The first three responses are spot-on; the last a bit hysterical. While it's true DEET may have bad side effects, remember the side effects of mosquito-borne diseases can be much worse, if not fatal.

There is a good alternative to DEET- Picaridin. It's as effective as DEET, but has a slightly shorter effectiveness time wise. It's a synthesized version of a component in black pepper and is much safer. We've been using it for years and find it works as well as DEET, but isn't absorbed into the skin and isn't a solvent like DEET.

Thank you all for your help. I ended up going to nong khiaw for two nights where I hiked some peak for a panorama view and hiked to a villagebfrom the mekong. Timewise this was the best decision I think. It was still lots of transportation, bit glad I did it as it at least gave me some glimpse of the country.

The mosquitos carrying the dengue fever and yellow fever and the zika virus, they bite during the day and the ones carriyng only malaria bite during the night. It are always the females who bite, wenn ready to reproduce they turn into bloodsucking vampires.. ( i seem to recall that also fom other species) Mosquitos seem to prefer to bite, men over woman, so to not sleep alone, but with a handsome bait next to you, has unexpected advantages. So actualy the mosquitos of the daytime are the most to worry about, best is to expose as little skin as possible, the mosquitos get atracted by boddy odor and sweat. If mosquitos are not bloodthirsty, they feed on nectar from all kinds of flowers, so use neutral shampoos and soap to not to smell as a flower, the above mentioned fan and mosquito nets are of course good prevention. Dont keep standing water in your hotelroom, females lay there egs in standing water, so close always the door from the bathroom at night, kill as much as you can before you go sleep. Good remedie is carry a life gecko around as they love feeding on mosquitos, if by any chance one is your room, keep it there! And shower a lot.. dont eat western food but eat as the locals so your odor and sweat, does not stick out of the crowd. DEET, absolute bad for your health is unfortunatly still the best counter methode against mosquitos, it was delloped as a insect reppelant by the us-army and used, like other tragic bad chemicals, a lot in asia, like in the sadning vietnamwar.
Can give verry bad alergic reactions, wash hands verry good after use. Sometimes wenn i am in the tropics, at night in bed there is always that 1 mosquito i was not able to kil, making me crazy buzzing around my head and slapping my self in the face in order to get it.. standing up trying to catch it will not work, sometimes it is unfindable already inside the mosquitonet, than i just give up and let the bitch bite me, to have it over with, and wenn she is all drunk of my blood she stops buzzing and i can finaly fall to sleep. Well a good night sleep is worth a risk right?

I'm guessing you've done the Thakhek Loop by now but I'll put this here for reference. The road overall is great and well paved! The last section (few kilometers) on the way to Kong Lor Cave is pretty bumpy and rough. There is no longer a long dirt portion that is listed on some blog posts. In terms of police, you'll likely only run into them in Thakhek itself. I've posted a map of the police in Thakhek as well as answers to lots of questions on the Thakhek Loop in the following link: www.360nomad.org/thakhek-loop-frequently-asked-questions/

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I took enough dollars to cover my visa, and being British, took pounds in cash, which I had no problem changing in Vientiane and Luang phabang. Length of trip, anticipated daily budget per person, and amount of cash you feel comfortable carrying need to be considered, and balanced against the fees versus security of using an ATM.

I would imagine it depends on how much you're paying. Even in Europe a lot of places don't have mosquito nets. I usually get a plug in device which you can purchase locally, and if I see mosquitoes I'll either try to kill them or use the device. As a last resort a fan directed at you when you sleep will keep the mossies away.

Pay with a card ... not easy. Withdraw money ... easy. The thing is if you have your bank account in a different currency and your bank does not use the Mastercard or Visa exchange rate, you could lose a lot on the exchange rate and in addition pay ATM fees, so you could easily lose 5-10%. You have to ask the bank what exchange rate they will use and also how much the foreign withdrawal fee is.
For this reason depending on the length of your trip you might want to take USD cash, but if you do be sure to have a bank account as a backup. I usually take up to 1000 USD cash, always locked up even inside my hotel rooms.