Southeast Asia 2018: Route Map

Our 8-week route.

We began and ended in Bangkok and travelled counterclockwise.

Links to featured stops:

THAILAND

• Bangkok Arrival

CAMBODIA

• Siem Reap
• Angkor Wat
• Cambodian Beaches
• Kampot and Kep

VIETNAM

• Can Tho
• Ho Chi Minh City
• Nha Trang
• Danang
• Hoi An
• Phong Nha National Park
• Hanoi
• Ha Long Bay

LAOS

• Luang Prabang
• Vang Vieng
• Vientiane

THAILAND

• Bangkok Departure

Farewell BKK

     From Vientiane we took a cheap local bus (#14) to the Friendship Bridge border crossing over the Mekong into Thailand.  A 2nd bus carries you over the bridge in between checking out/in of customs.  The process was easier than we expected after not finding much guidebook reference to this (cheap) way.  The Nong Khai train station is an easy walk from the Bridge drop off.  Cheap, generic, train station pad thai was such a treat.  

Our last night train.
We sprung for first class to Bangkok, which was actually the nicest train accommodation we've had (minus the free meals on Amtrak).  

Note to self: remember to try pano to capture an image of a small room.  I think that would do the trick!

We arrived at Hua Lamphong Station at 6:00 am.  8 hours too early to check into our hotel.  So we left the bags and set our bearings back towards good old Wat Pho with a detour to the amulet market.  Jeff eventually gave up on finding the Thai translation of "Maitreya" Buddha (which isn't really a big thing here) so we left the trip without any large heavy statues.  Jeff had his final Wat Pho massage while the girls wandered once more around the grounds and dropped coins into the bowls behind The Reclining Buddha.  

THE BUDDHA IS STILL IN THE TREE.

     We had a free day to book one last tour or activity and were getting a little weary of research and planning at this point.  Jeff and I had toured the ancient capital of Ayutthaya in 2004 and decided to take the day trip again as a time filler.  With the kids, it is not worth a day, especially if you have already been to Angkor Wat. Even I was bored and regretted bringing the girls. If you do go - be prepared for temple dress-code etiquette.  So many Westerners rudely shrug off the covered shoulders requisite in favor of fashion and photogenic ambiance.  

Perhaps a floating market day trip would have been better than Ayutthaya. 

     We walked past Wat Ratchanatdaram several nights (and days) in search of dinner and ice cream.  One evening we thought we would try the pad thai pilgrimage to ThipSamai restaurant (LP rec) just south of this Wat, a mile walk from Khao San Road. When we arrived and saw the line down the block we knew it was not in our destiny.  However, we did happen upon an incredible fried chicken on a stick, a small joint famous for duck, and 3 scoops of ice cream for 30 baht ($1). 

On the very last day we packed in as many new modes of transportaion as we could!  First step, figure out how to get from Wat Ratchanatdaram area pier to a major shopping market (Pratanum). It turned out to be easy and cheap to use the klong boats through the canals.  After shopping we returned via the BTS SkyTrain, then the Orange Flag Chao Phraya river taxi back up to the Khao San Neighborhood.  

Keep it classy, Khao San!

     We had read before our trip about efforts to clean up the city and reduce the prevalence of street hawkers.  I believe they were enforcing a street-food-ban on Mondays, which is a day we didn't encounter at the front of the trip.  However, in August they tightened the screws on street vendors and intended to bar sidewalk-blockers every day outside the hours of 6pm-midnight.  On Sunday morning as we waited for our Ayutthaya bus we witnessed a troupe of sweepers in yellow "I love Khao San Road" tees giving the famous thoroughfare a good scrub down, complete with a crew of firehoses.  On Monday morning we noted the absence of our banana sticky rice and juice breakfast street vendors.  We had to pay retail prices for pre-packaged fruit in an actual shop!  Obviously there is not a lot of support for this prohibition from tourists or local entrepreneurs.  

Our last stop - one more fruit shake for the road.  We left the hotel at 11:30pm on Monday night.  Our flight was at 2:30am on Tuesday.  We arrived in Kalamazoo at 6:40pm on Tuesday evening.

SO LONG ASIA!  

ลาก่อน Thailand! 

lea hai Cambodia!

tam biet Vietnam!

la kon Laos!

And THANK YOU!

Kap Koon Ka

Arkoun

Cam On

Cop Jai

Vientiane

     

     Having toured the culturally significant Luang Prabang and the natural wonders of Vang Vieng first, we were starting to wonder if we had saved too many days for the reportedly boring Vientiane.  Most travellers just use it for its airport and have implied the Lao Capital doesn't have much to offer.  By the time we got there, it had EXACTLY what we wanted: SUNNY weather and a bit more metropolitan-ity that we surprisingly craved.  

     As our major thought of the day revolves around our next meal, we were relieved to be back in the land of many options!  The night market fired up down our street every night and a variety of street food could be had a reasonable prices.  

     We also indulged in some non-local fare as a refreshing diversion from noodle soup. One night we had Italian pasta and pizza.  Another night we hit up Trip Advisor for Indian and found this highly recommended spot (pictured below).  Our meal at Jamil Zahid was good and so inexpensive! Old Jamil, himself, attentively serves all guests and asked the kids to pick "American" music from his ipod (although we preferred a Punjabi soundtrack rather than subject the entire dining room to more Despacito re-mixes). However, in the end it seems that his attentiveness borders on phishing for reviews and social media participation. Before we were even back to the hotel, he had posted 3 pics and a video of our family on his FB and Youtube. His YT channel is filled with hundreds of awkward clips of guests wondering why he is taking a video of them eating while he says "I love (insert your country name here)." It's a little creepy.

We rented bikes for $1.20 each and toured the major landmarks of the city.  It is actually quite handsome with loads of temples intermixed with colonial architecture.  

Rolling on the River.... Mekong

One top tourist attraction is the "Buddha Park" outside town.  It is filled with religious and fantastical sculptures and appears to be a work in progress.  The photo above shows one of its weird climbable monuments viewed from ground level, entrance, and from the top.

Another sketchy climbable monument at the Buddha Park.  

Little Buddha

The highlight of Vientiane (for the girls) was the public swimming pool.  Maya was so impressed with its size and diving platforms.  It was about $2 each and fairly quiet before 4pm.  In the late afternoon it was filled with locals and swim classes.