Planning Three Months in South East Asia

One month in South East Asia is like ten minutes in Paris: it is not enough. Three months is the minimum for a reasonable view of the area and making a circular journey around Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. This journal describes a logical path for such a journey; it doesn't include all the attractions, and it makes a compromise between a logical path across the region and the main sights. The bulk of the Thai tour has been left for the end, for the sake of flexibility and a happy end at the beaches. Due to the wide scope of this journal, some details were left out and can be read on my more specific planning journals for each country.

Beginning at Bangkok the trip continues through the attractive beaches of Pattaya. Once the visas are ready, the border to Cambodia is crossed. Angkor temples are one of the main cultural wonders in this trip and serve as a prelude to a lake and river trip to Battambang and Phnom Penh. Sihanoukville has beautiful beaches and Kampot hosts a big national park, a French hill-station and unforgettable fruit-shakes. The Mekong River is the natural path to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam; the Mekong Delta, the Cu Chi caves and the historical sights of Saigon will provide enough material for a weeklong visit. The way to northern Vietnam passes though the hilly town of Dalat, the beaches of Nha Trang, a 400 years old Japanese Bridge in Hoi An and imperial tombs in Hue and reaches majestic Hanoi and Halong Bay. Vientiane is a wonderful town with the best coffee in the world and from there the way continues into Northern Laos and Northern Thailand. Following a visit to the old Thai capital in Sukhothai, the trip ends with a week at the southern islands beaches.

The First Week

Bangkok is the natural arrival point to South East Asia and Khaosan Road the best place for arranging the needed visas. The visas to Vietnam and Laos are best arranged through a travel agency, and cause a delay of two or three days each, while the Cambodian one is better arranged at the embassy, see details about that in my Planning Cambodia journal.

The forced delay can be used to get acquainted with Bangkok, or better, to taste a bit of Thailand's beaches. Pattaya, two hours southeast from Bangkok, is the best choice for that; it can be reached with comfortable buses from the Ekamai Eastern Bus Terminal on Sukhumvit Road.

The Second Week

With the visas in the pocket, it is time to carry the backpack to Mo Chit Bus Terminal; see my Roaming Bangkok journal for details on that. On the second floor of the departures building, tickets to Aranyaprathet are available; a first class one costs 175 Baht, the second and lower classes buses are not recommended since they do long detours through the countryside.

From Aranyaprathet’s terminal, there are tuk-tuks leading to the Cambodian border. It is better to cross it before noon; otherwise Siem Reap would be reached too close to the sunset to allow easily finding a guesthouse. Once in Poipet, on the Cambodian side of the border cross, search for a shared taxi to Siem Reap, while avoiding the vans with tourists that had arrived through arranged trips from Khaosan Road. They are expected to stay at the driver's guesthouse and ugly scenes may develop if they try to choose a different one.

After entering Siem Reap, pay attention: after crossing the small river you are in the eastern and less recommended side of the town. It is important to find a guesthouse at downtown, by the river and the old central market; the eastern suburbs are not well connected to the town and have little to offer.

The upmarket area is on the western edge of the town, on the way to Angkor. Raffles Hotel has a beautiful branch here in front of a big park and near the king's palace. Recommended and inexpensive guesthouses are Moon Rise, Rose guesthouse and Hao Sotha, all along the western side road connecting the market with the park are recommended. Close to them are night stalls offering basic food and fruit juices.

Angkor

Angkor was the Khmer Empire capital and includes more than one hundred temples built between the ninth and fifteenth centuries.

All the local guides have read the Lonely Planet guides and try to sell that company's idea of how to see the temples. They offer the free sunset view plus a two days trip along the short and long circuits described on those guides. Moreover, the pricing strategy of the place follows the guide as well asking twenty dollars for the first day, the same amount for the second day and then giving a free third day.

However, it is possible to cover the main sights in one day. The day before the planned visit, rent a "moto" for two dollars and reach Angkor around 17:00, buy a one day ticket for the next day and enter to see the sunset from the Sunset Hill. The sunset is west from there while the temples are on the eastern side; nonetheless it is a nice experience with a good view of the temples from above. Once back at town, if the moto driver was OK, invite him to drive you the next day (six dollars is a reasonable fee). Explain he should arrive at 4:45 or 5:00am sharp, as you want to see the sunrise over the temples.

If the sky is unclouded the sunrise behind the temples is spectacular. After the sunrise is over, do not stay at Angkor Wat because it will be crowded. That's the opportunity for a good coffee and breakfast at the stalls in front of the main entrance. Those on the left are for tourists while those on the right are regular Khmer stalls; the last are recommended. Spend the morning hours visiting Angkor Thom (the town next to the central temple), the Bayon (the temple with fifty-four columns each showing four faces of the king, one in each direction) and Ta Prohm (the tree covered temples). After finishing those, stop for a coffee and then visit the Angkor Wat complex when everybody is elsewhere.

By Boat through the Tonle Sap Lake and the Sangker River

The best way to leave Siem Reap for the south is through the Tonle Sap Lake and the Sangker River to the town of Battambang. Tickets are for sale in all the travel agencies; make sure to get a place in a fast boat, since the slow ones do the way in eight hours. The port is around 12km south of Siem Reap (the distance varies with the level of the lake) and the best way to reach it is by moto; two dollars is the usual tariff.

The Tonle Sap Lake is connected to the river of the same name and through it, to the Mekong River. Following the monsoon rains the Mekong is higher than the Tonle Sap, and the last changes its flow direction, pumping water into the lake. This complex system provides fish to the local diet, as well as housing to the boat-people. Along its northern shores there is a huge city of boathouses and water-houses populated mainly by Vietnamese refugees. Beyond the floating-city are the floating-fields, where fish are grown. Two techniques are used for that, the first consists of simply walling a patch of the lake with bamboo sticks, where the fish are concentrated and fed. The second one is much more photogenic since it employs huge bamboo cranes that hold a net on one side and a tire as a counterbalance on the other.

In the Sangker River, which connects the lake with Battambang, the cranes are much smaller and rare but many conical bamboo fish traps can be seen along the riverside. This fishing technology is considered to be one of the oldest known and dates back thousands of years.

Soon afterwards, the town of Battambang is reached; its pier is climbed from the boats through an unstable wooden stairway climbing up a small cliff. Touts from the hotels stand by and offer transportation to places located just behind the market, a hundred meters away; anything is allowed in order to trap the counted tourists. The city is the country's second largest and flows as slowly as the Sangker River; it offers well-preserved colonial architecture, friendly people, and access to Pailin and other Khmer Rouge era sites.

Battambang

Battambang is Cambodia’s second largest city and has several attractions. Psar Nat, the Central Market, is shaped as one wing, one quarter, of Phnom Penh's Central Market and provides a feast of Khmer food; Cambodian scarves are cheaper here than in Phnom Penh. Around the market there are several jewelleries shops trying to profit from their closeness to Pailin.

Phnom Samphou is Battambang’s version of Phnom Penh 's Killing Fields. The hill can be reached with a moto; motorbikes and drivers wait at the hotels and cost two dollars. At the exact top of the hill there is a Buddhist temple which is reached through a relatively steep stairway. From there, a dirt path behind the old cannons leads to the Khmer Rouge killing site.

Pailin - This Place Doesn't Exist

When I read the CIA website before visiting Cambodia for the first time, the town of Pailin was described there as "suspected of existing;" apparently, this was their way of ignoring the last Khmer Rouge’s stronghold. Pailin is 83km southwest of Battambang near the border with Thailand. It can be reached with shared taxis from Battambang; the only way to get out is travelling back to Battambang.

The town is interesting due to the still obvious Khmer Rouge presence and for the close look to the gems polishing industry. The last is performed openly in unguarded open huts around the town; nobody would be fool enough to try to steal there. The central part of the small town is enclosed on a triangular set of roads. From two of the angles, two straight and parallel roads are pulled. All the other roads in the place are unpaved.

The hill at the town's entrance, Phnom Yat, has a small pagoda at its stop which is decorated with statues of people being tortured designed after the Khmer Rouge interrogation rooms. The hill provides a great view of Pailin and the mountains around.

Reaching Phnom Penh

There are two ways of reaching the capital; the recommended one is by shared taxi along highway number five. Taxis leave from an improvised terminal two blocks from Battambang’s central plaza. A taxi costs around six dollars and an open pick-up truck around four. Another option is the old and slow train; beyond the delay, this option is not recommended since Phnom Penh's railway station is one of the most dangerous spots in the capital. If arriving by car, ask to be dropped in the Capitol, where the biggest concentration of guesthouses is.

The Third Week

In the often confused cities of South East Asia, Phnom Penh numbered streets are a spectacular example of order, despite In the often-confused cities of South East Asia, Phnom Penh numbered streets are a spectacular example of order, even that the houses themselves are numbered by their order of construction rather than by their geographical co-ordinates. The streets follow a grid layout, comfortably divided from time to time by broad avenues. The ruined or non-existent asphalt and the deep puddles that appear with every sudden monsoon rain are quickly forgotten under such circumstances.

The houses belong to the colonial-crumbled-style and are not interesting enough to justify the visit: Vientiane in Laos provides much better colonial surroundings. Despite that, among the endless lines of three stories buildings there are a few pearls worth of consideration; not only the palaces and temples ubiquitous in the area, but also some unique structures like the Central Market and the Khmer Rouge interrogation and killing centers.

The Central Market is an unforgettable yellow dome covering a symmetrical cross structure. Built and kept without electricity in its interior, the dome and the roofs of the four wings host many narrow, horizontal openings, which allow the light to penetrate the structure; the light quality inside this closed space is of a superb quality.

The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek are a macabre reminder of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. Seventeen thousand people were killed here, just 15km southwest of the city centre, and more than 8000 skulls, arranged by sex and age, are visible behind the glass panel of the Memorial Stupa erected in 1988. Prior to their murder, the victims were detained at the prison known as S-21, within the Tuol Svay Prey High School. Today, the Tuol Sleng Museum serves as silent testimony of the Khmer Rouge crimes. The dramatic display leaves few of the tortures’ details to the imagination.

Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) is located on Street 350 and hosts an impressive collection of the Khmer Rouge torturing devices. The Toul Svay Prey Secondary School was converted by them into a primitive prison and interrogation centre. Corrugated iron and barbed wire surrounded the perimeter, and classrooms were divided into individual cells, or housed rows of prisoners secured by shackles. During the four years from 1975 to 1979, an estimated twenty thousand victims were imprisoned in Security Prison 21 (or S21). Teachers, students, doctors, monks and peasants suspected of anti-revolutionary behaviour were brought here, often with their spouses and children and were subjected to horrific tortures, and then killed or taken to extermination camps outside the city. The place has been left almost exactly as it was found by the liberating Vietnamese forces - the fourteen victims found hideously disfigured in the individual cells have been buried in the adjacent school playground. It is a thoroughly depressing sight, and it is not until you see the pictures of the victims, bloodstains on the walls and instruments of torture that you get any idea of the scale of suffering endured by the Cambodian people.

Independence Monument

It is at the junction of Norodom Boulevard with Sihanouk Boulevard. The monument was built in the shape of a classical Khmer, Angkor like structure in an impressive red stone.

Bassac River

This is the name given to the Mekong River after it meets the Tonle Sap. The Promenade along it is beautiful; cement stairs lead from it to the river flowing far below. The wide promenade neighbours the Sisowath Quay Avenue. Opposite it, the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda, both placed within the same compound are visible. Along the promenade, many country flags make it a colourful spot.

Wat Phnom

The Hill Temple that gave the name to the city is located north of Road 102, at the northern edge of Norodom Boulevard in a huge circular complex. At the southeastern corner of the complex is the Central Post Office. People claiming that they are guards try to charge illegal entrance fees from tourists.

Wat Ounalom

These are the headquarters of the Cambodian Buddhist Patriarchate; they are by the promenade at the 'Y' junction of Sisowath Quay with Sothearos Boulevard, north of the Royal Palace.

Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda

Behind the park, set back from the riverbank on Sothearos Boulevard, stand the Royal Palace and the adjacent Silver Pagoda (daily 7.30-11am, 2.30-5pm; $3, additional $2 charge for cameras; entrance at Silver Pagoda). These are Phnom Penh's principal sights and the finest examples of twentieth-century Khmer-influenced architecture.

The National Museum is another nearby highlight, with outstanding displays of Khmer crafts. The grand, red-painted structure located north of the Royal Palace on Sothearos Boulevard, (Tues-Sun 8-11am & 2.30-5pm; $2) was a collaboration of French design and Cambodian artisanship.

The Fourth Week

Sihanoukville

The best way to reach Sihanoukville, the main Cambodian beach on Thailand's Gulf , is through the bus leaving from the Capitol; it is recommended to book at least one day in advance.

Sihanoukville is a city only in the maps; the few villages forming it were declared a town only after Cambodia needed a new port after the Mekong Delta became inaccessible due to the dissolution of Indochina; it still looks like a few neighboring villages connected by long, narrow roads. A string of four sandy beaches called Ochheuteal, Sokha, Independence and Victory point southeastwards from the port; as the distance from the port increases, the population in the beach decreases.

Three areas offer accommodations: downtown, the backpackers' center and a cluster of houses on the way to the port, just where the road downwards from the center meets the coast road. At downtown, Thai Kim (San) Hotel offers excellent rooms for ten dollars. The backpackers' center is decrepit and located halfway between the center and the coastal road. Nearby the coastal road is Samuth's Guesthouse where a big and comfortable room costs four dollars.

At the beach, there is great seafood. Young women walk along the beach with a bamboo pole between their shoulders, on one side a bucket with fresh seafood hangs and on the other a small grille selling fresh crabs and other delicacies for 1000 riels each (around 25 cents).

After a well earned rest by the beach, reaching Southern Vietnam is next.

Fruity Kampot

If wishing to sacrifice some beach time, Kampot is the ideal detour; taxis and trucks connect Sihanoukville with Kampot. The town is on the southeastern corner of Cambodia and offers a beautiful riverside, the misty Bokor Mountains and terraces of French shop-houses; it is the exit point for trips to the uphill French fort in Bokor and Kep beaches.

The Teuk Chhou River divides the city, downtown is eastwards from it, just next to the bridge. Along the eastern shore are several pleasant places to spend the evening; every evening, stalls serving fresh fruit shakes appear there. The shakes faithfully reflect the huge variety of fruits existing along the Mekong Delta. This practice is shared with the southern parts of Vietnam; the richest fruits' basket in Southeast Asia. At a price of 1000 riel for each shake (~25c) they are one of the best deals on earth. Durian, Jackfruit, Sapa, Rarmood and all the other oriental jewels are awaiting the visitor's tasting verdict.

Bokor

The best way of arriving at Bokor is renting a motorcycle and a driver-guide from one of the moto-shops at the Kampot's center. A big motorcycle is slightly more expensive (14 dollars per day against 9) but is a must considering the roads conditions.

Unable to cope with the Cambodian heat during the hottest months of the year, the French searched for cool relief among the higher elevations of the Elephant Mountains and founded the hill station of Bokor, 40km northwest of Kampot, combining the requirements of a milder climate at its elevation of just over 1000m, and its strategic location over the Gulf of Thailand.

The villas, King Sihanouk's former royal palace and the casino were abandoned as a result of the Khmer Rouge regime, as in Kep. The Royal Palace will arouse some questions in your mind, because it is the size of regular toilets in a modern shopping mall.

The real attraction is the deserted hill station with its church; in 1979 the Vietnamese were holed up in the hotel shooting at the Khmer Rouge sheltering in the church. It is safe to explore the buildings, and the hotel especially is atmospheric since mist wafts across the hills and in through the broken windows.

The big island seen from the hill station is called in Vietnamese Dao Phu Quoc and it belonged to Cambodia before the Vietnamese invasion that put end to the Khmer Rouge regime.

Bokor was given a new life as Bokor National Park (entrance 20,000r), with nearly 350,000 acres of prime forest. This is a vast wildlife sanctuary with very little wildlife to be seen.

Popokvil Waterfall is a magnificent sight after an easy twenty-minute walk on a well-marked path through the jungle. At the top of the falls four streams converge just before the rocks to push the reddish jungle water over two giant steps of more than 10m each, flanked on both sides by dense vegetation.

Kep

Just south of Kampot is Kep, where the river splitting the town meets the sea. If arriving at Kampot from Sihanoukville's beaches, Kep keeps no attractions.

Good Morning Vietnam

The most attractive way to enter Vietnam from Cambodia is aboard a boat floating on the Mekong River. From Phnom Penh, several packages are sold. The cheap ones skip most of the Mekong, while the expensive ones do all the way from the Cambodian capital to Chau Doc in Vietnam on the river.

Kaamsamnar Kohrokar is the Cambodian immigration station's along the Mekong; the boat makes there a short stop to allow everyone to get his passport stamped and then continues toward Chau Doc. There is a long "wanted people" printed list and they check every passenger against all the names, so that it takes some time to cross.

The Vietnamese side is friendlier, and next to the immigrations office, there is a stall selling excellent Vietnamese coffee prepared on French dripping filters.

Chau Doc

Like many off-side locations, Chau Doc offers some incredibly good accommodations. Hang Chau II Hotel, near the market area, charges eight dollars per night for a homey, comfortable room with excellent furniture, a private bathroom with the best hot water I found in Vietnam and a television set which introduced me to the sounds of the local language. The hotel changes money at a fair rate and gives a courtesy pack of local "555" cigarettes (accordingly, the main beer in the country is called "333" or "ba-ba-ba" in Vietnamese). I do not smoke, but it helped me later to soften moto-taxi drivers while searching for hotels in other towns.

The Mekong Delta area excels in fruits; the locals gather in the evening to drink extraordinary shakes. The Night Market justified the trip to Vietnam after the first shake; the first of the four drank in the span of a few minutes. Jack fruit, durian, rose apple, coconut, papaya, guavas, mangos and many other fruits waiting to be named were available there, fresh and sweet.

Another point of interest in the town are the very old-fashioned "cyclos" - tricycle taxis - maybe the last of their type in the country. The biggest attraction nearby is the Sam Mountain Temple, five kilometers to the southwest, which rises spectacularly from a sea of paddy-fields.

The Fifth Week

Reaching Ho Chi Minh City

All along the day, minivans leave from Chau Doc to Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City's First Quarter. In the short trip, several ferries are used to cross subsidiaries of the Mekong River. The trip costs 50000 Dong and reaches Cholon, a bit far away from downtown. Plan reaching the town around noon since it takes time to reach the center and to search for a hotel; things tend to get congested in this chaotic city.

Ho Chi Minh City

The backpackers' area is less than one kilometer west of Saigon's center, next to Bui Vien and De Tham streets. Travel agencies, restaurants, bars, hotels, guesthouses and Internet cafés flood the area. The tourists' open bus tickets sold here are the best option for travelling in Vietnam; Sinh Café and Kim are reliable operators; the TM Brothers should be avoided.

Saigon has exciting surroundings; the Cu Chi Tunnels, a former Viet Cong base, are a must; they are located forty kilometers from the city, the best-conserved part is in Ben Dinh. Part of them have been expanded to "Tourists Size" and allow a short subterranean walk. They feature an intriguing field-kitchen built in such a way that its fire is hidden and the fumes are diverted. The Mekong Delta can be explored in several ways from a short tour to My Tho and its surroundings to tours lasting several days and making all the way to Rach Gia on the Gulf of Thailand. This is the country's food basket and the views are related to the riverside life, orchards and paddy fields, and small food industries like coconut candies and bottles of rice wine with snakes and scorpions.

However, the star is Saigon; a suitable place to begin the city-tour is the War Remnants Museum (28 Vo Van Tan, daily 7.30-11.45am & 1.30-5.15pm; 10,000d), which tells the story of the American War, as it is called here. A block away is the old government palace, nowadays called the Reunification Palace (135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia; daily 7.30-11am & 1-4pm; $1). It is possible to combine these visits with a tour to the amazing GPO and to the old cathedral nearby.

Ten minutes northwest from the Botanical Gardens up Nguyen Binh Khiem is the Jade Emperor Pagoda on Mai Thi Luu, the best pagoda in the city, built by the Cantonese community. The Ho Chi Minh City Museum (Gia Long Palace at 65 Ly Tu Trong, daily 8am-4pm; 10,000d) was built in 1886 as a home for the governor of Cochinchina and nowadays explains the history of the city and its ethnic groups with clear English signs. The five kilometers long Tran Hung Dao links the city's center with Cholon, you can cross it by foot or with the Saigon Star Co bus to Huynh Thoai Yen, on Cholon's western border. The Hoa, as ethnic Chinese are called here, run here the biggest Chinese Market in South East Asia and the place is worth a day. Almost all the neighbourhoods have local markets that are a feast to the eye and an excellent place to taste the local delicacies, especially the excellent Vietnamese coffee.

Leaving Saigon

The tourists' bus companies offer two options for leaving Saigon, one is to Nha Trang, the main beach in the country, and the second includes a stop before it in Dalat, a mountainous resort. Despite Dalat being a secondary attraction, I recommend stopping there, in order to reach the intersection of highways nine and twenty in the way to Nha Trang. There, are the best Cham Towers in the country, which complement Angkor's visit since both cultures were closely related.

Dalat

High in the Southern Central Highlands, Da Lat is Vietnam’s main mountain resort; it attracts huge numbers of honeymooners and tourists. The main sights are Emperor Bao Dai's Summer Palace, the French Quarter, the Hang Nga Guesthouse & Art Gallery, and the Valley of Love, which is 5km north of the city and aimed to the newly wed.

Five kilometers south of Da Lat, halfway down the dramatic Pren Pass, is the Lake Tuyen Lam (daily 7:30am-4:30pm), boats can be rented on the north shore; on the summit behind is a meditation pagoda. A few hundred meters on are the Datanla Falls (6am-6pm; 5000d).

Nearby are several Hill Tribes. Some can be reached independently with motorbike taxis. The Chicken Village (Lang Con Ga) is one of those; unfortunately, it resembles more a huge handicrafts shop than anything else.

Most hotels in Da Lat lie around the cinema and along Phan Dinh Phung. A recommended place is Hoa Binh I, at 64 Truong Cong Dinh; it offers good rooms with hot water, starting at five dollars for a single.

Sophisticated cafes rule Da Lat and serve interesting adaptations of French dishes and specialty ones from the Vietnamese cuisine. Excellent rice dishes cooked in a clay pot can be found at Huong Tra (1 Nguyen Thai Hoc) by the lakeside; the rabbit one is outstanding.

Poklongarai Towers

It is worth to leave Da Lat in the morning; night-buses save time but skip the Poklongarai Towers, a structure from the Cham Kingdom dating back to Angkor days. The similitude between the two styles is great; both use fake arches, though the angular shapes of Angkor are replaced here with soft rounded shapes and the black stones by pink ones.

The Sixth Week

Nha Trang

A blue sea, a wide, sandy beach and daiquiris welcome the visitors to this pastel version of Eden.

The six-kilometers long municipal beach is the main attraction. Next to it are a beautiful promenade and a spacious avenue that creates a luxurious feeling of space. This is the best place to dive in Vietnam; the main operators are Octopus Diving Club, 62 Tran Phu and Rainbow Divers, 52 Tran Phu.

Long Son Pagoda in the town’s northwest hosts a huge White Buddha; it symbolizes the Buddhist struggle against the repressive Diem regime. Around its base are carved images of the monks and nuns that set fire to themselves in protest.

The Po Nagar Cham Towers are north of the town, just after the bridge. They were built between the 7th and 12th centuries on a site that had been used earlier for Hindu worship. The largest and most impressive is the 23-metre-high northern one, built in 817 and dedicated to Yang Ino Po Nagar, Goddess Mother of the Kingdom and a manifestation of Uma, Shiva's consort.

The Pasteur Institute at the north end of Tran Phu houses the Alexandre Yersin Museum (Mon-Sat 8-11am & 2-4:30pm; around two dollars), a Swiss-French scientist who discovered here the plague bacillus.

Day-trips to the nearby islands cost around seven dollars per person. The closest island to the Cau Da Wharf is Hon Mieu; it is served by a local ferry departing from there (one dollar), and docking at the Tri Nguyen fishing village.

Excellent seafood is available everywhere. The most remarkable establishment is the Louisiana Café, opposite the airport on southern Tran Phu; it has a private stretch of beach so that hawkers cannot approach the clients, an inner swimming pool and a French colonial style. Its high prices, offer the rarest commodity in Vietnam: quiet.

Hoi An

Hoi An is the next location to the north worth a stop, reaching it with a night bus is the suggested option. The town is unique within Vietnam; it is crowded with astounding, intact structures belonging to various cultures and different centuries.

The Tourist Office (12 Phan Chu Trinh) sells a combined ticket ($3.30) covering Hoi An's more famous sights and allowing access to five sights to choose from a list of temples, handicrafts’ shops, Chinese Assembly Halls, merchant's houses, family's chapels and museums.

The town is an open museum; there are more than 850 structures declared as historical. The different Chinese communities living here have each a colourful Assembly Hall. Wooden merchants’ houses and family chapels are worth a detailed visit; it is recommended to dedicate a whole day to such a tour.

The Japanese Covered Bridge is the best-known structure in the city; it has been constructed by the Japanese merchants living in Hoi An at the mid-sixteenth century. Due to its fragile structure, it has been faithfully reconstructed to its original shape several times. It is located at the western end of Tran Phu. Inside the narrow bridge are a collection of stelae and four statues, of two dogs and two monkeys, signalling the work began in the year of the monkey and ended in that of the dog.

The city is famous all for its tailors; most of them are placed around the market. They show the customers Western fashion magazines from where they can choose a design. After the cloth and the shape are chosen, the price is set and the garment is prepared in a few hours.

The Bo Bo Restaurant is located at the very town’s center. It serves classical Vietnamese dishes with care and love. A lunch costs less than five dollars, while the dishes are priceless. The place offers comfortable seats by the street and in a colonially decorated interior as well. The main attractions are Cao Lau (rice noodles, bean sprouts & pork) and Banh Bao (white rose steamed manioc flour with diced crab).

Hue

Hue is one of Vietnam's main cultural and religious centers. In 1802, Emperor Gia Long, founder of the Nguyen dynasty, moved the capital from Hanoi and built his Imperial City in Hue. They ruled from Hue until the abdication of Emperor Bao Dai in 1945.

The Imperial City, or Forbidden Purple City, is still one of the biggest attractions of the town. However, the first time I visited it, the entrance fee was 55000D for foreigners and 5000D for "Locals and Asians;" being a UNESCO sponsored site through the World's Heritage Site system, I complained to that organization about the discrimination. In my second visit the situation was slightly better, 55000D for foreigners and 15000D for "Locals and Asians."

Sampan trips up the Perfume River are enjoyable and include visits to some of Hue's main attractions. They reach the Thien Mu Pagoda, the Hon Chen Temple and the Royal Mausoleums; it is possible to take a bicycle on the boat and cycle back to Hue. The river tours start at two dollars per person (not including the entrance fees).

Thien Mu Pagoda is within cycling distance of Hue (6km; 30min); follow south Highway 1 till the train tracks and then turn west along the river. Hon Chen Temple is nine kilometers from Hue and is only accessible from the river; to skip the tours, it is possible to hire a sampan from the ferry station opposite the temple for 5000D.

Another way to enjoy the Perfume River is to assist a traditional folksong performance on its waters; tourist offices and hotels can sell you tickets for nightly performances on the river, starting from three dollars.

The main backpackers' area is around Hung Vuong and Nguyen Tri Phuong. There, is the comfortable Binh Minh I (aka Sunrise, 12 Nguyen Tri Phuong); this popular hotel offers clean, homely rooms, and free tea and coffee; singles start at five dollars.

The Quan Hanh-Bistro at 2 Nguyen Tri Phuong offers the most famous local dish: banh khoai, a small, crispy yellow pancake, fried up with shrimps, pork and bean sprouts, it is served with a sauce of peanuts and sesame, star fruit, green banana, lettuce and mint leaves.

The Mandarin Café at 12 Hung Vuong has a cheap, filling and tasty menu of Vietnamese and Western dishes as well as a Sinh Café's booking desk.

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

Hue is a good base for a tour of the DMZ. It is recommended to take the long tour along roads 1 and 9, which passes through the Vinh Moc Caves, which are by the sea, next to the old border between North and South Vietnam. They are bigger than those in Cu Chi and give a real sense of a community living underground during a harsh period. The tours continue to the Rockpile and to the Khe Shan airbase. Make sure the bus stops at Hai Van Pass, the overwhelming geographical limit between the southern and northern parts of the country.

Hanoi is the next stop to the north and is well worth planning at least a week there, since the exciting city and its surroundings have much to offer. The way connecting between the cities is long and not very interesting, thus, it is better to arrive there with the night bus.

The Seventh Week

Hanoi

Elegant and majestic, Hanoi is one of the pinnacles of the tour.

Old Quarter - The 36 Streets Market

From Cau Go Street, on Hoan Kiem Lake’s northern shore, begins the 36 Streets Quarter with its narrow, twisting streets that take their names from the products sold there since ancient times. The area is divided among 36 guilds, each gathered around a dinh (communal house) or a temple dedicated to its patron spirit. The backpackers' quarter is next to it and provides a wonderful opportunity for leisurely exploring the alleys.

Museum of Ethnology

Bao Tang Toc Hoc Viet Nam is on the western outskirts of Hanoi, in the Cau Giay district along Nguyen Van Huyen. It is an excellent source of information about the Vietnamese people. (Tues-Sun 8:30am-5:30pm, closed Mondays; 10,000D).

Water Puppets are a traditional form of art in which plays are performed with wooden marionettes; its name refers to the puppeteers, which stand waist-deep in water. The Thang Long Water Puppet Troupe performs at the Kim Dong Theatre, 57b Dinh Tien Hoang, by the lake (daily 6:30pm & 8pm; Sun 9:30am; 20000D and above).

Temple of Literature - Van Mieu

This is Hanoi's holiest site, its principal Confucian sanctuary and its historical center of learning. One of the few remnants of the Ly Kings’ original eleventh-century city, it was modelled on that of Confucius's birthplace in Qufu, China. (66 Nguyen Thai Hoc; daily: summer 7:30am-6pm; winter 8am-5pm; 2000d)

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

Ba Dinh Square, two kilometers west of Hoan Kiem Lake, is the main ceremonial square of the city; the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh is within a big mausoleum at its center.

Hoan Kiem Lake

South of the backpackers' center is this lake, which offers romantic spots, elders practicing Tai Chi and close encounters with the locals.

Halong Bay: the 3000 islands rising from the clear waters of the Gulf of Tonkin are one of Vietnam's natural and cultural wonders. Remnants of prehistoric settlements are here next to old Communist meeting places in semi-submerged caves. The bay is a couple of hours away from the capital.

Fansipan and Sapa the highest mountain in Vietnam offers many trekking options. However, the tour takes roughly a week and should be carefully planned in such a short trip; see my journal Hanoi: Red River Blues for more details.

Dien Bien Phu: The site of the French defeat is located in a remote location next to Laos. In 1954 the Viet Minh won a decisive victory after a two months siege on the French army.

The Way to Laos

Cao Treo is the northernmost between the two border crosses opened to foreigners between Vietnam and Laos; it leads to Vientiane. Reaching it independently is possible; however, the area is less developed than Lao Bao, the southern cross, and a bit trickier. The cross is 105km west of Vinh on Highway 8; it can be reached from Vinh's provincial bus station (Ben Xe Cho Vinh) with a morning bus until Trung Tram and from there with a motorbike taxi or another bus for the last 35km. Other option is a direct bus from Hanoi’s open tour operators to Vientiane.

The Eighth Week: Laos

Falling in love with Vientiane took me just a couple of hours; it is by far the main attraction in Laos. Few cities manage to impart such a strong sense of being a capital, while keeping a sleepy and relaxed ambience. Wide, shaded avenues create a comfortable space between the monuments, ministries and markets. The town is small and can be explored in a couple of days, but it creates tons of empathy and few would be able to leave it in less than a week.

The main sights are the Pha That Luang, one of the biggest stupas in the world, Wat Si Saket, the oldest temple in the city and Wat Pha Kaew, a former royal temple. The That Luang Festival takes place in November and offers unforgettable views of crowds walking around the stupa with lighted candles together with a huge market in its surroundings. The socialist-era Lao Revolutionary Museum is an interesting place to visit; the Haw Pha Kaew, the museum of Lao art is also worh a visit.

Lao food is similar to the Thai, with the addition of bread and coffee; excellent places to try it are the downtown markets. Tam mak hung (spicy papaya salad), baguette sandwiches, fruit shakes and ping kai (grilled chicken) are other popular dishes. Western food of excellent quality is easier to find than elsewhere in South East Asia.

Buddha Park

Xiang Khouan or the "Buddha Park" (daily 8am-6pm; 2000K) is twenty-five kilometers south from Vientiane, very close to the Friendship Bridge to Thailand. The concrete sculptures’ garden was created by Luang Phu Boonlua Surirat and is a kind of open encyclopaedia to his Hindu-Buddhist beliefs. After the revolution, he fled across the Mekong to Nong Khai in Thailand, where he established a similar version at Sala Kaeo Kou. Bus #14 from Vientiane's main bus station gets there.

Vang Vieng

The most popular river resort in Central Laos, Vang Vieng is four hours north from the capital and can be reached by buses leaving from the Morning Market bus terminal. Beyond its natural beauty, the town offers water sports, trekking and caves exploring in a fashion similar to Luang Prabang in the north. Its tourism infrastructure is excellent, except for the basic guesthouses. The now inactive runway, running parallel to the highway is a reminder of dramatic times. The buses leaving from Vientiane to the north stop next to the highway.

The Ninth Week

Luang Prabang can be reached through buses leaving from the Morning Market and Northern terminals in Vientiane and from Vang Vieng's bus stop. The city was the former capital of the Northern Laotian Principality and the main city in Laos; yet, it feels as a slightly upgraded small village. The town sits at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers and is one kilometer long and a quarter kilometer wide. The streets here are narrower than in Vientiane and the distance between the houses is smaller; hence, the place imparts a sense of compactness that the capital and other cities in the country, lacks. It was the capital of the last king; hence, it specializes on souvenirs from the royal era.

The main attractions are the historic temples, mainly the Royal Palace Museum, Wat Xieng Thong and Wat Wisunlat. They are surrounded by a gorgeous scenery of mountains and cliffs. Seen from far away, at the town's center is the steep Phou Si ("Holy Hill"), with a Buddhist stupa at its top. Along the Mekong River are the Pak Ou Caves, filled with Buddha images, and the striking Kuang Si Waterfalls. Crossing the Mekong to Xiang Men, allows seeing amazing views of the city at sunset. Other attractions are the markets, which sell silver ornaments, royalist regalia and hill tribes’ clothes.

The next town to the north is Udom Xai, the travel hub of the north which lacks other attractions; if reaching it early enough, the bus to Luang Namtha can be caught on the same day.

Luang Namtha

Northwest of Udom Xai, Luang Namtha is the main trekking and rafting center in northern Laos. The Luang Namtha Provincial Museum (Mon-Fri 8.30am-noon & 1-3.30pm; 1000K) is worth a visit, but the main attractions are the Nam Tha NBCA and the nearby Hmong and Leten villages. A curious sight is the solar panels supplying electricity to an Internet shop.

Muang Sing

Sixty kilometers northwest of Luang Nam Tha, Muang Sing is a small town trying very hard to transform itself into a tourism hub. It is a trading center of the hill tribes, an excellent place from where to book treks to the surrounding villages and a very friendly place to spend a couple of days. Trucks hourly connect it to Luang Namtha. A border cross to China is nearby, and can be visited with a rented bike, though cannot be crossed even with a visa to that country.

Huay Xai

Isolated from the rest of Laos, Huay Xai looks and feels more like a Thai one. Since that is the following destination, one night in Huay Xai would be enough to enjoy the main sights. Trucks from Luang Nam Tha arrive here daily, but on the wet season, the travel is dangerous and they can be delayed for days if fallen trees block the way.

Crossing to Thailand

Small boats cross the Mekong River to Chiang Khong in Thailand. Chiang Khong is close to the Golden Triangle and has many buses to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.

The Tenth Week: The Golden Triangle

The Golden Triangle is best reached from Chiang Khong’s port with a truck to Chiang Saen, an old Thai fortress city at the Golden Triangle’s southern edge.

After enjoying Chiang Saen’s ruins in the late afternoon, the next day can be used to explore the triangle. Trucks do the eleven kilometres north to Ban Sop Ruak, a tiny Thai village sitting on the triple border. Its main attraction is a boat trip along the Mekong and to the Don Sao Market, on a Laotian island.

Further north is the town of Mae Sai, the northernmost city in Thailand and the gate to Tachilek, on the Burmese side of the Golden Triangle.

Chiang Rai is the main city in the area and a natural base for treks. On the way there is the Kuomintang village of Doi Maesalong, just off the Ban Pasang junction. Chinese Nationalists, supporting Chiang Kai Shek, settled here after fleeing the 1949 Communist Revolution. They specialize in growing tea and tourism; trekking on horses to nearby hill-tribes and Chinese villages is a great experience.

The Eleventh Week

Chiang Rai is that rare hybrid: a rural Thai city with all the signs of the modern world, from a modern shopping mall to specialized coffee shops. Beyond being a perfect spot for relaxing, it has huge cultural attractions, like Wat Phra Kaeo, the temple where the Emerald Buddha was discovered. The original is nowadays in Bangkok, but an excellent replica is kept in the temple.

Trekking by foot in the area between the hill-tribes villages is one of Chiang Rai’s most advertised activities; however, if willing to trek, allot a whole week for that and travel to Mae Hong Son. That would mean shortening the visit of Northern Laos and skipping the Golden Triangle.

Buses to Chiang Mai depart during the day and feature several classes, from VIP ones roaming the main highway to dingy buses travelling along secondary roads.

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, the million elephants' city, had turned into the million temples and guesthouses one. At least two days should be allotted to the city; a day should be dedicated to the attractions within and around the old walls, and the second for the attractions in the outskirts, mainly to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. The last is a fabulous temple on the top of a mountain offering handsome sights of Chiang Mai's valley; trucks reach it from the local zoo.

The Tha Pae Gate area has the biggest concentration of guesthouses, restaurants, travel agencies and bookstores and is placed close to the main attractions: the night market, the moat and walls, the old city and the main temples. Wat Chedi Luang, roughly at the old city's center, was a former house for the Emerald Buddha and hosts nowadays an oversized replica. However, the most impressive complex of temples is Wat Phra Singat on the western side of the old town, it displays murals, a revered Sihing Buddha image, a chedi dating back to 1345, and a Lanna style Viharn Lai Kam.

From the Arcade (pronounced Akaed) Bus Terminal there are buses to the nearby town of Lamphun; the place is worth a half-day visit. Leaving early in the morning, Lamphun would be reached in ninety minutes. A couple of hours would be enough to see former home of the Emerald Buddha (see that journal) and to enjoy a trip with the horse carts which define the town’s character in the eyes of most Thais.

Almost three hours south of there is Tak. Most buses connecting Bangkok and Chiang Mai pass through its terminal, hence any bus travelling south from Lamphun will do. Once at Tak's terminal, take any bus to the east, to Sukhothai or Phitsanulok and leave it at Old Sukhothai, a former capital of the Thai Kingdom. It is better to explore the ruins from Old Sukhothai; the new town is away from the ruins and has no special attractions.

The entrance to the ruins is free after 18:00 and the temples are best illuminated by the sunset light. The next day can be used for a more careful exploration of the ruins. Once this visit is over, take a truck to the new town and from there a bus to Phitsanulok, one hour away.

Wat Mahathat, next to the main bridge above the Nan River, hosts the principal attraction in Phitsanoluk, the Phra Buddha Chinnarat. The image is the second holiest Buddha in Thailand and displays an unusual halo of flames. Beyond it, the town is a pleasant one and allows experiencing the Thai life in a traditional town.

This is the biggest crossroad in the country, due to its location at the main connection of the North with Isaan and Bangkok; many of the buses heading for Bangkok stop here. Thus it is possible to find a bus to the capital even in the small hours of the night.

The Twelfth Week: Sunset by the Beach

Following Pattaya’s visit at this trip’s beginning, the second visit to the south should aim for the beaches on the Andaman Sea, on the other side of Thailand's mainland. An exciting option is to combine the beaches of Phuket and Koh Phi Phi.

Phuket is the biggest Thai island has much more than beaches to offer. Its main town, bearing the same name, is a charming Thai-Portuguese hybrid, while the island itself offers beaches open to the Andaman Sea and others which face the mainland and are more protected.

Phuket, the island-province, is connected to the mainland with two bridges and thus reaching it is easy. From the southern Bangkok bus terminal, Sathaanii Sai Tai Mai in Thonburi (at the junction of Thanon Borom Ratchonni and the Nakhon Chaisri Highway), buses leave to Phuket at all hours (VIP: 486B, 11 hours).

Once in Phuket, travelling is simple and tuk-tuks connect all the different beaches: a tuk-tuk from Phuket to Patong costs 15B and the way longs fifteen minutes.

Phuket’s main town, bearing the same name, is a charming Thai-Portuguese hybrid, adding thus a cultural angle to the visit. Opposite it is Patong, the second biggest settlement on the island. It faces the Andaman Sea meaning it has higher waves than those offered by the Gulf of Thailand.

Around sunrise, Phuket Town is a magical place to explore. Desert streets bordered with beautiful buildings lighted by the warm rays of the low sun provide exquisite sights. Thanong Thalang Street has the best collection of colonial houses in town.

The Night Market is a good place for a dinner of Southern Thai dishes. An interesting dish is the kow mok gai, the Thai version of chicken biryani. Chicken and rice are cooked together with cinnamon, turmeric and cloves and are served with roasted chilli sauce, cucumbers, chillies and a bowl of chicken broth.

Patong is an upmarket beach resort; it offers little beyond the expected water sports, restaurants, bars and top-end hotels. The beach is gorgeous, but it lacks a distinctive Thai ambience. Being maybe the most popular beach for tourists in Thailand, the Thais seems to be in minority and the extra value of getting to know this charming people is lost here.

Koh Phi Phi is an overcrowded, magical place; it is worth planning an off-season visit. It can be reached by ferry from Phuket. The island does not offer budget accommodations; thus, if on a tight budget, it would be wise to arrive with the first ferry from Phuket and leave with the last one to Krabi, on the mainland. From Krabi there are buses crossing the thin mainland to Surat Thani, which faces the Thailand Gulf and Bangkok.

Our eyes like symmetry; they involuntarily search for it when we evaluate a new sight, analyzing the unknown trying to fix it into a pleasant pattern. Perhaps, that is the secret of Koh Phi Phi Don: the island has several axes of symmetry and most of us won't forget our first sight of it. Two ovals connected by a narrow isthmus host striking beaches on each side. Koh Phi Phi Don is the biggest of the islands in the group and the main attraction.

The main pier is located at the southern side, Ao Ton Sai, of the central isthmus, next to the island’s commercial centre. Most hotels and restaurants are between this coast and the northern part of the isthmus, Ao Loh Dalum. Farther from the port, the Ao Loh Dalum side offers better sights and will immerse the visitor into a tropical postcard.

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Twelve weeks in South East Asia; three months that probably would be only the prelude of the next visit.