Laos
Insider intel: Traveller’s writers share their 22 top discoveries
Our roaming reporters check their notepads, sharing secret addresses and perennial favourites from their past year of travel.
- by Traveller team
Latest
Exclusive
University
The secret probe into university facing foreign student allegations
The higher education regulator is reviewing allegations a university is poaching students and has low English standards for foreign students, documents reveal.
- by Daniella White
From Robert Mugabe to Alexander Downer: Jeremy Hearder retires after 65 years as a diplomat
Few people could work the same job for 65 years and not get bored. But Jeremy Hearder did – and he got to criss-cross the world doing it.
- by James Massola
★★★★½
Hotel reviews
A charming and luxe stay in the heart of a UNESCO World Heritage town
Empathetically blending modern design touches into its colonial surrounds, Avani+ Luang Prabang is the ideal base from which to explore one of South-East Asia’s most charming cities.
- by Mark Daffy
China’s Belt squeezes so tight, Laos is choking
A shiny new train line that makes local travel and cross-border trade easier symbolises what Laos owes the superpower next door.
- by Chris Barrett
Exclusive
Foreign aid
Australia to donate 60 million COVID vaccines to developing nations
Australia has now shared more than 17.5 million doses – most of which have been locally manufactured AstraZeneca vaccines - with the Pacific and south-east Asia.
- by Anthony Galloway
New Chinese consul-general appointed in Perth a year after former envoy’s abrupt exit
Long Dingbin was China’s consul-general in Lahore, Pakistan, where he was involved in delivering several projects under the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.
- by Marta Pascual Juanola
Exclusive
National security
Man charged with foreign interference still a Liberal Party member
A Melbourne man charged with preparing an act of foreign interference within Australia is a fee-paying member of the Liberal Party.
- by Anthony Galloway and Rob Harris
Opinion
Coronavirus pandemic
COVID-19 gap widens between Australia and the rest of the world
The news coming out of Europe and the United States is shocking. The graphs are startling. Don't count on travel beyond the Asia-Pacific region any time soon.
- by Michael Toole
Explainer
Political unrest
Why are there protests against Thailand’s king?
Thailand's king has been a subject of international scrutiny since his school days in Australia. Why are protests against the monarchy so unusual now?
- by Michael Ruffles
Analysis
Coronavirus pandemic
Why some countries are surging and others slumping in pandemic
Indonesia and the Philippines have been smashed by the coronavirus, but Thailand and Malaysia are slowly re-opening and Singapore has coped reasonably well. How?
- by James Massola
Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/laos-byr