Archive for February, 2008
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
“Wat” a Sight to See
Angkor, the Sanskrit word for “city,” was by far the largest city in the world in the pre-industrial era, covering an area of over 1,000 square miles. Between 900 and 1200 AD, the kings of the Khmer empire built over a thousand buildings in Angkor, from small, nondescript temples now reduced to rubble to Angkor [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cambodia by Derek
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
A Macabre History Lesson
Our travels thus far have taken us to a number of places marred by the aftermath of politics gone wrong. In no place, however, have the wounds from such wrongs been as raw or as recent as the ones we witnessed during our time in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cambodia [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Cambodia by Shanna
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Getting There is Half the Fun
No one ever said that independent travel is easy. For the uninitiated, it can be painfully stressful. Piecing together the logistics of getting from point A to B to C and so forth can test the patience of even the most laid-back of individuals.
For most Americans, vacation is the chance to escape from the stress [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Cambodia, RTW Travel by Derek
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Taking a Detour into Leisure
We’ve been traveling for almost six months now and among the many lessons we’ve learned is this: travel can sometimes feel like a full-time job. Okay, like a really good job where we have neither assignments, deadlines nor specific working hours, but all the same, finding places to sleep each night, navigating new places every [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized, Vietnam by Shanna
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Oh! Chi Minh City
When I first visited Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon) with my parents back in 1996, I was mesmerized. Decades of French rule ending in the mid 1950s and a massive presence of American military during the 60s and early 70s have combined to create a city steeped in history. In 1996, the [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Vietnam by Derek
Monday, February 11th, 2008
Good Morning Vietnam!
Our visit to Vietnam would not have been complete without a trip to the demilitarized zone, or DMZ. This strip of land, which is approximately two miles wide, divided North and South Vietnam before and during the Vietnam War (or, as it’s called here, “the American War” or, depending on the speaker, “the War of [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Vietnam by Shanna
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
On the Banks of the Perfume River
After Hanoi, we flew to Hue, a former imperial city on the banks of the enigmatically named Perfume River. We spent a mist-filled afternoon exploring the Citadel, a section of the city that is surrounded both by a moat and by tall, thick walls. These safety precautions did little to defend the area from the [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Vietnam by Shanna
Monday, February 4th, 2008
Ringing in the New Year with Ho
Hanoi is a city difficult not to love. After finding a hotel in the Old Quarter, we set off exploring its narrow streets. Historically, each street in the Old Quarter was devoted to selling a certain product, from which it received its name - Flower Street selling flowers, Shoe Street selling shoes and Fish Street [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Vietnam by Derek
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
Floating Through the Bay
In the green-gray waters of the Gulf of Tonkin sit the more than 3000 limestone karsts that combine to form the wonder that is Halong Bay. The bay has long been a draw for tourists visiting mainland Vietnam; most of us hop on buses in Hanoi and, after a long ride through rice fields and [...]
