When you speak with Germans and mention Ballermann, they'll know immediately what is meant. Ballermann or better Ballermann 6 is the pub on the Spanish island Mallorca where Germans drink beer from buckets. Every year thousands of party people go to Mallorca, swamp the island and do 'Ballermann'. Germans refer to Mallorca as the 17th German state. When we arrived in Vang Vieng in the late afternoon, we checked into a big bungalow with two hammocks on an island. It felt like paradise. The surrounding mountains were gorgeous. Cold drinks in a hammock after a day of cycling, there is nothing better!
In the evening we went out for dinner and only then could we see what real Vang Vieng is like. Half-naked, drunk and noisy people were walking around. The signs that read "Please respect our Lao tradition. No bikini etc. in the streets ..." were useless. Only few people cared. Pubs played music at high volume and although our bungalow was off the main drag it was hard to sleep. Even our ear plugs, that had helped us so many times on camp sites in Scandinavia or in Chinese hotels with karaoke bars, did not help. Vang Vieng is Ballermann in Laos! Horrible nights, beautiful and calm days.
We stayed only two days in Vang Vieng. One day to relax from the strenuous climbs from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and another day to have some fun. Vang Vieng is famous for its caves and tubing. Er, tubing? Tubing is sitting on a tractor inner tube and flowing down the Xong River. The majority stops at the many riverside bars with crazy sling shots, slides and drinks. Once in a while someone dies because of too many beers or jumping into shallow water. Well, we skipped the last part and tubed inside a water cave and then went kayaking. Much more fun! We got the beautiful views, a dip in the nice water and skipped the craziness at the bars.
