We already heard some not so good things about Vang Vieng before we got here, but the crazy shit that happens in this place cannot be properly put into words. Fortunately, we were also able to see a less uglier side of this town void of loud music, Friends episodes running on repeat, and tourists drunk out of their mind.
The Good
When you simply step out of the ugly town centre, you’re struck with the natural beauty that is around you. There are huge karst mountains jutting out of the ground, the pretty river flowing through the town, and the blue sky and white puffy clouds create a perfect backdrop. Even though Vang Vieng is most famous for its tubing down the river, we decided to venture out past the bars and see it on our rented motorbike. We headed to this waterfall just 20 minutes from our hostel, and along the way, we shared the dusty road with cows, goats, and turkeys. We had the waterfall to ourselves for quite a while, and stood under the falls to feel the cold fresh water beating down on our skin. We also tried our hands at caving. Caving is when you walk, climb, and crawl your way through these dark caves in the mountains with just a flashlight, and in our case, flip flops. It’s quite the adventure because at times you look down, and one misstep could spell the end.
The Bad
Some say that Vang Vieng has lost its soul to tourism, and that other towns in Laos look to Vang Vieng to make sure their tourism industry doesn’t become was has become here. At any time during the day, you'll see tourists either coming from or going tubing, dressed with only their bikinis or swim trunks. If this were the beach, whatever. But this is a small farming town, where the locals are always covered up. C'mon people, have some respect for yourself and others.Walking through the main stretch of town is quite a strange feeling because you see locals slurping up noodle soup on one side of the road, and on the other side, you see the restaurants and bars catered to the tourists that loop episodes of Friends or Family Guy constantly. We’re not talking about one or two restaurants, but ALL the restaurants. It’s the strangest thing. On our last day here, there was a power outage that affected the whole town. Despite this, the restaurant owners simply started up their back up generators and the familiar faces of the Central Perk gang were back on the screen in no time. The show must go on, I guess.
The Ugly
It’s sad to think that some people come to Vang Vieng, and think that this is all that Laos has to offer. They come to Vang Vieng to get hammered and stoned and use it as an excuse to abuse their bodies. Yesterday, we ventured over to where the tubing starts to see what this gong show was all about. This tubing thing basically goes like this – you rent a tube for the day and float it down the river while stopping at bars along the way. The people at the bars throw you rope to pull you in, where you chuck your tube to one side, drink, and then you continue down the river. However, most people usually only make it to the first couple of bars before they’re too drunk to remember where they’ve placed their tube, so instead they perhaps try to swim down the river, drink more, or jump off these high platforms and rope swings. Sounds like a bad combination? Well, it is. The word on the street is that so far this year, there have been 16 deaths. And every year, it’s the same kind of story. I don’t want to be all Debbie Downer and say that it wasn’t fun because Kevin and I, but especially Kevin, had some fun jumping off the high platforms and dropping into the water from a giant rope swing. After all, it was free! But as Kevin put it, it’s the Devil’s playground here, and there are no rules. We saw a girl having her boobs smothered by the faces of two guys, at the same time, and a girl who had cut her wrist and was bleeding profusely. Uh yeah, that’s our cue to leave.
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