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 (for better or worse) 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.

For many, Vang Vieng is a highlight of their trip to Laos. If your idea of an ideal night involves scoffing happy pizza and quaffing buckets of lao-lao and coke to a background of infinite Friends episodes, then you're going to absolutely love this place. Vang Vieng has become where backpackers shamelessly indulge in Western food, alcohol, drugs and, yes, American sitcoms.

The transformation of this once sleepy town into a backpacker circus is hard to overlook, and others see Vang Vieng as an example of tourism at its worst. While you'll probably still enjoy ... Read our complete Vang Vieng travel guide

More images