Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng, the tubing capital of the world. We got here after a five hour bus trip from Luang Prabang on the infamous Route 13 road. ‘In February 2003 an attack on a bus near Vang Vieng killed 13 people including two western cyclists. Two months later, another bus was attacked, killing 12 and injuring 31, confirming fears that government assurances over the security of the road were badly misplaced.’ (Lonely planet, South East on a shoestring, 2004). Thankfully nothing happened to us, your risk is significantly lower if you don’t use government buses and stick to private cars or tourist minivans. We did see four separate groups of armed men on the road, not one of them looked very official.

We spent a few days in and around Vang Vieng. It’s like a mini Kho San Road - lots of backpackers, bars showing western movies and re-runs of ‘Friends’. On one corner there were three bars showing ‘Friends’ and they were packed full of people glued to the TVs, sipping their Beer Laos. As well as tubing, Vang Vieng is famous for its ‘happy shakes’ and ‘happy pizzas’ or there’s the ‘Ecstatic shake’ if you’re feeling like getting, well, ecstatic I suppose. We saw a few dudes in very ‘un-happy’ states from the shakes. The owner of the restaurant that sold them to them had to look after them all night, and it didn’t look like the best place to be freaking out on hallucinogenic pizzas and milkshakes.

Did a day of tubing down the river which was cool; basically you sit in a giant inner tube and float down the river in the sun for three or four hours. The scenery is spectacular, limestone cliffs rising out of rice paddy fields. There’s bars along the way were you can grab a cold bottle of beer. If you want to stop for refreshments you let the guy at the river side know and they pull you in on a big bamboo pole.