things they don't tell you in the guidebooks

So in the guidebooks for SEA there is quite a discussion about the prevalence of squat toilets and the general lack of "western" toliets or if there is a "western" toilet you still have to use the bucket of water beside it it to make it flush. Thus - this is what I was prepared for and remember from my last trip. But there is one thing they don't mention... and that is the shower situation in Laos, now I hadn't expected hot showers for less than $5US a night but in a perfectly nice room with a perfectly nice bathroom I was surprised to see that the "shower" if that is what they can be called, is essentially just a tap removable shower head by the toilet (no I am not refering to the other thing that you use to spray out the toilet). The best example we have found is in Pak Beng which is described by most of the guidebooks as the complete hell-hole stopover on the 2 day cruise down the Mekong from Thailand (Chang Dong - border town) to Laos (Huay Xia (border town), Pak Beng, Luang Prabang).


We stayed in the newest and possibly second flashest place in town, which still only cost $7US for a private, clean room with bathroom (perspective others on the boat payed only $2for their rooms). The bathroom was very large but the layout meant that your only option was to sit on the toilet and have your (cold) shower. A demonstration photo will be posted soon. As for squat toilets, I have only encountered one in 10 days and that was at a local market somewhere in rural nothern Thailand between Chang Mai and Chang Dong it was exceptionally clean, unlike the expected horrible "western" toilet on the two day slow boat down the Mekong or the average "western" toliet on the sleeper train from Bangkok to Chang Mai.