Bit late in posting this blog, but we were in Vang Vieng on the 17th and 18th of Feb. It is the most bizarre place! We were dropped at a bus station (after a very windy bus journey from Luang Prabang) and taken to a hostel that some of our friends were staying at on a tuktuk. The town itself could be anywhere in the world! You would not expect it to be in the middle of Laos! It was more like a Spanish or Greek island, with mainly drunk Brits and Aussies walking around the place! When people aren't taking part in tubing, the main attraction, they are in 'Friends' bars! Literally, people recline on mats eating sandwiches and watching episode after episode of 'Friends'! There is not much else to do in the town!

When we arrived, 2 of the girls had been tubing that day and were very drunk and very funny! They tried to explain to us what tubing is like but you just don't know until you go! A group of us went tubing 2 days in a row. I say tubing, but we didn't actually rent a tube because the bars are so close together and there really is no point (also you have to get them back to the rental shop by 6 and we were always having too much fun to actually do that!). The first bar we went to at 2 in the afternoon, we were met by a guy giving out free whiskey shots! If you didn't drink the shot you had it poured over your head! Poor Merle had food poisoning so had the shot poured over her head! Once you get in the bar (which is a makeshift bamboo hut), you buy buckets (as in buckets that you buy at the beach!!) of whiskey and coke! For about 3 pounds! You then get given wrist bands by people advertising their bars, saying you get a free bucket if you go back there later! You also get a lot of spray paint and marker pen all over you!! Everyone is in the same 'uniform' which consists of a bathing suit, and a 'Tubing in the Vang Vieng' vest top! I can't explain how weird the day is! Once you've bought your buckets, you have a dance and watch people go on massive wire swings and zip wires from about 20 foot up in the air into the water! Beth and I were dubious at first as there seemed to be rocks everywhere, but by the second bar we were readu to give it a go! It's actually a lot safer than it looks and the swings are over very deep parts of the river! The swings are brilliant fun! The tubers tend to be a bit of a tourist attraction too with people going out on Kayaks taking pictures of everyone as they party!

I'm not sure how many makeshift bars there are in total, but our group made it to 3 of them. Once we got to the third bar (which we had to swim to) we found a tug of war in a massive mud pool and mud volleyball!!! They were both brilliant! The mud volleyball was the best, I don't think we played much volleyball, just slid around in the mud! They had a hose to wash ourselves down afterwards!

Once we'd finished tubing we head back into town where you then head to the proper bars which are open til late. Although they have a kurfew in Laos, so all bars are meant to be shut by 11.30 and all people should be where they are going to spend the night by midnight! This actually doesn't happen in Vang Vieng! Some of the bars close, but a few stay open til late.

It really was a fun time in Vang Vieng but we decided we could only hack 2 days worth (well we are nearly 30 now!) and couldn't bear another hangover or cheese sandwich in front of 'Friends'!