Visas: Fifteen-day visas are now available
for US$30 on arrival at Vientiane's Wattay International Airport and at the International
Friendship Bridge at the Nong Khai border crossing between Laos and Thailand, though
you'll need to meet a series of conditions to get one. Fourteen-day tour visas are
generally issued through authorised travel agencies rather than embassies; Laos embassies
occasionally issue visas to individuals, but there seem to be no hard and fast rules.
Health risks: Cholera, dengue fever, hepatitis, Japanese encephalitis, malaria,
rabies, typhoid