The first place i stayed in laos was don det, an island right in the south which only had electricity between 6 and 10 at night and where the only accomodation was a hut with a squat toilet attached. It was awesome! Laos is just about the most chilled out place I've ever been, and i have to say that its also my favourite loaction thus far on my travels too. The people are really friendly, and you get hassled nowhere near as much as in other parts of asia. After Vietnam and Cambodia its bliss to walk around and not have people grabbing you and trying to flog you crap every two seconds. Its also a really beautiful country, and the town im in right now, luang prabang, particularly so. The funny thing is that luang prabang is a world heritage sight, and laos' biggest tourist attraction as a result, but it still has the same atmosphere as the rest of Laos, really peaceful and serene, even the night market is more chilled out than shopping at a supermarket back home. The only place thats different to this in Laos is a backpacker town called Vang Vieng, which is one of the weirdest places I've been on the trip, just cos its so shamelessly aimed at backpackers, and not cultural ones but the kind who just get high watching tv haha. there're these bars called tv bars which just have endless reruns of friends or family guy all day and most of the night, and the menu is full of "happy" (wink wink, nudge nudge) things like happy pizza or happy shakes or whatever. I swear its hilarious seeing all these hippy traveller types high as kites wtching family guy haha. Theres also loads of activities to do in Vang Vieng like tubing, but personally i hated the place, Louang prabang is such an awesome contrast its untrue, i was getting withdrawal symptoms from not hearing chandlers voice blaring at me wherever i went haha. Im taking a slowboat to Thailand next, then in a week ill be back home, tbh though i think i could stay in Laos forever, Thailand will seem mental after this haha.