Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng is the frat party that I never had in college.

After a 7 hour bus ride through winding bumpy roads, we arrived in Vang Vieng, a 2-road town in the remote Laos countryside. The one and seemingly only thing the town is famous for is tubing.

Just like at home, teenagers rent innertubes and float down the river as a way to cool off from the heat. Which sounded pretty damn good to us!

Unfortunately, it's a prime example of westerners taking over a town and destroying anything good about it. I'm not particularly a fan of teenage frat parties, but that's essentially what the town turns into every night. Drugs are rampant, binge drinking the norm. Garbage is everywhere...it was disgusting.

The party starts up stream, where you get your tube, then proceed to float between a dozen or so bars built on the water. I know it sounds like fun, but the whole point of going is to get hammered...there's very little time spent in the water. Apparently 22 people died in the last year, 2 in the last month. Teens get high and drunk and dive off the cliffs into shallow water. So we ate at a nearby restaurant and turned around and went home.

All in all Vang Vieng was near to see, but not somewhere I would stay for any amount of time.
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Current location: Vientiane, Laos. (I'm a few days behind in posting)
Listening to: Not much. Sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for our bus to the airport.
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