All,

I have read these posts with interest and unfortunately two friends and I have been recent victims of what can only be described as FRAUD with RIDE LARA.

After months of planning we traveled from Singapore and arrived in Laos to the same overwhelming, deflating disappointment outlined by joeblo in this forum - specifically that nobody was there to greet us, in hand with a rambling email from Eric explaining that Don had absconded with the funds that we paid to Eric's bank account.

Essentially that our tour had been canceled and we would not get any of our money back.

On this point, it will be interesting to understand what amount was paid by anyone else on this forum for the privilege of a tour with RIDE LARA. We paid USD1300 each (3 persons). That is nearly USD4000 that has been effectively stolen by the management of Ride Lara.

One of the many things that riles me about this whole situation is that Eric chose not to tell us about his no show as our tour leader until after we had boarded the plane from Singapore and it was too late to turn back. It seems that joeblo here had the exact same experience. I just don't understand this. If you already have our money and have no intention of showing up to take us on our tour, at least have the courtesy to inform us BEFORE we get on the plane.

Since returning from Laos there has been further money wasted (phone calls to Eric in Denver where he mysteriously has emigrated, apparently overnight - though he overlooked to inform us of this small point until we arrived in Laos); and time spent drafting emails to insurance companies etc. etc. etc.

To this point we have not yet received any of our money back. If anybody has any suggestions about recourse - for instance the whereabouts or contact details for Don - I would be very interested to hear them.

Caveat Emptor indeed.