Vang Vieng: 'Happy' with friends

If you look at guides or travel forums on Vang Vieng you'll see that everyone has some sort of opinion on the town. As we arrived, after catching a long and winding bus ride through the mountains, we realised why. There are about 10 restaurants that show nonstop re-runs of 'Friends'. The amazing thing is that they are all full of people. I have nothing against people who enjoy 'Friends' but in my opinion you could wait until until you get home or at least somewhere that is not blessed with such an amazing landscape.

Instead of tubing down the river like everyone else we decided to hire bicycles and ride off into the mountains. We covered around 30km's and passed rice paddies and locals laughing at the strange white folk cycling through their villages. The fact that I was sitting on the rear seat (to give me a bit more leg room) might have encouraged the reaction.

At every restaurant in town you can request the 'happy' menu and even after we hired bikes the guy asked if we wanted some happy in our baskets. We were happy enough to explore the sublime surroundings and to spoil ourselves with some great grilled fish and cold beer.