The touristed north

There's something about a town or city which does not rely on tourism to survive. It has energy, purpose and direction, and it doesn't start the moment you get there and stop the moment you depart. Life goes on... However, when tourism is the exclusive occupation of a town, people become jaded, local customs are lost and prices rise exponentially. Welcome to the touristed north.

Heading south from Luang Nam Tha, I couldn't be more suprised. Where a sleepy enchanting mountain town used to be 4 years ago, a bustling commercial heartbeat pulses. We're in Luang Prabang, where guesthouses have popped up everywhere, roads have been paved and the main market now stretches for the best part of a kilometre, a sea of red and blue canvas awnings. Since the tsunami in 2005, Luang Prabang has become the preferred destination of a generation of well heeled tourists, looking for newer and safer roads to travel. As a result, prices have risen dramatically and Lao business owners push for as much as they can get. I hate to see commercial greed harden a once friendly, good natured area, like innocence lost. I’m getting a distinctive dollar sign assessment with many businesses I encounter – a stark contrast to the sleepy roads and back tracks of Luang Nam Tha.

So we head further south to Vang Vieng - take a slice out of Bangkok’s Khao San Road and you’ve got some idea of how this place is. I just can’t understand how it got transplanted into this paradise. There’s internet cafes and western style eateries everywhere, and a particularly insidious Vang Vieng institution – the TV bar. Episodes of horrid American sitcoms play on loop from early morning until late at night, enthralling viewers for hours on end. Then there’s tubing, the other Vang Vieng institution. An inflated inner tube is supplied at an inflated price and participants are taxied up river to float down. On arrival, we encounter bars, loud music drunken tubers and huge swings. A lethal combination of booze and water sports.

There are massive limestone karst formations which overlook the town, but I’m not sure if they are noticed, let alone appreciated. Our guidebook suggests that Vang Vieng is a sullied paradise – an assertion I heartily endorse. Surprisingly, it’s difficult to get traditional Lao fare and apart from the Lao people serving you food between episodes of Friends, you could be anywhere. What happened - is this really Laos?