hue. vietnam. march 5th – 9th. 2009

An overnight train, quiet, relaxed. Sunrise over the beautiful landscape that is Vietnam. Cooler climates and in your face moto drivers greet us as we disembark from the train. A LONG stubborn walk towards the hotels. Exasperated by an environment that doesn’t give you a moment to breathe, think or get your bearings. Then something extraordinary, I leave Stephen with the packs and go in search of a room. We settle in to our temporary home here in Hue, a place in a small alley just off a main street. The burdens of travel seem to be weighing heavily at the moment and we are put off by the constant cajoling for a taxi ride or a room. That night we find a nice Japanese restaurant for a quiet meal and check out (photographer café) where we find info, beautiful photos and a hospitable host. Armed with a map, we wander the next day across the bridge to see the Forbidden Purple City and a different part of town. Then the next day another surprise, we bump in to Rik and Mirjam at lunch! We had made plans to meet them here, but this was an earlier than expected rendez-vous. We have been just missing each other through all of Cambodia and Vietnam and we finally co-ordinated a day together in the same city, we all part ways, Stephen and I wander and book a tour for the next day. Too early a start the next morning, larger than expected group and boat for the Perfume River boat tour. We keep to ourselves and do our best not to feel rushed. Visits to a pagoda, royal tombs and many photos later, we realize the ‘see as much as you can in as little time as possible’ is just not our thing, we could have spent all day at 1 tomb and on the water, a really enjoyable evening with Rik and Mirjam catching up on all of our travels since Tibet. We part ways again tomorrow, they for Laos, we to Hanoi. It was nice to see friends and escape the heat of the last couple of months, tomorrow we head further north, Hanoi.

laurel's hue photos on flickr

w r i t t e n  b y  l a u r e l

saigon. vietnam. february 28th – march 4th. 2009

Another place I have been drawn to for a long time. When last we were in south east Asia 9 years ago, my thoughts were of (now) Ho Chi Minh city (but it has always been Saigon to me (pronounces Shai-gon) and is still in the minds and hearts of most). We arrive after dark and are taken to the backpacker tourist area, but it is not so cheap. We settle on a room for the night, but thankfully find a far more airy one for the rest of our stay. We do little here, spend most of our time eating, walking around our area and chilling out. Our biggest adventure was going to the train station to buy our tickets. It really was an adventure though, we took a cab there, but it was a long walk back, through narrow streets back to huge intersections and it gave us a feel for the dichotomy that is Saigon. We decide to wander to an area north of our hotel, along the water, through the glitzier tourist area, past the open house. Visits to the night market, three different vegetarian restaurants, fruit stands, the circle K were punctuated with a visit to the Independence Palace, the old post office and a juice bar Monika had told us about. The rest of our time was spent eating within a block of our hotel, or next door where we met two sisters, born in Hanoi, working at this restaurant. It was hidden off the street , quiet and pretty unfrequented, a lovely respite from the rest of our street and really lovely conversation with these two women. The Saigon I had imagined? I’m not really sure. My focus seems elsewhere and Vietnam is falling through the cracks. I think both Stephen and I were getting tired of the tourism industry, how people traveling though South East Asia get funneled through and have little interest in taking the time to travel Vietnam another way. Our compromise? Only I stop on the way north to Hanoi, and we forgo the cheaper tourist bus circuit and take an overnight train.

laurels' saigon photos on flickr

w r i t t e n  b y  l a u r e l

can tho. vietnam. february 27th – 28th. 2009

A small settlement in the Mekong delta. Just over 24 hours here. Spectacular floating markets, the draw . We discover another vegetarian restaurant, check emails, and organize our day on the Mekong.  5:30am start. Don’t remember if Stephen even slept! Sunrise was not dramatic, but really beautiful to watch dawn creep above the banks of the Mekong. Just the two of us and our driver. We arrive at the first floating market, which is bustling and captivating, but seems more active with photographing then with a thriving trade. It is a unique and textured environment and it is nice to share it with Stephen in a quiet, not as part of a larger group. The next stop, a vermicelli making shop and we seem to have connected with another small group for the rest of our day. A female boat driver and two young women. We dock and walk through a field, past a pen of pigs to the shop. I will let the photos speak for themselves. A quick stop for drinks, the 3 women are a lot of fun and I am glad we are travelling in tandem. Back on the water we see more of the settlements now that it is late here, make our way to the second market. The rest of the afternoon is quiet meandering through the waterways of the delta, lush vegetation, sedate communities ‘monkey’ bridges. The driver from the other boat weaves origami cricket bracelets out of grass! For her passengers and me. She is full of spirit, while being laid back and seemingly genuine. A final stop for fruit and the journey back to our hostels. Waiting to catch our ride from the hostel, I see the face in the wall. We leave the Mekong today and enter Saigon.

laurel's can tho photos on flickr

w r i t t e n  b y  l a u r e l

chau doc. vietnam. february 25th – 27th. 2009

a crazy high speed boat (not our intention), two border checkpoints. our way into vietnam. a surprisingly interesting city with much to offer, even a vegetarian restaurant!

more to come....

ban lung. ratakaniri. cambodia. february 16th - 22nd. 2009

yeak loam arts group. a volunteer opportunity to creatively help out a local arts group. for now, an ongoing project.

...more to come.

laurel's ratanakiri photos on flickr

siem reap. cambodia. february 10th – 14th. 2009

The temples of Angkor. So many photos. The sweltering sun of Cambodia. I have been drawn to this place for a long time. Riding our bikes on the road through the jungle, it feels in some inexplicable way like coming home and I can’t take my eyes off Angkor wat as we ride along the water towards the entrance. It is a strange kind of awe, I touch the stones of the bridge crossing the moat to the temple and we spend hours here. So many details, textures, entrance ways, carvings and it is true, one day exploring the many temples would not be enough. The beyond, its complex, sunrise, sunset, Ta Prohm, bonteay srei and many other temples, it is amazing how different they each are. 3 days, and the heat. there was only so much we managed to see. We lingered most where it was quiet, rushed the spectacularly restored temples that were crowded and it makes one contemplate, art, life, quiet, the environment, the 1000’s of people who were involved in creating this place. It is hard to spate the suffering they endured, the labour that would have been demanded to build these temples. Then Cambodia’s recent past is all too fresh in the mind and it is hard to know how to feel. But these people persevere and these temples, monumental, are still standing, and there is something in the ability to endure against all odds.

I have separated our time in Siem Reap into two different stories. I didn’t feel they would come together as smoothly as they would on their own. We ventured only in to the town for dinner and the next day’s supplies, it is a town built for tourists and both restaurants and hotels range from backpacker haven to the opulent. We forgo the latter; explore the middle ground and the former. Aside from the temples, our greatest interaction here is with the children. I have told of our first encounter many times, I hear this boy’s voice clearly still over 1 year later. It is about 10pm our first night in town and we wander the city centre a bit after dinner. A boy walks up to me and says  ‘where are you from?’ (Canada) ‘ I like your hair’ (thanks.), ‘bracelet?’ (no thank you!) he is maybe 10 and he makes me laugh, while fully realizing just how sad this is in the same moment.  the next day, in front of angkor, I tell another boy of similar age that I will buy postcards from him maybe on the way out and hours later he comes running when he sees me. I keep my word while telling the other kids who surround me ‘no thank you!’ a girl his age catches me with my own words when she comments ‘but you said you didn’t need the postcards and you are buying them’ and I realize that I have to be careful what I say, because many words hold no meaning here, and these are children who know little of the politics that create poverty and shouldn’t be made to feel like no one cares. The next morning some teenage girls try to sell us water while we are waiting for sunrise at Sras Srang. Like many of the kids here, they are charming in their approach, they don’t pester, but persist. I have already bought a bottle of water from one girl, another is trying to get Stephen to buy some. As we already have water with us, he asks her for a coffee instead. When we are leaving, she asks again and explains that she got him the coffee from someone else, so he hasn’t given her anything. He buys an even bigger bottle for even less money than mine, and the weight of how little they even understand what they are doing or saying makes it all even sadder. I am not trying to diminish the motives of Stephen or in any way of lives of these children by telling these tales, just retelling an important aspect in our experience of Siem Reap. It strikes me how being understood through a lens of such narrow focus can sometimes lend to you seeing yourself that way too, then maybe you didn’t before and how the lens somehow overshadows accountability, equanimity  and honest exchange.

laurel's siem reap photos on flickr

stephen's siem reap photos on flickr

w r i t t e n  b y  l a u r e l

phnom penh. cambodia. february 5th – 10th. 2009

meeting new friends. our hosts monika, yeng and meow. back in the hustle of a big city. a sobering visit to the cheung ek killing fields and the tuol sleng genocide museum. admiring the architecture of the national museum. many home cooked meals.

. . . more to come.

stephen's phnom penh photos on flickr
laurel's phnom pehn photos on flickr