Day 82! I’ve been having a blast hanging out with friends in Vang Vieng! But… late night hangouts lead to late blog posts, sorry about that! Today was another long and relaxing day in this wonderful town, it’s only been 3 days but it’s felt like a week has flown by!

After another late night out with friends playing cards and chatting, I woke up at 9am to make sure I didn’t miss my hostels breakfast!

I tried to go back to sleep but was unsuccessful and my friend Maddie asked me if I wanted to join her at the gym! I was a bit tired, but that was the little motivation I needed to get my rear in gear and went for a very nice workout!

For 35,000 Kip ($1.50), I got a day pass to the gym which was 3 levels of all the equipment I would need! It also had a gorgeous view over the town and looking into the mountains, can’t get much better than this (maybe if there was a beach too)!

I then snagged a 40,000 Kip protein shake and drove Maddie and I back to the hotel before setting back out for food with Jenny!

We went to the same restaurant as we have been the past couple of days where I got a coconut smoothie to rehydrate and a curry fried rice!

While eating, my friend Dan walked by and joined us. And then my other friends Sam and Wannes wandered by and joined us as well! It’s so fun being somewhere long enough to form a crew and have unplanned encounters.

After lunch, it was finally time to start the day! Jenny, Maddie, and I set off on a 40 minute motorbike ride to one of Vang Viengs lagoons!

It was a gorgeous ride where we traversed over gravel and dirt roads, across wooden planked bridges, and along a flat winding road through some incredible mountain ranges!

And after a beautiful ride, we made it to an incredible lagoon filled with tourists!

At the lagoon there were rope swings, bamboo platforms to lay on, and lots a of space to swim around and relax!

We ended up hanging there for a few hours and ran into a group of people Maddie had met from Canada, New Zealand, and England!

We then headed back to the hotel before sunset where I showered and then joined back up with Jenny, Maddie, and our new friend Jack for a very spontaneous and memorable evening!

We took a 20 minute walk to the other side of town where we walked into Tong Tattoo Vangvieng. The day before, Maddie and Jenny were talking about getting a tattoo together of the Thai/Cambodian phrase “Sabai Sabai.”

Sabai Sabai means: Happy happy, I’m feeling good, or take it easy. It’s a very common response to how are you in the countries out here! I thought that was a super fun and spontaneous tattoo idea and decided to join them for the memory of getting a tattoo with new and old friends in a wonderful town and country!

Jack ended up getting a completely different tattoo. But having him there added to the spontaneity and made the memory even better! Every time I look at this tattoo I’ll remember these 3 and also the wonderful time I had (and I’m currently having) in Vang Vieng!

And of course, a constant reminder to “take it easy!”

It’s a small tattoo that I may add onto at some point, but I really love how it turned out!

We finished up at the tattoo parlor, thanked our tattoo artist, and then walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner!

Dinner was delicious and while we were eating, my friends Sam, Tia, and Abi walked by and we chatted with them for a bit! As I said before, this is such a fun part of traveling and just emphasizes how amazing of a community I’m currently in!

Speaking of Abi and Tia, the night before they told me about a silent retreat they were signed up to do in Thailand from April 8th-11th… my immediate thought was, I’m going to be there at that exact time as I wait for the Thai New Year to begin… seems like an amazing opportunity before enjoying a hectic battle of water guns!

So, I signed up too and told them the news! I’m very excited to continue hanging with these two as we’ve had some amazing conversations and hit it off really well! Also, I’m excited to learn better meditation practices at a monastery in the mountains with Buddhist monks and spend 3 days silent and deep in thought and reflection!

After dinner I walked through the daily night market, took a quick nap, and then joined up with a group of friends for another night of hanging out, chatting, and enjoying each others company!

I’m very much in love with Vang Vieng and I’m also in love with the group of people I’ve somehow surrounded myself with! Everything about Laos so far (minus food poisoning) has been incredible and I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of my time here has in store… hopefully a little more sleep!

– Elie