In Thailand's north east, the Mighty Mekong River forms a border between the country's least developed and most unspoiled region, Isaan, and the exotic landlocked country of Laos.

Few areas in Asia can match the cultural and natural diversity to be found following the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands east of Bali.

The Phare Ponleu Selpak Circus combines fun, acrobatics, juggling, contortion and humour while at the same time gives a helping hand to Cambodia's poor families.

Thailand's cultural and social roots are firmly set in the countryside, in fact, when Mahatma Gandhi said of his home country "... the real India is in the villages". He could just as easily have been referring to Thailand, a country whose political and cultural birth was in the "million rice fields" of the ancient Lanna Thai Kingdom.