Northern Thailand

Northern Thailand: Mellow Matters

Kilometers Traveled: 20,782

Countries Visited: 8

Cities Visited: 26

Domesticated Elephants in Thailand: 2,700 aprox.

Hard to believe that our first encounter with Thailand was now a month behind us. Spending a week in the modern mega-metropolis that is Bangkok left us feeling a little disoriented and oddly at home (we've found that most major cities are all starting to look eerily similar) and we are grateful that we were able to shake off that feeling by time we hit the northern part of the country. After a three day journey going against the flow up the Mekong we finally arrived in Thailand's second city, Chiang Mai. The pace in the North maintains a laid back sensibility that seems to attract a flood of expats and a more bohemian tourist crowd to this mountainous region. There are plenty of sleepy places to escape to in the hills, like the town of Pai, as well as plenty of opportunities for adventure - from rafting, trekking to a yoga or mediation retreat. On this leg of our trip we worked our way back down to Bangkok going through Chiang Mai, an elephant sanctuary in the mountains then down to the well preserved ancient capitol of Sukhothai.

Serenity now.

Laos

Laos: Wild Wonderful Asia

Kilometers Traveled: 20,149

Countries Visited: 8

Cities Visited: 24

Cost of a 1L Beer Lao: $2

Wow, we are getting really behind on these posts so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Landlocked Laos is still a little rough around the edges in regards to tourism but this is a great place to immerse yourself in some of the last remaining bits of unspoiled SE Asia. This is a stunning place to get outdoors either into the misty mountains or the unbelievably beautiful waterfalls near Luang Prabang. Get here quick before it becomes just another stop on the banana pancake trail.

The Laos public transit system has been our favorite so far.

Northern Vietnam

Northern Vietnam: Same Same but Different

Kilometers Traveled: 19,141 

Countries Visited: 7

Cities Visited: 21

Number of Islands in Ha Long Bay: 1,969

The cold in Northern Vietnam snapped us out of the lazy pace we developed by lounging around in the South. Relative to the rest of Vietnam the North is a colder and more austere place but it has some of the most interesting sights in the country and is a fascinating place if you seek culture. The North was the cradle of the Vietnamese civilization and it's people hold on to traditions that they consider to be authentically Vietnamese. Everything is slightly different from the rest of the country - culturally it seems closer to China than SE Asia, they use a different dialect, the cuisine has a less spicy flare and disposition of its citizens is a little more severe. 

By this point in our trip we were running out of time on our visas and were in a hurried state of re-prioritizing our itinerary to get out of here by December 7th. Most travelers come to the North either to see the misty mountain town of Sapa and/or the countless limestone karst islands of Ha Long Bay. With only 5 days left before we had to be deported, we opted for more warmth and took a cruise to the islands of Ha Long Bay. We couldn't believe that a month had passed so quickly. We weren't prepared to leave Vietnam.

The karsts of Ha Long, which means descending dragon in Vietnamese.

Central Vietnam

Central Vietnam: Keeping it Real

Kilometers Traveled: 18,119 

Countries Visited: 7

Cities Visited: 19

Hours spent on a bus in Vietnam: 22

After 8 sleepless hours on a overnight sleeper bus we arrived at our first stop in Central Vietnam - Hoi An. We stayed only eight days in what ended being our favorite section of Vietnam. This region has a noticeably different atmosphere from its southern neighbors. A few centuries ago this area was the cultural and economic center of the country. This is where you can find ancient imperial cities, colonial towns, ruins and charming villages in the misty central highlands. The Center was also one of the few places that felt authentically Asian during our travels in this part of the world. So far our experiences in Asia have been railed in an alternate universe dubbed the "banana pancake" trail. A well trodden backpacker path that has been standardized, sanitized and pasteurized to appeal to our less adventurous spirit. Our favorite experiences have come when we have been able to break free of Pancake and travel like a temporary local.

South Vietnam

South Vietnam

Kilometers Traveled: 18,119 

Countries Visited: 7

Cities Visited: 16

Number of Scooters in Saigon: 4 million

It's crazy to think that we originally weren't planning to go to Vietnam. The stories about getting ripped off, deadly bus rides, the opaque visa process and the fast approaching typhoon Phaillin (that had just devastated the Philippines) was almost enough to keep us out of the country. Almost. To anyone that has any doubts about visiting Vietnam  - let us tell you first hand that this is an incredibly enchanting place that will steal your heart. It has gorgeous and varied landscapes, fascinating culture, genuinely friendly people and one of the world's greatest cuisines. Ok, they will try to charge you a little more as a foreigner but everything is still incredibly cheap, who cares if you're getting charged 50% more when your meal is only a couple bucks.

Our trajectory was to go against the tourist flow and start in the South. Most backpackers enter Vietnam in the North and work their way down. But since we wanted to wait out the typhoon that was heading to the north we decided instead to work our way up slowly from Saigon. Southern Vietnam is where you can find beaches, spicy food, warm welcomes, and the chilled out attitude of life along the Mekong Delta. 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Phnom Penh: Pearl of Asia

Kilometers Traveled: 18,439 

Countries Visited: 6

Cities Visited: 13

Number of People Evacuated in 1974: 2.5 million

A famous travel writer once said "Travel is only glamorous in retrospect". Between the cracks of seeing iconic sights, eating exotic food, and meeting interesting people lies a heartbreaking reality of what it is really like to live in a undeveloped country. After traveling for this long it's easy to become a little jaded to things like extreme poverty, oppression, animal cruelty, and environmental devastation. But when we arrived in Phnom Penh we felt a whole new level of heartbreak - encountering a country still recovering from the wounds of a genocide.

A visit to Phnom Penh forces to you confront the ruthless history of the Khmer Rouge regime. During their short reign (from 1975 through 1979) they managed to kill about 2.5 million Cambodians (out of an 8 million total population) after they evacuated all of the major cities and forced every citizen into the countryside to work in the fields. Most people died of starvation and disease but many were also executed by soldiers after being sent to "reeducation camps" or prison. One of the most notorious prisons, Toul Sleng, operated in Phnon Penh where it is estimated that 20,000 people were killed. Prisoners were usually forced to admit to crimes they never committed and then were sent to a mass grave in the fields of Choeung Ek outside of the city to be executed. There was a famous movie made in the 80's called the "Killing Fields" that tells the story of these terrifying times. 

Nowadays it has all become one big morose tourist attraction, overshadowing Phnom Penh's less depressing qualities. We found this city to be a surprising chic and developed place with great restaurants, trendy boutiques and an air of prosperity. It is a place that is trying to reconstruct the Khmer identity with the help of many outside groups.  Cambodia seems to have been flooded with opportunistic businesses and NGOs trying to solve each of her afflictions. Ultimately we hope it will be the Cambodians that shape their own future with their help versus helping these organizations simply shaping it for them.

Phnom Penh: The Pearl of the Asia

Siem Reap, Cambodia

   Siem Reap: A Temple Run

Kilometers Traveled: 18,119 

Countries Visited: 6

Cities Visited: 12

We apologize in advance for copious amounts of temples in this post but this accurately reflects what a visit to Siem Reap entails - endless temples. After Bangkok we took a quick flight to this cozy little town that is home to the famous ancient city of Angkor, the once mighty capital of the Khmer Empire. Modern Cambodians, a.k.a. the Khmer (pronounced kah-my), are descendants of Asia's greatest builders and largest empire which endured from 800 AD to 1300 AD.  Their empire included present day Thailand, Laos and southern Vietnam and had a huge influence on these regions. Many of SE Asia's cultural traditions such as music, architecture, cuisine and Muay Thai boxing have origins in Khmer practices.  But perhaps their most impressive achievement was building the capital city of Angkor, which at its height was home to one million citizens, spanned 1,350 square miles, had a sophisticated water delivery system and was the largest pre-industrial city in the world. 

Life in the city of Angkor revolved around the construction of temples to revere the king's Buddhist or Hindu gods (the god depended on the king's religious affiliation at the time). Temples were meant to house gods and were not intended to be used by people; the Khmer actually lived in wooden houses in the surrounding areas as they do now. After the collapse of the empire, the temples were neglected for hundreds of years and were engulfed by the jungle. It wasn't until the 1800's that they started to be restored to their former glory. 

One day is not enough to explore the whole site. So we ended up spending five days in Siem Reap with three days zooming around the temples. The rest of the time we just lounged around waiting for our Vietnam visa to be processed and drinking lots of 50 cent beer. A stop by Siem Reap is highly recommended for any visit to SE Asia.

The entrance to Ankgor Wat - the largest religious building in the world.