Captivated by today’s Vietnam

Ellen Creager, a travel writer at the Detroit Free Press newspaper, has written an evocative piece about travel in Vietnam, with anecdotal glimpses into Hoi An, Duong Lam, Cu Da, Cu Chi, Saigon, and Hanoi. The story online also includes some fantastic photos (26 here and 18 here).
Makes me want to go back right now!

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Boat ride to Siem Reap

Back in May, I was on a tour in Cambodia, and we traveled for several hours in a very simple motorboat from Battambang to Siem Reap. I wrote a bit about this earlier. Now I’ve posted the photos — see the slideshow to get a sense of life along the river in northern Cambodia.

This was [...]

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Ready to hit the road, in Vietnam

My best friend and her family arrived on Sunday, after a bad flight delay from Delta. The customer service from Delta has got to be the worst in the world. Their airport staff are rude and unsympathetic. I have experienced it myself — many times, in many different airports. The story of Delta making a [...]

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Sunday in Hanoi

My day: Wandering aimlessly, drinking lots of water, enjoying Hoan Kiem Lake, stopping for cold drinks, and realizing how little interest I have in shopping.

Hanoi has this big section called the Old Quarter, sprawled around a big lake that today, Sunday, seemed to be the lounging-around destination of a fair number of local residents. My [...]

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A walk, a temple, and a park

Local people played badminton, practiced kick-boxing, pushed babies in strollers, power-walked, stretched and performed calisthenics — about 6 p.m. in a pretty green park beside the Văn Miếu temple in Hanoi. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Children ran around, laughing, watching the kick-boxers, playing catch with a denim hat. Three grandmothers chatted beside a [...]

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Heart of Saigon

I fell in love with Saigon tonight, walking the crowded streets on a quest for bánh xèo.

Tuesday evening, and the streets teem with people. The roads are filled with motorbikes (moving), and the sidewalks are filled with them too (parked, mostly). People fill almost all the spaces where no motorbikes have parked, and almost all [...]

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Khmer food (a summary)

The foods of Thailand and Vietnam are famous; the foods of Cambodia and Malaysia much less so. I’m a huge fan of Malaysian food, and of course I love most Thai and Vietnamese dishes — but what about the cuisine of the Khmers of Cambodia?

Chicken sour soup: Served with rice on the side. Tart and [...]

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Adieu, Cambodia

This morning I rode a tuk-tuk with all my luggage on the dusty, crowded road to the Phnom Penh International Airport (it’s small but quite modern). Now I’m in a nice hotel on Dong Khoi Street, in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). It’s Saturday night, and I’m looking forward to not needing to pack and [...]

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If it’s Tuesday, this must be Sihanoukville

Cattle wander freely everywhere we’ve been in Cambodia. Mostly they are big white oxen with a small hump behind their shoulder blades, although we have seen red and brown cattle as well. Today as we drove to the coast, I saw a number of water buffalo, with their enormous crescent horns. Two of them were [...]

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Phnom Penh photos

The Internet here is excruciatingly slow. Uploading pictures demands a lot of patience.

The Royal Palace: Architecture similar to that of Thailand; beautiful gardens.

Lunch in Phnom Penh: Green mango salad with chilis.

Waterfront, Phnom Penh.

S-21: This former school was used as a torture center by the Khmer Rouge.
More photos here. Many more to come when I return [...]

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