LAST DAYS IN LAOS Luang Prabang is the perfect place to end this trip through SE Asia. It's a beautiful UNESCO recognized heritage town, full of colonial style mansions turned into guesthouses, it has a great tourist area with lots of places to eat, drink and be merry, and temples galore. It's still really hot outside (37-39C), so I've been spending afternoons out at Kuang Si Waterfalls, a beautiful swimming hole that looks like something out of a movie set. ...

Plain of Jars I really like that there are still mysteries in this world. The Plain of Jars is a series of 160 sites (only 3 open to visitors) outside of Phonsovan, Laos littered with huge sandstone urns, the largest weighing 6 tonnes! Nobody knows what purpose they served, who made them or how they were transported to the sites! Two theories exist: that they're either funeral urns or they're giant mugs that the Gods used for drinking wine. You know which th...

MEKONG PROMENADE I don't think I really 'got' Vientiane until after the rain stopped on my last nite in the city. It's hot here, 37 C or more every day, and humid (85-90%), so the heat builds all day and then releases in a sudden, magnificent downpour, complete with thunder and lightning. Afterwards it's fresh and cool - a perfect time for a sunset walk along the Mekong Promenade. This city comes alive at the end of the day! Hundreds of people head to the ...

BUSSES, TRAINS and BORDER CROSSINGS Spent the last few days making the overland trek from Sihanoukville in southern Cambodia to Vientiane, Laos - via Bangkok- by tuk-tuk, bus, minivan, songthoew (back of a pickup truck), motorcycle taxi, VIP bus, skytrain, underground subway, overnite train and tuk-tuk. Luckily I had a few days - but it can be pretty cranky making when 2 border crossings are concerned. Overland border crossings can be frantic - at least mine...

Siem Reap and Battabong It's 4:46 pm and I'm sitting on a stone wall in a small village outside Battambang, Cambodia waiting for a million fruit bats to come streaming out of the cliff face in front of me. There's a giant Buddha head carved into the mountain to my left, but if I even think about climbing up there I know I'll miss the big event, so I think I'll stay put. Besides it's HOT and humid here - I create small puddles wherever I go! Spent the last 5 ...