4 Feb – 6 Feb 2023 It’s time to visit Thailand properly, our famous neighbor to the north. I mean, go the whole length of the country. So, I snuck into Thailand from the south. From Malaysia, I walked across…
7-8 Feb 2023 From Krabi, the next destination was another island group, the largest of which was Koh Phi Phi, 2 hours boat ride away. I climbed to the top of a hill to see 2 beaches of stunning water…
9-12 Feb 2023 2 hours boat ride away from Krabi was another well-known island, Phuket, my next island-hopping destination. Many came for the beaches, others, to be wild. Patong Beach was the most famous of the beaches in Phuket. It…
15-17 Feb 2023 After a few days in laidback Koh Samui, I would now go to Bangkok, Thailand’s capital. It promises to be mouth-watering. Thai cuisine is popular the world over. It stings, it sets the brain on fire, it…
18-20 Feb 2023 Before there was Bangkok, there was Ayutthaya, the capital of the old Kingdom of Siam. After 3 days in Bangkok, I was heading north. I had to go back to go forward. Ayathuya is 80 km from…
21-24 Feb 2023 From Bangkok, I was continuing to head north, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, and toward Chiang Mai. Away from the beaches of the south, the north landscape became greener, hilly and cooler. Ancient Buddhist temples sought isolation and seclusion among…
25-26 Feb 2023 I have by now traveled the entire length of Thailand from south to north. From the northern tip, I want to see Laos by boat up the Mekong. At Huay Xai, the Laos border town, I took…
27 Feb – 1 March 2023 It was fun and therapeutic sailing down the Mekong for 2 days, through the scenic mountainous north of Laos. In the end, another reward awaited – Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It…
3-4 March 2023 From Luang Prabang, I continued south to Vang Vieng in a new Chinese-built train, arriving in 2 hours. I rented a motorbike and went looking for the famed blue water lagoons. I rode mostly on dusty dirt…
8-11 March 2023 I was eager to get to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. Don’t ask, Angkor what? It is the world’s largest temple complex, made up of many temples, of Hindu but later became Buddhist. When it comes…
12-15 March 2023 An estimated 2 million died in Cambodia in 1975-1979 under the Khmer Rouge, about a quarter of the Cambodian population. I was a young man then. It happened in my lifetime, in my neighborhood. A barbarity beyond…