Laos

The Plain of Jars The World Heritage Plain of Jars, situated in remote northeastern Laos, is a seriously off-the-beaten-track destination although, fortuitously, visits are facilitated by Xieng Khouang Airport which serves the adjacent town of Phonsavan and provides daily connections to the capital Vientiane. At present, the far-flung provincial capital has just three road connections. Route 7 leads west to…

Best Angkor Temples Estimates list some 70 major temples or temple ruins within the Angkor Historical Park so….which ones to include and which to skip? Best Angkor temples is admittedly a rather spurious description and it’s more a case of which ones fit in – geographically and historically – bearing in mind time and travel considerations. Visitors have neither the…

Battambang The town of Battambang in western Cambodia is traditionally considered the country’s second city after Phnom Penh although, by now, the construction explosion in Sihanoukville and Siem Reap’s extensive tourist infrastructure and influx of migrant workers probably challenge this status. Today the town sees a steady, albeit limited, number of visitors and while lacking Angkor Wat, or the capital’s…

Luang Prabang The picturesque town of Luang Prabang is justifiably one of the highlights of the small, landlocked Southeast Asian nation of Laos. The historic, ancient northern capital, added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list back in 2013, comes with a stunning location – nestled amid mountains on the banks of the Mekong – and houses a mixture of ancient Buddhist…

When’s the best time to visit Southeast Asia? Not surprisingly, ‘when’s the best time to visit Southeast Asia?’, is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive but one that’s surprisingly tricky to answer. Firstly, Southeast Asia represents a vast geographical area and includes the mainland, northern hemisphere, destinations of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, (plus Burma/Myanmar which regrettably…

Thailand World Heritage List Update Following on from the addition of Si Thep ancient city in 2023, UNESCO has recently seen fit to update the Thailand World Heritage List with the addition of one new site and confirmation of 5 cultural sites on the tentative list. Inclusion on the latter is no guarantee of ever receiving full World Heritage status…

Community Based Tourism Projects Recent years have seen the spread of such excellent schemes across the length and breadth of Thailand covering a wide range of activities such as homestays and village visits, hiking, handicrafts and of course cookery. Schemes are typically organised on a village or even family level and provide a welcome contrast to the well-established tourism sites…

Languages of Southeast Asia Entire books have been written on the subject of languages of Southeast Asia so we’re limiting our post to the above countries and only including languages that are still spoken by at least significant-sized minorities in each country. With a few well-known exceptions – Basque, Sami and Hungarian spring to mind – all modern European languages…

Cambodia Immigration Procedures As of 2024, the Cambodian government has seen fit to introduce a new, what they term, E-Arrival system for all overseas visitors arriving in the kingdom so what follows is a brief rundown on the new Cambodia immigration procedures, taking into account the recent changes. This E-Arrival is along the lines of similar schemes, introduced last year,…

Rail travel in Southeast Asia Where possible, rail travel is our preferred means of transport on our various Southeast Asia small group tours – especially for longer journeys. It’s certainly more environmentally friendly than hiring private buses, it avoids traffic, passengers can walk around – visit the buffet car, chat to other voyagers etc – views are often better than…

Best things to see and do in Vientiane The relatively small capital of relatively small Laos slips under the radar in comparison to larger and more high-profile Southeast Asian capitals such as Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur and even Phnom Penh but, while it is very much a low-key and laid-back kind of city, (so much the better), there are certainly…

See and do in Chiang Mai Justifiably one of Thailand’s most popular destinations, Thailand’s northern capital is another of those Southeast Asian destinations you could spend a long time exploring or just chilling out in and, if we’re not careful, our best things to see and do in Chiang Mai post could become very lengthy. Consequently, we’re limiting our suggestions…