YouTube clip of Western kids in Laos...

[Guest]

Whose worse the backpackers or the filmmakers?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BKdn...e=channel_page

[bigmick22]

he beautiful village of Vang Vieng in Laos has become a haven for backpackers. Yet the abundance of drugs and cheap liquor results in several lives being lost every year.

It's called natural selection!

[azza33]

Vang Vieng rocks.... I spent a couple of nights there... come to think of it... i can't remember that much

There is fuckall to do there but get wasted - and float down a river - getting further wasted at the bars along the river.

A great backdrop and a beautiful spot however.... ah the fond memories.

[blonde_havoc]

God there were some enormous douche bags in that video. I'm embarrassed of my generation.

[Stogie]

Here's the thread for all those posts that contain a simple link or embedded video to other sites...

[pacman]

(orgasmaddict @ Mar. 19 2009,10:14) Whose worse the backpackers or the filmmakers?

How is this the fault of the filmmakers?

Without these fools, there is no story. Shooting the messenger doesn't make their behaviour any better.

Laos is reportedly awash with cheap narcotics, 1000's of tourists too stoned to leave...

[Stogie]

Just kids having fun.

In the over regulated and claustrophobic countries they come from you can't blame them.

The risks, danger... well it's illegal to hurt yourself in the UK and even worse is to be told that you are NOT achieving anything or you have failed at something.

Laos looks like it is providing a great escape from all that plastic culture of the West. Sure you'll get cuts and bruises on the way. Maybe they're catching up from lost childhoods.

Good luck to them. I wish I had done the same thing at their age.

[pacman]

I'm all for having fun...

Life passes too quick to not cut loose once in a while.

However, it's what the film doesn't show us, the many who have over-stepped the line, who have gone from buckets of vodka by the river to smoking opium, then to injecting, then to...........

It is all so easy, away from any control, the lure of day & night fun, the grip oif addiction takes hold so quickly, so insidiously.

I saw it in the opium dens in Penang in the 70's, young Aussie & Brits on holiday, thought it would be cool to try it.  Months later, no money, expired visas, raging addicts, all very sad.

Most of these kids will keep travelling, they will leave Laos with fond memories, but there are 1000's who haven't.

Supplied narcotics by the police or the military or both, it's the biggest cash business in the country & it is leaving its grim mark on the place.

Maybe our police force is onto something when they advise:

"kids, don't do drugs!"

[perth_couple]

(Stogie @ Mar. 19 2009,14:41) Just kids having fun.

In the over regulated and claustrophobic countries they come from you can't blame them.

The risks, danger... well it's illegal to hurt yourself in the UK and even worse is to be told that you are NOT achieving anything or you have failed at something.

Laos looks like it is providing a great escape from all that plastic culture of the West. Sure you'll get cuts and bruises on the way. Maybe they're catching up from lost childhoods.

Good luck to them. I wish I had done the same thing at their age.

You know, I think you're onto something old boy

Sure they can be annoying, but ask them in 20 years whether they regret what they did. Betcha 95% of em don't

[perth_couple]

(pacman @ Mar. 19 2009,15:16) I'm all for having fun...

Life passes too quick to not cut loose once in a while.

However, it's what the film doesn't show us, the many who have over-stepped the line, who have gone from buckets of vodka by the river to smoking opium, then to injecting, then to...........

It is all so easy, away from any control, the lure of day & night fun, the grip oif addiction takes hold so quickly, so insidiously.

I saw it in the opium dens in Penang in the 70's, young Aussie & Brits on holiday, thought it would be cool to try it.  Months later, no money, expired visas, raging addicts, all very sad.

Most of these kids will keep travelling, they will leave Laos with fond memories, but there are 1000's who haven't.

Supplied narcotics by the police or the military or both, it's the biggest cash business in the country & it is leaving its grim mark on the place.

Maybe our police force is onto something when they advise:

"kids, don't do drugs!"

I'm not suggesting you do not have some valid arguements, but most people I know personally (or professionally!) who have traveled to places like Thailand, Laos, India, etc, and used drugs, travelled to those places well aware of the availability of drugs at their destination...

[Stogie]

Most of these kids will keep travelling, they will leave Laos with fond memories, but there are 1000's who haven't...

 You're exaggerating or scaremongering.

Hey Pacman, I hear your concern, but you're assuming that we all have a purpose in life and if we aren't achievers then we are failures.

Some people are neither and are just content to drift through life with nothing ventured and nothing gained.

I actually envy them in a way. They have a blissful inner peace that I'll probably never know.

Furthermore, I'll bet that the majority of kids who go through this kind of adventure come out the other end as better adults and parents than the academic theorists who have all the ideas in their tiny minds but no experience of life at all.

All that video told me was that some kids like to drink, smoke weed and go swimming... nothing's changed in half a century!

If you really want to see the adverse affects of drinking and drugs then go to Glasgow. The West has problems far more severe than a few hundred students having fun on gap year!

[Stogie]

I'm all for having fun... Life passes too quick to not cut loose once in a while. However...

With no disrespect intended you sound like my dad and someone who is NOT 'all for having fun' or 'cutting loose once in a while!'

More kids die in traffic accidents where YOU live than they do taking inner tubes down the river in Laos.

[Tomcat]

(Stogie @ Mar. 19 2009,15:50) academic theorists who have all the ideas in their tiny minds

I think you got that wrong. Maybe you mean Politicians and do gooders..

Actually some Science journals are in  favour of legalising drugs completely . New Scientist actually printed a list of websites a year or so ago advising you where to buy legal subtsitutes and lists of website links

About November they urged the EU lo legalise exctasy or whatever its called

[pacman]

With no disrespect intended you sound like my dad and someone who is NOT 'all for having fun' or 'cutting loose once in a while!'

More kids die in traffic accidents where YOU live than they do taking inner tubes down the river in Laos.

I understand that entirely & yes, I do find myself sounding like my own father...    

However, I think a little perspective would be no bad thing.

I met 2 German guys last year who live in the Philippines who had been on a 6 week bus tour of Vietnam & Laos, they said in every town & village they visited in Laos, they saw foreign junkies. 1000's in their words.

If that is scaremongering, I will live with it. They told me Laos has the reputation of being the cheap narcotics capital of the world, with the police turning a blind eye as they profited directly.

I would love to hear first hand confirmation from anyone who has been through the country. Someone here must have seen them if there is such a problem.

I am not condemning the behaviour of kids getting drunk while on holiday. An odd drowning or two is an acceptable price for freedom.

It is the 5% (even less) that perthcouple refer to who will regret the easy access to opium, etc.

The 95% who can come for fun & R&R, they are not the human tragedies I refer to.

On my first visit to Asia, I met an English model in Penang who was doomed to die there. She was young & beautiful but so wasted on opium, she was unable to leave the place.

I have wondered many times if there wasn't something more I could have done. My friends insisted I leave her because I wasn't going to win.

And it is that memory that has inspired me to add my voice to this thread. I have no desire whatsoever to be the moral conscience of the forum.

[jadeite]

Pacman, you seem to have an irrational bias against illegal drugs. Nicotine is the most addictive substance known to man and is also very unhealthy. As you watch the video you are blinded to the fact they are smoking cigarettes and instead worry over addiction to lesser problems. Alcohol besides being extremely addictive causes huge numbers of deaths. But there again we see them guzzling alcohol, drunk in the water and you voice concerns about hazards of other drugs. Your priorities on what is dangerous seem totally out of order. You sound like someone parroting the "your brain on drugs" crap and making up statistics--1000's of tourists too stoned to leave? Please! If so then there must be millions too drunk to leave. Let them and thier happy pizza's be. It's not hurting anyone. The tourists enjoy it and Laos cashes in. Big deal.

Though I don't care for their demeanor, I think Stogie hit the nail on the head--wish I had done such a thing at that age.