Vang Vieng without the Tubing

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The flight from Hanoi to the Lao capital of Vientiane was relatively uneventful, and while I was certainly expecting a change of pace from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, I was underprepared for the difference. Lonely Planet describes Vientiane as the “most relaxed capital on earth”, but I think that is an understatement! Since there was nothing happening around my booked hotel, and we were only a couple of blocks away from the Mekong, I thought I’d wander down there and take in the action. Not only was it deserted, but the Mekong comprised what looked like around 100 metres of mud flats with a trickle of water in the far distance. It was a stinking hot day, which probably explained the lack of people, and I guess the tide explained the water flow.

I had four days to kill in Laos and I’d decided I’d spread that time between Vientiane and Vang Vieng, the latter having developed a reputation as the place you either ‘love or hate’, probably depending on your particular interests and your degree of tolerance of backpackers overindulging in either, or both of, the booze and the dope. It is best known for the tubing down the Nam Song River, with its notorious bars every few hundred metres and the frequent number of drownings associated with the booze or the dope.

With Vientiane distinctly unlively, and bloody hot, I decided to take off almost immediately for Vang Vieng, which is a 4 hour bus trip north. I went crazy and paid an extra buck or two for the ‘VIP bus’, which in fact meant nothing more than that it had windows and air-conditioning. I was picked up from my hotel in a 6-seater tuk-tuk to be taken to the main bus station. You can imagine my consternation when I was then transferred into a larger 20-seat tuk-tuk, along with 30 other back-packers (all less than half my age), along with their packbacks and incredibly sweaty bodies, given the climate. Fortunately, this was only another interim transport, and not only did we transfer to the planned VIP bus, but I had the only two spare seats in the whole bus next to me, as no young backpacker wants to sit next to the old coot, so the trip was actually quite comfortable.

Showing my age, I had booked my first night into a hotel that advertised itself as ‘away from the bright lights and noise from all the bars’, but soon found that this was not necessary as the lights and noise caused minimal discomfort and my ankle didn’t really appreciate the 10 minute walk to all the action. So I rebooked into a hotel right on the river, which was very comfortable, had a great river view and was about half the price (ie around 10 bucks!).

While as a first-time visitor I have no point of comparison, I’d have to say that if they have ‘cleaned up their act’ in Vang Vieng by getting rid of the mid-river bars, they have done a good job. I found it quite an appealing little town, with some great scenery in the hills nearby, and while I’m sure there were still a few pissheads and dopeheads in town they were not particularly obvious, and certainly didn’t detract from the ambience.

I didn’t partake in the tubing, mainly because someone told me that it could take up to 2 hours to complete, and I didn’t fancy being exposed to the sun for that period of time. Interestingly, I didn’t see much evidence of others tubing either, so maybe with all the bars that were scattered along the river having been removed, this pursuit might have lost a lot of its appeal. What hadn’t disappeared is the preponderance of ‘TV bars’ playing endless episodes of “Friends”. Still, given that I managed to track down an ‘Aussie Bar’ that showed the weekends Super 15 rugby matches, I won’t be too critical of others choice of viewing!

With my mobility still pretty limited, I again rented a bike (4 bucks a day this time!) and took off into the countryside. There are about a dozen caves of various length and depth within about a 10km radius of Vang Vieng, but unfortunately the most impressive ones required a considerable climb, so I had to pass on these. However, just riding along some of the back roads in and around the hills and the river and checking out village life amongst the Hmongs was rewarding in itself.

So, all in all, my 10 days ‘escape from westernisation’ was a great success, despite my limited mobility for much of the trip. About the only downside, apart from the accident, was arriving back in Sydney after an overnight flight to what was about a once in a year fog, which required us first to circle Sydney Airport for an hour and then as fuel was running low, to divert to Melbourne. A 2 hour sit on the tarmac there, during which time we refilled, got us back into Sydney mid- afternoon instead of mid-morning, but I guess them’s the breaks when you travel by air.

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Comments

[John Young]

A chilled out tubing alternative
A new tubing place has opened up in Chiang Mai called Chiang Mai Tubing and Beach Club. It also has the only beach in Chiang Mai to play some volleyball or frisbee.