Vang Vieng – Laos

I will get straight to the point here, I was not a big fan of Vang Vieng.

Not so long ago Vang Vieng was infamous for it’s tubing parties that resulted in such a high number of deaths that it was all shut down. The tubing is starting to make a resurgence though not on the same level that it once was. I can’t say I had much interest in participating.

Vang Vieng is small town that caters mostly to the kind of people I don’t really want to meet.

By day, there is not a huge amount to do in town, you can make your way out to the blue lagoon or to some of the caves, or an overpriced hot air balloon ride but that’s more or less it.

At night, I would have to remind myself where I was. It was like being in Ibiza or Magaluf or somewhere tacky with neon bar signs, drugs, alcohol and disrespectful tourists walking around half naked and plastered (that’s British dialect for utterly inebriated).

We found a small haven away from all of this, down by the river on these small bamboo platforms and more or less spent our whole time chilling there until it was time to leave.

Why would I pay a rip off hostel to float on the river in a tube with some beer when I could do it myself for a fraction fo the price?

Oh, and it had some good bakeries. That was all I really liked, the bamboo bar, and the bakeries.

Every cloud has a silver lining and all that!

So sure, if you want to get fucked up and meet a bunch of assholes then you can find it in Vang Vieng. If you want to see Asian culture then you would be wise to steer in a different direction!