Living in Thailand as an expatriate is a great experience, not only for the culture and food, but for the trips to a boarder every three months. Thus far in my stay, I have been to Cambodia and Laos in order to renew my non-immigrant education visa. The excursion to Cambodia lasted all of about eight hours, but a weekend trip to Laos granted me my most recent visa. Spending only part of an hour in Cambodia did not allow me to understand the nation or see how its people work. After three days in Laos, embarking on various excursions I have a much better insight into the nation and its people. My impression of Laos is that I like it, much more than Thailand. I have researched the basics of the two countries and gathered my thoughts to justify preferring one to the other.

Thailand is ruled by constitutional monarchy since a revolution in 1932. The current king is greatly honored and has ruled for sixty years. The people are very loyal to the crown but repressed because of it. Thai people are very respectful of their king and honour him at set times during the day and before movies at the theater. The main form of learning is memorization and repetition; there is little analytical and out-of-the-box thinking. Few students reach the university level of education and motorbike drivers vastly outnumber savvy business men. Women have very little consideration as more than the traditional role of wife and mother; as practiced in Asian culture. Pattaya, which is not considered true Thailand by anybody, teems with a money hungry population, not helped by the police who can be paid off for almost any offense. Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been colonized, therefore has very little western influence, except for the hundreds of thousands of tourists and expatriates that travel to the tropical paradise every year.

Laos exists under communist rule and has since 1975 after being controlled externally for centuries. Siam governed the nation for nearly a century, and then it became part of French Indochina for close to a hundred years. It is a self-sustaining nation with little international trade, though the nation was admitted to ASEAN in 1997 following a gradual return to private enterprise. They make and sell, within their own boarders, every necessity for life. Goods and services come at a fraction of a price of that even found in Thailand. The main roads are in repair equivalent to an unused and unmaintained county road in rural Upper Michigan. The worn shocks supporting many tuk tuks merely allow us to bounce down roads as we travel from place to place. Sidewalks for the most part don’t exist and the beautiful river banks are left; not taken advantage of by restaurants or cafes. The hotel where we stayed glistened and hot water fell right from the tap, a luxury not found in Thailand. We dined with cloth napkins, were served by gracious waiters, and ate some of the best food I’ve ever tasted. Lao people take much pride in catering for and serving others; hotel staff and the kayaking guides were both helpful and fun loving. My stay began with the doorman/bellboy/breakfast server carrying my Christmas gifts for a client’s parents laden bag up to my unprepared room, then downstairs again, then up to another room that was prepared, all with a smile and concern for how incredibly tired I looked after a 24 hour journey. Our kayak trip began with a huge splash fight, initiated by the cook, whose lunch was the best meal I’ve consumed since my arrival in Asia.

Around the globe, Thailand is known for its welcoming hospitality. The people are believed to be the friendliest and most accommodating of many nations. From my experience this is true for only a small percentage of the population; a belief that may stem from my residence in Pattaya and frequent travel to Bangkok, places where Thai culture is somewhat skewed. Hospitality seems to mean harassment of westerners for cab rides, massages, and ten baht instead of the actual fare of five baht on a baht bus. On the other hand, the family that owns the building where I live are some of the nicest people I’ve met. The lady mends clothes and the son says ‘hello’ to me every time he sees me go up the stairs to my room.

In Laos I felt that I could walk down the street, in the middle of the street no less, without being propositioned for anything. Unless one specifically asks for something, vendors and drivers seem to keep their distance, perhaps a function of stern Communist police. Owners of stalls at the market would only help if asked and would allow shoppers to view goods for any amount of time without harassment. I enjoyed shopping in Laos much more because I am left to my own devices rather then people trying to sell me things that I don’t want. Foreign business is appreciated but not expected as in Thailand. Many vendors in Pattaya seem to think that any person with white skin grows a money tree and will spend it all while in Thailand. Lao vendors sell what is negotiated, typically at low prices, without an attempt to bargain for more. The environment is very low pressure, a welcome break from pushy Thai vendors and horn honking baht bus drivers.

I don’t want to trash talk Thailand because it is a very nice place with great people who put up with rowdy drunken white man much of the year. Pattaya is full of westerners who come and stay for months at a time, spending their money and draining keg after keg of Singha. Laos is decades behind in term of economy and tourism. Most of the white folks I saw around Vientiane were travelers. Young couples with backpacks who are on year long trips, a lady with a bicycle who plans to ride Cambodia, and groups of backpackers on their way through to the next haven populate hotels and guesthouses in Vientiane. Bars serve Beerlao, made and sold only in Laos and better than most beers in Thailand, in big liter bottles for a dollar, and we drank plenty.

I think the starkest contrast I noticed between the two nations and the number one reason why I was so drawn by Laos was the evident colonial European influence. I appreciate that Thailand has never been colonized and respect the country very much for this achievement, but I adore Europe. Traveling through Western Europe, especially Italy, I felt at home nearly as much as crossing the Mighty Mac into my beloved Upper Peninsula. Laos possesses a similar appeal. Architecture, attention to detail in décor of restaurants, and even food itself bore much resemblance to that of France, the colonizer, and Europe in general. Things were much cleaner as well. Some food stalls in Thailand I avoid because dishes are washed in basins of stale water and chickens are slaughtered out back, but in Laos more care seemed to be taken with keeping clean. Roadway ditches were bare where in Thailand trash inhabits many spare corners and ditches.

A few interesting facts about the two nations are the difference in population and percentage of the population living below the poverty line. Thailand boasts a population of a little less 65.5 million with a mere 10% below the line of poverty. Laos on the other hand leaves 40% of its 6.2 million strong population below the poverty line. In Thailand the entire population of Laos lives on a dollar a day, but in Laos nearly half of the people struggle to survive. We saw some of these people scurrying after the bus to Vientiane at the drop off point for our kayak trip. Clad in traditional wraps and sandals women and children try to sell anything they can, but only to other Lao. They did not approach us or the baht bus in which we arrived. Maybe they thought we couldn’t stomach the grilled chicken, fish, and boiled eggs on a stick.