Let me give you a few pointers, especially as this 2000-2001 high season is the third one for Mekong Express (it was launched in Vientiane in September 1997 as an outgrowth of Lao Aviation's inflight magazine), and thus the website has seen just about every trick that browsers try to pull when it comes to booking via the Internet.

Now I promise that I'm saying this with a reasonable amount of humor because most people are honest, and even the sharks out there have learned to mend their ways in order to get a booking that holds water in Laos.

The first thing that happens is that you'll ask for hotel rates. I have no problem with that. And you get them as soon as I've read your email. Then you'll ask that something be booked. This is were it gets really interesting because then I ask for credit card information. And also about your incoming flight connections--this enables me to know that you're really serious about booking. (Twenty to thirty percent of would be bookers disappear at this point.) Asking for credit card information also reduces the possibility that bookers will double book (Laos is small; we inform hotels with Internet connections as soon as we spot that; likewise, hotels inform us--double bookers soon regret what they've done because nobody trusts them afterwards).

Credit card information is processed in Bangkok. But American online bookers sometimes prefer to make wire transfers to my US bank and save time. I can browse my US account on the Internet, making it easy to confirm wire transfers. After completing the credit card form simply fax it to Bangkok or a US number that will be provided. (My webmaster brother-in-law scans your fax and forwards it to Bangkok and/or Vientiane as an attachment.)

There are, by the way, two credit card tricks that annoy me. Somebody at the last minute says s/he wants to split the bill and divide the charges between two or three people. OK, but this isn't very fair at the last minute. Please tell me what you want to do at the outset. The other trick is providing a credit card with a low credit limit, say US$500. This is actually a scam. It hasn't happened to me but has happened to friends. Now everybody in Laos checks credit card limits immediately.

Positively speaking, I can have airline tickets and hotel vouchers delivered to your hotel room in Bangkok before you depart for Laos. This we do about fifty percent of the time, which still surprises me. It also reveals a telling thing about Mekong Express browsers. They tend to be highly educated and pulling in reasonably high incomes. My small staff meets and greets people at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, and there's always somebody to help you once you're in Vang Vieng (we book lots of overland travel) and/or Luang Prabang. Oddly enough, few Mekong Express browsers have asked me to make arrangements in southern Laos.

Last but not least, because I live in Vientiane (Christmas 2000 will be my tenth consecutive Christmas here), fixing things on-the-spot has never turned into a serious problem. There have been evacuations to well-staffed, well-equipped hospitals across the river. There has been lost luggage, and ticket refunds have been in order from time to time. There's the occasional need to help travelers obtain cash advances at local banks. Sometimes visa extensions are required. And we can credit your credit card, or make a wire transfer back to your bank, in a flash. Also, I'm pretty adept at meeting everyone of you. That the website makes these meetings possible is the biggest plus for me.

See you in Laos!

James Michener (aka Mekong Jim)

(856) 20-511200 (my mobile number, which has come to the rescue of many people when they've found themselves in a blind canyon--the 20 after 865 becomes 020 once you're inside Laos)