Vang Vieng, Laos

I had never heard of this place before leaving, but in every country I went, from Fiji to Cambodia, I heard non-stop praise of tubing in Vang Vieng, a little town full of bars, restaurants, and guesthouses. I took two days of my week in Laos to go check it out. Basically, the idea is this: you rent a tire tube in town, they take you 3km up the road to where you start floating down the river in the tube, and along the way there are bars, rope swings, slides, successfully combining everything you shouldn't do at one time. I started around noon and was among the first to arrive on the start point, a bar situated on a gorgeous river. So I met a few people, tried out the rope swing, and sipped a Beerlao. Before too long, people started showing up in droves and the free Lao whisky shots started coming. After two hours or so, the migration to the next bar started, which was about 100m down the river, so I got in my tube and floated down. As I approached, one of the barmen tossed a rope out to me and pulled me in so they wouldn't miss out on a customer. For those who didn't get enough at the first bar, there was more cheap beer, free whisky, and rope swinging (don't worry, the water is deep). And from there, the day/evening/night continued as one might expect in a place full of foreigners with nothing to do. I didn't make it very far down the river in my tube, but in the end, I didn't much care. The picture to the left is the river and some of the bars and rope swings further down. The picture to the right is me jumping off a rope swing, notice the swing in the upper left corner, I really got to hand it to the Welsh guy who took the picture.

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Details:
I started from Luang Prabang, so I just booked a minibus from there to Vang Vieng through my hostel ($14/115,000K, 10:00 departure). Don't choose the minibus, do the VIP bus. The minibus is stuffy and uncomfortable, while the VIP bus is cheaper ($12/95,000K, 10:00 departure from Vang Vieng) and more comfortable. It takes about 6 hours and you arrive in the bus station, which is a $1/10,000K tuk-tuk ride into town. I stayed at Pan's Place, a guesthouse on the main drag and had a double room to myself with a bathroom en suite for $7/60,000K per night and it was a pretty nice place. The sandwiches and shakes in Vang Vieng are the best in Laos, hands down, so take advantage. To go tubing, you'll need to start sometime around 12-1:30. Honestly, you don't need a tube, it is just expensive and you will lose your deposit anyways, because Lao kids in the pay of the Tubing rental place steal the tubes ($6/55,000K+$7/60,000K deposit). Just take a tuk-tuk up to the start and you'll be fine, you can swim down the river anyways ($1/10,000K). From there, beer is cheap ($1.5/10,000K) and the whisky is free. After the sun sets, most people go back, shower, and head out to the island for more partying.