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by Laurie and Viv, order by Date newest first.

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Moored River Boats...
Moored River Boats...
Lie at rest on the banks of the Irrawaddy River in Nyaung-Ou, Myanmar. © L. Birch 2007
For us, the 'road' to Mandalay took many forms, carrying us through the Burmese landscape in a variety of vehicles, from local buses and pick up taxis to horse carts and finally, a boat that took us up the mighty Irrawaddy River to Mandalay. We joined the good ship "Shwe Kiennery II" at the Nyaung Ou jetty at the ungodly hour of 4.45am one Monday morning. No clapped out old fishing boat this one, the "Shwe Kiennery" was a modern, purpose built passenger vessel equipped with two V8 engines, an air conditioning system and a bar. She was capable of a [View Full Entry]

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1896 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 9 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 17th 2007 | 285 Views | [diary=137334]

Sunrise over the Irrawaddy
Scenes of Rural Life
Onboard the Mandalay Ferry

By Laurie and Viv
March 1st 2007
A Handful of Dust Asia » Burma » Bagan
Bagan Sunset
Bagan Sunset
The sun sets on another hot, Bagan afternoon, silhouetting the spires of temples out on the plain. © L. Birch 2007
Acre upon acre of temples, scattered across a dusty plain in the very heart of Myanmar - that was Bagan. Last of the ancient 'lost cities' that we had still to see, it captivated us in a way that Cambodia's Angkor had been unable to do. Perhaps because it was not over run with visitors and there was still space to breathe and enjoy a spiritual moment but it was also an amalgam of things; the dry desert climate - hot by day, cold by night. Cactus bushes and acacia trees. Days spent wandering or cycling among temples where, apart from [View Full Entry]

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1082 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 6 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 16th 2007 | 214 Views | [diary=133931]

On Her Way to Market
Bagan Overview
Monks Collecting Alms

Golden Spires
Golden Spires
Yangon's most famous landmark, the Shwedagon Pagoda. © L. Birch 2007
The following are a series of extracts from our journals, verbal sketches if you like, that attempt to capture our first impressions of Myanmar. To those unfamiliar with this little known country, I should perhaps try and draw a brief introductory picture. Formerly known as Burma, Myanmar is an inward looking country ruled by a military Government that has a well earned reputation for human rights abuses. For years it has cut itself off from the outside world and its people know very little of what is happening beyond the restrictive confines of their own country. Much is changing but [View Full Entry]

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1447 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 14th 2007 | 220 Views | [diary=133921]

The Shattered Streets of Yangon
Blue Room
Echoes of Empire

Desert World
Desert World
Exploring desert-like dunes was not something we had expected to be doing in SE Asia. © L. Birch 2007
The sun came up shortly after 6am and most mornings we were up with it, wandering along the beach as the fishing boats came in to offload the night's catch. It was one of the simple joys of staying in Mui Ne, a place many travellers overlooked, prefering instead the glitzy, high rise attractions of Nha Trang - 300kms further up the coast. Round coracles and the bigger squid boats would be out most of the night, the squid boats equipped with long booms festooned with lights to bring the squid to the surface. The squid boats usually moored offshore from [View Full Entry]

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1807 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 9 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 11th 2007 | 291 Views | [diary=126182]

Coracles on the Beach
Up the Pacific Coast
Red Canyon

By Laurie and Viv
January 27th 2007
Good Morning Vietnam Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Mui Ne
Flowers for Sale - Saigon
Flowers for Sale - Saigon
Fresh flowers from Vietnam's central highlands fill the cluttered markets of Saigon. © L. Birch 2007
The bus dropped us at a Chinese restaurant overlooking the border. Outside it was hot and the restaurant stood on its own in what looked like a field of dust. Not for the first time, I wondered if dust was a major crop in Cambodia. We were certainly going to be exporting a fair amount of it in our clothes when we crossed the border into Vietnam but first, we were going to have to get to the border. The bus driver didn't speak any English but it was clear from his brief mime that he wasn't going any further and [View Full Entry]

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1305 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 6 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 4th 2007 | 244 Views | [diary=122992]

Goodbye Cambodia, Good Morning Vietnam
Hall of the Ten Hells
Going Underground

By Laurie and Viv
January 16th 2007
Tomb Raiders Inc. Asia » Cambodia » North » Angkor
South Gate
South Gate
Angkor Thom's imposing southern entrance is flanked by rows of human and animal guardians. © L. Birch 2007
If the years under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge represented Cambodia’s darkest hour, Angkor Wat was undoubtedly its finest. Cambodian’s talk with great pride about their ancient city and with good reason for it is easily one of the world’s great wonders. Angkor was almost unknown to the western world until it was ‘discovered’ - lost in the Cambodian jungle - by the French naturalist and explorer Henri Mouhot in the 1860s. Over time, Angkor was gradually reclaimed from the clutches of nature and finally awarded World Heritage status in 1992. Such is the nati [View Full Entry]

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1148 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 9 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 24th 2007 | 270 Views | [diary=119672]

Angkor Wat
Riddled with Bullet Holes
"She's Got a Ticket to Ride"

Killing Fields
Killing Fields
A chilling memorial to some of the thousands executed during the Pol Pot years, Phnom Penh. © L. Birch 2007
The music started at 5am after which, sleep was almost impossible. It came from a loudspeaker mounted on a dilapidated building facing the square. Sunrise was still an hour away but - by the time it was light - the market square was already busy with people going about their daily business. Market traders who had spent the night asleep at their stalls were re-arranging produce or chatting with their neighbours. Barrow boys with wooden carts laden with fruit, sacks of rice or tins of paint, ferried purchases or stock to and from the market. Cows walked nonchalantly through the streets, [View Full Entry]

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1818 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 7 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 16th 2007 | 434 Views | [diary=117252]

Kratie
Border Crossing
Phnom Penh Sunrise

A Spectacular Sunset
A Spectacular Sunset
Flares across the sky above Laos' 4000 Islands. © L. Birch 2006
A bumpy ride down an unmade dirt road culminated finally in a swirling cloud of dust outside a crude collection of shacks in the village of Ban Nakasang. Jumping down from the truck that had taken us there, seven of us - two Brits, two Australians and three French guys - stood looking around ourselves, squinting in the harsh light of mid day. It was like a scene from a spaghetti western; the unshaven jaws - or legs, in Viv's case - the sidelong glances, the settling dust. All it lacked was the Morricone soundtrack. Where did we go now, we [View Full Entry]

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2023 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 8 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 8th 2007 | 2456 Views | [diary=113965]

Chempasak
Hothouse
Bamboo Huts...

Pha That Luang
Pha That Luang
Vientiane's Golden Stupa, the country's most iconic temple. © L. Birch 2006
Vientiane was hot: almost unbearably so. Even sitting at a street cafe sipping a cold drink, I could feel the sweat running down my chest and soaking uncomfortably into the waistband of my trousers. A stop in the nation's capital - home to a surprisingly small population of around 200,000 people - was almost inevitable on the long trip south but for us, it was a necessary evil as we wanted to organise onward visas for Cambodia. The Laos / Cambodian crossing at Voen Kham was not an officially recognised border entry or exit point by the Governments of either country. [View Full Entry]

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1478 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 7 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 3rd 2007 | 363 Views | [diary=113241]

Flying the Flag
Bolaven Plateau
Tadlo Waterfall

By Laurie and Viv
December 1st 2006
Incountry Asia » Laos » West » Vang Vieng
Curious Children
Curious Children
Peek from a dwelling in a Hmong village in Xieng Khuang Province, Laos. © L. Birch 2006
Striking off across rice paddyfields amid stunning limestone karst scenery - unfeasibly shaped mountains with saw-toothed ridges all around us - we revelled in the sense of freedom and drama our new surroundings afforded. We were in Vang Vieng in central Laos and it felt good to be able to wander unrestricted across the fields and not have to worry about landmines. Bombs, Mines and Stone Age Jars Only a few days before, landmines - and other forms of unexploded ordnance (UXO) - had been a very real concern. We had been in Xieng Khuang province, close to the borders of [View Full Entry]

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2092 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 8 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: December 18th 2006 | 292 Views | [diary=107353]

Ordnance from a Secret War
Miss Bombshell, 2006
Stone-age Jars



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