Last night, a 24 year old American also used that same phrase as he wandered around Vang Vieng and witnessed the hardcore drug infused frat party carnage that was taking place all around him. According to a fellow sober American, it was worse the night before.
Vang Vieng is truly a beautiful place. It is a valley surrounded by tall karst peaks covered in green, and the sunset was magical. It is located on the main tourist route between Vientiane and Luang Prabang. It is set up to be one of Laos' great outdoor destinations, with lots of caves to explore, and plenty of trekking opportunities.
It isn't. Its a hellhole, one that I'm glad to be leaving, and probably the most depressing place I've seen in SE Asia.
Why? Because at night, the place becomes Cancun spring break, the Lao version.
I hate to get on my high horse, and go on a holier than thou rant, but I have to. This place deserves it. Vang Vieng is due for a major cleanup, and while there are still some redeeming qualities about it (the scenery, and some of the honest local shop owners), the window for a redeeming transformation is rapidly fading.
If anybody working for BBC, ABC (Australia), or another media outlet in either the U.K. or Australia is reading this and looking for a quick and easy expose to establish your name, then come to Vang Vieng and show the people of your country what some of your darling youth are really doing on their gap year. It should make any parent want to lock up their kids if they even so much as utter the words "Vang Vieng" as a possible destination.
Bars with "Friends" and "family guy" on constant repeat may be a depressing sight, but it is downright cheery compared to watching 20 year olds stumble around high and drunk on gosh knows what in a foreign country. Even though drugs are illegal, they are certainly available. All you have to do is ask any bar or restaurant catering to westerners for the "special" menu. Kids stumble around, sometimes literally in circles, not knowing where or who they are.
Down by the river, the bars illuminated with their flashbulb and neon lights in an otherwise pitch black environment was eerily similar to the scene in Apocalypse Now where they have that big party on the river.
Because I knew that I would probably be heading out the next day on a long bus ride, I purposely only had one drink, and then stuck to 7up and water for the rest of the night. I managed to meet an American girl who told me of all that she had seen, and that she couldn't wait to get the heck out of there the next day--apparently, the night before, there were two westerners at some bar, trashed and blitzed out of their minds, having just combined valium with all sorts of narcotics and alcohol, and were playing around with a machete while shocking each other with a bug zapper/taser.
She had come to Vang Vieng with several other people who she had just met, most of whom were bent on getting as blitzed and high as possible. She was pretty much sober, and just walking around because there wasn't anything else to do. We wound up at a laid back restaurant, where the other members of the party ordered from a special menu, and I chose to live dangerously by drinking a 7up--out of a capped bottle!
I only bring up going to the restaurant because the american and I started talking to the owner, a native Lao, who could speak very good English. The american girl and I had noticed that there were all sorts of deadbeat Westerners with dreadlocks and tanktops ("derelicts" the american girl called them) working at these bars, and was wondering whether or not it was legal. It turns out, it isn't. Just about all of these western bar workers are working there illegally, and getting room and board in exchange for working at a bar for zero salary. Meaning that they are cheap labor to the Lao businessmen, and are cheating native Lao out of a job.
The restaurant owner was himself appalled by what was taking place in Vang Vieng--evil spirits he said had seemed to take over the place--and he only offered the special menu because he had to to stay in business, but he purposely makes the special items very very weak. He just wanted to see people happy, not blitzed. Lao from other parts of the country come to Vang Vieng to purposely make money off of western substance tourists by feeding drugs and the like to them, and compete with Vang Vieng natives also trying to go after the tourist buck.
The other American and I though told him that what he should do is to try to organize with a bunch of other local businesses to vow not to use western tourists as cheap labor (no matter how willing they would be), and should start up an organization of sorts to help the local economy, by choosing to only hire and employ Lao, and come up with some sort of badge or sticker that businesses who only use locals can stick on their doors so that tourists know that their money isn't going into some deadbeat looking to stay on a permanent high.
The cops in Vang Vieng are all plain clothed, so I have no idea how many were out there, and the nature of Laos means that crime and hospitalization statistics are pretty much unavailable, even though it would be interesting to see them, especially in cases of hospitalization.
BTW, doing drugs in any foreign country is stupid. Doing them in Laos is especially stupid. Hospitals and medical facilities are poor and inadequate, and all guide books recommend that if you need medical care, get thee to Thailand ASAP. Vang Vieng is relatively isolated--it has no air service, and only accessible via a 3 hour winding road from Vientiane. Which means if something bad happens, you are probably S.O.L.
Fortunately, I was able to get on the 10 am bus to Luang Prabang where I currently am--a beautiful city that I can't wait to explore, especially after having endured a 7 hour bus ride of constant S turns, driven by a driver who had no idea how to drive, with no air con other than open windows (which didn't help because it rained half the trip). It was a pretty drive, though--lots of spectacular views of the mountains and valleys.
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