Tubing in Vang Vieng, Northern Laos
Category : Laos, Travel Blog
If you are heading to Luang Prabang from Vientiane by bus, I reckon that you break your journey in Vang Vieng and do what the backpackers usually do, river tubing. There are lots of dry bags for sale ranging from 10,000 Kip to 40,000 Kip (USD 1.20-USD4.80). These dry bags will keep your passport, money and even camera from getting wet.
Head down to one of the tubing shops in town for registration and payment.
Tubing normally starts at 8am-6pm, that is if you bring the tube back before 6.00pm, otherwise tubing can costs more than USD7.
Hop onto tuk-tuk and head further up from the town approximately 20 minutes drive.
In order to get into the spirit of tubing the backpackers way, what people normally do is to start it with a bucket whiskey, beer Lao and more booze. But do bear in mind that excessive alcohol intoxication is not encouraged and it makes tubing a very dangerous water activity.
Tubing down Nam Song river has a few more bars to offer. And if you choose to stop by every bar and have a sip, it will take more than 1.5 hours to reach the end point approximately 3.5KM.
Beside boozing and tubing, you can do flying fox or even kayaking along Nam Song.
This is the last bar which is approximately less than 1KM away from the starting point.
Then the loud party music slowly fades away and all is quiet and serene for the next 2.5KM. This is when you truly immerse yourself in the natural environment and enjoy the never ending limestone landscape. About 1.5KM down the river we saw a signboard saying “Tuk-tuk service to town”, we skipped that and came across another signboard saying “2KM to end point”. There’s no guide accompanying you so staying clear headed along the quiet river is recommended for safety sake.
The end point is just before this bridge and guesthouse. Hop off from here and bring the tube back to the shop just minutes away from the river. Tubing the sane way (without much alcohol) can be a bit dull, with constant stop along river for more than enough booze can be fun, entertaining and dangerous. So which type of backpacker are you? Happy tubing!
Comments (3)
If you think that promoting drinking and tubing is a good idea, it’s up to you, but you may not be aware of the people who are drowning or get seriously injured every year. So actually just must be quite stupid to stop at every bar.
Also, Laos’ beauty is the nature, and the quiet river valleys, where the birds are singing and the wind goes through the trees. What happened in Vang Vieng is a nightmare, since many bars are just blasting music all over the river valley. Wildlife already disappeared. This kind of fun tourism means, that not only high value tourists are staying away, but also that local business owners see the opportunity to make money with alcohol, drugs and prostitution as well as children labor. Also crime rates are rising there. Fisherman are getting their knees and feet cut because of the beer bottles on the river ground. and: Laos is a buddhist country, where it is quite offending to walk half naked in a bikini through the streets. The way many backpackers behave is quite neo-colonial, with no respect about the people and their culture. Happy Tubing!
Thanks for sharing your insight. I don’t promote drinking irresponsibly in Vang Vieng. But i’m illustrating the actual fact that almost all of the backpackers are under the influence of alcohol during tubing. I find it very dangerous therefore I did it with no alcohol involved (the sane way). Tubing is a good experience and at least try it once in a lifetime just to get the first hand experience in tubing. Whether backpackers do it the dangerous way or the sane way, it is up to their conscious to choose
Tourism has brought much impact to the community in good and bad ways. Same goes to other countries in SE Asia. Responsible tourism should be practiced and individual choices are very important in determining the ‘supply’ of the market.
[...] 1) Tubing. If you only have limited time to spare, I reckon river tubing along Nam Song since this is one of the popular activity among backpackers. You can read more about tubing here. [...]