Southeast Asia 2024–2025
I have traveled a lot in Europe and South America, and I’ve been looking forward to expanding to farther-off places. In 2024 started to make that dream a reality, with trips to Australia and New Zealand and Africa. And at the end of the year I visited southeast Asia.
I did this trip with Overseas Adventure Travel. It was my sixth OAT trip, and one of my favorites. We covered Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and I can’t begin to say what were the highlights. So much of it was amazing.
I went a few days early to hang out in Ao Nang, on the beach in southern Thailand. Then I flew up to Bangkok to start the tour, which went to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Kanchanaburi before spending several days in Bangkok. From there we flew to Luang Prabang, Laos, and then took the train to Vientiane, the capital. Next we flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and after a couple of days there we took a bus ride to Siem Reap to visit all the temples of the Angkor period. Next we flew to Saigon, and finally to Hanoi for about a week in northern Vietnam.
These were four beautiful and fascinating countries. I hope to continue to expand my horizons and visit some far-flung places in the years to come.
Photos and Videos
My favorite photos and videos from each day are included in the blog posts below. But if you want to just enjoy the pictures without the stories, feel free to peruse these albums.
Thailand
Ao Nang (81 items)
Chiang Mai (167 items)
Chiang Rai and vicinity (136 items)
The White Temple (45 items)
Kanchanaburi (101 items)
Ayutthaya (70 items)
Bangkok (207 items)
The Grand Palace (84 items)
Best of Thailand (50 photos)
Laos
Luang Prabang (185 items)
Vientiane (77 items)
Best of Laos (42 photos)
Cambodia
Phnom Penh (116 items)
Siem Reap (337 items, including all the temples)
Ta Prohm (36 items)
Angkor Wat (65 items)
Angkor Thom (39 items)
Banteay Srei (39 items)
Best of Cambodia (50 photos)
Vietnam
Mekong Delta (42 items)
Saigon (108 items)
Hanoi (225 items)
Lao Cai (110 items)
Halong Bay (39 items)
Best of Vietnam (40 items)
Blog Posts
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Ancient Kingdoms: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam
It feels like I just got back from my last trip (and in fact, I did), but I am less than three weeks away from my next adventure. OAT calls it “Ancient Kingdoms,” but that doesn’t explain a lot. So I just tell people I’m going to Southeast Asia. To be specific, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia,…
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Ajijic to Ao Nang: Chronicle of my long journey
Saturday, 08:15 Central Standard Time I’m at Guadalajara Airport awaiting the departure of my Alaska Airlines flight to LAX. This is the first of four flights that will take me to Ao Nang, Thailand. So my plan, to help pass the time between flights, is to write about my journey from Ajijic to Ao Nang.
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Three days in Ao Nang were plenty
I’ll start with a disclaimer: I’m not a beach person. I don’t like lying on the beach under a hot sun. Taking a dip is nice for a quick cool-off, but then I’m done. And I don’t drink a lot, so a lot of the nighttime activities associated with beach resorts are of no interest…
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Chiang Mai: Elephants (and other things)
If you walk around the street markets in Chiang Mai, you’ll find an amazing variety of artifacts. Wood carving, silk-screen prints, paintings, t‑shirts, and so many other items. Of course there is some cheap, tacky stuff, and there are also some very nice pieces of art and handicraft. The common theme among all of them…
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Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle
Even though this post is about Chiang Rai, most of the time I was there, I wasn’t there. What I saw on the way from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, and what I saw when our group did pretty much an all-day outing to the Golden Triangle dominated my experiences in the last two days. Here’s…
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Kanchanaburi: River and Railroad
There is a bridge over the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi. But the River Kwai is actually the Khwae (rhymes with “hay”), and there are two branches; the bridge crosses the Khwae Yai. The other branch, the Khwae Noi, merges with the Khwae Yai to form the Mae Klong. The Khwae Yai (which means “Big River”)…
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Final days in Thailand: Bangkok and Ayutthaya
My time in Thailand is coming to an end. What a fascinating country this is! Beautiful people, complicated history, exciting energy, and great food! Not to mention the architecture. Bangkok is a brilliant city of skyscrapers, and tucked away amid the urban landscape are stunning monuments to Buddhism and to the past. Even more, the ancient…
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Monks, not Monkeys, and other stories from Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang is a delightful city. I was there for just a few days, and while it didn’t feel like nearly enough time, our OAT group crammed so much into the time we had. I could tell many stories. I had the opportunity to laugh and to cry, to be exhausted and invigorated, and to…
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Vientiane and farewell to Laos
After a too-short visit to Vientiane, the capital of the Lao Democratic People’s Republic, I have had to say farewell to this surprisingly beautiful country and its friendly people. (I am writing this from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.) So here are a few final thoughts about Laos. And here are my photos from Vientiane, which you…
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The emotional roller coaster of Phnom Penh
My visit to Phnom Penh was a mix of great joy and intense sadness. Here’s my attempt to unpack all the emotions I experienced in just two days. I’ll start with the sad things and get them out of the way, even though it’s not chronological.
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Siem Reap: Temples, and more temples
The challenge of blogging while traveling overwhelmed me in Siem Reap. I published a very abbreviated version of this post while I was in Saigon. But now I’ve fleshed it out, maybe with too much detail. But there was so much to experience in Siem Reap and the ancient city of Angkor.
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A very quick recap of southern Vietnam
I am now in Hanoi, and I have so much to share about my time in southern Vietnam and no time to do it. Our schedule has been jam-packed, and the Wifi at our hotel here has been sporadic. So once again I’ll provide a quick overview and hope to update this with more detail…
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Northern Vietnam in a Nutshell
Once again (and for the last time on this trip) I am having to sacrifice writing anything interesting in order to get something posted before I get home. So here’s an overview of the post-trip extension of my OAT tour to southeast Asia. There were just five of us out of the sixteen who were on…
