| Laos, Vientiane
I recently got back for Vientiane where I stayed for a few days to apply for a non-immigrant visa. The last time I was there was nearly 5 years ago, wow.... things have changed. Before, hardly a car could be found, you saw them, but very few, motorcycles were around but if you stood on a balcony of your guest house it wasn't very evident, tourist here and there but once again not very evident. Really a very quiet town without much going on at all. Now when coming into town you might actually hit traffic, with a brand new Mercedes in front of you and a nice new pick-up behind you. As you walk through the town it is unbelievable the amount of construction going on, new side-walks be done all over town, guest houses being remodeled, and hotels opening up, the town is a lot cleaner than it used to be and there are many more venues for everything, food, drinking, dancing, romantic candle lit dinners, etc....(there is even a V-shop) Despite all that is going on the atmosphere is very "sabai" and given the friendliness of the locals I would think Laos would be called the land of smiles. Prices are about the same as Chiang mai when it comes to most western/Thai/Lao food, hotels/guest houses, but beware the Lao tuk-tuk driver, they will charge you quadruple the true price without a blink of the eye (so when negotiating go to one quarter or half of there price). If you decide to go to Laos make sure you bring dollars for the visa as it is more costly to pay in baht (about $10 more). For US citizens the cost is $35 or 1500 baht (you calculate the difference) and between $30 and $40 for most other European countries. All together my 3 night trip cost about 7000 baht including 1500 for Laos visa and 1000 baht for Thai tourist visa ( make sure all your papers are in perfect order when applying for non-imm visa, they are very particular). Anyway, has anybody else been to Laos lately? I would definitely recommend it as place to go to get away from it all for a couple days.
I left my USB cable at home, I'll have to post some photos later this evening |