Vang Vieng is the Lao version of Ibitha. There are still small children washing their bodies in the river, and bent over women crrying loads on theirt tired backs, but there is also a street of souvenirs, and sunburnt early-twenties jumping off bars into the river. After a few hours drive in the morning, we spent johnny's NINETEENTH birthday chilling by the river banks, watching the sunset behind the mountains with Bob Marley and some Beer Laos. Beer Laos is, btw, EVERYWHERE here - on thshirts (which everyone wears), glasses, restaurant6s signs, tablecloths - most places dont serve any beer other than Beer Laos. the owner of the resort came and chatted to us for a while, and Nicole told us later that he is actually a famous Lao singer - this would explain why he had pretty much travelled all over the world. he individually asked us our names and where we were from, and when he returned a little while later he remembered everone's name!!! The guesthouse is LOVELY, right on the river, and each rfoom is a little bungalow, complete with its own verandah! We went out for a birthday dinner, complete with a cake that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN and free shots of lethal "Lao Lao Whisky". Somehow he bdidnt wake with a hangover, and we spent the next day TUBING, which is the thing to do in Vang Vieng. We flopped down into our rubber tires, and let the river take us down stream. When we wanted to stop by one of the many bamboo bars on the banks, one of the Lao men in the water would chuck a rope attached to a bottle out, and drag us in! The bars were packed with drunken tourists clutching "buckets" OF SOMETHING LIKE VODKA. Some of them had been tubing for FOURTEEN days in a row!!!