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If there is one country in the world that has become associated in my mind with "backpacking", it's Laos. It seems like the archetypal "backpacker" destination from the volume of talk about it and the raves it gets. But I'm curious: Why is Laos so big with the budget travel crowd? Is it because it's cheap? Because of easily available narcotics II don't know if this is the case)? Laid-back? Somebody please inform me.

i'm not sure but maybe one reason is that it's not a typical holiday place to visit. You wouldn't go round the world for a week in laos but at the same time if you're in the region you wouldn't want to miss it because most people wouldn't have any real idea what it's like. So it's a bit of a step in the unknown. I think thats one of the essences of backpacking is making the unknown known to you.
Maybe i'm just speaking rubbish.

It is not because of the availability of cheap narcotics (though that is a big plus), but more so because it is cheap, exotic, not (yet) overrun with tourists and, until recently, it was, for all practical purposes, closed to us.

One is is a beautiful country. Beerlaos is very good and cheap. The people are super friendly. You can't hardly pass a local without them saying hi. At the same time they are super laid back, after they say hi that is it. No pushy come stay here, take this tour, give me money. The only downside is you only get 30 day visas and it costs $20 or $30 for the visa. I never got past Luang Prabang to the the north, but loved all the places I did go.

Beautiful country, very friendly people, cheap, lack of package tourists, a lot less developed than most of it's neighbours which adds to the mystery and sense of adventure, and yes, very cheap drugs.

Why are drugs such a big pull? Are they really that popular among backpackers?

Packed solid with pack packers - all doing a standard route. Getting the boat down the river, being over changed in LP, getting high and floating down a river in VV and and thinking the whole place is amaaaazing.

Of course when you're high/drunk you don't notice how dirty the place is, how prices are put up on the spot if the 'friendly' locals think they can get away with it. How nasty a lot of the roads are, how surly some of the guesthouse staff are.... I could go on, but for me if you like mixing with high teens and wanna-be-teens, then it's a wonderful place, for me, I wouldn't go back.

Wow, I'm judgmental - I thought travelling was meant to open your mind - boo! I missed that part!

One thing I really liked about the place was that there was nothing to buy outside of basic necessities. I can't stand shopping and my partner at the time really enjoyed it, so we tended to spend more time in shops than I would have liked (e.g., we had a real clash of interests in Singapore). In Laos, however, it seemed that if you didn't want a hammock or a Lao PDR t-short, there was nothing to spend money on.

I'd heard about cheap drugs, and kept an eye out for them (actually not for drugs in general -- I'm not interested in anything other than cannabis) but didn't see any except in the chicken soup, and being vegetarian, that didn't do much for me...

What I really liked about Laos was how laid back and beautiful it was. It reminded me of what I thought Thailand might have been like 100 years ago. I half expected to see elves or fairies come out of the woods

Dharker- You sound like my kind of traveller. I know its ment to open your mind but somehow it just makes me hate everybody and want to go home and hide out in my room.

Where next tho....thats the question.

quote:

Originally posted by Haci Richard:
What I really liked about Laos was how laid back and beautiful it was. It reminded me of what I thought Thailand might have been like 100 years ago. I half expected to see elves or fairies come out of the woods

I found Laos to be lovely as well...but only away from those wanna be teenagers. In the 4 weeks I spent there I did have to hit those spots where people watched Freinds re-runs and drank happy shakes.while they were doing that I was hiking and caving in the area. Away from the happy pizzas I found Laos to be very scenic and friendly.

I was there in the monsoon season and there was something very romantic about the chilly foggy hills in those days. Just wish I could have had hot water to shower.

quote:

Originally posted by static:
It is not because of the availability of cheap narcotics (though that is a big plus), but more so because it is cheap, exotic, not (yet) overrun with tourists and, until recently, it was, for all practical purposes, closed to us.

Yup. Traveling in Laos is cool for the same reason traveling in Bosnia is cool: It's cheap, exotic, and sounds daring to all your friends and family.

I'm told that with the right dosage of said narcotics, fairies and elves do come out of the woods.

Capturing them is not only a way to have some good, clean fun but you can also redeem them for currency with Loatian officials.

I loved Laos and I'm not a "backpacker."

Laos is great because it's cheap, beautiful, sleepy and generally free of the mega-souvenir roads/malls.

how many people do you know have been to laos?

But the real reason is when people backpack through SEA, Laos is just one of the countries you go to, its part of that prototypical loop that I have spit out about 50 times when people ask about how to travel through SEA without reading the other 500 posts about it...its cheap, its a very beautiful country, a hidden gem if you may...us backpackers are such a small percentage of the population, i'll be more concerned when it is traveled through more mainstream...

it is also really slow paced and laid back...its great

For a minute in Laos I actually started to believe that I was going to be pulled out of my bus and shot on site.

Then I realized that the woman carrying an Ak47 and walking towards our bus was a tour guide(not really). In the next minute when I heard an explosion and could actually smell the Dynamite or whatever explosive was used I started to wonder what the eff I had just gotten myself and my girlfriend into.

After a couple of tense minutes the bus started to move again we, read only four westerners on the bus, saw what everyone else had understood... There was a big freakin rock in the middle of the only road in the mountains and it had to get blasted so the bus could get by.

After I started to breath again I realized how beautiful and untouched Laos really is. You will only see places like that once or twice in your life.

That is why people go there... You never know what the fuck you are getting yourself into until you start to breath.

quote:

Of course when you're high/drunk you don't notice how dirty the place is, how prices are put up on the spot if the 'friendly' locals think they can get away with it. How nasty a lot of the roads are, how surly some of the guesthouse staff are.... I could go on, but for me if you like mixing with high teens and wanna-be-teens, then it's a wonderful place, for me, I wouldn't go back.

Wow, I'm judgmental - I thought travelling was meant to open your mind - boo! I missed that part!

It's amazing how people can have such different experiences of the same place - I'm not saying you're wrong, but I think you must have been unlucky. I've never been somewhere where I met so many friendly locals who really genuinely wanted to chat, and with no ulterior motive. Every guesthouse I stayed in was incredibly friendly - one night in Vientiane I got back late to find the owner sat outside with a friend drinking beer, and they shared their beer with me and refused offers of money to pay for it. Didn't find the roads all that bad either. I didn't find it particularly dirty either (relatively speaking).

Once you get past Vientiane most of the backpackers disappear, and the country is so much quieter too, so it's easy to avoid the crowds.

I didn't get high in Laos and only got drunk once, and I didn't worry too much about the place being 'dirty'.

I thought it was a beautiful country, hardly untouched as I ran into plenty of travelers, but still more remote than Thailand.

Even found good shopping in that weird fake Arc de Triomph in Vientiane (upstairs) - picked up two very colorful gold-embroidered sarongs.

I'd happily go back.

I really loved Laos while I was there. The capital with its French influence is very clean and promotes local artisans. Its cheap and very accessible to many outdoor adventure activities. Similar to the Thais, Laotians are extremely nice and laid-back.

When I think of backpackers in Laos, I think of Vang Vien which is a town created around tourism. The tourists went and the locals set up an industry around it. Tubing and drinking down a lazy river is the main attraction. There are Friends bars that show seasons worth of Friends episodes and encourage lounging around. Caving and swimming in lagoons among other outdoor activities are also accessible. This was my last stop on my trip before heading back to Bangkok to catch my flight and it was the perfect place to decompress, relax and be lazy. The backdrop of limestone cliffs and pristine rice fields were quite spectacular to take in as well!

Tubing down the river and enjoying the bamboo bars is completely fine and safe. However if you choose to take the "happy shakes" and other drugs, you're putting yourself at risk. I remember seeing one guy strung out on something on the side of a random bank shaking in a ball. Be smart about it and you can really enjoy it.

If you jump into the river from one of the rip lines/swings, wait until the last one. It's worth the wait and has the highest jump!