How an idyllic Laos village turned into a hedonistic party hotspot

Most people who want to get from Vientiane to Vang Vieng take the bus. The small, secluded town is a two-hour ride from Laos’s capital and surrounded by picturesque green mountains and the slow-flowing Nam Song river.


The views are breathtaking and, years ago, before Vang Vieng became a mainstay of the so-called Banana Pancake Trail, a popular backpacking route spanning Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, people stopped here to swim in the area’s beautiful lagoons and explore its caves. But, today, other activities attract young backpackers to the former farming community.

Situated in the town where British lawyer Simone White and five other backpackers died of suspected methanol poisoning last week are bars serving free alcohol and, for a small price, cannabis, opium, ecstasy and magic mushrooms.


Lewis Brown, a civil servant who stayed at the Nana Backpackers Hostel last year, the same hostel where White and the other victims were sleeping when they died, says he is “shocked and appalled” by what has happened, but could see the risk. “The hostel offered unlimited free vodka and whisky every night from 7pm to 10pm,” he says. “You would go up with a cup and either buy a mixer, or have brought your own mixer. It was one at a time, but once you’d drunk it you could get another one.


“This was local Lao alcohol. It was available everywhere around town, but I couldn’t say how legit it was, or where it was brewed. The deaths make me wonder if it was bootleg or tainted or something.”


Alongside White, 28, from Orpington, Kent, two Australian teenagers, two Danish women, and a US citizen are believed to have died as a result of drinking suspected methanol on the night of November 12.

Methanol is similar to ethanol, the alcohol in alcoholic drinks, and is common in home-brewed spirits. Its structure means it is processed by the body differently and can cause irreversible organ damage. Just 25ml of methanol can be fatal, and it can take 24 hours for victims to show signs of the poisoning. The hostel said it had given around 100 people free shots the night before the deaths and denied alcohol served at the bar had been diluted with methanol. A manager from the hostel has been taken in for police questioning.


Bethany Clarke, a friend of White’s who was travelling with her and was also treated in hospital, had posted a warning on Facebook. “Urgent, please avoid all local spirits,” she wrote. “Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”

The deaths have put Vang Vieng’s reputation for debauchery back in the spotlight 12 years after the town supposedly cleaned up its act. In 2012, several bars were closed and licencing hours reduced after the local hospital recorded 27 tourist deaths in the previous year, a staggering number for a small town.


Most of the deaths had been from drowning or falls. The idyll had become a magnet for young hedonistic travellers, particularly those from Australia, Europe and North America, hostels and riverside bars proliferated, notorious for cheap drinks, illicit drugs and non-stop parties.


The main attraction was tubing, or “tipsy tubing”. Tourists would rent inner tyres and lie in them, floating down the Nam Song river, stopping at unlicensed shacks for cheap alcohol and drugs. Restaurants would serve hallucinogenic mushroom pizza as well as super-cheap, and extremely questionable, alcohol.


“Bars also started to build their own swings and slides,” says travel blogger David Simpson, founder of The Travel Fugitive. One of these slides was known as “the death slide”, with a lip so that sliders would fly off into the river.


After the high number of fatalities in 2011, many of the bars where the deaths had occurred closed down. Stricter safety standards were imposed and Vang Vieng embraced eco and adventure tourism, and sought to attract more tourists from China, Korea and Japan.


But the free alcohol, the drugs and the reputation as a party destination have never completely disappeared. “Magic Menues” offering cannabis, opium pizzas and magic-mushroom shakes are still available in many bars and restaurants, and venues still tempt customers with free vodka and whisky shots.


“We were so sad to hear about the deaths,” says Haiyone Solankoun, who runs Organic Farm and Restaurant Vang Vieng, a popular local spot. “The big problem is that the Lao laws [around alcohol] are not strong enough.”


Peter Thipommajan, director of the nearby Saelao project, which works to promote sustainable development, says the deaths are “very sad news”.


“The alcohol-related deaths are very disheartening,” he says. “I think it’s important to seriously consider the safety of free drinks, particularly whether Lao whisky bottles are safe to consume. I’ve noticed that people get excessively drunk, beyond the usual fun of a party.


“Vang Vieng has so much more to offer, beyond the nightlife,” he adds. “The true appeal of the area is its natural beauty, rather than its party scene.”]


Tubing remains on offer, but in a more controlled manner, says Lewis Brown. “Tipsy tubing is the reason a lot of people end up in Vang Vieng, it’s their most famous thing. It was dangerous 20 years ago but they clamped down on how dangerous it was. Now it’s just very fun.”


Simpson agrees: “Getting rid of the tubing altogether would have affected not just the town but the country’s tourism industry,” he says.

At the same time, the town has diversified its tourist attractions. It is now a destination for adrenaline tourism, with motorbike tours, caving, quad biking, climbing, hot-air ballooning and hiking giving it a much cleaner image. When Berlin-based travel and adventure filmmaker Joe Baur visited Vang Vieng last year, he was struck by the quietness of the place, in contrast to its wild reputation. The Vang Vieng he experienced, he says, was a chilled mix of locals and foreigners wandering around the different restaurants and food stalls off the main strip.


“It surprised us, since we knew it was one of the main stops in Laos,” he recalls. “We watched the sunset at a nice cafe, had delicious street food and went to the vegetarian restaurant in town.


“Luang Prabang [another popular tourist town] appeared far rowdier, comparatively. We didn’t see anything comparable in Vang Vieng.”


The tourism industry in Laos
Tourism is a vital industry for Laos, which is one of the poorest countries in south-east Asia. Most Laotians still live in the countryside, and it ranks 142 out of 184 countries for economic freedom. While neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand have rapidly modernised in recent decades, Laos has lagged behind since 1975, when the communist Pathet Lao group overthrew the Royalist government.


When the young people were taken ill, they were taken across the border to Bangkok, which has world-class hospitals. Before the pandemic, tourism was responsible for 12.5 per cent of the country’s GDP. It had rebounded over the past two years, with more than 2.3 million visitors in the first seven months of this year, which the government had branded Visit Laos Year.


As one of the country’s most famous destinations, Vang Vieng has been a key part of that drive. These deaths raise the question of whether the town has truly succeeded in cleaning up its act. “Vang Vieng is one of the most beautiful places in the region, with amazing people, and I hope it recovers,” says Simpson. “However, currently all my thoughts are with the friends and family of these victims.”


Locals and visitors alike will hope this tragedy is a one-off, and does not deter travellers from a country which badly needs the business. Tourism operators will hope for stricter rules on alcohol.


For the family and friends of Simone White, and the five other young people who have died awful, avoidable deaths, it is too late.

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