Caves thought to lead to the bowels of the earth and a guide named Deth—the setup sounds like a movie we’d be too terrified to rent, but it’s actually a lovely story from new member eastridinglass about her trip to Laos.
The writer, who joins IgoUgo from York, England, looks at some of Laos’ less-visited attractions in My Name Is Death and a Million Smiles in Laos. More than just creating a rundown of things she did, she conjures a certain feel of the country, anointing it the Land of a Million Smiles rather than the more widely used Land of a Million Elephants. This isn’t the first we’ve heard of Laos’ legendary hospitality—Southeast Asia pro SeenThat wrote that “Laotian kindness was as reliable as the scorching sun over the Mekong River”—but we’re impressed and intrigued just the same.
Read about the adventures of eastridinglass and her tour’s cast of characters—Robert, Robert the Younger, Toon, Tot, and Katelijne—and you too will want to knock at Deth’s door for an introduction to his welcoming country.