Updated:2025-01-06 05:02 Views:102
Laos747 live, a place that feels stuck in time, is at the precipice of change.
Backpackers found the country decades ago, drawn by staggeringly beautiful limestone mountains, elaborate Buddhist temples and an unhurried and inexpensive pace of life. Only the most intrepid travelers followed, as Laos, Southeast Asia’s only landlocked country, operated few — and no long-haul — flights, and potholed and shoddy roads were the norm. Those who made it traded no-frills accommodations and hourslong bumpy drives for adventure, and almost always tacked Laos onto multicountry itineraries that included neighboring Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, all well-oiled tourism machines that each draw at least three times the number of visitors than Laos annually.
ImageLaos wants to change that. While flights remain limited, the country’s visitor infrastructure has strengthened in recent years with new hotels, improved highways and, most notably, a new train system that runs as fast as 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour and connects some of the country’s most popular tourism destinations. Last year, the government designated 2024 a national tourism year, expanding visa waivers, improving tour guide training, and holding dozens of grand festivals.
ImageLuang Prabang sits on a peninsula formed by the Mekong and the Nam Khan Rivers.Credit...Lauren DeCicca for The New York TimesYet the country and its tourism industry were shaken in November, when at least six young tourists fell ill in the town of Vang Vieng and later died. Officials suspect methanol-tainted alcohol is the cause.
Map highlighting theLao-China Railway in Laos..100 miles
Kunming
China
Vietnam
Nong
Khiaw
Hanoi
Tham Pha
Thok caves
Luang
Prabang
South
China
Sea
Vang Vieng
Lao-China Railway
Vientiane
Mekong R.
Laos
Thailand
Railways
The video appears to have been compiled from several recordings, in which Dr. Varma is seen at a number of restaurants and cafes, chatting with a woman who remains off camera. At various points, he describes a sex party he and his wife held in a hotel and a dance party he attended in a space under a bank on Wall Street, joined by more than 200 people.
wild slotsBy The New York Times
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