Laos: In the Tubing

Traveling Numbers

91 hours on buses (approximately)

58 days on the go

14 cities

10 modes of transportation (bus, songtell, taxi, train, motorbike, boat, tuk-tuk, plane, songtell, and horse carriage)

5 islands

4 countries (and four different currencies)

AND 1 AMAZING TRIP!

LAOS: After the Thai islands, I made my way to Khon Kaen and was only there for 24 hours to repack my backpack. I unpacked my island gear and packed for my upcoming week in Laos and Chiang Mai. On April 7th, I got on the 8am bus from Khon Kaen to Vientiane, Laos without any sort of guide book or definite plan. I knew I was meeting Jenna, Kianna, and Alysha in Vang Vieng (Kianna and Alysha are friends from UCSB that came to travel with Jenna on our time off), but I had no idea how to get there or anything about Laos in general. My bus went very smoothly and of course I was the only foreigner on it. It was a short ride and only took three hours to get to the border. Immigration was quick for all the other passengers but took longer for me since I have a foreign passport and needed to get the visa on arrival. The bus driver brought me my backpack while I was one of my numerous lines. I was pretty confused on what was going on, but quickly realized that my bus couldn’t/didn’t want to wait and left me at the border! Normally I would stress about this situation.. being stranded at the border of a foreign country without a Lonely Planet (backpackers bible) and no knowledge of the currency or language, but I was abnormally relaxed about it. There were numerous drivers asking where I was going and I easily spotted the scams and avoided them. I buddyed up with this older man and his wife from San Francisco, they were visiting family in Thailand. We took a tuk tuk into town for cheap and they took me to where I catch the bus to Vang Vieng. After 4 hours on windy roads on a full bus, I arrived in Vang Vieng with no knowledge of where the girls were staying, so wondered around for a bit and booked a place on the river for my first night. I grabbed some dinner at a place with a lot of foot traffic, hoping I would see the girls walk by (our Thai phones don’t work in Laos) and luckily I spotted the girls later in the evening as I was going to use the internet! We made plans to meet up the next morning to go tubing!

Vang Vieng is a backpacker town and its main street is full of guest houses, bars, restaurants, internet cafes, tour agencies, western tourists, and various stands selling “In the Tubing” tanks and Ray Band sunglasses. Inner tubing down the Nam Song River is a popular attraction amongst backpackers, the river is lined with bars selling Beer Lao and equipped with rope swings, zip lines, and large riverside decks. The girls and I did two days of tubing and it was a great time! The first day, the water was really muddy because of rain the previous day. The second day, we attempted to float down the entire river which we were told would take three hours since its dry season and the water was really low. We needed to get our floats back into town by 6pm to get our cash deposit back, so after a few hours we decided to get out and grab a tuk tuk back into town. Tubing brought us all back to our UCSB days and reminiscing about Floatopia, a party that happens the first weekend of Spring Quarter and is known for floating on rafts and other home-made or store bought floating devices. Before it got out of control and police closed down the beaches, it was much like tubing in Laos but in the Pacific Ocean and with thousands of college students. Needless to say, I enjoyed tubing in Laos!

After a few days in Vang Vieng, we spent one day in the capital of Laos, Vientiane. Vientiane is right on the Thai-Laos order and situated on the Mekong River. We were only there a short time but explored some cafes and had breakfast at a delicious Scandinavian place. With its French influence, Vientiane has great food! After lunch on the 11th, the girls and I caught an overnight bus that left in the afternoon to make our way to Chiang Mai, Thailand!

(Jenna had a waterproof camera which captured some of tubing! Unfortunately, her waterproof camera wasn't mud proof and couldn't handle the river water and broke.. but she got a new one in Chiang Mai! Thanks for the pics, Jenna!)

The girls and I in matching tubing tanks!

Gauchos tubing!!!