Dan's Travel Log: Laos | Vang Vieng and Tubing

March 02, 2005

Laos | Vang Vieng and Tubing | 8-11 Feb 2005

Vang Vieng is a strange little stopover town, halfway between Vientiane and Luang Prabang. The roads are now good enough that you can go between these towns in a day now, rendering the stop optional. It has become the Khao San Road of Laos, and I feel that there is less than a hint of Laos within the entire town. It is full of cheap backpacker-style guesthouses (with a few more $$$ bungalows on the river), a large number of thai-island-style-backpacker restaurants, with floor-cushions, western food showing Friends episodes (or Hollywood flicks) back-to-back. Its very backpackery.

However, before you get the idea that I don’t like it, it’s a great place for travellers to put up their feet for a few days. It’s not a bad social place and there are various activities available in the surrounding areas.

Speaking of which, the first whole day we were there, the girls and I decided to go inner-tubing down the river, a previously advertised feature of the place. It was REALLY REALLY cool. A little different to the quiet ride I’d expected, there were Beerlao shops every 10m along the river. And by Beerlao shop I mean a guy sitting on the riverbed with a small sign, a case of Beerlao and a bamboo pole to pull the customers in.

This was my first for the Day, the Beerlao shop that sold it to me, and Silke tubing.

We made a full pitstop a little further down the river at the ‘big’ shop, and by big I mean this one sold baguettes, tea, coffee and chips! It also had a bamboo ladder angled out at 45 degrees so as to be a jump – much fun was had!

The big shop, and Sandra jumping!

Even more exciting for me than the big shop was the Beerlao-shop-in-the-middle-of-the-river, which, as you can see from the photos, was worth paddling for!

After the jump, we went a little further and found something infinitely more exciting, The Swing of Death! (ok, so I added the last bit, but it WAS a swing)
You would climb onto the wooden seat platform (which you stood on, not sat on) of the swing, which was dangling off 10-15m of rope from a big tree way above. The other guys would grab a rope attached to the ‘seat’, run back up the hill and into the woods, while you slowly went from the normal state of vertical to almost completely horizontal, looking straight down at the ground, hoping that your grip is good.
All of a sudden, the runners let go and you’re sent flying out into the abyss, making strange whooping noises before leaving the relative comfort of the swing, to be dropped into the murky depths…

I LOVED IT!

I could have stayed for hours on that thing (I even met some people who DID), but the girls weren’t into it, so we moved on :)

After all that excitement, it all slowed down quite rapidly, the river slowing, the tubes managing only a snail pace. Tubing is a great place to meet people, however different currents make for difficult conversation sometimes, often ending with ‘speak again when I catch you up!’

Dan Self Shot | We picked up another Dan, this one English; here tubing with Sandra and Silke

The tubing ended with little Lao kids jumping on our tubes (initially to collect the beer bottles for the refund, then secondly) to help paddle our way to the finish line… Of course some of us were naïve enough to be surprised when they asked for money at the end :)

It was a great day, topped off by an incredible dinner at the riverside bungalow restaurant (1. Steamed Fish with ginger and mushrooms and sticky rice; 2. Thai Red Chicken Curry with Rice; 3. Fish Laab (minced fish and chili ‘salad’) and Sticky Rick; 4. Sweet and Sour Fish with rice)

Yet another night was spent at bars in town, then at the Ilam Bar.

Posted by Dan at March 2, 2005 08:40 AM

Comments

I stayed one night in VV and would loved to have had time to go tubing! You obviously enjoyed yourself!

Posted by: lozza at March 2, 2005 10:00 AM