24. Stop Vang Vieng, Laos

The city is the party city of the country and known for its "Tubing" which we did the next day. With a group of about 50 people (most from our hostel), we only took Tuk Tuks to the water in swimwear and the bare essentials. Everyone got a water tube and floated in the water. There are 3 bars on platforms in the Nam Xong River where we made stops. It's difficult to get lost since the river has very little current. But if you do get lost, you'll be picked up by a boat. So we "swam" for 10 minutes and then spent about 1 hour at the first bar.

Getting to the second bar wasn't easy at all, we were on the water for 1 ½ hours. Since we were too slow, we were picked up by a boat. It looked pretty funny because the boat was extremely small and could only hold 5 people. The rest held on to each other, by the arm, hand, or foot, depending on what you could grab. One boat pulled about 20 people, and we used the entire width of the river. Unlike the Rhine in Germany, there are no large loaded ships here, they wouldn't fit through.

So we only had about 10 minutes at the second bar and then we were already back in the water for the third and last bar. We stayed there for another hour and then we were driven back to the hostel by Tuk Tuks. Our hostel had a pool where everyone jumped in. After a sobering shower we went out to eat and then to a few bars.