Touristy, Tubing Sensation!

Vang Vieng is known for its crazy, drunken tubing. Just over a year ago, 14 bars were set up along the river for this whole day excursion. Alcohol and water aren’t a great mix, and so with pressure from other countries’ governments, especially Australia, the bars were cut down to 4. Now, it’s a soothing trip and a great way to meet people. Yes there is still drinking, but everyone takes care of each other so we all make it down safely.

So, of course Suzie and I had to join in on the fun!

 

 We first started our day biking to the Blue Lagoon. We’re pretty cheap so we got the road cruiser bikes with baskets. With one look at the road, we turned around to pay a little extra for mountain bikes. A little girl approached us and kept showing she wanted a photo. Well, I guess it won’t hurt anything if we take a photo right..? Sure enough, after the photo she’s asking for money. Suzie and I packed lunch so with a quarter loaf of bread she was skipping off with a smile.

 

Ok, so on the road to the Blue Lagoon image biking on a driving range that NEVER picks up the golf balls. About half an hour in and countless complaints from me, we decided to screw the blue lagoon and go to the closest cave. Suzie, our new Swedish friend, and myself we the brave enough to stumble into a cave and trust a local to show us around. For about $1.25 we were trekking through fields with a guide and headlamps. The cave started out fairly small, but after every turn there was a latter, bridge, or walkway! Is this thing ever going to end?!? That was, hands down, the furthest I’ve ever been in a cave. Wow, did we trust someone we’d never met before and spoke as much English as I spoke Thai? Without a second thought, yep, we were in the cave! Thankfully, we made it out safely and had the opportunity to swim in the little fresh water spring. Suzie was only mid-thigh deep in the deepest spot. Here I come, hot and wild. With a graceful slip on a rock, in no time I was drenched from head to toe. At least we had the bike ride from hell to dry my clothes off.

 

 

Back into town, all we wanted to do was relax and drift down the stream on a tube. It was about 1:00 when we hopped on tubes to start the adventure. We had heaps of fun bouncing from bar to bar, meeting locals and tourists, and floating down in groups of 10 or 15. We had to get the tubes back by 6pm to get our full deposit back, so in a frantic rush at the end, we jumped out of the river, hailed a tuk tuk, and got the tubes back with three minutes to spare! On the river we met Millie and Siobhan, our new traveling buddies : ) We went from 1:00 until midnight enjoying ourselves. Bright and early at 9 am the next day we climbed into a minivan for a 6 hour, twisty mountain pass drive to Luang Prabang.