vang vieng.

after a boat from koh tao to the mainland, a luxury bus to bangkok, a sleeper bus through the north of thailand, a stopover at the laos border for visas and fees, and a public bus up through the mountains, india & bryn arrived at their first official stop in laos: vang vieng.

boats on the nam song river in vang vieng.

here is must be said: vang vieng is exactly what you think it's going to be. like shasta lake on memorial day weekend, or vegas on new years eve, vang vieng is a non stop party, a rustic disneyland-like natural adventure park for twenty something travelers. it is, truly, a different world.

bryn & india arrived knowing very little about vang vieng other than it being party central. the majority of what the knew sounded like an urban legend: rope swings over rivers, homebrewed booze flowing, loas hospitality bursting at every open cafe, each equipped with old televisions that blared fuzzy viewings of your favorite american sitcoms.

turns out, that's exactly what it was.

making friends with the livestock on the side of the road.

bryn & india were dropped off in the middle of the six block stretch of road that made up vang vieng. they walked three yards to the first hotel and booked a space - a creaky corner room with big windows and a lavatory that held the toilet in the very middle of the tiled room. they paid about 50,000 kip (or 6 u.s. dollars) a night, and were pressed to take off their shoes at the entrance, as keeping the floors clean kept the maids happy.

after a breakfast at one of the dozen cafes on the street, bryn & india followed the small but steady crowd of white tourists to the rent-a-tube station in the center of town. here, they paid 8,000 kip each (or about 10 u.s. dollars) to rent an industrial sized black rubber inner tube and hitch a ride in a crowded truck towards the start of the float. perhaps two miles up river, bryn & india were dropped on a muddy bank among a thick green jungle, and dove into the rushing brown river.

tubing is for lovers #1

tubing is for lovers #2

because this is why tourists come to vang vieng: about ten years ago, a pair of australian boys (or british? or american? is it urban legend?) came to vang vieng and saw the potential of it. it was a tiny native community with zero tourists but beautiful scenery - and a river perfect for tubing to boot. they built a river side bar where inner tubes were rented out and the rest was history. today, about two dozen bars dot both sides of the murky river for about a five mile stretch. some have rope swings, or gigantic slides, that will push you back in to the water after a few beers, a few shots. some will hand you a pre-rolled cigarette filled with dry marijuana if you purchase a fifty cent beer. whichever ones you stop at, you'll meet friends and have fun. (though favorites are inevitable: bryn & india were fond of rope swings, power slide, and 'slingshot bar'.)

beer pong at the first annual 'tubefest' on the nam song river.

one of the many rope swings.

the rope swing before an impressive cannonball.

team u.s.a. - clearly a dominating force.

two days of tubing left the pair exhausted. beer pong tournaments, shared shots of warm liquor, countless jumps from the rope swing, high fives between new friends, buddhist blessings for safety in the form of colorful bracelets.

for a brief moment, after making friends with a brit who had been there for months, india & bryn entertained the idea of staying in vang vien. work in my bar! i'll pay you in room and board, and you'll drink whatever you like, whenever you like. but as the liquor wore off, the charm wore off, and as gorgeous as the surrounding jutting mountains were, bryn & india left on their third morning, exhausted by the tourists and the alcohol.

view from the pitstop on the bumpy bus into laos.