Foreigners gone wild in Vang Vieng, Laos
According to the Lonely Planet, if you have a problem with reruns of “Friends” being shown daily throughout town, Vang Vieng may not be for you. So I have no problem with “Friends” but also did not take the authors statement literally and assumed there would be a lot of pop US shows on. This is not the case, from guest house to guest house, the show “Friends” is being played on repeat. You walk through town, and hear about Monica and Chandler’s first kiss over their roaring speakers. It is very odd, but quite funny.
Vang Vieng is more than just Friends, however, it is a big place for tubing and outdoor activities. Tubing in Vang Vieng is not of the same relaxing variety that I have done in the US. We entered the river on our tubes in the late afternoon and a few minutes later floated to the first bar. The bartender handed us the end of a bamboo pole and pull us towards his bar. Up above, a guy went swinging by on a zip line that sends him into the water. That’s when I thought, this is going to be a blast. A few zipline swings and drinks later we are off on the river again. The second bar we reach is packed with young people. That along with the 100 plus tubes parked on the side of the river, let us know that this is the place to be. Above we see a trapeze swing that sends people flying into the river. Bob Marley hits blast from the loud speakers and people drink, play volleyball, punch a punching bag (an interesting addition) and hang out by the bon fire. This could be the set of MTV’s Spring Break 2008! We had to tear ourselves away from this bar to ensure that we make it back to town before the sun goes down.
The second half of tubing, not as much fun, as the sun is setting, I am shivering but refusing to get out of the river to take a tuk tuk to town, more on principal than anything. We had it better than most, perhaps because we were not completely pissed, to incorporate an Aussie term, we had the sense to leave the bar and continue on our way before it was dark. A lot of the drunker tubers tubed back to town in pitch dark.
Tags: Laos, tubing, Vang Vieng
admin