Anyone been to Laos?

[v15ben]

I'm heading there in August for a few days and have some questions!

I'm flying Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to Vientiane and plan 2 nights there, an early morning flight to Luang Prabang then 3 days there and fly back to Vientiane. Next up take the overnight train that night to Bangkok for my flight out to South Korea the next evening.

How does the itinerary sound? A bit rushed for such a relaxed country or just right? Any recommendations in each city?

Also I want to explore a little bit north of Luang Prabang by bike as it looks amazing! Is it easy enough to hire bikes like it is in Vietnam and Thailand?

[Mr Darcy]

I hired a Baja 250 in vientianne and rode it up to Luang Prabang cost me about $100 for a week. Its a doddle to do. They might ask you to zoom around the car park for a minute to make sure you aren't a muppet but apart from that they are pretty laxed about the whole thing. The roads can be a bit hairy in places but pass through some of the most spectacular countryside I have ever seen. Don't let the villages walking around the road with shot guns and AK47s worry you though they are just out hunting though what you hunt with a AK I never worked out. As for Luang Prabang 3 days is a bit to much. There are plenty of temples and a waterfall to see plus a lovely little night market and not fogetting that whole area is a World Heritage site. In general you will love laos, the people are friendly and pretty laid back. Tuk Tuk drivers can be seen regulalry crashed out in the back of their Tuks Tuks surrounded by bottle of beer laos (Lovely stuff) and have no qualms whatsoever driving you around a bit pissed (they also try to sell you weed if your into that kind of thing). Its really cheap as well think I spent about 250GBP in a month and that includes petrol, bike rental and plenty of beer.

Vientianne is OK with lots of open swers and is generally full of expats that cross over on a visa run from thailand (most of which are "that" kind of expat if you know what I mean). Plenty to see, lots of good resturants and you just have to try the make your own soup thingy that they do; you get all the ingredients and a big pot on your table and just make it up as you go along, great fun.

Shame you don't have time to go to the thousands islands espeically don det. Every room is or was 1USD for the night, beer is dirt cheap, no leccy from 6PM onwards, hammocks everywhere and you can walk round it in about 5 minutes. Superb for place for relaxing,chilling and general debouchery.

Oh and you must try lao lao. A clear liquid that could be used for stripping paint but is usually bottled and drank.

Have fun.

[Jackleman]

I spent a few weeks there as part of a much bigger trip that I took over the winter including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Oz.

Laos is an amazing country, the people are SO relaxed! I took the slow boat down the Mekong River from the top of the country down to Luang Prebang, this city is simply beautiful. Great food and drinking to be had here. I then went to the insane party village if Vang Vieng for some "Tubing" action before getting in to the capital of Vientiane, this place was a little dull compared to the rest but I was only there for two days.