Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SHOPPING
Oneofthepleasuresofshoppinginanon-industrialcountrylikeLaosistheavailability
of hand-crafted goods. Because items made by hand can only be produced in limited
quantities, they are usually sold or bartered in the village in which they were made.
Handmade baskets, bolts of cloth and household utensils are best acquired at village
level, as everything is cheaper at the source, though it's not all that easy for non-Lao-
speakingvisitorstoturnupandmakeknownwhatthey'reafter.Provincialmarketsare
theobviousalternative;priceshereareusuallyjustabitmorethanwhatyouwouldpay
wereyoutobuydirectlyfromvillageartisans.Ofcourse,ifvillage-madeobjectsmakeit
allthewaytotheboutiquesofVientiane,their“value”willhavemultipliedmanytimes
over.
As with the rest of Southeast Asia, merchandise often has no price tag and the buyer is expec-
ted to make a spirited attempt at
haggling
the quoted price down. Even if an item is sporting
a price tag, it's still perfectly acceptable to ask for a discount. Bargaining takes patience and
tact, and knowing what an item is really worth is half the battle. The first price quoted will
usually be inflated. If you feel the price is way out of line, it is better to just smile and walk
away than to squawk in disbelief and argue that the price is unfair - no matter how loud or
valid your protestations, nobody will believe that you cannot afford to buy.
On the whole,
Luang Prabang
is better for shopping than Vientiane, with a glut of pricey
boutiques selling locally made handicrafts. Note however that in both towns, the vast major-
ity of goods on sale are cheap imports from China and beyond.
Textiles
A surprisingly large number of the ethnic groups that make up the population of Laos produce
cloth of their own design, which is turned into men's and women's sarongs, shoulder bags,
headscarves and shawls. Traditionally, most textiles stayed within the village where they
were woven, but the increasing popularity of Lao textiles with visitors has led urban textile
merchants to employ buyers to comb isolated villages for
old textiles
that might be resold at
a profit. The result is that many merchants have only a vague idea of where their old textiles
are from or which group made them. This doesn't seem to deter foreign buyers, however, and
sales are brisk, which has given rise to the practice of boiling new textiles to artificially age
them. Some of these so-called antique textiles sell for hundreds of dollars.
To some shopkeepers “old” can mean ten years or so and most will have little idea what the
age of a certain piece is, but if you persist in asking, they will often claim an item has been
around for a couple of centuries. As textiles are difficult to date, it's best to take such claims
with a pinch of salt. All in all, though, it is rare for the local merchants to go to great lengths
to deceive customers.
