One Laotian experience definitely worth trying is the herbal sauna. Often (but not always) run by temples, these are simple-looking affairs, often just a rickety bamboo shack with a stove and a pipe of water on one side, usually open only in the evenings. The procedure for a visit usually goes like this:

1. Enter and pay first. The going rate is around 10,000 kip, plus around 40,000 kip if you want a massage afterward.
2. Head for the changing room, take off your clothes and wrap yourself up in a sarong (usually provided).
3. Keeping yourself modestly sarong-clad, head over to the shower or water bucket in one corner and wash up.
4. Plunge into the sauna room itself. It will be dark, hot and steamy inside, with intense herbal scents of lemongrass and whatever the sauna master is cooking up that day, and you will soon start to sweat profusely.
5. When you've had your fill, head outside, sip on a little weak tea and marvel at how the tropical heat of the day now feels cool and refreshing.