The Stunning Adventures "Not all those who wander are lost." Tolkien

Last time we were in Laos, we had to rush right through Vang Vieng due to that blasted water buffalo that wanted to get up-close and personal with our little trekking group. We had heard mixed reviews of the city, but it was widely understood that the inner-tubing down the Nam Sang River was not something to be missed.  This time around we were determined not to miss it again. 
 
The Stunnings, with Mat in tow, made their way onto the Vang Vieng "scene" in style, on a VIP bus from Luang Prabang (It was actually really dirty, crowded, and the free lunch was crappy; but it was still VIP).  We exited the bus at the edge of the gravelly airstrip and tried to arrange a ride to the guest house we had chosen.  The town is quite small, and the ride was quite expensive, so we decided to walk.  Vang Vieng is an interesting little town, it can really be divided into two categories; the actual town and the surrounding countryside.  The town itself leaves a little bit to be desired.  It is completely full of restaurants that have found a new drug to replace the opium that used to be the drug of choice in Laos.  Some business savvy Laotian found out that foreigners love to watch TV.  This entrepreneur put a few TVs in her/his restaurant and "voila", instant customers.  Not to be out-done, other Laotians found out this new foreigner "crack" and invested in some TVs and some DVDs.  Now, there is an extraordinary number of these establishments crowded together on "Main Street" Vang Vieng.  At any given moment, you could watch one of at least five different episodes of "Friends", not to mention some "Simpsons", "Family Guy", and heaps of other various TV shows or movies.  We are not going to lie, while eating we did partake in a few episodes of the "Simpsons" and we could not pass on "Transformers"; but all in all, we found that hundreds of slothful, drooling tourists staring at the television was pretty disgusting.  The Laotian people that work in these restaurants are still the same wonderful people that populate the rest of the country, but the town has a decidedly different atmosphere than the other peaceful, slow villages and cities we had been to and loved. 
 
The surrounding nature, on the other hand, is astonishingly beautiful.  Limestone mountains rise up sharply from dark green rice fields all about the outskirts of the town.  The beautiful Nam Sang River meanders through town and provides a beautiful forefront to the picturesque backdrop.  The limestone cliffs are littered with caves begging to be spelunked.  This was the reason we came to town. 
 
We had signed up for a caving/tubing program, hoping to kill two birds with one stone.  We hopped into the pickup, and headed for three caves.  The first was a very shallow cave that had tile work on the floor leading up to a buddha statue.  Before the next cave, we had to wait for some other spelunkers to come back with the flashlights.  When this took too long, our guide started passing out flimsy little candles... yeah, I said candles.  I mean, "What is this, a communist country?"  Cave number two was entirely different from our first endeavor.  It was treacherous just walking down the rocks and ladders into the cave, not to mention actually entering it.  We lit our candles and started our way down a path that was something akin to a muddy slip-and-slide.  There were a number of falls, and the candles were not quite enough to appreciate the interior of the cave.  Elizabeth began to feel a little claustrophobic when she heard some loud noises coming from the rear of the cave, as did Greg, a bit (we later found out it was some mischievous spelunkers having some fun).  After the cave experience, the group opted not to explore the third cave, as we were told it was nearly the exact same as the previous cave.  We ate a bit of lunch before heading for the river for some tubing.  Tubing is what Vang Vieng is famous for, apparently, you are not even a SE Asia backpacker until you have tubed down the river in Vang Vieng.  Tubers hop on their tubes north of town and make their way down the river, stopping at bars along the way to wet their whistle.  The bars even have ropes to throw out to people trying to make their way out of the swift current.  The clientele ranges from relatively sober tubers just having a couple brews to some nutty drunks that have no business getting behind the wheel (inner tube, anyway);  I think we fell somewhere in the middle.  Some of the bars have volleyball, petanque, and huge trapeze swings that deposit the swingers in the river.  Needless to say, tubing was incredibly fun.  So fun, in fact, that we tubed that next day also.  Before getting our tubes, guess who we ran into, those two crazy English girls, Abi and Rachel.  By chance, they were headed to tube as well.  A hilarious day ensued, one for the archives, for sure. 
 
After two days of tubing, the Stunnings needed a day of rest.  There is a pretty posh little hotel in Vang Vieng (kinda out of place, if you ask me) that has a beautiful pool.  This is where you could find the Stunnings, right next to the pool (or in it) for as long as the day allowed.  It was wonderfully relaxing.  It was a perfect way to round out a great time in Vang Vieng before heading down to the capital, Vientiane.