![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
- Fri, 12:07: RT @paulkrugman: 10-year bonds under 0.7%; negative across most of the rest of the advanced world. The US spent 8 of the past 12 years in a…
- Fri, 14:09: RT @An3ita5: The New York attorney general’s office has ordered disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker to stop misleading consumers about a fak…
- Fri, 22:45: How to Quarantine Yourself https://t.co/pbtNrYRU8w
- Fri, 23:56: It's Saturday afternoon in Bangkok. It's hard living here in the past!
- Sat, 07:54: RT @paulkrugman: Some thoughts inspired by viruses and bonds https://t.co/AIvJYNyqxL
- Sat, 08:55: RT @paulkrugman: There are now good reasons to believe that the coronavirus will hit America especially hard, even though it originated in…
- Sat, 08:56: RT @paulkrugman: I have American friends currently in Europe considering whether to extend their stay in the belief that universal health c…
- Sat, 08:58: Why don't you tell us how you really feel? https://t.co/5UGQEMhn0C
- Sat, 08:58: RT @funder: I like presidents who don’t pathologically lie about the coronavirus.
- Sat, 08:59: RT @GeorgeTakei: That person in the check-out lane with one item, who argues with the cashier about the price, then insists on using coins…
Mar. 7th, 2020
There and Back Again
Mar. 7th, 2020 02:37 pmWell! I left at the end of January for Bangkok for a couple of weeks of Thai massages and 90 degree days before joining most of the group I went to Egypt with for a Road Scholar tour of Myanmar, Thailand (Chang Rai), Laos, and Cambodia. The tour ended in Seam Reap, but two of us went back to Bangkok intending to stop in Tokyo for a short week. With Tokyo at a level 2 CDC warning, we changed plans and spent the time in Bangkok.
The food in Thailand exceeds anyone's expectations, although you do have to look out for chilis and the little baby Thai eggplant that looks like a pea and tastes too bitter to me.
In Myanmar, we stayed in Yangon, Bagan, and Mandalay. In Yangon, we visited the temples. They're covered in gold and sparkle. In Bagan, we visited the stupas. They're mostly old and much of the glitter is gone. I blew a bunch of money on a hot air balloon ride and let's just say I was pining for the toilet and leave it at that. A few Cipro later, I was back on the bus, albeit a bit green. In Myanmar, we took a boat out on the Irrawaddy river and drifted back to port.
In Mandalay, we visited temples and a nunnery. Some of us went to a mulberry paper factory/store and crossed the street to a silk store.
From Mandalay, we flew to the Thai border and walked across to Thailand.
In Chang Rai, we visited an Opium Museum, cruised the river and walked across the border into Laos.
Once in Laos, we borded a river boat and spent two days cruising down the Mekong to Luang Prabang after spending one night across from an elephant sanctuary. We also visited two villages along the river. The first, a Hmong village had the worst climb and the most children trying to sell trinkets. The second village was more indifferent to strangers, and we ran into a teacher who showed us part of the school. The children were playing with tops and failed to try and sell any of them to us. We also stopped at a Buddha cave along the Mekong where the Asian ability to make uneven and really, really tall stairs left most of us puffing -- well, OK, some of us. Most of us went back to the boat rather than ascend to the second, higher level of the cave.
I dropped my memory card wallet in a bar in Luang Prabang, but contacted them via Facebook and picked it up there the next day.
We flew from Luang Prabang to Seam Reap in Cambodia and started temple hopping, ending up at Angkor Wat before sunrise. We also went on a cruise to the floating village where they farmed crocodiles and turned them into leather goods. It's the closest I've been to that standard fantasy setting of a floating village, but I did not imagine beggars in boats with half nekkid boys holding snakes.
I took a zillion photos. They're here.
Video is in my SE Asia playlist on YouTube
Thailand
The food in Thailand exceeds anyone's expectations, although you do have to look out for chilis and the little baby Thai eggplant that looks like a pea and tastes too bitter to me.
Myanmar
In Myanmar, we stayed in Yangon, Bagan, and Mandalay. In Yangon, we visited the temples. They're covered in gold and sparkle. In Bagan, we visited the stupas. They're mostly old and much of the glitter is gone. I blew a bunch of money on a hot air balloon ride and let's just say I was pining for the toilet and leave it at that. A few Cipro later, I was back on the bus, albeit a bit green. In Myanmar, we took a boat out on the Irrawaddy river and drifted back to port.
In Mandalay, we visited temples and a nunnery. Some of us went to a mulberry paper factory/store and crossed the street to a silk store.
From Mandalay, we flew to the Thai border and walked across to Thailand.
Thailand
In Chang Rai, we visited an Opium Museum, cruised the river and walked across the border into Laos.
Laos
Once in Laos, we borded a river boat and spent two days cruising down the Mekong to Luang Prabang after spending one night across from an elephant sanctuary. We also visited two villages along the river. The first, a Hmong village had the worst climb and the most children trying to sell trinkets. The second village was more indifferent to strangers, and we ran into a teacher who showed us part of the school. The children were playing with tops and failed to try and sell any of them to us. We also stopped at a Buddha cave along the Mekong where the Asian ability to make uneven and really, really tall stairs left most of us puffing -- well, OK, some of us. Most of us went back to the boat rather than ascend to the second, higher level of the cave.
I dropped my memory card wallet in a bar in Luang Prabang, but contacted them via Facebook and picked it up there the next day.
Cambodia
We flew from Luang Prabang to Seam Reap in Cambodia and started temple hopping, ending up at Angkor Wat before sunrise. We also went on a cruise to the floating village where they farmed crocodiles and turned them into leather goods. It's the closest I've been to that standard fantasy setting of a floating village, but I did not imagine beggars in boats with half nekkid boys holding snakes.
I took a zillion photos. They're here.
Video is in my SE Asia playlist on YouTube