Lodging
Lodging in Vientiane, Laos
Where did you stay? What were the accommodations (sleeping arrangements, toilets, showers, etc.)? Cost (per person per night in USD), Contact info.
People’s Opinions
- We stayed a couple of nights at the Dream Home Hostel. It was the cheapest option at $5 a night, but was not amazing. The beds/rooms were fine, breakfast was good, but the bathrooms and other meals there were not great.We later moved to the My Box Hostel, just down the street from Dream Home Hostel. It is fantastic! The beds are actually long enough for you to stretch out on, and you are right next to a bunch of cafes, a supermarket, mini marts and street food options. Two of the ladies who work at our hostel are Christians, so that was a really cool discovery!
- We did UH and oringally booked an AirBnB a little outside of the city center and rented bikes to go to town, but it ended up being too difficult to meet people, which is essential to Uh. So, we moved into the PVO Hostel, which was perfect. We stayed there for the other 3 weeks and met so many people. The owners are Christian and go to an underground church, which we went to and was amazing!
- We too stayed at Lucky Backpackers hostel. When we decided to stay for the month in Vientiane, we looked around to make sure we were at the BEST hostel. We looked at Dream House Hostel because we heard they had a pool, but the hostel itself wasn’t near as nice. We looked at Orange Backpackers Hostel, also not nearly as nice. It looked like to us that Lucky was the best deal and nicest, plus the management allowed us to cook there and store our leftovers which was abnormal!Do note that the vast majority of backpackers only stay in this city for a night or two, so locals will be stunned that you are here for a month. Also seems like a lot of tourists come here to party, so you being here not doing that and staying for awhile will already make you look different and give you chances to get to know locals. We also ran into lots of lonely travelers who were by themselves and needing someone to love and talk to, so be open to hostel ministry, a lot of our conversations ended up being with other tourists. We played cards downstairs at night and that was a way to meet folks.
- We were UH this month, so we spent the first week at Lucky Backpackers (it was close to the Night Market).Lucky Backpackers: $6 per night. It included breakfast (that was delicious with eggs, toast, and coffee). The hostel was also super new – as in, we were the first guests to check in – so it was really clean. The air conditioning worked great, the wifi not so much. However, this was probably because they just opened and were still figuring things out.For the rest of the month we Airbnb’d a house owned by a German guy. He had a local caretaker of the house who made sure we were comfortable (had water, answered any questions, even brought us some DVDs on occasion.) It was a pretty nice set up for UH because the house came with wifi, so we weren’t constantly seeking out coffee shops to do internet searches.
- We stayed in our contact’s furnished 3 bedroom 2 bathroom rental house.– Bedroom 1: one queen size bed, electric wall fan– Bedroom 2: two floor mats, electric wall fan– Bedroom 3: one full size air mattress, electric wall fan– 1 squatty & 1 western toilet– Cold bucket showers– 3 electric wall fans & one more in the living room– There are also 2 clotheslines on the left side of the house!
- We stayed with our hosts. The house was also home to some university students who were Cru leaders, so it was a fun and full house.We had two bedrooms for the six of us. They offered mattresses but we chose to sleep on our sleeping pads. Toilets are western, and showers are overhead showers except for when the water isn’t working, in which case there is a giant bucket that will come in handy.
- Our team stayed at Vientaine Backpackers for a few nights and they definitely had bed bugs. Our team leader got eaten up at night. Other hostels wouldn’t take us because they knew we were coming from that hostel which is known apparently for the bed bugs. I personally didn’t get bitten but better to be safe than sorry. Stay at your own risk. The did fumigate a room while we were there.
- We are staying at Vientiane Backpackers Hostel. We have 2 teams and a squad leader staying here (15 people) and we were able to rent out a whole room for the month. We bargained and got the price to be $5 per person per night. The beauty of all WRs in one room is that we don’t have to worry about random backpackers potentially messing with our stuff. (I would still suggest locking up your things in the HUGE cubbies provided because there is no lock on the door). Also, it allows for a space to have quiet times, team times, community prayer, watch movies, etc.There is free breakfast every morning served with your choice of coffee or tea…A) 2 toast, jam & butter, and a bananaB) 2 toast, 2 fried eggsC) 2 toast, 2 scrambled eggsThere is only one bathroom area downstairs, but there are 4 very powerful and HOT showers, 2 toilets, and 3 sinks. ALSO, the hostel is very serious about not hand-washing your clothes…there are signs all over that say they will kick you out with no reimbursements. They do provide a cheap laundry service. It is 10,000 kip per kilo (so about $1.5) and it comes back usually within the day if you do it in the morning.Random things…-They shut the A/C off in the room at around noon and don’t turn them back on until around 5. This wasn’t much of an issue because we (the UH team) were out and about exploring and the other team was at their work site.-You can have food from the store, but they ask that you eat it downstairs in the common area. If it’s a cup of noodles they will usually cook it for you and bring it to you in a bowl. If you need any kind of silverware, just ask and they will gladly get it for you.-They clean the rooms every day and change the sheets on the beds every other day. SOME BEDS DO HAVE BED BUGS, but they haven’t been a huge issue for us. Also, mosquitos are everywhere and like to bite but there isn’t malaria in the city so it’s not that big of a deal.-The staff is super friendly. There are 2 cute older men who usually are at the front desk and help rent out bikes (I’m not sure of their names), one older lady who cleans the rooms and does the laundry, and one younger lady who’s name is Feung. They all speak pretty good English, but I would say the older man and Feung know the most, so if you have any pressing questions ask them.
- Our team did Unsung Heroes so most of the time we were in hostels. There is a travel agency in a good location in the city [surrounded by coffee shops, places to do laundry, wifi zones] called ‘Soutchai Travel’ and they also have rooms upstairs for people to stay in. My entire team of 6 got to stay in one room with 6 comfy beds, wifi for networking, and AC. We stayed for 30,000 kip per person per night which is only about $3.50 USD! Doesn’t include breakfast but they have warm showers, coffee, and water! Address is Norkeokoumane Road, Ban Mixai., Chanthabouty District. tel #: [85621] 2545125
Food / Meals
Food / Meals in Vientiane, Laos
What did you eat? Where did you get the food? Cost (per person per day in USD)? Contact info (if applicable).
People’s Opinions
- My secret hideout was the Blue Corner Cafe and Bistro. It was a little more pricey than some places, but the Iced Thai Tea was amazing. It is quiet in there, the wifi is free and fast, and it is usually pretty quiet, so I was able to get quiet time in and treasury work done without distraction.Cheap street food was 15,000 kip per day. Most Lao restaurants would charge 20,000 kip for a meal. While most American themed food places will charge you more like 35,000-40,000 for a meal. Our $5 budget was about 44,000 kip for reference.If you are ATL, try and stay at a hostel that gives you free breakfast, or has a hot water kettle that you can use to make oatmeal. If you eat something like ramen for one of the meals, or one of the 15,000 kip meals, and save a little more money for the other meal, then you can stay within the $5 budget. Water is 4,000 kip per 1.5 L bottle.Laundry was between 8,000 kip and 10,000 kip per kilogram. The lady just south of the Dream Home Hostel cost 8,000 kip, and was SO kind. She cleaned things incredibly well, she got them done same day for no extra cost, she ironed them just because, and she charged me less than she needed to. Highly recommend her.
- So, most of my team didn’t really stick to our $5 budget a day… but it is re are places that sell fried rice for cheap and you can find cheap food at the night market. But, our favorite places were Tyson Kitchen, Joma Cafe, Naked Expresso, and Sputnik. All of which re a little pricier, but delicious and AMERICAN.
- Mix-Ok Inn and Coffee! We ate there at least two to three times a week because they had a lot of things that were within our budget and we got to know the staff quite well. Meet our friends Pon and Sawmpek who were there every night and we got to build a relationship with. It is by the Laos Cultural Hall of the main road across from a temple. I wish I could put the street name on here, but alas it is in Laos and I can’t translate it.Home Ideal is the best place to grocery shop and M Point convenience stores have peanut butter. We did not cook a ton this month as groceries seemed expensive, but we did do some Ramen nights.For out of budget nights, we did Pizza Company also near the cultural hall and it was like a Pizza Hut. We also did DQ because it’s month 8 and people were running low on will power.In the morning we went to Joma coffee because you can get a large Americano with a free refill.We went to the morning market for fresh produce and were not super impressed for how far the walk was.Otherwise agree with the other folks on here, Sputnik was wonderful. The smoothies at Naked Espresso are the best. The coffee at Joma is the best. The people at Common Grounds are great.
- Ahh! I forgot a restaurant: SPUTNIK. If you are craving your local cheeseburger and milkshake joint from home, go here. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Milkshakes are on point, and the burger is the best burger I’ve had on the race so far.
- With UH, we made a lot of our own meals. The best grocery store we found was D-Mart (on Dongpalane Road). It was a bit away from the central part of town, but closer to our house. If you’re staying in the main part of Vientiane (by the market) try Home Ideal.We found that the grocery stores didn’t have a great selection of produce, but you can find a few good fruit markets around the city.As far as restaurants go,– Fried Rice Lady: there is a lady who makes fried rice and pad thai. She’s across the street from the night market and sets up right in front M Point Mart. Delicious and in budget. We ate there a lot.– Naked Espresso: a wonderful little coffee shop. Super cute. They serve cold drinks in a Mason jar… so obviously they win.– Le Cote D’Azur: definitely NOT in budget, but we went there a few times. (Let’s not talk about how much money I actually dropped at this restaurant this month.) However, we were able to build a friendship with one of the waiters, Khao. He waited on us every week when we went and had our orders memorized. If you go, get the pizza (it’s probably meant to be shared between 3-4 people, but my team made them personal pizzas) and the house wine. They have a red and white house wine from South Africa, and you definitely won’t regret either one.– Restaurant next to Cote D’Azur (aka, the sandwich place): This place has really good sandwiches. The sandwiches were served on a baguette and you could get chicken, cheese, or boiled egg sandwiches. AND they were in budget. Bonus.– Swedish Bakery: Another pizza place. (Yeah, my team loves pizza). You could get a pizza for around 50,000 kip. But they also have coffee drinks and pastries and such as well as salads. Where we were living they would deliver to us, so that was nice. But if you have the chance to actually go into the restaurant, do that! The pizza is fresh and oh! piping hot. (If you don’t get that reference, watch this: https://vimeo.com/88200578 – the SNL pizza eater skit).Other coffee/tea places that were good: Cafe Sinouk, Common Grounds (Christian coffee shop), Comma Coffee (Maybe Christian?), and True Coffee.
- Our house had a kitchen with:– rice cooker– electric wok– gas stove top (1 eye)– fridge/freezer– kitchen sink– dishes, utensils, & cups providedEating out:-There were a few local places to eat at near by that had delicious Pho & Copiak (noodle soup)!—(But if you want more options, take the green bus (3,000 Kipp) to downtown)– Sputnik Burger: Best burgers!!– La Opera: Best Italian food!
– Joma Bakery: Starbucks type atmosphere with delicious food & coffee– The Night Market!: We loved trying all kinds of street food around here! - Our host prepared all of our meals, which was AMAZING. They also gave us a lot of fruit and we thanked them a lot for that special gift.For off days there are quite a few options around the city. Joma seems to be a World Race favorite, and for good reason. There is also the Parisian Cafe, which has some great pastries and drinks too (and good wifi!). Joma has day-old discounts if you go early in the morning, and Parisian Cafe has late-night discounts if you go between 8 and 10pm.Ray’s Grille is an American-Mexican food place downtown that my team enjoyed quite a bit. If you go to the food place by the fountain (also downtown) there are MANY food options and you if you sit towards the center (closer to the fountain) they will bring you menus from a bunch of different restaurants. Excellent option if your team has different tastes in food.There is also a small cafe with good food inside the Institut Français (a short walk from the Morning Market Mall).Bottom line: you will not be hungry in Vientiane.
- Great café&bakery called Café Sinouk – It has crossiants and pastries and good salads, coffee, shakes etc… Good wifi, friendly people, decent prices 🙂 We’ve hung out here a lot. Its on the corner of the Rue Francois Ngin one street over from Vientaine Backpackers.
- Home Ideal. biggest grocery store/ random stuff store in town (still nothing huge)Directions: looking out from Vientiane Backpackers there is an intersection, turn left and walk a ways until you reach stop light, turn right walk a bit until find first side street past MPoint turn right, walk until home ideal is on your left.
- Street Food stand Outside of MPoint convenient store. Only open for dinnerDirections: Standing facing out of Vientiane Backpackers turn left go until end of street, turn right and walk around 2 blocks until see MPoint convenient store. Right outside of it.Had the best Phat Thai! 15,000 Kipp
- Directly next to Sinthana Baguette Sandwich, on the right, is another local family business that serves soup, noodles, friend rice, etc. Also very good and in budget.
- There is a very delicious sandwich place called Sinthana Baguette Sandwich. It is a local family business and definitely in budget. The sandwiches range from 6,000 kip (about .75 cents) to 15,000 kip and they are very filling.
- Common Grounds. YUM! More on the expensive side, but YUM!There is an upper room and we were able to get together and use it for worship one night. I would just be very careful and definitely ask Andrew (the manager..he’s Canadian) if it would be ok for you to do the same. We probably won’t try and go back there as a larger group for a week or so, just so that we can protect him and their business from being harassed by the police or anyone who might be snooping around.The coffee shop has great wifi and like I said before, the food is delicious and big portions! Definitely try the Greek pita or the Taco salad!
- We are also doing UH here for the month and some of my teammates went to JOMA Bakery and Cafe and started talking to one of the workers there, Yeng. She is 22 years old and has been working there for 3 years. My teammates asked if she wanted to practice learning English whenever she wasn’t working and so a few times we have been able to go and talk to her and other employees there.The cafe is really nice too and it is just around the corner and up the street a bit from Vientiane Backpackers Hostel.
- Common Grounds is a great little coffee shop to go to. They have good wifi AND good food! Most or all of their profits go to women at risk in the community.
- In the capital there is a restaurant and coffee shop called JOMA and it is amazing! Good food [typically a little pricy, average cost for a meal was 30,000 kip, or $3.50 USD], good wifi, good place to network and meet people in the area, especially if you are doing UH for the month.
Off Days / Fun Activities
Off Days / Fun Activities in Vientiane, Laos
What activities did your team experience? Recommendations? List locations/contact info. Any locations to be avoided? Any extra safety tips for off days?
People’s Opinions
- Runners: You can run by the river, which two of my teammates did. Or you can get a gym membership at the Vientiane Fitness Center. It was a 0.5 mile walk from My Box Hostel. It cost us $16 a person for a month long membership. We got a discount, because the guy at the desk accidentally mistook my teammate and I for a couple. If we hadn’t had the discount, we each would have paid $30 USD for a month. It is a nice gym though.They have several good treadmills, ellipticals, variations of stationary bikes, weight machines, free weights, yoga mats, exercise balls, etc. There is also a pool at the facility, but membership to that is separate. The pool has several swim teams, which I think could be cool to get involved with.
- Buddha Park was great and so cheap! We also went to Van Vieng, which was an overnight trip. We went hot air ballooning, kayaking, and to the blue lagoon all in less than 24 hours. However, it is a long bus drive there. The night market is worth it for sure. And honestly just exploring downtown is fun!
- Buddha Park-The folks at Lucky’s Backpackers will take you there for 70,000 kip each, but you can also take the public bus for much cheeper if you so choose. Plan on spending an hour there as it isn’t super big, but made for some good photos. Also it was just very hot while we were here, so we didn’t spend too long outside anywhere.Laos Cultural Hall-Check online to see what is going on there as they have events throughout the month that looked fun.Not a ton of stuff going on in Vientiane so for entertainment it was a lot of time hanging out as a team and going to dinner/coffee. We did hear there is a Russian circus in town, but we didn’t go, so I make to gaurantees on how fun it is/if they treat the animals humanely (that was a concern of a girl on the team).We were in town when the Gospel Music Festival was here and we would recommend going if you are in town in August or March when they usually have it. Do have team discussions after if you have any questions theologically, we did, but for sure worth going and seeing history in Laos take place as this is able to be held out in the open!
- *Swimming: It is hot in Laos. So one day we paid to swim at the Landmark Mekong Hotel. (It was one of the girl’s birthdays so we were not as budget conscious). It was 65,000 Kip to swim there for the day, but it was such a nice and quiet pool that felt like you were at a resort. We took a tuk tuk there and the driver should know where it is. Another time we weren’t wanting to drop as much cash so we went to the Inpeng Cultural Center waterpark. It is 30,000 kip to get in and we took the public bus (no. 14) to get there for 6,000 kip. Do not try to take a tuk tuk there, they quoted us at 100,000 kip. Just tell the bus driver that is where you are getting off and he will come to a roll for you to jump out. On the way home, we heard you just have to flag the bus down, but a tuk tuk stopped and offered us a ride to center of town for 10,000 kip, so we did that. Water Park was fun, don’t plan on eating there really as it is fancy asian food and other than fried rice, nothing really looked good. Some slides were running and they were pretty fun, but fun fact, one had a loose screw that cut my butt so have had to sit funny the last few days. All in all, though, despite the butt cut, I would still go back.
- Our team was able to help participate in the Gospel Music Festival, which was a first in the history of Laos. You should be able to google it and find out more information. However, we emailed early on and got invited to help with the healing and deliverance team at the event. They spent a day and a half training us for it, and everything. It was incredible. There was a miscommunication with the government, however, and it got shut down after the first night. So they have now rescheduled it for August 6th and 7th.IF ANY TEAM IS NEAR VIENTIANE DURING AUGUST 6TH AND 7TH IN 2015, I highly recommend you try and get involved, or at least attend.If you have any questions, please email me at sydrob91@gmail.com, because I can get in touch with people hosting the event and such. I’m telling you, this is revival coming to a closed country, and you don’t want to miss it!
- Fun things we did:-COPE Museum. It’s small and it’s free and it will break your heart and you should go. It’s inside a hospital, so just follow the signs and you’ll get there (even if it seems like you’re going the wrong way).-Patuxai Arc. It’s in the middle of town and it resembles the Arc De Triomphe in Paris. It’s 3000 kip to climb to the top. Be prepared for a lot of stairs (you can skip your workout for the day and just go here), but you can go ALL the way to the top and the view is so worth it! If you’re not all the way at the top then you haven’t found all the stairs. You really CAN go all the way up. There are shops and souvenirs on every level too.-Night Market. Cute and cheap and great for all those gifts you have to get people back home on a budget.-Buddha Park. It’s a drive out of the city, but it will make you feel like Indiana Jones while you’re there.-Houey Hong Vocational Center for Women. We found this on TripAdvisor and my team loved it! It exists to give women at risk jobs and teach them special skills. You can go and take a tour of the place, and then you can learn how to weave and dye, and you get to try it out for an hour and keep what you make! If you go on TripAdvisor you can find more information on cost and how to get there.-Temples. There are quite a few of these around the city. Our hosts took us to the one with the sleeping Buddha and we just walked around for a while.-WALK!! Downtown Vientiane has many hidden gems and I wish we would’ve explored around more. Remember to go on adventures and find places that no other Racer has found yet! The wonderful thing about Vientiane is that the big chains haven’t taken over, so you have the chance to support the locals with almost everything you do.
- Inpeng Culture Park – WATER PARKAmazing, brand new “water park” in Vientiane. Giant pool. A couple slides. Really nice restaurant with a stage for playing shows. This is a great place to just go and hang out for the day.Our contact took us here for our last day with him and we all had a blast.email: inpenggroup@gmail.comfacebook: https://www.facebook.com/InpengNightClubtel: +856 021 330098 , 030 5721353 , 021 351278Price: 30,000 kipp/person/day ($3.75 USD)From facebook it looks like they have BIG plans to expand, but all we saw was the pool so far. It is a new hidden gem of Vientiane. GO THERE!
- Definitely, if you have the free time, check out COPE. It is like a mini museum that has a lot of great information about Laos’ history, especially after the Vietnam war. It is mainly discusses the impact of all the bombs that the US sketchily dropped in the country following the war. Many of them never detonated, so farmers and scrap metal collectors are often blown up if they accidentally come in contact with an old bomb. The museum also talks about how organization seeks to bring awareness to the still dangerous situation and how they are providing prosthetics for a lot of the injured villagers.It is a little difficult to find because it is inside of what looked like an old (maybe still functioning) hospital, but it is in walking distance…about 20 minutes.
- I’m not sure if it was just because of the New Year celebrations, but on the magazine and newspaper rack by the counter we found a “What’s on in Vientiane” brochure that had a daily and weekly events calendar of things going on in the city for the month. It has been a good fall back when we don’t know what to do in the evenings or want a fun team time activity.
