Grad Trip Day 17 - Vang Vieng

Tourism activity first emerged in Vang Vieng in 2003/2004. Many were eco-tourists and travelled responsibly. Over the last five years however, more and more establishments appeared to cater to the increasing crowds. Along this scenic river, one can do tubing (sitting in a tyre and floating along the river). This particular outlet was blasting extremely loud music. This is the first time I am witnessing such extreme side effects of tourism in a rural area and I can only say I am disgusted. The ten of us were brought around the village where the youth centre was by a volunteer (another South Korean by the name of Mr Lee Sunjae). He related to us all these sad stories about tourism and tourists changing the lives of the locals. Drugs are prevalent in town with the presence of happy pizzas and happy dishes. Foreigners walk around half-naked, or only in their swimsuits in town. We even witnessed a brawl between foreigners along the road. SIGH.

This village we were in is called Phou Dindeng Village. Literally translated, it means Red Mountain Soil Village. This village is inhabited by 3 different ethnic groups - the Lao Lum, the Katu and the Hmong. The Hmong originally belonged to the highlands and shifted here some decades back. Since then, relations among these three groups haven't been encouraging. There was no interaction between the common folk, and there were power issues at the governance level. The above photo shows a community centre within the village (constructed with the help of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore) which has been disused since around five years ago as the people could not agree on the purpose of usage of this building.

From the exterior it seemed just like any other rural village. But this time, we got to hear the inside stories and they gave me a different perspective to rural living. How can an internally fractured village have the ability to deal with all these external problems brought about by tourism? There is an optimistic view to this though - that these three groups can put away their differences and stand on the same line against excessive, irresponsible mass tourism in their village.

After the tour around town, we got down to doing some work. The youth centre we were collaborating with was about to open a social enterprise cafe in two days' time and they required manpower for the finishing touches. So, the ladies in the team helped out with painting the walls and the guys shovelled cut (granite?) rocks to make the entrance to the cafe.

We played soccer with the boys for a while before interacting with the older youth in the centre. Our intention was to know them better through their aspirations, and to see how we could fit in encourage and empower them. The centre has been up for 5 years and it has been doing a great job in nurturing youth leaders among the youth there. It has also been receiving support from several Korean organisations as well as the endorsement of the local government.