- Photo: The Ta Prohm and Angkor Thom temples deep in the jungle captivate travelers to Cambodia.
Photos provided by Felix Lowe/Special to the Packet
Travelers: Susan and Felix Lowe and Margaret and Ken Collins,all of Bluffton
Destinations: Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia
When: Three weeks in January
What: Most people would agree that the folks in Bluffton have their share of curiosity and like to explore places both here and abroad. Most who know Margaret and Ken Collins and Susan and Felix Lowe would agree they have never met a journey they did not like. So chief planner, Susan, asked, "What do you think about Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia?"
- Photo: Almost 50-feet high and 150-feet long, the gold-plated Reclining Buddha awaits passing into Nirvana at the Wat Pho temple in Thailand.
Photos provided by Felix Lowe/Special to the Packet
THAILAND
After a long flight to Bangkok, Thailand, to an airport we were not sure would be free of demonstrators, we arrived tired but eager to explore the wonders of the city known to the Thai as the "City of Angels." After an early breakfast at the Shangri-La Hotel, we went up the Chao Phraya River to visit the Wat Pho, home of the famous gold-plated Reclining Buddha statue.
Then it was on to the Grand Palace that once served as the official residence of the King of Thailand. It also is the home of the legendary jade Emerald Buddha adorned with garments made of gold. Vsits to the temples have strict dress codes, including no bare shoulders, short skirts, etc., for the women. Men must wear shirts with collars and all visitors must remove their shoes before entering the sacred temples.
After a couple of days in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, where we rode elephants through the teak forests and spent time with tribal villagers, we flew back to Bangkok so we could go to Hanoi, Vietnam. Like Rome, all flight connections go through Bangkok.
VIETNAM
Historically, Hanoi is the ancient capital of Vietnam and the cultural center of the country. We stayed at the newly renovated Hilton Hanoi Opera near the center of old town. Old town in this instance dates back more than a thousand years.
Of special interest to us was a visit to Hao Lo Prison, the infamous Hanoi Hilton where John McCain and his fellow American prisoners were held. Later, on a cyclo (like a rickshaw) tour of the city, we visited Ho Chi Minh's modest "house on stilts," where he spent the last 10 years of his life. Evening found us at a water puppet show, a traditional art form more than a thousand years old that portrayed the daily life of villagers.
After a short stop in Hue, designated a World Heritage Site, where we visited temples and pagodas and took a boat ride down the Perfume River, we traveled south down scenic Highway 1 to Da Nang. There we stayed in the Furama Resort, which is located on the famous China Beach. The next day we were off to Hoi An, a charming seaport town whose 17th century Chinese architecture remains intact.
We departed Da Nang on an early flight and arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on a warm, hazy day. On the way to our hotel we stopped to tour Reunification Hall -- the symbol of the fall of Saigon in 1975 -- so named for the reunion of North and South Vietnam after the war. We also had time to visit Notre Dame Cathedral and the Old Central Post Office, which was designed by Gustave Eiffel. The following day we bussed out to the Cu Chi Tunnels, a labyrinth of underground tunnels that were built starting in about 1940 and were used by the Viet Minh (later known as the Viet Cong) in their struggle against the French and later against the U.S. Our guide said there still are many miles of tunnels that remain secret today.
While we were in Ho Chi Minh City, we helped celebrate Tet, the Vietnamese new year and a time to visit family, settle old debts, honor ancestors, celebrate with huge feasts of food and desserts, show off new clothes and take pictures of family. I think everyone in the city found time to celebrate Tet by strolling down the Street of Flowers with cameras in hand.
CAMBODIA
Less than an hour after we left Ho Chi Minh City our plane settled on the airport runway in Siem Reap, Cambodia, once just a crossroads for battles between Cambodia and Thailand.
Now, thanks to the French archeologist Henri Mahout, who discovered the Angkor Wat temples, Siem Reap is a bustling town that welcomes hardy travelers interested in the now famous World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat.
"Breathtaking" hardly describes your first look at the five astonishing and artistic towers that comprise Angkor Wat, which were built by the Khmers in the early 12th century.
The following morning after a hearty breakfast at the Raffles Grand Hotel we were off to the Ta Prohm Temple, which remains virtually unrestored. I think it is safe to say we were speechless as we walked through the ruins of Ta Prohm. Enormous gum trees had grown up inside the complex and the trees' roots had spread like spaghetti over, on and around virtually every building in the temple.
And as if Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm were not spectacular enough, the next day we visited the Walled City of Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom means "Great City" and is a huge complex of Buddhist temples built deep in the jungle where descendants of the ancient Khmer still live.
To see the most important temples requires a lot of walking and climbing, and all of us were happy we had packed good walking shoes. The most impressive temple was Bayon, located at the exact center of Angkor Thom.
That afternoon we took a boat ride on the Boeung Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Cambodia, where we saw fishermen, young and old, at work in their floating villages.
During the rainy season, all of the homes along the bank will have to move as the lake rises as much as 25 feet and spreads over many hundreds of acres.
Now our fabulous trip was all but over, and we looked forward to an evening of entertainment by the Apsara dancers, saying goodbye to our fellow travelers over cocktails and a farewell dinner.
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