money

Hi. We will be in laos for 5 nights this month - arriving from london via bangkok (will be in thailand for 6 days after laos). In terms of money in laos for meals / taxis / markets / possibly some day trips, will thai baht be ok or do we need local currency (kip?). our laos hotels and airport transfers have been pre-paid so we don%26#39;t need to worry about those. thanks.

money

Baht works, but it%26#39;s easier for the staff to calculate kip. You can exchange baht for kip anywhere.

money

Like the others said, they prefer the KIP. I paid $6 US at the airport for the taxi to my hotel. There are plenty of places to exchange your money, so its not a problem.

why not just exchange your pounds or euro to enough kip for your stay save the exchange rate to baht $100 US goes a long way

Callao-

If OP exchanged enough for 5 days of meals, excursions, shopping, etc, he/she woule end up with an unfathomably large brick o%26#39; kip! I say take the baht and exchange $50 worth or so as you use it. If you%26#39;re dining at upscale places and plan on dropping a lot of money shopping, then $100 worth at a time.

BTW, why were the previous posts removed? I didn%26#39;t observe anything foul-natured...Hmmm...

Thanks everyone for the advice. I%26#39;ve been told I%26#39;ll get a better rate for the Sterling/Thai Baht if I exchange at Bangkok airport rather than in London? We have 4 hrs between the Bangkok-Vientiane trip so have time to change money then.

At the airport, they certainly gave me good rates for exchanging yen to baht and also for yen to baht to dollars....