AaronW2E
10/21/2013 02:11 EST
Tony,
I certainly understand your struggles as we ourselves are being taxed to death here in the US. That is why we are selling most of our businesses and keeping just one and moving to Laos.
For a laid back life style that is not too laid back, I would recommend the capital city, Vientaine. There are secluded parts that is quiet enough for foreigners (using myself as a measure of perspective) but still close and easy access to the city's modern conveniences. The best way to find someone to help your wife during the day is to know someone who can help in your search. Such examples are for you to meet another expat that has a house manager or Mae Bahn which literally translates to Mother/Caretaker of the house (house manager). We do not call them maids in Laos. A lot of Laotians that live in the "city" have relatives from the villages live with them to attend the schools in Vientiane and help out with the house hold chores and doing to the market runs, etc. There is always a need by rural villagers looking for work. One or two extended family members from rural villages living in the city with a relative for trade off of room and board by performing house chores is common place. There are always people looking for work, you just have to start networking to find someone.
In Laos, everything is fresh and for the best quality you go to the morning market at 6am for meat, fish and other perishable goods. Our family in Laos usually buys enough for three days and other supplemental items can be found along the many in-home stores (which by the way, the government does not tax them I think because they are not considered an enterprise) The government just leaves people alone that operate small businesses out of their homes. Wish they would do that in the US. You just pay property taxes but as a foreigner, you won't have to worry about that; just cost of the visa. An example of property tax (my inlaws) is $25 for an entire year, and this is in the city. My wife's uncle is an American citizen and moved back to Laos but maintains his US citizenship. I think his visa was $200 per year. You may have to find out for sure.
You mentioned your trade and work experience but did not clarify whether you will be working for someone or starting your own business but you alluded to the fact that you will be gone from your wife and household during working hours so I will assume that you will be working somewhere when in Laos. As for driving in Laos, most people have scooters or Vespas. Personally I do not feel safe riding these as accidents with bigger vehicles are pretty common. You can either, have your driver take you places (drivers usually also takes care of your garden). When we visit, we always had our local family members drive us around. I've driven (cars & truck) numerous times and am super careful but drivers do not obey traffic laws especially the bike/vespa folks. For instance, right in front of my in-laws house, I signaled left to turn into our driveway and instead of passing me on the right, the scooter person passed me on the side I signaled to turn. They got clippled but was too scared to stop and kept going. I was so pissed because I signaled and to my surprise, I didn't get the support I thought I would get from my own family because they weren't appalled by the other drivers action, they just said, yes...you have to be careful driving here.
So that leads me into my next point. Liability. It doesn't matter whose fault it is when it comes to driving, the person in the bigger vehicles always pays. I believe there are two reasons for this. If you have a bigger vehicle such as a car, then you are in better financial status to pay for damages or hospital care. I do not know if this is an actual law or statute but I do know that this is common practice in Laos. Perhaps it is just done out of courtesy and is culturally expected for an individual to take care of someone in need. For this reason, I will drive short distances but if I go into the city center or across town, I have someone else drive me.
Also one last thing that I just remembered. Laos is a very friendly, and safe place to live but in a country that has emerging economy, there is crime of opportunity such as theft. I would not say that it is a problem, but it is something that Laotians are very wary of and locks up at night and lock the outer gates. This is a city problem, for instance if you live in a thatched hut nobody is going to try to come steal from you but if you are someone of "status" and this includes foreigners, you will be seen as "opportunity". For this reason, my in-laws have one of the boys from the village sleep out in the guest house to keep an eye/ear out on things at night. Before this, we had one incident where our scooter that was parked and locked in the kitchen stolen. Kitchens in Laos are not part of the main house but rather an extension of the house sort of like a car port, lanai/porch/veranda, but ours was enclosed. None of us, heard anything nor did the dog bark. I think they fed the dog and burnt some kind of sleeping incense into the windows to make the family go into deep sleep. I know this sounds bad and perhaps scary, but it isn't really that bad. After all, this was the only issue I have ever experienced after going back to Laos for the past 10 years. Laos, although safe, is not 100% crime free as with living anywhere in the world. For safety practices, I would make it a point to make visits to the bank often so that people around you (including your hired driver) knows that all your money is kept in the bank. Sorry if I make it sound bad, but honestly, it really is safe. I am just a very, very, paranoid person. I'm the type of person that if you say jump; I say, "you first" lol.
As for choices to live, you can rent a villa or condo for $300 to $800 and from $800 up to $2000+ you can live in a gated community usually grouped in 5 or 12 single family homes.
Hopefully you guys will move forward with your plans to live in Laos and perhaps we can meet up and become friends should you decide to live in Vientiane.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Aaron B
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