There are some crazy places in the world but the craziest is the tubing river in Vang Vieng. I think its crazy awesome! Our first day of tubing was casual; we got our tubes and took a tuk tuk up to the first bar on the river. Once there, we then got in our tubes and floated down stream. After 10 seconds in the water, ropes weighted down with water bottles were being thrown at us. The ropes are used like fishing poles; they throw the line out and reel you back in to their bar. We stopped at the second bar. They were blasting music and giving free shots to people. But my favorite part of this bar was that they had a zip line that you hold onto instead of being strapped on. I went for a try and I succeeded. Jeff then tried, and since he didn’t have his glasses on he couldn’t see the end. So he hit the stopper and did a flip onto his back. After about an hour of “bar” hopping we got to a big bar and they had a huge slide, and a huge swing. I really wanted to try the slide but we had to buy something first, typical. After Jeff bought a drink it was off to the slide, only me of course. My first go was awesome and had a perfect landing, but the second time was not the best because I landed wrong and hurt my ankle. I did the slide a bunch more times, until we had to go return the tubes. Silly of us we didn’t know how far the town was so we decided to float back instead of taking a tuk tuk. That was not a good idea it took an hour and a half to get back, I was dead, but we made it back in time to get our entire deposit back.
The next day I really wanted to go tubing but mom and Jeff weren’t feeling that great, so we didn’t know if we could or not. After a good day of school, their stomachs got better so that meant we were off tubing. When we got all of our gear ready, we rented the tubes and did the same route down the river getting free fries and drinks. When we got to the big slide we bought a drink and off to the slide. Today was not as good as yesterday, because I came off the slide wrong and I went really high and far, but got the wind knocked out of me for a second. While I was recuperating off to the side, two couples from Argentina came and we started to talk to them. We all started laughing and having fun going off the slide. By the end of the day our whole group was tired out. We ended up taking a tuk tuk back to town and instead of returning our tubes at 6pm; we returned them at 7:30pm. I think it was worth 20,000 kip charge, because we met a lot of very nice people and had tons of fun doing so, which ended tubing with two thumbs up.
~Tim~
Once you arrive at the drop off point for tubing (four or five kilometers from town) you are at the first bar. Each bar is made of bamboo and has a tower for either, a trapeze swing, a zip line, a slide or all of the above. They blast music, serve drinks and food and try to entice you to stay a while. As you float down the river, there are about 20 such bars and as Tim mentioned, they fish for customers.
Karen and I had not even arrived at our first stop when Tim went sailing over our head on a zip line. The tower he started on is about 20 feet high and forty feet over the water. Where you let go it is about 15 feet to the water. After a few zip line runs for Tim, we sit and watch people on the trapeze swings. They have towers that range from 25 feet to about 45 feet in the air for a starting point. People swing down and then hopefully swing up and back around before dropping into the water. We see every possible entry method possible. Falling off at the beginning (strait down 40 feet to the water), falling off at the bottom of the swing, back flips executed well and back flips executed very poorly.
At our next stop, Tim tries out a swing with a tower that is about 30 feet up. He tries it twice, but decides it’s not his favorite thing, so we move on. Next stop the mud bar (mud volleyball), but no one is playing volleyball. Tim spots what he wants to try as we get back into the river. The next stop was our last. It has a slide that is about 20 feet above the water coming off a tower that is about 40-50 feet up. We watched someone go off and Tim decides he has to do it. His first run he sails about 30 feet out over the river before hitting the water. He screams all the way, but loves it. Back up for more. We spent the rest of our time on day one at the slide bar.
The float down the river for the last hour and a half was beautiful. The river winds through an area covered with limestone karsts. These beautiful, striking limestone cliffs jut up out of the shoreline and tower over us like giant watchmen. About 20 minutes before reaching town, I noticed a bunch of rocks in the river and tried to steer around them. As we got closer, it became apparent that they weren’t rocks. We floated a few feet away from a herd of Water Buffalo. Since this is one of my favorite animals, I loved it and made Karen take photos. As we near the end of our ride, the sun is setting behind a cluster of the Karsts and is bright red (lots of smoke from cooking fires). Day one was a hit and capped off with dinner with Leeor and Lirit at the restaurant Tim has been wanting to go to. They have multiple TVs and play reruns of the family guy.
Day two is more of the same. Tim doesn’t waste much time at other locations. A few zip lines and then straight for the slide bar. Early on, we met three groups of people. Two couples from Argentina (Leo and Victoria, Alexander and Flora), a group of guys from Portugal, and a group of five young ladies from Canada. All are wonderful and we talk and enjoy watching each of the groups go down the slide. At times, a small group will chant “Tim Tim Tim”, urging him down the slide. It was a great afternoon and as the day winds down, Leo introduces us to Adrian and Roseanna from the states. We have refreshments, talk, laugh and have a great time. Pretty soon we decide we should share a tuk tuk back to town. We manage to get a tuk tuk and then we meet Leo, Victoria, Alexander, Flora, Adrian and Roseanna for dinner. More fun times together. We hope to meet up with all of these folks again at some point in life.
~Jeff~
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