1 euro equals more or less 10 000 kip (that’s the Lao currency).

Knowing that 1 visa equals 25USD, how much will I get back at the visa office if I give 50€ ? Ok, this one was easy.

Now, knowing that 1 Bath (tai currency) equals more or less 250 kip, if I give 100 Bath to get to the falls, how much Kip should I get back?

Yes, once or twice when it’s written like that it’s quite easy but when it’s 3 times a day all in mental math it’s a quite good exercise.

So that’s everyday math in Laos.

An other interesting math exercise here is when you buy something at the tourist market (yes, let’s be honest, it is a tourist market) :

– how much for that dress?

– hum

And here, they bring you an old calculator and put a number on it. Usually with at least four zeros at the end ‘cause it’s kip. Not that they can’t speak English, some really good English speaker use the calculator, it’s like some sort of tradition…

Then they give you the calculator : it’s your turn to make a bid.

And so on. Lao people are not fierce negotiators, it all goes peacefully.