It's a hard job because you have to stand for hours, and customers drink alcohol at night so it's an evening job. They pay on a monthly basis, and deduct some amount from your salary if you miss days due to illness or other reasons, so 600,000 - 800,000 kips per month is the norm.

True, there's "Miss this" and "Miss that" in Laos every year. Next there will be Miss school cleaner. It's a distraction and meaningless. You don't see universities and colleges in America, Canada, Australia, the UK, and many other countries have beauty competitions at their school. The emphasis should be for students to get their education.





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Well, we already have enough obsession with all of these "Miss Contests" in Laos, and we don't want to stoop to the same level at LaoPride.com.

No there isn't.

8 months later. I haven't checked this thread in a while, so I didn't know there was a question.

Christina Lasasimma is a teenager and she is definitely mixed, they are generally more beautiful than a typical Lao girl. You can enter or be choosen to participate. She won all sorts of prizes below:

• A cheque for 50 million kip
• Chevrolet car worth 135 million kip
• Lao silk sash worth 1.5 million kip
• 45 grams of gold
• 25 million kip worth of jewellery from Phouvong Jewellery
• 20 million kip scholarship to study for a master's degree at Comcenter College
• 5 million kip of gift vouchers from LD spa
• 3 million kip of insurance from AGL
• Three-day stay at Vientiane Plaza Hotel
• One year supply of drinking water from Lao Brewery Company
• Sought-after phone number complete with 1.2 million kip of calling credit for one year
• 7.9 million kip of vouchers from Slim Concept Lao
• Six month supply of Nestle Chocco Shape

Technically she is still Lao, just not a pure Lao.

She is lighter than the average Lao woman so she can probably do without the whitening cream.

Christina Lasasimma

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I don't care so much about the beauty contest because it is just a farce that serves the interests of sponsors and organisers.

Most winners are generally Vientianians. Last years winner was also a resident of Vientiane too, with the odd winner coming from the northern region. If you're from Pakse or Champassak, you enter the competition as an outside chance of winning.

An Australian tourist has reportedly died in Laos after a night of heavy drinking.

Kane Scriven, 40, was partying and drinking with a friend while on holiday in the country last week (January 2013).

"All we know was the next morning, one woke up and the other never did," his friend, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

He said Mr Scriven, a former employee of Darwin company Work Boats Northern Australia, enjoyed travelling and had recently returned from a trip to Bali.

"He was a really sort of happy, friendly guy," he said.

"A real Aussie larrikin."

A spokeswoman from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that a man had been found dead.

"We are aware of the death of a 40-year-old Australian man in Laos and are providing consular assistance to his family in Australia," she said.

Australian man dies after tubing accident in Laos