The slow boat trip up the Mekong from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai (theoretically via Pakbeng) is hard to capture in words or images. The brown (yet glistening) river, the magnificent mountains and rock formations (on the shore and mid-river), the dazzling sky above the mystery village where we had to put in for the […]
Luang Prabang is my favorite part of Lao, my favorite country on this trip. I’ve been exposed to some more scamming recently, but overall it’s still very low pressure. Not quite Vientiane’s food variety, but still plenty of baguettes and laughing cow cheese and all the other French leftovers (I suppose they could have left […]
Add fruit shakes and friendly expats to the list of things to recommend Vientiane. The only problem is that the guesthouse situation is still pretty pricy here in Vientiane, especially since I’m paying the “single tax”—dorm accomodation is unpopular compared to Europe because a) everything’s cheaper already b) people steal stuff more from dorms c) […]
I enjoyed paying just $4 for my bus ticket out of Cambodia, but did not enjoy the spine-cracking dust-filled journey as much. I’m still digging mud out of my nose every once in a while. I took a bus from Aranyaprathet to some random city (as yet unidentified) to Nong Khai, where my travel day […]
Cambodia continued: as I expected, I’m about templed out after two days. That must be why the Apsara Authority, in charge of all the Angkor business, sells one and three day passes. The crowds of tour groups and occasional construction made the experience a little less transcendant than it’s been hyped up to be, but […]
OK, I’m in the Kingdom of Cambodia—Siem Reap, that is, the town near the Angkor Wat set of temples. The border crossing itself was ok, but the border divetown of Poipet was absolutely the most miserable town I’ve seen in my life… and I’ve been driven through West Texas. The taxi ride was punishing and […]
You might remember that Bangkok wasn’t my favorite part of Thailand. Unsurprisingly, it still isn’t. My way here was a little more complicated than I’d expected: When I got to Sheung Wan around 10:30, the next bookable ferry was at 11:35. Macau no longer runs a special shuttle from the port to the airport, and […]
…so far. Hostel review later. Actually, writing about anything later. Not such a spectacular arrival, perhaps tomorrow will improve things. Will be looking into buying things and maybe booking a bus to Aranyapathet tomorrow (and trying to stay out of the still-ridiculous heat).
I’m still going. But maybe backwards. It seems like things might be less hectic because of festivals, crowded slow boats, etc. if I go to Siem Reap first and then the other way through Laos (Vientiane, then Luang Prabang, then boat to the Huay Xai border) and then back down through northern Thailand. But hey, […]
There is little detail because I have to spend my time on a childish “course journal” for a final-year politics course. Grumble, grumble. As I suspected, I ended up gawking around Shenzhen on Wednesday instead of taking a bus to Yangshuo. The border fortifications between the HKSAR and the Mainland are just as imposing as […]
