This site was written by Geert Van Vaeck who was in Laos for 4 weeks in October 1999. This was his itinerary:
- Bangkok-Vientiane
- Vientiane: 3 days
- Vang Vieng: 3 days
- Luang Prabang: 3
- Nong Khiaw: 2
- Luang nan Tha: 1
- Muang Sing: 3 days
- Udomxai: 1 day
- Luang Prabang: 2 days
- Vientiane: 1 day
- Savannakhet: 3 days
- Pakse: 3 days
If you have further questions on Laos, please e-mail Geert Van Vaeck
Guidebooks
When reading a guidebook, keep in mind that things in Laos are changing increadibly fast with new hotels and busstations being built, so your guidebook (and after a while also this site) will not be correct anymore on some things.
Footprint Handbook Laos Although I like this series quite a lot, this book is not so good, mainly because it was published in 1/1997. They give much less info the LP f.i. The book has 336 pages, but about 130 of them are about Bangkok (compared to 344 in the LP). However, there's now an updated version (edition 2/2000)
Order the Footprint Handbook Laos now for only 13.56 US$ Lonely Planet Laos The LP is definitely better then the Footprint. Nevertheless, the book was published in October 1998, so some things have also changed in the meanwhile.
Order the Lonely Planet Laos now for only 12.76 US$ They also have a travel atlas and a Lao phrasebook, but I didn't buy it, so I can't comment on that.
Order the Lonely Planet Laos Travel Atlas now for only 11.01 US$
Order the Lonely Planet Lao Phrasebook now for only 4.76 US$ Rough guide Laos I didn't read the Rough guide, so I can't comment on it, but the series is generally good value for money, and it was published in 1/2000.
Order the Rough guide Laos now for only 14.36 US$
Wegwijzer
For those of you speaking dutch, it is definitely worth considering becoming member of "Wegwijzer". This is a non-commercial organisation based in Bruges, Belgium. They have an incredible amount of info coming from guidebooks, leaflets but also reports from members. Since 2001 you can now get a lot of these reports online!! Membership is only 25 Euro a year, and this includes a good magazine they publish every 2 months. Have a look at
www.wegwijzer.be. I myself am a member since almost 20 years now.
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