Lost in Yaba: Down and Out in Laos

by Walt Gleeson

Lost in Yaba is a true story about an expat who becomes addicted to the infamous drug 'yaba' in Laos. Walt Gleeson planned to only go to Laos on a visa trip from Thailand, but he ended up staying in Vientiane and Vang Vieng for over a year. Most foreigners who visit Vientiane can hardly believe it is a capital city. It is a sleepy, peaceful city in one of the most under developed counties in Asia. But there is a hidden side to Vientiane that most foreigners do not get to see. During Walt's time in Vientiane, he witnessed the underbelly of the city first hand - the drugs, the prostitution and the manipulation of western men for money. This provides a unique glimpse into the dark side of Laos.

Genres: True Crime, Asia, Drugs, Nonfiction, Crime, Travel, Memoir

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2020

Reviews

[Signingforever · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Points:
. If you've ever been to Vientiane, you'll probably know Samlo Pub and Falang town, but you probably won't know the stuff that goes down in that neighborhood. This book will bring you into the underbelly of Vientiane.
. Walt gives an authentic portrayal of an addict, and it is all the more fascinating because he is struggling with his addiction in poor and underdeveloped Laos.
.The relationship between Walt and his Laos girl is really weird, but also fascinating.
. The reader is given a unique picture of the lives of expats in Laos - not just Walt but several other dodgy individuals who go their for a bit of escapism.
. The party atmosphere in Vang Vieng (especially tubing on the river) is caught brillianlty.

Bad Points:
. The Lao girl, Fon, is a main character throughout the book, but I still feel like i don't know much about her, except that she lies and is an addict.
. I also don't know much about Walt. I know the things he is struggling with, but I don't really know what led him to running away from his home country.
.The ending is a bit abrupt, but then again it is a true story so it is what it is.

Overall, this is an excellent read. One of the best I've read about Southeast Asia.

[Ian Bannenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by this book. The inner struggle that the writer faces throughout the book is intense. The writer also gets a great balance portraying his own problems, the difficult relationships with the people around him and his life in a foreign land. The book is not overly negative about Laos, but it certainly shows a dark little corner of the country.

[Book Bug · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are precious few books about life in Laos, but this is definitely the best one I've read. It doesn't show a typical expat's life in Laos, rather it shows the life of a drug addict who has a c0-dependent relationship with a Lao woman. It's definitely worth a read.

[Jolanta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can’t believe I read this book until the end. First of all, the book is badly printed, with errors in it. Has it even been proofread before publication? Though, I am not sure a decent font would change how I feel about the book in general. The plot is flat. It’s boring! There are no twists or turns in the book. Nothing really happens until the last 20 pages of the book. However, the ending is rushed, like the author himself was fed up of writing the same dialogue on repeat and wanted to finish the book faster. Also, how come Fon’s English is perfect in the beginning of the book but somehow gets worse in the end? Too much candy maybe?
2/5 stars because I enjoyed how the author describes Laos, and provides the unique glimpse into the drugs and the prostitution. But the rest was as boring and sad as Walt’s life in his room smoking candy. I can’t remember the last time I was so disappointed in book.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been to Laos a few times, it was really interesting to read this book.
Most foreigners who have passed through Vientiane will the know Samlo pub, and the pub's scene is brilliantly portrayed in this book, as is the tubing scene in Vang Vieng.

[Notlongforgotten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in South East Asia

[Andrea Hemmings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually I like to read books set in Thailand; this is the first book I read in Laos, and I really enjoyed it.
It's sad to think that this is a true story.

[Kevin Litt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read. Reads like fiction, which makes it all the more amazing that it's a true story

[Lewis Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know much about Laos before, and I'm not sure I know much about the country after reading this book, but I feel like i know a lot about 'falang town' in the country's captial. Falang is the Lao word for foreigner, and most of the book takes place in the foreigner / expat area of the city. It's a really interesting setting for a book. It was interesting to read about this part of Laos and all the drugs and deception that goes on between the expats and the girls.

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

too many fake accounts to raise the rating of the book

[mr oj pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great. Read

Thoroughly entertaining, as well as serious. Looking forward to the authors next book.I hope Fon and Walt are doing ok now.

[Michael Poczapsky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Though some of the stories in this book are interesting, the book itself is really poorly written. I felt more annoyed at how much of an idiot the author was rather than sympathising with their plight.
At one stage the author talks about writing some stories but having to discard them because they were too bad, it just begs the question, how bad where they of this is what he published?

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting portrayal of addiction and life in Laos.
I've been to a few places in this book. The description of Samlor bar in Vientiane, the scene in falang town and the stuff that goes on in Vang Vieng is all spot on.
A really enjoyable read.

[Brad Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I travelled around Vientiane and Luang Prabang many years ago, and had never thought to seek out literature written in those cities. I think thats how I came across this book, and it was honestly a bit of a surprising read. Its a true story of sorts, about a westerner who moves to Laos and gets addicted to Yaba, a drug combining caffeine and meth, that is smoked, for very cheap. The pace of the book is really good, and it has this very unique setting, but what the book lacks in the first 3/4's is a point at all. It is hundreds of pages of smoking meth, wondering if you should smoke 'more' meth, and then, being like, maybe we should stop smoking meth, no wait, more meth. Its only towards the very end is there any tension at all. In a weird way, this book is about meth, written by someone on meth, in a way, that only someone who is high on meth constantly might write a book. It's weird, but has this kind of Hemmingway, adventurer quality to it. Only instead of it being about food, fishing and bullfights, its about meth, meth and meth. I would recommend it, its just not a perfect read.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literally nothing happened - no major events, no interesting stories, nothing. Also, it’s clear the book was not proof read because it’s filled with spelling mistakes. Don’t waste your time with this one.

[Aisling Connell · Rating 1 out of 5]

35% of the book focuses on this guy smoking candy. Would definitely not recommend - exceptionally boring. I had to finish reading it at 40%. Simply couldn’t carry on.

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this story now and loved it both times. Cracking read!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think this book was particularly well written, and you need to know it reads more like a memoir than a story. That being said, it was an interesting glimpse into the life of a drug addict living in Laos temporarily. I'm saddened to think of what these Lao girls are choosing to do to help their families move out of poverty. An unfortunate advertisement, as I now no longer want to visit Laos.

[Matt Labbree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book portrayed the battle with addiction well but that was about it. Pretty repetitive and not much ever happens.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I visited the small rural town of Vang Vieng in Laos a year after the action in this book is set and the descriptions of that notorious place are spot on. It was the apogee of the backpacker mindset at its most crass: drinking vodka out of buckets, ‘happy’ pizzas laced with mind altering chemicals, episodes of Friends on repeat, slides and Tarzan ropes across a dangerously shallow river and, on my visit, The Cranberries’ Zombie on repeat play as scantily clad westerners cavorted in green body paint in honour of St. Pat’s Day.

Vang Vieng was ‘cleaned up’ to become a high class, ‘eco’ destination a year later, a slightly less demure but still magical formula than the one used in gorgeous Luang Prabang to the north. Gleeson doesn’t visit Luang Prabang in this novel/memoir but he does spend a lot of time in the sleepy Lao capital Vientiane (revealing it to be very much less than sleepy under the surface).

So it’s a travelogue along the lines of William Sutcliffe’s Are you Experienced? or Alex Garland’s The Beach, a lifestyle that launched a thousand FHM articles but what’s remarkable to me is that this is one of those Amazon-organised self-published books and very strong evidence that publishing a book this way doesn’t mean a disappearance into the void. That Gleeson has seen more than 50 copies printed that are all distributed free to family and friends is clearly not the case and while the books isn’t perfect – the action tails off a bit and the drug taking and paranoia can become monotonous – it would have been more than worthy of the attention of one of those posh literary agents who control trade fiction.

[Chantelle Tuffigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is far from perfect, but I loved it. There are no likable characters, not a ton of introspection or anything.

But do you ever sometimes just think about how there are so many different people in the world living all these different lives that you may never learn about, let alone experience, during your time on earth? I had a moment like that the other day watching a video about a family that mines salt in the Bolivian salt flats. I didn’t even know the salt flats existed, and my entire life that family had always been there mining salt, the whole time. And I had no idea.

This book left me feeling the same way, just in awe of how many different ways there are to live. It’s just such a wildly different experience to my life, and I love books that allow me to glimpse at these lives I never knew existed.

[Ian Fiddes · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10. Quick read. Raced through this although ultimately found it rather depressing. Left with a rather hollow feeling after reading it which, I would hazard to guess, is similar to the after-effects of the drug itself. If that was the author’s intention then perhaps the book could be called a success. Not a book I would recommend though.

[Sean P Burke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was entertained, briefly, until I considered the larger social implications. Then I was somewhat disgusted. I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. I hope the people of Laos don't think all of us Westerns are like this, and I apologize to the people of Vientiane that have to live with guys like this.

I also found three grammatical errors. Just saying.

[Ceeceereads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drugs, girls and well, more drugs.

While I didn’t find this was too shocking (I mean I have read Snowing in Bali so) it was certainly very eye opening, interesting and entertaining. This is an honest account of a ‘falang’ (white male tourist) down and out in Laos.

It offers a little peek into a seedy subculture in that part of the world. A world of drugs, girls, ladyboys, scams and survival.

I felt the author gave a no holds barred account and the storytelling felt authentic. This is the life the author lived, for a while and it’s interesting to read, to get lost in something else, especially something that makes you feel grateful for a clean, warm bed and nice clean house.

Overall thoughts, I could have read more and more.

4 stars.

[Mr. Classical · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy and enjoyable read. Very nostalgic for me as I was in Laos while the story was happening. Good to see people self publish their travel memoirs especially interesting stories like this that are away from the main backpacker trail for the most part.

[Caitlyn Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook. I had this one ok my TBR for a while and am happy I finally got around to it. I had spent some time in Laos during my backpacking days and enjoyed the accurate descriptions of the tourist areas. The mechanical voice of the reader drove me crazy!

[Theresa Mul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about an expat who moves to Laos, forms a deeply co-dependent relationship with a Laos woman, and gradually spirals into drug addiction. The book presents a very interesting look at self-destruction and isolation, capturing a moral drift of life abroad.

[Kaci]

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[Tony Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting insight into the underbelly of Vientiane, Laos. Never seen this subculture portrayed anywhere else. Make me want to go back to Laos after Covid.

[Fud · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d give it 4.5, but I can’t.

Walt’s paranoia and Fon’s mystery drive this book. The climax toward the end has a good buildup, and a sad and abrupt ending. Would recommend