Laos

Known in antiquity as Lan Xang (Million Elephants), and by Indochina War-era journalists as the Land of a Million Irrelevants, this sparsely populated country is finally enjoying peace after nearly 300 years of war with Annam, China, Siam, France and the USA. Traditionally the least developed and most enigmatic of the three former French Indochina states, Laos has recently emerged as the front runner in economic and political reform. Free markets and private foreign investment have been the norm since 1989, and in 1991 the hammer and sickle were removed from the national seal. While Thailand speeds headlong into the 21st century, Cambodia suffers from deep internal divisions and Vietnam rapidly industrialises to provide work for its teeming population, Laos seems content to remain an Asian backwater while gradually developing one of the most stable, low-profile economic and political systems in the region.

After 14 years of virtual isolation from the outside world, landlocked Laos is awakening from its socialist slumber and admitting foreign visitors, though they are kept to a trickle by a sometimes confounding tangle of red tape and a general deficiency of infrastructure. More a blessing than a curse, the overall lack of foreign influence offers travellers an unparallelled glimpse of old South-East Asia, from the fertile lowlands of the Mekong River Valley to the rugged Annamite highlands. Travellers who have made it to Laos-even if only for a few days in transit to/from Vietnam - are unanimous in their admiration; many have found it to be a major highlight of their South-East Asian journeys.