we were a bit sad to leave luang prabang, but it's common knowledge that the most fun thing to do in laos is undoubtedly 'tubing' down the mekong near the town of vang vieng, an activity which basically involves jumping in a truck tyre inner tube and floating down a river.
vivienne and i had been given the impression by many other travellers and friends that the day is mostly tubing, and then stopping off here and there at outdoor bars for a drink along the way. turns out, the day is in fact mostly spent at bars, with the odd bit of tubing in between, and some impressively high rope swings and flying foxes into the river added for good measure. basically, this is a fairly dangerous activity to which large quantities of cheap asian alcohol is added, making for one of the most injury-riddled backpacker communities in asia.
BUT you will be pleased to know that despite our enjoyment of the 'lao lao' (a general term for alcohol brewed in laos, all of which you could fuel your car and clean out your insides with a few short gulps, and can be purchased more cheaply than a bottle of water) neither vivienne nor i sustained any serious injuries. regrettably we've hardly got any photos of the two days we spent tubing (most say three days would be their limit, we met a guy who'd been in vang vieng for months and could barely string two words together) as alcohol, rivers and expensive digital cameras don't really mix.
vivienne made many daring leaps off high platforms, working her arm muscles but doing so with grace and finesse (she once got a round of applause), whereas i managed to score a loud OOOOOOOOH from the crowd of spectators (or so i'm told) when i landed very awkwardly on the one time i did brave the giant trapeze. anyway. nothing some tiger balm won't fix.
the lao people are also very generous with their tiger whisky (so called because it's got a picture of a tiger on the front, apparently that's not actually it's name but nobody we met could read lao), and we really developed a great appreciation for it (basically, it's free and after a couple you can't taste it any more. nice!).
of the half-dozen bars along the river our favourite was definitely the 'mud bar', where they have these giant pools of muddy water and the ground is so muddy that people are constantly slipping over. it's one of those things that everybody would be like 'ew, gross' if they were sober but it's late afternoon by the time anybody arrives this far down the river and most people are far too drunk to care if they're covered in mud.
we met a few people with waterproof cameras who we will hopefully be able to get photos off (they would be very much worth seeing, i have no doubt) but we'll see how we go with that.
vang vieng is really beautiful but not that exciting- other than tubing, there's not a whole heap to do (unless you're into caving, apparently, i think we can safely say we aren't), but selected highlights involve a really delicious green curry and vivienne falling asleep at the table when we went out for dinner on day one. that's pretty much it.
anyway send us your comments and your love, vivienne will be back next week to tell you about our 30-hour bus/truck journey and the thai islands. yay!
x iona (and vivienne)
