rica) before setting off on my 3 hour journey!

I needed gas right away so before leaving the capital I filled up my tank!

The ride started off very unpicturesque as I drove through the “suburbs” of Vientiane on a highway road. The roads were fairly uninteresting too, which was welcomed after many pothole filled roads.

But Google maps decided it wanted to take me on the expressway… in Vietnam I knew motorbikes weren’t allowed, but Laos could be different, so I decided to give it a go.

My gut instinct was correct as a car started honking at me and then pulled over to tell me I needed to turn around! So I backtracked a few minutes and went down the road that followed along side the expressway.

Unfortunately this meant I had a bit longer of a drive but at least I was going to avoid paying a fee to cops for being somewhere I shouldn’t… or so I thought.

I stopped for gas and a bathroom break about an hour in before setting back on the road. This is where I ran into my first police stop where they actually pulled me over!

The police were in the middle of the street so I couldn’t drive past them like usual. They were demanding to see paperwork, so I showed them my passport, drivers license, Blue Card (proving the bike was mine), visa, etc… and they were still unsatisfied.

They were really questioning how I got my motorbike into the country and weren’t taking my response that they literally told me I didn’t need it when I crossed the border. So I eventually pulled out a wad of cash and started waving it around demanding back if that was what they wanted.

The cops got all flustered and then walked me back to a room out of the streets view and this is when I knew the money was the right move. They made me talk to someone (no idea who) over the phone in English where I frustratedly told him that I have all the correct documents and that this was a waste of time.

It took maybe 20 minutes of this until the cop finally gave up the act and said “okay, just pay me and go.” So I placed the wad of cash into his hand, grabbed my passport and other documents, and got out of there as quickly as possible.

It was an even sketchier situation than my run in with cops in Vientiane… but it was another situation where I got out very lucky.

But Elie, you had to bribe the police… How was that lucky? Well, I was fortunate to have a lot of small bills under a 50,000 Kip. So much to that cops dismay, I really only gave him $3-$5 max! That’s very lucky compared to some of the fines I’ve heard ranging in the millions of Kips!

I sped back off away from the police and was a bit flustered and frustrated. But I quickly let the situation go and focused on enjoying the ride as it was one of my last long journeys of Laos!

The ride became very winding and hilly as I ventured down the road to Vang Vieng! It even led to some gorgeous views, which were unexpected after such a mundane ride!

I arrived in Vang Vieng around 1pm and pulled into a town surrounded by gorgeous mountains!

I arrived at the hotel I was staying at and immediately was welcomed by my friend Maddie who I was friends with at KU!

It was so nice to see a familiar face and catch up halfway across the world!

Along with her friend Jenny, from England, we went and got food before heading back and playing cards to avoid the down pour of rain that rolled in.

Once the sun came back out we walked to a hostel down the road that had a pool! It was also the hostel that my friend Wannes was staying at, so I got to hang out with him some more!

Out of no where, a hot air balloon started to fly overhead! Vang Vieng is known for its cheap hot air balloon sunset and sunrise journeys and there’s a chance I do it or something similar before my time here is up! It looked VERY cool!

After the pool, we walked to get dinner as the sunset in Vang Vieng.

At dinner, we ran into our other friends Dan, Sam, and Guy! It’s fun being on the same path as other travelers and continuously bumping into each other. You really get to know them after a few days of traveling too, which is always great to make new deep connections.

The night then dove into meeting new travelers over free drinks at one of the hostels happy hour! It was a fun mix of people from all over the world and we played cards and chatted late into the night!

But the fun wasn’t over as we hopped on a bus and headed to a jungle party where we danced our butts off until early in the morning!

It was a heck of a day. From another run in with police to meeting up with old and new friends, it was a very full, good day! I’m looking forward to hanging out in Vang Vieng for a number of days and seeing what this popular town has to offer!

– Elie