Rolling on a River

A man and his tubes.


Water, a godsend for some people and a burden for others. Being a Aquarian it seems that my star sign is known as "The Water Bearer" yet it seems that I find myself in deep water again. I've always enjoyed being around and in water. I don't remember learning to swim but I'm sure while I was learning to swim I managed a way to stuff that up.

Which brings me to today. Sure a couple of days ago I was saying that I will never ever do any water sports again but that's the whole reason Sab and I are in Vien Viang is to try tubing. It's a pretty simple idea. You get on a rubber tube and let the current of the water take you to where you get off. Sure it sounds simple in theory but in the Lonely Planet Guide to Southeast Asia it said basically "if you are doing it in the rainy season, take extra care otherwise you'll be stuffed." So with this in mind we made our way down to the river and parked our asses on a tube.

When i was seven i was at the beach on the tube during summer holidays. I was happily lying about on our K-Tel Smurf Breakertube when i found myself a little bit later on about 300 meters from shore. I had fallen asleep on the tube and drifted out into Port Philip Bay. I was picked up by a passing boat and given a lift back into shore. Thinking about that previous tubing experience i was a little hesitant about getting back on the tube. It's been raining for two days and it made the river current a little bit faster than usual.

The 5 hour mini bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vian Vieng snaked its way along a twisty hilly road that caused me to suffer from altitude sickness. The ride down the river was a walk in the park compared to the bus. The scenery along the river was amazing and the river was guarded by sharp jagged mountains on one side and farmland on the other. I didn't get any photos as it was a bit hard trying to whip your camera out floating down a river.

It was supposed to take about 90 minutes. It took us about 45. That's one fast moving river. Along the way there were restaurants and places where you could jump off towers into the water but i was happy enough to stay on the tube and just relax. For once the event went smoothly. No surprises..no bad luck. I was waiting for the last part of the trip as in the Lonely Planet it says "make sure you stay on the right side of the river and don't go down the left hand side as someone was killed there." Well whoever was killed must have been drunk or stoned as it was impossible to get to the left hand side of the river anyway. I floated to our getting off point and my tube reversed itself onto the bank of the river.

It was a short 10 minute walk back into town and before we knew it we were back in our room. We were wet but i actaully didn't fall in the river this time! Miracles can happen. It was a magial experience that i would be happy to undertake again.

Kyacking can go and get stuffed.

The town of Vian Vieng is a sleepy little place where it seems that every restaurant is obessed about playing as many episodes of "Friends" back to back as posible. The only respite you have from Ross and Rachel was at one other restaurant whereby you could be marinaded by the humour of Homer and Bart. The plus side to this is that these restaurants have tables where you can put your feet up and lie down whilst watching "Friends." Sure 4 episodes fly past before you have time to blink but that's the charm of this sleepy hollow. Even if it rained for all the time we stayed there and this rain interrupted our plans for mountain biking it didn't matter, there was always Chandler and Monica to keep you occupied. They were there for me.

By the way Sab and I keep running into the guy who i found lived up the end of my street. Everywhere we look he is there. He was in the local internet cafe with his last set of dry clothes as the laundry lady was late in returning his clothes and he had to catch a bus i the morning. I said he could take my umbrella and i'm sure i'll see him futher down the road. I better...that umbrella was a 7-11 special.