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January 19, 2007
After seeing the other day five different caves, I went doing what most tourists do in Vang Vieng - Tubing. This attraction is so developed in this small town that while browsing through the various travel agencies, a local Lai asked me in Hebrew if I want to do the tubing tour. He didn’t even know I was from Israel. Only after showing his knowledge in the language he asked me if I understand Hebrew. It seems like Israelis conquered this town as in almost every shop or internet cafe there are signs in Hebrew which looks a little weird, but probably helps with sales.
Tubes on the river
The price for a tube which includes a ride to the beginning of the tour, is 35000 kip ($3.5 USD). You can get a waterproof bag for one dollar more. The organizers pick up a group of tourists from the town, give each one a tube of a tractor and leave the place. The distance to Vang Vieng is about four kilometers and you have to get back before dark until 5:30 PM. In this time of year, January, the water level is not so high and so, the current is slow and pleasant.
Already after the first few meters of tubing, we heard the locals shouting the famous sentence: “Beer Lao, Beer Lao, Come On”. Over the river’s shores there are quite a few improvised bars made of wood and bamboo. A huge swing is attached to each one, from which you can jump to the water. We stopped at the first bar. The operators promised a free jump for those who buy a beer. Speaking of beers, the local beer called Beer Lao is not bad at all. It’s pretty good and actually better than the low quality ones like Carlsberg, Tuborg, etc. I didn’t really want to drink alcohol in the morning, and since the operators didn’t sell anything else, I got a free ride. It was extremely fun. You go up a wooden ladder five to six meters high. The swing brings you down to two meters and then you jump right into the water.
After that, you can tube yourself to the next swing. It’s bigger, higher and much more fun. Some more tubing in the river and you arrive at an advanced restaurant-bar with music, food and a trapeze swing that the operator rocks using a long rope. All these structures are made of wood and look as if they are going to fall apart every moment, but they don’t. On the last one you can see impressive acrobatic stunts. Local kids give you a special show when they hang themselves using their legs, do back flips in the air and other cool stunts.
I tried that swing two times. Then I got bored and continued tubing in the river.
All the way over the four kilometers of the river route, you keep hearing the shouting of locals for Beer. It seems like this is their only job. It reminded me a little of those ice cream sellers you can find on beaches in Israel. I was a little amazed when I saw a ten years old kid shouting these words (”Beer Lao, Beer Lao, Come On”) and selling alcohol to tourists. Well… At least he didn’t drink it himself.
I accelerated during the last kilometer so I can get faster to the end of the route. Twenty meters before the shore, two little girls on a canoe asked me to switch from the tube to their boat. I agreed but helped them paddle. A moment before we reached land, a small kid, perhaps six years old, grabbed my tube from the canoe. He took it and sat on it. When I asked for my tube back, the small kid repeated the only word in English he’s ever learned: “Money, Money”. By the amount of children swarming the river, on the swings, with snorkels or selling beers, I assumed that either they all got a vacation from school that morning or they simply don’t have school at all, and this was what they do all day, every day. That rude little kid didn’t get any money. He just got the same response from me: “No money, no money”. After all, that kid will have to learn some day that you don’t get money by stealing other people’s tubes. After I took my tube back, he ran toard the two little girls complained in Lai. They ignored the little brat, and as I saw he’s not going to bother me again, I dragged my tube back to the tubing agency, half a kilometer away, and went back to my guest house by foot.
This article was originally written in Hebrew. It was translated to English at a later time.
English
