Tubing in Vang Vieng!

Finally! The post I'm sure most of you have been waiting for, and what I was most excited for during my trip... TUBING IN VANG VIENG! I didn't go tubing until my last day in Vang Vieng which was unfortunate because after going once, I wanted to go the next day (and the next, and probably the day after). Although, it may have actually been a blessing in disguise because I could have been one of those people who get trapped into the awesomeness of Vang Vieng and end up staying there for months.

Here we go!

The rules of tubing are simple: rent a tube for about 55,000 kip (about $7 USD), leave a deposit of about 60,000 kip, and that all includes a tuk-tuk ride down to the beginning of the river. Be sure to return your tube on time, otherwise you will not get your full deposit back. Unfortunately, I was 30 minutes late.

The tubing gang.

There are bars along the river where you can buy Beerlao, cocktails, and the deliciously dangerous buckets. At most bars, there are ziplines, ropes, swings, and slides that you can go off into the river. The bars are full with (attractive) people from all over the world, cheap beer, buckets, shots, great music, and dancing. Each bar usually has some sort of free shot or drink to get tubers to go to their bar. Some bars will even give you a free woven bracelet for every shot you take; some people have bracelets running up their arms after being sucked into the Vang Vieng Vortex. Or they just took advantage of the free shots of Lao-Lao whiskey.  After many buckets and beer, it gets pretty hard to get where you want on the river, the bars have a genius solution for that: Lao guys throw ropes with big plastic soda bottles attached, you grab hold, and they pull you in. Easy peasy.

The first bar on the river. This was still early.

The party starts at the first bar, luckily we got there early to find a nice spot to chill. Within hours the bar was packed. We made friends quickly and even bumped into some friends that we met on the slow boat from Thailand to Luang Prabang, a guy from Switzerland and three girls from Austria. We moseyed down the river stopping at whatever bar we wanted, or basically whatever shouted that they offer free drinks. You meet so many cool people at the different bars along the river. Granted, these are drunk conversations and you might holler at each other later at Smile Bar or Bucket Bar, but true temporary friendships are made on the Nam Song River.

Nina, from Austria

Tubing down the river is dangerous. People die, and actually the day before I went, an Australian guy died. I found that out on the tuk-tuk ride down to the river. Cool. You can still drink and have fun while tubing with a few easy steps. Don't do drugs on the river. Don't go down slides when people are still at the bottom. Don't go on zip-lines with more than one person. Don't do flips and jumps in shallow waters. These steps can save your life. Essentially, you don't really need to get completely intoxicated and black out drunk to have fun in the river. The river IS the fun. Heck, you could even try going sober and I bet it would still be a hoot.

Nina, Tim, and Magdalena

After tubing we continued the fun, watching episodes of Family Guy at a bar while enjoying Beerlao, ate Lao sandwiches, made new friends, wandered over to Bucket Bar, Smile Bar, and of course Reggae Bar. Then sadly, I had to catch the bus back to Bangkok the next morning.

Tubing was definitely an experience and I'm stoked to say I did it, and proud to cross it off my bucket list. I hope to make it back to Vang Vieng for more tubing fun, and cross your fingers I don't get sucked into the Vang Vieng Vortex.

This blog post concludes my Laos trip.

Vang Vieng. Party Central.

Oh Vang Vieng. How I miss thee.

Vang Vieng is sick, in a good way. It's like a young backpackers paradise, but sadly, that's all Vang Vieng is. The city has completely succumbed to backpackers; you don't come here for a cultural experience, or to see beautiful temples, you basically come to Vang Vieng to party. And that I did.

The main street in Vang Vieng

Arriving in Vang Vieng, the kiwi and I wandered around looking for the cheapest place to sleep, and some drunk people approached us and told us where to find a bed, I don't know why we listened to them, but I'm glad we did. We got a room on the very top floor of the Babylon Guesthouse with 2 double beds for 50,000 kip! (50,000 kip is roughly $6.) The next night the German and the Korean were going to join us, so it was even less to stay there. We basically had a penthouse on the top floor with a balcony that overlooked the main street. To be honest, it was pretty grungy, but with that price and the space, I couldn't complain.

Our room was on the top floor with a hammock on the balcony

The first night, Kiwi and I wandered around with Beer lao in hand. We were trying to find "Smile Bar" a bar, that a random foreigner walking down the street recommended to us. We ended up getting lost, finding ourselves on a different island, a quieter one, full of bungalows and guesthouses. Finally we find the right island, THE island where everything was happening. There was Smile Bar, Reggae Bar, and Rock Bar. These places were awesome! I never went into Rock Bar, but Smile and Reggae Bar had bonfires you could hang out around and hammocks you could lounge in. Smile Bar played anything from techno to top 40 to dubstep. Reggae Bar played some reggae and Manu Chao's "Clandestina" every night I was there (which was almost every night I was in Vang Vieng).

Fire Dancing

Reggae Bar was one of my favorite places. The owner was really friendly and chatted everyone up and we basically sat in the hammocks and chilled around the bonfire talking to some very interesting people. I even bumped into a friend I met in Chiang Mai! Next thing I know it's 5 AM and I'm on my way back to our guesthouse riding on a motorcycle for the first time wedged between two other people. Solid first night in Vang Vieng.