Life’s a Party in Vang Vieng

The limestone mountains at Vang Vieng

I first read about Vang Vieng a few months back and I couldn't then imagine how it would feel.  Now, I have memories to last me a lifetime.  Briefly- Vang Vieng is a small town in Laos, about four hours north of the capital, which had become increasingly popular with the Western crowd due to its party-like-there's-no-tomorrow atmosphere.  All because of the in-thing to do in VV: river tubing.  To those who haven't heard about it yet, the concept is basically to ride on a rubber 'tube' down the river.  The thing is, you don't just float down there, you basically party along the way.  

Tubing (and partying) down the Nam Song River in Vang Vieng, Laos

Which brings me to the goal of this stop-over to Luang Parabang: I wanted to see what it was like myself.  As a late-bloomer of crazy partying, I just had to do it.  For me, it was going to be an experience of a lifetime.  And it definitely was.  

The party, I mean tubing, starts at this bar.

Who  can resist free shots of whiskey?

So, everybody starts tubing at a certain point in the river and this is where the party starts, with free shots of whiskey.  A lot of people either go down in their tubes or start the partying instead.  By fate, I caught myself stuck with the boys from Norway.  And two hours into 'tubing', we were just hanging out by the river at the first bar, drinking, getting to know each other, and meeting a whole lot of other people.

Beer pong!

Anything can happen here on this "teenage wasteland".

More bars down the river.

Tubing is the way to go - from one bar to another, that is!

We decide to make a move on, to the next bar that is!  We briefly ride our tubes before we get pulled-up the next riverside bar, which was different from the first one because we got to try the monkey swings and had the chance to jump to the water over platforms.  At some point, the partying starts to get crazy.  As the bar's name says: 'Why not?'

Why Not Bar.  I actually got to perform "YBC's We No Speak Americano" on this platform.

No party is ever complete without games!

In total, we hung-out from 1 to 7 PM, covering only some 100 meters of tubing (no kidding!), got drunk on tons of alcohol, met other travelers, jumped over more platforms (I got scared at the 20 feet mark, but I did it, with help from the boys), and partied at the last bar of the night (for me at least!). 'Tubing', or the whole concept of it, was awesome!!

Tore smiles for the camera as the current sends us off.

Side notes on VangVieng:

1.      It’s not just about the tubing.  There are other activities to be had, including seeing a cave or two.

Inside the limestone cliffs.

2.      Have fun, but do take care.  There are already several reported incidents, including deaths, due to carelessness.  You don’t want to be part of any kind of morbid list.

This is me about to take on the monkey swing.  Wait, why are those kids just "walking" down the river??

And off I go! Clearly, I didn't listen to the warnings of people getting in accidents over jumping into the river.

3.      Be wary of your belongings, especially when you’ve had a bit too much to drink.  Thankfully, the only thing we lost was Oystein’s shirt!

4.      Respect the local people and their town.  Respect other travelers as well. Be properly dressed around town and don’t bring your party back to wherever it is you’re staying because others value their sleep.

It can all be clean fun, nonetheless!

PS- my only regret was that I didn't charge my camera properly so it just died on me by 5 in the afternoon, which meant I didn't have any pictures of me jumping off the different platforms and of drunk people having the time of their lives!

Sunset over the Nam Song.  Call me cheesy, but this place will hold memories of a lifetime.

Update on January 2013 - It seems that the whole partying-while-tubing thing has been banned or discontinued by the Lao government.  While you can still go down the river in the rubber tubes, nary you will see a riverside bar in sight.