After spending two days in Vientiane, we headed inland and northwards. Our first stop was the infamous town of Vang Vieng, a village in the Nam Song river valley known for its stunning beauty and notorious past life as an anything goes party town.
The transfer itself was relatively painless, other than a two-hour delay waiting for our bus to arrive. No big deal; the sun was shining and there was no rush. Once we got on the bus, we hit the road for what was billed as a four-hour journey to cover roughly 100 miles/160 Km.
The roads in Laos are in poor shape, even for Belgian standards, and with speed limited to around 20 Mph or 30 Km/h, the timing more or less made sense. Also, the bus driver stopped multiple times for no apparent reason or prior warning only to sit for 5-10 minutes while we solved the mystery (it turns out he was ordering food).
With the bus leaving two hours behind schedule (we were normally supposed to leave at two in the afternoon) we rolled into Vang Vieng after dark, having missed the scenic entrance I was hoping to witness. We found a few other passengers from the bus to share a tuk-tuk with to take us into town and within five minutes, we were dropped off on the main drag.
15 years ago, Vang Vieng was an ordinary, rural farming village, largely unvisited by the few tourists who would pass through Laos each year. However, legend has it that a local farmer, pioneering voluntourism in the area, decided to invest in some old truck tire inner tubes and, as a gift to the volunteers who came to help out, would take them up the river and let them float down to take in its beauty.
Word got out about this fantastic new activity and within ten years, Vang Vieng became a mecca for young backpackers to come up and float down the river. Eager to earn money from the tourists, the locals turned a blind eye to almost everything the travelers did, and seemingly sold the farm to invest in bars, inner tubes, kayaks and anything else they could make a buck on. With this, came a drug culture, with dealers ready to supply gap-year backpackers and perma-hippies with any drug they could find.
It got to the point where bars would openly advertise 'magic shakes,' and 'space teas' containing magic mushrooms and cannabis, respectively. Drinks were cheap with many bars offering free shots. This, combined with the pent up energy of students just finished with there studies lead to an explosive culture of drunken debauchery, with little respect for local traditions, manners and customs, along with a high number of alcohol-related fatalities taking place on the river.
By 2012, the problem got so out of hand that locals had reached their limit and decided to reform the system and try to regain their city, along with the river which they held sacred. The open drug culture began to disappear and a curfew was introduced to limit the late-night noise pollution in an attempt to find the balance between eco-tourism and a town to chillax in.
So when we arrived in the center of the city, we were a little bit taken aback when a woman with a thick English accent was proudly announcing over a bull horn that if we went to her bar across the street, we'd get free shots if we picked up a map (also free). We got to talking to her, and, in her words, had been in town for 'way too long.' When we asked her how long she'd been there, she told us over three weeks.
As we navigated our way to the hotel, we passed countless bars offering free shots and cheap buckets of beer. Once we got to the hotel, we checked in and were upgraded to the executive suite. Not bad, except the hotel was more like a youth hostel, so we got to the be the old people up in the nice room. I'm not complaining though. Our room came with wrap around windows and a large balcony. The view was breathtaking and the room was clean enough. Plus, breakfast was included, so for 10 euros/12 USD a night, we couldn't really complain. After having a Tex-Mex dinner, we had a beer on our balcony and then went to bed, being tired from the trip up.
The next morning, we went out looking for a place to do some kayaking. I kayaked/canoed a lot as a kid growing up and, having lived in temperate Belgium for so long, haven't been able to do much of it over the past decade. We found a travel agency that arranged the trip and signed up for a half day of kayaking down the Nam Song.
Shortly after lunch, we met up at the travel agency to get our ride to the drop point. After a bumpy 20 minute ride, we arrived at the river front. Nathalie and I were just the two of us as there weren't any other people signed up for the session. The guys from the truck dropped two kayaks in, one double-seater and a classic single as well. We were a bit surprised as it we thought it was just the two of us. As it turned out, there was a guide with us who was going to accompany us down the river.
Being a bit surprised, I told the guy that he didn't have to come if didn't want to. After all, the river was a really easy ride as it was full of people floating around in inner tubes, plus I felt comfortable enough in a kayak to be able to ride down the river without assistance. However, he insisted on coming saying that they enjoyed doing it and it was for their pleasure. Fair enough, I mean, not many people make riding down a river in a kayak a few times a day in their profession. So with that, we pushed off for a laid back trip downstream.
As mentioned above, Vang Vieng built its name for itself as a party Neverland, with tubing down the river at the core of this culture. Part of what made the tubing so attractive wasn't so much the river itself, but the countless bars, zip lines and diving spots along its banks inviting floaters to stop for free shots and harnessed flight over the water. What has been widely reported in travel guides such as the Lonely Planet was that these bars were shut down for safety concerns as too many people were getting completely drunk at the bars then either drowning in the river or breaking their necks by diving in shallow water. So we were a little bit amused to see that there were still plenty of bars open along the river banks offering free shots.
At each stop, there would be a worker at the pier tossing a line to tubers in order to pull them into dock. From there, revelers would begin the party and, after tiring of one place, float down to another. It was at this moment that we understood why there was a guide with us. For them, it must be a huge liability to have someone out in a kayak navigating a sea of drunken tubers. Whereas the tubers simply had to sit and let the current take them back to base camp, kayaks require navigation. The last thing a tour operator wants is someone completely shit-faced in a kayak running into a group of equally shit-faced tubers and sinking their boat.
I guess that set the tone for the trip, and between getting a kick out of the tubers with our guide (who had no qualms about splashing them with his oar as we passed them) and avoiding the Chinese tourists who appeared to be new at kayaking, we enjoyed our slow ride down the Nam Song. After a bit over an hour, we had finished our ride. It seems that our definition of half-day was different than theirs, or maybe they're used to people taking a lot longer to do the 4 miles/7 Km ride.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening over takeaway Laotian food and enjoying the sunset from our balcony. That evening, we hit the town for dinner and to take in the city once more. Again, we were inundated with bright lights, corny euro-dance music and the prospect of free/cheap drinks. 10 years ago, I probably wouldn't have batted an eye at free shots. But then again, I was 22, nearing the end of my undergraduate studies, and a poor student. Either I've become an old coot, or I've become wise enough to know that if its free, it's probably not the greatest alcohol. I've had enough hangovers to know better than to get drunk on cheap hooch. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
So with that in mind, we erred on the side of caution and opted to go for a few beers from a convince store and head back to our perch in the hotel to take in the nightlife from above. Over drinks, we realized that we didn't quite fit into this life. In a way, we've outgrown it. We know what the real world is like and have had the 'privilege' of working for the past six years in the professional sector. We booked our bus ticket out of Vang Vieng heading to Luang Prabang for the next morning.
On the bus ride out of town, I tried to digest what we had just seen. There were two big questions that came to mind and I'm hoping that there's someway to find an answer to them.
First, what is the motivation to travel half-way around the world to one of the most beautiful, undiscovered places on the planet only to go on a free-booze bender? Vang Vieng was full of western-style bars and restaurants. We had to dig through the offers of burgers, pasta and hot dogs to find a decent Laotian place. Coupled between all the bars offering free shots, Aussie sports broadcasts and Belgian beers, were lounges that offered theater-style seating in front of TVs. Looking inside these places, we'd see people sitting on couches, zonked out sipping on fruit shakes while watching re-runs of Friends and Family Guy that were left on repeat.
We talked to a few people on the bus ride in and out asking what brought them to Vang Vieng, where they had been and where they were going. Most of them were just traveling around after school and had decided to hit the town to party. Fair enough, but they also indicated that they had come from some place like Chang Mai or Pi, where they did more or less the same thing.
Why then, would someone travel so far just to hang out at a western-style bar, to drink western-style shots, and eat western style food, get completed wasted and then ride out the effects on a couch in Laos? For me, I can do exactly that back home without having to deal with the 12 hour flight, 6-hour jet lag and the bumpy bus rides. This country has a lot to offer, and perhaps it could be the age speaking, but it seems like a pity to come so far only to get so wasted that you miss out on what could very well be a once in a lifetime experience. Additionally, this fragrant disrespect for local customs and traditions seems like it only sows the seeds for discontent between visitors and residents.
The other question is more of a case study into what happened to Vang Vieng. From everything I could gather on both the bus ride in and out of the place, the region is poor; it's mountainous and rural. Along with Laos being landlocked, it's hard to see what sort of industry other than tourism that could fuel the sort of growth that can lift its citizens out of poverty. It looks like the residents of Vang Vieng saw an opportunity 15 years ago to do exactly this yet do so in a way that put all of their eggs in one basket.
Instead of going for a broad stroke to grab different sub-sectors within tourism, they went for the easy money in catering solely to young backpackers traveling on their parents money looking to vent off whatever built up stress they accumulated from studying. Unfortunately, this approach has left the city morally wounded and in a difficult spot. At one point, Nathalie and I were walking down the river bank and were passed by two school girls, probably no older than seven. The looked at us and said 'hello.' We've seen this a lot in our travels, especially outside of cities. We smiled and waved hello to them, and instead of getting a wave in return, one of them pointed at me and with her hand, made a drinking motion, putting her hand to her mouth like she was downing a beer. Having a little girl immediately associate me as a drunken tourist really shocked me and was extraordinarily telling of what sort of impact this type of tourism has had on the local population.
Further, this 'eggs in one basket' approach has handcuffed the town in a way that will make it hard to break the current system and evolve into a more diverse tourism system. Vang Vieng built a reputation as a backpackers haven with its anything goes approach. Many residents in the town are vested shareholders in the sector, having collectively invested in tourism cooperatives (for example, we used one operator for our kayaking trip, but different companies all offered the same price. At the pick up point, all the kayaks had the same markings, even if the trucks picking them up were branded with different operators on them).
I have no doubt that they grow weary of the constant party life and want to move forward. The city even took steps three years ago to reign it in, but has slowly relapsed into its former self. In a very real way, they're stuck with the monster they created and it will take a radical shift to bring in a larger spectrum of visitors who come more for the beauty of the region than the decadent party life they are known for. Whether or not they have it in them is another story, but I can only hope Vang Vieng is being used as an example as to what not to do when developing tourism from scratch.
After two days in Vang Vieng, we left for Luang Prabang via an eight hour bus ride. I'm glad I got to see this side of Laos, but I'm equally glad we didn't stay longer than we did. I'm slowly falling in love with this country and I'm eager to see as many different parts of it as I can. That being said, traveling is about gaining perspective, and Vang Vieng gave me just that.
By 2012, the problem got so out of hand that locals had reached their limit and decided to reform the system and try to regain their city, along with the river which they held sacred. The open drug culture began to disappear and a curfew was introduced to limit the late-night noise pollution in an attempt to find the balance between eco-tourism and a town to chillax in.
So when we arrived in the center of the city, we were a little bit taken aback when a woman with a thick English accent was proudly announcing over a bull horn that if we went to her bar across the street, we'd get free shots if we picked up a map (also free). We got to talking to her, and, in her words, had been in town for 'way too long.' When we asked her how long she'd been there, she told us over three weeks.
As we navigated our way to the hotel, we passed countless bars offering free shots and cheap buckets of beer. Once we got to the hotel, we checked in and were upgraded to the executive suite. Not bad, except the hotel was more like a youth hostel, so we got to the be the old people up in the nice room. I'm not complaining though. Our room came with wrap around windows and a large balcony. The view was breathtaking and the room was clean enough. Plus, breakfast was included, so for 10 euros/12 USD a night, we couldn't really complain. After having a Tex-Mex dinner, we had a beer on our balcony and then went to bed, being tired from the trip up.
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| Sunset from the 'executive suite' of the hostel |
The next morning, we went out looking for a place to do some kayaking. I kayaked/canoed a lot as a kid growing up and, having lived in temperate Belgium for so long, haven't been able to do much of it over the past decade. We found a travel agency that arranged the trip and signed up for a half day of kayaking down the Nam Song.
Shortly after lunch, we met up at the travel agency to get our ride to the drop point. After a bumpy 20 minute ride, we arrived at the river front. Nathalie and I were just the two of us as there weren't any other people signed up for the session. The guys from the truck dropped two kayaks in, one double-seater and a classic single as well. We were a bit surprised as it we thought it was just the two of us. As it turned out, there was a guide with us who was going to accompany us down the river.
Being a bit surprised, I told the guy that he didn't have to come if didn't want to. After all, the river was a really easy ride as it was full of people floating around in inner tubes, plus I felt comfortable enough in a kayak to be able to ride down the river without assistance. However, he insisted on coming saying that they enjoyed doing it and it was for their pleasure. Fair enough, I mean, not many people make riding down a river in a kayak a few times a day in their profession. So with that, we pushed off for a laid back trip downstream.
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| The mountains along the western banks of the Nam Song |
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| Inner tuber getting towed in to a riverside bar |
I guess that set the tone for the trip, and between getting a kick out of the tubers with our guide (who had no qualms about splashing them with his oar as we passed them) and avoiding the Chinese tourists who appeared to be new at kayaking, we enjoyed our slow ride down the Nam Song. After a bit over an hour, we had finished our ride. It seems that our definition of half-day was different than theirs, or maybe they're used to people taking a lot longer to do the 4 miles/7 Km ride.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening over takeaway Laotian food and enjoying the sunset from our balcony. That evening, we hit the town for dinner and to take in the city once more. Again, we were inundated with bright lights, corny euro-dance music and the prospect of free/cheap drinks. 10 years ago, I probably wouldn't have batted an eye at free shots. But then again, I was 22, nearing the end of my undergraduate studies, and a poor student. Either I've become an old coot, or I've become wise enough to know that if its free, it's probably not the greatest alcohol. I've had enough hangovers to know better than to get drunk on cheap hooch. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
So with that in mind, we erred on the side of caution and opted to go for a few beers from a convince store and head back to our perch in the hotel to take in the nightlife from above. Over drinks, we realized that we didn't quite fit into this life. In a way, we've outgrown it. We know what the real world is like and have had the 'privilege' of working for the past six years in the professional sector. We booked our bus ticket out of Vang Vieng heading to Luang Prabang for the next morning.
On the bus ride out of town, I tried to digest what we had just seen. There were two big questions that came to mind and I'm hoping that there's someway to find an answer to them.
 |
| TV lounge playing a rerun of Family Guy |
We talked to a few people on the bus ride in and out asking what brought them to Vang Vieng, where they had been and where they were going. Most of them were just traveling around after school and had decided to hit the town to party. Fair enough, but they also indicated that they had come from some place like Chang Mai or Pi, where they did more or less the same thing.
Why then, would someone travel so far just to hang out at a western-style bar, to drink western-style shots, and eat western style food, get completed wasted and then ride out the effects on a couch in Laos? For me, I can do exactly that back home without having to deal with the 12 hour flight, 6-hour jet lag and the bumpy bus rides. This country has a lot to offer, and perhaps it could be the age speaking, but it seems like a pity to come so far only to get so wasted that you miss out on what could very well be a once in a lifetime experience. Additionally, this fragrant disrespect for local customs and traditions seems like it only sows the seeds for discontent between visitors and residents.
The other question is more of a case study into what happened to Vang Vieng. From everything I could gather on both the bus ride in and out of the place, the region is poor; it's mountainous and rural. Along with Laos being landlocked, it's hard to see what sort of industry other than tourism that could fuel the sort of growth that can lift its citizens out of poverty. It looks like the residents of Vang Vieng saw an opportunity 15 years ago to do exactly this yet do so in a way that put all of their eggs in one basket.
 |
| Sign advising tourists how to behave |
Further, this 'eggs in one basket' approach has handcuffed the town in a way that will make it hard to break the current system and evolve into a more diverse tourism system. Vang Vieng built a reputation as a backpackers haven with its anything goes approach. Many residents in the town are vested shareholders in the sector, having collectively invested in tourism cooperatives (for example, we used one operator for our kayaking trip, but different companies all offered the same price. At the pick up point, all the kayaks had the same markings, even if the trucks picking them up were branded with different operators on them).
I have no doubt that they grow weary of the constant party life and want to move forward. The city even took steps three years ago to reign it in, but has slowly relapsed into its former self. In a very real way, they're stuck with the monster they created and it will take a radical shift to bring in a larger spectrum of visitors who come more for the beauty of the region than the decadent party life they are known for. Whether or not they have it in them is another story, but I can only hope Vang Vieng is being used as an example as to what not to do when developing tourism from scratch.
After two days in Vang Vieng, we left for Luang Prabang via an eight hour bus ride. I'm glad I got to see this side of Laos, but I'm equally glad we didn't stay longer than we did. I'm slowly falling in love with this country and I'm eager to see as many different parts of it as I can. That being said, traveling is about gaining perspective, and Vang Vieng gave me just that.
so...can you still do mushrooms?
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