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I've been all through Laos, and it's very much worth exploring. Most people enter Laos from Thailand, and I'd personally recommend crossing over in the north near Chiang Rai at Houeixay. From there most will catch the two day slow boat ride south, but if your feeling adventurous you can go north to Phongsali, which is the gateway to southern China. I'm bringing it up cause if your already in that area you could just cross in there and come down. It's a very long trip, or it feels like one. Most of the roads are not to good and plan to spend most of the time in the back of a 4x4 packed full of supplies. It's pretty mountainous but you'll see a lot that will stick with you.
In my opinion, the best area of Laos to see is from the capital up. Many people will actually go from Vientienne back to Bangkok and then fly somewhere cool, as the trip from Vientienne to Si Pan Don (4000 islands) is pretty bland. When you finally get to the south its cool, lots of little waterfalls and there is a pretty solid kayak community that hangs out around there. But, the are in between is really just a highway, a loud bus that will certainly break down at least twice, and a lot of French factory towns that are really pretty uneventful. If you do decide to go through the south, Si Pan Don is worth a quick look, and then since your on the river you can catch a boat and cross into Cambodia and take the boat through Cambodia hitting all the small villages on the Mekong river until you arrive in Phnom Penh, the capital. From there, it's an easy over land shot to southern Vientam or you can head back to Thailand.
I love talking about this area, will be waiting to hear back! :)
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