“Don’t drink that shit!” he said, aghast. I assured him that it was not for drinking. He glared at the hazy liquid wide-eyed, as though it might explode.
As for the $2.50 Tiger vodka, the label, peeling at the edges, declared the brew a “smooth and mellow” product of Xaymoungkhoun Village, near Vientiane, and 40 per cent alcohol.
The screw-cap did not have a tamper-evident ring – an immediate concern. It smelled like vodka. Sort of. A gentle whiff brought an involuntary shudder and prickles to even this reasonably seasoned partaker of the cheap stuff.
But if it was methanol, a lethal form of alcohol that killed the six tourists and made a dozen or so violently ill, it probably came from the homebrew (I sampled neither it nor the Tiger). The real nasty stuff wasn’t even sold in the shops, I was told, but used in ceremonies in the villages and then, sometimes, for drinking.
The question was whether the spirits given to the victims, either at Nana or elsewhere in Vang Vieng, were cut with bootleg alcohol that still contained methanol. By mixing with dirt-cheap alcohol, the slightly less cheap alcohol would go further.
Foreign tourists leave on a vehicle after consuming food and beer in a bar with restaurant in Vang Vieng.Credit: AP
“The alcohol is free so for sure [some venues] are mixing, but with what who knows,” said a veteran Vang Vieng business person, who asked not to be named.
“There is another side, too. The other bars [the victims] went to after Nana might have been responsible.”
We know at least five of the six dead tourists were guests at Nana, but what of the others who needed to be hospitalised? Had the revellers consumed their poisonous drinks elsewhere in Vang Vieng, as Toan, the Nana barman, said? Was there a bad batch of booze getting around Vang Vieng by mistake, or was it something more sinister?
Despite reports in state-owned media that Nana closed down on November 14, it was still taking guests late last week. The last pair left on Friday and, as international attention grew, the bosses were detained by police for questioning in the capital.
A backpacker rests near the swimming pool at Nana’s on Friday. Credit: AP
A police chief and other officials returned to the hostel on Wednesday and seized bottles for testing. We don’t know if investigators had already taken other samples, but it begs the question: if these particular bottles were worth taking, why had it taken more than a week?
Had authorities gathered the empties at Nana to test the traces? Had they taken booze from any other bar? Had they interviewed the guests?
I happened to be walking past Nana on Saturday when the regional governor was giving a press conference to about half a dozen local journalists. I was not allowed to join.
The Laos government publicly acknowledged the tragedy for the first time on Saturday – 10 days after the first suspected victim, the American, Hutson, was found dead in Nana’s room 205 with empty bottles of vodka next to his bed.
Backpacker tourists roam around in Vang Vieng, Laos.Credit: AP
“Getting to the bottom of it is not [the police] style,” the local said. “They want to protect the reputation of Vang Vieng and the country. But it’s about priorities. I think now with the attention here, they do.”
Vang Vieng is still busy with tourists and everyone I spoke to was aware of the situation. If you hadn’t caught it in the papers or TV, the backpacker grapevine and terrified parents had filled the gap.
“For a young person to come out here and have their experience cut short by such a deplorable and awful tragedy is such a disaster, and has put such a stain on the reputation of Laos,” British backpacker Alfie Cooke told me.
“[The Lao government] need to be putting in some proper checks. If they want to continue this level of tourism, they need to be doing something about it.”
Cooke was drinking with a group of friends at Jaidee’s Bar. Nestled against the river, it has a homely vibe.
Foreign tourists relax at a bar and restaurant in Vang Vieng.Credit: AP
Bowles and Jones were thought to have gone to Jaidee’s after drinking at Nana. There were only a dozen or so patrons when I visited on Friday. This was quiet, “Jaidee” said, declining to be directly quoted. Other bars were still pumping with shirtless blokes and revelry.
Jaidee was not sure if the Australians had been here on the night of November 11. But police had taken CCTV vision, he said. He was comfortable he had no questions to answer.
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At Cooke’s table, the empty beers were piling up, and it was getting to that crossroads point of the night.
“I would really like something stronger, but I’d rather not die,” his friend Michael said, half-joking.
“We’re having a nice time with good company, but we’re just staying safe. We’re only drinking bottled beer or cider and we’re seeing bar staff open it.”
Polish couple Patrick Rossol and Marta Kalicz, both 26, arrived in Vang Vieng on Saturday.
”We were just talking about it this morning,” they said. “We have planned to go to the bars here and meet other people. But we do have this mindset that something is up here and that it’s potentially dangerous,” they said.
“That it could have been us.”
At least one tour group – more than 20 people from Norway – had already cancelled since news broke of the tragedy. There were probably others. However, the local businessman was not particularly stressed about the future of Vang Vieng tourism. It had survived through SARS, bird flu and COVID.
Years ago, tourists were dying semi-regularly from various mishaps and poor management, but this had been cleaned up, he said.
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Nevertheless, Vang Vieng still had an aura of lawlessness and was probably part of an enduring appeal.
The manager at my hotel was devastated by these events.
“But, maybe, it will mean things are cleaned up,” he said.
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