Tubing in the Vangvieng, and Day 1 Siem Reap!

I spent a total of five nights in Vangvieng being la-a-zy! I went tubing twice- once the day after I arrived, and again the day before I left. It was good fun. The first bar had a giant trapeze swing that I went off. It was crazy cause you had to let go at the right time to avoid landing on rocks... I was worried I'd slip off too soon, but it turns out I have superhero strength when adreneline is involved...

Once we were finished at the first bar, we tubed down the river to anotehr bar that had a big zipline to go off. That was also fun, but you had to make sure to let go before it hit the end cause otherwise you'd get flung forward and do a faceplant/bellyflop into the river. Its funny watching the drunk people go off!! Nowhere else in the world would the safety standards fly... but... When in Laos!!

After that, we floated down further to the Mud Bar, where they have several giant mud pits with tug-a-war, volleyball, and mud wrestling. It was pretty difficult to leave there without being thrown in at least once or twice... I thought I was doing pretty well cause I was sort of hiding over in a hammock watching volleyball for most of the time, but then I went back to get my tube, and got picked up by a random stranger and chucked right into a swimming mud hole. Dirty is an understantement.

The final bar I visited had a massive tile slide and another trapeze swing. I didn't do the slide, cause it was literally made of tile (and grout) and I thought it would basically burn my bottom off... but I watched the drunk people (who had apparently lost feeling in their backsides) fly off it. Apparently a tourist died on the slide a couple weeks ago cause she was laying down when she went off it (and incredibly intoxicated) and she hit her head on the bottom of the slide and snapped her neck before she fell into the river. Quite sad.... but I guess those things can happen when you feed people Buckets of alchohol, $2 beers, and free Laos Laos Whiskey all day long.

After that bar you can either tube another 45 minutes down the river (which should actually take an hour or two, but because its monsoon season the river is really high and the current is SUPER STRONG so its quick now), or you can walk across a small dodgy bridge and take a tuk tuk back to town. The first day I tubed, and the last time I tuk-tuked... I preferred the latter, as by the time I left the slide bar the last time it was quite dark and tubing down a rocky river in the dark when you're not sure where you're going = not so much fun.

Anyhooooo, now I'm in Siem Reap after a dodgy flight with Laos Airlines... the seatbelts didn't work. hahah. Today I spent the day at Ankor Wat and some surrounding temples in the complex. It was pretty amazing, and hard to believe that it was built with the most basic tools and technology thousands of years ago. I've met a new friend here and we hired the most awesome tuk-tuk of all time: It's a batmobile tuk-tuk. Sooooooooooooooo fabulous!! It's the only one like it.. even the seat has a giant batman logo apholstered into it. Seriously. We got up at 4:45am this morning to get out to Ankor in time to see the sunrise, but the silly clouds rolled in and now that's the second time I've woken up early for sunrise and not seen a thing.. This is why I don't do mornings. Soooo over-rated. hahahaha

After we were templed out, we went to a super fabulous hotel for lunch where we paid $25 to have a huge lunch (veggie sandwich, fries, veggies and dip, fruit salad, and banana bread) and lounge around the gorgeous pool for a few hours. It was luxurious! I may have to treat myself to the pool again tomorrow or the next day...

Tomorrow we're going to sleep in a bit, and spend the day at Ankor, and try and catch the sunset. It's too cloudy still tonight to see anything. bum-er. Anyway, I think I'm due for a nap now. I'm definitely crashing... YAWN!!