VICE TRAVEL
-
Interviewing South African Rape Victims Isn't Easy When You're Disfigured
Late last year, I spent a week in South Africa's townships researching the jolly topic of masculinity and child rape for an article. Being my first foreign assignment, I was expecting a bit of a rough ride into an unknown territory and the horribly distressing subject matter with… Full story
-
T. Kid Versus Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
For the avid pot smoker, planning a vacation always comes with the caveat of finding a place where trees will be plentiful and the laws regarding them lenient enough that you can avoid the hellish prospect of a third world prison. By and large, I’ve found most European countries… Full story
-
My Strange Weekend at a Bicycle Race with Lance Armstrong and a Crack Addict
I had no idea a huge bicycle race was set to happen in the small Mexican town I was visiting, but within 24 hours of my plane landing I was shaking hands with Lance Armstrong and bunking with a guy suffering from a debilitating drug problem. Full story
-
Alabama’s Strip Clubs of Death
Most of the time, shootings in strip clubs are rare occurrences, the result of a drunk who’s thrown out of the club and comes back with a gun for revenge. But in Alabama the strip club murder rate is completely out of control. Curious to see the sites of such strange violence, I… Full story
-
Teaching Evil to Norwegians
Norway has been linked to grandiose notions of evil for centuries. Soltun, a school Norwegians attend for one year after secondary school in the town of Harstad, announced that it will be offering a new course devoted to a yearlong study of the evil that lurks in the hearts of me… Full story
-
The People of Hastings Still Do May Day the Traditional Way
May Day is a bullshit holiday thought up by a bunch of heathens in the BC days. Originally a celebration of spring, it's now primarily an excuse for Europeans to be obnoxious and take a day off work. One place in Europe keeping things traditional, though, is Hastings in East Suss… Full story
-
The Forgotten Russian Enclave of Kaliningrad
Sweden's former prime minister Goran Person once described Kaliningrad this way: “It is heavily polluted. There are illnesses there like AIDS and tuberculosis. There is atomic waste. You find almost every imaginable problem in Kaliningrad.” Full story
-
Welcome to Nakhchivan, the San Francisco of the Middle East
As my plane touched down into Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, I half-expected to step out into a crumbling landscape ripped from a still of 'Enemy at the Gates.' Admittedly, I’d formed this image based on scant and stale stories, but the modern history of this massiv… Full story
-
Burma's Most Decadent Zoo Is Full of Fake Animals
In 2012, while covering the Burmese elections in Rangoun, I took a train to the city the Burmese never really lived in, the new country's new capital Naypyidaw. As soon as I got there, I realized there wasn't much to do, and ended up passing the time visiting a deserted gemstone Full story
-
Remnants of the Waco Siege: Mount Carmel on the 20th Anniversary of the Branch Davidian Disaster
After the Waco siege, gun owners, especially in the South and Michigan, banded together into civilian militias, calling themselves patriots and Constitutionalists. They practiced military maneuvers on weekends and told co-workers that a second American Revolution was brewing. One… Full story
-
In Cuba, Tattoo Artists Make More than Doctors and Lawyers
Although tattoo artists operate on the margins of society, they make good money. Most Cubans working official, on-the-books government jobs earn only about $30 per month. “Being a tattoo artist, I can make more money than being in the government,” Sosa said. “The doctors and the… Full story
-
The Imaginary Republic of Molossia
When he is not the president of Molossia, Kevin Baugh is a retired sergeant first class of the US Army, working in the human-resources department of the Nevada National Guard. It would seem that declaring himself supreme ruler of a sovereign nation could cause problems for his mi… Full story
-
How to Date in Vietnam
I've always considered myself as something more than the typical American tourist, that I bucked the stereotypes and was a true "citizen of the world." But here was clear proof that I was a presumptuous moron. Love is messy when you're a visitor in someone else's country. Full story
-
Central Asia Rally Was the Worst Journey of My Life
I'm standing on the side of a busy road in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, about 50 miles from the Georgia/Russia border, because our route on the inaugural Central Asia Rally (a 5,000-mile car rally from Budapest to Tajikistan) had to take a massive detour around the south side of t… Full story
-
Religion Is Taking Over Los Angeles
When you’ve worked your entire life to escape the Southern Baptist stranglehold on northeast Florida, winding up smack-dab in the middle of a burgeoning religious community can be a real drag. Full story