To answer your
questions, the approximate current value of the items you mentioned
are listed below.
> A bottle
of beer
6500kip (12000kip in night clubs)
> A bottle
of wine
Depends on what kind of wine. Foreign wine such as French is around
$9 and up. Whereas Lao wine (like a spirit or some fruit wine) is
usually under 10000kip.
> A can of
coke
They do not have cans for coke/pepsi. The main one that is easily
bought and popular throughout Laos is actually Pepsi. One bottle
is 2000kip that is served in a bag with ice.
> A litre
of petrol
This fluctuated often but the last price I remember (June 2004)
was around 4600kip/litre.
> A single
bus journey (in the capital)
1500kip more or less (depending on how far around the city you intend
to travel and on where you got on the bus - buses are the most affordable
option).
> A packet
of cigarettes
My apologies on this one but I do not the recall the exact price
of cigarrettes. Although I remember colleagues saying it was extremely
cheap - perhaps approximately 5000kip(?) for a full pack.
There is a link/website
that offers recordings of Lao radio. This will give you a feel for
what current Lao radio stations sound like and what kinds of music
they play, etc.
http://www.laoradio.net/music.html
