Why Laos

Imagine a place with pristine landscapes where tigers and leopards still live. Where people never beg for money and have an easy smile. Where time has little meaning. Where you may still feel as if you are discovering something. A place that will trigger people to ask you questions when you come back and tell them about it. This is Laos.
One needs to know at the same time, this is not the easiest choice to start your travels in Southeastern Asia. There are no direct flights to Laos from France or Belgium. Travelling takes a frustratingly long time and flying is blacklisted. And you may experience on your skin the results of the meaningless of time more than once while in Laos: I cannot count the times I had to leave a restaurant when after more than half an hour I was left unattended, while over-young waiters and waitresses kept busy looking their TV-sized mobile phones instead of doing their job. But everything comes with a price and Laos will pay you much more back than you can ever give it, with its beauty and nice people, the scenery and the monuments, the exquisite eating…
So here are a few tips before you set off to discover Laos:

Electricity:
You do not need adaptors or transformers. Your apparatus will charge alright, although our Western European plugs will wobble in the sockets. So be sure it is charging!

WiFi
Globally OK; available but invariably slow

Water
Dirty, use bottle water

Health
Bring an extra suitcase with everything you can stuff inside… No compulsory vaccines, but in my opinion you need the trio (polio, diphtheria, tetanus) plus Hepatite A vaccine. Hepatite B would be useful, but is accused of doing more harm than good, so there you go. As for malaria, yes, there is malaria and you need protection. It is said that sickle cell anaemia (thalassemia) may partly protect you from the disease, and I have been counting on that all these years… You can get a plethora of other deadly diseases, but you need not make an obsession of it if you are just a little lucky and careful.

Phone
It works, but don’t even think of roaming…

Night scene
Not lots of it. Prostitution is illegal, as are drugs of any sort. Plain-clothes policemen are ubiquitous; don’t put your parents in that awful position of the long-distance call…

Money
Kip. As chicken in Dutch. My one and only advice is, get rid of it before you leave, or you will have to use it to light your cigars… I lost a lot of money because my LP guide does not make any mention of it.

Food
Spicy but clean. This is not India and if you are reasonably careful you will be able to eat almost anywhere, even on the street.

Time
Irrelevant. More than once I thought of the lyrics of the song Time (fritter and waste the hours in an
off-hand way) song, by Pink Floyd, while waiting to be served or helped. So be zen, and try not to forget how bloody everyone seems to be in a hurry in our societies, and how nice is to meet these guys in your everyday life, starting immediately after this trip…

Enjoy the trip, and my pics!

Click at the destinations on the column left.