Speak to a specialist
0208 777 4873

INDIA

If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India! - Romaine Rolland (French writer)

CHINA

China has been a beguiling enigma for centuries; its vastness, coupled with a veil of mystery, has always attracted outsiders. It is the new second world superpower, going through rapid social, economic and philosophical changes. China has the third highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka’s “Up Country” is one of the most mysterious, awe-inspiring landscapes dotted with waterfalls and lush floral, its mist-shrouded green fields seem to extend on forever, which says nothing of the legendary tea grown here.

CAMBODIA

Once home to the powerful Khmer Kingdom, Cambodia was off limits to the tourist trail for many years and its secrets lay undiscovered for centuries.

PERU

Standing 2,430 m above sea level, in the midst of a tropical mountain forest in an extraordinarily beautiful setting, Machu Picchu was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height.

AFRICAN SAFARIS

The Great Wildebeest Migration is one of the “Seven New Wonders of the World”.

Fact File: Laos

LANDSCAPE

The small land-locked nation of Laos has the lowest population density in Asia, largely thanks to its rugged terrain. More than 70 percent of the country is made up of highland areas, with most people concentrated in the river valleys. The Mekong River is the country's lifeline.

CLIMATE

Laos has two seasons. The rainy season runs from May through October and the dry season from November to April. Most rain falls in the south. For the most part, Laos is hot, although there is a good deal of fluctuation between summer and winter temperatures at higher elevations. The capital, Vientiane, ranges from the mid-30s Celsius (mid-80s Fahrenheit) in April to the upper-20s Celsius (mid-70s Fahrenheit) in January. In the mountains, however, temperatures can plummet to near freezing in December and January.

PEOPLE

Laos has less than five million people, about half of them of Lao ethnicity. The Lao are concentrated in the Mekong River valley while people of Thai ethnicity live in upland river valleys. Other ethnic groups, including the H'mong and Mien, live at higher elevations. Theravada Buddhism is the prevalent religion among lowland Lao, although many Lao also practice phii (spirit) worship. Outside the Mekong River valley phii worship is stronger still.

HISTORY

Laos' rugged terrain made the establishment of large kingdoms impractical. In the 14th century a Lao warlord, Fa Ngum, founded the Kingdom of Lan Xang around what is now Luang Prabang. This kingdom split into three warring states in the 17th century, which had their capitals in Luang Prabang, Champasak and Vientiane.

In the 1820s all three kingdoms came under Thai control, but in 1839 the French signed a treaty with Siam and added Laos to their colonial empire. Lao achieved independence from French rule in 1953. Peace was short-lived, however, as the Americans began bombing eastern Laos in 1964 in a bid to target a section of the Ho Chi Minh Trail that passed through Lao territory. Fighting between the Communist Pathet Lao and royalist government in Vientiane ensued, ending with a ceasefire in 1973. In December 1975 the Pathet Lao took control in Vientiane, founding the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

View our photo gallery