Continuing on from last week’s review of places I stayed at in Laos, today I look at where I stayed in Vang Vieng and the capital, Vientiane.

Vang Vieng – Vilay Vong

I should start this review off by saying I think this place charges a LOT more than the $10 a night I paid for it, but it wasn’t high season and basically and I haggled and told them that really $10 a night was all I could afford. It represented excellent value for money with a sort of small half hut to myself with a large if not brilliant bathroom, two double beds, air conditioning, high roof, in a sort of tropical setting. Yeah, it was pretty nice all said. I didn’t tell any other guest there how much I had paid.

The place was comfortable, spacious, TV, nothing to complain about. The staff were fine but I didn’t see or hear much from them.

Andrew’s Ratings:

Value for Money: 4.5/5

Friendliness: 2.5/5

Cleanliness: 3/5

Noise: 3.5/5

Location: 3.5/5

Total: 17/25 (68/100)

 

Vientiane – Chantha Hotel

Eesh! I was looking for a cheap guesthouse in Vientiane and at 75000 kip this place certainly fitted the bill I guess. Well I’m getting $12 on current exchange rates in Aussie dollars. However, it could hardly be said it was value for money. I stayed in one of the stuffiest rooms I’ve ever stayed in. Honestly breathing was barely possible without a proper window. The ceiling was only just above my 5 foot 7 height. It was just, well, humid, hot and oppressively stuffy. Shared bathroom too with no light by my bed getting to the door when I needed to pee was a task and a half as was returning to the bed. Not clean either. Maybe, by 2011, I was soft though, that’s entirely possible.

Andrew’s Ratings:

Andrew’s Ratings:

Value for Money: 2/5

Friendliness: 3/5

Cleanliness: 0.5/5

Noise: 3/5

Location: 3/5

Total: 11.5/25 (46/100)

 

Vientiane – Mixay Paradise Hotel

This one was not far away from Chantha Hotel, and it cost 125,000 kip which would be a little under $20 Australian. And what a difference. For an extra eight bucks I had air conditioning, my own bathroom, a television and breakfast, all things I didn’t have at the Chantha. So, it begs the question, ‘why did I think saving a few bucks was worth it?’

It clearly wasn’t. I left Chantha at 7am because the heat in there was too much to bear. I had sweated all night, and I had checked out the Mixay Paradise the previous evening as I suspected I might want to move. Thankfully I had only booked for one night. Mixay even let me check into my room at like 730am in the morning for no extra cost that I remember, so that was a big tick.

The location is slightly closer to the river which was nice, the room was clean and comfortable and a massive relief to be cool after the night I’d had. Perhaps contrasted with the other place I stayed in Vientiane it’s hard to remember a negative from this place. I was happy there, I stayed just the one night, with a morning flight to KL the next day. Breakfast was okay, not spectacular but for the cost it was hardly expected!

Andrew’s Ratings:

Value for Money: 4/5

Friendliness: 3.5/5

Cleanliness: 4.5/5

Noise: 2.5/5

Location: 4/5

Total: 18.5/25 (74/100)

And thus concludes my reviews of places I stayed in Laos! Next week I’ll review an interesting place I stayed in Hong Kong. Take care, and May the Journey Never End!