Tubing

I came to Vang Vieng to do one thing--tubing.  Meaning you just sit on an inner tube and float down the river.  And for some reason that's what I wanted to do.

It's like this.

So I did.

I ment another American girl on the bus who went with me.  For only 6 dollars you can rent an inner tube and they'll drive you a ways downstream to the floating place.  There are bars along the way where they try to make you buy drinks for an inflated price--in our case, the tour guide went with us and ate lunch, which we were invited to.  (I ate a ball of rice and some sort of hot sour lettuce soup I will never forget.  And beer.  Idk what it is about Southeast Asia, but everyone just gives you beer.)

They used to give you drugs, but there's been a crack-down on that within the last several years.  So in case you're wondering.

Also, they caught a lizard, which is apparently a thing here (they said they eat them, showing us a bottle of decaying lizards).

They caught him.

Ew?

You can do other stuff, like jump off a 20-foot diving board (this is scarier than I realized before I jumped) but ultimately, it takes a couple hours to make it downstream on the tube.  It would have taken longer, except our tour guides got bored and started paddling us there...  I was happy to swim, but unfortunately have become weak through years of illness and seclusion, so just sort of flopped back on the tube and succumbed to...patheticality?  Yes.

We came to an endpoint, where they sell you more alcohol...we preferred to spend the time swimming across the river where some boys were jumping in from the trees.  Other points of interest--swinging ropes and a zipline.  I rode the zipline directly over the river and let go.  Just like something out of tomb raider, yes.

That's me.

In all, it was one of those things I am actually happy that I did, though I am feeling it today.