Tubing in Vang Viang
Tue 13 Jan 2009
Tubing - floating down the river on a tractor-tyre inner-tube - is the
must-do-iest activity in Vang Viang.
From the starting point there are seven or eight bars within the first
kilometer or so. After that you can float the rest of the way back to
Vang Viang - or - did I mention the bars?
We were dropped-off at our starting point "the mojito bar" just in
time for elevenses. A 50-yard float (easier to walk, but that would
have missed the point) took us to our second bar. After getting out of
the water I found I'd met my first leech - one end stuck to my foot
and the other wriggling in an attempt to attach itself. Unfortunately
neglecting to take a photo of the leech, or terrify anyone with it, I
plucked it off and returned it to the river - or in the general
direction of the river.
Several of the bars had zip lines and slides and so on - this one had
a rope swing from an eight-meter platform.
I'd already decided not to do the adventure-activities. I don't like
heights and it's not like they have Health and Safety in Laos. In
fact, it's not like they have a decent hospital in Laos - the nearest
is in Thailand.
But you can probably see where this story is going.
Eight meters up doesn't sound a lot but it seems a lot higher when
you're up there. Eight meters is 26 feet; a typical British building
is about 9 feet per floor - you can do the maths.
It didn't help that the whole platform was shaking around.
Having to lean right out over the abyss to grab the swing was even
more unhelpful (smaller people get held up to reach it). So unhelpful,
in fact, that I was too tentative, didn't get a good grip and
belly-flopped almost directly off the platform.
I entered around eight feet of water horizontally and hit the bottom -
not hard. I thought that was interesting, in a weirdly abstract way,
then swam to the surface. Going in head-first (or even feet-first) may
have been more problematic.
I didn't feel anything but shock at first, but then it hurt. Breathing
was a challenge and I felt sure I'd mashed my internal organs. A few
minutes later it seemed that everything was still more or less intact,
though my bruised ribs would be sore for a few days.
The other, less expected, consequence was that I was briefly a minor
celebrity among the hundred or so people tubing that day. It seems
strange that catastrophic incompetence should have this result, but I
guess that's how most reality TV works. In any case, a couple of
well-justified drinks later I was having great fun: being dragged into
mud-fights by girls and so on.
Tubing in Vang Viang is great. Just don't fall off a rope swing.
More photos.
