ສົນທະນາທົ່ວໄປ

he night before we visited the Plain of Jars in northern Laos I slept in three layers of clothing with a pashmina wrapped round my head, like a shepherd in a nativity play. It was 9C (48F) in our room and colder outside. Pity I��d left my jacket in Bangkok.

No one, not even the usually reliable Lonely Planet, had warned us about the January cold, but then no one had told us much about Laos, described by the guidebook as ��Southeast Asia��s best-kept secret��. Some say it��s the Thailand of 30 years ago. But unlike Thailand, which boasts of never having been colonised, the ��secret�� of Laos is in its suffering. While Cambodia urges us to visit its Killing Fields and Vietnam invites US veterans back to explore Saigon��s famed Cu Chi tunnels, Laos refuses to shout about being the most heavily bombed country in the history of the world. more>>