Every now and then you find a travel destination which is more exciting than the rest. There’s something in the air which is electric; a kind of vibration which turns the head and sends you soaring heart-first into happiness. Laos is such a place.

No matter what anybody at the Laotian Embassy in Bangkok tells you, it is simple and straightforward to get your car into Laos. The passage at the friendship bridge took only half an hour. Just up the road is Vientiane. The capital it may be, but it has all the charm and dimensions of a provincial town in the south of France. We had heard a lot about it before we got there. We were not disappointed.