VICE TRAVEL

Fringes

War Gin

Ugandans are the hardest drinking Africans in the motherland, both in terms of per capita consumption and the hooch they choose to chug. Waragi, or "war gin," is what they call the local moonshine, and it makes the harshest Appalachian rotgut taste like freaking Bailey's. Full story

Pompeii in the Caribbean

The Montserrat volcano lay dormant for centuries, but finally exploded in 1995, decimating the island. Subsequent eruptions have left two-thirds of the country uninhabitable. Full story

The VICE Guide to Syria

We have put together this guide in an attempt to condense the facts gleaned from thousands of pages of reference books, biographies, religious texts, firsthand accounts, reports, and other information that have informed "The Syria Issue." We could’ve included dozens of additional… Full story

A Juke Joint in the Mississippi Delta

I left New Orleans in search of a juke joint and followed the only directions I’d been given: “A cotton field four miles west of Merigold.” Six hours later I stood out front, surrounded by corn on all sides. My mistake — I failed to account for the crop rotation. I’d arrived in r… Full story

Bush-League Rebels

A Perplexing Survey of the Congo’s Myriad Resistance Groups

I visited a camp in the city of Goma set up to house rebel combatants who had surrendered. The facility was split along ethnic lines, with only a chain-link fence separating Hutu and Tutsi fighters who have been spilling each other’s blood by the bucket for decades.   Full story

My Friends Started a Bus Company in Congo

In August 2010, I traveled to Rwanda with three friends to cover the presidential election. We spent a month there and I headed back to Europe, but my friends—Yassin, Arthur, and Louis-Guillaume—crossed the border to the Democratic Republic of Congo and decided to start their own… Full story

A Visit to the German Hygiene Museum

Underneath the pompous illusions of class or caste, we all share an essential animal trait: we have bodies. And our bodies are gross. To believe otherwise is simply a matter of fooling yourself by not looking too closely. Full story

Shiva’s Wedding

Love (and Marriage) in the Himalayas

We’d been in India for a month, and it looked like the wedding wasn't going to happen. The last two times I’d been married my brides had been enthusiastic—they were insistent, even. Now I was getting married for a third time to a woman who didn’t want to marry me by a Tibetan Bud… Full story

Transmutations in Tijuana

Meet the Christian Pastor Who's Praying Away the Gay in the Mexican Border Town's Slums

Eduardo Herrera Gómez is 30 years old, and he is one of 25 “redeemed” homosexuals who have kneeled before Alma Leticia Rosas, a Pentecostal pastor who claims to have the power to exorcize diabolical spirits that, according to her, cause homosexuality “and other evil deviations.”… Full story

Fringes

Death of the American Hobo

We traveled by freight train to the 112th National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa, to see what was left of hobo life. We felt as if we were a pair of early Americans—pioneers far from home on a great adventure. Each train was a roll of the die, a unique and unpredictable experien… Full story

Fresh Off the Boat

Bay Area

Eddie's first stop in the Bay Area is Oakland, where he hangs with a local biker gang that shows hipsters how to shoot guns and hunt for rabbit. After a few gruesome hours in the Oakland outback, they head back to the clubhouse to shoot the shit, throw back a few cold ones, and t… Full story

Why Gentrification Is Only Bad if You're Poor

The revitalization of Downtown Los Angeles is universally fantastic for all citizens. I came to this point by doing one small thing. I simply decided to ignore everyone with less money than me. If this sounds problematic or impossible, then I am here to say that you just aren’t t… Full story

Komp-
Laint
Dept.
A Tour of the Monuments of Salt Lake City:
Robert Smithson, the Melvins, and the Mormons

I went out to Salt Lake City to see Robert Smithson's 'Spiral Jetty,' give a talk at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and surprise my friends the Melvins at one of their shows. Full story

Death of the American Hobo

The National Hobo Convention Reaches the End of the Line

If highways and roads are America’s veins, the hundreds of thousands of miles of tracks are like those chakra diagrams in acupuncturists’ offices, the hidden flows of energy that affect the body as a whole. Full story