After Laos, I made my way to Central Vietnam, Cambodia, and Southern Thailand. There are so many experiences too numerous to recount such as traveling to the DMZ in Vietnam with my guide Mr. Duy explaining the significance of the sights, watching fireworks over the Imperial City in Hue to ring in Tet, seeing the Cham ruins in My Son, watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakeng, learning to rock climb in Rah Lei, kayaking in the Ang Thong National Park, dancing all night on the beach of Ko Phagnan at the Full Moon Party, and most of all meeting Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Thais during my travels. Here are a few highlights of my trip.
Hoi An, Vietnam
Hoi An is a little town located on a river that has traditional shophouses and other buildings architecturally influenced by Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and European. Many of these buildings have now been converted to restaurants, souvenir shops, and other businesses geared at the burgeoning tourist trade, but there are still pockets of discovery. As the town is small, a great way to explore is on bike and leaving the center of town. As I headed north, I ran into two brothers (Sun and Moon) who offered to show me to the pagodas, rice paddies, and Japanese cemetery I was planning to see. I knew I would have to probably buy them a drink or something at the end, but it was a fun way to spend the afternoon. Moon was startled by the hairs on my arms: "Like a monkey!" and Sun told me he hoped to play in the NBA one day. After seeing the pagodas, they led me on a tiny path through the middle of the rice paddies, where the iconic conical hat wearing Vietnamese women tended the fields. They knew of a little place in the middle, where we could sit and I shared some oranges. There, I stared out along the green fields.
Return to Angkor
Returning to Angkor after 4 years was shocking - the Angkor I remembered was unpaved roads, few hotels, and barely any tourists. Now, there were thousands of tourists (from everywhere - many on package tours), seemingly more 5-star hotels than there were total hotels, and the roads are paved to even the furthest out temples. It is still an amazing place, of course, but it is exponentially more busy.
Phnom Penh
I had never been to Phnom Penh, and shortly before I went there were anti-Thai riots that broke out. Most of the hotels and the tourist industry that I noted before are actually controlled by Thais as they provided much of the investment. Riding on the back of a moto along the Tonle Sap, heading south, we turned a bit inland and saw the demolished Thai-owned hotels and the Thai Embassy. Very sad as it now seems that it may have been a politically motivated and organized event. Most of the local Cambodians I spoke to were sad that it happened and hoped that Thailand would soon reopen the borders and start investing again.
Petchaburi - Phra Nakhon Khiri Festival
Once a year, this small town south of Bangkok holds a week-long festival with a carnival, market, lots of local food, and the focus of it all - temples and palaces on the main hill lit up at night. Every night, there are traditional Thai dances and Thai music, local artists producing art and crafts, and thousands of Thais eating and drinking. Twice a night, there are fireworks. The best part is that there are very, very few Westerners who visit. Walking around, you get a great sense of Thailand. Given how friendly everyone is, you're greeted everywhere you go and smiled at. By the end of the night, two of the people I had met at the guesthouse and I had been invited to a local disco. We hopped into a tuk-tuk, not sure where we were heading but made it to the club where we exchanged drinks with the Thais into the small hours of the night.
Chumphon to Rah Lei
I wanted to go from Chumphon to Rah Lei (or nearby Krabi), but found out there was no direct way from Chumphon. Thus, I hopped into a van at 1 o'clock to Ranong. When I arrived there, there was still no bus to Krabi, but there was a bus heading south. Several hours later, and by now dark, I was dropped off along the side of the main road in a little town. There, I found some moto drivers and asked, "Bus Krabi?" They chuckled, told me it had left and pointed me to the bus station. Down a street filled with shops (closed) and bars (open), I at first could not find the station. Then, I noticed that one of the few shops that was open had a sign above it indicating it was the Bus Station. There, I found noone, but then I saw someone staggering out of the bar across the street. He informed me he was the manager and that the bus to Krabi would arrive across the main road at 8. I hurried back and waited. And waited. Nearly 8:30 and a policeman on a moto drove by and stopped off at the restaurant near me. He soon waved me over and I then found out from him that there was no bus to Krabi. He indicated I should hop on to his moto and we took off to who knows where? My heavy pack pulling me back, throwing off my balance and the added weight did not help him keep his balance but we eventually made it to the police station where I was told to wait. I soon gathered that there would be a bus at some point. An hour later, sure enough, a packed bus pulled up and I had the last seat - the middle one in the back row. Speeding down the road, taking turns as fast as he could, the driver bounced us towards Krabi. More people came on, forced to stand. We eventually pulled into Krabi around 11:30. Rather, we were 5 kilometers outside of Krabi, so hopped onto a moto, the driver of which took me to a guest house. I still had not quite made it to Rah Lei, so the next morning I went to the pier and haggled with the longboat drivers to take me to Rah Lei. After agreeing on a price, wading through the water, and scrambling aboard, we set off - only for the driver to get his propeller wrapped up in a mooring line. However, we did finally get untangled and did make it to Rah Lei - a beautiful place of limestone cliffs, white sandy beaches, palm trees, mangroves, and clear blue-green sea.
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