15

As for nice people in VV yes I did meet quite a few but they were not tubing, I also saw more obnoxious people in 1 day than I did in the other 2 months put together.

16

"To jacko18: You don´t have to be a lifeguard, if you see anybody in trouble just alert everybody else and jump in and try to help!"

Go do a basic first aid course, then reread your statement and you will see how stupid it is!

17

Well some of these people were tried to be revived but without success, several have drowned and not found until days later so I dont think your theory will save everyone. The better solution would be to close or restrict the bars at the start and get rid all the jumps etc.

18

"To jacko18: You don´t have to be a lifeguard, if you see anybody in trouble just alert everybody else and jump in and try to help!"

First of all I would hope that anyone who sees another person in trouble in the water would try to help. But trying to rescue 90kg of dead weight or someone flailing in a panic takes certain skills. I read an article a few months ago called something like "When drowning doesn't look like drowning" so just recognizing that someone is in trouble takes a skilled eye sometimes. But I get the sense that most of these deaths result from people jumping in and hitting something underwater and never resurfacing.The only real way to prevent this is by getting rid of the swings (at least during the dry season) and keep informing and warning people of the very real dangers.However trying to get a drunk to be rational or trying to prevent him/her from doing something they want to do can be difficult

sd705, your idea may be a bit unrealistic but I applaud you for your concern and starting a discussion on this topic that is so important to all of us as travelers. To everybody else (myself included) let's stop looking for reasons why this won't work and start finding things that will help.Personally I think prevention is the way to go. Get rid of the swings and require life vests for tubers. Again, easier said than done.Coming up withgood ideas is the easy part. Implimenting them is what will be difficult.
.
I know all too well the pain of losing a child who died as a result of a foolish decision. To spare future families of this unspeakable grief will be more than worth it.

19

"spread the word as much as possible about the dangers"

But do they want to know? Or is that part of the attraction.

20

Judging by the examples I've seen in VV I'd wager there are a hell of a lot who have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever, and all too many are still at that point in life where there brains are limited to 'jump into river = impress girls = sex', but personally I went to VV as a 30 year old, and it wasn't until after I returned to Vientiane that I began to read about the town's track record.

For a visitor who likes a drink - but doesn't enjoy drinking while surrounded by a couple of thousand over-excited teens covered in body paint on their first trip overseas without their parents - I couldn't stand the place. I only went for the tubing, but when I saw the state of the town I changed my plans and left after a couple of days. If I'd had an accurate picture of the town I wouldn't have bothered visiting, but everything I heard before my trip ran along the lines of 'tourist paradise', 'relaxed', etc. etc.

21

Now you know what a tourist paradise is.

To be fair not everyone who goes tubing is into the drinking etc. but they can still get seriously hurt, I would not want some of those girls and boys landing on me, they are frightening large.

Edited by: Herbie47

22

"First of all I would hope that anyone who sees another person in trouble in the water would try to help. But trying to rescue 90kg of dead weight or someone flailing in a panic takes certain skills. I read an article a few months ago called something like "When drowning doesn't look like drowning" so just recognizing that someone is in trouble takes a skilled eye sometimes. But I get the sense that most of these deaths result from people jumping in and hitting something underwater and never resurfacing.The only real way to prevent this is by getting rid of the swings (at least during the dry season) and keep informing and warning people of the very real dangers.However trying to get a drunk to be rational or trying to prevent him/her from doing something they want to do can be difficult

sd705, your idea may be a bit unrealistic but I applaud you for your concern and starting a discussion on this topic that is so important to all of us as travelers. To everybody else (myself included) let's stop looking for reasons why this won't work and start finding things that will help.Personally I think prevention is the way to go. Get rid of the swings and require life vests for tubers. Again, easier said than done.Coming up withgood ideas is the easy part. Implimenting them is what will be difficult.
.
I know all too well the pain of losing a child who died as a result of a foolish decision. To spare future families of this unspeakable grief will be more than worth it."
Jacko, I can tell that you are trying to help, you seem like a nice guy.

What about removing the rocks near the swings and slides as a start?
Can´t be the that difficult!
As for most of the other replies,afterall this is a LP forum, let me try to start a similar topic on a another forum, maybe I find some people who want to help there, or at least come up with some ideas.

23

@ craigt3365: I am appalled anyone would say that. Welcome to planet Earth where most people cannot afford decent public goods. There are of course a few $$ loving bosses there, but most of the local are just trying to make a living. So please be respectful. If we are paying the same money in VV as somewhere in Europe or Japan, I would complain about not having free wifi and hors d'oeuvres.

I am just trying to say that if you decide to get drunk and then jump into a river, do it at your own risk. Whatever your travel insurance won't cover, don't expect the locals to babysit, or have pity on you when you bang your head at the bottom of it.

Or if you expect the exactly the same safety standard you find at home, the best way is to just stay home.

Edited by: fourwinds

24

a lot of the same type of people advocating all these rules and regulations here are probably the same type that whinge about the nanny state mentality in their own countrys.
99% OF PEEPS CAN COME AND HAVE A GOOD TIME WITHOUT DYING so why should the 1% of people that cant be trusted to look after their own wellbeing and make responsible decisions regarding drinking and swimming be allowed to ruin it for everyone?

25

We need to be careful when we try to affect the laws of natural selection. Dumb people do dumb things and sometimes die. That's how nature intended it and that's how we evolve as a species.

I think you are just jealous of a bunch of good looking young people having fun!

I've avoided most of VV and will probably continue to do so. But I've seen many videos on YouTube of the madness, and I noted that the majority of people there were anything but "good looking". Unless of course you find pasty celluloid covered with tattoos attractive.

sd705, your idea may be a bit unrealistic but I applaud you for your concern and starting a discussion on this topic that is so important to all of us as travelers

speak for yourself. Only a very tiny proportion of travelers go tubing in VV, and only a portion of those are stupid enough to get drunk and jump off a rope into the river. This topic is important to about 0.0001% of travelers.

I wonder if they shut down the whole scene if those same people would avoid Laos completely and remain in Thailand. Now there's a wonderful thought!

26

Right JJ. I should have written...it's important to all other travelers who have a shread of compassion in their heart. Is there anyone out there who has not wondered at some point just how they survived their youth, and remembered friends and aquaintances who didn't. Did we/they all deserve to die because we made a few foolish decisions? Some red neck who beats his dog with the butt of his shotgun and accidently shoots himself in the gut probably should be eliminated from the gene pool (true story) but not some kid who merely has a bit too much to drink and has the misfortune of diving a bit too deep in a place where the bedrock sticks up more than it does 1 meter away. I most definately do not encourage this type of behavior. In fact I'm somewhat disgusted by it. Nonetheless when a member of the travel community dies it's a sad thing. These are preventable deaths and anyone who just writes them off as natural selection or is concerned that any attempt at making VV a safer place will ruin their fun really should reexamine their values.

27

Don't take what I said too seriously. Yeah it was a bit over the top, but still mostly true. No offense meant.

28

No worries. I tend to get a bit emotional over this subject.

29

@29, thats horrible about the redneck beating the dog with a shotgun.. i'd never treat a delicate handcrafted precision instrument in that way.. deserved what he got