It’ s been a minute since you’ve heard from us, hasn’t it? We’ve been awfully busy, and 2026 is a year in which we are trying many new things. For instance, we recently did something we’ve never done before: go on an organised tour through Southeast Asia. We’ll talk more in the next post about what the tour itself was like. In this one, we want to tell you where we went – Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
First, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Actually, there was more than one, and it was not a room but Chang Chill, a sanctuary in Chiang Mai, Thailand. As you know if you spend time with us irl, one of us is obsessed with elephants, so this was a huge highlight for him. Our guide warned us that we probably wouldn’t get too close to the four ladies who live here. But, in fact, as we wandered around the 60 or so acres we bumped into the elephants several times. In fact we got so close that once we had to move out of their way quite quickly. (For big animals, they can get around pretty well!) We also got to watch them eat their afternoon snack, an enormous amount of sugar cane.
One of the items on the tour agenda we were uncertain about was a two-day cruise down the Mekong river. Perhaps because of our time in Suriname and the basic boats we encountered there, we had some anxiety. Most importantly, would there be a loo? There was, with a flush. Plus a whole family who lived on the boat and cooked us lunch. Plus snacks. And the weather was beautiful, so all in all, this was an incredibly relaxing experience.
Laos, in fact, was spectacular all around. About the other three countries, we had some knowledge, or at least some expectations. But Laos was a mystery. In fact, we both consider it our favourite of the four countries in Southeast Asia we visited. (We spent time in Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, and Vientiane.) Vang Vieng is a tourist town, but don’t let that fool you: we loved the rooftop bars, the hot air balloons, and hanging out by the river.
Further on in Laos we stopped at the city of Luang Prabang. This was a really beautiful place, with lots of French colonial architecture left over and many a lovely temple. There was also a great museum, and hot air balloons. But the highlight here was that we had the opportunity to give alms to the monks. The monks beg throughout the town every morning after which they return to the monastery and share what they’ve collected. Our guide brought us to a series of stools where we waited for the monks. Around about 7:30 they showed up, a group of about seventy of them, ranging in age from about 11 to 60. For part-time Buddhists like ourselves, this was a really special experience, even if it was a little stressful dishing out the sticky rice at a very fast clip!
We thought we knew what to expect in Vietnam, and there were indeed lots of opportunities to be reminded about what they call the ‘American War’. There was a museum devoted to it in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), which (not surprisingly) told the communist point of view, and it was interesting to see how they viewed it. We loved Ho Chi Minh City, which is urban and European and made us feel quite at home.
But there was also Ha Long Bay, where one of us has wanted to go ever since seeing a National Geographic spread on it many years ago. It did not disappoint. And in Hanoi there is the famous Train Street, where actual trains go through a narrow street with bars and coffee shops on both sides. Drink at your own risk!
No trip to Southeast Asia is complete without the mandatory Angkor Wat pre-dawn visit, and we had a great time toodling around the many temples.
We were joined at times by groups of monkeys, one of whom was positively human in his tastes.
This is really just a fraction of the things we did and saw in Southeast Asia. We’ll certainly want to come back to this part of the world. Stay tuned for more on the tour, including what we ate!
