Lao Wrap-up

- have we mentioned the landscape? Lao is definitely one of the more beautiful countries when it comes to nature! Absolutely worth visiting!

- however, the cities - with the notable exception of Luang Prabang - lack any charm.

- everything in Lao is calmer and slower. Busses and boats leave when the driver can be bothered and not by the made up departure time on your ticket. Luckily, this also applies to the dogs! We hardly had any chasing or even just barking after us as it happened all the time in Cambodia.

- the culture is all about sharing. Beers aren't drunk from the bottle but shared with glasses, food is served one dish after the other because you are expected to share them anyways, bikes don't have a carrier but an extra seat in the back so you can give someone a lift etc.

- the Lao flag is displayed only in combination with the communist flag. Apparently this wasn't the case some years ago but we don't know what prompted the change.

- the bombs dropped onto Lao during the Vietnam war are often now used as decoration

- Lao was more expensive than we expected. The beer costs between 1 and 1,50 EUR, cheap accommodation between 5 in smaller villages and up to 17 in LP on New years and somehow they got the notion that every tuktuk ride should be 2 EUR per person which is grossly overpriced compared to other countries and due to the fact that they often have more than 2 passengers. Transportation was also more expensive than for example in Cambodia or Vietnam. It makes sense for a lot of products to be more expensive as Lao doesn't produce much themselves and has to import a lot processed goods from China or Thailand. But that doesn't apply for everything and especially not for tuktuk rides. There you just feel scammed every single time which takes a bit the fun out of it.

- but they do know how to make good baguette sandwiches! And in some expensive bakeries you can even get damn good croissants.

- street food is better than in Cambodia, but the cuisine overall is the least exciting so far. Which doesn't mean it is bad at all. It is still pretty good it just has to deal with fierce competition and the best is yet to come for us: ThailandRead more