Vang Vieng is crowded with back packers. There are a view things you
can do. Like kayaking, river rafting climbing and trekking. The most
cherished for the travelers seems to be tubing. With a tractor tube
they are dropped of five kilometers up river. The tubers the jump into
the water and float down for four hours minimum. At the river bank are
bars with loud western music and "catcher" shouting: "come, beer Lao". They throw a bamboo pole on a string towards the tubers and they let themselves be pulled in for another beer Lao. A lot of the tubers are more or less drunk when they arrive back in Vang Vieng. It was rather bizarre to see hundreds of Westerners coming down the rivers on tubes with beers in their hands in the middle of the Lao mountains.