Laos Activities
Vientiane
Vientiane has a few bars/clubs, but there's no shortage of places for a quiet Beerlao. In particular, the Mekong shoreline is packed with near-identical but pleasant bamboo-and-thatch beer gardens offering cold beer and spicy snacks. Recommendations:
Bor Pen Nyang, tel. +856-20-7873965. Breezy fourth-floor bar/restaurant which overlooks the Mekong. Live bands every night. Travellers, locals and ex-pats in seeming harmony. Claims the most extensive Fine Whisky Range in Laos and stocks a wide range of liquors, including absinthe on Thursdays.
Chicago Bar, just a block from the Mekong.
Jazzy-Brick, near Kop Chai Deu. The classiest and most expensive bar in town.
Samlor Pub, is the cheapest bar in town. Has pool table and shows sports. Also tends to stay open later than other bars listed here.
Kop Chai Deu, near the fountain. The name means "thank you very much", and despite the prices, this is usually the most active place is near the fountain until action moves on to one of the discos.
There are two clubs near the Novotel hotel:
DTech, in the hotel grounds. Mainly techno.
Future, just outside. 80s and 90s songs with a big video screen.
Note that everything is supposed to close down before midnight before the start of the unofficial curfew, although clubs generally stay open until 1-1.30am. The most notable exception is the extremely popular Don Chan Palace Hotel Nightclub which is open until 4am on the weekend. Now that the closing time is more strictly enforced (December 2006), the popularity of the bowling alley has increased again, as it is open and serving customers for 24 hours a day.
Huay Xai
Pay a visit to the market. The best time is early morning. To get there, follow the main road south along the Mekong. After passing a hill, there is a turn-off to the left, which you should follow until you reach the place.
On main street, there is the office of The Gibbon Experience. It's a forest conservation project that raises its funds through taking guests into the Bokeo Nature Reserve. Every other day there is a truck covering the 3.5 hours to the last village, where you start your hike to the project. Accommodation is provided in terrific treehouses which are constructed on giant trees over 40m high. To access the houses, you glide on a cable from the surrounding hill range. There is an extensive cable network being set up to explore the canopy, providing breathtaking views of the scenery.
There is not much nightlife in town. To have a beer, simply visit a restaurant or get your own stocks of Beerlao at one of the shops.
Luang Prabang
Riverboat trip to the Buddha Caves and Whisky Village - two hours northwest of the city, the Mekong passes by a series of caves set in limestone cliffs above the pale green water. The lowest and most accessible of these caves is a sacred place for the Lao. Whenever a Buddha statue becomes too old or damaged to venerate in a wat, it is placed in what is known as the Buddha cave. Inside, just out of the sunlight and stretching back into the darkness, are thousands of Buddha statues of every size and material. Some are no more than a few centimeters tall, others several feet high. The ones in the back are hardly recognizable as more than worn lumps of wood, but others retain their serenity and grace under flaking gold paint and a thick layer of dust. To get there either go by tuktuk or car or - more romantic - by boat. You can charter a whole boat (seats 6-8 persons) and the ride is 1 1/2 hrs to go and 1 hr to return. Stops on request at the Whisky Village (a bit of a tourist trap) and the village just opposite the caves.
Climb the Phou Si mountain and watch the sun set. 328 steps up. (You will not be alone at sunset, as this tends to be a bit of a back-packers haven at this time of day.)
Cooking class: one of the best way to experience the local food. The best bet is probably at the Three Elephants restaurant. The cost is same as other schools and offers a full day (10am to 5pm) including a visit to a vibrant local market, 2 teachers, well organized and equipped cooking stations (2 pax per stations, maximum of 12 pax per day), 6 dishes to cook and to enjoy (lunch and dinner), and a recipe book, with notions about local and essential ingredients.
There are a number of places to drink around Luang Prabang, although the club scene isn't really existent. "The Hive Bar" or the "Laos Beer Garden" are the places to go at night and to meet people, if everything closes (at about 12pm) you can go to the "Vietnam Bar". This is invariably reached by all the remaining people at The Hive and Laos Beer Garden clubbing together and getting one or two tuktuks together.
Luang Namtha
There are two main companies offering trekking to the hill tribes in the area, and it is illegal to take an unlicensed guide or to trek independently since tourist have gotten lost and have also offended the local people.
The Namtha tourism center (Namtha Eco Tours) offers up to four days trekking. Groups can be from 4-8 people and the cost per person drops the more participants there are. Other activities offered include kayaking. The Internet cafe just outside of the bus station has some information about treks going with this office.
Green discovery offers up to three days trekking trips, the price is a bit more expensive then in the tourist office. They also offer kayaking and other activities.
Three days trekking seems to be enough and four days might be too long. you can also take a tuk-tuk or bicycle and just go independently to some of the villages which are next to the roads and not in the jungle. You can rent really good mountain-bikes at a shop along the main road. They provide you with a not-to-scale map over villages and a nice waterfall. The surroundings are really pretty to cycle about in.
Muang Xay
The local Provincial Tourist Office (in Oudomxay City, or Muang Xay) has been offering since November 2006 some very nice hiking including nightstays in khamu family houses (not guest houses, as in other more touristy hike places, which makes the experience very special and intimate). Although not as colorful as other ethnic groups of Laos, the khamu people are very nice and happy to have foreigners visiting their villages.
Pakbeng
Find a bed, eat something and sleep before power gets off (10pm) ... and prepare for another day on the boat.
Pakse
There's not so much to do in Pakse but this is the base for travel to the Bolaven Plateau and Si Phan Don. It's possible to organize a day-trip to Wat Phu near Champasak, where you can also stay easily. Rent a motorbike and head east towards Pak Song (Paxxong). The ride is pretty, and there are heaps of waterfalls to stop by near Pak Song. Admission tends to be the same at every place.
Vang Vieng
Lao-style steam sauna.
Movies shown at a few restaurants.
Walk out to the nearby caves.
Lay by the river on plastic mats and drink Beer Lao.
Tubing down the river. Cost includes ride to start point. Dry bag extra. Some dry bags may not be of the best quality, often digital cameras get ruined by faulty dry bags rented to tourists, so beware and if in doubt, don't bring your camera. Many beer and other pit stops along the way. Also, try the diving stop.
Kayaking the river.
Playing on the swing down the river.
Go to an empty restaurant and get drunk on lao lao with the hosts.
3 km north of Vang Vieng, where the main tubing run commences, there's an organic farm. Here you can escape the town's derge, teach knowledge to village kids, build adobe buildings, learn/teach farming, eat some good quality food and stay a night, a week, a year...
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Laos Travel Information has been derived in part from ‘http://wikitravel.org/en/Laos’ and is based on work by Michael Skragge, ruben, Aparna T, Stephen Atkins, John Fremlin, Itamar Berman, yoni y, jan, nang, Ryan Holliday, Mat Connolley, Joey Sheung, Brian Hnatiak, Michele Ann Jenkins, Evan Prodromou, Paul N. Richter, Yann Forget, Colin Jensen and Peter Donaghy, Wikitravel user(s) Episteme, Jake73, Thaihans, Texugo, Tniehoff, WindHorse, InterLangBot, Nzpcmad, Ront, Nikita Borisov, Pjamescowie, Bijee, Nils and CIAWorldFactbook2002 and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel.
