http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Syd-Lou/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Syd Lou en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:37:22 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:37:22 +0000 Saigon has an energy unlike anyplace I've seen yet on this trip. It has a pulse like New York. I welcome the hustle and bustle the chaotic sea of motorbikes squeezed into the streets the shouts of market vendors and stinky smells of fish and garbage. I love it.Being an American also makes reactions to this place unique ... and I felt it full force while visiting the war museum and Cu Chi Tu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-305495.html I've been in Laos for three days and already feel like I've driven through a good chunk of it ... the hours on the bus would be difficult to calculate the gorgeous mountains impossible to beat. Now in Luang Prabang an adorable metropolis of 20000 with a mile of night market vendors. I want to touch everything Yesterday I went tubing in Vang Vieng. It was a lazy trip down the Mekong to adm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-310470.html Vietnam just keeps getting better and better. It's a thousand degrees and I've never sweated more profusely but throw me into Halong Bay with jellyfish and then it's no problem. Took a cruise through the bay on a lovely junk boat to enjoy the magnificent cliffs jutting out of the water there are three thousand of these rock formations scattered throughout. Thank goodness they're protected by http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-308884.html Just finished another motorbike tour through town while still trying to catch up from two overnight trains a few days ago. My driver is named Be a tiny nearly toothless man who worked as an interpreter for the Americans during the war. I've found the people antedated here there's a tendency to look 10 years younger than reality then the leap to 10 years older. Be is probably in his la http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Hue/blog-307460.html Arriving in Vietnam in the late afternoon was a blessing. We had to race to fit something into our day after devoting most of it to border crossing from Cambodia. Our guide skillfully shuffled us along on a riverboat tour and organized a motorbike ride while we were lazily drifting down the river. When time is of the essence it's kind of nice to be told what to do and where to go. We had les http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/Chau-Doc/blog-305490.html That's it the gloves are off. After days of travelers' diarrhea I'm ready to regain control of my trip and my meals. I'm going to eat what I want and maybe even beat my head cold with five alarm chilies. I figure I can smoke it out of my system. Our guide Cat has been taking us to some of the local faves for meals. The rest of the group is up in arms at the lack of Western options I cou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-305494.html The rain started two days ago and won't stop. Too bad since I'm at the beach now and there is little to do that involves being inside. The group has scattered today to try to entertain themselves and if I'm ambitious enough maybe a ping pong tournament can be held. I think we're all looking forward to heading to Vietnam tomorrow. Cambodia is preparing for elections on Monday so most things http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-304250.html Less than thirty years ago a man named Pol Pot had a dream. It became a nightmare. In a word genocide. 1.75 million were killed and tortured at his command and the prison Tuol Sleng remains standing as proof. No one in our group was prepared for the shocking stories upon visiting the compound. By training uneducated teenaged boys from the countryside the Khmer Rouge created one of the mos http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-303552.html This is rushed since I'm running out of adrenaline from a 19hour day. We got up early to watch the sun rise from Angkor Wat. Only one day there which is hardly enough time so we had to cram it all in. With a group of 15 I'm the only American so I need to get used to being the butt of jokes for the next 4 weeksAngkor Wat is incredible and words can not do it justice scribbled thought out http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-302776.html It looked like it had been a while since a Westerner had walked in. That was just the vibe I got when a little boy sitting by the door dropped his pen and stared at me open mouthed. Chairs creaked as bodies turned to me.Ni hao.Hello. A woman motioned me to sit. Her face radiated with a smile revealing her understated beauty. A menu was placed in front of me and I reached for my phrase b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-299596.html Rain and mysticism surrounded us as we ascended the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Meg and the boys were taking the gondola up I took the stairs. I started quickly leaping up the steps two at a time. After only a couple flights I'm winded. I have to pace myself here among all the other things I embark upon.A faint scent like jasmine sits in the air as I huff and puff my way up the steep steps. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Great-Wall-of-China/blog-299599.html The boys needed to get out. They had been fighting all day not merely bickering as all brothers do but throwing the kind of punches where you have to pull them off each other like in a street fight.It was the first clear day in Beijing since I'd arrived. There was nothing to be crabby about and yet we all were. The two littlest had to visit the doctor that morning for immunizations. Watchi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Haidian-district/blog-298768.html Call something forbidden and I will be that much more determined to get to it. We are all that way really. Today the Imperial Palace within the Forbidden City was swarming with thousands of people just like me ... hellbent on seeing a place designed to keep the masses out. The emperors must be rolling in their graves.Wandering the miles of courts and apartments of courtesans I am at once sp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Forbidden-City/blog-298765.html Sleeping in airports can be a bad idea. I learned this the hard way. After a completely restless 12hour flight it was hard to ignore the impeccable international terminal in Tokyo. It was silent. And empty. I curled up on a couple empty chairs by my gate and sank into comatose sleep occasionally blinking into conscious delirium like a trauma patient.Nearby conversations and announcements o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-298587.html