Vang Vieng

Lonely Planet has named Vang Vieng a backpacker’s writ of passage, and rightfully so. Like Thailand’s full moon party on Koh Pha-ngan, backpackers from all over the world make an effort to come here (but thankfully, not all at the same time). The town is merely a small intersection lined with cheap guesthouses offering $4 rooms and bars that play commercial-free re-runs of Friends all day, everyday. All of a sudden, we’ve watched 15 episodes of Friends and eaten lunch and dinner without moving. I swear it was just light outside. The concept is socially antisocial because at almost all hours of the day a bar will be packed with people, but none of them are talking to each other. All seating in these restaurants only faces the TV and is in reclining positions with tons of cushions. We’re not sure why the obsession with Friends caught on here, but no one seems to be complaining. As a matter of fact, if it’s not playing, the bars are empty. Walking down the street you can easily catch one of Ross and Rachel’s arguments blaring two doors down or Joey’s classic, “How you doin?” We just couldn’t get enough...

The other thing to do in Vang Vieng is equally as fun and lazy. We rented inner tubes in the early afternoon and a tuk tuk dropped us off 5 km up the river. For the first time (really since we’ve started traveling), we met a group of Americans who joined us on our journey down the river. There were ten bars over the 3-mile stretch. We were lured into bar #1 by guys with bamboo poles that they would stick out for us to grab. The country’s national beverage, Beerlao, was only $1 and came in over a ½ liter bottle so we new it would be impossible to make all ten bars. Regardless, it was fun to stop and swing on the high zip lines or swings that surprisingly managed to stay in tact with their rickety bamboo structures. The current on the river was a little more than we expected, but that wasn’t a problem for the bar owners who would throw out a bottle on a string or even swim out to get you if there initial strategy failed. Unfortunately, time flew by and we found ourselves tubing the last little bit in the dark. Thankfully though, some kids ran out into the water to stop us because otherwise we would have slowly made our way to Vientiane (4 hours by bus and who knows how long by tube).

Vang Vieng is one of our favorite places. Aside from its mindless activity and leisurely lifestyle that has backpacker written all over it, the small and simple town was a break from cultural immersion and temple visits, which is perfect every now and then when the world becomes a list of dos and don’ts.