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Last updated on May 2nd, 2026 at 04:01 pm
Laos — Our Trip To The “Pussy” Market
A hotel owner in Luang Prabang recommended the “pussy market” with a straight face. It turns out Phousi is just how they say it in Laos.
I'm sure we sound just as silly when we attempt to speak host nation languages wherever we visit.
Laos. Ok. A somewhat lighthearted and funny story to share with you.
So we arrive in Luang Prabang, Laos last week and get an in-briefing from a hotel owner about what to do in town. Beyond the restaurants, cultural sites, natural wonders and similar recommendations one would expect, the owner looked me straight in the eye and said “Oh, and you have to go to the pussy market!”
Hmn, I thought. Do I look that desperate? My wife takes good care of me. And how many heterosexual men alive might be curious about visiting a pussy market? Besides, I thought the big time sex trade was in Thailand.
And this recommendation did not make sense coming from a 24-year old gay young man floating around the hotel complex asking us how we liked his variant of hair dye that day — and every day thereafter.
So, we checked it out.
It turns out there's many places around here named “pussy.” There's Phousi market, Phousi mountain, and so on. In the photo with this piece it is written Phousy. But they're all just pronounced pussy over here. I'm sure we sound just as silly when we attempt to speak host nation languages wherever we visit.
Lost in translation
Go to the Phousi Market. Climb Phousi Mountain. And try to keep a straight face when you ask your tuk-tuk driver to take you there.
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