What is a good guide?

A good guide dresses

• in an ethnic costume so that tourists feel that they are with a real Lao person

• in the branded clothes provided by the tour operator so that they represent the company

• as he/she does every day so that tourists feel that they are with a real Lao person

Which statement is true?

• All Lao people who speak English fluently are good guides

• To be a guide you should have good knowledge of an area’s culture and nature as well as an understanding of how to communicate with tourists

• Lao people who cannot speak English can never be guides

A good guide

• never carries his guests' bags because all tourists want to do everything themselves

• always carries his guests' bags because no tourist wants to carry his bag

• offers to carry his guests' bags when they seem tired or if they are older clients

If a guide does not know an answer to a question he should

• tell the tourist that he’s not sure of the answer to the question and look it up and tell the tourist the answer later

• give an answer anyhow because he should not let the tourists think that he does not

  know the answer

• ignore the tourist and pretend that he did not hear the question

A good guide

• Never needs to study because he should know everything

• Studies and reads new things that he thinks are interesting because the more he knows

  the better tour guide he will be

• Only studies English because English is the only thing that he needs to know

The best reason why someone should become a guide is because

• They enjoy speaking with tourists, helping people and learning new things

• They want to make a lot of money

• They want to meet a tourist and get sponsored to go work in the a foreign country

A good guide should speak

• all the time because tourists pay for him to speak

• only when tourists ask him questions

• when he has something interesting to say or when it is important to communicate

  something about a site, safety or the tour itinerary

When leading a group through a village, a good guide should

• let the tourists do anything they want because they paid for their trip

• help introduce tourists to villagers and facilitate interactions with villagers in a culturally

  appropriate manner

• not let the tourist go near the villagers because the village is not safe for foreigners

When greeting tourists, a good guide should

• shake hands with both the men and women and say ‘hello’ because foreigners like to shake hands and say ‘hello’

• not shake hands or exchange greetings because he does not want to do the wrong thing

• should ‘nop’ and say ‘sabaidee’ according to Lao custom

Before leaving on a tour, a good guide

• does not need to prepare anything for a tour because he already knows everything he

  need to know

• reads up on and checks the itinerary and all the activities and commentaries he will have

  to present of the tour to make sure he knows it all

• invites his best friend to come along on the tour with him – after all there are only 2

  people on the tour and there is plenty of space