Vang Vieng, tubing down wild rivers
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2008
1
12
23
Trip End
Aug 06, 2008
Vang Vieng,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Thursday, July 10, 2008
So, for whoever does not know, Laos is a country in South East Asia (obviously) and if you pick up a lonely planet guide, it will have a highlight with "famous for" for every country. The ones for Laos reads: "Famous for tragically being one of the most bombed nations on earth." Past that, we heard from fellow backpackers that Laos is unmissable and Vang Vieng a highlight...and oh were they right!!! Laos is my favorite place so far, you'll read why.
So we left off with Dominique and I leaving on a night bus, by now my back was at it's peak peeling-wise and my shoulders smelled like pork burning. Gross to say the least. The bus was torture and we were sweating like no other. At 6AM we stopped at a rest stop to fill out paperwork for the visa. At 7 we stopped at the border of Thailand to "officially" leave Thailand and by 7:30 and 30 dollars later we were "officially" in Laos. At 8AM we were waiting for the bus that was supposed to pick us up on the Laos side. Finally at around 10 we left Vientiane on the Laos border to get to Vang Vieng. On this bus as I a walking someone grabbed my arm and who could it be but Jordan, the Canadian we partied with in Koh Phangan! So we hung out on the miserable bus ride and then after making friends on the bus we had a group of Irish, Americans, Canadans, British, and Scotts all looking for a place to stay. Finally Orchid Guesthouse had enough rooms for all of us so we dropped our bags which we were carrying for 15 minutes in the blistering sun and decided to go get some good and walk around the town which consisted of 3 paved roads forming something like this "I".
Another bar...Mudd Bar
Walking through the town we realized how laid back and relaxing it was. Restaurants are basically chill areas with short tables and pillows you lay on and watch episode after episode of Friends or Family Guy depending on which one you picked. After that we went to Bucket bar, which is across the river in the forest. Cool atmosphere and a nice place to meet peopleThe next 2 days we did what Vang Vieng is famous for among backpackers: TUBING! This was easily the best thing I have done since coming to Asia.
What this involves is paying 5 dollars plus a 6 dollars down-payment you get back and u get a tube (big round lifesaver filled with air) then u get in a tuk tuk and they drop u off 15 minutes from the town by the river. At this point you just jump in the river on top of the tube and let the current take u. This river is about 15 meters wide and the water is brown because of the mud. The crazy part is that you done at all think it's dirty because you are surrounded by the most gorgeous limestone cliffs and forest. Everything is just so beautiful! Anyway, back to the crazy part of tubing, enough of this romantic nonsense about the beauty of mother nature because words cannot describe that. You go on this tube and every 15 meters or so there is a bar set up that you can get to only by the river and sometimes get flooded away by this river and mud-slides. So at these bars you get buckets for 4 dollars which include 1/3 bottle of local whiskey, red bull and soda or you get a big beer for a dollar.
Tubing down the Mekong River
These bars also have attractions to them which make you want to go there instead of other bars. These include tarzan-swings that are 10 meters high, or soccer fields or volleyball courts, mud fights (which are AWESOME and a lot of fun when you don't know anyone around but yet you can throw buckets of mud at them or trip them into mud pools), etc. You might be wondering you can can manage to stop at the bars when the river is taking you with all its might? Simple, they have people with long bamboo sticks reeling you in. It's that simple and that efficient!Now that you know that, you can imagine that the first day we did it form 2 to 6 and could not resist to do it again the following day but this time for 11 to 6! The whole experience is just amazing. For example, at mud bar, it started pouring as 30 people were playing volleyball and everyone started throwing mud in the middle of a jungle by a rushing river with a thunderstorm surrounding us and dance music blasting! Mud fight GOOOO! Pure madness. Words can't describe that experience/feeling so I will stop but I'm sure the picture I uploaded will help. Anyone stopping by here NEEDS to spend a couple days tubing both for the partying but also for the amazing feeling of floating down a wildriver looking at the sunset behind these amazing green limestone cliffs surrounded by forest and huts.
More than tubing Vang Vieng has nothing to offer other than relax. It's basically a small town...rally small town...where someone started the whole tubing business and now is one of the musts for any backpacker in SE Asia. Because of this tubing idea bars have come out of the woodwork (or better yet forest) and restaurants have opened but not much more.
Vang Vieng, it was so nice being there and to think that on our original itinerary it wasn't even considered but we added it because of backpackers' stories, it makes you wonder what other places the world doesn't know about that are true hidden gems. Too bad it's over and now we are back in the hectic Asia we all think of when we think of Asia.
Next, Luang Prabang, always Laos, another must for any backpacker.
Oh, and for your information, everything we wore while tubing is now forever stained in mud but it's still cleaner than what the locals wear so I am waring it with pride...ahaha
Comments
Don't make me look stupid
So I referred your blog to a friend who is also doing the Southeast Asia thing this summer (check out her blog at http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/namaste32/3/tpod.html if you're interested). So do more cool things like float down brown rivers in those magical inflatable lifesaver things that no one in America has ever seen before and by all means, keep getting into mud fights.