vang vieng

In an earlier post I wrote about how Koh Phan Ngan is a bit of a backpacker's paradise. Well, Amy and I have spent the last few days in the soon-to-be backpacker's mecca of Laos.

Vang Vieng is a small down in the middle of the northern section of Laos. Limestone cliffs overlook the dusty streets, and a river runs by the side of town, providing backpackers with a great source of fun.

The thing to do here is to go tubing. For 40,000 kip ($4 USD), you get a big tractor tube and a ride a few kilometers upstream from town. The water flows pretty slow for most of the way, but even so, it should only take about 3 hours at the most to get back to town. However, it takes most people 5-6 hours because giant rope swings and bars constructed of bamboo line the river, luring the young people out of their tubes and onto the sandy banks.

As you float along, Laos children swim out to you and drag your tube toward their parents' bar and their mother's call out "Beer Lao, Beer Lao." The bar owners that don't use the swimming talents of their children use long bamboo sticks to fish the tubers out of the river.

Amy and I have been tubing twice; once with a bunch of friends from our slow boat, and once more just because it was so hot outside and we couldn't be bothered to do anything else. I really wonder why the pastime isn't a huge moneymaker back home; maybe I should start a tubing business when I get back to the States....