From the author of the above note (not me):

“ You'd think there are places that take sats, right? Wrong. I've not seen a single one in Laos. I can't tell you if it is because of lack of knowledge or because of legality. It might be because everything is cash here anyway. You can't pay with card anywhere.

But government is not heavy handed in day to day life from what I can tell. Notably, many local vehicles operate without license plates. Why? "No need. No police here. Only need license plate in city".

So regulation or legality seems not so likely an explanation. Might be pure ignorance and a lack of local BTC-USD liquidity.”