Laos - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 345

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coriander leaves, chillies and lime juice
and is closely related to hai cuisine. Eaten
with the hands along with the staple sticky
rice, much of traditional Lao cuisine is
roasted over an open fire and served with
fresh herbs and vegetables. Pork, chicken,
duck and water buffalo all end up in the
kitchen, but freshwater fish is the main
source of protein. An ingredient in many
recipes is nâm pa , or fish sauce, which is
used like salt. Most Lao cooking includes
fish sauce so you may want to order “ baw
sai nâm pa ” (“without fish sauce”) if you
are a vegetarian.
Vientiane and Luang Prabang have the
country's best food, with excellent Lao
food and international cuisine, but in
remote towns you'll be faced with trying
some of the more daring local dishes,
such as ant egg soup, or sticking to
noodle soups and fried rice. Although
Laos is a Buddhist country, very few Lao
are vegetarian . It's fairly easy, however, to
get a vegetable dish or vegetable fried
rice. As for hygiene , Laos kitchens are
often nothing more than shacks without
proper lighting or even running water.
Sticking to well-frequented places is the
safest bet, but it is by no means a
guarantee that you won't get an upset
stomach. In any case, do not drink tap
water, try to avoid cooked food that has
been left standing, and only eat fruit that
you can peel.

STREET NAMES
Only a handful of cities in Laos actually
have street names, signs are rare, and
many roads change names from block to
block. Use street names to find a hotel on
a map in the guide text, but when asking
directions or telling a tuk-tuk driver where
to go, it's usually best to refer to a
landmark, monastery or prominent hotel.

around 70,000K. hankfully, large Lao
cities have an increasing number of
dorm beds , going for as little as 30,000K
per night. Elsewhere, a very simple
double or single room with a shared
bathroom will be the cheapest option.
Standards and room types can vary
widely within the same establishment so
it's worth looking at several rooms before
choosing one. Electricity is supplied at 220
volts AC; two-pin sockets are the norm.
En-suite showers and flush toilets are now
found in almost every hotel, though a
dying breed of very cheap places still have
communal facilities and squat toilets. Note
that most guesthouses and hotels will
advertise hot water, but “hot” can often be
less than lukewarm, and may depend on
the time of day and how many other
people are showering at the same time.
he distinction between a guesthouse
and a hotel is blurred in Laos. Either can
denote anything ranging from a
bamboo-and-thatch hut to a multistorey
concrete building. An increasing number
of guesthouses take advance bookings
through sites like W agoda.com and
W

WHERE TO EAT
he cheapest places for food are markets,
street stalls and noodle shops. Despite
their name, morning markets ( talat sâo )
remain open all day and provide a focal
point for noodle stalls ( hân khãi fõe ),
coffee vendors, fruit stands and sellers of
crusty French loaves. In Luang Prabang
and Vientiane, vendors hawking
pre-made dishes gather in evening
markets ( talat láeng ) towards late
afternoon. Takeaways such as grilled
chicken ( pîng kai ), spicy papaya salad
( tam màk hung ) and minced pork salad
( larp mu ) are commonly available.
Some noodle shops and street stalls
feature a makeshift kitchen surrounded
by a handful of tables and stools. Most
stalls will specialize in only one general

booking.com, though few have their
own website.
Mid-range hotels are common in
medium-sized towns and are mostly
four- or five-storey affairs, offering large
rooms with tiled floors and en-suite
bathrooms from around 120,000K. he
beds are usually hard but the sheets and
quilts are clean, and often you'll get TV,
wi-fi and air conditioning thrown in too.

FOOD AND DRINK
Fiery and fragrant, with a touch of sour,
Lao food owes its distinctive taste to
fermented fish sauces, lemongrass,