© Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd 312 Directory DIRECTORY DIRECTORY Accommodation prices listed in this book CONTENTS are high-season prices for rooms with at- tached bathroom, unless stated otherwise. Accommodation 312 An icon is included to indicate if air-con is Activities 314 available; otherwise, assume that a fan will Business Hours 315 be provided. Children 315 Climate Charts 316 Homestays Courses 317 Staying in a village home is becoming in- Customs 317 creasingly popular. Homestays are invariably Dangers & Annoyances 317 in rural areas, cheap at about US$5 for your Embassies & Consulates 318 bed, dinner and breakfast, and provide a Festivals & Events 319 chance for travellers to experience life, Lao Food 320 style. For an idea of what to expect, and what Gay & Lesbian Travellers 320 not to expect, see the boxed text, Feeling the Holidays 320 ‘Real Laos’, p 45 . Insurance 320 Internet Access 321 Legal Matters 321 PRACTICALITIES Maps 321 Money 322 The Vientiane Times (www.vientiane Photography & Video 323 times.org.la), published Monday to Post 324 Saturday, the country’s only English- Shopping 324 language newspaper, cleaves to the Solo Travellers 326 party line. Telephone 326 Francophones can read Le Rénovateur Time 327 (www.lerenovateur.org.la), a govern- Toilets 327 Tourist Information 327 ment mouthpiece similar to the Vien- Travellers with Disabilities 328 tiane Times. Visas 328 The LPDR’s single radio station, Lao Volunteering 329 National Radio (LNR; www.lnr.org.la), Women Travellers 330 broadcasts sanitised English-language Work 330 news twice daily. Short-wave radios can pick up BBC, ACCOMMODATION VOA, Radio Australia and Radio France The range and quality of accommodation in International. A good frequency for BBC Laos is rapidly improving. That said, once in the morning is 15360. you get off the beaten track (Vientiane, Lao National TV has two TV channels. Luang Prabang, Pakse and Vang Vieng) the Programming in Lao is limited so most options are more modest, typically restricted people watch Thai TV and/or karaoke to budget-priced guesthouses and hotels and videos. the occasional midrange offering. Paying in the requested currency is usually The LPDR uses 220V AC circuitry; power cheaper than letting the hotel or guesthouse outlets usually feature two-prong round convert the price into another currency using or flat sockets. their unfavourable (to you, at least) exchange The metric system is used for measure- rates. If the price is quoted in kip, you’ll do ments. Gold and silver are sometimes best to pay in kip; if priced in dollars, pay weighed in bàat (15g). in dollars. lonelyplanet.com DIRECTORY •• Accommodation 313 DIRECTORY DIRECTORY Guesthouses Hotels The distinction between ‘guesthouse’, ‘hotel’ Hotel rooms in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and ‘resort’ often exists in name only, but le- Vang Vieng, Savannakhet and Pakse offer gally speaking a guesthouse in Laos has fewer private bathrooms and fans as standard fea- than 16 rooms. They typically occupy large, tures for between about US$10 and US$20 per two-storey homes of recent vintage, but oc- night. There is then a vast range of rooms with casionally you’ll find them in more historic air-con, hot water and TV costing between and charismatic wooden homes. In places about US$15 and US$70, differentiated by such as Don Det (p 289 ) in southern Laos or their location, the city and the levels of style Muang Ngoi Neua (p 207 ) in northern Laos and service. you’ll come across guesthouses consisting of Small and medium-size hotels oriented simple bamboo-thatch huts with shared facili- towards Asian business and leisure travellers ties, going for as little as US$3 a night. and tour groups exist in the larger cities. In Facilities are improving across the country, Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Pakse these but the most inexpensive places might still may be housed in charming old French colo- have cold-water showers or simple Lao-style nial mansions. Whether modern or historic, bathing, where you wash yourself using a plas- tariffs at hotels such as these run from about tic bowl to scoop cold water from large jars, US$40 to US$100 for rooms with air-con, hot tanks or even 44-gallon drums. Hot water is water, TV and refrigerator. hardly a necessity in lowland Laos, but is very Then there are the few top-end hotels with welcome in the mountains. better decor, more facilities and personal- The price of simple rooms in most towns ised service, often occupying more carefully- averages between US$5 and US$8 a night with restored colonial villas or modern, purpose- shared bathroom. For an attached bathroom built buildings. These typically cost between and hot shower expect to pay about US$9 US$80 and US$200, occasionally even higher. to US$14; anything above this will usually What is common among all hotels in Laos also have air-conditioning and a TV, with is that the rooms are great value compared cable TV in English if you’re lucky. Some with what you’d pay at home. Solid midrange guesthouses have stepped up the style and places, that would cost US$80 or more at offer upscale rooms for between about US$15 home, can be had for US$20 or US$40. And at and US$30. the top-end boutique luxury, that would cost ROOM RATES In this guide all accommodation is listed by price order, starting at the cheapest, not in order of preference. We have divided accommodation by the price of a double room thus: Budget less than US$20 Midrange US$20-80 Top end more than US$80. The overall quality of rooms in Laos has improved substantially in recent years but prices remain remarkably reasonable. By Western standards, they’re a bargain. It’s worth remembering this if you’re trying to bargain the price down, particularly at the budget end where competition is fierce and margins are small. For example, the farmers flogging bamboo bungalows on Don Det aren’t making any money on their US$2 rooms, they’re just hoping you’ll buy some food and beer. Taking this into con- sideration, as well as the fact that international economic imperatives like inflation and the price of oil affect Laos as much as they do prices in your own country, it’s important to understand that room rates may go up during the life of this book. When that happens, please don’t just assume you’re being ripped off. By all means try to get the best rate you can; that’s part of travelling. But be aware of the cultural context. Generally speaking, the Lao avoid conflict as much as they possibly can and while they are happy to bargain a little, they don’t usually buy into protracted negotiations or arguments over price. If the rate seems unfair to you (as opposed to being beyond your budget) by all means make a counter offer. This will usually be accepted, or not, straight away. 314 DIRECTORY •• Activities lonelyplanet.com two or three times as much in Europe, North are particularly recommended because they America or Australia, can be had for US$80. see so little boat traffic and run through The trade-off, however, is in the service. spectacularly rugged limestone country. In Few hotels in Laos have managed to hone particular the Nam Kading and Nam Hin Bun DIRECTORY DIRECTORY their service to Western standards, and are wide and relatively clean rivers, though English literacy is often frustratingly poor, a proposed dam on the Nam Kading might even in the more expensive hotels. So prepare change things there. Upstream put-in spots for lower standards of service than you’re are limited but possible. If you’d prefer some- used to and you’ll be more likely to have a one else looks after the logistics, Green Discovery good time. (www.greendiscoverylaos.com) offers rafting and kay- aking trips in this area. Resorts The term ‘resort’ in the Lao context may be Cycling used for any accommodation situated outside The overall lack of vehicular traffic makes towns or cities. It does not imply, as it usually cycling an attractive proposition in Laos, al- does in many other countries, the availability though this is somewhat offset by the general of sports activities, spa and so on. absence of roads in the first place. Bikes can Lao resorts typically cost about the same be hired in the larger towns but they’re gener- as a midrange hotel, ie from about US$15 to ally cheap Chinese affairs unsuited to much US$70 a night. A few, such as those outside more than pedalling around town. For any Luang Prabang, come closer to the interna- serious out-of-town cycling you’re better off tional idea of a resort, with prices to match. bringing your own bike, one that’s geared to rough road conditions. ACTIVITIES In terms of road gradient and availability Boating of food and accommodation, the easiest long- With only a handful of public riverboat routes distance ride is along Rte 13, which extends still running (p 142 ), do-it-yourself boating the entire north–south length of the country is increasingly the way to see the more re- from Boten on the Chinese–Lao border to mote corners of Laos. Rafting, canoeing and Nong Khiang on the Cambodian border. In kayaking trips are all available, with varying the dry season this road may become very degrees of comfort and cost. Operators in dusty even in paved sections, and trucks can Luang Namtha, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, be a nuisance – though they're nowhere near Tha Khaek, Pakse and Don Det offer guided as overwhelming as in Vietnam or Thailand.