Mỹ (other) Sơn
Don’t think for a moment that Cambodia’s Angkor-era ruins are the only dead things in Southeast Asia. There’s us, of course, but there are also spectacular ruins of the pre-Angkor Champa kingdom that dot Vietnam.…
Landing In Hội An
This is something of a new cadence for us. When we set out we’d settled on about three months at each location, enough time to marinate in terroir. Then we noticed that the last few…
We All Scream For Museum!
Hà Nói is a capital city, and has the allotment of high quality museums you’d expect as a result. From fine art to historical to ethnographic, Hà Nói has it all. So let’s go museuming.…
Swimming To Vietnam
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…
Phnom Kulen: The Holy Mountain
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…
Temples All Around, Barkeep
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…
Wats Up
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…
The Old City, And How It Got Its Name
The Old City is home to many of Istanbul’s greatest hits: Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar. The problem is that every one of these locations is on the…
Kapadokya: Land Of Fairies
Or, as it’s Anglicized and better known, Cappadocia. Ground Zero for Instagrammable hot air balloons. If you know us you’ll be unsurprised that we didn’t go aloft. What may surprise you, and certainly surprised us,…
Strapping On The Bible Belt
Turkey has some serious Christian history. Constantine, who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity in 312, established Constantinople as the Roman capital in 330. That attracted a lot of Christians to Turkey, but there was…