Totally Tubeular!

Our bungalow

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We bought bus tickets to cruise south from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, a good stopping point before heading to the capital of Vientiane.  The 5 hour bus journey was beautiful as we climbed over peaks of mountains and had birds eye view of the landscape below.  It was beautiful.  There are no public toilets either (well, unless you want to pay to use someone's private toilet at their house), so we stopped every so often to pop a squat on the side of the road!  The tiny town of Vang Vieng is actually quite unimpressive, it is the river that runs through it, and the view of the limestone karsts that make this such a worthwhile stopover.  We climbed to the top of a mountain made of limestone rubble, and felt like it might give at any moment.  We walked through fields of hay, unnecessarily worrying we might run across some UXO (unexploded ordnance from the  Vietnam War).  We explored some caves with magnificent calcium deposits clinging to the walls.  But the best part of Vang Vieng, without a doubt, is the TUBING!  It is a right of passage for anyone traveling through Laos to stop, and take a day to tube. For 40,000 kip ($4 usd) we got a tube and a 4km ride up the river to the launching point.  Since it is high season, the river was crowded with a good variety of international folk, all in it to have a good time.  All along the banks of the river, the locals have set up random bars selling Beerlao and blaring American music through massive speakers.  What a trip!  We pulled over at the first bar because neither of us could resist the zipline across the river.  The next stop had a swing raised on a 30-foot platform, swinging you a good 100 feet across the water, it was AWESOME!  When you let go at the height of your swing, you would drop about 25 feet into the water!  Steph couldn't get enough of that one, and Sam's better judgement (or fear of heights) kept him from swinging, opting instead to kick back and take in the 'spring break' rowdiness of this Laos oasis.  Crazy.  We even ran into a friend we made in Indonesia on the river, the backpacker world is so small.  At the third stop, Sam couldn't resist, and the two of us swung across the river in tandem, testing the strength of the bamboo construction!  It was so much fun!  This time Sam couldn't get enough, and both of our cheeks were hurting from laughing all day.  As the sun went behind the beautiful limestone cliffs, the river turned black and the stars came out.    This would have been great if any civilization was in sight!  It was another 45 minutes of hard paddling before the lights of the town appeared.  We lucked out on sunshine for our day of tubing because we haven't seen the sun since.  The next (rainy) day, we left the party behind in a cramped bus headed to the capital.  About half way, we encountered an on-going bridge construction project.  So our bus filed in line to wait for the opening of the newly welded together bridge.  The little riverside town brought out its best for the crowd; fresh butchered goat (head and all!), dead bats, fetal birds, and live roaches.  It was quite the crowd pleaser.  Back on board the bus, we all held our breath as we passed over the bridge.  We arrived with another high-season smack in the face, something out of 'Amazing Race' as all the tubing spring breakers were now in competition for the last remaining cheap guesthouse rooms that might be available.  We (being the older and wiser) trailed the 'lead dogs', easily finding out which guesthouses were full.  As the youngin's tuckered out, we cruised by to find an alley entrance to a very nice, homey and cheap place.  We explored the streets of the capital with local  knowledge given to us from  Steph's 'muesli, yogurt, and tea' friend, leading us to hidden Indian food and awesome vegetarian buffets for $1.50!  Next up, our 16 hour bus journey across the border to Vietnam!