When FOMO Met YOLO
I’m trying to wrap my head around the whole communism thing here. Economically, Vietnam has a distinctly capitalist vibe, although it favors small-scale entrepreneurism over late-stage capitalism’s megafauna. That certainly seems like an improvement over our…
You know Hạ Long Bay. Maybe not by name, but by iconic representation. It’s like Bayon Temple in Cambodia. The name probably causes a puzzled look, but once you see a picture of those massive…
Getting out of Cambodia was surprisingly pleasant. First, when we’d dashed through the Siem Reap airport on arrival, after 30+ hours of travel, I think our eyes were too crusted over to properly appreciate how…
There are other places that do this in Southeast Asia, but it wasn’t a thing in Cambodia. Of course it’s a Thailand thing. You’d expect that. And it’s not the dominant model anywhere, but it’s…
Two days before our departure to Vietnam we have one last adventure: a visit to Kulen Mountain. We’ve pushed it so far back in our schedule because it has the potential to be the most…
This region of Cambodia, the beating heart of the ancient Khmer Angkor kingdom, reminds me of nothing so much as Carthage (here and here), in the sense that you can’t swing a cat without hitting…
At first blush, Cambodia seemed to us to be a relatively handicraft light culture. Obviously, that’s not the case. Anywhere. There’s weaving, painting, leather work, ceramics, printing… What fooled us is that the aesthetic here…
One of the most fun things about our adventures is the constant exposure to the, to us, unusual and unknown. Other than Mexico, a culture we were already deeply familiar with, every place else we’ve…
I am on record as a hammam slut. There is something so gloriously decadent about holding still and being bathed by someone else. It’s good to be pasha. Hammams are a distinctly Muslim invention, deeply…
Angkor Wat is many things. It’s an iconic UNESCO World Heritage site, driving Cambodia’s tourist industry. It’s the largest religious structure in the world. It’s a 12th century Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu. It’s the…