Crime and Safety
Laos is a relatively safe country for travellers, although certain areas remain off-limits because of banditry and unexploded ordnance. The recent economic woes have pushed crime rates up slightly in Vientiane, but petty crime remains on a small scale. As a visitor, however, you're an obvious target for thieves (who may include your fellow travellers), so keep your wits about you. If you do have anything stolen , you'll need to get the police to write up a report for your insurance: bring along a Lao speaker if you can. Police generally keep their distance from foreigners, but in some larger Mekong River towns you may be stopped at night and "fined". With patience, you should be able to resolve most problems, and perhaps even bargain down the "fines", easier to do if you always have your passport with you. Officials at border crossings routinely levy small "fines"; there's little you can do in such cases. To alleviate unnecessary suspicion in remoter corners of Laos, it never hurts to check in with the police, especially in small towns in the north and near the Vietnamese border in the south.
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