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Many thanks to the travellers who used the last edition and wrote to us with helpful hints, useful advice and interesting anecdotes:
Adrien Be, Aileen Gerloff, Alex Vrees, Allan Wood, Amy Larkins, Faith Kramer, Friederike Haberstroh, George Crook, Goedele Dupont, Hans Ohrt, Julia Henke, Katherine Shea, Lewis Levine, Lotte Clemminck, Madeline Oliver, Marie-Aline de Lavau, Marjolaine & Hanael Sfez, Mark Fisher, Max Pit, Montserrat Aguilera, Philip Worrall, Pieter Verckist, Tessa Godfrey, Thomas Wiser, Tim Greene, Torben Retboll, Werner Bruyninx, William Murray-Smith, Yvonne Wei
A hearty kòrp jąi to the many people along the way who answered my incessant questions or helped me out in other ways during this update. In particular, Nicolas Papon-Phalaphanh, Latanakone Keokhamphoui, Yves Verlaine, Khun Buasone and Prapaporn Sompakdee provided great assistance, while Laura, Nick, Rich and the rest of the Lonely Planet team were a pleasure to work with, as always. Finally, a special thanks to my wife, Suttawan, for help on this book and much more.
A huge and heartfelt thanks to the people of Laos, whose warmth and humour, stoicism and spirit make it a happy yet humbling place to be. Biggest thanks are reserved for my wife, Kulikar Sotho, as without her support and encouragement the adventures would not be possible. And to our children, Julian and Belle, for signing up for some family adventures in new-look Vang Vieng.
Thanks to fellow travellers and residents, friends and contacts in Laos who have helped shaped my knowledge and experience in this country. Thanks also to my co-authors for going the extra mile to ensure this is a worthy new edition.
Finally, thanks to the Lonely Planet team who have worked on this title. The author may be the public face, but a huge amount of work goes into making this a better book behind the scenes, so thanks to everyone for their hard work.
My special thanks to Elizabeth Vongsa, Adri Berger, Ivan Schulte, Harp, Saly Phimpinith, Dennis Ulstrup, Annabel and Josef, Agnes, Mr Vongdavone and Marco. Also thanks as usual to my extended family, the Lao people, from whom I seem to learn something every trip. Finally, special thanks to Laura Crawford, my long suffering Destination Editor, who keeps stoic when my technical skills fail to join the 21st century.
Climate map data adapted from Peel MC, Finlayson BL & McMahon TA (2007) ‘Updated World Map of the Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification’, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 11, 163344.
Cover photograph: Monks at Wat In Paeng,Vientiane, Travel Pix Collection/AWL©
This 9th edition of Lonely Planet’s Laos guidebook was researched and written by Tim Bewer, Nick Ray and Richard Waters, and was curated by Kate Morgan. The previous edition was written by Nick Ray, Greg Bloom and Richard Waters. This guidebook was produced by the following:
Destination Editor Laura Crawford
Product Editor Jenna Myers
Book Designer Mazzy Prinsep
Assisting Editors Nigel Chin, Victoria Harrison, Gabrielle Innes, Lauren O’Connell, Charlotte Orr
Cartographers MichaelGarrett, Diana Von Holdt
Cover Researcher Naomi Parker
Thanks to Bruce Evans, Jane Grisman, Liz Heynes, Catherine Naghten, Anthony Phelan, Martine Power, Vicky Smith, Professor Martin Stuart-Fox
Ebook thanks to Andrew Bigger, Ruth Cosgrove, Julie Dodkins, Blazej Hadzik, Craig Kilburn, Chris Love, Wayne Murphy, Jacqui Saunders, John Taufa, Glenn van der Knijff, Yanxiang Wang, Juan Winata.