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The journey to Vang Vieng was again, a death-trap. The rain had meant landslides had hit the roads and coupled with heavey fog and pot-holes it was a wonder how we managed to get to Vang Vieng in 7 hours instead of the 20 hours that some people had spoken about in the hostel. Nonethless, the scenery was amazing with cliffs, hills and villages all driving past on the way.
Due to the rain, it meant tubing had been cancelled the past couple of days as the currents meant that some people had died. This meant that there was not alot to do for the first full day I was there instead of watch friends and films with a few people I had meant since arriving. That night we drank at one of the central bars and headed to the club next door where I realised how many travellers had decided to stay in Vang Vieng to work...
The last day the sun was out and tubing back on. Initially, a few of us had decided not to do the tubing as the current was still so strong, bars had been washed away and I was still hungover from the night before. Eventually, at 4.30 we decided to do it and went to hire some tubes. The first trip to the first bar saw me lose me sunglasses and flipflops and dignity as a little Laos boy had to jump in the river and drag me to the side. It was unsuprising that so many people die doing tubing.. watching people dive off the Slide of Death was scary as one boy got the rope wrapped round his neck as the Laos men had to let go of the rope and let him get taken off my the river. One girl belly flopped onto her tube as she went down, another didnt come up out of the water for ages... and then on top of that the mud was making the rest of us slide down the banks onto rocks. But it was amazing. The atmosphere was incredible and even though I panicked everytime I had to get back in the tube and head to the next bar, I loved it...
...Until it got dark. By this point the majority of tubes had gone as people had headed back. Me and another boy were left with one deflating tube between us. As we got in the river, barely anybody was around, no light, and no idea where we needed to go. Apparently there is a fork in the river where people are told not to go down the right side. Before we got to this stage we decided to head to the opening in the river where we could climb out. Clambering up a hill, we stumbled into a random village where it was so dark I nearly missed the massive pig right next to me. Some Laos woman eating her dinner on the porch drove us back to the centre where we limped to the central bar, shoeless and soaking wet. It was such a good day though.
The next day I decided to head to Vientiane, the capital, before heading down south for the last week...
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