The Strange Tubing Culture Of Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng has become a huge party town. This in itself strange, because you don't expect to find an almost Ibiza-style or Cabo-style party hot spot in the middle of otherwise very rural Lao. There are several makeshift outdoor bars/dance clubs on the river island, which no doubt have to be rebuilt every year since the island gets submerged during high water season.

The key to the party culture in Vang Vieng though, is tubing. Tubing nominally refers to renting an inner tube and floating down the river on it. But you only float a few feet before coming to the first riverside bar. They toss you a line and pull you in. You hang out there and drink and dance for a while. Before you know it, an hour has already passed. Most of the riverside bars also have huge rope swings or ziplines, where you jump off platforms from dizzying heights (30-40 ft or so), swing high up in the air, and then let go and jump into the water. The more acrobatically inclined will try double backflips or elegant swan dives. I have to admit it is scary at first, but once you do it successfully, it is so thrilling and you get such rush of adrenaline that you get practically giddy, and you keep doing it over and over again. So, basically "tubing" here means floating a few feet to the next bar, drinking, dancing, swinging, jumping, and then floating a few more feet to the next bar. Many people get stuck and never get past the first few bars. Actually a tube is not even necessary at all. In fact only the first timers rent tubes. The party veterans know it's a waste of time and expense to rent a tube, because you can just as well swim from bar to bar. In many places the water is so shallow you can even walk. After "tubing" all day, you then return to town and prepare to go party at the island bars all night. All the bars are supposed to close as midnight, but one or two will always pay off the police to be allowed to stay open later, til 2 or 3 am. So, partying all day and partying all night -- this is the essence of the Vang Vieng party culture. The typical story is that people plan on spending maybe 2 days here, and end up staying about 10 days instead. This is what happened to me.

In town, there is only ONE ATM machine, and almost nothing but: restaurants/bars, guesthouses, travel agencies, and internet cafes. Most bars/restaurants have the pillow bench tables, where you can lounge around on pillows, even take a nap. The thing I found the strangest is that many restaurants have nothing but reruns of "Friends" playing nonstop on the TV (there is also one restaurant playing "Family Guy", and one playing "The Simpsons" nonstop). I avoided all these restaurants on principle.

Compared to Luang Prabang, prices in Vang Vieng are as follows:
-lodging and laundry are 1/2 X
-internet is 3X (but the speed is much better)
-other things are about the same or a little cheaper

Also, for some strange reason there is no ice cream anywhere in town although there was in Luang Prabang.