For a mere $125, you too can be a millionaire. At least you can in Laos. Exchange your dollars for kip, the local currency, and you’ll walk away with 1,000,000. Nice to be rich, huh? Bulging wallet aside, will your new found riches mean that you live like a king? (Or queen for those of you who have that preference?) Well, kinda sorta. Laos, or more specifically Luang Prabang, can be cheap. Luang Prabang can also be expensive. The line between the two is a hazy one and it really will be up to you.

Pre-visit research on the internet will tell you the smart money is on bringing lots of American dollars or Thai baht in small denominations. The word on the internet is that not unlike Cambodia, in Laos the local currency is not much favored. Internet pundits will tell you that everyone in town accepts both U.S. dollars and Thai baht, and the only kip you’ll see will be what is handed back to you in change. They’re partially correct. Everyone does accept baht and bucks. And loves when you pay in those currencies. Because they’ll make a few more kip off you through that transaction. They are wrong about not exchanging your currency for kip: load up, in the long-run it’ll be cheaper for you to do so.

Everywhere you go (almost) prices are quoted in kip. Didn’t exchange any of your foreign currency for their worthless paper? No problemo. The vendor from whom you are making a purchase, from the old hag selling betel nut at the morning market to the not quite as old hag running the hotel you’re staying at, will gladly re-quote the price in baht or US dollars. But math isn’t their strong point so they use a higher exchange rate, one that has been rounded up in favor of the kip. You’ll end up paying more for the convenience of not using their currency.

Sisavangvong Road, the main touri drag, is littered with small exchange booths. The rates are all similar with but a small fluctuations between one booth and the next. The money exchangers tend to be honest (no need to count your haul three times like in Bali), the transaction is quick. No one spends an hour holding your bills to the sky to ensure they are legit, nor will anyone send you packing kip-less because your bill has a slight smear of dirt on the lower right hand corner. Other SE Asian country money exchangers should take a lesson from the Lao.

The one bit advice off the internet that holds true is the warning about over-exchanging. Beyond Laos’ borders kip is worthless and you won’t find anyone who will take it. So be gentle in the amount you do change into local currency. You really don’t need one big wad, you can easily exchange small amounts daily. The best rate I ran across was 7980 kip to the dollar. The worse, 7960.

How long that kip will last you will depend a lot on how careful you are in spending it. Rule #1 is to vow to only spend kip. There are sporadic shops along Sisavangvong Road whose prices are in U.S. dollars. Perhaps the smaller number appeals to them. Making a killing off a single sale obviously does. These places are all overpriced. I looked at a silver and stone pendant at one place that caught my eye because it’s one I sell back home. At 95 kip it was a steal. But their price wasn’t in kip, it was priced in dollars. That particular piece of jewelry wholesales at about $1.25. Nice mark-up. I need to move to Laos.

Somethings in Luang Prabang are cheap. Tuk tuk rides around town run 10,000 kip ($1.25). Rides to the outskirts of town can go as high as 50,000 kip roundtrip, which is still inexpensive. Bottles of juice or tea that cost sixty cents in Thailand run the equivalent of sixty two cents in Luang Prabang.

There is a small soi by the night market that has a few dozen vendors selling buffet dinners for 10,0000 kip, if you want to add a nice hunk of barbecued meat to your plate, add another 20,000 kip. And a yummy filled donut that melts in your mouth for dessert is only 4,000 kip. Beer Lao, depending on the restaurant, runs 9,000 kip ($1.12) and up. T-shirts at the night market for travel bragging rights, if you barter hard, can be had for 25,000 kip ($3.15).

If you are a smoker, a pack of Marlboro is only 15,000 kip ($1.85). But you know smoking is bad for you. In Laos it’ll kill you even quicker. If you are trying to quit smoking, try a pack of Lao Marlboro; if that doesn’t do the trick then you are a true masochist.

Prices at cafes and restaurants seem to have more to do with the owner’s whim than quality of the establishment or food. Dinner for two with beer or wine can run from 50,000 kip to . . . well, how high do you want to go? There are places in town offering cheap backpacker breakfasts (10,000 kip) and others offering the same meal for 40,000 kip. All restaurants display menus out front; it pays to shop around.

Hotel prices in Luang Prabang are not a deal. There are cheap digs to be had, at least cheap for Luang Prabang, but if you want a few basic amenities – like a bed – expect to pay at least $50. A somewhat nicer place to rest your head will run you closer to $100. The place we stayed at was a block off Sisavangvong Road and sat right next to the morning market. The room was large, came with free breakfast as well as the world’s slowest internet connection. In Bangkok that room would have been in the 1,700 baht range, in Luang Prabang it ran $90 a night.

Yup, you too can become an instant millionaire in Luang Prabang. But not for long. It’s not the third world deal you’ll find in Cambodia or Burma. Dollar for dollar it’s more in line with Bangkok. But then paradise has never come cheap, and this sleepy little World Heritage City overflowing with wats and monks is worth however many kip it costs.