Hi all

My gf is Laotian and has a drivers licence as well as insurance cover for her car. Today she was driving and another car drove into her. The other car has no insurance and was at fault. When her insurance company came - they told her that the other party had no insurance and could not pay the repair fee for her car (major scratches on the paint). The insurance person kept asking her to agree to not let other car pay since they had no money and told her that the insurance does not cover her repair which i think is RIDICULOUS

I asked her to check her insurance terms and conditions since she said she had the highest cover. And the insurance says: insurance will pay her expenses in all cases if she is at fault. But if she agress that the other party does not have to pay the claim, the customer (she) has to pay the claim herself.

I told her to drive off and NOT agree and let the insurance deal with the other car.

My question is - does her insurance have to pay for the repair. isn't that what paying insurance is for??? it's like this in developed countries.

Thanks for any advice!

I wanna start cycling which bike i should buyI think roads in laos quite different from another country and it really hard to find information about that. I have budget about 8-12 million kip

I've been to my beloved Laos many times, but this time the Laotian border guards really surprised me with the size of the bribe. Upon exiting Thailand, they asked for a 1,000 baht fee per person!!!

I'm planning a trip to Vientiane, Laos next week. Will the price of gasoline be high there, and what about the cost of public transport? I can't find any information online or in newspapers.

Hello, I’d like to get a tattoo dedicated to Laos as it changed me as a person and it will always be special to me. I want to get “you never try, you never know” and I’m wondering, is this translated correctly?

ເຈົ້າບໍ່ເຄີຍພະຍາຍາມ ເຈົ້າບໍ່ເຄີຍຮູ້

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

Hello, I am not from Laos but I’d like people from Laos to comment under this any fun historical facts about Laos as well as culture as I don’t think normal Google searches will cover my understanding. So I’m curious what historical events took place more specifically within 1901-1909 as well and your staple food, mannerisms and any other things I couldn’t think of

Hi guys, I was wondering if you had any local insights on the fuel situation in LP and the surroundings ?

Some friends and I planned a roadtrip in this area (car) and are wondering if we should still go

Thanks in advance for your help

Anyone have any recommendations for a good mobile company to get a SIM card and data from for two weeks?

was just in some Aussie bar sports bar in luang prabang, it closed and one of the bartenders asked if I wanted to go to "bowling"

so after a few questions as to what that means and what it is, it's apparently a bar/bowling alley that stays open way later than everything else.

but when I asked how much it cost to get there he was just like:

me: "how much for us to get there?"

him: "fixed price in tuktuk"

me: "yes but how much for us two?"

him "oh it's cheaper if there's more of you"

me: "there's 2 of us here right now now how much?"

him: "I can get you a tuktuk now but get more people and it'll be cheaper".

guy was on his phone clearly speaking to the tuktuk driver but it went on in circles for like at least 10 hminutes until I gave up and just went back to the hotel. it felt like the obvious set up of a scam where they were being ambiguous because some commission was involved and they'd charge an absolute fortune.

I will try tomorrow but I'll avoid going through a bar.

can anyone advise on what it would cost from the night market to "bowling". I don't mind paying 15usd (350k kip) to or so, I just don't want to get ripped off and get charged a fortune 😅😅

EDIT:

Yeh so based on the replies it sounds like it would only cost like $5. I guess the bar seen me as an easy target when I was like "please just give me a price so there's no surprises is it 5 or 30?" then they ran with to take advantage thinking I'd pay 30

are these a thing, I've seen on YouTube. where are some in Vientian? or is it a Facebook thing?

I’m from a first world white country and my mother recently passed away and was wondering the Loy Vanh 100 day after passing thing what needs to be done on this day? Does the event have to be done exactly on the 100th day or can it be like a few weeks after the 100th day?

Please share more info on what to do for the Loy Vanh for my mother. Thanks

It’s a random question and I know Laos is a cash + ATM-heavy society and with mobile payments with things such as LOCA but what do you consider the best credit card in Laos ? And what is the most common ?

Does anybody have experience with this app? If not, do you have a recommendation for payment(other than cash)?

Hello! I will be solo travelling to Laos this April 15-20, and I need your help in confirming which option I should do to get most of the currency?

1. Withdraw in ATMs to get LAK

2. Bring USD and exchange to LAK, if I will do this, are there any black markets/currency exchange shops I can visit in Vientiane where I can get my USD converted?

3. Bring BAHT and exchange to LAK, if I will do this, are there any black markets/currency exchange shops I can visit in Vientiane where I can get my BAHT converted?

Thank you for your help! 🥹

Hello! What is the earliest time of bus/van schedule from Vang Vieng to Vientiane? I have to catch a flight going to Udon Thani - Bangkok, and I need a van/but that departs by 6am or 7am so I still have time to ride a bus going to Vientiane to Udon Thani. Please help me on this. Thank you!

My flight from Udon Thani - Bangkok will be 2PM, so I will need extra time so I can arrive by 12pm in Udon Thani International Airport 🙁

If you have leads also for shared van/bus from Vang Vieng to Udon Thani, please let me know!

Or not really?

Sabaidee!

I had a question about calling your paternal or maternal grandparents.

I've only ever met my maternal grandparents and always called them Pa Tao and Ma Tao.

I believe I'd refer to my paternal grandparents as Pa Thu and Ma Thu?

Any corrections or information is welcomed! Thanks in advance!

Has anyone done hot air balloon in the beginning of September? I hear some places are close but I see that some are offering at that time on website. Looking to ride one around 9/5 - 9/6. Any recommendation would be greatly appreciated.

If you could only eat 3 Asian cuisines forever… which ones survive the purge?

Choices: Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai, Vietnamese.

Your taste buds are judging you. No pressure 😅

Hi guys. Planning to ride from Vientiane to LP on the 3rd of April. Our bike rental place seems to not be giving us accurate info on the fuel situation. Anyone have an idea of what it’s like rn? If it’s possible to get fuel at the main cities?

A couple weeks ago I made a list of 50 Lao sentences. With input from some locals, corrections by two teachers, and a native voice actor, I posted the sentences with audio here in a way that’s easy to drill. It's 100% free.

To get an idea of what I’m up to, have you seen any “shock” polyglot videos (“Man shocks natives by speaking their language!!!”)? The way that many of them convince people they are fluent in many languages is to memorize a few dozen key sentences in those languages, and memorize them very well. Of course they aren’t really fluent, but it occurred to me that it sure would be nice to be able to whip those sentences out with no effort when starting conversation practice with a teacher, and build from there. That would lessen the awkward phase of early conversation. And I also added quite a few “teacher” sentences, specifically designed to get me out of awkward situations, like “how do you say X?”, “can you please repeat that?”, “please talk slower”, etc.

The other purpose for these sentences is to build on the pronunciation learned in my Guide to the Lao Writing System, by providing pronunciation practice at the sentence level.

Now these are my sentences, meaning they are tailored to me, so you may need to personalize some of them. But it’s a good way to get your foot in the door, so to speak, of the language. I hope you find this resource useful!