Moving To Laos, Becoming Professional Tubers

Once getting our act together after arriving in Vang Vieng, we booked a day trip to go kayaking and also some local caves (caves are a big thing here). we quickly realized tours here involve a lotof waiting. our guide was the only fat laos man we have seen and he was at least entertaining by eating bright blue bugs off the trees. we saw three caves in total. pretty generic, but fun because we needed flashlights to see and they were really big. The third cavewas by far the highlght of the day as we got to get on tubes and float through it. at the end there was a pool that we swam in "for youth and luck". we still had to keep our lights on when swimmng though because it was so dark.

After the caves we visited a village outside ofvangvieng and our guide described the type of living ofthe particular tribe members of the village. it was a nice change from "you have fifteen minutes to shop" type villages of most tours.

we also went kayaking along the Nam song river where there are bars lining the sides and where the cities main attraction, tubing, takes place. we quickly learned that our kayaking skills need some work so needless to say, there won't be full days of kayaking in our future but it was still a goodtime. we got a preview for our tubing day by stoppping at one bar. i (steph) did my first swing, in preparation for future river times.

The next day, with the news that Arie and Alex would be coming to Vang Vieng sooner than we anticipated, we decided to wait until the day after to go tubing. So with a free day, the brit boys who have joined us again decided they wanted to explore some caves nearby. The Lonely Planet said it was a 7km walk and I was feeling a little in need of some exercising so I (Natalie) went along. 7km didnt sound bad at the time. Steph, being the smart girl she is, opted to spend the day with Jacco and the many resteraunts around town playing non-stop Friends episodes. So off we went in the stifiling hot Laos day. The first cave was close by and only up a few bajilion stairs (first sign of a tough day ahead) but the view was worth it.

The first cave was really big and long but had stairs and railings and lights all along it so it didnt really feel authentic at all. We then had a swim in a little lagoon before heading off for our 7km walk to the next cave. Someone really should have told me how long that amount of walking takes. By the time we reached the lagoon and cave our feet were aching and we were covered in dust and dirt. And by the time we got outof the lagoon (NEEDED to cool down), we barely had any time left to explore the cave (which was a 200m rock climb, pretty rough after allthat walking). But the cave was beautiful and extremly big. I've never seen anything quite like it. Hard to see in pictures but i could have stayed there for quite awhile just enjoying it. Thankfully, we got a tractor ride home and made it back just before the sun went down.

The next day, our group was ready, overly excited, in celebration mode (alexs birthday) and most importantly, finally all together! Arie her boyfriend Alex, Arie's friend from childhood Kathy, Jacco, Steph, me and Anthony and Fred (the british boys we left in Koh Tao but who missed us too much to stay away for too long, obviously) had a nice big breakfast and then headed to rent our tubes and dry bags for the day. The wavers we signed stipulated that the tubes needed to be returned by 6pm and no one thought twice about this, afterall who tubes until it gets dark? Well turns out we do. but more bout that later. We got on our tubes and floated down the river for approxiomately one minute before stopping at the first riverside bar. Actually it was mostly a bamboo raised platform with a woman selling Beer Lao.

clockwise from left Kathy, Arie, Steph, Fred, Jacco, Alex, Anthony

After our first beer of the day and free shot of Lao Lao (we were celebrating a birthday so we had to do it but it still tasted like the worst thing that has ever been created) and getting aquainted with the zip lign, we were off again. Although once again we made it about a minute in the water then got out again to sample the beer at the next bar as well as their rope swing.

As you can imagine, the day pretty much progressed like this. Tube a bit, get stuck in the rapids (dry season water sports not so efficient), paddle with flip flops, stop at bars and drink and swing and eat. Before we knew it, it was suddenly very late. And we had a 30min ride to our final destination. We knew we were in trouble when we noticed the moon was already out. Somehow though we made it and just as it was getting way too dark outside we boarded a tuk tuk and ended our amazing, fabulous, wonderful day of tubing fun.

Now the boys have left us again, Jacco starts heading towards Cambodia tomorrow, Kathy, Arie and Alex are departing too and Steph and I will be back on our own again with no set plans in mind. After being in a group for almost a month now, we're not sure we remember how to travel by ourselves anymore! But oh well, lots to see and do so we must be on our way.