Vang Vieng... TUBING!!!!!

The road to Vang Vieng was exceptionally windy.  The aircon we had paid for didn't actually materialise, but that was to be expected really.  The scenery of the mountains all around was beautiful though.

We arrived hot and sweaty into Vang Vieng around 3pm, and got a tuk tuk to a guest house. The tuk tuks in Laos are different to those in Thailand, in that the seats run along the sides, rather than facing forward. I think I prefer the latter, but I don't suppose you're bothered about that.

We had lunch, and then walked around town.  The place itself is in a beautiful setting between the mountains, but there's not really much to the town.  We did however notice a bar that had roast dinner - beef, chicken, pork and lamb - with all the trimmings, and made a note to return that evening!  After a short wander past all the 'Friends' bars (just like Hat Rin), we headed back to the guest house, and had a drink on our balcony.  It was overlooking the river which wasn't the cleanest looking thing in the world, but for $5 each, it was pretty nice.

We headed out for dinner, and I for one was very excited about the roast dinner - they even had yorkshire pudding!  The lamb was slightly more expensive than the others, but I thought I'd splash out and go for it.  The others followed suite, and we all decided to treat ourselves to a glass of red wine.  The wine in Asia is hard to come by, and not that great, but this place sounded nice.

The wine arrived, and tasted like vinegar.  As we pondered over how our meal was going to turn out, it was pointed out that none of us had seen a sheep since we had left Australia, so the high hopes for the lamb were swiftly diminishing.

The food arrived, and we were very pleasantly surprised.  The veg were lovely, the yorkshire pudding cooked to perfection, the gravy was top notch, and the meat was lovely.  It was lovely but it was beef, not lamb.  We all cleared our plates nonetheless, and Larissa and Steve even managed to empty their glasses (the only way I was doing that was over a plate of chips).  The bill came out, and we decided to mention to our waiter that we hadn't really received what we had ordered, seeing as it was a little more expensive.  I told the lady that, although our food was lovely, it was beef, and we had ordered lamb.  After a little further explanation, we were given the best example yet of a very commonly used phrase.  She turned to me and said "Beef, lamb: same same."  I nearly fell off my chair.  It was we could do not to laugh in her face.  It was worth paying the extra just for the laugh.

After that, we bought some local 'Tiger' brew, and took a bottle back to the guest house. We sat on the balcony and listened to music, and just chilled out. We even had some tea - how refined! It was dead relaxed, although Barry was bouncing off the walls, so at about 12, he and Larissa headed out to the bars on the island, just across from our guest house. Rick, Steve and I stayed in, and hit the sack shortly after.

We woke up on Saturday morning to find that the electricity in the town was out, and that it was raining heavily.  Not really part of the plan, since we intended to go tubing that day.  We went out for some food, which took about an hour.  The rain had eased off, so at about 1.30, we set off tubing!!!  It basically consists of a day floating down the river in the inner ring of a tractor tire, while being pulled into bars along the way.  All the bars have jumps and rope swings of various dizzying heights, which become less scary with more liquid refreshment.  It was brilliant craic.  I tried the rope swing at the first place, and, just as I suspected, having no strength in my arms I came straight off.  Undeterred, I went straight back up again.  Take two lasted about one and a half seconds, except this time I didn't fall quite so favourably, and ended up winding myself.  I've not done that before, and hope never to experience it again.  It was all I could do to swim back to the side, hold on to one of the jumps, and curl up in considerable pain for a minute.  Oh well, at least I didn't belly flop.

So after that, the rest of the day was swing free, but still a lot of fun.  We met loads of guys from Brighton - Luke, Woody, Patrick, and Bella, and arranged to meet up that night.  The floating continued, to the sound of 'BeerLao, beerLao!' all around.  It was a really fun day.  Full of a considerable amount of Dutch courage at the last bar, myself and Rick climbed up the highest jump so far.  I looked over, but before I had time to blink, Rick launched himself off.  I was about to follow him, since delaying these things only makes it worse, when I heard from below 'Ahhhh my ass!!!!!!!'  I was straight back down the ladder after that.

We made it back at about 5, and after a quick shower headed out for dinner (curry house again, it was getting addictive!).  We went out on the island, and met up with the Brighton lads again.  The others left early, but Rick and I stayed chatting a bunch of people.  It was a really good night, and I even fit in another Florence Nightingale session, although this time I managed to avoid getting the patient's sick on me - always a bonus!

The next morning we got up and had breakfast at the organic cafe.  Rick headed off to meet Mike and Nikki, but their guest house was really far away, and they weren't even there when he got there.  Not wanting to walk the whole way back to meet us, he hired a scooter for the day, as you do!  After breakfast, we headed back, and the other two met us there - once again, it was really strange to be having a reunion with them!!  It was short-lived though, since Barry and Steve headed off soon after.

Rick and I were a bit knackered, so we had a little afternoon kip while Larissa, Mike and Nikki went to the organic farm.  When they got back, they all headed to a lagoon, but I wasn't really up for it - after tubing, I hurt everywhere!  It was weird having time on my own though!!  I chilled out in the guest house for a bit, and then went on the net.  I met the others when they came back, and we all made another trip to the curry house (this was getting ridiculous!).  After that, it was time for bed.

We had stayed an extra day so that we could go tubing again with Mike and Nikki, so we were all up early the next day to do just that.  We got some breakfast, and then headed back to the tubing place for 12, where we were meeting Ross and Chantelle, an Australian couple who had been on the Gibbon experience with Mike and Nikki.  They were lovely, and we all headed off.  Again, it was a really fun day, and we met up with the Brighton lads as planned.  I avoided the rope swings this time, but Nikki took to them like a duck to water!

It was a great day again, although this time there were a few more injuries sustained!  Nikki and Mike floated off a bit early, but the rest of us stayed till after dark, which made the getting home a little more tricky!  We showered and went out for food, and I was all ready for bed after that.  Rick and the English lads headed out, but I got another early night.

The next morning we were woken up by a knock on the door at 7.30 from the guy from reception, who wanted to know if Larissa and I were taking the 10am bus or the 1pm bus.  I'd say it was pretty obvious by the look of us which one we intended to get!

Mike, Larissa and I headed for breakfast in one of the 'Friends' cafes later that morning.  Mike and Nikki were thinking about volunteering in a school for a week, so after a quick goodbye (which was weird, I didn't know if I'd see either of them again!), Larissa and I jumped on the bus to Vientiane, for another sweatbox trip.

Click here for the Vang Vieng photos