Laos. It may not be as popular as Thailand, but it's definitely on the backpacker circuit. Take a trip to Luang Prabang or Vientiane, or almost anywhere in the country, and you'll see plenty of European tourists wandering the streets. Except for one place, a place that even the Lao people don't want to visit.

In the far northwest of the country, right in the heart of the Golden Triangle and on the border with Thailand, Myanmar and China lies the "Special Economic Zone" of Laos. If you spend just a few minutes there, you'll quickly realize that it's an area that Laos does not control. Who does? You'll have to ask the Chinese mafia that runs it.

Locals call the entrance to it the gates to hell. We were soon to find out why.


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