If you have a laptop there are internet cafes everywhere. Connection speed varies depending on the place, time of day, day of the week, and how many people are there. Genreally you want as few packpackers as possible because they'll kill your bandwidth with skype, webcams, youtube, etc. Prices range from $.40-$.60/hr. There are a handful of places I've found that are consistently reliable. The Lao version of Starbucks has wifi that be accessed at roughly $2/hr and is the most reliable (and by far most expensive) option.

Your options for at-home broadband are ADSL, Planet, and your cell phone. From what I remember, a 156k DSL line is about $250/month with a $100 installation fee. 256k is $350/month. Prices vary depending on speed and whether you're willing to share the line with others. Planet is the most reliable option; it uses a satellite dish in your yard to send and receive the web via microwaves. Prices start at $30/ month for .5 GIG TOTAL UPLOAD AND DOWNLOAD, $50 for 1 gig, and so on. Somewhat reasonable plans with unlimited access are available but you have to buy the equipment which starts at $1k. Finally, if you have the right cell phone, you can use it as a modem for something like $.10/minute. I don't know much about this. Oddly you can do this and use your Blackberry, but none of the phone companies offer voicemail.

There isn't much street food, at least compared to Thailand. When it exists, it's usually connected to a small restaurant. I eat cheap local food all the time and have never had any serious problems.

I have internet now that I pay $50/ month for. It's slow, but poker really doesn't require very fast connection, not much data is being sent back and forth. So for poker it works fine, although surfing and downloads is hell. Sometimes I get disconnected for a few minutes. that sucks . but not a big problem. Miss a few hands from some tourneys here and there, it's part of the charm of living here I guess

Managed to take down the $5 rebuy on stars for $7k like 2-3 weeks ago . so it does work.

Anyway, next week i will get this [censored] upgraded. the guy that set it up said i was gonna get 1mbit line. (which i have no idea what is but he said it was super fast) And yeah it is no cap on upload / download either. I have stuff on download while I'm not at home like episodes of high stakes poker etc . its slow but they get here eventually.

But yeah if super fast internet is the most important thing in ur life then no laos 4 u i guess.

ANyway I will give u an update when I get my upgrade

Peace

Hey,

For some crazy reasons i prefer not to explain I need to spend a few day out of thailand ( between dec 1 and 4-5 ).

Vientiane sounds pretty good, any tips on how to go there by train/bus from bangkok? Can I just go to Hualamphong and ask "vientiane"?

Is the visa cheaper if I take it in BKK?

There's a sleeper train to Nong Khai that's something like 600 baht for a 2nd class bed with air-con. You can get a VIP bus for about the same price and the seats are roughly equivalent to business class on an airplane. I actually prefered the bus because the ride was smoother and it was easier to sleep. From there it's something like $5 of tuk-tuks and busses to get to Vientane. Everyone else will be going there so just follow them. A step up from this would be flying domestic to Udan Thani and taking a shuttle to Vientiane.

I don't think the visa is less in bkk, it should be around $25 for you at the border.

Do you know any good food delivery restaurants?

Ive had loads and loads of pizzas and sandwiches from "Swedish Pizza % Baking House" , they are fast and the food is good. Their no. is 021-215705, remember they close early, around 8-9PM. Pizzas are 30-60k.

I definitely recommend Vang Vieng. Out of all the places I went in Laos (Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and a gibbon reserve in the jungle up north) it was my favorite place by far. Very small town and the only thing to do there is go drunk tubing down the river. The bars on the side of the river let you go off rope swings and high-dives as long as you buy a beer at their bars lol.

On a side note, here is a story about Marijuana and its legality. We rented bikes one day in Luang Prabang and rode them to some waterfalls where my friends lit up a small joint. A Lao cop came over and demanded $500 from each of my friends (3 total) and they negotiated it down to $500 total. The cop even let my friend take has motorbike back to our hotel so my friend could pick up the money lol. Other than that though, we never had any other problems really.

Reading this thread is making me really jealous and making me want to go back so bad. Have fun out there

You can order food from a couple restaurants (as well as groceries, booze, and office supplies) from http://www.shopping-d.com/ I know Xayoh delivers pizzas but they're terrible. Cote D'zore (sp?) has the best pizza I've tried here including the oddly delicious smoked salmon pizza.

I had a couple beers with ChromePony last night.

Is your preferred beer there Beerlao? What is your opinion of the drink lao lao?

Beerlao is the best beer in SE Asia and a damn good lager by any standards. When I come back in the new year I'm planning on getting a draft beer system set up in my house. Beerlao dark claims to be a lager but it's really more of an ale and is pretty mediocre as far as ales go. It's still very drinkable though. You can get German and Belgian beers in a few stores at $5-6/bottle. Next time I'm in Bangkok I'm going to pick up a few cases of good beer at Belgian Beer Paradise and bring them back here.

Lao lao is surprisingly drinkable for incredibly cheap booze (You can get a bottle for roughly $.70). If they had this in the US every college kid and wino would be drinking it instead of Banker's Club (or whatever your cheapest local brand is) vodka.

Roamer, I think Taj Mahal also delivers.

Wow, only had a quick look at the site but $3 for a carton of orange juice? The same one costs 18000 i believe in v-shop. do u order from them on a regular basis?

A small lol: the "KFC" which has nothing to do with the american franchise, uses the official KFC logo . Only in Laos.

I've never used the service but the prices seemed fairly reasonable when I browsed the site a few months ago. It seems like it would be useful if you don't have a care since it's tough to carry many items on a motorbike. Lao KFC is named that because it's on Kxxxxxxxx road but they're certainly not shy about associating themselves with the actual brand. The chicken is tasty but they only sell drumsticks.

Indeed.

Thanks for showing me around, Vientiane really doesn't have much to offer the casual tourist but its a nice little city, certainly can see how it might be fun and very chill to live there.

I've been traveling around Laos for a few weeks now and its one of my favorite countries so far. The people are just so genuinely friendly, actually far more so even in parts other than Vientiane, its much less overwhelmingly touristy than Thailand and everything is so so cheap. Strongly recommended location for a trip to anyone with a little travel experience.

bump-- any1 celebrating xmas in laos?

I'm actually staying here instead of going back to the US for christmas. I might go to Bangkok but I'm sure as hell not staying for New Year's.

Laos is the number one place to go in 2008 according to the New York Times.

i'm flying into vientiane late jan/early feb. who wants to get drunk, go to vang vieng, go tubing, and have a good time?

Excellent article on the Lao economy and emerging middle class.

I've starting working a Laos FAQ for people considering visiting or even living here. Once it's up, you guys who have visited can share your advice and experiences for the next version.

LOL, I feel you dog. Have you been to Vietnam though? The cyclo drivers and motorbike taxis are WORSE!

I was thinking about going next month for Tet but then I found out that everyone goes home to their villages so it wouldn't be as crazy as I thought it would be. Plus it's the same day as Chinese New Year so I'll still be able to have a good time here. I'm planning on visiting Vietnam in the next few months.

Random advice: if you come here for a visa run, get to the Thai embassy early, especially on a Monday. Also, even though they say you can pick up your passport starting at 1, you can actually show up at 12 when there's much less of a line.

Bonus picture of 1 million kip. Baller!

Have you considered living out the rest of your life in Laos? I'm very intrested
about your forums from over there. I currently live in the states, and just fed up with all the high prices and taxes, and not to metion all the murders and rapes that take place every day here.

Well I'm almost 25, so I can't really imagine spending the next 50-60 years here. There are going to be massive changes in the country during that time and no one knows what they're going to be. There are a lot of things I miss about the US. I guess it would be a possibility if I settled down, got married, and started a few businesses here.

If there's any kind of apocalyptic scenario, people here know how to grow food, raise livestock, weave baskets, etc. so I would be able to live a decent life while the rest of you guys reading this are starving to death

The more rural areas might be the place for you if you just want to disappear and live a quiet life.

2 million kip

pwnt

Thank you for your quick response to my question.

I'm in my early fortys and my financial goals have almost been met. I don't want to waste my money on overpriced real estate, and high taxes. After reading some reviews, Vietiane will be one of my places of possible retirement.

I have read other reviews about the Laotian people, and most of them seem to be friendly and helpful. I still smoke a little reefer here and there, and don't want to spend the rest of my life in a Thailand or Philippine prison, for smoking a little pot.

I live in Dallas Texas, and the crime rate is second to none. Dallas was ranked
as the most violent city in the U.S. a few months back. I refuse to watch the local news, I'm tired of hearing about all the murders, and the mothers and their daughters getting raped, and then having their brains blow out. Don't get me wrong, I'm still proud to be an American, but its not like it was when I was younger.

Peace..........Matthew

Did you meet any Hmong?