Laos promises the tourist a unique shopping experience, whether it be the shopping environs, the salespeople, or the goods on sale. How many more places in the world exist that allow you to see the goods on sale being manufactured outside the shop? The selling experience is also a quaint and pleasant one, with the whole family participating in the selling process, not in an aggressive, pushy kind of way, but in a truly laid-back, friendly, and engaging manner that we had by now come to expect from Laotians.

None of the articles is mass produced, so are unique, pretty, and make for unusual mementos and gifts. Silver jewellery, hand made textiles, hand made paper, bamboo stuff are just some of the various shopping opportunities that exist. The silver ornaments we bought from the shop of Thithpeng Maniphone got rave reviews from friends and colleagues back home. We could actually see the silversmiths working out the design outside the shop, making interesting and complex patterns on big silver bowls. (later we saw people carrying these bowls with offerings of flowers for the Gods).

June 22, 2004