Image by Stanislas Fradelizi Text by Lee Sheridan, whl.travel local connection in Vang Vieng
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This photo of a young boy cooling down was captured on the banks of the scenic Nam Song River in Vang Vieng, Laos.
Posted under General, Laos, Photo of the Week, countries
This post was written by editor on December 20, 2009
By Sophia Sleap
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Popular tourist trekking destinations such as Sapa in Vietnam and Chiang Mai in Thailand see hundreds of backpackers and holidaymakers trample their way through the surrounding hill-tribe villages every week. Many of these tours offer ‘homestays’, where you spend a night or two in the home of a local family.
The author taking a break on a bike ride in the Lao hills outside Luang Prabang, Laos
Although these trips offer valuable insight into how the local people live and the booking agents do usually pay the host families a fair wage, the experience can be spoiled somewhat by the hordes of other tourists making their way along the same route. Fortunately, there are alternatives: travellers seeking a more authentic experience of glorious Southeast Asian countryside are increasingly looking to less commercial destinations, such as Laos, to satisfy their curiosity.
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Posted under General, Laos, countries, local tips, responsible traveller, whl.travel newsletter
This post was written by editor on October 24, 2009
By Ethan Gelber
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A statue inside the grounds of Wat Impeng Temple, Vientiane, Laos (courtesy of Tari Bowling)
With a little luck, by early 2010, Lee Sheridan believes his company, Teamworkz Consulting, the whl.travel local partner in Laos, will have processed US$1 million worth of travel bookings through three Laos destination websites (Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane). Perhaps even more impressive than the gross numbers is the volume it represents: As of 10 October 2009, with completed bookings totalling almost US$800,000 and an average transaction valued at a few pennies more than US$115, that’s nearly 7000 bookings in just four years.
“Along with this, the three websites in Laos have already surpassed more than 100,000 unique visitors this year,” Sheridan enthused. “The Luang Prabang site alone has received over 60,000 unique visitors this year so far, and with our high season just starting, we may be able to reach 100,000 unique visitors for this one site in 2009.”
All in all, that’s not bad at all for a young company in an off-the-beaten-path nation notable for its least developed country status.
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Posted under General, Laos, Thailand, countries, responsible organisations, responsible travel, responsible travel news, whl.travel newsletter
This post was written by editor on October 12, 2009
By Ethan Gelber
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At the July 2009 whl.travel Asia-Pacific Regional conference, Teamworkz Consulting was officially recognised as the whl.travel Franchisee of the Year 2008-2009 for its work in Vientiane, Laos. Teamworkz, which also owns and operates five other sites in Laos and seven in Thailand, could just as easily have earned its laurels for its labours in Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng, both also in Laos.
Teamworkz Consulting accepting its accolades as Franchisee of the Year 2008-2009 at the whl.travel Asia Pacific regional conference. Left to right are: Rob Shortland, whl.travel Asia Pacific Regional Director; Anne Done, Lee Sheridan and Mouk of Teamworkz; Len Cordiner, CEO of WHL Group
Posted under General, Laos, Thailand, Turkey, Vanuatu, awards, countries, responsible organisations, responsible travel news, whl.travel news, whl.travel newsletter
This post was written by editor on October 8, 2009
By Paul Tavner
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Although Laos is well known for its natural beauty, you have to see it to believe it. Actually, sometimes really seeing it – living it the way locals do rather than just passing through it – is the only way to believe it. After all, with the thick jungle that covers much of the landlocked nation sometimes making venturing off the beaten track a daunting prospect, if you’re going to lurch toward the little-known, you might as well live it as fully as possible. Thus it goes with the genuinely breathtaking experiences of two of Laos’ most popular and stunning waterfalls: Kuang Si and Tad Se, both located within easy reach of the northern city of Luang Prabang.
A wooden bridge, part of the path network that surrounds Kuang Si, crosses the main run-off from the falls
Posted under General, Laos, countries, local tips, whl.travel newsletter
This post was written by paul on October 4, 2009
FOR THIS MESSAGE IN LAO, DOWNLOAD PDF
Champasak Province lies in the far south of Laos and is bordered by both Thailand to the west and Cambodia to the south. It boasts a wealth of attractions, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Wat Phou, which dates back to the sixth century; the Khongprapheng Waterfalls, which are the largest in Southeast Asia; the beautiful Four Thousand Islands (Si Phan Don), where rare freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins can be seen; and the Bolaven Plateau, with a multitude of waterfalls and coffee plantations that yield some of the best coffee in the world.
One of what is assumed to be two prayer rooms (one for men and one for women) at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Wat Phou
Posted under General, Laos, countries, new local connections, whl.travel news
This post was written by editor on September 8, 2009
Clean Breaks, 500 New Ways to See the World (read a review), published in August 2009 by Rough Guides, is a full-colour guide of the authors’ handpicked choices of the world’s best hotels, tours and activities run by people who are passionate about what they do in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
Hiking through paddy fields in Thailand, you will definitely feel like you've made a clean break from your regular routine. Photo courtesy of Rough Guides
Needless to say, there’s an inspiring overlap between the authors’ motivations and the whl.travel vision, the latter being to locate and promote the kinds of small, grassroots travel initiatives that, over time and with the support of travellers, are positive steps toward improving a place, and help shape it in a caring and sustainable way.
To illustrate this, the following links take you to abridged Clean Breaks excerpts (in black) paired with mentions (in blue) of the further resources in select destinations available through whl.travel. After all, it is our shared belief that readers inspired by Clean Breaks are the kinds of people who see the value in traveling with whl.travel.
Posted under Brazil, Fiji, General, Georgia, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, countries, responsible organisations, responsible travel, responsible travel news, whl.travel newsletter
This post was written by editor on August 3, 2009
By Ethan Gelber
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A detail from the Wat That Luang Neua in Vientiane
On June 15, Len Cordiner, CEO of whl.travel received an email from an anxious father searching for his daughter. She and a friend were travelling in Laos and had booked accommodation in several cities through whl.travel. Len put the father in touch with Teamworkz, our whl.travel partner in Vientiane, Laos.
“My 19-year-old daughter was supposed to stay at the Cheuang Van Na Vong Hotel [in Vientiane] the night of June 12,” the father quickly wrote to Teamworkz. “She was supposed to contact us a couple days ago, but perhaps there is a problem with both her international cell phone and with her computer. We wanted to get a message to her through the hotel front desk: ‘Call home.’ We do not know where she is now, so it would definitely help her mother and I to know if she indeed made it to the Cheuang Van Na Vong Hotel. Attached is her picture. She would be travelling with [a friend], whose name is on the reservation. Can you please find out if she stayed at the hotel and let me know? I am very grateful for your assistance.”
All parents grapple with the angst of watching their children disappear into the world. The tools of today – cell phones, email, skype – allow us to maintain a vital and affordable lifeline so much more immediate than the fortnightly faxes and staticky collect calls I made when I first hit the road. I can only imagine what my parents felt back then in the days before Web-based booking was possible. They had no idea know where I was for weeks on end. Today, a long communication lapse is even more nerve wracking. To whom does one turn, especially if a booking is made through an anonymous engine that cares nothing of one name or face any more than another?
In this case, having booked through whl.travel …your local connection… the daughter left her father with just the right kind of details.
Posted under Laos, countries, whl.travel news
This post was written by editor on June 19, 2009
whl.travel is slowly but surely lifting into more visible flying space. Despite the tumult of these financially unstable times and while other travel companies contract, whl.travel continues to expand, reaching across and deep into new destinations, refining content and improving access to it, striking up new collaborative relationships with other players that share sustainable and responsible tourism values and even working on new joint ventures with some of the tourism industry’s better-known players (stay tuned for these announcements).
“I think you will be seeing a lot more of whl.travel in the media over the coming months,” said Len Cordiner, CEO of whl.travel. Boy is he right.
Posted under Armenia, General, Laos, Nepal, countries, responsible travel news, whl.travel news, whl.travel newsletter
This post was written by editor on April 23, 2009
Awed by its grandeur, don't overlook the details of Bangkok's Grand Palace
With the recent launch of hotel- and tour-booking websites for Bangkok (www.bangkok-hotels-link.com) and Pattaya (www.pattaya-hotel-link.com), whl.travel has taken another frog-leap forward toward becoming the leading travel-booking service in the Greater Mekong area.
Bringing to 25 the current total number of whl.travel destinations in the region, the website for Bangkok – a vital travel gateway – joins six other sites in Thailand (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Phuket and Sukhothai), four in Laos (Champasak, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane), three in Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville) and a total of 11 across Vietnam (including Danang, Hoi An, Hue, Saigon and Sapa).
Posted under Cambodia, General, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, countries, new local connections, whl.travel news
This post was written by editor on March 27, 2009