We took a tuk-tuk early to the south bus station and got hold of a ticket to Vang Vieng. The ticket sellers made out there was no such thing as a public bus (a lie of course) so we ended up on a more expensive express bus, which I don't think really deserved the name 'express'! It stopped for everyone and anyone who flagged it down, mainly because the cash was going straight in the drivers pocket, so I suppose I don't blame him!The views were beautiful. The cloud was quite low so as we drove up the mountain paths you could just see the peaks peeking through the cloud. Neither of us were prepared for what a beautiful country Laos was going to be. It's so green, there's no big cities and there are mountains everywhere with the majority of people still living in little tribes up in the hills.
At Vang Vieng we had a very sweaty walk to find a hostel, but when we arrived it was worth it. The Riverside Bungalows are right on the Nam Song River, which has huge limestone cliffs jutting out of the water. The site also had a big lawn area and sun loungers where you can't fail to relax!
We walked over to the island and into Smile bar which has bamboo balconies hanging over the river. We sat here with a beer until sunset and watched the tubers coming down the river, stopping at all the bars. It was funny watching them stumble merrily out the river... knowing that we'd be doing the same thing the following day!
The next day as planned we were in a tuk-tuk (armed with dry-bags) heading to the tubing launch point. Tubing is a bit of a phenomenon in Laos, everyone comes to Vang Vieng to do it. You basically insert yourself into a tractor inner tube and float down the river stopping at bars along the way!
Nick and I resisted the temptation to stop at the start-point bar, but did stop at the first bar that was about 100 meters down the river! There was bumped into the Australian couple we'd met at the waterfalls in Luang Prabang, Corin and Kristian. But more amazingly they were with another couple we'd also met 7 months ago on Hot Water Beach in New Zealand -Fiona and Tim! What a small world! We basically spent the rest of the day with them, enjoying buckets of cheap cocktails and swinging on the ridiculously high rope swings and zip lines, pelting into the river! It was such a quality day and everyone was in such a great mood, not to mention the amazing scenery. We went to every bar, and on every swing! Fiona also caused a bit of a stir by swinging down the highest swing topless!
Due to being rather distracted by the bars, we actually didn't make it all the way down the river as it go dark and cold quite quickly. We ended up being pulled out by tuk-tuk drivers who charged us to take us, freezing and drunk, back to Vang Vieng!
Somehow we lost everyone once we got back, but Nick and I went out for dinner ordering a small feast to try and sober up. Again we had and early bus to catch, to Vientiane, the capital.
Videos (copy and paste):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gfgBSAWNDk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFzauwZ27Ek