Elephants are big creatures, but so are humans, and riding on an elephant's back does all sorts of damage. Carrying people around all day can leave an elephant with permanent spinal injuries, and the cloth which is usually wrapped around its body to secure the saddle squashes the

At the end of the long and bone-jarring road south from Luang Prabang, we finally found respite. The lumpen limestone hills flattened out, the potholed gravel track gave way to a smooth, mostly sealed tarmac road, and the somniferous calm of Vientiane enveloped us. The streets were wide, half

The fluorescent green ball bounced and skidded wildly across the lane into the gutter, and I stumbled back through the fug of cigarette smoke to retrieve my pint, shouting to be heard over the blaring Rihanna medley assaulting my ears. “Not quite what I expected from our first night!” It