http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32485 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32485 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/28575 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/28575 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/28415 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/28415 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/27986
2 - ATM's charge fees but they don't all warn about it, eg bcel. Best value is ANZ, as it charges a standard 20,000 flat fee, but has a higher withdrawal limit.

3 - If you're going to the Thai embassy, don't forget ID pictures and two Xerox, one of the photo page of your passport and one of your current Laos visa. There's a Xerox in the Thai embassy, with the powerlead mysteriously missing and little booths just outside just waiting to rip you off!

4. it is possible to get a visa of Vietnam in Vientiane at the Vietnamese Embassy, the price is 45 USD, however, you can bargain to 35 USD.

They say it takes longer if you pay $35 instead of $45, but it is ready when you stop by a couple of days later. however, you are advised to get a visa at Vietnam embassy in UK www.vietnamembassy.org.uk before you go.

5. While in the Vietnamese Embassy area, you can look at their Arc di Triomphe: www.travelblog.org/Photos/1744610 and on to the temple complex area a few thousand feet up that road.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/27986 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25306 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25306 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25105 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25105 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21705 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21705 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21477
The bathroom was clean too, although they didn't clean the room or bathroom everyday you only had to ask. However, the shower/water supply was a little tempremental, but with patience and a little tweaking all was fine!

The hosts supplied a free meal once a week, which we managed to have two of! Very friendly atmosphere and the meal gave us the opportunity to meet other travellers who were of all ages and backgrounds. Free fruit and water (safe to drink) for all. Breakfast and evening meals available and there are soft drinks and beer too!

Laundry service available although like any good traveller you can still do a little of your own!

There is a curfew in Luang Prabang which if I remember correctly starts at 11.00pm, so the owners will lock the gates somewhere around then. We were late back one night but they waited up for us.

You get about 4-6 small light planes over everyday, but they don't cause too much disturbance.

Great place to stay, highly recommend it, don't forget to remove your shoes on the way in!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21477 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21198 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21198 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21143 Early next morning we went with the villagers to the local temple, where a solitary monk accepted our alms and rice and blessed us in return. It was peaceful and moving.
We climbed into long, thin motorised canoes for a half-hour journey upstream to one of the most fabulous natural attractions of this delightful country. In the mouth of a cave, the boatmen switched on their head torches and we puttered slowly into darkness, the black water of the river sliding beneath us. In the past, the local people thought the tunnel led into the bowels of the earth – until they noticed ducks appearing from the cave, clearly emanating from an upper rather than a nether-world. Brave men had ventured boldly into the cave, paddling upstream for an astonishing seven kilometres to emerge in a river gorge at the far end.
Half-way along, we stopped at a sandy river beach and scrambled into the caves to peer at the ancient rock formations. At the other end of the tunnel the boatmen dragged the canoes through shallow rapids and light beckoned us into the gorge and soon into farmland. We ate lunch – duck stew – at the village the other side of the cave.
I travelled there with Viengchampa tours, who did a great job throughout my trip in Southern Laos.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21143 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21141 From there, you can take an elephant up Mount Phou Asa, a forested outcrop standing up above the plains where black columns of flat stones are all that’s left of a former temple. After gently swaying up a forested track, we descended from the elephant to explore the smooth rock summit, amongst rain-fed pools and tranquil groves and the temple pillars. Birds flit back and forth and, looking outwards, the plains stretch far into the distance.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21141 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21140 There’s also a surprisingly good choice of restaurants in the town, perhaps a legacy from the French colonial period: we ate at a charming restaurant on the main square one night and on the next at a floating restaurant on the Mekong, outlined in coloured lights and bobbing gently with the swell of the river.
Savannakhet itself is one of the former ports along the mighty Mekong, which flows north to south through Laos. These provincial towns are just emerging from the somnolence of post-colonialism and the economic straitjacket of Communism, and – as with Luang Prabang – retain many of their fine, French-era buildings.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21140 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21139 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/21139 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17287
We did loads of the stuff recommended in it and it helped us meet local people and ensure that our money was going to worthwhile places.

For example: teaching locals to read English (Brother Mouse in Luang Prabang - fantastic place!).

If you fancy a massage, go to the Red Cross in Luang Prabang. It's not luxury - none of your scented candles here - but a great massage and all the money goes to the Red Cross. The brave can even donate blood.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17287 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17286 Great Lao guys teaching you to cook Lao food! $25 for the day, go to the market in the morning, cook all day then eat what you've prepared (washed down with a Beer - Lao of course!)

I thought it was one of the best value things we did in Laos. We cooked chicken laap (salad), coconut curry and jeow (chilli jam-paste-type thing) which required 50 chillis for a 2-person serving!
And can absolutely agree with the tip about the Tamarind Cafe. We ate the 'beer snacks' there and came back for more pretty quickly! Carolyn was fantastic and really helped with finding a cookery course. They do pretty advanced stuff at their school (and we are amateurs!) so she recommended Three Elephants.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/17286 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16900
Laos is an adventurer’s paradise, offering treks to off the beaten track destinations that few tourists get to. It’s a country that receives relatively few visitors and that is one reason why it is so special and why we love it.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16900 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14877 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/14877 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13606
I just wish that I'd carried more jars of it home.

Pork candyfloss sounds vile, but is good. It's actually quite like a fluffy biltong. You can't ship it home so eat up while you're in Laos.

Tamarind will also organise morning trips to the market to look at the amazing variety of fruit and vegetables and also be grossed out by pig skin masks at the butchers.

Carolyn (who jointly runs Tamarind with her boyfriend Joy) is a fount of food knowledge.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13606 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13370
You are out of town with infrequent bus journeys in and out. They start late so you have to pay extra if you want to see the alms giving or to climb Mount Phousi at dawn.

If you want the map that they show you at check-in you have to pay extra.

The rooms are shabbily furnished and you can hear everything your neighbours are doing.

Service is poor and orientated towards the dozens of Japanese package holidaymakers who dominate the hotel.

While the scenery is absolutely magnificent, there is nothing to do, no gym, no pool. (I think generally Lao are against swimming, so this is probably not surprising.)

The walk into town is over an hour along a main road and not very nice.

We left after a night and regretted spending that long.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13370 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13369
The 3 Nagas is definitely in the $100/night camp but it is worth it, unlike some others. It has been built from scratch in beautiful local wood by two French men and every detail has been thought about.

It is truly lovely and small enough that it remains personal - tour groups were nowhere to be seen. And the breakfast croissants are the best that I have had anywhere! Breakfast and free internet access from their computer are included in the room rate. Staff are friendly and each room has a sitting area (either onto the private garden or the veranda).

We had room 14 which was lovely, but it might be worth asking about the garden rooms as they looked lovely. The hotel is on the main road in Luang Prabang and en route for the monks' alms giving. The only downside, which everywhere in town has, is that you are near the wats. They are beautiful by day, but the chanting starts early and Thai donors supplied one near to us with loudspeakers. Think the record was 3am- 7pm. It may make buddhists serene, but I was not!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/13369