Last Tubers of the Day, Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is set on the Nam Song (river) in Northern Laos. The town nestles amongst some spectacular karst limestone mountains and is a very popular stopover on the 'backpacker curcuit' of South East Asia.

The main attraction of the town is tubing. This activity involves floating for several kilometres down the Nam Song while stopping off at the numerous bars along the way to enjoy the Beerlao and perhaps a few of the Lao-lao (local moonshine) shots that are usually handed out for free.

Return your tube after 6pm and you'll be dished out a late returners fee. These two were definitely going to be getting fined.

Blog: http://newdigate.me/2010/03/vang-vieng/

Taken on: 5th January, 2010. Copyright: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - See Many Moon Honeymoon's page of Flickr

Read more about Vang Vieng

Situated halfway down the long Vientiane to Luang Prabang highway, Vang Vieng has become the pit stop of Laos. Surrounded by splendid karst scenery and overflowing with activities such as caving and tubing down the river, many weary travellers extend their stay here far longer than originally planned.

Until recently, Vang Vieng was the highlight of many people's trip to Laos. Scoffing happy pizza and quaffing buckets of lao-lao and coke to a background of infinite Friends episodes was the thing to do when in town, but now things are different. A government crackdown on illegal bars lining the river has severely curbed the party such that fewer backpackers of that ilk are visiting town leaving the area to those more interested in enjoying the area's immense natural beauty.

For the party people, this was a multi-night and even multi-week stop on their itinerary through Laos while for everyone else it was more like a one night stop. The opposite ... Read our complete Vang Vieng travel guide

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