Vang Vieng - arrival and present

We organized a mini-van for our journey from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. The van took us through a beautiful landscape with many karst limestone mountains surrounded by Laotian jungle. Despite partially unpaved roads, the driver safely brought us to our destination. Due to the local road conditions, the journey of about 180 km took about 5 hours.

Unfortunately, upon arriving in Vang Vieng, we did not experience the same peaceful atmosphere that we enjoyed in Luang Prabang. Instead, there was a somewhat more chaotic scene. Many questionable bars lined up next to each other, with every second or third bar either completely empty or already closed. These seem to be remnants from the time before 2012 when the town apparently reached its peak tourist period. Due to its location on the Nam Song River, tourists from all over the world came here to float down the Nam Song, completely stoned, in a truck tire (known as tubing) and enjoy the beautiful scenery. However, due to the high number of deaths among tourists each year, every bar that offered drugs was supposedly closed within 6 days. That was almost every bar (thanks to the jungle liquor...) This sudden closure of its main source of income had a lasting impact on the town, which is still evident today.

We can't confirm that the town is completely drug-free today, though. After a sunset drink in a bar by the Nam Song River and dinner, we wanted to have a final drink in a moderately crowded bar. We sat at the counter and struck up a conversation with the bartender while enjoying a cocktail. Not only did he look like Chao (from The Hangover 2), but after a while, he offered us his "Happy Menu" that he kept hidden under the counter, just for us to have a look... He asked us multiple times with a beaming smile and wide eyes, "Isn't it funny?" Apparently, this bar still offers everything the jungle has to offer. It was already quite normal in Vang Vieng for people to smoke weed in the back corners of bars, but the variety of drugs and dishes on offer was truly impressive. From mushroom shakes and pizzas to opium and hash cakes, there was everything. When we asked the bartender if the police didn't care, he simply told us that everyone here is very corrupt and as long as everything happens within the bar, the police generally turn a blind eye. Otherwise, he would have to pay a fine of 500€ to keep the bar from being shut down. Thankfully, we had nothing to do with all of that and didn't have to test it out. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos of the Happy Menu to show you. In the past, the bar was closed 6 times because of such photos.

A journey back in time to this hippie mecca would have been extremely interesting, though.

Due to the history of tubing, we didn't want to miss the opportunity to float down the river with a tire. So we agreed with a tuk-tuk driver who asked us about tubing, and we were driven about 3.5 km upstream with a tire. After a somewhat rocky start (many sharp stones), we floated on the Nam Song with our waterbags for valuables on a decommissioned and painted white truck tire. We expected there to be enough riverside bars, but it turned out to be a misconception. We only stopped at one (out of 3) water bars, which played 4 different genres of music (mostly local music) at over 90 dB, making it difficult to hear anything intelligible. The bar rafts were either filled with loud groups of Chinese tourists or local families with their babies. It was not what we had imagined. Since we started tubing around 2:30 pm, we soon realized that from this time onwards, the Nam Song is mostly in the shade due to its location between the karst limestone cliffs. As a result, the last 2 hours of our 3.5-hour ride were actually very cold. The last bar on the tour (and also the exit point) was the Smile Bar on the island in Vang Vieng. It was the first bar that truly looked appealing with its chill music, but we were so frozen that we opted for a hot shower at the guesthouse instead. In hindsight, tubing would have been great, but you should bring enough beer and start before 12:00 pm...