Tubing in Vang Vieng: A “Must” Experience in Laos
If you’re headed to Laos, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about tubing in Vang Vieng. It’s one of the top activities for Laos and particularly Vang Vieng. In this post we’ll look at a few other things to do in the city and then my very mixed experience tubing in Vang Vieng.
Getting from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng
If you’re looking for the ride of your life, this is it. The scenery is unbeatable, the curves resemble a roller coaster, and the pot holes and unpaved road are sure to rattle you around.
The most common way to get between Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng is a minibus priced around 120,000 kip and taking about five hours, give or take an hour based on the speed and riskiness of the driver. My bus stopped one time for an evening meal before continuing to jostle us around. If you’re prone to motion sickness, proceed with caution! That being said, you pass through stunning mountains, quaint towns, and could spend all five hours staring out the windows in awe.
About Vang Vieng, Laos
Vang Vieng is set along the river with only a couple of main roads. While there are dozens of guesthouses and hostels, they also seem to fill up in high season so consider booking ahead. My friend and I got lucky as the second place we tried was also fully booked but someone walked up and cancelled their twin room bungalow right then so the employee turned around and told us something had recently come available – perfect timing.
Other than guesthouses, there are tons of small restaurants lining the streets along with street stands selling sandwiches, pancakes (crepes), and shakes. One thing is for sure, you won’t go hungry here! There’s even a number of small cafes, often attached to guesthouses, showing episodes of Friends in the restaurant area in case you want to just relax.
Things to Do in Vang Vieng
Now that the basics are out of the way… What does one do in Vang Vieng? Well, it’s best known for its party atmosphere. From tubing during the day to a number of bars serving cheap or free alcohol in the evenings, if you’re looking for a party you can probably find one. Many bars even give away free t-shirts if you order more than one drink so you’ll see people walking around town advertising bars for free, I mean, sporting their free t-shirts.
Other than that, there’s a large number of caves nearby, kayaking widely available, some hiking, and mountain biking to keep the outdoor enthusiast happy. If none of this sounds appealing, grab a drink and a hammock and relax by the river on one of the over water platforms enjoying the mountain view.
We enjoyed hiking up to the viewpoint on the far side of the river (10,000 kip entrance) which is recommended, but not in flip-flops like we did. It’s very rocky with lots of stick ladders but the views are great and the climb really isn’t that long, maybe 15 minutes.
The other thing of interest is the cave on the other side of the river heading towards the Blue Lagoon but on the left hand side. There are two caves, a water cave you can tube in and one that you climb up the side of the hill to enter the cave and then scramble over a kilometer into it over rocks and ladders in the complete dark to pop out the other side of the cliff at a beautiful viewpoint. Take a headlamp and local guide (provided at the front) but it’s totally worthwhile. (10,000 entrance plus tip for guide).
Sadly, we didn’t make it to the Blue Lagoon, but I think the cave beat it hands down based on pictures and talking to people who had gone.
The Infamous Tubing of Vang Vieng
The number one thing to do in Vang Vieng is tubing down the river. It’s famous for it, or maybe infamous is more like it. After a number of deaths over the years, most of the bars along the river have been shut down, but there’s still a couple up and running.
You simply grab a tube from the office in town (55,000 kip + 60,000 deposit you will get back if you return the tube by 6:00pm or you’ll receive 40,000 of it if you return the tube between 6:00 – 8:00pm or after 8:00pm kiss your deposit goodbye), get a number drawn on you in permanent marker to tie you to the tube in their records, hop into the shared songthaew, and drive to the beginning of the tubing at bar number one.
To me, the bar is very “Spring Break” like with people drinking, dancing, and playing drinking games. There’s a lot of alcohol moving around with free shots being handed out and drinks being purchased – just what you should do before entering a river, right?
Anyway, from bar one you float about twenty minutes to bar two where they reel you in with rope. Here they have a basketball hoop with water spraying out of the backboard along with other games available and music blaring. Realistically most people leave the bars too late to make it back before 6:00pm to get their deposit back. From there it’s about two and a half to three hours further down the river to where you should exit. There are kids waiting at the end to drag you in for a small tip.
That’s how tubing in Vang Vieng should go. But now take a look at how it actually went down…
My Trip Tubing in Vang Vieng & A Warning
My Canadian friend and I started a bit late having enjoyed biking and caving a bit too much in the morning so we didn’t hit the river until 1:30 or 2:00pm. By 2:30pm we had enjoyed a drink or two and left the first bar. We met a lot of nice people at bar two and left probably at 3:30pm. About twenty minutes later we were separated as she pulled to the side to grab a passing tube with a Swedish kid, and I was still in the current with a group of Germans and French. That’s the last I saw of her for over twelve hours.
Having not found her on the river by the time I finished at 6:30pm (It was cold!) but not yet concerned, I returned our bikes which needed to be back by 7:00pm and returned to the end of the river to wait. However, the tube rental confirmed her tube had been returned based on her number which was just one before mine.
I returned to our hostel and she wasn’t there, so I showered, ate dinner there waiting, sent her a few messages on Facebook in case she had a way to check it as her phone was in our room, and then walked around checking the other restaurants we had frequented and the bars in town in search of her. I had her shoes, clothes, and money in our waterproof bag so I couldn’t imagine where she had went.
Not finding her and now a bit concerned, I waited at the hostel and eventually went to sleep in hopes she would turn up. Throughout the night I woke up, and she still wasn’t there until 5:50am. Then, I heard her say my name.
Wrapped in a towel and some serious backpacker clothing she was practically shaking and had no idea what had happened between being at the second bar and a couple of hours ago when she was really sick at some hostel that was not ours. She had been vomiting for hours and a British guy we had met in Luang Prabang found her and brought her water. Then a German kid had helped her walk home buying her food and water as she continued to vomit along the walk back.
Turns out someone had slipped something in her drink, and she doesn’t remember about twelve hours of the afternoon/night. To make it a bit scarier, we had met a couple of girls the day before where the same thing happened to their friend who was still very ill when we met them.
After racking my brain repeatedly trying to determine when or where it could have happened, I came up empty-handed. I was with her the entire time, her drinks at the first bar never left our sight, at the second bar she shared a drink with someone, and once we got back onto the river after the second bar there was nothing to drink. 2.5 drinks and zero memory. Scary, but fortunately she was physically okay.
Based on this, I cannot blame them for shutting down a lot of the bars on the river as there is obviously a problem there. I’m also not sure I can recommend it to others as for all I know it’s the bars drugging people. However, I get it, tubing is the main attraction in Vang Vieng. Just don’t get separated from your friends, period.
Sadly, this was the last impression of Vang Vieng as I had a bus ticket to Vientiane in the morning to see the city before my flight the day after. Due to the circumstances I felt awful leaving her alone but left water and a plastic bag with her just in case. She was ill for the rest of the day, but she met up with me in Vientiane the next day.
