R&R in VV

Tarzan Keren - my first swing - look how high I am!
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Vang Vieng is one crazy little town.  Evidently there was nothing here 8 years ago except for a village, then it was opened up for tourists to take advantage of its beautiful river and trekking and caving opportunities.  So they built a tourist town with what tourists want - beer, pizza and endless reruns of Friends.  There are bars here where you lie down under the tables on comfy cushions and they play Friends episode after episode all day.  It is hilarious and once you are there it is impossible to move for hours!  VV is also the first place in SEA I have seen a joint on a bar menu, as opposed to normal items just being "happy".

Tubes in the water with bar in the background
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We arrived at about 3, and still feeling slightly dodgy after the beers the night before, we watched Friends for most of the rest of the day.  This turned out to be not the best use of our time as we found out later that Sean and Adrienne may have been in the town that night - bugger!

....even stopped me drinking beer for about 30 minutes....

The next day Rach decided that she hadn't done enough mooching around so did some more TV watching (this time the Simpsons) while I went on a kayaking trip on the river.  It started off with tubing through a watercave, where you pulled yourself along a rope on a tube on your back, looking at the cool rock formations above with your head torch.  The best bit though was waiting for the tubes to become available - we were waiting beside a gorgeous clear pool where you could cool off as hundreds of butterflys flew around you.

Friends bar - you lounge on the cushions lying under the tables
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After lunch and a quick stop at another cave it was time for kayaking. The advice given on how to deal with the small rapids consisted of "this is how you hold your paddle" and "keep to the left", so armed with these gems of wisdom we were off.  The river is beautiful, travelling along limestone mountains, with local boys spear fishing and children swimming, trying to get on our kayaks and splashing us as we passed.  We stopped off at the main tubing station (more on that later) where I was very brave and did a swing from a high platform into the water - non-alcohol assisted even.  I was so scared I was shaking for ten minutes afterwards.

Friendly butterflies beside the watercave
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The next day was tubing day - the main attraction of Vang Vieng.  Everyone hires large tubes for the day and floats down the river in them, stopping off at numerous river side bars along the way.  It is very relaxing and bizarre.  After my swing success of the previous day I did a couple more, until one disaster where the swing was jerked out of my hands and I landed on my chest and face.  Not being able to breath while in water for 30 secs is not much fun, and a nice girl had to come and hold my hand while I got my breath back.  So that finished the swinging for the day, and even stopped me drinking beer for about 30 minutes.  Serious!

Tubing down from the last stop we were surprised to see it getting dark very quickly, and we were soon floating in complete darkness, trying to avoid being stuck on the rocks and trying not to get separated.  Some tuk-tuk drivers were offering rides to town for $US1 but stupidly we believed the person who said it was only 10 minutes away from the end.  We finally arrived back at 8, very tired from our long day and ready for some more Friends watching.