Most people think of vacations as time for enjoyment, discovery, relaxation and to recharge. While most people also want to learn a great deal while on their travel destinations and return home with pleasing memories, they wouldn’t typically expect to be returning with an investigative report. On the other hand, the whole purpose of The Vice Guide To Travel is exactly about that. Vice Media employees actively seek out the most bizarre and dangerous places in the world that bring alternative tourism/thrill seeking to an entirely different level.
Among the downright scary, make-your-skin-crawl places they go to is the perpetually traumatized, war-torn streets of Beirut, Lebanon. While on this “visit” they find that pre-teen boys are being groomed to become the next generation of international terrorists. They are being trained to martyr themselves in a PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) camp – a very twisted version of the Boy Scouts. They sing repulsive little tunes applauding anti-Israeli hatred and watch antagonistic videos glorifying mayhem and violence in the name of Palestinian independence.
Getting thugs to discuss committing acts of terror on camera is quite a feat – although violence or the constant threat of it seems part and parcel of life in much of the Middle East. The mere thought of going to such locations as “alternative” or “extreme” tourism is utterly repulsive to me, but then again, there’s no accounting for taste. Apparently, there isn’t much concern for personal safety either when these self-appointed investigators go seeking out creeps off the beaten path and live to tell about (let alone film it all). Another hair raising segment of the book was Vice Media’s visit to “The Gun Markets Of Pakistan”.
By the way, the book is accompanied by a dvd containing short videos (of 10 minutes or so each) of these seedy little forays into assorted hideous places around the globe. Like the PLO segment, “The Gun Markets Of Pakistan” depicts everything inherently warped about the Middle East. Deep in the Pakistani boondocks and close to the Afghanistan border (naturally) is the town of Peshawar which seems to exist solely to perpetuate violence. This is where firearms of every single illegal stripe are bought, sold, traded, and refurbished to whoever wants them regardless of purpose. This place is considered to be the “most dangerous in the world” according to the Vice team.
It’s not incidental that much of the world’s heroin trade also originates in this area. After all, drugs and violence go hand in hand and it appears quite plain that the Pakistani government does nothing (or cannot) do anything to stop any of it. This “hands off” attitude allows the local mentality of these tribal people “to have many sons and many guns” so that crime and mayhem flourish unabated. It was also enlightening to learn that a 9mm handgun (hand made by the way) could be had for as little as $36.00 US. As expected, the town is squalid and appalling – an amped up Middle East version of the Wild West. Definitely not a place I’d want to be within a thousand miles of!
Another perilous destination for the Vice team are the infamous slums or “favelas” of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They achieved worldwide notoriety in the film City Of God (2002) an internationally acclaimed account of the brutal realities of life in the gutter. Although violent injury and death are an everyday occurrence here – at least the drug lords who have a tight rein over the slums really know how to throw some awesome parties! After all, drug kingpins,ghettos, and hopelessness go together smashingly like JIF Peanut Butter & Chocolate Sandwich Spread! Keeping the unemployed and downtrodden perpetually distracted with raves and gifts provided through the “largesse” of the kingpins – is how they maintain control of the favelas for their own selfish benefit.
The ramshackle overcrowding and lack of sanitary facilities depicted (especially apparent in the dvd) makes my skin crawl. The favelas look like the ultimate breeding ground for every swarming STD and other malady imaginable. Yeah, the backwaters of the Vice Guide are extreme tourism at its best — or worst depending on your point of view. Definitely for very limited taste. The book and video also contains a depressing tour of the nuclear wastes of Chernobyl, African Pygmy villages in the middle of absolute nowhere, and the best place in Eastern Europe to buy a dirty bomb. Happy trails!
