I have never seen any place like Vang Vien, Laos. It is like an oasis in the middle of the desert. I had been traveling through SE Asia for about 3 weeks, and was having the time of my life. Almost every backpacker that I had talked to since arriving in SE Asia was telling me about this town called Vang Vien. It is known around SE Asia as the "chill out town" for backpackers. When I arrived there, all the stories I had heard about were true.
There is no other reason to stop here other than taking a "break" from your traveling. Vang Vien is a small town, but it has a couple of main things that are going on. I was traveling with about 6 people that I had met on the "slow boat," and we were able to find a place to stay on the main street the street. You can't believe how cheap it is. I paid $1 US Dollar a night to stay in a hotel with another traveler that had a room with 2 beds, our own bathroom. I am not saying this was the Ritz Carlton, but it was a nice place.
There is one main street that has restaurants, and also a couple of internet cafes. (Of course there are massage shops too!) These restaurants are not any old restaurants. These restaurants made a "bed" for 2 people, and in the middle is a table for you to put your feet under and your food on top. Each restaurant probably holds about 30-40 people. One restaurant only plays "new" episodes of the TV show Friends for 12 hours a day. The next one that is accross the street plays "old" Friends episodes 12 friends a day. Another one plays the Simpsons all day. There is one restaurant that only plays movies all day. Outside of this restaurant it has a playlist of times and movies for the entire day just like a theatre. During my stay in Vang Vien I met a traveler named Jen that spent two full days watching Friends all day long...from morning til night. And she was proud of it too! I have to admit that I had a movie day that was two back to back movies for a total of 5 hours watching TV. I felt so lazy, because I hadn't really watched TV for 7 months. Travlers get stuck in this town for 5 or 6 days because it is too easy to become a couch potato.
The food is a great change from the Asian cuisine that I had been eating for 3 weeks. I couldn't believe it when I showed up. This city is basically serving only western food which you cannot find anywhere else in Asia. In the morning they were serving traditional English breakfast at a couple of restaurants. Then the rest of the day they serve cheeseburgers, french fries, pizzas..etc. I am an American and I was craving a greasy food! I ate a pizza and cheeseburgers everyday I was
there. There are also restaurants that sell "happy pizzas" for those backpackers that are into those things. They also have an Indian restaurant on the main street which was very good too!
The night life is actually pretty good too! Which is hard to say for most little towns in SE Asia. There are two main options for going out in Vang Vien. One, there is a main bar right off the main street where all the restaurants are. Two, you can go down by the river after 11pm, and there are two bars that have fires burning all night to keep you warm. Almost all travelers in town head down to the river to hang out.
The highlight of my stay in Vang Vien, and almost every other backpacker that I met in SE Asia is tubing down the Xong River! It is such a fun day! Vang Vien is located on a slow moving river. In the 
middle of town there is a company that rents tubes to tourist for about 40,000 Kip ($2-3 US) Dollars for the whole day. Then they offer you a water proof bag that you rent for the day and put your money, cameras, or anything else that you want to bring and keep dry. Once you've rented your tube, the tour company takes you in a truck about 10 minutes outside of the city to a start tubing.
Then this is when all the fun starts. It takes about 3 hours to tube down the river. You just float down this river on your tube for the whole time! Once you put your tube in the water you start hearing techno music playing about 50 yeads down stream. All up and down the river there are "bars" that are set up to drink beer Beer Laos ($.50 US Dollars ) and use a tree swing or zip line to jump into the river! Some "bars" are more popular then others, because of how big the swings are. I had so much fun with the people I was traveling with that we ended up staying at two places for about an hour each. We all kept taking turns jumping off a tree swing into the river and just hanging out! You forget that you have to try to keep moving down the river to be done
before the sun goes down or else it starts to get really cold. It also gets dark and you can't see where you are supposed to exit the river.
If you don't want to stop at the "bars" then people will still sell you drinks on the river. The locals will throw you a rope and pull you in to shore to sell you more Beer Laos. It is kind of like a drive through at a fast food restaurant! There is also a lady that sits in the middle of the river that sells Lao Lao (shots). At the end of the river you will see two bars that lets you know that this is where you need to exit.
Vang Vien has is a great town to take a vacation from your vacation! Rest up a couple of days, and then keep on traveling through Asia. Make the most of your time there, and don't get stuck being a couch potato and watching friends all day! You can rent a bike for the day and go explore outside the city as another option too!
