The View from Here
My weekend in the Laotian Las Vegas, where an opulent casino lies at the heart of a vast human-, drug-, and wildlife-trafficking operation
In July, two friends and I arrived at an immigration checkpoint in the Thai port of Chiang Saen, duffel bags in tow. We were going to the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (G.T.S.E.Z.), a 7,400-acre plot in Laos’s Bokeo Province. Officers in standard-issue military uniforms accessorized with ornate gold jewelry greeted us warmly.
Getting to the G.T.S.E.Z. requires taking a rickety basket boat across the Mekong River, one of the largest and murkiest in the world. From afar, a casino and its surrounding half-built structures serve as a North Star.