January 24, 2007
Vang Vieng:Blood and Guts
The traditional and popular activity in Vang Vieng is to drift lazily in a large innertube down the Nam Song river. This 'sport' was one of the first draws to Vang Vieng becoming a tourist town. It was cheap and eventually riverside bars began popping up as stopping points for the drifters.
During this dry season the river was quite low and thus the current was very slow, and we decided as a group to rent kayaks rather than tubing down the river. This turned out to be a wonderful idea and we got to start farther up the river and see more of the gorgeous scenery.
A few hours later we ran into the 'tubers who all cried out for a tug. We stopped for a bit at one of the bars catering to river flotsam and were entertained by the zip line swing that sped at dizzying heights above the water, dropping those of us with the guts brave enough to tempt the fates from several storeys above the water. I will just say two thing about it. Fear and pain. But it was fun nonetheless.
The only other unexpected excitement on our trip was playing around with Quin and Rachel's kayak and ending up getting t-boned and flipping. This would have been fun had Leslie not been terrified of water and not a swimmer, and had the current had not been exceptionally swift at that particular point in the river, immediately sweeping my knee into large rock, gashing and bruising it deeply. Soon enough we were back on our kayak and drifting along again with no more problems than a busted and bleeding knee and a grumbling and fearful Leslie, who had been sure that life would be lost in the catastrophe. Spirits were soon up again as we continued down the gorgeous scenic river with mountains and kirsks looming powerfully above us.
