Tubing in Vang Vieng

Well Vang Vieng has proved to be a bundle of giggles wrapped up in an inner tube

The main feature of the town is a beautiful river meandering past imposing Karst cliffs.

So what do backpackers from all over the world do in such a place?

They rent tractor inner tubes and go "Tubing"

Tubing involves minutes of relaxing paddling down stream broken by seconds of terro as you throw yourself off high towers and wire swings into the river.

The seconds before you jump are the toughest

This is helped by generous servings of LaoLao which makes the dangers seem less real.

Hitting the water at speed!

The danger was real as the following pics show

Before

After

The group i am travelling with at the moment, several Aussies, two Brits and a Kiwi.

As a group Ben, Joe and Rosie broke new ground in dangerous flips and somersaults (certainly impressed the Europeans!)

The water was lovely and cool and usually fairly deep (we soon learnt to read the river and avoid the shallow rapids which hurt any part of your body that was hanging in the water!!

The cliffs rise up in jagged peaks, much like parts of the 3 Gorges region in China and parts of Vietnam

As the afternoon wore on we took part in a large game of "throw the mud" an easy game to pick up and a welcome break from the leaping and floating.

The elderly asian tourists who decided to come and photograph the "crazy falang" got more than they bargained for when we leapt on them as they posed for their photos, i think the pictures they got were worth the mud! One of the ladies came back for repeat photos! lol

Im moving on soon, going up towards the Plain of Jars ( we will probably hire motorbikes again which makes travelling quicker and easier)