Arrival to the backpacker haven of southeast Asia and the start of tubing in Vang Vieng Laos. We arrived early morning from a short four hour bus ride from Luang Prabang and had our pick of guesthouses. There were almost too many to choose from as well as dozens of restaurants and bars all centered around just a couple of streets. Vang Vieng, home to about 25,000 locals, has developed over the years into one of the most popular spots among backpackers traveling through Laos. The popularity is no doubt due to the tubing in Vang Vieng!
The main ‘toll bridge’ running from Vang Vieng
Tubing has helped to bring a mass of tourists to this town but it still remains a ‘small’ town and I’d guess it probably has less than about a dozen main roads but it is most assuredly filled with travelers up and down the streets. By far its the cheapest place to stay on the tourist track in northern Laos with a really nice double room costing as little as 50,000 Kip which is the equivalent of about $6 USD.
This was our $6 room – not quite the dump you probably had in mind…. Comes with free bottled water, tea, coffee and Wifi!!
As I mentioned, many come here for the outdoor activities the area offers around its mountainous landscape but to be more specific, its the tubing that seems to draw the biggest crowd. It has been said that the tubing here all started back in 1999 when an organic farmer gave a few tubes to his volunteers to use along the river.
Do I look ready for some tubing in Vang Vieng???
Today, the town of Vang Vieng offers tubes for rent for the day, right in the center of town and there are no shortage of Tuk Tuk drivers ready to take you to the drop off point up the river for 10,000 Kip per head. We met up with a group the day before and had decided the following afternoon to go tubing to get the full ‘Vang Vieng experience’. Within two minutes of arriving at our drop off point, all of sudden I felt like I had just caught back up with all the folks I had left on the south island of Ko Phanghan at the Full Moon Party I’d just been to about 6 weeks ago.
Entering the craziness of tubing in Vang Vieng!
There are bars that line the Nam Song river from the drop point all the way back into town where this tubing adventure ends. I quickly learned that many don’t even make it down to the end of the river. Many only make it to the first three bars at the drop point while others will make it a bit further down the river but not quite back to town by sunset. 
During the rainy season, it takes only an hour to make it down the river but during the dry season (which we were in) it takes about three full hours to get back to town because the current is so slow and the water level is so shallow. In fact, we even got stuck on the rocks numerous times trying to get down the river because the water level was so low. But the main problem for us was the fact that we didn’t start this tubing adventure until about three in the afternoon and according to the tubing cartel that runs the rentals, we had to have these tire tubes back by 6 PM. That was going to be tough.
You’ll notice the name underneath as ‘Big Slide’ but this is really known as the ‘Death Slide’. I think you can figure why its called that. In fact, just after this person went, two more girls went and nearly killed each other when one landed directly on top of the other’s head in the water (smart).
Even if we went straight down river without stopping, we still wouldn’t make it back in time since we still had to walk back into town. Originally we thought we’d just stop at a few places then catch a Tuk Tuk at a halfway point but as things have it when you’re in a large group with no appointed ‘team leader’, plans can quickly go by the wayside. By the time the sun went down, it was after 6 PM and only about half of us were then traveling together back into town. And it was a cold ride back as we rolled down the highway soaking wet in the back of a Tuk Tuk. And arriving back after the cut off point will get you some of your deposit back but they still charge you a decent amount. Either way, it was fun but one day tubing in Vang Vieng was probably enough for me though I’d met others that loved it so much they spent weeks, even months doing nothing but tubing everyday!
There are actually quite a few other things you can do in this area while here and I didn’t want to limit myself to just tubing. We decided the next day we would check out some of the caves and lagoons in the area.
As common as a Honda Civic in these parts, the locals would drive these badboys up and down the streets all day long. Its like a trailer only the driver ‘drives’ from the trailer, not the cab and steers by swinging those long arms side to side. Just don’t be in front of one if they need to slam on the brakes…
The most popular place to go is the Blue Lagoon which is at the entrance to a cave. Since it was only about 7 kilometers to get there from town, we rented bikes for the day. However, had I known what the roads were going to be like getting there, I probably would have tried to find a bike with better suspension! The roads were nothing but dirt, mud, and stones the size of your fist and it took us nearly twice as long to ride through all this since the only bikes we could find were so small that they were more fit for a ten year old.
These were the roads we took to the Blue Lagoon which take you through the small villages outside of Vang Vieng. I didn’t realize it at the time but the mud we had to ride through was actually a blessing. The rains the night before kept all the dust at bay from the passing vehicles which is usually very extreme.
We headed down the dirt road about 2-3 kilometers and saw a sign for a cave called ‘Pha Kham Water Cave’ and decided to check it out. After paying a small entrance fee, we were given headlamps and we were led by a ten year old (our tour guide of sorts) up a steep hike to the middle section of a mountain where there stood a small opening to the cave.
Following our ‘tour guide’ to the mountains beyond
And then further up the mountain… And yes, those are some sketchy ladders!
Can you look any cooler than this?? If it doesn’t look cool, maybe it just looks weird… Upon closer inspection, doesn’t it look like my ‘tour guide’ is sitting on top of my head holding this light…I didn’t see that until after I posted this picture:)
When I had to crawl in order to make it into the cave I think that is when I realized just how long it had been since I’d done something like this which I’m sure had been at least ten years. The hiking and crawling was worth it though. There were stalagmites and stalactites all throughout the cave. Some sections even seemed to glitter with the small bit of light making it through the cave entrance. Our guide took us through many different sections within the cave and I’m quite confident in saying that we would have definitely been lost inside without his guidance on the correct route to take.
Inside the first section of the cave where natural daylight was still creeping in from the cave opening
He led us all the way though to another opening on the mountainside but on this side, there was no way to hike down, it was merely a view point over the valley. When we headed back into the cave from that point, we were taken another route back, only this time, it was no easy stroll.
And when its this dark, you have to use your flash…
There were some sections you nearly had to crawl on your belly to make it through the walls of the cave and others where you had to twist and turn your body upright.
There was also a small cave you could swim in at the base of the mountain
Being a bit claustrophobic, I was hoping that part of it would be over soon. Before we made it out, I thought it would make things interesting to get everyone to turn off their lights to see just how pitch black this place was. My friend wouldn’t let that last more than about five seconds but it definitely tells you just how screwed you would be if you didn’t have a backup light or batteries when in here.
This was the cliff we came to on the opposite side of the cave. It was tough getting to this point having to slide down some sections that barely fit my shoulders so I wasn’t too excited about the trek back!
The next stop, about 3 more kilometers up the road, was the ‘Blue Lagoon’ as its called by the locals. There’s no question as to the color of the water but the area is hardly a lagoon as its more of just a wide opening along the river running down through the mountains.
The Blue Lagoon
The small area is draped with ropes and swings and many will climb the center tree for a jumping point. We stayed there about an hour and then made the rough ride back into town. Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was our next stop and we left the following morning…
Sunset over the Nam Song River in Vang Vieng
2 Comments... Join the conversation below
Amazing scenery Rory. Going through that cave would not have been my cup of tea….I did do a cave thru trek once, at one point having to squeeze thru and the ceiling inches over my head, and it gave me the worst case of claustrophobia ever. I’m certainly not a spelunker! But your cave is still amazing looking. Laos looks like a very interesting country. So far, in you Southeast Asia travels, who did you find the most friendly, the Thai or the Laotians?
Hard to say which country is more friendly. Most people would say Thailand but many people who have made it to Thailand may not have had the chance to travel through Laos. I think it is actually less dependent on the country than it is what part of that country you are in. For instance, if you are in a heavily traveled place such as Bangkok, you’ll probably find less friendly locals than you would in a smaller town such as we did in Pai where they see less tourists. This is the same as in Laos but overall, most of all the locals we’ve come across have been helpful and friendly regardless of whether they were trying to sell something or not.