The town of Vang Vieng is located approximately 165 km north of Vientian, in the idyllic Nam Song valley. Bizarre bock formations and caves abound in this karst landscape.
Vang Vieng offers opportunities for, trekkers, bikers, rafters and rock climbers and together with its cheap guest houses it has become an eldorado for backpackers.
A 'rock climbing eldorado' is perhaps exaggerating; there are only three sectors with 10 to 20 routes respectively. Sleeping Wall and Secret Canyon (5b to 7c) the most popular crag, Phatan (5c bis 8a+) one of the best crags in Vang Vieng with hard routes and Pho Doeng MT (6a bis 7a+) set in a beautiful landscape with moderate difficulty routes. Don't miss the Chill-Out Bar at the river it enjoys an amazing view of the mountains.
Vang Vieng along with its Bamboo huts and street restaurants offers everything one requires while remaining small and cosy. As ever, chance can play a big role in life and I wouldn't have stayed for so long if I hadn't had meet such interesting people during my visit.
VV is small enough so that it's easy to get to know people. Life in Laos is much slower than in Thailand and more relaxing. The climbing in VV is just starting but has a huge potential, for many climbers the new route potential here is the main attraction.
VV is for many a stopping off point before going on to Halong Bay in Vietnam or Yangsho in China. I travelled to VV from Chang Mai in northern Thailand (by the way, Crazy Horse is an amazing climbing area near Chang Mai) via Chang Khong and from there by boot to the tourist town of Luang Prapang, a fairy-tale journey.