Country Info
- Vientiane
- Capital
- Kip (LAK)
- Currency
- 5,635,967
- Population
- LA
- Country Code
Laos Slideshow
Travel Blogs from Lao Peoples Dem Rep
In The Tubing
This is a top pick! Vang Vieng, ahhh only a few hours from Vientiane so we got a more local style of bus than the king of bus, which was fine. V V itsself is a backpacker mecca, there are many many guesthouses, on the bus we met a guy who'd been before and he showed us ...
Monks, elephants and a midnight hike
This is a top pick! ... . The Kiwis were entertaining as most kiwis are. The guy had a way with alcohol and rapidly worked his way through a couple of Beer Lao. These bottles are half a liter each, so they add up quickly. After dinner we were up for a surprise. We had to walk ...
Rules of a Novice Monk
This is a top pick! ... in this entry are from our after breakfast walk, around the city. It ended up taking us 7 hours! A main food in the Lao diet is "sticky rice" which is cooked daily and then placed out in the sun to dry. It is then heated before serving in a ...
Getting friendly with Pakse
This is a top pick! ... bikes and get the boat to Champasak. We really enjoyed the homestay and the family were very nice, but it maybe wasn't the proper 'Lao' experience we thought it would be. Still, it was well worth it and we would recommend at least a visit to Don Deang ...
Hanging Out In Luang Prabang
This is a top pick! ... whole fish (25,000 kip ~ $3) and fill-your-plate buffet for 10,000 kip. Sylvia treated Jason to a bottle of Lao black ginger whiskey which tasted fine on another walk through the market, bumping into fellow travellers on the same trail. On the ...
Worst Luck
This is a top pick! "It's this whole other country" -- Forrest Gump Laos.... country number 16 on our fair trip around the world. Another language, currency, culture, horrible road network and method of going to the toilet. We left China first thing in the ...
Relaxing and Dolphins
This is a top pick! After relaxing in Vientiane we decided to chill out some more and head south to the islands of Si Phan Don – the southern most tip of Laos. The 2 reasons to come here are to do nothing and to see the Irrawaddy Dolphin's that are in the area between ...
Baguettes pushers at the bus station
This is a top pick! Decided to move onto Louang Phrabang seeing as we arrived so early in OuDam ...
Overnight bus heading to Hanoi
This is a top pick! En route to Hanoi on an overnight bus This has been the most uncomfortable overnight bus journey yet in Vietnam. Open Tour tickets are dirt cheap but you always end up paying in other ways. For instance, our bus is ram packed with people, including ...
Same Same...but Different
This is a top pick! ... city. As you walk along the streets lined with a colourful mix of crumbling French colonial architecture, guest houses, and poor Lao housing, you always see boys from ages six to fourteen walking along in their robes, shaved heads and school bags ...
Don Det to Vientiane - feeling very chilled out
This is a top pick! I hate to say this but another day (or this time two) of travelling was ahead of us. We left Don Det feeling very very chilled out and set off by boat to Nakasang (nearest harbour), then it was journey by mini bus to Pakse. We got to Pakse around 2pm ...
Getting to know Pakse
This is a top pick! ... ;because the only thing he sells here is coffee. And it is good coffee too. Mr Koffie is a dutch guy who came to Lao to buy some coffee, and ended up marrying into a Lao coffee producing family who have their own plantation. Coffee. Claire leaves Jo ...
Bribing your way to a Laos visa
This is a top pick! DOMINIQUE HERE: Day : 165 Temperature : 32 degrees Weather : Hot and humid and thundery evenings It's official. It is now possible to get a Laos visa on arrival from Cambodia…yay! We were picked up from our hotel along with Helen and Nick ...
As close to China as I'll get
This is a top pick! broke down ST ferried to town by James on bike Town deserted nice GH New GH party Chilled out Former CIA base Increased NGO activity next day to border football and ...
Laos, Buses and Vientiane
This is a top pick! ... and wildlife volunteering, sorry! So another day another bus and this was another record topper for bad. When booking the bus to Laos (Lao depending on where you look) we decided to pay the extra $5 for the better bus (as it's a 22 hour journey). We ...
Loas - The Land of a Million Elephants
This is a top pick! This week it rained ash on us as we travelled through Thailand and Laos. We have entered the pre-wet season for SE Asia and everyone is gearing up for the pouring rain. In addition to the Water Festival in Thailand (where you walk down the street and ...
You Lazy Laos
This is a top pick! ... "S" to the end and it stuck. It is still not the correct name of this country as you can see from its complete title, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic. I knew that we could get one at the border at immigration but the woman I was with didn't have a photo ...
Doi Suthep- Part X: The Power of Sangha
This is a top pick! When I was fifteen years old, I was a music geek. There. I admit it. During my first two years of high school, when I wasn't busy fending off the ravages of teenage acne or struggling in vain to figure out girls ...
Slow boat on the Mekong
This is a top pick! ... the now wide awake staff. Soon the engine is dead, and we are floating backwards down the river. With no means of communicating to the Lao staff, we all cross our fingers and hope that we dont end up back in Louang Prahbang. It turns out to be a temporary ...
South east asia's best preserved city
This is a top pick! Minivan there, nice scenery 6000 room (proved to be nicest in Laos) World heritage city first big city night market baguettes a plenty Waterfall temple on the hill Red ...
The Back of Beyond
This is a top pick! DOMINIQUE HERE : Day : 167 Temperature : 32 degrees Weather : Patchy clouds We left Don Khon at 10.45am with Helen and Nick after a leisurely breakfast and a rest in the hammocks again. Our journey took us back across the Mekong to the mainland where, ...
The Curious Things About Monks
This is a top pick! In Lao as in many Buddhist countries the majority of males will be ordained as monks. For most however monkhood is temporary and was never intended otherwise. Here in Luang Prabang you can't turn a corner without seeing a saffron robe under a matching ...
Who let the dogs out
This is a top pick! (First, I must explain that we didn't take any photo's of Savannakhet because we weren't there for very long, there was nothing very interesting to take a photo of, and we feared for our lives.) 22/10/2011 We get the midday bus and travel for a couple ...
Tha-khack
This is a top pick! ... means Claire has to walk for half an hour to try and find an ATM, and then jump in a Tuk Tuk (using her new Lao money speaking skills along with 'oooh Peeeng' meaning - expensive!) and finally the package is sent. We head into central Thakhek ...
I Was Not Murdered
This is a top pick! ... the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers and is surrounded by mountains. The town is filled with golden spired wats, traditional Lao and French colonial architecture, lovely river-lined restaurants below large trees lit by twinkling lights. It has made the journey ...
Extending the Excursion
This is a top pick! ... couldn't do it. I've met some wonderful people here as well. The other night I had a very swanky dinner at a French/Lao restaurant called L'Elephant with two American ex-pats who live in Taiwan. They own a large import/export business and were ...
Laos
This is a top pick! ... front of them was a table with some big jars. Inside each was a yellow liquid with lizards, cobras, scorpions and centipedes. Lao whiskey that had been curing for 10 months. And they were selling it! We realized that this is Lao ...
Here a bhudda there a bhudda
This is a top pick! Hey there, We ended up not staying the night in Pakse because the only buses we could get to Vientiene were night buses and we really didn't want to spend another full day there because it's not that interesting. This was a pain because we'd already ...