Laos

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.

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Luang Prabang

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.

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Mountain Biking on Fansipan

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.

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Sapa

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.

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Halong Bay

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.

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Saigon Cowgirls

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.

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Inner sanctum

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.

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More Angkor

More Angkor… because, well, it’s that fucking cool. The Baphuon is a colossal pyramid structure on top of which the Khmer God-kings looked down upon their minions… The Bayon is populated by hundreds of towering stone faces that for ages have stared serenely at temple visitors from every angle. <

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