Global Voices Online

Laos: Touristy Vang Vieng

Thursday, December 21st, 2006 @ 04:36 UTC

by Preetam Rai

Countries:: Laos
Topics:: Arts & Culture, Business, Development, Food, Travel

Popagandhi leaves Laos in a hurry after discovering how touristy Laotian city of Vang Vieng has become. Laos was one of the last South East Asian country to be opened to tourists. “Everybody sold the same mediocre and expensive food tailored for the Western palate. Everybody played the same music. You’d have 3 ‘bars’ in a row, on the little ‘island’ by the banks of the Nam Song, each of them with their sundecks and hammocks. Quaint, but it’s the same everywhere. I ran away in terror, and unfortunately ran out of Laos.”

Start the Conversation

Recent Links also in East Asia

Husunzi from China Study group blogs about a recent teachers' strike from three privately-owned primary and secondary schools in Chengdu, Sichuan. The strike was against the government's taking over the management of one of the schools.

Xujun Eberlein from Inside-out China blogs about a 18-year-old man Sun Zhongjie's act of chopping off his little finger off to protest against the Shanghai Traffic Management Bureau's “hook” on “black taxi driver”.

Roland Soong talks about the inward-looking character of both Hong Kong and Mainland bloggers and discusses the thesis on whether or not cross-border dialogue is possible.