Is Lao worth a visit?

[Lusty]

No so much for whoring but general culture stuff as I'd probably take my own pooying with me as she's from Nong Kai and its just over the river.Is it expensive,food ok,safe etc?Thanx,Lusty.

[BaronTT]

Only been there once for a short visit, so I'm no expert.

 

 

 

But from what I saw, everything seemed OK, but a lot poorer than Northeastern Thailand.

 

 

 

 

[chilli13]

INMO VERY safe & inexpensive(food, drinks). pooying, hotels etc. may be more expensive than say pattaya...

[phoenix]

Food is good if you like issaan food, very simiular.

 

Guesthouses can be cheap, Hotels ok in US 25-40 range. (Vientiane)

 

Very laidback place. Some OK pubs, although only a few.

 

 

 

Go to Luang Phabang, great place.

 

 

 

Laos is one of my favorite places.

 

I'll be there myself in about 5 or 6 weeks.

[Redbaron]

Sounds good to me, I'll be there in early/mid November

[Hedonist]

Vientiane now has some nice places to spend the evenings. I particularly liked the Khop Jai Deu restaurant by Nam Phou. Also the Xaiyo, almost opposite the National Museum. At the latter they serve 1.3 litre jugs of Beer Lao for about 1 Dollar!!!

Hotels aren't such a good deal, I didn't find a cheap one that I liked.

If you take a pooying, she'll love shopping at the central market. Goods are generally cheaper than in Thailand and you can haggle in Kip, Baht or Dollars. Great fun.

A few hours on the bus gets you to VangVieng. Beautiful scenery with river and karst mountains. The road trip from here to Luang Prabang is quite long, but the mountain scenery is very enjoyable. There is also now a bus from Vang Vieng to the Plain of Jars. I didn't make that trip. I've heard that the Plain is, well, just rather plain!

I think nearly all locals understand Thai. Staff in Guest houses and restaurants sometimes speak English. I went with a pooying from Nakhon Phanom and she enjoyed it a lot. She could speak Lao, but couldn't read it. As she couldn't read English either I sometimes had to attempt to describe the restaurant menus.

Be aware that if you intend to stay in Laos more than one day, your Thai friend will need a passport and Lao visa.

[pattaya127]

Yes, if only for the change, as Vientiane has a feel different than the towns in Issan. Great old houses/villas that give it a 50s european feel, and they also have an "arc de triomphe" (but no Napoleon bas-reliefs). Stay at the Lao-Paris hotel, very central 15 or 20 $ with a balcony. And try the "vietnamese" sandwiches, on very crispy bread, in the shop next to the hotel

[Raven]

I was in Lao a couple of years ago. Did not find a sanuk scene, but I wasn't looking for one and I'm not sure I would have recognized it if I had seen one.

 

Outside of Vientiane, it is very cheap. I changed US$100 on the black market the first morning I got there. It was more than enough to last me a week. I ended up trading some of it for Thai baht at the tail end of the trip.

 

Up country, the going rate for a simple but clean and adequate room in a guest house was US $4 - $5 per night. And food, local transport, and beer is cheap as well.

 

People are friendly. A lot of folks commented that it felt like Thailand 20 years ago.

[Guest]

Definitely get to Luang Prabang before they ruin it. Very picturesque, laid-back, and some great boat excursions possible on the Mekong. Much easier to see the hilltribes from LP or Xieng Khuang than from a place like Chiang Mai. Luang Prabang is in danger of being overrun by too many visitors and made too touristy (a la Chiang Mai) because of Bangkok Airways and better road access.

[awayguy]

I just got back from a 3 day visa run in Vientiane.

 

Stayed at the Asian Pavillion Hotel which was guest friendly after I was friendly to the night staff (10,000 kip each).

 

Played pool and hung out with 5-6 girls and 1-2 katoeys (I wasn't sure about one of them), also a few local expats, at the Sam Lor Pub. You won't fall in love there. Prices are (in baht) 1,500 LT, 1,000 ST, or 500 for a katoey. They'll probably lend you the 500 if you don't have it.

 

Later action moves to the Chess Bar (also known as Blue Bar) which has a live band and is popular with local expats and their hangers on.

 

Future and Marina are both discos catering to the local market. There are some good-looking and available girls in these places, but many of them are sitting at tables with local guys who are their normal market. There are groups of girls alone, or you can try to pick one from a group and hope she's not with the heavy-looking guy in the back. Nearly all the girls are available, you just have to be a good communicator to get one.

 

Taxi drivers will try to take you to local brothels where you should pay 600-700 baht for younger girls. I didn't bother.

 

There are also some restaurants which have girlie hostesses. these girls will go with you or meet you after. I met both the girls I went with at these kind of paces.

 

As previous posters have said, Laos is NOT a Sanuk destination and I doubt you'll have any success unless you speak pretty good Thai (or Lao, of course). It is, however, good fun and friendly.