I’m fascinated by the murals found in Buddhist temples. These are from Wat Phon Xay in Luang Prabang, Laos. Epic stories that I would like to read or learn more about.. The murals in this temple appear to be about Phra Malaya, a monk who through meditation visited the numerous heavens and hells in Buddhist cosmology. The Lao version of the Ramayana epic may also be depicted here.
A boat down the Mekong brought us to the Pak Ou caves, a shrine filled with hundreds of Buddha figures. Back in the night food market of Luang Prabang, you can fill a platter from dozens of delectable noodle and vegetable selections for about a buck fifty.
Luang Prabang in Laos is a peaceful, picturesque town on the Mekong River. The alluring wats (temples) with distinct sloping roofs are home to orders of orange-robed monks. Strolling markets, listening to monks chant and drum, delicious food – a perfect place to mellow out.
We did a mountain bike trek from Tram Ton (Heaven’s Gate) Pass on Mt. Fansipan to Binh Lu, through myriad villages in the area. Coasting down winding mountain roads it was the easiest 40 km I’ve done on a bike, since it was – thankfully – mostly downhill, and fun as hell.
A town perched in the far northern mountains of Vietnam, where terraced rice paddies drape the feet of steep jungle-clad peaks. Hill tribes like the Hmong were late arrivers in the area, and had to bring under cultivation the rugged terrain they were confined to.
All of the pictures of my southeast Asian trek on this site were taken with a Nokia Lumina 920 Windows phone. No filters or other mods were used; I’m happy with the camera and picture quality. It’s a sturdy, durable phone that has stood up well to over 5 weeks of travel.
Despite the hordes of tourists and the boats that shuttle them crowding the polluted waters of the bay, the limestone karst scenery makes this a visually striking corner of the planet.
Sad to say but women’s lib hasn’t exactly caught on in Southeast Asia. Women seem to bear the brunt of the labour.. And they’re treated a bit like a commodity, used for, among other things, driving beer sales.
My friend brought me to his wife’s village, Tinh Bien, in remote southwestern Vietnam, in An Giang province near the Cambodian border. There is a large Khmer population there. A man let us into a Khmer Bhuddist temple that featured dazzlingly colourful religious murals on every square inch of wall and ceiling.
Worms for sale at a street market in the Old Quarter of Hanoi…
