TUBING AT VIANVENG

I really don't know how to swim but I just didn't want to pass Laos' greatest attraction, which was to go tubing in the great Numsong river. But what exactly is tubing? Well it's this really cool activity whereby you jump in a giant tractor tube, or the salbabida and basically just float and be driven by the stream down the river. It was really great fun. I met a couple of Irish dudes the night I arrived the sleepy town and asked me if I wanted to join them for tubing the next morning. But then of course, in a sleepy town there's really not much to do at night but drink, and the beer in Laos is pretty dirt cheap and really good too. But I'd backtrack first to where it started. So I left Louang Phabang after checking out the great Wats (temple) and took the minibus to Viang Veng for about 4 hours. The view on the way is just spectacular, the mountains or the hills, I really don't know what they are called but all have interesting shapes that I haven't seen in my entire life. When I arrived at Vangvieng though, I was kinda iffy because everywhere you look there's a lot of roads being constructed so it wasn't really a great sight. But once you head down to the river, the dirty town is really worth the travel. At nights, the youth hostel where I'm staying would show episodes of friends so I'd usually end up watching from 8pm to 12 of all the great episodes that I missed with a great cold beer Lao to beat. I'm heading to the capital tomorrow, I've met a number of great travelers who's doing the opposite route. I'm heading south of Laos and their going up north. But then, that's the great thing about travelling cause you get to share stories about your adventures. I've given them some advice and in return they gave me some tips on the rest of my journey down south. Can't wait to check out Vientianne, which according to some books is the Paris of Asia. Hope I'll not be disappointed. More stories soon!