Travel Blogging Academy

After a couple days in Vang Vieng it’s time to check out from our Backpacker Hostel. But when you leave a hostel the nice backpacks become a big burden. It’s heavy as hell to walk with it all day long. So lucky enough we can deposit our backpacks at the hostel. We are hungry and go to fill our bellies in one of the Vang Vieng restaurants. In the morning I prefer a western breakfast and for the evening something more local. That’s because after Lao or Thai food the toilet can call you very fast. After our morning meal we buy the night bus ticket to Phonsavan and go to take some stuff out of the backpacks. But when we arrive at the hostel there is a surprise.

We cannot keep the backpacks at the hostel, because we didn’t book the tickets by their place. So unfortunately we need to move our backpacks to the travel agency where we bought the tickets. They are friendly enough to deposit it for us. So we have still one day left till the evening. When you are in Vang Vieng than is tubing a must on your bucketlist.We still didn’t do it. So now we have our chance!

Light packed with our small bags we jump in a Tuk Tuk vehicle and ride together with two Germans to the river. We get on the tubs and flow with the stream. The Germans move forward but we want to go slow and enjoy the surroundings. Sometimes some Koreans on kayaks are passing us waving and making pictures. We wave back to make them happy. When you are on some shallow parts you need to be carefull for the rocks. You can really hurt your ass. (Yea I hit one but it wasn’t very hard.) After a while we stop on a large rock to enjoy the adorable river and high mountains view.

We spot a bar and go further. Before the bar there are a lot of tourists enjoying alcohol. Some chill or jump into the water. Others play volleyball. We spot the Germans and they throw a rope to us. Now we can climb up to the bar. Everyone is dancing. I buy an anti-hangover fruitshake and my friend a beer. We meet a guy who did the tubing in Vang Vieng a couple years ago. ‘It’s nice now, but in the past it was really crazy. There were more attractions and a lot more people and bars. It’s now smaller because some people died. That’s why a lot of bars are closed and less tourist are visiting Vang Vieng.’ I understand that some people died. Because we see a lot of  wasted teenagers. Some jump reckless without thinking into the water.

We wave bye to the bar and go further. The tubes float faster, because the river is deeper. Sometimes we meet other tourists and hangout for a while. Than we spot some sand on the otherside of the river. We swim on the tubes to the small beach and go to investigate it. There is a lot of trash. But also some very pritty looking stones. We grab some as a souvenir. And get some bamboo what can be used as a pedal to tub faster. There lies also a very beautifull but sadly enough dead butterfly. I grab some leaves and put the insect in my notebook. Hopefully it’s not an endangered specie. I could get some problems when we cross the border to Vietnam. But the animal is already dead. So nothing wrong to take it with me right? We need to tub faster. Otherwise we will pay a fine for being late…  Lucky enough we arrive on time and enjoy the Tuk Tuk ride back.