You may have heard about the famous, or infamous, river tubing in Vang Vieng already. The town was once synonymous with tourists renting large inner tubes so they could float down the Nam Song and back to Vang Vieng.
Nothing wrong with that you may think. And, to be fair, tubing down the river is actually a great way to lay back and relax while floating past mountains, fields, and waving to kayakers as they overtake you..
However, tubing back in the day was described as Disneyland for adults. Read on to see why tubing disappeared, and can you safely go tubing today?
Stories vary, but the main one is that a Vang Vieng local called Thanongsi Sorangkoun (from the defunct Organic Farm) took some tubes to the river for tourists to enjoy. After a short while it started to draw attention from a few curious tourists.
Then more entrepreneurial locals realised the potential, and tubing in Vang Vieng was truly born. Nothing particularly interesting or sinister there. But, tubing grew and grew…and grew.
But then again I met a foreign guy in Sakura one night many years ago. He told me him and his friends were the first people to take tubes to the river with an ice box and sell beer near the Organic Farm. Then the story continues as before with some local people expanding on the idea and turning it into a tourism goldmine.
There have been many reports from bloggers and even international newspapers such as this report by The Guardian in the UK explaining what happened to tubing. Not all of these reports are completely accurate but by and large they do tell the same story.
Tubing went from a casual pastime of having a few beers and floating downstream to the installation of huge slides, ziplines, mud pits, volleyball, and numerous bars. Competition became fierce, and walls were erected to stop people from walking from one bar to another to get drunk instead of actually tubing.
As tubing hit its peak, there were hundreds of people tubing every day on the river. Yet, many people would also take a motorbike, or a tuk tuk to the river without a tube. The bars and other backpackers were seen as the attraction rather than the actual tubing.
In fact, teams of promoters were tasked with keeping tourists in whichever bar they were affiliated with and handing out free shots of Tiger Whisky. They would then promise free buckets of whisky and coke if the tourist would come to their island bar at night by a certain time.
Promotions were everywhere in Vang Vieng during this time as everyone was fighting for their share of tourist cash. Free booze was always the promotional giveaway.
Whenever you put a large amount of people with access to free and cheap booze together, something is going to happen. And not all of it good.
Therefore, a taxi might not seem necessary. However, after one too many, or in torrential rain, a taxi home can seem very comforting.
It was common to hear or see accidents on the river in the late 00s and early 10s. These would come from people jumping in the Nam Song and hitting rocks. Falling over after one too many. And coming off one of the bigger slides and hitting the water badly.
Unfortunately, there were also fatalities sometimes.
In 2011 - 2012, deaths on the Nam Song hit an all-time high. It was so bad that international newspapers reported on a town that previously most people had never heard of. Indeed, most people have probably never heard of Laos, let alone Vang Vieng.
With pressure from certain governments around the world, the powers that be told Vang Vieng to clean up its act. The number of fatalities that year varies, but I think that most people would agree that even one is too many.
Of course, tubing, alcohol, or drugs, weren’t always to blame. The river has strong currents in high season that can pull even a strong swimmer under.
With tubing seemingly over, or at least reduced to a much smaller number of bars without any ziplines or potentially dangerous add-ons, tourism dropped off. Misinformation also spread. I was told in Chiang Mai by a travel agent that Vang Vieng is closed now so I should just go to Vientiane instead. I heard something similar in Bangkok too.
However, in 2014, a Korean reality TV show called Youth Over Flowers showed Vang Vieng to a new audience. With free visas for Koreans and cut price flights from airlines such as Air Asia, Koreans started flocking to Vang Vieng.
This turned kayaking on the Nam Song from a sideline to tubing to being the main river activity.
Yes, tubing is still operating, and is popular with young tourists as it was before. However, these days it is a much safer affair. Although it goes by the name ‘Tipsy Tubing’ it isn’t quite the hedonistic madness of days gone by.
Tipsy Tubing is offered at guesthouses such as Mad Monkey and Easy Go Backpackers daily. But, instead of being given a tube and set off to cause carnage on the river, you will be taken in a group with a guide.
There are still bars and parties on the river, and by all accounts tubing is still great fun. The difference is, operators account for their guests in the same way that kayaking tours take care of theirs.
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