Just a few hints…

Train from Vientiane was on time – both departure and arrival.

The hotel wasn’t able to give any advice about transportation from the train station to central LP other than ‘get one of the minivans’ upon arrival. There were dozens of minivans. This is the best I could figure out. The minivans at the exit level were prearranged. The level below, either via steps or elevator, were for general transportation. The first advice I received was to buy a ticket. Turns out the tickets were a fixed price for a shared van to a central LP point – 40,000 LKP and then upon arrival, you’d either walk or take a tuk tuk to your lodging. I eventually figured out that there were private vans – the cost was 150,000 LKP to my lodging and about 30-minute ride.

Plenty of lodging choices – hotels, guesthouses, hostels, etc. Plenty of restaurants. My hotel, Aspara, specifically recommended the restaurant next door to it, and also recommended Bouang on the main street. I attempted Bouang, at 7 PM, and it was jam packed. Wait staff told me to try after 8:30 PM. Plenty of activities. A wonderful walkable UNESCO city. There are also a number of daytrips available, but once you’ve seen one elephant rescue, you’ve seen all. And I don’t do water stuff.

The LCR tickets did not go on sale until 3 days out and I again used baolau knowing that I was paying a commission. Note that on the main street, I did see a real LCR ticket office (not one of the many activity vendors that will also sell tickets).

Check the hours. For example, the National Royal Palace Museum is only open a bit each morning and then a bit each afternoon. Be sure to check out the night market and the associated street food.

If you need to have laundry done, the main streets offer services at 30,000 LKP/KG. I noticed on the side streets and ‘alleys’ that it was 20,000 LKP/KG. All for wash, ‘blow dry’, and fold.

I did take the LCR back to Vientiane as it was really difficult routing/expensive to Tokyo via LPQ. In hindsight, that was probably a mistake as by the time I finished repacking and paying luggage fees to Thai Air Asia, Thai Airways probably would be have been a cost savings.

The hotel arranged transportation to the train station. I’m thinking I overpaid. The evening staffer told me 325,000 LKP. The morning staffer told me 250,000 LKP. Still 100,000 LKP more than I paid for the ride from the train station. At the end of the day, it is only a few USD, but if you stress over such things, FYI. (I’m not sure where I could have booked transportation on my own nor did I try very hard.)

Re: ATMs. I have the Schwab debit card, so shopping around for ATMs for the lowest fees is a non-issue for me. That said, I did come across a couple of recent blogs that reported that BCEL has the lowest fess, but I found it to have the same fees as the LaoViet bank ATM (30,000 LKP).

I spoke too soon re: security at the train station. While I had no issue at VTE, my expensive spray bottle of reef-safe sunscreen that I brought for my upcoming leg to Palau was flagged and confiscated (identified as hair spray). The security staff was very young – barely adults. She actually sprayed her arm with the lotion (noting that she still called it hair spray), smiled, and placed it in a desk drawer. I felt badly for a couple…he had a pocket knife with a 1” blade that seemed to have sentimental value to him (maybe belonged to his father?). It was not allowed. Wife/partner was in tears. He tried to explain that he always placed it in his checked bag on an airplane and its never been an issue for a train, even in China. But there was absolutely no understanding of English.

Re: train station. Just an observation. I am guessing that it is fully PRC managed. I’m quite sure the security team was not Lao. I noticed at two concessions that what appeared to be inventory sheets were all in Chinese rather than in Lao. I also noticed each train station has what appears to be an apartment building next to it – all the same architecture. Laundry outside the windows, one seemed to have a vegetable garden. I’m guessing the local staff does not live there.

Train arrived at Vientiane roughly on time. Again, getting a taxi to the airport hotel was a bit of a scrum. Lots of customers and the organizer was trying to force sharing. I was quoted 400,000 LKP, but it wasn’t clear if that was shared or not. I was directed to a particular sedan. Turns out two other customers were directed to the same sedan, except that they were going downtown and I was going to the airport. But the total would be 400,000 KLP. Apparently they were quoted a lesser price and were not pleased and vocal about it. Anyhow, going downtown first wasn’t terribly out of the way. I ended up paying 200,000 LKP and they paid the other 200,000 LKP.

I’ll report on the VTE airport experience next.