(Tubing in the) Vang Vieng

Once Dave was well enough to move (we ended up staying 6 days in Luang Prabang, so it was hard to leave there too) we booked an arvo minibus to Vang Vieng, the town at which you can famously tube down the river and stop at bars to drink. Luckily we had a Canadian on our bus with a voice 10 decibels louder than required who could tell the entire bus repeatedly the 10 steps to tubing, how to navigate the town, the best and cheapest place to stay and again the 10 steps to tubing. Even Dave’s iPod on full volume could not drown out his sound.  After 7 hours we finally arrived at the bus station, which was 3kms out of town, so we needed to grab a Tuk Tuk. We paid the Tuk Tuk driver 3x what the Canadian wanted to pay so we didn’t have to share, they were baffled but obliged to take the half empty tuk tuk into town for us. 

 Our mini-bus, on a lovely toilet stop

 Our view of the mountains on our first night

Cooling off by the beautiful views of Vang Vieng

The next day we met up with Katie and Neil, a couple from the elephant trek, and booked a Green Discovery tour that included caving, trekking and kayaking. We then all just marveled at the complete tools that started dripping back into town after a day of drinking and tubing. Mostly guys topless with texta and mud all over their chests and arms, girls still in Bikini’s, walking around uncovered, so drunk they can barely walk. Laos is a county that you need to show respect by covering your shoulders and knees where possible (they even have a little booklet that explain what is offensive to the locals and how to visit respectfully) and the tourists in this town have absolutely no respect for the local people. Vang Vieng is gorgeous with outrageous scenery, yet the people treat it like a Full Moon Party gone wrong. As much as we like it here, it is very hard not to cringe at those who are unable to show a little respect.

The day after we went on our day tour, the first 3 caves were really huge and continued for km’s. Interestingly, they all contained formations similar to the caves we saw in Tassie.  However the last cave we needed to sit in tubes and pull ourselves through on ropes to get in and out. It was very cold but worth it! We then trekked through a Hmong village and met up with the tour truck which took us to our starting point on the river…we knew we were close as we could hear the music. We got a quick lesson on Kayaking, and proceeded down the river in awe of the idiots (guys who had spent a whole year at the gym in preparation) dancing, flying off zip lines, screaming etc. Once we passed the trash, we found ourselves dodging shallow waters and water buffalo, with beautiful scenery in the distance. It was really stunning once again, and a lovely way to enjoy the river.

 Inside the caves

 Inside, and entry (below) into the water  cave, complete with crazy ducks

Kayaking down the river

Sailing past the beautiful water buffalo

We (Dave, Amelia, Katie and Neil) decided to tube the next day,  starting early (11.30am) avoiding the drunk people. We were enticed into a couple of empty bars, with the promise of free banana’s. They throw out a rope and you grab on, they then drag you through the water, help you out and place your tubes in pile. After some lunch  and declining offers for mushrooms shakes, we decided to head down the river which was very low and very slow. After about 100 meters the bars run out and you start to use your thongs as paddles to get to the tube drop off point approx 3 kms. At one point Dave had to drag me and paddle to get us to the end. Clearly people don’t actually ‘Tube’ down the river, instead they hire a tube to move 15 meters to the other side to try a new bar. We were potentially 4 of 6 who actually made it to the end. So it can be a relatively interesting.

 One of the main bars complete with drunken Falang

Dave, Amelia and Katie tubing

A quick stop off for an early morning drink

Trying to rest up between stops, tubing is pretty exhausting

The next day we had wanted a day of nothing but ended up searching for new caves and water holes. Of course it took us all day, as failure was imminent using a Lao map which are never accurate. A road on a Lao map turned out to be a badly signed track through a dried up rice field .In the end It was good to just do some exploring on our own away from town.

Dave swimming in the mystery water Xim cave we found

Vang Vieng, we left you the next day. But we did love that you played Family Guy and Friends on big TV's inside every restaurant. We also loved that you provided beds instead of seats, with low tables so that we could recline while eating the cheese and macaroni you knew we would be craving. I am sure most hung over people would have agreed even more that you provided a wonderful service for recovery.