Vang Vieng

Tubing!!! (Vang Vieng)

After a six hour bus ride through the mountains, I arrive in Vang Vieng. The town is small, and like most towns in Laos is based upon the river. For a young traveller - this is the place to be. The town itself is simply full of restaurants - each with very low tables, cusions to lie back in, and large TV screens showing only re-runs of Friends, The Simpsons or Family Guy. However the main attraction of Vang Vieng - is the river. While many go kayaking down stream, it is tubing which has become popular here and has essentially put this place on the map.

You hire a big rubber tube - grab a tuk tuk upstream and then sail back down to town (which should take between one and a half and two hours depending on the season - although I never actually made it to the end). Along your travels downstream are rows of bars either side of the river. If you want to stop off for a drink you simply shout - a local (like fishing) then swings out a large rope, or a stick or a rope with a bottle attached to it - and hauls you in. When your done drinking - you continue floating down the river to the next bar. Each bar is different - many have hammocks for chilling out on the river, while others entertain the crowds with extremely high rope swings or zip wires - where most travellers compete in performing the most outrageous flips (it's a lot of fun). Drinks served in each bar have two menu's - the second (secret) menu is known as the Happy Menu. Each drink here has added incredients - a Happy shake for example will contain the normal components of an expected shake but will also have either opium, weed or mushrooms (that you wouldn't find in a full English breakfast), added in. You can also order Happy Pizzas and basically anything else you want on the normal menu but with a Happy twist - you get the idea.

Every night is party night - most head to Smile Bar (on the river of course) - which plays a mixture of music - mostly pop though, but never without a bit of Bob Marley. Drinks here mainly come in buckets and if I could work out how the money in Laos works (1 pound = 17,000 kip) then I believe they are pretty cheap.

I have stayed in Vang Vieng longer than any place on my trip so far and thus have accumulated a lot of friends here. I met back up with Cody, the girls from that night in Pak Beng and four blokes from Watford who are always up for a laugh. Its hard to say goodbye to this place but I have to go....I'm heading for the capital of Laos....Vientiane.

Before leaving vang Vieng - I recieved an email from Harjeet. His illness had not cleared up and he was in Bangkok heading home (two months early). He then proceded to explain that because we had shared a room in Pai - the doctor said that I should get tested too for Typhoid - theres a three week incubation so I may not show symptoms yet and the vaccination is not 100 per cent effective. To my delight - I head to the Vang Vieng hospital. No-one speaks English - they hand my a Laos-English translatiopn book and I attempt to look up the words "Typhoid" and "Test Please". After what seemed like a negotiation in buying a house - I think they finally got the message. I was handed a piece of paper with nothing but the words negative on so I assumed I was in the clear. I hope the nurses knew what they were doing or that they even knew what the hell I was asking them to test. I suppose the only true way to know, will be to wait for three weeks and see if I come down with a fever. I headed to Vientiane........