Thread: Laos; any good?

Howdy,

I 'have' been before, but only as a brief visa run. I wondered if you'd care to reveal your stories about the place?

From reading some websites I have learnt that outside of Vientiane there is a whole new world to explore with some exciting scenery and great local produce to sample, including some real fine coffee...

I will be attacking Laos from Chaing Mai so I'll either fly in, or do an extended 2 day boat journey down the Mekong and hopefully put my new camera to good use at long last!

Be great if some of you could share your experiences on here..

Laos Forum - TeakDoor.com - The Thailand Forum

^
might help,

ive only been to Vientiane , i was there about 2 weeks , every day was the same , wanted to get up early and take a bus or something to explore the country - but was too lazy '-liked it though

Dogcatcher does Laos.
Dogcatcher does Laos again.
Enjoy.

Laos is good.

Lovely, friendly people

Great French restaurants.

TUBING!!

Get yourself to Luang Prubang from Chiang Mai then get your ass down to Vang Vieng by minibus, the scenery is breath-taking. Vang Vieng's biggest attraction is tubing down the river, where they have a series of bars on either side of a dog's leg in the river. Type 'tubing in Vang Vieng' into youtube for a better insight. I loved it.

I'll dig out some pics...

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Dogcatcher does Laos.
Dogcatcher does Laos again.
Enjoy.

Great thread made even better with the story book of pictures...

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

I'll dig out some pics...

I youtubed!?! tubing and found this really nasty - but fun looking video:

Check out my RR in VV thread...

lovely french bread and croissants,and nice coffee.

It's OK. eat in restaurants that are usually busy north of vientien ,,in the sticks . food was the only prob. i had. big towns usually ok.

Laos was one of my best ventures into Asia.
Great people, very good food if you look for it.
I look forward to returning there next year.

Have a great trip.

I really like Laos - still trying to figure out how I blew 10,000 baht in one night

Originally Posted by Bruno

great local produce to sample, including some real fine coffee...

and opium

nice bread and choccy coffee
nice weed from a girl called bong
girls who can skin up with one hand whilst gamlang om kwei
pretty safe for leaving your valuables lying around if you're absent minded
pretty unsafe if you need serious medical treatment
village children scared of camcorder
a bit dull after a (short) while... even the capital is quieter than the quietest Thai provincial capital.
very friendly, fun people, if you get to mingle at a locals' party - great memories...
...and watch out for the wildlife...

im off for a little trip through laos in march, cant wait, pakse, 100 islands all that, should be good, heard its nice

Beer Lao is a quality beer and cheap as chips!

Luang Prabang is a great little city and enough to do to keep you occupied for 4 or 5 days. Utopia is a nice little bar with plenty of people (ok mainly backpackers) in but does have its own sand volleyball court which can make for some pleasant sights depending on the clientele that night.

If you're there a while it's worth a trip to Phonsovan and the Plain of Jars. The town itself has nothing to see bar a couple of museum/MAG offices but the trips to the plains are very interesting and especially as no-one actually knows what they were used for.

Vang Vieng is just a party town where everyone is on the piss, smoking weed and generally bang on it! Good fun for a few days but beware of pink eye!!

I really enjoyed the capital Vientiane although it's a very quiet capital. Some really good restaurants and in particular French. We had an outstanding meal at Le Silapa for the missus' birthday and also good meals at Sticky Fingers and the Full Moon cafe.

Pakse I found just to be a transport town of the same ilk as Surat Thani although some people may disagree. (Especially a Yank bird we met travelling who stayed for 5 days having a 3-some with 2 Dutch birds!!)

4 Thousand Islands was ok but the missus wasn't overly happy about washing in brown river water! Not bad if you want to smoke weed, watch films and generally not do a lot.

Laos is definitely worth a visit though in my opinion.

A mate of mine who recently backpacked thru' the place liked Vang Vien & Thousand Islands best. He thought Luang Prabang was OK, but over touristed with the sort of people that think they are off the beaten track.

In 'civilised' places, the French cuisine is good. Elsewhere you soon tire of the indigenous cuisine, which is like a small, dumbed down microcosm of Isaan cuisine. Most anywhere is pleasant to hang out for a while, because the people are nice and laid back. Central Laos, eg Savannakhet, is kinda boring really. Nothing there.

Nice place, but learn to cut through all that gushing bullshit you'll get fed about it being some kind of earthly paradise.

It's an orthodox communist run country that treats it's minorities like shit, controlled by Vietnam.

Otherwise, yes, quite nice.

vientiane .. has good indian restaurants

Lao licks dog balls,
bad food, shit roads lots of rubbish, Goverment departments can be real cnuts unless you play the pay game. Lao can lick my hairy crack.
Only good thing I saw in lao was Laos vegas.
Makes Isaan look like a holiday resort and Lao can lick my hair crack

Vientiane is nice, but very quiet - as is Pakse. DO NOT be tempted to take the night bus from one to the other. I did it about a year ago. 1 tiny, 4 foot long bunk with a 3mm thick "foam" mattress over badly welded steel plate. Bloody nightmare.

Had a great relaxing time in Vientianne some years ago. Good place to go to get away from it all. Some nice, cheap restaurants, Great beer and easy atmosphere. Highly recommend it as a place to kick back and do not a great deal... I didn't see a lot there to do, but there could be. Beer Lao is fantastic (though I hear it's now available in LOS) and the people were terrific.

Not sure re nightlife. Have heard it's there, but I did a BYO in that regard