Vientiane, Laos
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Aditta Kittikhoun has realized to anticipate the query.
No, not Thailand, nevertheless it’s subsequent to Thailand. No, not China, nevertheless it’s subsequent to China. No, not Vietnam, nevertheless it’s subsequent to Vietnam.
Kittikhoun, who’s Lao however grew up largely in the United States, is used to individuals not figuring out the place he’s from.
His father labored at the Laos diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York City. As a consequence, he speaks fluent English, an asset when he moved again to his birthplace.
Now, Kittikhoun runs a media and inventive advertising and marketing firm in Vientiane, a metropolis of about 850,000 individuals.
“I would say it’s extremely comfortable, it’s pleasant, people are generally nice to each other,” says Kittikhoun, who’s elevating his three youngsters in Vientiane. “I like the vibe of this place. I do want to continue living here for the long term.”
Although Vientiane has existed on this stretch of the Mekong River for hundreds of years, December marks 50 years as the heart of the Lao Democratic People’s Republic. It’s the youngest of the world’s Communist capitals, the others being Beijing, Havana, Hanoi and Pyongyang.
This is not any Bangkok on the Mekong. Landlocked Laos will get far fewer vacationers than its beach-surrounded neighbors. There are not any skyscrapers. Public transit is minimal. Vientiane’s small airport has simply six gates, supporting solely short-haul flights from round the area.
Global manufacturers are scarce. Most chains are Thai or Chinese, although a handful of Starbucks have opened in the previous few years — Starbucks’ Vientiane-branded cups have turn into surprising collectors’ gadgets on-line. A DoubleTree by Hilton opened in the metropolis in 2024, one among the first Western resort manufacturers to make inroads right here.
Trying poop tea in Laos
Silk cannot be made with out the silkworm. A 3-inch lengthy insect that eats… and poops.. loads. NCS Travel editor Lilit Marcus traveled to a store in Laos to sip on some tea that is steeped from roasted silkworm droppings.
As for sightseeing? The hottest sights are the Patuxai Victory Monument, devoted to the Lao individuals who fought for independence from the French, and Wat Si Saket, a temple recognized for its hundreds of Buddha sculptures and drawings.
The very first thing most individuals discover about Vientiane is the warmth. Like Southeast Asia’s different capital cities, it’s a scorching and humid nation with a protracted summer time and a wet season.
Here in Vien, as locals name their metropolis, motorbikes zoom previous Buddhist shrines and low-slung Brutalist-style authorities buildings. In parks and public squares, mates collect on stools, consuming barbecued meats alongside ubiquitous bottles of Beerlao. Lao flags — crimson and darkish blue with a brilliant white circle in the center — are hung between bushes or plastered to the sides of meals carts.
Vientiane and past
Laos’ financial system has grown over the previous decade, however the World Bank notes that “high inflation, currency depreciation, and declining real wages are driving workers from wage and unpaid family work to self-employment.” The nation was hit arduous by the pandemic, and its fragile tourism sector suffered additional injury final yr after six travelers died from tainted alcohol at a hostel in Vang Vieng, the nation’s major celebration vacation spot.
Many younger Lao individuals have left to hunt work in Thailand, the place the financial system is stronger, notably in the hospitality sector. Most Lao audio system can perceive and communicate Thai, as the two languages are comparable and lots of native TV channels present Thai movies and TV reveals.
“It’s a lot of the manual labor that is going overseas,” says Kittikhoun. “The really educated class are still here, and they are extremely sought after.”
Laos’ financial system is predicted to develop about 3.5% this yr, in accordance with the World Bank. Salaries have risen just a little, however inflationary pressures, together with rising property costs, hold house possession out of attain for a lot of.
However, Kiyé Simon Luang, a Lao filmmaker who spent years in France earlier than shifting again, says some Lao individuals of his era who thought they must dwell abroad to pursue their careers in artistic fields are returning house.
Luang, who enjoys trying out the metropolis’s vibrant unbiased music scene in his spare time, says he’s energized by the younger individuals in Laos who’re shifting the tradition ahead and altering the thought of what it means to achieve success.
And he believes {that a} rising tide lifts all boats.
“It’s normal for the country to develop,” he says. “The population is growing. I can see that the standard of living has increased, that the level of health has also increased, as has hygiene. Development has advantages.”
While inbound tourism is a rising sector in the Lao financial system, most vacationers go to as a part of a much bigger journey round Southeast Asia.
And when vacationers do come to Laos, it’s not Vientiane that the majority make a beeline for.
Luang Prabang, the UNESCO-listed former royal capital in northern Laos, has lengthy been the nation’s showpiece due to its fairly, well-preserved French colonial buildings.
These days, the largest, fastest-growing marketplace for vacationers is Laos’ neighbor to the north – China.
A China-backed high-speed rail project connecting Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng and Vientiane has been successful. Now, vacationers can go between Vientiane and Luang Prabang in two hours — a journey that might simply take all day by automobile alongside native roads.
The practice originates in the Chinese province of Yunnan. Although Chinese vacationers want a visa to go to Laos, that requirement is waived in the event that they e-book a package deal tour with a Lao journey firm. As a consequence, Mandarin-language journey guides are popping up in border areas to entice Chinese vacationers southward.
Luang Prabang could also be the most well-known place in Laos.
But, as expat Sophie Steller factors out, the historic metropolis is small and doesn’t have as a lot of a year-round inhabitants as Vientiane does.
Many foreigners come to Laos’ capital to work for NGOs, train English or French (the latter of which remains to be used formally in the authorities), or set up themselves as digital nomads.
Steller, initially from Sydney, first got here to Laos to work for UNICEF in 1999 and has been based mostly in Vientiane ever since. She rapidly fell in love together with her adopted hometown however wished there was a great, dependable place to get cocktails that was open on Sundays and had an English-speaking workers.
To fill that hole, she and two mates opened a café known as Sticky Fingers in downtown Vientiane 10 years in the past. Steller has since purchased them out to turn into the sole proprietor and has remained in the nation on a enterprise proprietor visa.
Steller likes to spend her days off biking or boating round Vientiane’s inexperienced areas. But when out-of-town mates come to go to, she says she at all times recommends they go to COPE, a company that helps victims of land mines.
“It’s a real eye-opener for some people,” she says. “It’s a little bit of history about the Vietnam War and how badly this place was bombed.”
Between 1964 and 1973, the United States dropped about two million bombs on Laos in what was known as “the secret war.”
The assaults had been meant to interrupt provide strains to the Viet Cong throughout the Vietnam War, giving Laos the doubtful honor of being the most bombed nation per capita in historical past. Today, there are an estimated 80 million unexploded bombs round the nation, which nonprofits are serving to to search out and take away safely.
About three million vacationers visited the nation in 2025, in contrast with 32 million in Thailand. Laos has introduced a aim of 5 million vacationers per yr.
In a world the place overtourism is a continuing concern, locals inform NCS that they love Vientiane for its easygoing, manageable lifestyle. And for expats like Steller, it nonetheless looks like a well-kept secret.
“I’ve never been bored here,” she says. “Ever.”