BootsnAll Travel Network



Initial Impressions

Sabadie!

Have been home for less than a week, and have some initial impressions to pass on about Laos and Cambodia.

We LOVED Laos! It reminded us of what we liked about Burma (Myanmar): friendly happy people, beautiful countryside, the village way of life. We were somewhat less enamored of Cambodia, as it kept reminding us of what we haven’t liked about China: crowds, noise, litter, repiratory infections… And I was a bit underwhelmed by Angkor Wat, after all the hype it’s gotten. Still trying to figure out why I wasn’t more impressed. Pagan in Burma (and Tikal in Guatemala) was so much more awe-inspiring.

We were amazed at the number of travelers we met who were traveling for 6 months or 9 months or a year or more. We had only 3 weeks to explore two countries. Some of them spent 3 weeks in just one city….

We had NO problems on this trip, no bird flu, no thefts, and only one tuk tuk driver at the Thai border who knew we were in a hurry and short changed us (all of 70 cents). We did both get colds (Bill got two!) and we both had stomach upsets – Kim threw up on two different occasions in Cambodia (we thought she was gonna die for about three hours, with a high fever and relentless barfing); Bill just toughed out his intestinal distress till he felt better, by sleeping on the slow boat to the Thai border.

Most of the time, though, we felt great. We were aware of a feeling of well-being we don’t normally have on a trip. In Laos, we felt that the people were happy, the chickens, the pigs, and the cows were happy, and the water buffalos were especially content! Didn’t suffer much jet lag going over, though we were in the air for 22 hours on three flights getting from Montana to Bangkok. And we didn’t get anxious to get home in the least, even toward the end of the trip.

People at home have asked us Why Laos, Why Cambodia? They couldn’t imagine going to a 3rd world country on purpose! Having been there now, we’ll know what to tell them!

Future posts will include information about expenses and itinerary…



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