We arrived in Laos, about a week ago, via the Friendship bridge at the Laos-Thailand border. We spent a few days in the capital city, Vientiane, soaking up the French influenced food (baguettes and espresso for breakfast) and drinking our first Beerlaos alongside the Mekong river. But it was hard to ignore the rampant numbers of the tubing t-shirts, seemingly worn by every other tourist we passed on the street:
Known among backpackers as a rite of passage, we were curious to see what it was actually like to go tubing in Vang Vieng, and set off on a 4 hour bus ride to find out. Having exploded over the past few years, the Nam Song river is lined with bars:
and rope swings and zip lines:
Although the jams were decent and there were drinks in great abundance, it was still quite jarring to see large packs of backpackers cruising down the river alongside young Laotian children
and Laos trying to cross the river in long tails, while dodging tubes floating downstream
Luckily, there’s definitely more to do in Vang Vieng than just tube. The area is stunning, surrounded by limestone karst, which jaggedly cut the sky.
We spent the better part of one day exploring caves, like the elephant cave, which are filled with Buddhas and rocks carved to look like elephants:
We continued, tubing with headlights through a long, dark cave
and kayaked 8 km down the Nam Song river. We passed a number of water buffalo and cows along the way
And arrived back in town, just as the sun was beginning to set over the cliffs
Tubing in cave = so fun.
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