Is This the Year Laos Breaks Through?

[reader]

From NY Times

The Vientiane Railway Station is one of the new behemoth train stations in Laos that feature peaked red roofs and cavernous waiting rooms.Credit...Lauren DeCicca for The New York Times

By Christine Chung

Christine Chung, a travel reporter, spent a week in Laos, traveling by train and bus.

• Jan. 1, 2025

Laos, a place that feels stuck in time, is at the precipice of change.

Backpackers found the country decades ago, drawn by staggeringly beautiful limestone mountains, elaborate Buddhist temples and an unhurried and inexpensive pace of life. Only the most intrepid travelers followed, as Laos, Southeast Asia’s only landlocked country, operated few — and no long-haul — flights, and potholed and shoddy roads were the norm. Those who made it traded no-frills accommodations and hourslong bumpy drives for adventure, and almost always tacked Laos onto multicountry itineraries that included neighboring Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, all well-oiled tourism machines that each draw at least three times the number of visitors than Laos annually.

Laos wants to change that. While flights remain limited, the country’s visitor infrastructure has strengthened in recent years with new hotels, improved highways and, most notably, a new train system that runs as fast as 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour and connects some of the country’s most popular tourism destinations. Last year, the government designated 2024 a national tourism year, expanding visa waivers, improving tour guide training, and holding dozens of grand festivals.

Yet the country and its tourism industry were shaken in November, when at least six young tourists fell ill in the town of Vang Vieng and later died. Officials suspect methanol-tainted alcohol is the cause.

I had visited Vang Vieng in July, when my partner, Eli, and I set out for a weeklong trip in Laos. We had wondered what it would be like to visit a country on the cusp of a potential tourism boom, particularly one with a longstanding reputation as an inexpensive, under-the-radar destination. We traveled mostly by rail, but also by bus, to find out.

Continues at

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/01/travel/laos-vientiane-luang-prabang-train.html

[floridarob]

I'm going for my first time in March....😏

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, floridarob said:

I'm going for my first time in March....😏

certainly trains there are much faster than anywhere else in the region