March 2019

Five of us braved the cold water to truly experience the Tat Kuang Si Waterfalls; we may be smiling but small fish are biting at our feet

Thirty kilometers southwest of Luang Prabang is the highlight of the region - Tat Kuang Si Waterfalls; it reminded me of a small version of Plitvice National Park in Croatia

This is about the most scenic view on our 2 day Mekong trip; most of the time we were passing through wooded hills with occasional shacks where people might be farming a small parcel along the shore and maybe raising cattle

Across from our hotel in Pakbeng there was an elephant sanctuary; we saw elephants come down at sunset and then again at sunrise

Our tour group has gotten along great together; we will add 6 more to the group once we get to Hanoi, Vietnam

The muddy Mekong had periodic rapids but, surprisingly, had tons of volcanic rocks scattered so our pilot had to know the river well; locals did their laundry in the river and I suspect some got their drinking water from it too

Some of the pools at Tat Kuang Si are sacred with swimming not allowed; the falls flow year round with less water from March to May and high water volume from June to October

Virtually all longboats making the 2 day journey from Chiang Kuong, Thailand to Luong Prabang, Laos have to stop overnight in Pakbeng; there is no navigating the river at night

Asiatic moon bears live at a rescue center near the Tat Kuang Si Waterfalls; the bears have been confiscated from poachers who sell them for their precious bile

The many-tiered waterfalls of Tat Kuong Si tumble over limestone formations into a series of cool, swimmable turquoise pools; the winding road to the falls was full of potholes and jarring

Our tour included a brief visit to the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Center; the focus was on the different dialects/groups in different parts of the country

The visit to Tat Kuang Si was included in our tour (admission is normally $2.50); it has been the highlight of our tour so far!

Our tour stopped by Ock Pop Tok to learn about how locals make traditional Laotian textiles; visitors can take courses on bamboo weaving or dyeing and weaving your own scarf and textiles

The daily night market in Luang Prabang is one of the most popular activities in town; the city only has 55000 residents but is extremely popular with tourists

The Pak Ou Cave near Luong Prabang is also known as the Buddha Cave because locals would pray before undertaking a boat journey on the Mekong

Longboats are the primary mode of transportation along the Mekong; we traveled hundreds of kilometers down the river and there was not one road crossing of the river (although the Chinese are building a rail crossing)

See if you can decipher Laotian symbols; the gym was an open-air storefront but several people were in there biking, on the treadmill and lifting weights

The Tat Kuang Si Waterfalls are a must see for anyone visiting Luang Prabang so every tour group stops here; our trip included an excellent (I was told) lunch with a local family

At Ock Pop Tok our guide explained how natural sources were used to die the silk; the facility is in a beautiful location on the banks of the Mekong

At the Ethnology Museum they had a homemade rat trap; it illustrates how practical and resourceful locals are when they don't have access or funds for the modern day equivalents

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and rose to prominence as the capital of the first Lao kingdom from 1353 until the 1975 revolution which brought an end to the monarchy

On the journey to the Tat Kuang Si Waterfalls we saw terraced rice fields, small vegetable gardens and commercial timber parcels; most of the locals depend on tourism with lots of food options and souvenir shops at the entrance to the falls

We stopped in Pakbeng for the night on our two day journey down the 2700 mile Mekong River; behind Jonathan is virtually the entire town which was mainly small guesthouses, used clothing stores and street food vendors

Laos used to be known as the land of a million elephants; it's not known if there were ever actually a million but now there are fewer than 900 left

The Bangkok Skywalk is atop the country's tallest skyscraper and offers views over the incredibly sprawling city; it's an innovative, modern tourist attraction which gave us a rest from temples

Wat Traimit features the world's largest solid gold buddha (3 m tall and weighing 5.5 tons); for scale, notice the door frame in the lower left corner

The 17th century Wat Arun was my favorite Buddhist temple in Bangkok with its Gaudi-like design; the 80 meter spire used to be the tallest structure in the city until the advent of the modern skyscraper

Loha Prasat, aka the Metal Castle, is a Buddhist temple with 37 metal spires representing the 37 Buddhist virtues built in 1846; it was very peaceful without many tourists and the view from the top was impressive

The last night of our month-long tour; this was the best tour group I've ever traveled with!

More than one hundred thousand people use the longboats to travel around the city's canals daily; we had an eye-opening journey seeing all sorts of buildings along the way

Wat Traimit at sunset from the roof of our hotel; the air pollution contributes to some sensational sunsets

The best time to visit Bangkok is the cool season (Nov-Feb) which is also the dry season; cool is used relatively though since highs are only in the lower 90s!

The 78 story King Power building reminds me of Jenga; the building is named for the Thai company which runs the duty free stores at airports

The house of Jim Thompson, an American entrepreneur credited with reviving the silk textile industry in Thailand, is now a museum showcasing his art collection; Thompson disappeared without a clue in 1967

The 19th century Temple of the Golden Mount, on a man-made hill, has become a symbol of Bangkok; we found the taxi drivers here consistently trying to rip-off tourists so we walked everywhere

Hear no evil, see no evil and say no evil; Bangkok's rapid growth coupled with little urban planning has resulted in a haphazard cityscape and inadequate infrastructure

An annual ceremony used to take place on this Great Swing whereby young men would try to swing high enough to get a sack of gold tied to a pole about 75 feet in the air; the ceremony was banned in the 1930s after many deaths

Loha Prasat was erected in a very unusual way with multiple concentric square levels built on geometrically aligned pillars; it is one of three such structures ever built and the only one remaining

The colored mosaic pieces at Wat Arun are Chinese porcelain and create a gorgeous work of art; the temple was a popular place for photographers and just across the river from the Royal Palace

Bangkok in 1960 had 193 days at or above 90 degrees yet in 2018, Bangkok had 276 days at or above 90 degrees; that's way too hot for me and doesn't even add in the Houston-like humidity

The Democracy Monument was built in 1939 to celebrate the 1932 coup that ended the 150 year absolute monarchy; it was a challenge to consume enough liquids to make up for the sweat constantly dripping off me

The Rama VIII Bridge has a main span of 980 ft, and was one of the world's largest asymmetrical cable-stayed bridges at the time of its completion in 2002; traffic congestion is severe trying to cross the Chao Phraya River

This city of more than 10 million people has little mass transit so most people get around by walking or motorcycle; the city does not smell good with way too much trash, both in town and in the waters

This stock photo was the best I could find to show the enormity of the Grand Palace complex; it is Bangkok's most popular tourist attraction and a pilgrimage destination for Buddhists

The Royal Pantheon was built in 1855 to house the Emerald Buddha by Rama IV; Rama V decided it was wasn't big enough for a royal congregation and built the current Temple of the Emerald Buddha

The world's largest reclining Buddha is the highlight of Wat Pho; this temple also has the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand (no easy feat!)

Monitor lizards are a common sight in Bangkok; they can grow to 10 feet and have become a significant problem in parts of the city

The temple grounds at Wat Pho contain 91 small chedis (stupas or mounds), four great chedis, two belfries, a bot (central shrine), a number of viharas (halls) and other buildings such as pavilions, as well as gardens and a small temple museum

Wat Phra Kaew is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple (wat) in Thailand; the 234 acre complex has more than 100 buildings with 200 years of royal history

The view from our hotel room shows Central Station at the left where our train left from; at night, the city is beautiful and the station lit with rotating neon colors

The feet of the 46 meter long reclining Buddha at Wat Pho are amazingly ornate featuring inlaid mother-of-pearl; Wat Pho is also known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage which is still taught and practiced at the temple

Wat Pho was intended to serve as a place of education for the general public; the murals on the walls of the buildings tell important Buddhist stories

Jonathan and I were joined by 2 Canadian couples, a woman from London, a man from Cologne, a woman from the Sierra foothills in California and our tour guide from Cambodia

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha is generally believed to have been crafted in 14th-century Thailand; men must wear long pants and sleeved shirts while women must wear long skirts and have their shoulders covered

While the Thai king no longer lives in the Grand Palace, a large part of the complex is reserved for royal residences and ceremonies and is off-limits to tourists

The Temple of Emerald Buddha was completed in 1784, but like most other Thai temples, looks as if it could have been built yesterday

Lumphini Park is the largest park in the city and was named for the birthplace of Buddha in Nepal; one of the most disturbing elements of the city is the huge number of stray dogs (estimated at 300,000+)

Despite hundreds of buildings in the Grand Palace complex there are only 2 that tourists can enter; with hordes of tourists everywhere, it feels like a zoo or Disneyworld and kind of ruins the experience

The Beaux Arts Presidential Palace was built as the residence of the Governor General under French colonial rule; today it's used as a guest house and reception facility for foreign dignitaries

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum is modeled after that of Lenin; we visited on Monday when the mausoleum is closed; we were told there are often long lines to view the body

The 1980 statue of Lenin was given to Vietnam by the USSR; Ho Chi Minh met Lenin in 1922; I wonder what the Vietnamese people think of Lenin today

The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating from the 7th century; 5 million tourists a year visit Hanoi but it's not the easiest city to see

Our hotel is easily the narrowest hotel I've ever stayed in!; the building is very deep but only about 10 feet wide which isn't all that unusual here

Ngoc Son Temple was beautifully lit at night; Hanoi is sometimes dubbed the Paris of the East for its French influences with tree-fringed boulevards, more than two dozen lakes and thousands of French colonial-era buildings

Hanoi's neo-Gothic St. Joseph's Cathedral was inaugurated in 1886; public admission is only permitted during Mass so tourists don't have access to the interior

It's a shame we missed Trump in Hanoi last week; Hanoi is situated in Vietnam's Red River delta, nearly 90 km (56 mi) away from the coast

Hoa Lo Prison Museum is better known as the Hanoi Hilton; most exhibits relate to the prison's use up to the mid-1950s focusing on the Vietnamese struggle for independence from France

John McCain was the most famous American prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton; there was a nice presentation on some of the other prisoners and their life after imprisonment

The Hoa Lo Prison complex was originally much larger; in 1994, 80% of the prison was destroyed to make room for a new high rise complex

Turtle Tower was built in 1886 in Hoan Kiem Lake; Hanoi is the most affordable international destination in TripAdvisor's annual TripIndex report

2019 is the year of the pig and the VIetnamese follow the Chinese calendar; from 1010 until 1802, Hanoi was the most important political center of Vietnam

In the Old Quarter each street typically has all of the local merchants of a particular item; we saw Toy St, Paint St, Coffee St, etc.

Tran Quoc Pagoda is the most visited pagoda in Hanoi; it was constructed in the 6th century and lies on a small island in Truc Bach Lake

One reason it's so difficult to get around in Hanoi is people sit down to eat street food and motorcycles use them as parking lots; I found it better to walk on the edge of the road

The Temple of Literature; the city is usually cloudy and foggy in winter, averaging only 1.5 hours of sunshine per day in February and March although we had better weather than that

The 200 year old flag tower is a symbol of Hanoi; the tower was one of the few ancient monuments that the French colonists did not destroy

Hanoi has about 7 million people which is second most in Vietnam after Ho Chi Minh City which lies 1720 kms to the south; just trying to cross the street was a life and death challenge

The War Memorial is a monument which commemorates the sacrifice of courageous men and women during the Vietnam War; the design is a fusion of traditional Vietnamese and modernist architecture

This area runs along the Red River; there was a very upscale area we saw on the way to the train station that looked similar to Western cities

I couldn't believe there was a Popeye's in the Hanoi airport; over three-quarters of the jobs in Hanoi are state-owned and Hanoi has in-migration controls which allow the city to accept only people who add skills to Hanoi's economy

The Vietnamese currency is the dong; 1 USD is currently worth 23,200 dong so the bills are all very large denominations

Tran Quoc is the oldest pagoda in Hanoi; it's located on a small island in West Lake; since 2014, Hanoi has consistently been voted in the world's top ten destinations by TripAdvisor

I loved this road that has mosaics that go on for 4 miles; developed on the occasion of the Millennial Anniversary of Hanoi, it is the world’s largest ceramic mosaic and was awarded a Guinness World Records certificate

This humble, traditional stilt house is where Ho Chi Minh lived intermittently between 1958 and 1969; you can't go inside but you can see inside at furnishings and mementos from Ho's life

The Ho Chi Minh Museum opened in 1990, a hundred years after the birth of Ho Chi Minh; I went early to avoid the crowds but wasn't very successful at that

The One Pillar Pagoda was built in 1049 and is dedicated to the goddess of mercy and protector of children, Quan Am; the pagoda is included in the ticket for the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex

According to a recent ranking by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Hanoi will be the fastest growing city in the world in terms of GDP growth from 2008 to 2025

This group is not at all unusual as whole families crowd onto a single motorcycle; it's winter for the local with highs of only 75 but I was still sweating in just t-shirt and shorts

Our group attended a traditional water puppet show; photos don't do justice to the constant honking and madness of Hanoi's streets

The Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius, was founded in 1070; six years later this was the site of Vietnam's first university

Motorcycles are the most common means of getting around; bizarrely they go in every imaginable direction including the wrong way on one way streets

Bulog Dos Island; it was chaos every morning as guests had to wait an hour or more before the bangkas departed; with the excursions going every day it was perplexing that things didn't run more smoothly

Large green sea turtle; there seems to be a great variety of coral species here while I saw the same fish species over and over again

My camera seems to take great photos of clownfish but I can't get shots of other species that are as distinct; I wonder if the camera picks up the bright colors and then auto-focuses

This unique cushion sea star has short arms and an inflated appearance and resembles a pentagonal pincushion; this species is found in the warm tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region and comes in a wide range of colors

Banul Beach; a woman on my day trip was from Copenhagen and was childhood friends with Caroline Wozniacki (she said Caro was competitive even back then but very friendly)

I had not seen razorfish before so I really enjoyed watching them as they floated around; when threatened by larger fish, the razorfish darts away to a nearby sea urchin or staghorn coral for protection

This looks just like a rose underwater but is the egg ribbon of a Spanish Dancer nudibranch; the eggs are preyed upon by fish, especially moon wrasse

In Coron the fishing industry experienced a boom (literally) during the 1970s up to the 1990s which gradually dwindled due to illegal blast and sodium cyanide fishing

Olive leather coral; this common, colorful soft coral currently has 166 species in the genus

The islands around Coron are very mountainous and uninhabited; I've met lots of Filipinos who now live in other countries but have come back to enjoy a vacation with their relatives who still live in the Philippines

After Finding Nemo, global clownfish sales increased 40% for the aquaria trade; the Philippines and Indonesia are the world’s top exporters of wild-caught marine fish, supplying 85% of the trade

Red bubble-tip anemone with barely visible clownfish; this is the only red anemone I have seen

Scarlet crinoid (aka sea lily); this species feeds on detritus, phytoplankton and zooplankton caught by means of a sticky substance on the arms

Coral branching out from the wall; every morning little kids would be down at the bangkas selling water shoes, waterproof iphone cases and water

It's hard to tell in the photo but this coral is pink and yellow and one of the few species I've seen with pastel coloration; I couldn't figure out what type of coral it is though

I'm assuming these are closed sea anemones; they are the only ones I've seen so I wonder why they would be closed (anyone know?)

Light blue chromoproteins in the growth margins of a Montipora coral; there are no decent beaches around Coron on Busuanga Island

Banul Beach; island time here is very confusing as I was told my excursion van would pick me up at 8am and the van actually arrived at times ranging from 7am to 9am!

Pincushion sea star; found in tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region, this unusual species of starfish creates its own little habitat by providing shelter for small shrimp that hide under it

Banul Beach on Coron Island; Coron is part of the Calamian Islands chain which is known as an adventurer's paradise

This colorful parrotfish was definitely the alpha in this group of fish as they were feeding; they were so loud you could actually hear them munching on the coral

Large table coral; the Coron airport is 45 minutes away but a shared van ride only costs $3 (the drivers all act like they are grand prix competitors)

Coral ledge jutting out from side of wall; similar to Vancouver, Coron isn't on Coron Island but on Busuanga Island while Coron Island is just across the strait

Acropora abrotanoides (I couldn't find a common name); these are large formations that can be 10 feet across and grow in warm, shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific region

The 490 foot, pedestrian Golden Hands Bridge is the most famous attraction at the Sun World park; at 1500 meters above sea level it's significantly cooler here than down in Danang

The nicest thing about the peacock flower garden was people couldn't walk through it; you could actually get a photo without 20 other people in it

The main complaint people on TripAdvisor had with the park was the large crowds; our experience was made easier with a tour guide who whisked us from one sight to the next efficiently

The Ba Na cable car, opened in March 2013, holds the world record for longest non-stop single track cable car at 5,801 meters (3.6 miles!) in length

The Golden Hands Bridge opened in June, 2018 and has become world famous; you can't just drop by to see it since it's inside the park and you have to take a long cable car to reach it

I was looking forward to seeing the St. Denis Basilica but it's not quite finished and will be a hotel; in Paris St. Denis is where most of the French royal families are buried

There are relatively few attractions at the park, unlike Disney; the focus here seems to be creating photo ops to appeal to Asian tourists

The wine cellar was originally built almost 100 years ago by French colonists; they constructed a resort here to be used as a leisure destination for French tourists

This 27 meter high Buddha looks out over the property; in Danang I saw the University of Tourism which should teach students better English skills to complement their graciousness and desire to be helpful

The Golden Hands Bridge was voted by TIME magazine as one of the Top 10 Best Destinations of the World 2018 and admired by The Guardian as the world’s most impressive pedestrians’ bridge

The top of the mountain is set to resemble a French village; surprisingly, there are few souvenir shops since, unlike Disney or Universal, they don't have any licensed characters

There's a tradition in Vietnam to take pre-wedding photos which are then shown at the wedding; there's also a party hosted by the groom's family followed the next day by a party by the bride's family

Bizarrely, there were tons of stairs at this new park with no accommodation for wheelchairs, strollers or luggage; also, most of the staff spoke little to no English while most of the guests spoke no Vietnamese

We rode the one pseudo-roller coaster but it was pretty tame by US standards; you could accelerate or brake but many of the Asian girls were afraid to accelerate which slowed everyone else down

The natural beauty of the area was evident with this waterfall view from the gondola; except for the peak, the mountains have a beautiful canopy of foliage that has been left untouched

To recognize the strength of the Buddhist culture, the park has several pagodas and a replica monastery; these attractions weren't crowded since they were at the peak of the mountain

Fantasy Park was like a big Dave and Buster's; the first funicular in Vietnam is scheduled to get visitors to the mountaintop in just 90 seconds when it opens

We were told that 60% of the visitors are from Korea; the ticket price of about $35 is considered way too expensive for the average Vietnamese family

Fantasy Park, located in the castle, is Vietnam's largest indoor game zone (it was on 3 levels); the castle also has Vietnam's first wax museum which we skipped (it cost a little extra)

There are at least 5 huge hotels under construction at the top of the mountain as well as a couple at the bottom; currently it would be quite dead after 5 pm with only hotel restaurants and bars open

The Year of the Pig was readily apparent everywhere you turned; we took an organized excursion from Hoi An which cost about $56 and included admission, transportation and a buffet lunch

For four years in a row from 2015 to 2018, Sun World Ba Na Hills was bestowed the accolade of Top Tourist Resort of Vietnam by the Vietnam Association of Tourism; I haven't noticed much competition in this category

By Asian standards, the park is probably quite nice but it lacked the attention to detail that you'd see at a Disney park; for example, almost all of the signs were only in Vietnamese despite the vast majority of guests not speaking the language

I've wanted to visit the Golden Hands Bridge ever since Jeff Fisher sent me a photo of it (knowing that I was planning to visit Vietnam)

More than a million tulips brighten the park this spring; we had two Dutch girls on our tour and they lamented that they'd flown halfway around the world to see more tulips

The park has more than 30 restaurants offering a wide variety of cuisine options; our ticket included a buffet lunch but, after reading the mediocre reviews, I opted to skip it to see more of the park

I was born in the year of the dragon; there is a championship golf course and luxury hotel at the base of the complex near Danang

There were different shows every hour on the small stage but we never sat down to watch one; wisely, all of the rides except the roller coaster are indoors so you can visit in the rainy or super hot seasons

The dragon with a disco ball in its mouth was attention grabbing but we didn't have time to ride the bumper cars; the lines weren't that long since everyone was outside taking photos

Our group had a couple from Latvia, two Dutch girls, a girl from London, an American woman who has spent the last 4 years living in Ecuador, two guys from Turkey, a couple from Malaysia and me

The climbing wall was huge but wasn't very difficult; the kids preferred being inside where the games and rides were (all were free with the cost of admission)