Tubing and Ballooning in Vang Vieng

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Before coming to Vang Vieng I was unsure if I would like the place or not, due to its reputation for young backpackers getting drunk and stoned. I was surprised to find a fairly chilled out place with the odd group of backpackers off their faces ( this changed on New Years Eve of course). The town offers plenty of activities including tubing, kayaking, rock climbing, hot air ballooning, as well as some caving. I liked the town so much that I ended up staying a week.

The first couple of days I just wandered around town, climbed to the top of a nearby hill to take a few shots of Vang Vieng, and relaxed in a couple of riverside restaurants. One of my highlights was a balloon trip over the town and north along the river where we could see all the kayakers and tubers below. I love being in a balloon and to me it was a bargain at $70 for the 45 minute trip.

The biggest highlight was tubing down the river and stopping off at a few of the bars to watch the younger ones getting drunk and taking on the flying foxes, swings, and waterslides. I can now see how so many people die here each year. I got off to a late start due to the popularity of this activity on New Years Eve and didn't roll up to the river with my tube in hand until after 1pm. There were a few bars at this point and they were already quite full with people dancing and drinking even before they had hit the water. After taking a few photos and having a shake I hopped in my tube and floated about a hundred metres down the river before a plastic bottle attached to a rope was thrown out to me and I was hauled in. This bar had a flying fox as well as a 10 metre platform to jump off and the bar next door had a swing. It was great entertainment so I spent about an hour or so here and even had a go of the flying fox which was a lot of fun. I hopped back into my tube and floated about 20 minutes down the river to stop off at a bar playing a bit of reggae and had another shake. This bar had an airbag that you can jump onto which would shoot the person sitting on it up into the air and into the river. I heard later that a guy that day was taken to hospital with a split open forehead after performing this trick. From there I floated on past the local's far more subdued bamboo platforms built on the river meant for a nice day out with the family. They just sit and watch the foreigners float by on tubes thinking that we are all crazy. It also seemed that all the asian tourists were in kayaks and boats whilst all the farang had tubes. I had another quick stop at a small mellow bar which had a small fire and played some Hendrix before jumping back in for the final stretch. It was starting to get dark so I jumped out of the water with about a kilometre to go and into a small truck for the trip back to town. What a great day.

On my last day I hired a piece of shit chinese motorbike with the idea of riding into the countryside and checking out a few caves and swimming holes. I had to contend with very rough and dusty roads as well as the visor of my helmut(which I couldn't see through) falling down over my face every ten seconds. I eventually made it out to Phou Kham Cave where I had a look inside the cave thanks to an Irishman who let me share his torch. Afterwards I just sat by the very beautiful lagoon outside with many others and watched other tourists jump off a tree and rope into the water, whilst wishing I had brought my bathers with me. From there I just rode back into town and thanked the lady for her great bike and helmet when I returned the bike.

The rest of my time I enjoyed hanging out with Lisa and watching many episodes of "The Family Guy" and "Friends" over dinner. Also of great interest to us were the happy items that you could order from the menu (see photos for more details).

This morning I hopped into a small minibus for the 6 hour trip to Luang Prabang. The scenery along the way was fantastic as we went through the mountains and many small villages. We even saw quite a few girls dressed up in traditional clothes. Time to check out Luang Prabang

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