In the early- to mid-2000s, Vang Vieng gained a notorious reputation on the Southeast Asian “banana pancake” trail for its wild parties and river tubing culture, along with the wide ...

The Nam Song River runs through the heart of Vang Vieng, offering countless opportunities ... the birthplace of Southeast Asia's iconic "tipsy tubing." While the party scene has toned down over ...

Vang Vieng, a town of around 25,000 people on ... themselves off ramshackle rope swings and slides overhanging the river. The tubing practice supposedly originated in 1999 with a local farmer ...

Tubing was born. And Vang Vieng was never the same. By 2001, tubing had become an industry. Rickety bars opened on the river banks and proprietors strung up crude ziplines and water slides and let ...

The safety measures around the river tubing clearly did not extend more widely. Recent reviews of Vang Vieng suggest that despite this attempt to clean up its image, the reputation as a hard ...

In the middle of it all, you’ll find Vang Vieng. “Vang Vieng lies in a perfect ... “If the authorities manage the activities, keep the river clean and limit the noise, the destination ...

Vang Vieng used to be a sleepy river village in country known for its calm and natural beauty. Then came tubing. Every day, scores of feckless backpackers in bikinis and boardshorts float down the ...

VANG VIENG, Laos — A little town known as a backpacker ... who were attracted by serene nature and activities like river tubing, where tourists sit on a tube and float along the Nam Song River ...