Hostel Details - Spicylaos Backpackers
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Description
If you are a social cat this is the place to be. Spicylaos is the only hostel of universal standing in Laos. Our friendly, skillful and helpful staff are here to help you with trips and tips. We offer high quality facilities which are not often found in guest houses and we create a fun social atmosphere that does not exist in any hotel...
It is not only a fun place to work, but also to meet and hang out with cool travelers because we are all backpackers too!
Briefly History
Spicylaos is set up in a world heritage house. The house was built in 1936 during the French colonization and was the residence of Chao Sang Kaew, a Laos royal family member. After the revolution the house was sold to the current owner, Mr. Buntan Baulapa who was the director of Luang Prabang Hospital. The house was then turned into Oudalon (name of the first son) Guest House in 1999. In March 2008, Pong (Spicylaos' Director) found the Guest House after 2 months backpacking around Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. He decided to set up the second spicy hostel, which was opened on Saturday 7th June 2008. It has been running as Spicylaos since then.
Staff
Pong, the Spicylaos' Director, is the guy who tries to make all things happen and keeps it spicy in the spicy hostels. He was born in Loei, the only province in Thailand where the people speak exactly the same dialect spoken in Luang Prabang, Laos (want to know how Thai and Laos relate just ask him). He spent six years in temples until he finish his high school as a novice. He also spent four years in Chiang Mai University for his bachelor degree in English Linguistic and minor in Tourism. Then he worked as a tour guide for Diethelm Travel, a major travel company in SE Asia. His 9 years of work took him to all the main sites in Northern Thailand, Northern Burma and all the way to the Chinese border. …After visiting a friend and backpacking for 3 months in the backpacker's paradise, Aussie world, Pong had a plan for his future: to spice up the world of backpackers! Pong then started Spicythai Backpackers in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on the 7th September, 2006 and since the first month of opening Spicythai has been the highest rated hostel in Thailand. And after only being one year, Spicythai was voted as one of the three best hostels in Asia for 2007. …After two months backpacking in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia (in September-October 2007), Pong decided to start another hostel in Luang Prabang as it felt so homely.
Ou, the first son of the owner, is the trainee manager. He was previously a driver for a tour company and ran Oudalone guest house but, as with other Laos people, he had no idea what a hostel is like. So for him, running a hostel is something new and exciting. Ou is also very happy to be with his family and his two sons that are always running around the hostel.
Dam & Kit are Spicylaos's house maids. They both are cousin of the owner, keeping this a family run business. They are young and ambitious and want to learn how to work in the hostel and are really doing well after such a short time, successfully learning how to handle many and varied characters.
Volunteer Staff are travelers who love to spend sometime helping running Spicylaos and hanging out with other travelers. Owen, an English guy from Surrey, was working here in June helping out from the beginning of the opening. Jan, a real party cat from London, will be here until the end of July. Jimmy& Kelly from Worcestershire, England, were the first couple staying in Spicythai in September 2006 and returned in 2008 to join in the Thai New Year Festival, marking the start of their one year round the world trip. Jimmy& Kelly were also proud to be the first couple staying in Spicylaos and decided to stay and help out at the hostel for the first few months. They will be here until the end of July before moving on.
There will be more spicy crew and we will create this spicy world together.
Facilities and Activities
There are a lot of guest houses and hotels in Luang Prabang offering a variety of rooms from a small room with shared bathroom for $5 to a room with everything in it for a few hundred dollar per night (There is a five star hotel right in front of Spicylaos which will soon open offering luxury room for $1,000 per night) But what was missing in this town was a place with a great social atmosphere and great facilities.
This makes Spicylaos unique from any other accommodation.
We offer high quality, brand new spring beds with dust& bed bug protective covers and very soft pillows. You will get fresh bed sheets and a pillow case on the day of arrival and this can be changed on every forth day of stay or on request. Every bathroom has western toilet and 24 hrs hot & cold shower. Luang Prabang is surrounded with hills and rivers and the weather is mostly warm all year around, so we offer fan rooms because air-con in unnecessary for this climate. What we do offer is FREE breakfast, FREE 24 hrs hot drinks, FREE Internet & WiFi and a big screen TV with surround sound and a wide collection of DVD. Our fridge with an honesty self service system is always filled with cheap drinks. And our laundry service for 8,000 Kips per Kilo is the cheapest in town as you can see lots of people staying somewhere else will sent their laundry here.
At Spicylaos you can enjoy our common areas, either chilling out on our balcony and enjoying the music from your Ipod with the hostel's speaker or playing badminton in our large front yard with all gear provided (There are also footballs, Trakraw, rugby and Frisbees available). If you want to update your trip online, manage photos and keep in touch with people back home, there is free use of our computers with internet, cards reader, international adapter and CD/DVD burner. There is also MSN, Skype and headphones for cheap international calls. Our staff are more than happy to help out with everything you need.
To create a great social atmosphere and to get involve in local culture, we regularly organise group activities to visit local sites and join in local festivals and ceremonies. Our excursions include trips to two beautiful waterfalls and to local villages; we also organise dining out and themed night parties often. Our fluent English speaking staff really love what they are doing here.
Security
Every bed in our dorms is provided with a locker for your security. In addition you can leave your bag safely in our storage room free of charge if you have already checked out or leaving on a trip. We have no charge for use of the facilities in the hostel even when you have already checked out.
Our only concern is that people feel so safe that they leave their cameras or Ipods everywhere in the hostel, which we discourage as the staff can not be responsible for items left lying around.
Location
Luang Prabang is a small town so every accommodation has a good location. Spicylaos is just a 5 minutes walk from the tourist center as spicy hostels prefers to be away from 'touristy areas' but within easy access to all sites and amenities . We are also close to Lao Lao Garden Bar, the main place where backpackers hang out for food and drink. And don't forget to show your hostel key ring for 10% discount at Lao Lao Garden! (An exclusive offer to Spicylaos guests).
We also offer a free map of the area, tips on the best activities and places to eat and drink to maximize your enjoyment of this beautiful World Heritage City.
Cleanliness
Everyone likes a clean place to stay and we like our hostel to be clean too. Spicylaos is not only the place we work but also the place we live so we like it nice, tidy and clean. It is our home and we like people to feel the same. So that is why we ask you to take off your shoes and ask not to bring foods and drinks to the room.
(Since the initial chaotic times during the first opening months when we had a full house we have now got things in order and people have started to realize what to expect and how to behave when staying with others in one room. Dam & Pan, our house maids, are also qualified and ready to handle big spicy groups!)
Value
Running a hostel with full facilities in this town costs a lot of money since everything is imported and the cost of renting and tax per month is also expensive. However, we like to offer the lowest price possible and our prices are the same all year round. We are not going to double the prices due to high demand in accommodation during the high season like what people normally do in Laos.
Don't compare our bed prices to those private rooms because Spicylaos is not just a place to sleep. We believe that our fun and cozy dorms are better than the big and lonely rooms. We also have several large common rooms, including an under cover balcony for making friends and socializing and we frequently arrange day and night time activities which are so much fun they will remain in your happy traveling memories forever.
Note
You are welcome to check out our hostel and if you still don't want to stay with us, we offer transfers to any guest house free of charge.
"We will spice up the world of backpackers and make it spicy for everyone!!!"
It is not only a fun place to work, but also to meet and hang out with cool travelers because we are all backpackers too!
Briefly History
Spicylaos is set up in a world heritage house. The house was built in 1936 during the French colonization and was the residence of Chao Sang Kaew, a Laos royal family member. After the revolution the house was sold to the current owner, Mr. Buntan Baulapa who was the director of Luang Prabang Hospital. The house was then turned into Oudalon (name of the first son) Guest House in 1999. In March 2008, Pong (Spicylaos' Director) found the Guest House after 2 months backpacking around Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. He decided to set up the second spicy hostel, which was opened on Saturday 7th June 2008. It has been running as Spicylaos since then.
Staff
Pong, the Spicylaos' Director, is the guy who tries to make all things happen and keeps it spicy in the spicy hostels. He was born in Loei, the only province in Thailand where the people speak exactly the same dialect spoken in Luang Prabang, Laos (want to know how Thai and Laos relate just ask him). He spent six years in temples until he finish his high school as a novice. He also spent four years in Chiang Mai University for his bachelor degree in English Linguistic and minor in Tourism. Then he worked as a tour guide for Diethelm Travel, a major travel company in SE Asia. His 9 years of work took him to all the main sites in Northern Thailand, Northern Burma and all the way to the Chinese border. …After visiting a friend and backpacking for 3 months in the backpacker's paradise, Aussie world, Pong had a plan for his future: to spice up the world of backpackers! Pong then started Spicythai Backpackers in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on the 7th September, 2006 and since the first month of opening Spicythai has been the highest rated hostel in Thailand. And after only being one year, Spicythai was voted as one of the three best hostels in Asia for 2007. …After two months backpacking in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia (in September-October 2007), Pong decided to start another hostel in Luang Prabang as it felt so homely.
Ou, the first son of the owner, is the trainee manager. He was previously a driver for a tour company and ran Oudalone guest house but, as with other Laos people, he had no idea what a hostel is like. So for him, running a hostel is something new and exciting. Ou is also very happy to be with his family and his two sons that are always running around the hostel.
Dam & Kit are Spicylaos's house maids. They both are cousin of the owner, keeping this a family run business. They are young and ambitious and want to learn how to work in the hostel and are really doing well after such a short time, successfully learning how to handle many and varied characters.
Volunteer Staff are travelers who love to spend sometime helping running Spicylaos and hanging out with other travelers. Owen, an English guy from Surrey, was working here in June helping out from the beginning of the opening. Jan, a real party cat from London, will be here until the end of July. Jimmy& Kelly from Worcestershire, England, were the first couple staying in Spicythai in September 2006 and returned in 2008 to join in the Thai New Year Festival, marking the start of their one year round the world trip. Jimmy& Kelly were also proud to be the first couple staying in Spicylaos and decided to stay and help out at the hostel for the first few months. They will be here until the end of July before moving on.
There will be more spicy crew and we will create this spicy world together.
Facilities and Activities
There are a lot of guest houses and hotels in Luang Prabang offering a variety of rooms from a small room with shared bathroom for $5 to a room with everything in it for a few hundred dollar per night (There is a five star hotel right in front of Spicylaos which will soon open offering luxury room for $1,000 per night) But what was missing in this town was a place with a great social atmosphere and great facilities.
This makes Spicylaos unique from any other accommodation.
We offer high quality, brand new spring beds with dust& bed bug protective covers and very soft pillows. You will get fresh bed sheets and a pillow case on the day of arrival and this can be changed on every forth day of stay or on request. Every bathroom has western toilet and 24 hrs hot & cold shower. Luang Prabang is surrounded with hills and rivers and the weather is mostly warm all year around, so we offer fan rooms because air-con in unnecessary for this climate. What we do offer is FREE breakfast, FREE 24 hrs hot drinks, FREE Internet & WiFi and a big screen TV with surround sound and a wide collection of DVD. Our fridge with an honesty self service system is always filled with cheap drinks. And our laundry service for 8,000 Kips per Kilo is the cheapest in town as you can see lots of people staying somewhere else will sent their laundry here.
At Spicylaos you can enjoy our common areas, either chilling out on our balcony and enjoying the music from your Ipod with the hostel's speaker or playing badminton in our large front yard with all gear provided (There are also footballs, Trakraw, rugby and Frisbees available). If you want to update your trip online, manage photos and keep in touch with people back home, there is free use of our computers with internet, cards reader, international adapter and CD/DVD burner. There is also MSN, Skype and headphones for cheap international calls. Our staff are more than happy to help out with everything you need.
To create a great social atmosphere and to get involve in local culture, we regularly organise group activities to visit local sites and join in local festivals and ceremonies. Our excursions include trips to two beautiful waterfalls and to local villages; we also organise dining out and themed night parties often. Our fluent English speaking staff really love what they are doing here.
Security
Every bed in our dorms is provided with a locker for your security. In addition you can leave your bag safely in our storage room free of charge if you have already checked out or leaving on a trip. We have no charge for use of the facilities in the hostel even when you have already checked out.
Our only concern is that people feel so safe that they leave their cameras or Ipods everywhere in the hostel, which we discourage as the staff can not be responsible for items left lying around.
Location
Luang Prabang is a small town so every accommodation has a good location. Spicylaos is just a 5 minutes walk from the tourist center as spicy hostels prefers to be away from 'touristy areas' but within easy access to all sites and amenities . We are also close to Lao Lao Garden Bar, the main place where backpackers hang out for food and drink. And don't forget to show your hostel key ring for 10% discount at Lao Lao Garden! (An exclusive offer to Spicylaos guests).
We also offer a free map of the area, tips on the best activities and places to eat and drink to maximize your enjoyment of this beautiful World Heritage City.
Cleanliness
Everyone likes a clean place to stay and we like our hostel to be clean too. Spicylaos is not only the place we work but also the place we live so we like it nice, tidy and clean. It is our home and we like people to feel the same. So that is why we ask you to take off your shoes and ask not to bring foods and drinks to the room.
(Since the initial chaotic times during the first opening months when we had a full house we have now got things in order and people have started to realize what to expect and how to behave when staying with others in one room. Dam & Pan, our house maids, are also qualified and ready to handle big spicy groups!)
Value
Running a hostel with full facilities in this town costs a lot of money since everything is imported and the cost of renting and tax per month is also expensive. However, we like to offer the lowest price possible and our prices are the same all year round. We are not going to double the prices due to high demand in accommodation during the high season like what people normally do in Laos.
Don't compare our bed prices to those private rooms because Spicylaos is not just a place to sleep. We believe that our fun and cozy dorms are better than the big and lonely rooms. We also have several large common rooms, including an under cover balcony for making friends and socializing and we frequently arrange day and night time activities which are so much fun they will remain in your happy traveling memories forever.
Note
You are welcome to check out our hostel and if you still don't want to stay with us, we offer transfers to any guest house free of charge.
"We will spice up the world of backpackers and make it spicy for everyone!!!"
Address
Ban Thong Cha-Leaun
Luang Prabang
Laos
Luang Prabang
Laos
Facilities
- Breakfast Included
- Internet Access
- Linen Included
- Bar
- Towels
- Security Lockers
- Luggage Storage
- Travel Desk/Travel Info
- Key Card Access
- Bureau de Change
- Common Room
- Bike Parking
- Free Carpark
- WiFi in lobby
- Web access in lobby
- WiFi in room
- Breakfast
