Life in Laos

I’ve received many requests to talk about what life is like here. Now that I’m about a month and half in, here we go.

After two weeks in a closet-like but clean guesthouse room – complete with brick-printed wallpaper – my employer put me in touch with an expat apartment-finding service. I was taken to about 10 different apartments in my price range.

I’ve never seen such spectacularly awkward layouts for apartments in my life! My favorites included: one with green AstroTurf carpet, one whose complex owner was especially keen on lawn ornamentation and one that was next-door to a disco-club… but I was told, “It’s not loud here.” Right-o.

I almost signed a lease for a newer, spacious second floor apartment, not far from the main fitness centre in town – until I found out a co-worker had moved into the same building several months ago and was experiencing problems with exploding toilets… something suspect with the plumping installation.

That same day, a friend of a friend suggested an apartment complex not far from my office. And as “luck” would have it, someone had just moved out of an apartment and they were giving it a fresh coat of paint when I saw it. One bedroom, fair price, perfectly normal layout, and a balcony. Sold.

Included in the rent of my third-floor walk-up is laundry and cleaning service. I feel like royalty! The dirty clothes in my laundry basket disappear three times each week when I’m at work and appear the next day fluffed and folded in the hallway outside my door. I don’t have to scrub toilets, sweep, mop or dust. Sometimes they even do my dishes.

Sumptuous living I tell you.

I get everywhere on my single-speed bicycle that I’m borrowing from the office. It has a basket on the front, a second seat on the back, and a kick-stand.

There is something quite freeing about picking up a few groceries on a bike. Pretty much everywhere I need to go in Vientiane is a 10-20 minute bike ride away. There are only 2 slight hills here so it works out pretty well.

Unless you are riding at night when most cars are off the roads though, rides are not entirely leisurely. It takes full concentration to successfully dodge cars and the plethora of motorcycles and scooters – there is no pedestrian or bicycle right of way here – you fend for yourself.

On the weekends, a good portion of my time is spent researching the best coffee shops and cafes in town. Can you tell there isn’t much to do here? I’ve found 4 or 5, my favorite being a peaceful, tiny coffee shop with no wifi. It’s somewhat hidden, so most tourists don’t know about it yet. They treat pouring coffee as an art form. The shop is very minimal and stylish and it’s my favorite place to hide during the hot days.

While technically this is now the cool season – and the ballooning number of tourists showing up in town are evidence of that – it hasn’t been so cool. I can count on one hand the “cool” days… we are talking 75 degrees instead of 85-90. Yes, I’m a weather wimp and I’m having trouble getting used to the heat and humidity, but it’s still better right now than the 100 degrees days that will come in April and May.

A huge blessing was the discovery of a pool downtown. Simple and a bit worn, the water is clean and gloriously cool, I’ve spent many an afternoon there with friends. It’s not well-known beyond the locals, so it’s really a little oasis in the city.

Not far from my apartment, through a dark alley, bordered by vendors selling fresh, unrefrigerated meat, is a nearly endless fabric market. It’s mostly silks for making Lao skirts- jewel tones with elaborate woven hems. Mainly for locals, I get lots stares walking though ogling at stall after stall. But it’s fabric, I can’t help myself.

One of the biggest changes that I wasn’t expecting is that I have a lot of time here, a lot of extra time. I used to spend about 1.5 to 2 hours a day commuting. Now it’s a 3-minute walk to the office, 4 if I have to wait for the waves of motorbikes to pass before crossing the street.

To be honest, it’s thrown me a bit. I’ve never had so much free time in my life. What to fill it with? I’m still trying to figure that out as the “newness” of navigating the city has eased a bit. Time for a new hobby? More blog posts? Write a book? I have no idea, but I never thought having so much free time would make me uneasy.

I had heard before coming here that Vientiane was the sleepiest capital in Asia, and it’s true. I expect that many of the blog posts during the next year will be exploring time.