Conventional thinking about ethnography often locates the field site as a place the researcher enters and then departs from. Reflecting on personal experience of fieldwork in Laos; this paper contends that in a digital age, such ideas about how and where the field is situated are in many cases becoming obsolete. Through the use of various digital methods, ethnography can be both tangible as well as virtual, and can continue well beyond the actual departure of the researcher from the field site. In turn, this raises important questions about where the field is and more importantly; where ethnography starts and indeed where it finishes. This paper argues that these questions are particularly important in a country such as Laos, where mobile communication is becoming increasingly important for numerous members of the population both within Laos and across borders. Accordingly, this paper contends that considerations of digital technologies are essential in research design, and for thinking about country and regional studies.