Ah yes, drunk tubing. Need I say more? Well, I guess I have to or this post would be too short. Also we took like 2 pics actually on the tour so I apologize for the lack of relevant photos.
Drunk tubing is a staple of any trip to Vang Vieng, Laos. It’s a right of passage of sorts; an intro into the backpacker culture of Laos. There is so much to do in this gorgeous country: hiking, cave splunking, 4x4s, waterfalls, lagoons, and of course tubing!
My friend Eve and I stayed at the glorious and pristine Nana Backpacker Hostel. Lol jk its a total party hostel with beds as hard as rocks and floors that are always wet. To be fair, there is a pool in the middle of the hostel so the wet floors are semi-acceptable.
The hostel offers a tubing tour so we signed up and paid the 60,000 kip fee (~7 dollars).
I learned while in Laos that the tubing excursion used to be banned completely because of its fatal past. There were thousands of injuries and dozens of tourist deaths due to minimal safety precautions and drunk/high patrons (in 2011 alone there were 27 tourist deaths). There used to be tons of bars all along the river and many sold drugs etc. So in 2012 the Laos police had a big crackdown and banned tubing completely. The government slowly reintroduced tubing but with new rules and regulations. Now there are just 12 bars and only 4 are allowed to operate at any given time…and none of them sell drugs (that I know of).
OK so that all sounds pretty scary but I did it and I promise it’s not dangerous unless you’re a drunk idiot who forgets how to swim.
So the tuk tuk picks the group up at the hostel around 12pm and takes you to the Nam Song River. They supply you with tubes (that get fire hot in the sun because they are black) and off you go!
Peep the tubes
Your day starts nice and relaxing as you tube down a pretty river with lots of lush greenery around you…until you reach the first bar. The bar is set on stilts above the water and filled with buckets of booze and loud music. Party games ensue and the debauchery slowly creeps in. After the group was feelin GOOOD, we hopped back into our tubes and floated down to the next bar. The funny thing is, the river is flowing…like rivers do. So if you don’t catch the rope to get into the second bar…you go right on past it and the tour staff have to run on land to try and catch you… or you have to hop off your tube and swim upstream. This happened to many people as we were drunk and far less coordinated than need be.
At the second bar there was a slide and zipline into the water that provided hilarious entertainment as the boys attempted to show off and do flips . More drinking, partying, and mingling until we clumsily hobbled our way back into our tubes to reach bar #3.
This bar had a slip n slide with hidden rocks beneath it that caused tons of bruises the next day. It also had a volleyball net so our group played a game and I honestly don’t remember who won. We can say I did for the purpose of this story. What I do remember is mud wrestling some Irish guy?! I was truly doused in river mud and ended up loosing my favorite ring in the tussle. I tried to look for it but it belongs to the Laos countryside now 🙁
By this time we were all sufficiently trashed and the car came to pick us up at sunset. We drove back to the hostel and all jumped in the pool before rinsing off and changing for the night.
We came out just in time for free drink hour; Nana hostel gives free rum and coke every night from 7-9pm. Class act.
Then we ventured into the town and landed at Sakura Bar, famous for its promotion of a free shirt with every purchase of a vodka drink. I still have and wear the shirt I got to this day! Comfy n oversized, perfect for sleep. We did some bar hopping after that and eventually got back to the hostel safe n sound.
Overall the drunk tubing tour is a time and a half and I highly recommend it to anyone staying in Vang Vieng whose looking for some fun.
TIPS:
1. Everything on you will get wet so either leave your phone at the hostel or get a dry bag to keep your stuff in (or you can use my move and save a dollar by asking someone else if you can prettyyyy pleaseeee put your phone and cash in their bag)
2. Bring cash for drinks at the bar as that’s not included in the tour and they are a bit pricy.
3. If your cheap like me then split a bottle of alch from the town and bring it in your tube. River cocktail anyone?
4. SUNSCREEN. Enough said.
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