Thanks for a great report. I've mongered only once in Lao and my experience was similar, although that was 20 years ago, seems not much has changed. Curious why some SEA countries develop such good p4 p ecosystems and others have very little despite similar poverty, education and religions. Lao vs Thailand is a good example, but also Indonesia vs Bangladesh.
[QUOTE=NuttinSerious;2764379]I've been to Vientiane once before, on a weekend run a few years ago. With the Chinese tied up in lockdowns and the Kip slipping in value I thought ID give it another go for a few days. I may ramble. Sorry in advance.
The short version: Vientiane has almost zero p4 p geared towards english speaking foreigners. It is nothing like Thailand, Philippines, or even Phnom Penh or Jakarta. The p4 p scene is lowkey and if you don't speak Lao, Thai or perhaps Chinese you just arnt going to get much access.
The best looking girls, from what I can make out, are either working in KTVs in chinese owned or orientated Hotels. I didn't try to visit, it might be possible. I chatted to one girl who worked at one of these via a dating site, although when we were due to meet she ditched. She did say she got 500 k for going with a customer for the night. Whether that's a a tip or a cut IDK.
There are free lancers who work out of bars and restaurants. Again, you really need to speak Lao or Thai. Thats the clientele they are catering to. Some good looking, lighter skinned girls in this sector. No luck for me here either, just a chance to observe.
Massage. Here results picked up a bit. I was actually in the mood for a proper massage so I didn't have any high expectations. I had hired a moto and was just exploring, so I picked an externally fairly legit looking massage place a way out sittong road, a little way past the 'character cafe' (which is quite a nice cafe too). On entering and surveying the staff I got a hint there was more on offer. A cute young lady with a cheeky grin took me upstairs, washed my feet and invited me to disrobe in a room with 3 mattresses on the floor with curtains between. Fan and quiet relaxing music. Seemed fairly legit to I put the massage pants on and laid down.
Girl comes in and starts, and within a couple minutes decided I needed to loose the pants as they got in the way. Over the next 10 minutes or so things developed steadily as massage began to resemble something more like foreplay. We were the only ones in that room. I unbuttoned her denim shorts and checked inside, while she smiled at me. Eventually we agreed on extending the hour massage to 2 hours and full service for 600 k to her, she wouldn't go any lower. About 1200 baht. She was 19, cheeky and cute with nice smooth skin and good proportions. We had a good time, she enjoyed it too, after initially complaining about the size of my tool of trade. Massage cost at the desk downstairs was 100 k per hour, so 200 k total. Waved the girl good bye, and made a note to return again. It was a chance encounter but it worked out very well. I must add there were zero english words spoken by anyone there, sign language and google translate was used to communicate while upstairs. And this brings us to the next difficulty. Google translate just doesn't do Lao well. Its great for every other language I've tried, but Lao.
It seems to miss a lot of nuance, struggle to understand verbal input, and not even register the meanings of many words used. On top of that some references went right over my head.
There are also some chicken shack / brothels in places, as found by reading back through previous forum posts. I found some (after dark they become somewhat obvious with the pink lighting). They are hit and miss, mostly miss. In the interests of science I explored again, zero english, white foreigners (moreso their money) accepted. Service level expectations to be kept low, facilities dirty and very poor. I met a 27 yo vietnamese girl at one who was fairly enthusiastic, or maybe just excited to have a customer. And least she gave a BJ. She wante the to chat afterwards.
Next night a 22 ish Lao girl who, while fairly good looking, undressed and assumed a missionary position which she wouldn't budge from. And that was her entire contribution to proceedings. In both cases 200 k was the rate. Which sounds cheap, until you add in the cost of getting there. So I got more ambitious. In the middle of it all is a ST hotel, or 150000 kip for all night. For 500 k I got a takeaway Lao, and retired to my very modest room which boasted clean towels but not a lot more. A lot of noise filtered through from the street, but this Lao girl is 20, friendly but a little shy, and fun to be with. I'm getting into this. Then, about 90 minutes in I hear the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. Voices and then what sounds like radio chatter or walkie talkies. Police? Shakedown? Setup?? I hardly dared breath. What sounds like radio comms from outside my door. Eventually footsteps went away, and about half an hour later I bailed too, dropped my short term Lao GF back to her place of work and retired for the night. Decided that was enough adrenaline and ID stick to sneaky massages and plan to head back to Thailand and more familiar territory.
Other things to note: The Lao girls (including the online contact) refused oral and seemed disgusted by the concept. Cover was expected and given reports of disease circulating in other reports in this forum I sided with caution.
Interestingly I met a gentleman in my travels who said he had seen a lot of Lao girls, likely FL, in Nong Khai.
Overall: Lao is a lovely laid back place to relax for a few days, but in terms of P4 P you're far better off in Thailand for choice, accessibility, langage, food and even value for money when you take the travel / visa costs into account. And with the Lao girls looking for money youll probably find the best ones in Thailand soon enough anyway.
In another comparison, I think Indonesia Laos for lower cost p4 p, and I felt a lot more secure there too.[/QUOTE]
