04.07.2012 Vang Vieng, Laos

Our bus ride to Vang Vieng got a very wet one. We had a little small local bus as transportation, which was full to the roof and we ended up sitting in the foot path, Chrisy on a small plastic chair and me on a little moving box next to the driver. As the road was very windy I had to hold on all the time so I would not fall over. Just before we arrived a heavy rain started and it poured cats and dogs. Just after we arrived The worst stopped and we joined another group on a tuck-tuck to a guesthouse. We had a nice room a little away from the town. For dinner we walked into town and found a little place where we had some food. In 80% of the restaurants you could watch Friends on a TV, but we went to one of the other 20% where we watched an episode of Family Guy instead. As we felt happy enough, we didn't have to order one of the "Happy" offers on the menu. For 20.000 Kip you could make ANYTHING happy! On our way back to our guesthouse we encountered Chantal and Chico on the street and we joined them for dinner. We had a nice evening and decided to go tubing the next day.




The town is in the mountains and has beautiful mountain formations around it. The clouds were still hanging in the top of the mountains and looked like candy cotton.




With the changing colors of the evening sun a magical picture was created and it was a mystical atmosphere in the air.




At the river, here the spot where the tubing finishes, a lot of bars and restaurants are situated.








This dish is a typical Laos dish. It's called Koh lak and it is minced meat with fresh mint leaves. A vey refreshing and tasty dish!




The next day we went tubing. You rent or buy a water proof bag to put your money and belongings inside. Then you go and rent a tube and you will get a transport in a tuk-tuk with the tubes tied on top of it upstream. There a little ferry will transfer you to the other side where the first bar is awaiting you. As a welcome you will receive a little string around your wrist and a shot. It was early afternoon and not too many people were there yet. They had volleyball nets, a nice sun deck and the first people from the bar tried to animate the new guests to play "beer-bong" with them. The staff painted symbols on the arriving guests or wrote something on them. Beer and cocktails in a bucket were on offer and within no time the first effect on people was seen and heard. We met Carsten from Munich and after we finished our drink, we took one tube from the big pile and jumped into the water. The brown river let the tube float smoothly over the water. After only 150meters the next bar was insight. The people from the bar had a rope with a plastic bottle at the end, which they threw skilled into the middle of the river. All we had to do was to hold on to the rope and let them pull us in to their bar. We got out of the tubes and decided to walk up the mountain to a cave. It was a steep and rocky path, but we had a good time and enjoyed the pretty high cave with it's little lake inside. After we came back to the bar we used the rope swing (me not so well) to jump (or fall) into the water. Then we went back on the water only 100 meters further downstream, we grabbed the rope thrown to us from the next bar. They had a a big slide, probably 20 meters long with a steep finish in 8 meters hight from were you fell into the water it was amazing! They also had an awesome flying fox. My experience ended with a back flip and a displaced disk which bothered me for almost 2 months afterwards, but it was worth it!
There are so many bars, and during the dry season there are even more people! As the alcohol is so cheap and other drugs are available it is not surprising that accidents do happen. As a lot of Australians are there and living on the edge, a lot of accidents must have happened to them. So the Australian government managed to get the tubing and the bars closed at the beginning of September 2012. Now they are renovating and introducing some safety futures and measurements for the guests. Let's see if this will help things happening to the people who want to have a lot of fun and who drink a lot and jump into the water!?
We would have loved to stay longer and go and take a kayak on the river and take a scooter to explore more of the beautiful mountain area around the madness of the town. There is also supposed to be very good rock climbing for all you like this kind of adventure.
Unfortunately we do not have many pictures from our time in Vang Vieng, as most of the activities and time was spent in the river and our water proofed camera was not working anymore. But hopefully in the future we will get pictures from a fellow traveler: Click here for more pictures.