LaosTravel Tips

Lao People

There are 68 official ethnic groups in Laos, belonging to three main groups. Lao Loum - Lao, or Lao Loum consists of about half of the poulation. The Lao Loum or lowland lao people live in the Mekong river valley and its tributaries. The Lao Loum cultivate and eat wet, or sticky rice, and generally practice Theravada Buddhism. Lao Loum are a subgroup of the Austro-Thai people and speak the Lao language. The Lao Loum women wear the traditional sinh - the wraparound sarong.  Lao Tai are closely related to the Lao Loum and are officially classified in that group. The Lao Tai are more tribal than the Lao Loum and cultivate both wet rice and dry mountain rice. Lao Tai traditionally practice slash and burn agricultural methods. The Lao Tai on the whole have not converted to either Christianity or Buddhism and retain their animist beliefs. Lao Tai are further subdivided into sub groups by the colour of their traditional clothing, ie Black, White, Red Tai. Lao Theung are the largest hilltribe group, with 45 subgroups. The Lao Theeung are semi nomadic and of Mon-Khmer origin. They live on mountain slopes, between 300 and 900m altitude and practice slash and

L ao Sung or High Lao live in the high mountains of the north. Main groups are the Hmong and the Mien. Hmong are divided into Black, Red, White and Striped, according to their clothing. The Hmong raise cattle, pigs and chickens and generally survive on a barter economy. The Mien have a similar language to the Hmong and are known for their silver craftsmanship. Smaller hilltribe groups include the Lisu, Lahu and Lolo.  

A s well as the four main groups, Laos also has a number of Chinese, mainly living in the cities as well as ethnic Vietnamese, Cambodians, Burmese and Thai, In Vientiane there are also a small number of southern Asians.

The Lao language is a member of the Tai language group, sometimes known as Tai-Kadai or Kadai.  Thai is well understood in Laos, since Lao people will watch Thai television and listen to Thai radio. Many of the goods that you will see in Laos are imported from Thailand.  The north eastern part of Thailand, known as Issan has in fact more Lao speakers than Laos itself.

L ao is a tonal language, with six tones - most people will find it quite hard to differentiate between the tones, but any attempt to speak just a few words will win you instant friends. 

Laos has rich vegetation, mainly monsoon forest. Monsoon forest consists of a top canopy of hardwood trees like dipterocarps that can reach 30m high. The middle canopy consists of smaller trees such as teak and Asian rosewood. The undergrowth is bamboo, smaller trees, shrubs and grasses. Tropical palms and orchids are common, as are a variety of tropical fruit trees.

P arts of the Annamite chain are covered with tropical evergreen forest, where rainfall is highest and in the south, tropical pine forests can be found.

L aos has a large number of animal species, including as many as 500 different birds. Reptiles include many snakes, including king cobras. There are a large number of lizards, from the small ghekos to 2m long monitor lizards. Mammals include wild cats, bears, leopards and tigers. There are up to 500 wild elephants in Laos, although more than twice that number are in captivity.  There are a number of rare species in Laos which which include rhinos and wild cattle.

Lao Music

L ao folk music uses the Khen - a set of pipes as seen in the picture below of Khen players taken in 1925.  Lam Wong is a popular folk dance where couples dance in circles to Lam Vong music.