Ask WhoIam anything about living in Vientiane, Laos

[Audi]

WhoIam, are you still in a long-term hotel?

roamer, how did you find your apartment, and what sort of deposit was required? How widely available are short-term rentals for tourists?

[roamer590]

[ QUOTE ]

roamer, how did you find your apartment, and what sort of deposit was required? How widely available are short-term rentals for tourists?

[/ QUOTE ]

Was an ad in vientiane times, a daily newspaper.
these apartments are $150-$200 a month, I think I paid 2months deposit.
If there are empty units there should be no problem at all to rent for just a month or something. In my contract there is nothing that says i cannot move out at the end of this month if I want.
I am incredibly lazy, if you put some time and energy into it you can probably find way cooler and cheaper places. There are even agents that can help you find a place suited to your needs.

In short, no problem [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Whatever ur needs you will surely be able to find something.

[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

damn im tired, mtts round the clock are killing me. sleep now. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[bpc009]

So you can't internet at your hotel or anything either? I'm looking to move someplace in SE Asia for 5 to 6 months, but I will need to play poker while there. Is Laos out? Is Thailand the only option?

[Farfenugen]

Yeah, could you expand on the internet situation in Laos?

I'm a low limit grinder so I would definitely want at least somewhat consistent access. Is this very hard to find? You mentioned it was very expensive. Do you know how much?

[Farfenugen]

How is the street food? Safe or is it better to stay away?

[WhoIam]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, could you expand on the internet situation in Laos?

I'm a low limit grinder so I would definitely want at least somewhat consistent access. Is this very hard to find? You mentioned it was very expensive. Do you know how much?


[/ QUOTE ]
If you have a laptop there are internet cafes everywhere. Connection speed varies depending on the place, time of day, day of the week, and how many people are there. Genreally you want as few packpackers as possible because they'll kill your bandwidth with skype, webcams, youtube, etc. Prices range from $.40-$.60/hr. There are a handful of places I've found that are consistently reliable. The Lao version of Starbucks has wifi that be accessed at roughly $2/hr and is the most reliable (and by far most expensive) option.

Your options for at-home broadband are ADSL, Planet, and your cell phone. From what I remember, a 156k DSL line is about $250/month with a $100 installation fee. 256k is $350/month. Prices vary depending on speed and whether you're willing to share the line with others. Planet is the most reliable option; it uses a satellite dish in your yard to send and receive the web via microwaves. Prices start at $30/ month for .5 GIG TOTAL UPLOAD AND DOWNLOAD, $50 for 1 gig, and so on. Somewhat reasonable plans with unlimited access are available but you have to buy the equipment which starts at $1k. Finally, if you have the right cell phone, you can use it as a modem for something like $.10/minute. I don't know much about this. Oddly you can do this and use your Blackberry, but none of the phone companies offer voicemail.

[ QUOTE ]
How is the street food? Safe or is it better to stay away?

[/ QUOTE ] There isn't much street food, at least compared to Thailand. When it exists, it's usually connected to a small restaurant. I eat cheap local food all the time and have never had any serious problems.

[roamer590]

I have internet now that I pay $50/ month for. It's slow, but poker really doesn't require very fast connection, not much data is being sent back and forth. So for poker it works fine, although surfing and downloads is hell. Sometimes I get disconnected for a few minutes. that sucks [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. but not a big problem. Miss a few hands from some tourneys here and there, it's part of the charm of living here I guess [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Managed to take down the $5 rebuy on stars for $7k like 2-3 weeks ago . so it does work.

Anyway, next week i will get this [censored] upgraded. the guy that set it up said i was gonna get 1mbit line. (which i have no idea what is but he said it was super fast) And yeah it is no cap on upload / download either. I have stuff on download while I'm not at home like episodes of high stakes poker etc . its slow but they get here eventually.

But yeah if super fast internet is the most important thing in ur life then no laos 4 u i guess.

ANyway I will give u an update when I get my upgrade [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Peace