We woke up without any big plans for the day. Nick had read that Vang Vieng has a bunch of different caves and swimming holes, but there wasn’t one “must visit” one. After breakfast we asked the hotel reception what they’d recommend. They first pointed us to Tham Chang because it was a 10 minute walk down the road, and they recommended Blue Lagoon 3 since it was less busy than some of the others. This was enough for us to make it our plan for the day.

We walked the short distance down the dirt road to the entrance of Tham Chang. This immediately reminded me of a Texas swimming hole. They had a big parking lot, tubes for rent, and families having picnics. Before jumping in the water we spent some time exploring to see what was there. We walked up a tall and exhausting staircase and into the cave that sat behind the cliffs above the swimming hole.

We spelunked around for a while, exploring in the cave. Caves freak me out a little, I’m not sure why. This one had various shrines in corners.

Millie dropped a small bill into the prayer hole and prayed. She has matured from her usual prayer for a phone, and today she said she prayed for “a good life”. Progress.

After the cave we came down to the swimming area. One thing that was not like home were the young monks all swimming in their robes.

Millie and Nick snorkeled while I sat happily and watched the world go by.

There was a big structure built into the tree where people were jumping off from great heights. When they had finished snorkeling, we all sat and watched. Millie said “I want to try that”. I 100% expected her to chicken out and told her sure. Nick tried first and then waited for her in the water. She spent about 15 seconds hesitating and then jumped, shocking me and everyone around me. Old ladies clapped and old men came up to me and said “strong baby!!” I couldn’t believe it, and she was so proud of herself. Seeing her grow more confident and brave recently has been amazing.

Nick, not to be one-upped, jumped from the highest point. I sat happily on the grass and jumped from nowhere.

We walked back to our hotel to get some more sunscreen and to use the bathroom, and then called a tuk tuk for our second swimming destination of the day.

We rode in the back of the bumpy tuk tuk for about 30 minutes through the Lao countryside, stopping occasionally for cows in the road.

We arrived at Blue Lagoon 3 and paid the small fee to enter. We ordered some lunch from the cafe and watched people do tricks on the rope swing as we ate our spring rolls.

It was excellent people watching and I could have sat there all day. When we had finished eating all three of us jumped in. We didn’t last long because the water was cold and the sun had dipped behind the mountain.

We put on our dry clothes and followed a trail into yet another cave. This one was less maintained and didn’t have the helpful concrete stairs up to it. We turned around when it felt too risky for a little kid.

We got back in our tuk tuk and jumbled down the dirt roads. Millie fell asleep and we admired the views outside.

We arrived back at our hotel at only 3, despite having what felt like a full day. Millie swam in the pool while Nick and I watched her and talked about how much we love Laos.

When the sun had gone down, we took the hotel shuttle into the center of town. We had dinner at a great little restaurant owned by a French expat. Millie told him that she had been to France and all about our travels. Sometimes when I hear the story of our trip coming out of one of our mouths, I still can’t believe we are doing it. And I feel self conscious at how pretentious and big it all is.

We got the shuttle back again and she went to bed easily after so much swimming today.