Laos in a nutshell

China wore us out a bit - both because we killed ourselves traveling towards the end (something like 40 hours of buses and trains to make it to the border) and because the crowds can start to get to you. For whatever reason, getting to Laos felt instantly chill. We went from towns populated in the millions to towns with unpaved roads that had less than one thousand. Dirt roads, rice fields, and relaxed people was just what we needed after our time in the big red.

We loved Laos, from the pace to the people to the arts to the food. It doesn't really dazzle with history or culture, but it is a great place to see a quickly developing country on its way up. Next time we're in SE Asia we definitely want to make another stop. Anyway... Laos in a nutshell:

• Undeveloped. Laos goes from fairly developed at its capital and gets less and less so as you get further and further away. Vientiane (the capital) could be mistaken for any medium sized slow paced city in south east asia - cars, buses, paved streets, the works! Go just a few hours (less even) in any direction and your hard pressed to find a town with more than just a single main drag... and that won't generally won't be paved.
• Chill. I think the main thing that you notice when you are around most Laos people is that they take it easy. No one tries to give you a pressure sale for anything, no one ever seems to be in a hurry. If you order a meal each dish will come one when it's ready - it is quite common for one person to be completely done eating before anyone else gets even served. None of the locals are in a hurry... it seems like the idea has just never occurred to them. Maybe it hasn't. We were told that this attitude stems from the fact that most people are farmers, and there is generally just one harvest per year. Historically the people from the Laos area have busted their butts harvesting rice about 2 months per year and relaxed for the other 10 months. Chilling for 10 months per year for centuries has had a profound effect on the attitude of Laos people.
• French colony. Up until WW2 Laos was held by France. In some cities (Luang Prabang) you could actually think you were in France, others you can just notice by the food (baguettes). There is an interesting history between the French in Laos and their neighbors to the east and west. What I found most interesting is that the French couldn't find a way to make money off Laos. Their excuse? The Laos people are too lazy! The farmers were quite content to go right on producing food just as they had for ages - so there was no way for the French to turn a profit on their colony. Luckily the great depression thwarted French efforts to ship in enough Vietnamese to push the Laos off their lands. (Apparently the Vietnamese worked to the French standard).
• Landscape. Part of the reason the French failed in kicking the Laos people off their own lands is the wicked landscape. Plans for a railroad (to ship in the Vietnamese and ship out goods) failed because of the unrelenting hills and mountains. Make for some great views, hikes, and caves though.

• Thailand minus 20. Everyone in the know says that Laos today is just like Thailand 20 years ago. I can't really confirm or deny that, but you can sort of tell that tourism and becoming globally connected has made Thailand a bit pushy in some areas. As of now that is almost completely lacking in Laos - so much so that you feel really bad about haggling in Laos. The people are just so nice and innocent that you feel like sending a counter offer would hurt their feelings or something.
• Food. The food in Laos is all in all pretty simple, but very tasty. For the most part they will serve sticky rice (very sticky, think firm play-doh) and some sort of curry like dish. Chopped vegetables and maybe a few peppers. Meals are eaten family style generally without plates. There is just one large dish of each thing that has been prepared (for example - maybe a meat, a vegetable, a soup, and the rice). Each person just grabs a hunk of rice that will be used to grab or dip out of the community bowl. If there is a soup then there are fair odds that everyone will share the bowl. All of the foods were very simple, and always fresh.

• Coffee. If Laos were near a sea shipping lane I bet they would have world famous coffee. I especially like their method of using a coffee sock filter (not really a sock) over the disposable paper filters. Coffee prepared with this method seems just a bit grittier - I like it better than a french press.
• Poor. The people of Laos are extremely poor. It seems that the bulk of people live in tiny houses that rarely have more than a dirt floor. Bicycles are a luxury that many people can't afford. Refrigeration is rare even in businesses and restaurants. People still harvest crops by hand thrashing. I could go on and on noting the things they don't have.... but despite all this the people of Laos don't seem like they mind. They produce enough food for their families and some have a little extra each year. That seems to be enough for the people of Laos, they area quite happy and content with what they have. We run into far more beggars in the DC area on a daily basis than we did in Laos. They are poor but happy, and I think that is part of what gives the country its charm.
• Wildwhat? Apparently if a Laos person sees a wild animal they will drop everything and stop at nothing in attempt to catch it and eat it. If a snake crosses the road you better hold on tight because safety just got re-prioritized. Mission number one is now putting rubber on scales. From bats to frogs to monkeys - Laos people will eat it with gusto. The state of the local animal population shows it too.... the only time we saw an actual (non domesticated) animal in Laos, it was dead on a stick. We spent many days on end out doors without even hearing a bird or a monkey. Unfathomable in the rest of SE Asia.

• Spirits abound. This one irks me quite a bit. Every family in Laos seems to distill their own version of Laos-Laos (white alcohol made from rice). It is approximately as strong and as tasty as vodka. It is rude to refuse it and it is good luck to keep the bottle passing around until it is empty. Good luck and great fun. We did a trek into a village where there was a severe language barrier - luckily for us getting sloshed is a universal language. Kop Jai! The reason this irks me is that bushmen in the hills of Laos make and drink their own vodka, but we in the states aren't allowed. I call BS!
• Spirits abound. Laos people believe in spirits. The termite mound has spirits, the trees have spirits, houses have spirits, etc etc. If you hang out with someone from Laos you will eventually notice they do little quirky things that even they don't quite understand. Before any meal a Laos person will throw rice north, south, east, and west. They will always sleep with their head pointed towards the interior of a structure. They will put a leaf on top of a termite mound if they happen to pass one. All sorts of little odd things that are done to "keep the spirits happy" or something along those lines. It's not really a religion per se, but it is pervasive in both Laos and Thailand. It is so pervasive that it has melded into the formal religion of the area: Buddhism. If you look closely at Buddhist temples or ceremonies there will often be some sort of gift to a god or spirit - this is actually a remnant of some ancient religion or belief that I never could get a name for (if it even has one). It all boils down to there being many spirits, and they all need a little consideration to keep them happy. If you think about it - some of this is similar to the melding of Pagan and Christian holidays. People like the fun times of the old belief so they make a hybrid out of the hot new religion. Interesting to see anyway... even if it did really confuse me on Buddhism for a long while.
• Cheap. Not surprisingly, Laos is very cheap. You can get a (great) coffee and an incredible sandwich on the best French baguette you've ever eaten all for about $1. In most towns you can get a nice guest house for 2 people for less than $5 per night.
• Terrible roads. Jenn and I (along with 6 others) rented what amounts to a minivan to go from one provincial capital to the next. It was only 100 km away, so we thought they must have just been wrong when they said it would take 8 hours. Unpaved road doesn't even begin to describe this thing we drove on. I actually resorted to hanging onto the bottom of my seat very tightly in hopes that I might slow the rate of my head driving into the ceiling. We averaged 12 km/h (about 8 miles per hour). This wasn't back country towns either... we were on the only road between the only major towns in the area.

• National curfew. You don't notice much of a police presence, but if you actually end up in a town that has a business that stays open past 11 pm you will notice that around 11:30 or midnight that a couple of cops with guns will come around and remind everyone that it is national bed time. No one argues... the guns are quite large.

Laos has a lot to love - and very little to dislike. It is a very easy country to get around. There are enough tourists that the trails have been broken, but not so many that you'll start cursing them. (It's funny how people call tourists "them" when they themselves are a tourist... what are you gonna do?). Laos has some tribal art, it has a ton of natural wonders, and is all around interesting. It'll be neat to go back in a decade or two to see how much does change - even though I hope it doesn't change all that much.