I am in hanoi with a friend and we just met a canadian girl who have been in Laos 5 years ago, and she told us that it was her favorite country in south asia.
We plan to go there by bus in few days, renting mortor bike, going around, from the north to the south for 1 month, that kind of things. People says that it's very interesting because the tourism industry is not that big over there so... It might worth the hassle. At least for us it worth it.

I was there in late September

Luang Prabang is gorgeous and Kuang Si is a must visit if you go
Vang Vieng is anything but dead, restaurants selling drugs were plentiful and there was like 50 people doing the tubing on the day that I went. Great fun.