Vang Vieng was next on our list in Laos. Vang Vieng is known for one thing: tubing. For those who don't know, tubing involves hiring a big, inflatable tube from the market, being taken up the river in a tuk tuk, and then being left to float down the river in your own time in your tube. It is supposed to take a couple of hours to float down the river, but that, of course, depends on how many of the makeshift bars you stop at along the way.
Before we could begin tubing though, we had to make our way from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. I wasn't looking forward to our journey; it was estimated to take six hours to drive 100 miles. Knowing this left me wondering, how bad exactly are the roads in Laos?! In hindsight, they are actually not that bad. The reason it takes so long is because the road winds around various mountains; it feels like you are never driving along a flat, straight piece of road.
Reading on the bus was out of the question; Matt and I spent six hours listening to music and trying to resist the urge to vomit. Fortunately, prior to leaving for our trip, we bought some travel sickness pills. I can confirm that Kwells certainly work a treat for travel sickness; I think Matt and I were the only two people on the bus who weren't sick. They even had a man on the bus who walked up and down the aisle handing our sick bags.
We made it in one piece though, and found ourselves at quite a nice guesthouse where we would be staying for the next three nights. Whilst exploring the town we were most amused to spot almost every person that was on our slow boat. In particular, we spoke to three guys from Manchester and Coventry on the boat, and we continued to bump into them during our entire time in Vang Vieng.
Vang Vieng reminded me a lot of Koh Phi Phi – it is almost all backpackers, and the atmosphere is incredibly laid back and chilled. There are numerous bars overlooking the river, most of which have booths where you can sit (or lie) on cushions and enjoy as many episodes of Friends or Family Guy that you can handle.
Matt and I chose a chilled first night in Vang Vieng, saving our energy for the tubing. After taking advice, we made our way to the market to collect our tubes at around noon the following day. We got driven to the top, and before we had even got in the water we found ourselves at our first bar. Matt decided he didn't want to waste time at just one bar though, so we were soon in the water, heading down to the second bar.
Tubing is great fun, but if you plan to do it you need to do it one of two ways. Either get in your tube and decide you are going to enjoy the scenery and make it back to the end, or decide that you are going to just sit at the first four bars and barely tube at all. If you are going to do the former, you only really have time to stop at one bar. It is supposed to take a couple of hours from start to finish, but I seriously beg to differ looking back! If you are going to do the latter, don't bother getting a tube at all and instead just take a tuk tuk up to the top of the river and then a tuk tuk back later. Save the £10 you would spend on a tube for beer money and enjoy the atmosphere without losing your deposit.
In hindsight, I would have not bothered with a tube on the first day, and then taken the scenic route on the second day. Unfortunately, hindsight was not something that we had when we made our plan. Matt and I found ourselves befriending an Australian couple and an American girl at the second bar. We made our way down the river with them, and by the end of our drink at the fourth bar we realised it was 4pm. Wanting to enjoy the scenery we decided to head back. We then spent the next two hours furiously paddling our way to the end. TWO HOURS TO FLOAT BACK?! WHATEVER! The water level was quite low the day we went, and I can't even remember the number of times I hit a rock, flipping my tube at one point. Unfortunately, Matt was about five minutes behind me at this point. Fortunately, our trusty Manchester and Coventry friends appeared from no where and gave me a helping hand when I tried to stand up and promptly trod on a very spiky rock.
We finally made it back to the beginning at 5.50, narrowly being able to get our deposit back. Bruised and aching, we agreed to meet our new friends for dinner later in the night. I think we all agreed it was the biggest dinner we have ever eaten. Having not eaten since breakfast and then getting the biggest work out of my life paddling to the end of the river, we were all incredibly hungry and thankful that Vang Vieng was such a cheap place to eat. We had a great evening in the end, and with some food in our bellies we were able to look back and laugh at our earlier ordeal.
The next day I felt truly battered and bruised. Matt and I spent the entire day in one bar, chilling out and watching episodes of Friends. I don't think I have ever enjoyed Friends more! When we first arrived in Vang Vieng we saw people lying about watching endless episodes of Friends and couldn't work out why when they could be tubing. I now can fully understand their reasoning!
I was slightly saddened that we didn't get to enjoy two days of tubing, but it was time to move on to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. We said a fond farewell to our new friends who were heading to Vietnam, and made our way to the bus depot, ready for the next stage in our journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment