Travel Talk

Tubing in Vang Vieng, Laos

 

Top of the morning,

Tubing in Vang Vieng, Laos is arguably one of the coolest things you can ever do in your life. I’m not saying move here and never leave, I’m saying come here and go tubing in what can only be described as a chillers paradise. When you first get there you’re like, WOW this place is out of control. Couldn’t find any cool videos on youtube, probably because most people dont bring anything except a swim suit and a smile. The video above gives you an idea.

Picture this, sun is shining, bikini clad babes and cool guys every where on these jungle gym aparatuses spread out all over the river. People floating in tubes with buckets of whiskey, chugging beers, dancing at one of the many bars. When you first get there and you look down the river, your eyes light up and you’re like “I BELIEVE THE HYPE”.  I had heard of tubing but never even googled it so it was all just a really pleasant surprise.

It will probably cost you ~10,000kip if you split a tuk tuk with people to get there. It’s free to enter. Drinks are MOST expensive at the first bar, bar 3 which is pretty big had buckets for 30,000 kip, the first bar? They wanted 80,000 kip. The zip lines are nuts, especially if you hold on until the end because it sends you into a weird corkscrew 900 or something as you fall 20 feet into this river.  Most bars just give away free shots of whisky. I started on beer and moved over. One guy was drinking straight vodka, not a good long term plan I don’t think.

The ropes? Out of this world. Lots of bruised ribs from improper entry into the water, these things are HIGH up there. Stuff like this in the Western world? It would never operate or be shut down in seconds. It’s awesome but you gotta be safe. When I first got there and did the big one at #1, I was slightly like woah, this is messed up.  On the way home we crammed 25 people onto this big 10 man tuk tuk, even had 10 on the roof. The guy was like “ok this is ridiculous”, everybody out!

I will say in order to be safe… NEVER EVER DIVE, I can’t believe some people do. Also the most dangerous part of the swings is dropping in and coming back, people hold on and then are too chicken to let go so they hold on as it comes back to the launching pad. If you let go there… Good luck.

People doing all sorts of crazy stuff like holding onto the ropes with their legs, body painting, writing email addresses & obsceneities  on each others bodies, spray painting themselves, everything, it was literally like this big booze fueled jungle gym for those who dared to make the trek. If you’re in the area, you need to come do this. I think 1 day is plenty, other people stay here a few days and do it a few times.  Others stay here for months, ha.

The water is clear and refreshing with a nice current to bring you from bar to bar. There is this massive slide near the bottom of the bar area. Met a guy who mangled his back on it and was like “it’s ok, I just landed wrong”. Not sure if I would of tried it or not, as I said, I never made it past bar 3. Didn’t bother buying a tube either which proved to be a most wise decision.

Don’t bring ANYTHING except money and your room key, it will get lost or misplaced or whatever, it is a sick party and you don’t want to worry about things as you’re jumping in and out of this river and just having the time of your life. I mean nothing, no flip flops, nothing, you will lose them. The tube is more of a hassle then it’s worth. I stayed until the music stopped playing, well past 6, had I had a tube I’d have to baby sit it and return it, not worth it.

The tubing is a unique experience that I’m SURE anyone who has ever gone would agree is totally out of this world. Good news? It’s not out of this world, just get your game together and take a trip to Lao PDR in South East Asia. Average age? 18-30 ok 18-25 haha. If you don’t get out of your mind, and use some common sense, you’ll have the time of your life. Just not the place to get too wreckless or play the hero, ok? Got it? Good.

On a side note, you hear people talking about a bar that only plays Family Guy… It’s true, I’m off to grab some breakfast there now. It’s right near the main drag, can’t miss it.

Tips hat,

P.S: Might go to Vientiene (sp?) the capital this afternoon, that or leave direct from here tomorrow. I’d LOVE to stay here a few more days but I can’t. I will say it again, having a “timeline” on a trip sucks the life out of it and pulls you in directions you don’t want to go. Kinda like some other things in life I can think of but won’t mention at this time.

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