Tubing in Vang Vieng

Now I've had two days of tubing in Vang Vieng. The first day when Allison left I had a great breakfast at the Organic Farm Cafe. After that I was by myself and had some plans to go tubing. It took me like two minutes of walking through the town before I met James (the Canadian guy that I stayed with in Luang Prabang) and he was going tubing as well. Turned out to be a big group of people, consisting of me, James (from Canada), the Swiss girl Carol and the Dutch guy Chris (I met both in Luang Prabang as well), Matthew, Luke, Danny and Alan from England and Kim and Fra (aka Kiwi) from New Zeeland. Really nice group of people and we had a great day together.

To go tubing you first get into line at the tubing office. You pay your $3 for the tube (and the tuk-tuk ride upstreams), fill in some forms abou8t security and stuff and then you're off. You get on a tuk-tuk which takes you to the starting point and from there you just get into your tube (a tractor wheel filled with air) and start to float down the river. Floating down the river is not what you do for the whole day though - it's just a way to get from one bar/place to the next. We never made it that far down the river really - we kinda got stuck at the first four bars.

All the bars sell beer Laos (best beer I've ever had I think), serve free lao-lao (Lao whiskey) or sell buckets with lao-lao and mixers. Some bars are just bars where you sit down, chill, drink, enjoy the sun and the music and just meet new people. Most bars have swings where you can swing into the water, courts for playing beach volley, a bonfire or other entertainment. We had a really great time both days - just chilling, playing volleyboll, drinking a bit and meeting loads of new people. The first day we got a new member in the group as well - Ashley, who quickly got the nickname Boston Wu-tang (long story short, she's from Boston and her last name is Wu).

You start early in the day with tubing - around noon for us. It should take like 2 hours just to go down the whole river to the end, and you have to be back at six. We never made it to the end - I think we stopped in the middle at 6 pm both days - taking a tuk-tuk back since it's too cold in the water and you have to return the tube. It was really good fun though!

The nights have been spent in the company of the group as well, having a really great time with loads of fun. It's a bit of a shame though that all bars close before midnight and that there's a curphew for people which means you can't have alcohol in the streets after 11 pm, you can't make any noise or just being outside in the night (going home from the bars is okay - if you do it quietly). The punishment for breaking the curphew is a warning the first time and then you may face up to a couple of years in jail. Not a good idea to push it... :)

My plans for the future is a bit unclear. I'm starting to think that I will spend a couple of days more in Vang Vieng and then try to get to China as fast as possible - probably by taking the plane from Viantiene. I'll see how it turns out.

Also uploaded some more pictures from Luang Prabang and the tubing in Vang Vieng. Enjoy!