The Scruffy Shoe Diaries THE SECOND HAND CITY

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Disadvantages: See Opinion

.... ************************************ For a change, the Scruffy Shoe Diaries leaves the comfort of the bosom of Mother Europe and heads East. Here are some impressions after a few days spent in Vientiane (Vieng Chan), the capital city of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, January, 1999. The cast list: self, inevitable travelling companion: Adrian Dowd, additional amigo: "Postie" Colin Smith. ************************************ GEOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING, Laos (pronounced L'au as opposed to Lay-oss) is a curiously shaped country sandwiched in-between Thailand to the West and Vietnam to the East. To the south is Cambodia and to the North, Myanmar (or Burma if you prefer) and the Yunnan province of China. It's capital city, Vientiane, sits on the Eastern bank of the wide and mighty Mekong River. On the opposite shore lies North Eastern Thailand and it is from this direction that...

Paiceyjohn 28.05.2002 (16.10.2002) · Read review
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Review of Vientiane (Laos)

Ever heard of Laos. Thought not.

Advantages: The most beautiful place in the world and no Americans
Disadvantages: Don't expect the luxuries you are aquatinted with

...I am somewhat reluctant to tell you about Laos, I fear that if too many of you go you will spoil it when I next go :). Self interest aside, Laos is the most beautiful place in the world that I have visited with the worlds most hospitable and friendly people. It is a communist state (don’t let that put you off) land locked located between Thailand, Burma, Vietnam and China. It is estimated that 70% of the worlds illicit opium comes from Laos, something you are reminded of late in the evenings as a strange smell wafts under the door. I travelled all the way through Laos before entering China at the north, the best way to enter Laos is from Thailand and travel to the capital, Vientiane. This is lovely small capital city, the colonial influence is quite apparent with shutters on the windows, it is a relic from c.1920. After...

jezeres 29.06.2001 (15.07.2001) · Read review
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Review of General: Laos

My favourite country in SEA is Laos

Advantages: Friendly people, Very cheap to travel and great scenery
Disadvantages: Too many drugs

...I personally loved Laos and want to go back at some point in the future. I travelled from Thailand up to Vientianne, onto Vang Vieng and then up to Luang Prubang before going further north into China. As soon as i arrived in the country I like it. The people were friendly and always willing to help you. Crime is not a problem, one reason many people think is because they people are too lazy. In a travel magazine I picked up in Asia it mentioned Loas crime and actually said 'Laos is safe. There is no need to worry as the locals are too lazy to bother taking up crime'. And this generally does sum up the country. In recent months there has been some shooting regarding opium, but this is strictly involving the locals and tourists and travellers are not directly targetted in any way. The drugs are the only dissadvatage I can think...

bmassen 24.05.2003 · Read review
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Review of General: Laos

Relax and dicover the local community

Advantages: Scenic location, enjoy the local surrondings
Disadvantages: Food.

...I arrived excitedly in Laos at Vientiane airport from Hanoi to stay in this Eco-lodge resort just outside the capital. We spotted this place on the hostelworld website but choose to book directly with the resort as getting to the resort is a bit tricky. There is a local bus service which runs daily, However we preferred to arrange with the Eco-lodge to get collected from the airport for a small fee of $10. Arrival at the airport was easy and as with many of the south Asian countries you can get the required visa when you turn up to enter the country. The visa does require a picture, but we forgot that we had packed ours in the main language so got fined a whopping $1! Anyway after making our way through the easy immigration checks we had a friendly driver waiting for us and he drove us for about half an hour away from the capital to...

mtpatton 20.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Rivertime Resort & Ecolodge, Vientiane

Laos LP - usefull to an extent

Advantages: Deciding where to go
Disadvantages: Decing what to do when you get to these places

...I used the Laos Lonely Planet and found my way around the country and had a fab time (see my review on Laos). As any guide book, you can only use them as a guide. I know this may sound obvious, but what I mean is that you cannot follow them religously like I see many travellers doing. I used the Laos Lonely Planet to decide the towns and cities to visit, and the basic attractions and activities in each place. From then on I spoke with other poeple, both locals and other travellers to find out what to do, where to go and when to do it. This proved to be far better and more reliable guide than the actual books as alot of the information tends to be out of date ion the books, stating wrong times, place and prices. I have staggered along with my rucksack on various occassions to the 'reccommended hotel' in the guide book, only to...

bmassen 24.05.2003 · Read review
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Review of Lonely Planet Laos - Lonely Planet

Give me more noddle soup

Advantages: everything
Disadvantages: none

...Luang Prabang is situated in the heart of Laos and one of the Highlights of the country. It is not only all the temples, the delicious food or the night market, no, it is this feeling you'll get when you arrive. You'll feel welcome and at home. Most people stayed a lot longer than they planed! Including me of course, I wanted to stay for two nights and stayed for over a month! ---------------------------------------------- How to get there? Luang Prabang is a town in the north-centre region of Laos. If you arrive in Vientiane you can get a bus to Luang Prabang, it takes about 10 to 12 hours and you have the choice between a local bus (110000kip) and a VIP bus (160000kip). You can get the ticket with a travel agent or just go to the bus station. Buses leave several times in the morning and again a night bus in the afternoon. You need...

sun-is-shining 01.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Luang Prabang (Laos)

Don't expect too much help

Advantages: good overview over the main attractions
Disadvantages: bus times and prices inaccurate

...and a food guide with Laotian script. The best food is found in Luang Prabang - don't miss the laap with sticky rice and BeerLao! The Lonely Planet Laos is divided into the following chapters organised by geographical area. The chapters are easy to understand and but not well structured as they try to cover too big areas. They all share the same with practical and historical information at the beginning as well as the highlights of the region. This is followed by Accommodation, City and surroundings and how to get there and how to get away. The only exception of this is Vientiane, they don't bother mentioning that it's next to impossible finding a cheap GH during high season (which is rather unique in Laos) - Vientiane & Around - Northern Laos - Central Laos - Southern Laos - Directory with useful A-Z guide from accommodation over scams to...

sun-is-shining 17.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Lonely Planet Laos - Lonely Planet

Jars on a plain

Advantages: great place to visit
Disadvantages: getting around is not so easy

...The 'plain of jars' is one of the must sees in Asia - similar to Stonehenge and the figures on the Easter Island nobody knows the origins of these small to big stone jars. They are located close to Phonsavan in the north-east of Laos close to the vietnamese border. Phonsavan is easily accessible from all major cities. You can go by local bus or by minibus - Local bus from Luang Prabang was 50000kip and the minibus was 85000kip. There are 3 jar-sites whereby Site was is the most easily reachable. You have 3 ways to visit the sites: - by tour: every GH will offer you tours. Expect to pay 80000 for Site 1 and 150000 for all 3 Sites. I found that the tour was overly rushed and you didn't have enough time to see this impressive place. - go with a TukTuk: Find a TukTuk driver to take you. It will be a lot cheaper than with the tour and you...

sun-is-shining 01.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Plain of Jars (Laos)

Rivertime Resort - a very special place!

Advantages: A real experience of Lao culture and nature
Disadvantages: 40 minutes from Vientiane capital

...We live in Laos and stay at Rivertime Resort and Ecolodge often. The resort has one very thorough and positive review here so I won't go over the observations made there since they cover the place pretty well. However, there are a few additional points to make in addition to the previous review. Mainly, that the resort does have en-suite bathrooms and hot water showers in all of its private lodges. We found the food to be excellent and the staff extremely friendly and helpful, especially with our kids. An additional bonus is the many activities offered by the resort such as the floating swimming pool, Lao massages, riverboat trips, bicycles, local village tours, etc.. What we especially enjoyed was the 'forest footpath'. This is a 20-minute walk through the forest and is actually in the grounds of the resort. The footpath...

philiplaos 02.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Rivertime Resort & Ecolodge, Vientiane

Personally my favourite place to be in Asia, if not the world!

Advantages: Friendliest city you'll ever go to, amazing food, beautiful scenary, plenty to do..
Disadvantages: None I can think of other than you will be unable to leave and your initinery will become void!

...Luang Prabang is very special. Yes, it's touristy as hell! Yes, accommodation is getting expensive by Laotion standards. But don't let that put you off! For a start, there is a budget quarter of the city located down a series of extremely charming alleyways run by Lao families. It has bucket loads of character and the guesthouses here are legendary for there warm friendly welcomes and smiles. So that solves the problem of expensive accommodation prices! It's about 7-10$ or a decent single room. I have to recommend you stay at Oudomphone Guesthouse, as this is undoubtedly the best guesthouse in South-East Asia possibly the world! It was one of the first guesthouses to open up in the budget district and has set the bench mark for all the other guetshouses. It is run by the sweetest family you'll ever meet and has bonuses like free...

Pablo_Sevilla 28.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Luang Prabang (Laos)