Vang Vieng

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Vang Vieng is not an interesting town, but it is in an area of limestone karst scenery and there are lots of outdoor activities not far from the town. Vang Vieng is famous for "tubing". Tubing is riding on the water on tyres. I avoided riding on the river (it has a bad reputation for safety due mainly to drinking), but I did try tubing in a better place. chose a day trip that visited four caves and two villages. It was described as trekking, but there wasn't much walking. It was worth it though because of the caves. The first cave, elephant cave, was small. It is called elephant cave because it has a rock formation that looks like an elephant. The second cave was very slippery underfoot. It is called deep cave and it was deep. This was the cave with the best collection of stalagmites and stalgtites. They were in their natural state, no coloured lighting. The cave next door called snail cave was less interesting, but the last cave was entertaining. This was where I tried the tubing. Inside the cave you pull yourself along by a guide rope. It is completely dark inside. We turned our head torches off to see what it was like. The roof of the cave is low so that it would not be possible to walk, but on the tyre you are low so it is easy to get through. We had the cave to ourselves, two of us and our guide for most of the time. When we were leaving another group was entering the cave so the timing worked out well for us. Our guide sang in the cave to keep us entertained. Lunch was rice wrapped in a banana leaf and chicken kebab. The last part of the day was a short walk along the canal to a Hmong village. This village was moved here by the government because the villagers were destroying forest in the hills. I had an excellent birthday, especially the tubing in the cave, and there was a celebration in the evening too. Our guide bought food and organised the cooking in the guesthouse. I had a lovely chocolate birthday cake too!

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