Tubing in Vang Vieng

What to say about Vang Vieng?  The place has become infamous among backpacker circles in SE Asia, but many 'normal' people may have no clue about it.  For those who have never heard of the place, here is the run-down:

Small town with idyllic river, caves, and mountains goes touristy.  Caters to backpackers as a party town, bars open up all along the river.  Party-goers rent tractor-sized inter tubes and float down the river, stopping at bars to indulge along the way.  Atmosphere goes overboard, quaint town turned gap year backpacker drunk fest.  Tourists start to die due mainly to stupidity - jumping off cliffs or trees into rocky water, drowning in the river, falling off zip-lines over shallow water - and of course alcohol and various other substances play a role.  27 foreigners die last year alone.  Under pressure the authorities finally crack down, close most of the bars along the river.

the scene before the bars were shut down

So was the story when I arrived.  Although all but a few bars were closed and the crowds depleted it was still, well, an experience.  Note: high season is over, so I don't know if the bar closings are necessarily working; and who needs 30 bars to get drunk?  3 will do the trick just fine.  Traveling with the Welsh crew also aided in my party experience.  We went out 3 nights (out of 4), and one of those days was also spent tubing and drinking on the river.

Just before we hit the river

Since we were there during the dry season the river was low - so low that I got stuck on rocks in certain areas.  It isn't as fun when you have to push yourself along, but I guess that's better than tubing in a dangerously fast current.  And I must say floating lazily down the river was fun.  Three or four spots were still open along the river so the drinking could carry on.  It was an inebriated day, but all in all, I'd say we were responsible drunks.  I guess that is easy to say when comparing oneself to the idiots who came before us on that river.

Again the town had a curfew for bars.  And again there was a place that somehow got around the ban.  One club stayed open after hours, and that's where we ended up each night.  It was more of a Lao-foreigner mix, not like the bowling alley in Luang Prabang.

During the day if we weren't sleeping off a hangover or tubing, there was a blue lagoon swimming area to check out.  Nearby was a giant cave with a Buddha shrine that we walked through before cooling off in the lagoon.  In town several restaurants are famous for playing re-runs of old TV shows to groups of backpackers.  Friends is the most common, followed by Family Guy.  Several establishments also sell magic mushroom pizzas and opium shakes - sorry to say I can't report on those - I will only go so far to make my blog entertaining.

the blue lagoon

Buddha shrine in the cave near the lagoon

Speaking of entertaining, I haven't mentioned one of the Welsh guys yet.  I won't divulge his name to save him any embarrassment.  Let's just call him Frank.  Originally when we met them they were three.  This was because Frank was back in the hospital in Chiang Mai.  When they were all back in Thailand he managed to fall into a fire.  No, not a house fire.  A controlled fire pit.  Apparently he was so drunk he lost his balance and just went in (I'm still not sure how).  His burns required medical attention and recovery in Chiang Mai.

Well in Luang Prabang Frank met up with us, and by Vang Vieng was back at it again.  At the late night club he met a Laos girl who took him home with her and proceeded to rob him - this was the same girl who grabbed several guys and tried to pull us over to her table.  Well once you pass a certain point of drunkenness all caution goes out the window!  Oh and he had just withdrawn over $100 from the ATM!

The next night, feeling depressed about his misfortune (if you wand to call it that) Frank did what any reasonable person would do - he drank himself silly.  That night, back at the club, he got a ride home from a local.  This local was apparently drunk as well, because Frank remembers the driver falling off his scooter several times.  What happened next is not clear, but it involved some sort of confrontation between the two, the driver chasing Frank with a machete, Frank running through the woods and a barbed wire fence, showing up bruised and bloodied the next morning, and the cops coming by to check on the situation.  The cops didn't pursue it (I think they were just looking for drugs or a way to bust him) and Frank had to go back to the hospital for more bandages.

gotta be careful on these

Lao's finest...better than Thailand at least

After Laos their gang went to Vietnam, but there are plans for us to meet up at some point.  The guys were good fun and I hope to travel with them again, if only to hear about the shenanigans that Frank got himself into.