So we did arrive, eventually. Whenever you encounter another traveler who's just come from Laos, they always go on at length about Vang Vieng. The legacy of Vang Vieng chased me everywhere, even when I was in Australia! And yet somehow, I couldn't figure out what was so great about it. By all accounts it was a place to get drunk, high, and watch Friends or Family Guy. In the daytime you went down the Mekong River in an inflatable tube and were roped in by various "bars," or little shacks on the riverbank selling cheap drink. I mean, getting drunk is great and everything, but I can do that more or less everywhere. Yet, I had heard only positive things from every person, and it did seem to be the adventure capital of Laos, so
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