[Post-Edit Note: All pictures and written content in this post was originally created in 2014, unless otherwise credited.]
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Vang Vieng is Laos’ most improbable party town. Located deep in Central Laos about four hours away from its dusty Vientiane capital, this once-tranquil scenic farming village known for its stunning limestone cliffs, caves, and forests, has since turned into somewhat of a seething epicentre of backpackers gone wild.
The thing about Vang Vieng is, you come here to get wasted. This town is a certified rite of passage for travelling youths passing through Laos, and tubing is its ultimate act of initiaton. Tubing, which involves floating down the meandering Nam Song River in tractor-tyre tubes, brings you past riverbanks lined with ramshackle wooden bars and throbbing party music and very, very happy menus. Pizzas, shakes, tea, and basically anything else that can be consumed as food, are typically laced with anything from marijuana to mushroom to even opium if you know where to look. And rope swings, giant water slides and zip lines, are a few of the many river activities partaken by these happy people.
To put it simply, Vang Vieng is a one toxic party that never ends. Many of the river bars have since been shut down following increasing deaths and public scrutiny since 2012, but nobody’s putting Vang Vieng in a corner just yet. The blatant use of weed and other illegal substances is still widespread and done boldly, publicly, and fearlessly; and while its position on the rowdiness meter may have improved a fair bit over the past couple of years, one is still hardpressed to use the words ‘Vang Vieng’ and ‘family-friendly destination’ in the same sentence – unless of course, that sentence includes the word ‘not’.
These days, the one question most people ask when pondering over Vang Vieng, is whether it is still worth including in their itineraries. Well, if your intention is to get high and wasted, then maybe not – especially if you’ve been collecting anecdotes from alumni backpackers who were here before 2012. If that scene is what you’re looking for, will be sorely disappointed. But if you’re up for appreciating one of the most spectacular backdrops and natural compositions in the whole of Southeast Asia, my only answer is, why not?
1. Go On That Legendary Tubing Experience.
Vang Vieng may have put in immense effort to clean up its act since 2012, but the party isn’t exactly over. Despite what you hear, tubing has not been banned in Vang Vieng; it’s the substances which make it life-endangering that have been. If anything, you probably just have less opportunities to kill yourself now as compared to before, and your full sobriety will also allow you to appreciate the countryside’s stunning landscape a lot better than if you were under the influence.
By and large, much of the unadulterated fun still goes on after dark, but for the record, you won’t see many drunken backpackers throwing themselves off ropeswings into the water anymore. And there certainly also haven’t been any tubing deaths since 2011.
2. Embark On A Caving Adventure.
There are at least a hundred caves in the whole of Vang Vieng and you probably won’t want to visit every single one of them, but their jaw-droppingly beautiful formations make at least a couple of them worth the visit. A notable one is Than Nam, a Water Cave made up of a network of rivers running through the mountainside which, incidentally, allows you to go tubing for up to 500m into the mouth.
3. Bliss Out In the Cold Turquoise Waters of the Blue Lagoon.
Iceland isn’t the only country with a Blue Lagoon – Vang Vieng’s rendition gives it a good run for its money too, at 1/70th of the price.
The road to Vang Vieng’s Blue Lagoon is quite an adventure in itself and requires a ‘mini-trek’ through a cave before you can even feast your eyes on its pool of soft delicate pale blue; but no one who has come out of this will ever tell you that the extra effort isn’t worth the while. It’s a great way to wile away the afternoon in a surreal, I’m-in-the-seventh-level-of-celestial-heaven sort of way; and can be exceptionally refreshing especially if you’ve just dropped in from dusty ol’ Vientiane.
4. Explore the Sweet Calm of Vang Vieng In A Hot Air Balloon Ride.
Everyone’s always on a curiously tight budget when cruising through the span of Southeast Asia, but at $50-$80 for a 30-60 minute ride, hot air balloon adventures in Vang Vieng are a freakin’ steal. Vang Vieng is as quaint and romantic a town as riverside towns can generally get, so what better way to explore it than by floating thousands of feet high in the air above? Don’t expect Cappadocia, but Vang Vieng’s blessed with beautiful rural scenery and gorgeous limestone formations that will make for a pretty darn good view all the same.
As with any other activity in Vang Vieng, be sure to check out the credibility of the company before settling on the lowest-priced deal. A quick Google search will provide you with the reviews you need to confirm its legitimacy; believe it or not, there are still companies who don’t adhere to the basic safety standards despite the nature of risk in hot air ballooning.
5. Indulge In Friends Reruns and, Ironically, Make Some New Ones.
There is a weird phenomenon that goes around all of Vang Vieng, in which scores of uncannily similar bars, restaurants, and guesthouses play endless loops of Friends, Family Guy, and South Park on their overhead TV sets, from day all the way into night. It’s a fantastic place to chill out with free wi-fi and feel a little more at home; not to mention that all that slapstick comedy going in front of you also provides for great conversation starters with fellow travellers and boarders. If you’re unlucky (or lucky, depending on how you look at it) enough to be stuck in bad rainfloods while travelling through this riverside town, be prepared to be lulled into an ultimate couch potato fest, because chances are this is what you are going to spend the bulk of your day doing.
Enjoy Vang Vieng. I know I did.
Comments
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shaf.finah
Hahaha it is! I’m reading thru my posts and really wishing I could just hop on a plane and head there. This is such a bad time for all. 😓
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shaf.finah
Thanks Francesca! Hope to shed more light on such hidden little places as I continue sharing more travel stories! ❤️
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Josy A
Some of this (all the mad drunk party folks) sound like a nightmare to me BUT the balloon ride is amazing value. I’d love to explore nature, go caving and see the world from up in a balloon!
It’s so funny that they choose to show reruns of 90s shows. I wonder if they will change as the demographics of travelers change… In the future they might show Korean/Chinese dramas on repeat!
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shaf.finah
yeah it is, you can’t imagine the kind of HORROR stories I’ve read online, like there are literally people who jump off cliffs and land on rocks and their entire faces get smashed up cos they’re so high they’re not even paying attention to what they’re doing – it’s so gory to even think about it *shudders* 😣
(AND OMG your comment about korean/chinese drama shows made me LOL! We need to start floating that idea! 🤭)
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Angela
This is a place I wasn’t familiar with but it sounds really cool. I like the blue lagoon and hot air ballooning, fabulous things to try out.
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shaf.finah
it is! and a fraction of the price compared to the rest! 💰
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shaf.finah
and i hope you do too! pen it down as one of the places to plan for after all this… stuff passes! ❤️
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Helen Little
I’m not sure this place is where I’d immediately head, but you’ve given me good ideas for things to try in this area!
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shaf.finah
No problem! Hope you have a grand time if you manage to stop by one day!
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shaf.finah
yes it’s so pretty! definitely an easier getaway for me than to head all the way up to Iceland! 🤭
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Patricia @ Grab a Plate
I’ve never known about this spot! I guess because I past partying age?! Lol! Love the Blue Lagoon – looks lovely!
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shaf.finah
hahahaha don’t worry about it, i was there partying age and i was still oblivious to it all until AFTER i left! Definitely not the life of the party kind, I’m sure you can imagine! 😂🤣
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Christa
The lagoon looks gorgeous! And you can never go wrong with Friends reruns. Lol.
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shaf.finah
agreed! and i heard a reunion is finally up on the cards – FOR REAL, this time. 🤞
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Kimberly Croisant
Wow, that water!! How beautiful and so so blue. You don’t see that where I live. I can only wish to visit your town one day.
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shaf.finah
I don’t live in Laos but yes, I totally get what you mean. It was such a magical place to be! ✨
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Angela
I had not heard of this place before, but it sounds like an interesting place to visit. I love all the pictures here of it!!!
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shaf.finah
Thank you very much Angela, I had to get alot off the internet with credit – really wished I was more equipped to take better shots but I was such a noob about these things back then! 😂🤣
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shaf.finah
Thank you very much, Marina! And yes, it is one of the more affordable places to hop on a hot air balloon ride – you have to do it when you’re there! ❤️
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shaf.finah
Awww, please stay safe too Peachy. Hope you and your family are doing well. It’s a collective effort and I have faith that if we continue to keep at it, we’ll all come out fine soon. ❤️
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Mama Maggie's Kitchen
Wow! Vang Vieng looks like an amazing place to visit! The Blue Lagoon is like a paradise. I am definitely going to add this on my bucket list. I can’t wait to travel!
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shaf.finah
I’m so glad you’re adding this to your bucket list, it’s a beautiful town! And yes, I believe that this will pass with time and we can all be out there again, – hopefully this time more appreciative of our planet. ❤️
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Bliss
This looks like so much fun!