Travelling anywhere outside Hong Kong seemed fraught with danger in the time of SARS. "you'll catch the bug on the flight!" said our friends. " Why take any chances during these troubled times" advised another. "Don't spread SARS to other countries" said some unkind souls.

We carefully considered these various opinions, and concluded that travelling to Laos was not any more dangerous than remaining in Hong Kong. Lots of temperature checks at various airports, careful examination of all passengers to ensure they did not have any throat infections, almost empty flights to everywhere, and of course, our observing safe and hygienic practices meant that we had our risks well covered.

And we are really glad we followed a contrarian approach to traveling; Laos has become our new favourite Asian destination, convincing us that Indo-China remains a vacationer's paradise! Have we succeeded in whetting your travelacious appetites? Vicarious travel is only a few clicks away! Read on...

June 22, 2004