Korean Job Discussion Forums

jonbowman88 · Joined: 20 Jan 2009 Location: gwangju, s korea

My wife and I will be going to Laos at the end of February and wanted to ask a few quick questions.

How long would you stay? Will we get bored if we stay 2 weeks? Is there plenty of stuff to see/do?

How much luggage should u pack? Since we don't want to stay in one spot.

Is it stupid to just stay in Laos, or would you hop over to Thailand as well?

Thanks in advance.

littlelisa · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Location: Seoul

No, you will not get bored in two weeks. I went for one week and wished I stayed there longer. I started in Luang Prabang and went up to Nong Kiaw and Muang Ngoi. Laos is so easy to travel around, it was great! Have a great trip.

jonbowman88 · Joined: 20 Jan 2009 Location: gwangju, s korea

Oh one more thing do you usually book places to stay or do you just wing it once your there? thanks

littlelisa · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Location: Seoul

I winged it. I guess it depends on what you're like as a tourist. I HATE booking things in advance.

Drew345 · Joined: 24 May 2005

Laos is great; I'm going for new year.
For 2 weeks there, you need to be a serious "chill-out" couple. It is not about the excitement there, it is more about taking it easy.
There is a distinct North Laos Circuit and South Laos Circuit. In two weeks, you have enough time to see it all if you want. North Laos has more sites; South Laos is the more "chilled" of the two.
You can see info about the North Laos and South Laos and how long to spend on each at this website: http://passplanet.com/laos/index.htm
If you want to add a bit of Thailand to your trip, you can do this:
Fly Bangkok to Chaing Rai.
Take a boat from Chaing Rai province to Luang Prabang.
Bus Luang Prabang to Vang Vien.
Bus on to Vientienne.
Cross into Thailand at Nong Khai.
Fly back from Udon Thani (near Nong Khai) to Bangkok.

In that way you can make a loop and see all the highlight spots.
Or there is nothing wrong with spending all the time in Laos and going to the places that the previous poster mentioned.

When I first went to Laos I was a bit turned off with bus schedules like:
Departure Time: today
Next Bus: tomorrow

But I went back last year (to South Laos) and now there are tourist minibuses that keep schedules, so getting around is less frustrating.

Have a great trip!

Capo · Joined: 09 Sep 2007

I did chaing Rai crossing to Luang prabang a couple of years ago, takes 2 days by boat. You stop in pak beng over night, nothing to do there but sleep, I got a nice room for $2 with AC to boot, but since the don't have wired electricity it was pretty useless as the generators shut down at 10 pm. Luang Probang is cool town, but apparently tourism has killed alot of its charm.

from there i went to vang viene, where u can float down the river in tubes and go bar hopping....watch out for the Lao Lao! that stuff is rocket fuel or something and tastes foul! 80% mind you. You can also lay back in the bar on the street watching movies all day and night if u wish. Nice place to chill out for a couple of days. When you plan on moving on, you should book the bus in plenty of time and get the VIP bus! It was fully booked when I wanted to move on and had to take local bus which stopped every where to cram as many people in as they could, at first it wasn't too bad I sat on a rice sack in the isle, but then as more people got on I was taking up too much valuable standing room so I was told to share a seat with a young couple and had to spend the next 3 hours squatting with one butt cheek on the seat and one off, not comfortable!

Vientienne.....Don't go if you can avoid it, its a poo hole and has the most aggressive tuk tuk drivers in S E Asia. I stayed one night and left. If you have to go there to get somewhere else just leave the same day you arrive. The only good memory I have of the place was smoking some good skunk with some french residents there.

In the deep south the have the four thousand islands in the mekong river, the place to go is Don Deht, there are some things to do there, mainly its good for relaxing in a hammock, getting high, reading and drinking happy shakes and such stuff. But I do recomend borrowing a bike and cycling around the island.

From then on I moved into Cambodia.

To give you an idea about how undeveloped Laos is I will show you a picture of the Loas side of the Cambodia border crossing

http://img3.travelblog.org/Photos/33839/170158/f/1249702-The-Laos--Cambodian-Boarder-0.jpg

Sorry I couldn't get it to inbed, so will just have to copy and paste.

bixlerscott · Joined: 27 Sep 2006 Location: Near Wonju, South Korea

I went last February to Thailand and Laos. Laos is more expensive of the two, but not so aggressive whatsoever in their sales tactics nor as expensive as a Western country can be. The market place in Luang Prabang closes at an early 9 or 10pm, but you can shop in peace though it's the communist law that keeps the peace. I thought Laos was chill, but didn't like being questioned until proven innocent at the Luang Prabang airport on my way out. Where did you go while in our country? What places did you stay at? Did you do any illegal drugs? Did you pay all your bills? What did you buy? Where did you stay last night? The officer called the place I had been staying at to check if there were any issues as I stood there waiting to pass GO.

It was tense waiting to board the flight an hour later than scheduled as they called passengers seemingly random one at a time to report to the police/immigration desk. I didn't like being policed so hard though this is only on your way out of the country. It felt really good when that plane crossed into Thailand as I don't like communists.

PIGFACESOUPWITHRICE · Joined: 17 Nov 2009 Location: Electron Cloud

Wow, Laos sounds so cool! Have a great trip!

Murakano · Joined: 10 Sep 2009

steveinincheon · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Location: in The Shadows of Gyeyangsan

Spend 2 weeks in Laos definitely. I spent nearly 2 weeks there this past August, and never even made it to the North. Ditch the tourist buses and take the local chicken buses instead. Please throw your watch or any notion of a schedule away before doing this though. Just stop in little villages along the way, order chicken, and wait for 3 hours while they go find, slaughter and clean the chicken. If you want to do more touristy things though, there is tons to see with mountains in the North, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane, Savannakhet, Pakse, 4000 Islands and the Bolaven plateau. There is eco-trekking in Southern Laos near Savannakhet, if that appeals to you, that is still relatively undiscovered and free from the aggressive hill tribe hell you get in Northern Thailand. Whatever you do, do not try to rush when you are there. Laos is a very laid back, slow pace country and a couple weeks there will completely eliminate any sense of Palli Palli you may have picked up while living in Korea.

Natalie · Joined: 16 Apr 2007

jonbowman88 · Joined: 20 Jan 2009 Location: gwangju, s korea

Thanks for all your responses

cangel · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Location: Jeonju, S. Korea

My buddy and I flew from Hanoi to Luang Prabang and then on to Vietianne. Luang Prabang is almost Bohemian in feel. It's a great place to kick off your shoes, relax, and soak up the atmosphere. Rent some bicycles and ride around the area for some added fun. Also, the roast chicken on the split-bamboo holders, down a little food stall/eating alley, are awesome. Additionally, the chicken baguettes are cheap and delicious.

Vietianne is a much bigger, dirtier, noisier city but still has a lot to offer. Keep in mind that everything in Vientianne closes early so plan accordingly. I'd recommend renting scooters and crusing around the city. Good times. Make sure to check out the former 2nd largets city in Laos aka Air America's base... Cool history.

Oh, cool down with some Dairy Queen inside the Vientianne airport...

Enjoy!