Boarded perhaps the oldest bus in the world and climbed over many sleeping westerners, some who had already endured 20 hours on the bus already, to reach our seats. The bus had two working gears and soon required roadside assistance. After two hours we had travelled about five miles. This was a VIP bus as well!
Finally reached Vang Vieng about six hours later and caught a free pick up truck to take us into town.
Before our travels I had been sceptical of Vang Vieng as it had received a lot of bad press especially from moronic Australian current affairs tv programmes. Twitter campaigns warning people off visiting were all the rage it seemed. The main draw to the place is tubing which involves sitting in an inner tube for a tractor tyre and floating down the river stopping at various bars along the way. Deaths occur each year due to iffy safety measures but mainly due to people getting wasted and drowning. It's also a place that annoys the locals as it goes way against their customs and modest attitudes. This is instantly obvious as straight away you see groups of chavs walking down the street.
Despite the negative reviews we wanted to see it for ourselves. The scenery is incredible. Huge karsts rising high above the meandering river look truly amazing. Ok, the town is a bit ugly but it was nowhere near as bad as we had expected. The restaurants either had Friends on loop or Family Guy. We watched lots of the latter during our stay.
Found a very nice bungalow right on the river with brilliant views of the mountains and so many varieties of butterfly. The place also had a swimming pool so we took a dip. A storm was brewing but it was nice to be swimming in the rain. Had a few beers in town then went into a Family Guy bar for dinner. We spent lots of time in this bar as the guy working there was really friendly and funny. The tuna sandwiches were exquisite too. We had atleast eight in our four days in Vang Vieng.
The day had come to go tubing so we bought a waterproof bag and some tubing shorts for Claire and soon were on the way upstream in the back of a pick up truck.
The first bar was ok, there was a very high board that you could jump off which looked a bit dodgy but we saw no deaths here. The next bar was better, you have to catch a bottle of water tied to a rope to get to the bars. Hold on to the rope and get pulled in by the staff. Simple, just watch out for flying bottles.
Played some football at the back of the second bar and cracked my big toenail. It hurt and was bleeding so I washed it as well as I could and we headed off to the next bar.
This bar was great fun. We got a bucket to share and watched many an idiot go on the rope swing. You can see things going awry here but fortunately the staff were being quite safety conscious. After laughing at some painful looking belly flops and two buckets later we headed off.
Reached the last bar and had one more bucket and asked how far it was back to the town on the river. We must have got our calculations wrong because we drifted off and soon it started to get dark. It was so peaceful but after a while it was really dark. Fortunately we had done our homework and knew exactly where to get out. Our bungalow had some distinct lights next to it and as the river went right passed it we would just get out there. At one stage the water started to get loud and we soon found out why. We went over some small rapids and got tossed about a bit, nothing too dangerous, just a bit bumpy really.
An hour later we reached our bungalow and a little kid pulled us in. The river was only knee deep in this section but the current was strong. Trying to wrestle a huge rubber ring to the riverbank and stand up was quite a challenge.
We returned our tubes to the hire place two hours and five minutes late so didn't get our full deposit back. Worth it though as the journey down the river was epic.
You can see how it could be deadly but only if you are blind drunk or wasted on something else or both. The same could be said for doing anything in a drunken state but the beer and buckets does flow more erratically here. Any way, we were safe and had a great time. Well recommended, just don't over do it!
The other days in Vang Vieng consisted of chilling out, drinking cheap bottles of Lao Lao and eating tuna sandwiches in front of Family Guy episodes. Not very cultural but we were templed out after Angkor so didn't really care. There are also a couple of open air clubs on the party island. We used these for their free bucket promotions and hammock lazing. Didn't actually spend a single kip in either of them.
Vang Vieng is a really fun place. I imagine in the high season the chavs per square metre might be a bit unbearable but it was ok at this time of year. The surrounding area is incredibly scenic and the tubing is entertaining. There is also caving, rock climbing and mountain biking if you can tear yourself away from the tv. I think you have to make your mind up for yourself really but I for one am very glad to have visited. Great fun.
Next up, Up North, Luang Prabang and Nong Khiaw
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