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Travels
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In our young backpacking days we never got further
east than India,
so we did not make it to today's backpacker heaven, South East Asia.
So this year we went to see what the fuss was about.
We did a mix of independent travel and
pre-arranged trips.
First stop was Thailand. We flew into Bangkok, then
straight to Chiang Mai in the north, a place well set up for
travellers. We stayed there a week, then flew to Luang Prabang, the old
capital of Laos. (We had planned to go by boat down the
Mekong
River, but the Chinese had stopped the water flow upstream, so the
boats could not float.) Then we took a private tour by car to
the
Plain of Jars and on to the Vietnamese border, where we swapped cars
and guides and headed for Hanoi.
In Vietnam we joined a tour run
by Travel Indochina, a jolly crowd from the UK, Oz and Canada, led by a
Kiwi. We travelled the length of Vietnam with the tour, from
Hanoi to the Mekong Delta, and into Cambodia by river boat.
The
tour ended at Angkor Wat. We spent another couple of days
there,
then took a taxi to the Thai border and on to Bangkok. We
flew
home via Dubai.
If you click on "Photos" on the right, you can
see some of our pictures of each section of the trip.
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In
Chiang Mai we did the usual tourist things - temples, elephant rides
and Thai massage.
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Thailand Photos
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Laos was a real
eye-opener for us. The
country suffered terribly in the wars of the 1970s and 1980s - the
Americans dropped more bombs on Laos than on Vietnam, and unexploded
bombs are everywhere. Luang Prabang itself was mostly
unscathed,
but around the Plain of Jars we saw bomb craters and devastated ancient
temples, and we were warned to stay on the path.
In the far east of Laos we visited the caves where the communist
resistance hid in the wars.
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Vietnam was quite a
contrast to Laos. As
soon as we crossed the border the land looked greener and more
productive. Vietnam too suffered terribly in the war (the
American War as they obviously call it), but there were fewer signs of
it here. A capitalist country, maybe as much as it would have
been if the Americans had won the war (what was that domino
theory all about?).
In the north we visited a minority village and spent a night on a boat
on Halong Bay. We saw the sights of Hanoi - including the
memorial recording the capture of John McCain (I guess they wish he had
become President, it would have been better for business).
Then we boarded the overnight Reunification Express to Hue,
in central Vietnam.
Central Vietnam was a chance to relax - nice beaches, the old city of
Hoi An and good food. Then we flew to Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh
City), and more reminders of the war. Our last few days in
Vietnam were spent in the Mekong Delta, then we took a boat up the
river across the border to Cambodia.
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| More culinary delights
in Cambodia. In Phnom Penh spider was on the menu, and next
day we met the live beasts. Then we headed north to the
floating villages of the Tonle Sap lake and Angkor Wat to visit the
temples. The temples fully lived up to expectations, with
lots of Indiana Jones moments, and we spent 4 days there, some with the
group and some on our own with a tuk-tuk.
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The favourite means of
transport in Vietnam and Cambodia is the motor bike. One of
the first tricks you have to learn to survive in Hanoi and Saigon is
the knack of crossing the road through a swarm of bikes. Some
are used to carry goods, others to carry the family. We saw
one bike carrying 5 people, but only managed to photo a family of 4.
In Cambodia not so many people can afford bikes, so many people get
around by overloaded truck.
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Finally,
a few photos of our travelling companions.
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Photos |
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