Laos has so far survived the redevelopment, which has overpowered its neighbours in recent years. Traditional simple wooden village homes, colonial-era shop houses, and mouldering monasteries all remain and traditional customs are also firmly intact including monks collecting alms at daybreak and traditional looms weaving richly coloured silk can be heard in most villages.

Laos is the most bombed country per capita in the world, but it doesn’t faze the locals who transform bomb casings into flower pots and bomb craters into fish ponds. Other fascinating places to visit include Wat Phou, and the Plain of Jars continues to fascinate visitors with its stone urns and catastrophic war history.