Max and Nico Are Dumb

Despite the fact that I am about to start at Harvard Business School, and that Nico is already attending Stanford Medical School... We are dumb.

After departing Luong Prabong on the day long bus ride to Vang Vieng, Nico, Amanda, and I started to get psyched. Despite the fact that timing the Gibbon Experience on my birthday didn't work out, we were going to be tubing. For those of you without University bound friends, tubing in Vang Vieng is famous. Though the entire trip is only ~25 minutes, if you float down the river without stopping (in your patched up old truck tire), the river outside of Vang Vieng is lined with bars all offering free drinks, games, and a good time. And that was going to be my birthday. Awesome.

Even with all our mental preparation, nothing could have prepared us for the reality that was Tubing. I woke up at 8AM on my birthday to go for a run and get a solid workout in before destroying my body. Afterwards I took a quick shower and woke Nico up to try and grab a quick brunch at a place recomended to us. Well, the morning lazed away and at 12:30 we managed to find Luther and head to the tubing office (yes, there is a centralized tube rental location in Laos). After 15 minutes of waiting in line and another 15 minutes in the truck on the way to the first bar, we were there and ready to go.

Immediately, we noticed that people were flying off of a giant rope swing (ending about 15-20 feet in the air) and into the river. Well, Nico and I put in our drink orders then scampered up the ladder to embrace the one life that we have by endangering it. After screems of "Geronimo" and "F. my Life!" we hit the water and washed ashore to wash down our first drinks. 4 or 5 drinks later we hopped in tubes to continue this practice for 6 hours. It was a glorious drunken spectacle of celebration. We floated, we swam, we lost our money and found our money, we lost our money and never found our money, we were rained on, and we were sunburnt. It was a day to remember, if only we could.

After returning (@6PM) Nico passed out in the room and Luther and I grabbed dinner and watched TV.

When we woke up today, everyone was hungover. Bad. Naturally, my solution to this problem was to get up early and go for a morning run / workout session. Nico opted to do the same and after returning we found Luther remarkably healthy. Instead of tubing two days in a row, the three of us decided to rent mopeds and see what was around Vang Vieng.

We drove around seeing nothing spectacular for the beginning of the afternoon. After realizing that we were probably going to have to do the touristy things (i.e., pay to get in) to see amazing sights, we moped-ed over to the 1st of three major caves in the area. Surrounded by the Vang Vieng resort Villas, the first set of caves in which we spelunked, was amazing. It was a lot like a mini-Lurray. Until we found ourselves in a cave with no lights and a seemingly endless path into nothingness. I busted out the mini flashlight I carry around and convinced everyone to go just a bit further into the cave to see what was there. Well, this was all well until I stop and Nico asks if I've seen what was down there. I paused and responded, "Yes. The only thing down there is fear." I backed away slowly saying something was living in the hole, then started to scurry. Nico refused to show his back to the emptiness and swears he saw eyes. I think we found Chupacabre. First dumb instance of Max and Nico.

Luther decided to call it quits after that. I can't blame her... because within an hour Nico and I had managed to find ourselves stranded in an endless field of rice paddies. Yes, we thought we could hike random paths and back country Laotian roads to get to a cliffside where we might be able to explore new caves. We should have just payed to enter the main entrance of the caves that we were headed towards, because after about 45 minutes of jumping fences and irrigation canals, we ended up on the same path that we had tried to avoid in order to save some dinero.

Whatevs. We took off up the rest of the path, stopping only to pay for our "tickets" and rent a flashlight from a little girl. We climbed up slippery slopes and jagged rock stairs to get to a system of caves immensely more terrifying than the first. They were pitch black, home to bamboo bridges over seemingly endless pits, and clearly not a common attraction. After about 30 minutes of chanting, "We're dumb," we left.

Yeah. It was an experience that I will never forget... but tomorrow, I think we'll just go tubing again. We're not that dumb.