Notes On An Overland Bus Trip from Laos to Cambodia: Or, My 38th Birthday

August 8, 2012 in Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Travelogue

Whoever said, “The joy is in the journey,” clearly has not traveled overland through Southeast Asia. My birthday breakfast was lovely, sitting on the dock above the Mekong on Don […]

On Finding “Travel Zen,” and other lessons in Buddhism

August 5, 2012 in Asia, Laos, Travelogue

Travel is one long lesson in patience, punctuated with epic highs, undergirded by the unavoidable lows. The “ferry” crossing the Mekong, at Champasak, is of questionable safety. “It occurs to […]

Riverboats & Ruins: Wat Phao, Champasak, Laos

August 5, 2012 in Asia, Laos, Travelogue

We love a good boat ride. The children were delighted to clamber aboard a riverboat and slip out into the fast moving current of the Mekong River at Paske. It […]

Living Like Kings: Champasak Palace, Paske, Laos

August 3, 2012 in Asia, Laos, Travelogue

Champasak Palace was built by Jao Boon Oum, the last king of Laos. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to see it finished, as he fled to France in 1975. It is […]

Bill Gates is a Communist Collaborator: Misadventures on the Vietnam-Laos Border

August 1, 2012 in Asia, Laos, Travelogue, Vietnam

It’s never good to start a day with the realization that two iPods have been stolen. One from each hotel room. It’s even less good to have that realization on […]