Laos - Vang Vieng

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We arrived in Vang Vieng at 4pm on Wednesday 4 April. After spending a couple of hours on the internet and organising my ipod, we went out for dinner and drinks. Most places in Vang Vieng show TV series (i.e. Friends, Simpsons) all day in their cafes/restaurants and are filled with sofas and cushions for chilling out. We found a regular outdoor bar that was busy and stayed here until closing at 11pm (due to the midnight curfew). The next morning, we took a 30 minute tuk tuk ride further upstream on the river to go tubing. We put our belongings in a dry bag, grabbed our inflatable tube and jumped into the river. There were a number of bars constructed of bamboo lining the banks of the river and we made our first stop after 50 metres. We drank our first large bottle of Beer Lao at midday while we watched people jump from the rope swing. Another 100 metres downstream and we stopped again and it soon became clear that we would not finish the course before dark. The rope swings got increasingly higher as we made our way downstream and were a lot more fun after a few beers. As darkness fell, we were forced to leave the river and call a taxi to take us back to our hotel. After we freshened up, we went out for dinner and carried on drinking. At the usual closing time of 11pm, we went with a group of people to a bar that is allowed to open late. We left this bar at 4am, 16 hours after we started drinking on the river. Friday was a lazy day while we nursed our hangovers with plenty of sleep and food. On Saturday, we caught the 7 hour bus to Luang Prabang.

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