Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
out among the cookie-cutter bars in the centre of town. There's also a good pool table, a dart-
board and live football on the TV.
Daily 9am-midnight.
KangarooSunset
Just west of Gary's Irish Bar in the centre of town.
The post-tubing
bar du
jour
, with beer pong, free pool and cheap drinks (a large Beerlao costs 10,000K between 7
and 8pm every night) helping to pull in a young farang crowd.
Daily 8am-midnight.
Organic Mulberry Farm
At the
tubing
start point, 3km north of town
laofarm.org
.
It's
said tubing started at this farm when the owner encouraged his volunteers to explore the river
in a new way. Today it's still the start point for tubing, but is worth stopping off at for its
tasty drinks and snacks, based around organic ingredients grown on the farm, including iced
mulberry tea (5000K) and a Lao garden salad (20,000K).
Daily 7am-9pm.
River Spirit
At
Ban Sabai Bungalows
.
Good Lao and Thai dishes in an excellent waterfront
setting. The extensive menu includes spring rolls with pork (35,000K) and a vegetable larp
(28,000K), plus a few western dishes like burgers and steaks.
Daily 7.30am-10pm.
Smile Restaurant
Towards the north of the island in the middle of the Nam Song; best ac-
cessed using the northernmost bamboo bridge from town.
Known as Smile Bar until the gov-
ernment cleared all “bars” from along the river, Smile Restaurant is one of the few surviving
spots in the middle of the river where you can swing in a hammock drinking beer (15,000K)
or a fruit shake (8000K). As the name of his bar implies, the owner is a happy chappy.
Daily
10am-8pm.
VivaVangVieng
Opposite Room 101 on the main drag.
There's little in it between Vang Vi-
eng's two late-night clubs, which both play loud chart hits from the past couple of years. Of
the two, Viva is bigger and tends to fill up more quickly.
Open until around 2am every other
night.
WhoppingBurger
Next door to the Central Climbing School in the centre of town
whop-
pingburger@hotmail.co.jp
.
Funky, Japanese-run restaurant serving tasty burgers (with ex-
traordinarily large buns) while 60s and 70s music blares out. Try the samurai chicken burger,
which comes with chunky chips and bundles of fresh coriander (50,000K).
Daily 6-11pm.
DIRECTORY
Internet
Free wi-fi is available at all but the simplest of guesthouses and restaurants. Com-
puters hooked up to printers and the internet can be found at a dozen different places on the
main drag, charging 200K/minute.
Mail
The post office (Mon-Fri 8am-11.30am & 1.30-4.30pm) is tucked away near the tube
rental shop in the town centre.
Medical facilities
Vang Vieng's hospital (24hr) is south of town on the main river road.
Small pharmacies are dotted around town, and most staff speak basic English.
