Gollum would have been at home here. Harry and Dumbledore, Kirk and Spock, Orpheus and Persephone, they’ve probably all paid a visit. And now that it’s in the book that’s surgically attached to every traveller – I hope not to see another Lonely Planet for a long time after this trip – many others may be making the interesting curveball […]
Shortly after setting off from the Elephant Village our minivan driver stopped in the middle of the dirt track that was the road, wound down his window and, without pause for thought, proceeded to throw a large amount of plastic shrink wrap out of the window and out into the forest. We and other westerners in the van squirmed with […]
It’s still the mid-nineteenth century in the Old Town in Luang Prabang. At least that’s what they like you to think. One of the more upmarket bars even advertises itself as taking you “back to the elegant good old days, the great colonial days..” No wonder the French love it here. Nevertheless, the reputed charm is not without merit. The […]
There are some people and places that you just cannot rush. Sometimes this is because the terrain, weather or lack of infrastructure is preventative; sometimes it’s because the people just like to take things slowly; more often than not it’s a combination of the two. Laos is a prime example of a slow-moving people in a sometimes tricky environment, trying […]
Unless you’re still at a nightclub, very loud European trance music (with accompanying DVD pictures) is not the sort of thing that makes 5am a more pleasurable hour. Still less comfortable, is to have this inflicted on you at this time in the wee small hours whilst effectively being stuffed into a tin can. Nevertheless, it seems that this might […]
