Sarom whipped his steed from atop our horse-drawn carriage and frantically yelled, "Heeyah" as we charged up to the gothic-like temple. "We must hurry. The sun will be up soon." he said. Our frenetic approach reminded me of Jonathan Harker's arrival at Dracula's Castle. The horse let out a baleful sound as Sarom pulled hard on the reins and brought us to a stop right in front of the ominous structure. By the light of the moon, we were surrounded by dreaml...

Ho, Ho, Ho and I'm not referring to Santa Claus. By 1968, around 45,000 US troops had been deployed in Thailand. The nation was a staging area to conduct bombing missions in Laos and North Vietnam. The economy flourished. It created new and varying markets - one being prostitution. And believe you me, its alive and well. In 2008, this third generation workforce (now 200,000 strong) will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Ellen says "its disgusting". I'll not...

December 2003'Twas a few nights before Christmas and down at the beach,We were thinking old Santa was way out of reachFor this is the land of the Buddha we thoughtWhoa.........heavens to Betsy, maybe its not From out of the east a cool wind did blow We started to think that it might even snowFrom hotels and huts Christmas music would play As dolphins and tuna fish jumped in the bay Thinking of family and friends back at home We decided to pen this odd little ...

If every tourist in Laos bought five-hundred scarves there would still be at least two left for each and every citizen.Guide books are an absolute necessity for the kind of travel that we do. They are the road map for our overall travel plan. We're staying at the guide book recommended Haysoke Guest House in Vientiene. The walls are paper thin and the air inside reeks of Chinese cooking. Yes guide books are a necessity but, almost everything you read in ...

After a two day, 300 kilometre journey down the Mekong River we've arrived sore arsed in the ancient temple city of Luang Prabang, Laos. Packed like white sardines, Ellen, I and about fifty Europeans made the trip sitting on hard little plank seats in a boat that was built for thirty people.When we entered Laos, we changed $80 worth of US money into Kip, the currencyof Laos. In return we got two pounds or about 3 inches of paper money- justover $800,000 Kip. ...