Our Walkabout

It’s interesting the first things we noticed driving the 40 kilometers from Bangkok’s international airport into the city center after a few weeks in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam: street gutters, orderly traffic flow, scooters and bicycles displaced by trucks and sedans, rubbish bins (US: trash cans), well-organized (and clean!) public transport, paved roads minus the [...]

Planet View: N13°21.100′ E103°51.179′ Street View: N13°21.100′ E103°51.179′ Siem Reap is the gateway town to the famous temples of Angkor and the thousand year old Angkor Wat.  We flew into Siem Reap from Vientiane, stopping off in Savannakhet for our small turbo-prop plane to refuel.  Siem Reap was a bustling hive of activity, although the [...]

Planet View: N17°57.851′ E102°36.413′ Street View: N17°57.851′ E102°36.413′ Vientiane is the capital of Laos, situated about halfway along the north-south vertical of the country alongside the Mekong River.  The bus ride to Vientiane from Vang Vieng was a little trying, a swelteringly hot five hour trip along some extremely bumpy roads with only a quick [...]

Planet View: N18°55.282′ E102°26.792′ Street View: N18°55.282′ E102°26.792′ The bus trip from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng was an amazing journey through the mountains of northern Laos, taking us up to elevations above 4300 feet a number of times along the way.  It took us almost seven hours to travel a mere 300 kilometers, I [...]

Planet View: N19°53.695′ E102°08.399′ Street View: N19°53.695′ E102°08.399′ The plane from Hanoi to Luang Prabang was definitely decorated in the most colorful manner either of us has ever seen, take a look at the seat covers pictured here.  Laos is the only country I’ve ever visited where, if you don’t have enough cash for a [...]