Early start (7 am) in order to beat the heat and the tourists. We drive north of the city once again to Angkor Wat, one of wonders of the ancient world. Angkor Wat was built by god-king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century about 80 years before Angkor Thom. It lies inside a huge moat measuring 1.5m X 1.3m. The complex was intended to be the earthly representation of heaven on earth; in fact, "angkor" means city and "wat" means "temple", so it quite literally is an entire city that is a place of worship. It is the largest religious structure in the world. And it has great cultural significance for the Khmer people. In some ways, it has come to manifest their national pride. The mystique surrounding Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the other ... read more

Breakfast at the resort. There is definitely a bug circulating with our group. We have lost another couple of people this morning, and the truth is that i am dealing with some gastro-intestinal issues myself. We are off on the bus for a full day of touring. On the road, I notice that national flags are everywhere, but they are always displayed in pairs: the Laotian flag and the hammer and sickle flag. Seng tells me that the law requires the flag of the communist party to always be flown with the national flag. Our first stop is Wat Xieng Thong. This is a temple and series of complementary buildings, originally constructed in 1560, that distinguish themselves by their colourful glass and ceramic mosaics, as well as stunning gold leaf-covered engravings. The morning sun catches reflections ... read more

A travel day. We're up at 6:15 am to repack and have breakfast before leaving the hotel at 7:30. An hour's drive to the Hanoi airport to catch a flight for Luang Prabang, Laos. On the bus, we are chatting with Kien. He mentions that it is his job to keep clients happy and he will do anything within reason to satisfy our needs. We tell him to find Violet a red dragon fruit. The airport is just crazy packed. We wind single-file like ants following a trail with heavy loads through the mob of wall-to-wall people. When we finally make it to the check-in counter, it strikes me that the crowds are mostly people who are there to see friends or family off or to welcome them home. I'd guess only about 10% are actually ... read more

One of the best days ever. We have breakfast on board (where else?). The boat is moving deeper into Halong Bay. The weather is lovely; the haze of yesterday is gone. Halong Bay is simply one of the most OMG places I've ever seen. Everyone is constantly exclaiming and pointing out incredible scenes. I take so many pictures my trigger finger starts to cramp. Along with the natural beauty, the many boats of various sizes, both tourist boats and fishing boats, add their own charm to the scene. The big adventure today is sea kayaking. Our tender ferries us to a sea kayaking facility set up for inexperienced tourists such as ourselves. Although I have canoed many times, I have never been in a kayak before. These are 2-person models designed for the sea, but for ... read more

Breakfast at our Hanoi hotel in their Japanese restaurant. They have two options: a bento box with shrimp tempura, a fried egg, miso soup and some other stuff; and ramen noodles. We select the bento box. It's good. Coffee is tremendously strong and hot. Today will be a city tour of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It is a very busy city of 8 million, smaller than Saigon, but condensed in a much smaller area. The result is that traffic is even denser and crazier than in Saigon. The buildings are similar: ancient and modern constructions, hovels and palaces, pushed right against and on top of each other. The French influence is especially obvious, with many beautiful colonial-era buildings, almost always painted yellow. The weather is a wonderful change for us: about 24°C, sunny and not ... read more