Life in Laos

We’re currently stuck over what to do with our remaining time (and money). There’s so many things we can do in Luang Prabang: cooking classes, trekking, weaving classes, elephant trekking, elephant trainer courses, etc. Luckily, we can stay here for as long as we like, and actually it’s more cost effective if we do (since we have to go to Thailand next). Here’s a sample of our daily costs…

Breakfast (eggs, sausages, coffee, toast etc.) = $6 US

Lunch (sandwich from a food cart, or maybe some noodles) = $2

Dinner (two Lao dishes and sticky rice, or maybe a pizza and salad, beer and drinks) = $10

Guesthouse accomodation (hot water, attatched bathroom, fan, good location, decent bed) = $8

Total cost = $26 for TWO people ($13 a person)

And we’re also living very, very comfortably. We’re not includng the one-hour massages for $4, or the silver jewelry for $3. If we were willing to forgo hot water and our own bathroom, and if we ate like a locals every meal, our costs drop to under $10 a day. Quite frankly though, the prices could be 4x higher and I’d still love it here. It’s not about the costs at all, really, though that does allow us to stay here longer. What we love is the atmosphere and the people.

There’s none of that hustle-and-bustle that you see in Thailand or Vietnam, very few of the jaded faces, none of the obvious hatred to tourists you see in those countries (and is pretty deserved, honestly). I think they’ve learned the lessons of Vietnam, which sadly was one of the most unpleasant places we went to. Prostitution is illegal here, and foreigners cannot have sexual relations with Lao people unless they’re married. This also makes the atmosphere much nicer for me, since no one immediately assumes that since I’m with a white guy, I’m a prostitute. It also means there’s fewer nasty old sex-tourist men, and since all establishments must close by 11:30pm and there’s a 12am curfew, it also means Laos isn’t party central so you get fewer obnoxious jerks on their gap year.

There’s so many commendable fair trade shops and treks, lots of eco-tourism, and programs to ensure tourists behave themselves around the Lao people. It’s a wonderful effort and I’m really hoping the next time I can make it out here nothing much has changed except to clean up the countryside and raise more people out of poverty, because I’m positive we’ll come back, but next time we’ll bring friends.