The shopkeepers and emperors of old Vietnam had it made. A pharmaceutical salesman resided in a intricately carved wooden storefront with a lush atrium and lacquered inlay furniture while his emperor had an entire landscape of temples built for his final resting place, with room to spare for his wives. Such elegant use of space is on display in both Hoi An and Hue, two stops along our journey from South to North Vietnam.
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Dunes & Fish Sauce in Mui Ne
Craving some more beach time, we headed to Mui Ne, a small beach town along the coast of Vietnam. It appealed to us more than the more popular beach town of Nha Trang for its sand dunes and fishing village along with its quiet beaches. We spent our first afternoon lazing by the beach watching the kite surfers who travel from all over the world to catch winds that build to 20 knots. An evening dip in the hotel pool up on the hill above the ocean was the perfect closer.
Cities in contrast: Phnom Penh & Saigon
I first fell in love with Phnom Penh after a chance encounter with the crispiest tastiest grilled squid on earth during a bus stop between Siem Reap and Kep. Upon returning to Phnom Penh, we visited the central market again for the heavenly dish, served with cold cucumbers, herbs and a dash of homemade chili sauce. This was a no frills spot; just a small roadside stand with food served on melamine dishes. Yet the taste and the service was five star. It’s a microcosm of Phnom Penh, a shabby city upon first glimpse yet one oozing with character. Despite being Cambodia’s capitol city, Phnom Penh’s demographic is decidedly rural in nature, in large part because of Pol Pot’s reign of terror over the wealthy and educated classes.
Pepper and Beach: Kampot to Kep
Little compares to Cambodian bus travel. It takes at least two hours longer to arrive at a destination than estimated. Nine times out of ten a tire blows out and needs to be replaced. Rest stops are taken at illogical intervals, usually at the whim of the driver who will sit down for a three course hot meal as little as 10 kilometers away from the final destination. Passengers (er, Cambodian passengers) also get a whole lot of say for when the bus stops. One drunk man halted the bus at least five times to take a piss on the side of the road. Yet the real clincher has to be the deafening tune of Cambodian karaoke DVDs played on repeat. After a few 8 hour rides, I’d memorized several of the songs, all a variation on the same melodramatic plot-line of unrequited love.
Enamored by Angkor Wat
I’ll still never forget the first time I saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, gazing at it while sandwiched between hundreds of strangers. Chatters from the tourists were only amplified by the cavernous chapel, creating a wall of noise. “Silencio”, barked the guard, his pleas going unnoticed. So vast, so detailed and so impeccably to scale were Michelangelo’s paintings that they had an almost transcendent quality, capable of silencing the buzzing of tourists that Italian guards could not. It’s been almost ten years since I visited the Sistine Chapel and few places have had a such a transfixing effect. That is until we visited Angkor Wat, a stunning 12th century temple complex in Cambodia.
Overland Travel Stops: 4,000 Islands & Kratie
The land border between Laos and Cambodia is just a dusty little town filled with dollar noodles and stalls selling batteries and flip flops. Yet just beyond in each country are two little gems worth a day or two stop whilst traveling overland. Southern Laos possesses the 4,000 islands, also known as Siphandon. A riverine archipelago in the Mekong, most of the islands were submerged due to heavy rains. Yet the three largest and only inhabited islands remained, all encircled by cheap waterside bungalows adorned with hammocks. A good book and a fruit shake were the order of the day, a welcome retreat from weeks of daily activity.
A Short Loop Around the Bolaven Plateau
If there’s any one place that can reflect the experience of the Lao people and their land, it’s the Bolaven Plateau — a beautiful place marked by a tragic past and facing a challenging future. The Bolaven Plateau is an elevated region in Southern Laos named after the Laven ethnic group that historically dominated the land. During the French occupation it was deemed fitting land for growing coffee, a crop they still grow today. In 1901, the ethnic groups that populate the Plateau heavily revolted against the French occupation. But it was the Vietnam War that earned the region most of its scars.
Vientiane: Moving at the Speed of Laos
The world is changing fast, especially in Asia. Yet Laos seems resistant to the pressures of modernization and globalization; its capitol city Vientiane as evidence. There are no high-rises or mega malls, and few if any movie theaters (that I noticed). Entertainment is mostly limited to karaoke bars and bowling lanes and the city has a curfew of 11:00pm. Lao women working or entering government buildings are required to wear a traditional sarong and most ride on the back of motorbikes side-saddle. It’s a quiet city in which you can wander into the courtyard of a nearby Wat and hear little more than the sounds of monks shuffling by.
I did not go tubing in Vang Vieng
Wherever we’ve gone, we’ve seen young European travelers wearing the same t-shirt emblazoned with the words: “Tubing in the Vang Vieng,” an activity travelers through Southeast Asia have deemed a right of passage. But floating down a river among drunk backpackers and stopping at riverside bars was not a passage I was interested in taking and so we had planned to skip Vang Vieng altogether. I’m glad we decided not to.
Luang Prabang: Traveling Back in Time
Strolling through the sleepy streets of Luang Prabang, Laos is like being transported in time. For me, I was living in the 1942 classic movie Casablanca, wandering through colonial hotels and bars replete with wooden shuttered windows and courtyards filled with lush green palm trees and exotic plants. Ben felt as if he was in old Havana, Cuba with the dated cars, dilapidated sidewalks and children riding on rusty bicycles. With a world moving so fast, it is incredibly invigorating to be in place so firmly planted in the best of times. Luang Prabang has naturally attracted tourists but its UNESCO world heritage status has prevented the crumminess that tourism has brought to other Asian cities. All store signs are carved in wood and the narrow streets make passage by tourist bus impossible.
Elephant Ride to the Hills of Chiang Dao.
I rode an elephant once in my life as a child at a carnival in my hometown. He was chained and led to walk in a circle. I was at the back of the line of children riding the butt, which was so wide my legs shot straight out in each direction. The experience wasn’t especially memorable and so when I heard about elephant riding in Thailand, I wasn’t as excited about it as Ben.
Playing Seepak Takraw
There’s something romantic about traveling by motorbike. Perhaps its the open air, the winding and unknown road, or maybe the people you meet along the way. We’d been hesitant to try it because we’ve never driven a motorbike before. But Chiang Dao is a small area with little traffic and most residents drive slowly, conserving petrol by turning off the engine to glide down the hills. So we thought it the perfect place to practice. We rented a shiny red automatic from the neighbor for a total of $200 baht ($7) and set out with a hand drawn map from the Nest. We rode across town up through the jungle-filled mountainside and turned at whatever road seemed most intriguing.