Laotian dreams
One guide inLaos shared his aspirations with us by the end of our time together. In his early thirties now, with two children and the intention to have a third, he is aiming for a…
Urns and Bombs – the unending cycle in the Plain of Jars
There is one main purpose of visitors to Phonasavanh. It’s the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Plain of Jars. This area is a very wide plateau, part of the high mountain plain here, full…
Giving thanks
So there's not a turkey in sight, no mashed potatoes, no gravy. It's just a regular workday here in SE Asia and a regular travel day for most of the people we've met, since we've…
The long and winding road to the Plain of Jars
You’ve got to be crazy to drive from Luang Prabang to Phonasavanh and the Plain of Jars. For 260 kilometers, or about 160 miles, you drive a two lane road through incessantly twisting terrain of…
Cycles and Falls
(There are three posts we've made recently; don't miss the other two!) So we haven’t biked in three weeks, except for the precarious trip on level ground through Bangkok (see our post). But here we…
Alms and the Monks
Early in the morning, residents of the town rise and prepare food to give the monks of Luang Prabang. They must have the food cooked and ready to distribute as the monks walk along the…
Crossing Cultures in Luang Prabang
Our two days enjoying Luang Prabang showed us the substantial charms of the place. It’s like a city in a garden, with narrow lanes leading past the guesthouses, ageing and restored French colonial buildings of…
On to Laos along the Mekong River
Over the last two days, we’ve luxuriated in some of the grandest river scenery in the world. The Mekong River flows for 3000 miles out of Tibet and through every country in SE Asia, spilling…
Footnotes from Thailand
Now that we've departed for Laos, here are some remaining observations and thoughts from our visit here. Tiger balm Our hill village guide introduced us to tiger balm, an all purpose cure in a small…
The Chang song
Here's another way to make instant friends in Thailand. It's the local nursery rhyme about the chang, i.e. the elephant. The first line: “Chang, chang, chang, chang, chang,” precedes a child-like description of an elephant…