Thread: Why do backpackers want to make a beautiful place a hell hole?

^

I met that German chick a couple of years ago in Soi Rambutree, and to cut costs I suggested she stay at Nasa Vegas with me.

The morning she arrived and I saw across the road with her giant backpack I cringed to myself, and cursed myself for bringing the area seriously downmarket with such a sight.

Her Bangkok guidebook hadn't even told her there was a fucking City Rail link into Bangkok running inches from the hotel.

''Oh, I didn't know about that...'' was her typical backpacker cliched high-handed remark...

Luckily it was only a couple of days.

Yeah right. I bet your main problem with her was that she wouldn't let you slide it in der Wrinkelhohlen.

^She held it clenched, and I did try, believe me.

It took her about 14hours to find the shower.

Originally Posted by DJ Pat

^She held it clenched, and I did try, believe me.

It took her about 14hours to find the shower.

I believe you need to rid yourself of life angst, Pat.

You might try an alternative body of company that suites you.

Scum begat scum....

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

Originally Posted by DJ Pat

^She held it clenched, and I did try, believe me.

It took her about 14hours to find the shower.

I believe you need to rid yourself of life angst, Pat.

You might try an alternative body of company that suites you.

Scum begat scum....

Suggestions are welcome, as you may be an expert!

^ oooo eerrrr

Pat getting feisty

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

Backpacker types need to be exterminated from existence.

A plague, they are.

Fukin nazi cwnt..

Agree with the writer's point of view.

Been there and done that too, and Vang Vieng is the arse hole of Lao, IMO.
I met lots of nice folk there too, the Lao are generally a great bunch.

They're getting spoiled though, much like Thailand has been due to over exploitation of natural charms.

Originally Posted by ENT

Been there and done that too, and Vang Vieng is the arse hole of Lao, IMO.

I have been there three times over the years, so I am sorry if it really has degenerated

Originally Posted by robuzo

Atlantic Writer Shocked To Discover Backpacker Drug Use In Southeast Asia
Or you know, why young people take drugs anywhere: because they're seen as fun and young people like to experiment. You could replace any of these countries with "college" or "New York City" and the story would be exactly the same. Having been to a Full Moon Party years ago, I can say I've seen more reckless and open drug use at bars in the Lower East Side.
Vang Vieng is a shitshow though (highly recommended if you're young and dumb) but it's also an important lesson for gap year Brits, Australians, and other young travelers: the world is not your babysitter. The Laotian people have a shit ton more to worry about than frivolous lawsuits because Johnny Goodtimes couldn't handle his booze and/or drugs.

Good points Robuzo. Re Young people take drugs anywhere: Yep, but many of these wackpacker clowns haven't at home due to their extremely mollycoddled and pampered lives, so it's no wonder the lightweights end up at the bottom of the river.

Re Full Moon Party: Yep, massively overrated and tame by any standards. Anyone who thinks the FMP and VV scenes are wild is a pedestrian dullard. Again, half the lightweights end up on their arse spewing by 2 in the morning. The FMP consists of about twenty different clashing soundsystems all playing crap so it's not even enjoyable without hard drugs, which are crap quality, overpriced and liable to get you nicked by lurking undercover police-fun times.

I went to an invite-only club night in the UK the other night where weed was openly smoked in the smoking area all night long, lines were openly sniffed off hands on the dancefloor and in the communal toilet areas, and half the people were off their tits on MDMA, til 6 in the morning. When an average night in Blighty is wilder than a supposed party Mecca you know it's fucking lame!

Re VV. Good last point-it's not up to the Laotians to change anything, the muppets should know their limits. If they don't and they drown/fuck-up it's their own fault. As VV is pretty tame anyways, to fuck up there you have to be a right mug. If you can't handle drugs and drink you shouldn't do it, especially not in the middle of Laos while jumping into rivers.

I went to VV about 11 years ago. It was shit and I couldn't wait to leave. The overriding things were that everyone was either into or selling drugs and there were a group of foreign pricks who seemed to think they were gangsters.

Spot on.
V.V. is definitely a trap for fools, mostly very young gap year types and blue collar escapees. Don't blame them for wanting a great time there, but the risks they take on the river and hitting up(often the first time) on yaba, O and smack really compounds the problem. Mixing the booze with it and yup, the place can be mayhem at night.

One of the problems of such a scenically beautiful spot as Vang Vieng is that the valleys and gullies in those mountains were used as dumping grounds for unused bombs by US planes during the US Secret War in Lao.

That makes it impossible to go off and simply indulge in exploring the mountains and enjoying natural pristine landscapes without a guide.

When I spent a few months there a few years ago I was able to get guides willing to show me around without us getting blown up by a cluster bomb or land mine.

MAG Lao and UXO Lao do a sterling job of training locals and serching out unexploded ordinance throughout central and north Lao.
It's a country I've got a lot of time for, as I have friends both farang and Lao whom I get to stay with, and I have an immensely lovely time with them.

I do a little archaeology there each time I visit, and the archaic record there is surprising.
There have been some interesting occupants in Lao in the past, some of them NOT Asian. More will be published about that in the future, but at present, archaeology groups co-ordinated by Oz archaeologists are doing digs there, largely Khmer, but the stuff I'm into is older than that, and involves the first migration of metal workers entering the area thousands of years ago.

PS.
Please donate to MAG Lao and UXO Lao, save lives.

Originally Posted by ENT

One of the problems of such a scenically beautiful spot as Vang Vieng is that the valleys and gullies in those mountains were used as dumping grounds for unused bombs by US planes during the US Secret War in Lao.

I hadn't realised that area was dumped on; I did some walking around there and lived to tell the tale

later I went to "The Plain of Jars" where the bombing was too obvious, and large areas were out of bounds

Phonsavan, the Plain of Jars, that's where I did some archaeology and met up with the MAG Lao chaps.

I also met the loveliest Hmong girl Jua, who looked after me for a couple of weeks there, the little popcorn muncher!
The driver I had was a fwkn toss pot, always wanting to check up on my sex life, the idiot.

They brew some bloody good lao-lao there too, cheap as all hell.
We'd sit around eating larp moo and drinking.

All the time the drums, whup, whup, whup, whoom whup,...and so on.
Loved it all.

Got my secondary doses of dengue south of there too!