A minor annoyance around Vang Vieng (refered too by locals and long time residents as the Vang Vieng plague) is conjunctivitis, or 'Pink Eye'. This is a viral, and sometimes bacterial, infection which can be caught from the river or other tubers. The onset of pink eye is often felt as an unnatural tiredness, and inability to properly fully open your eyes. If you sense this, or have been sharing buckets with people with pink eyes or wearing sunglasses at night, the best thing to do is shell out for eyedrops as soon as possible to prevent the onset. If this should happen late at night, be aware that eye drops alone should cost a maximum of 20,000 kip. Some of the late night pharmacies attempt to extort tourists, charging up to 5x the normal price for eyedrops.
As well as eye drops, general antibiotics are available from any pharmacy. If you are taking Anti-malaria pills these will help as well. In some cases eye drops will cause an intense stinging sensation, this can be soothed with an eye bath formula also available at pharmacies. Of course the sensible solution would be to rest your eyes and ease the drinking, but Vang Vieng's non-stop party atmosphere makes this a hard option for most. Should your pink eye last longer than a week you should probably seek proper medical advice, and stop drinking all that Tiger Whisky to give your body time to heal.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Vang Vieng
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Vang Vieng - updated Apr 2024
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Vang Vieng Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
