Day 120: Birthday in Vang Vieng

---

Vang Vieng is most famous for tubing down the river, which has grown into something of a backpacker phenomenon. As you float down the river on your innertube, with picturesque limestone cliffs surrounding you, you are suddenly hit with a rope tied to a plastic bottle, and are pulled in to shore by one of the many "establishments". Once on shore you usually have the option of eating, drinking, and of course hurtling yourself into the river by whatever your favorite method may be (mine is a ropeswing, but there are also slides, ziplines and platforms). It is so fun that there are some people that have stopped in Vang Vieng and decided to never leave.

But there is a lot more to Vang Vieng than just tubing, for those who take the time to stay there a while. It is in a beautiful location - on the edge of a river, surrounded by karst limestone peaks, and dozens of caves. There are small villages filled with friendly locals, rice paddies, and almost impassible jungle areas. And, for those deprived of good ol' television, almost every single restaurant plays reruns of Friends (75%!)(MISSING) and Family Guy (25%!)(MISSING).

We got in to town a few days before my birthday, so we decided to put off tubing until then. On our first full day we did a one day trekking+caving+kayaking trip that was pretty awesome. First we hiked to a cave called "water cave", where you get on an innertube (there must be a tube factory nearby) and pull yourself in to a cave by a rope. It is 20 feet wide in most places, but with a low ceiling. Pretty unique and fun. The other cave we saw was called Elephant Cave, which was not that great except there was a stalactite that looked just like an elephant. After some lunch we got on kayaks, and headed back to Vang Vieng. On the way down the river we passed through the "falang area", as they call it, which is where all the tubers are. We got a preview of what was to come.

Then came my birthday (january 11). It was the perfect day for tubing - hardly a cloud in the sky. The day was definitely a success. Made some new friends, went off lots of rope swings, a few zip lines, and the big slide. Laughed at people letting go of rope swings at the wrong time and holding on to ziplines too long. We tried to make it back to the tubing place before 6 pm to get our deposit back, but the last part of the river was really slow and we didn't get back until after dark. We lost our sunglasses at some point. Still worth it though. Had dinner at the Aussie Bar with steph and some aussies. They liked my australian accent. "Thraw anatha shreemp on tha baahbee!"

The next morning we both woke up pretty sore from tubing related injuries. My neck hurt, probably from a bad landing from the slide (one of the pictures below). Steph had a pretty huge bruise on her right thigh. She wasn't sure how it had happened until we were going through my pictures and watched this video of her not-so-graceful dismount off a rope swing:



The next few days we spent some time exploring the beautiful countryside west of the river. One day on foot, another by bicycle. When on foot we climbed up one of the smallest peaks - it was much harder than we thought it would be. Rickety "stairs" and railings made out of bamboo were the only thing keeping us from falling 10 feet or more at times, but we made it. Awesome views. Our day on bikes we went to this place called the "blue lagoon". Only part of the name is right: it blue, but it is not a lagoon, it is a river. But still a great swimming hole, equipped with a rope swing. There is also a cave next to it (forgot the name) which was actually pretty huge and impressive. The bike ride itself was great except for all the bumps on the dirt road. There were lots of friendly local children shouting "Sa-ba-dee!" (hello) the whole way.

We did one more day of tubing down the river before leaving Vang Vieng. This time we started earlier so we could make it back in time to get our full deposits refunded. It was another successful day, although not quite as sunny. We made it back before the deadline, so that was a success. I lost ANOTHER pair of sunglasses, but steph was able to hang on to hers. At least they are cheap here. My proudest moment of the day was this dismount from a zipline:



So after a week there, we sadly said goodbye to Vang Vieng. I have a feeling we'll be back someday though. Here are some pictures:

---

Comments

[Matt Potterton]

Happy Birthday old man
Sounds like you exchanged the customary birthday slaps on the behind for the tube ride

[Austin]

zipline
Best dismount ever.