So do I-as above. From the 3 foreigners myself prefer the Burmese in general (though I hardly had any real Lao till last visit in those Sapan Kwai shops) and with some knowledge it is not that hard to sneek over border from there-for many, many years I was befriended with many of those Karyen ´hilltribers´ who take it for natural and have always done going over the border&back. So I heard many a hilarious or ingenious story about that. IT also kind of glues on: once 1 - 2 do a good job somehwere they tend to attract more and more (family, same village etc.) so you get pockets of them in some places-a bit like the many KHmer in Pattaya