Living in Laos, is it Boring? What are Laos Girls Like?

Beer Laos

Laos has a reputation for being boring. Versus other SE Asia capital cities, Vientiane has:

  • No modern high rise condos
  • No large malls, less things to do
  • Fewer bars and clubs
  • No red light district, just a few small brothels
  • Less transportation, no Uber / metered taxis
  • Annoying tuktuks that overcharge

Hot, dusty streets, not many air conditioned spots. Underdeveloped, rural vibe. Closest comparison would be Cambodia. Worse internet than Thailand.

Laos Girl

However part of its bad rep is because people only check out the central tourist area by the Mekong, while in Laos 2 days to get a new Thailand visa.

A drink at Bor Pen Yang which can be hit and miss with ugly freelancers and ladyboys, then @Home disco which is often a sausagefest, before picking up their passport and flying back to Bangkok.

Laos gets better when you spend more time there, network with locals and learn about the best spots.

Vientiane is very spread out, if you have a motorbike and drive 20-30 mins out of the centre there are many more bars and clubs (e.g. Catwalk, Romeo).

Laos Kip. Thai Baht and USD accepted too

Living in Laos – Pros

Living in Laos would have some perks:

  • Cheap cost of living
  • Few foreign expats, mostly tourists, visa runners
  • Easy visas, infinite 30 day stamps or one year business visa, long stayers not denied entry
  • Friendly locals, laid back, no lese majeste laws
  • Easy weed and other drugs
  • Relaxed police, small bribes

Again very similar to Cambodia. A Piratebay founder was living in Laos for years before being arrested on the Thai side of the border.

500 baht ($15) bag of weed

Cambodia vs Laos

There are important differences though:

  • More casual hookups
  • Hotter girls
  • Less beer bars, barfines

So Laos is basically Cambodia with Thai girls. Like a second tier Cambodia city – Siem Reap or Snooky – with Issan girls (NE Thais). Vientiane has a bit lower population than Phnom Penh.

Laos language is similar to Issan, they understand both (and central Thai).

Beer Laos

Laos girls look the same as Issan girls which are most of the Thai girls that foreigners meet – massage girls, bargirls, and poorer girls that move to Bangkok and Pattaya from the North East to find work.

Some of those girls will be Laotian too. Laos girls get long migrant visas and often work under the radar in Thailand P4P as they’re so hard to tell apart.

Laos Girls

As with Issan girls, Laos girls like foreigners (our white skin, noses and cash) and are friendly, laid back and DTF. Some Laos girls are quite white-skinned too, and have a reputation for beauty amongst Thais.

Pakse countryside

Just be careful of the motorbike ladyboys that ride around the tourist centre trying to suck you off.

While it’s easier for casual hookups than Cambodia, it’s still harder than Thailand or Phils given a lower population and less public places to meet girls.

I met the Laos girl in this post in BKK. There are no Laos dating sites but there is AsianDating.com which works decently well for meeting Laos girls.

Once you meet them it’s easier than Vietnam. Like Thai girls sex isn’t a big deal and ONS are doable.

Laos monkey

Sex with Laos Girls Illegal?

There are outdated laws against sex outside of marriage with a Laos girl but they’re not enforced at all. Hotels don’t refuse overnight guests.

There are freelancers roaming the streets, in Bor Pen Yang bar and @Home club every night, and having a Laos girlfriend is a non-issue too.

If it ever became an issue cohabitating for years with a girl as a well-known expat in Laos, having children outside of marriage, etc., a small bribe would fix the issue.

Would I Live in Laos?

I’ve done some long trips to Laos, but I don’t like riding a motorbike. If I did I’d consider living in Laos long term as once you get out and about exploring the locals are fun.

Dinner time at my old condo

Laos people love to sit around drinking whiskey. Lots of minor house parties and small local bar hangout spots. There aren’t many young foreigners that venture outside of the central tourist area.

The food is also great, tons of international restaurants to cater to the foreigners that pass through.

Without transport though it’s too hot to walk around and the tuktuks are awful. I’ll write more on living in Laos in future posts.

17 Responses

  1. Meh, seems underdeveloped still. Maybe in a few years. Still waiting on that Taiwan sheet. :*

    As a side note, I did grow up with 2 Laotian people. Chill as fuck and a really cool vibe. One was a girl who is now married (?) to a Viet guy. We don’t keep in touch as much anymore. And the other I met via social circle. Great guy and heavily networked. He’s sort of like the point man for everything in my city. If most Laotians are like this, I could see myself visiting eventually.

    • jspill says:

      My mate afarangabroad.com went Taiwan recently, not sure if he ever wrote a post on it. But he said clubs are ok, if you go out and talk to girls they’re friendly. Tinder a bit dead, had one fatty begging to come over. Not much of a bar scene, clubs get busy after midnight, sooner on weekends. ATT4FUN mall has a bunch of clubs. He had a friend who was picking up lots of girls just from daygame talking.

      And then not much mongering so you’d like that. One tiny area, expensive, screenshot talking to mamasan – http://i.imgur.com/5Y46Pt8.png

    • -Cam says:

      The problem with Taipei is that the girls there are smart, have seen many foreigners, and live decent lives. Sure you may be a little nicer, cooler, and richer than the average local, but then they have to speak English and be the girl with a foreigner. That being said, I think Taiwan is a great country for a digital nomad because they have great infrastructure at very low prices and you can make decent money English teaching if you get desperate.

  2. RumandCokeMan says:

    Damn amigo that’s a big bag of smoke for $15! Is that like a full ounce? Was it good stuff?

    • jspill says:

      laos girl told me coulda paid less haha

      ya about an ounce almost

      gets you high, does the job

      • Spirit maze says:

        looks very leafy and twiggy. I’m not seeing any buds in there

      • expat333 says:

        Cough, cough. Seedsman dot com discreetly ships quality seeds worldwide. That’s all I’ll say about that. Wink, wink. (Be careful, though.)

        • jspill says:

          Hahaha thanks but I don’t smoke often enough to go to the effort of growing it. Risk/reward is off, if caught they’d probably consider you a dealer and apply the harshest penalty – https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/666021-man-arrested-for-growing-marijuana/

          I use a bong and make weed last ages so I only need to buy like an ounce a year, smoke like once a week at the end of a long day to relax. Have a hookup for imported seeds

          • expat333 says:

            Here in the Phils, I get offered a hit of shwag every now and then by guys in my neighborhood, and my response is always the same. “Thanks, Man. I don’t smoke. Duterte would kill me.” But as soon as I walk in my front door…Haha.

  3. Reader says:

    >Some Laos girls are quite white-skinned too, and have a reputation for beauty amongst Thais.

    Really? I always thought thais looked down on Lao and Myanmar people in general.

    I knew a lao girl in BKK who had a rich father that sent her there for private uni. Unlike hiso thais who don’t want to associate with foreigners much outside of biz, she was openly into me which was a positive change.

    That weed looks all leafs no buds. 😀

    • jspill says:

      Many do look down on neighboring countries as ‘not Thai’, but still compliment their looks, e.g Viets

      It was pretty much all leaves but got me baked haha

  4. Thai Guy says:

    Laos girls generally don’t look like NE Thai women. You can tell a girl from Laos a mile off. In fact, “looking Laos” is an insult used in jest in the NE of Thailand. Isaan is a diverse mix of origins and a common misconception is that Isaan people are basically Laos people. This may have more truth to it close to the border, but it’s generally not true.

  5. Eugene Pressley says:

    I married a Lao girl. She told me we kiss after married. But she still will not kiss. I don’t think she even knows how. I sometimes feel that she only married me for money and home. I believe a lot of the girls that Is all they are looking for. Little affection. Showed more before we got married…

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