After all the emotional intensity of Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek near Phnom Penh (see previous post), my Indochina travels at first continued in the same vein, visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels used by the Viet Cong outside of Saigon (now officially Ho Chi Minh City, though natives frequently use its former name) and the pull-no-punches Remnants Museum in that Vietnamese city.  We also visited a local farming and fishing village in the Mekong Delta, at risk from upstream hydroelectric projects in Laos and China.

I won’t dwell on my south and central Vietnam excursions in the interesting but touristy town of Hoi An (we were there for the Lunar New Year of Tet), in the beach resort of Nha Thrang, or the industrial city of Hue; suffice it to say that after one week in Cambodia and another in Vietnam observing the lingering effects of the American War, I was more than ready for a return to nature.  A short boat excursion on Ha Long Bay, a two day slow boat trip up the Mekong River from Luang Prabang, Laos to the Thai border, and finally a day spent hiking in the Mae Tang area of northern Thailand, provided the antidote to excess civilization.

Our Explore! group headed out on a morning Junk trip from Ha Long City on Ha Long Bay.  Literally translated as “Descending Dragon Bay,” Ha Long is a UNESCO World Heritage site and perhaps the most-photographed bay in the world; unfortunately, continued gray skies in northeast Vietnam were not ideal for photography.  I think, though, that the photos below do capture a little of the feeling of the bay and its limestone karsts and islets in various shapes and sizes.  The cooks on our Junk conjured up a fantastic lunch buffet; that plus our molto simpatico group made for a superb morning before heading back to the frenetic pace of Hanoi for the following two days.

Of all the various cities and towns where I spent time during this past month of traveling around Indochina, the lovely northern Laotian town of Luang Prabang on the Mekong River was my favorite.  At the time I was on a hiatus from photography and in any event French architecture and Buddhist temples do not fit with the theme of this blog post.  Even a pleasant 3-hour hike in the northern Laotian jungle between two nearby Hmong villages and featuring a waterfall and lovely pools for swimming did not elicit in me any desire for photography.

That all changed when we left Luang Prabang. There is no better way than to enter or leave Luang Prabang than by slow boat.  That is exactly what we did, taking two full days to make our way up the Mekong to the Thai border at Huay Xai with an intermediate overnight in the hamlet of Pak Beng, Laos.  The trip upstream in the low water of the dry season featured a myriad of minor rapids which we had to navigate around.  We had two tasty lunch buffets on board, a pleasant dinner overlooking the Mekong River in Pak Beng, and plenty of time to chill and watch the world go by.  We stopped at the Tin Tang caves featuring several thousand Buddhas (many more have been stolen) on the first day and at a Hmong village by the river on the second day before arriving at the border town of Huay Xai and transferring to the northern Thailand city of Chiang Rai and thence on to Chiang Mai the following day.

Somehow the temples of Chiang Mai, Thailand held little interest for me during our two-and-one-half day sojourn there, so I once again headed into the jungle.  A fortuitous last minute booking of a full day trek in the Mae Tang Valley north of Chiang Mai, source of the Mae Tang and Ping Rivers, was the perfect solution.  Maggie and I experienced a lush jungle, a waterfall with obligatory swimming hole, cabbage fields, a bat cave, and miles of trails and paths featuring bamboo and wild bananas.  Despite the extensive cultivation and the Hmong villages at the start and end, most of the hike had a distinctly wild feeling to it.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end.  I am currently in Bangkok and tomorrow will be heading south to Phuket for five days of diving in the Andaman Sea before continuing on to Australia.  If you are interested,  my schedule out to early August is on the “Calendar” tab on the upper right of the home page of this blog site.

My next blog post will likely be from Tasmania.

Happy trails,

The Vagabond Hiker