Monk's procession in Luang Prabang, Laos.	Every morning village women fill the monk's bowls with snatches of sticky rice.		This sustains the monks throughout the day.		Our guide, Na, helped Julie do the offerings.
We took a boat up the Mekong River to the Buddha caves.	Worshippers have contributed Buddha of all sizes over many years.	At the former Presidential Palace in Luang Prabang.		The town is a World Heritage site for ancient temples.
Visiting a small village on the Mekong...		The market in Luang Prabang.	All manner of small birds are proffered.	Also, live moles!
In the hills behind Luang Prabang there is a lush waterfall nestled amongst Hmong villages.			In Vietnam, we visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and saw his extremely well-preserved body. (His will requested cremation.)	A MIG at the military museum in Hanoi.	The lake in Hanoi where John McCain crashed down.
Boats at the port on Halong Bay.		A day trip amongst the remarkable stones of Halong Bay.			Hoi An, Vietnam is a small historic fishing village located on the central coast of the China Sea.
The atmospheric outdoor scenes in "The Quiet American" were filmed around this bridge.	The enchanting resident elephant, Darling, of our hotel.		Darling enjoyed her bananas.		The watchful eyes on the fishing boats.
In the early morning fish market at Hoi An.			In Saigon, we visited the war museum.	In Bangkok, at the presidential compound there are lots of lavish temples and sculptures.
In the northern Thai town of Chiang Mai. Our hotel had rice paddies and several resident water buffalo out our terrace.	Our hotel used pony carts as conveyances. We charmed this pony with jack fruit.	White water rafting in the mountains (also biking & elephant riding).	Angkor Wat, Cambodia, from helicopter.	The main temples of Angkor Wat: 12th century Hindu and later Buddhist.
	Monkeys from mythological tales.	An apsara on the wall of the temple complex.
	A 10th century well-preserved temple in the Angkor complex (Prasat Kravan).	Ta Prohm, a 12th century temple overrun by the jungle.			Ta Keo temple in the Angkor complex.
The Victory gate at Angkor Thom.	Terrace of elephants, Angkor Thom.			Bayon temple: haunting Buddhist faces in the rock at Angkor Thom.
The Angkor Conservation Office is a locked compound that houses most of the more lootable items from the temples.		The office is not generally available for tours, so we felt fortunate to see this aspect of the ruins.	In the rugged mountainous area of Phnom Kulen we rode motorbikes to 9th century remote sculptures and temples.	Landmines & unexploded ordnance are still a problem.	An enormous elephant flanked by lions (9th cent.)
	A 9th century temple, O. Paong, in the dense jungle.	We came across sculptures covered with moss that our local guides uncovered.	A picnic by the source waters of the Siem Reap river.	Banteay Srei temple (10th century) outside the Angkor complex, near the mountains.
			Aerial temple view by helicopter.	On our layover in Seoul we visited the DMZ. "Reunification for happy families" is the theme there.	Looking out over North Korea.

In Laos we stayed at the Villa Santi resort just outside of Luang Prabang.  It was a very peaceful colonial-style compound surrounded by natural rice paddies, fountains and ponds.  We did day excursions on the Mekong River into the Buddha caves, and also visited temples, waterfalls and local villages.  The people in Laos are very poor, but warm and welcoming.  The jungle countryside is depleted of all wildlife because the people consume it all.  (It is eerie to hear no birds.)

In Hanoi we saw the major military sites, including the Hanoi "Hilton" downtown, which was originally a French prison and was where McCain was imprisoned for 6 years.  There was a very misleading poster in the sector where Americans were kept extolling the gracious manner in which the prisoners were treated.  We were impressed with the small old feel of the city, and surprised by the organization that arose from the chaos generated by a lack of street lights!  Motorbikes definitely monopolize the roads.  Vietnam (north and south) is very youthful and vibrant.  (70 million of the 85 million people in Vietnam were born after the end of the "American War".)  We stayed in the old wing of the Metropole hotel, celebrated New Year's in Hanoi, and saw the water puppets.  We took a lovely private excursion on Halong Bay.  The Bay has enormous volcanic stones covered with lush vegetation.  There is a floating village amongst the rocks, and very complex ocean currents!  The region was used as backdrop in the French movie "Indochine."

We then visited Hoi An, a pretty coastal village near Danang.  The Cham people dominated the region in the 4th-15th centuries and there are temple ruins in the area.  But our attention was transfixed by the elephant in residence at our hotel, the Victoria Hoi An.  We had a beautiful villa on the water and Darling would transit the beach regularly grooming the sand and transporting passengers.  Julie also availed herself of the local tailors, for which the city is known.  We spent a day in Saigon before leaving the country.

In Bangkok, we most enjoyed the small boat ride through the canals which definitely reinforced the image of the "Venice of the East," and the royal barge museum.  We opted to stay at the Sukhothai and were thrilled with the comforts of the terrace suite and spa there. 

In Chiang Mai, we stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, which had just opened.  It was designed as a 13th century Burmese temple town, with Thai accents.  The rustic aspects of the property included very picturesque rice and lotus paddies with running water trickling through, and water buffalo and pony carts.  Our teak Thai-style villa had many modern amenities (e.g., indoor & outdoor spa tubs).  The antiques throughout the compound were really spectacular, though the overall effect was perhaps a little over done.  We loved the adventure activities in the area, mountain biking up a decent size hill, and then rafting down.

Our favorite place to stay this trip was Amansara in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  The 12-suite property was the former guesthouse of King Sihanouk, and has a very modern design feel.  Amansara sponsored a shadow puppet show that travels to local villages and we had the pleasure of watching a performance.  Against a screen lit behind by an intense bonfire, dancers acted out a myth with elaborate large cut-out figures.  The local children were delighted.  Much of the cultural heritage was destroyed in the 1970's by the civil war, including the murder of 75% of all artists.  So this was a grassroots effort by the management of the hotel to keep alive an aspect of the Khmer arts.

All the temples in the Angkor complexes are unique marvels, but it was particularly fascinating to see the different representations of Hindu myths and actual Cham/Khmer war campaigns in the friezes and sculptures.  The relative state of decay and looting varied a great deal between the sites.  Bayon and Angkor Wat are among the more mysterious and haunting temples we saw.  Our most exciting outing of the trip was to Phnom Kulen, the holy mountain outside of Siem Reap.  With our guide, we jumped on the back of motorbikes steered by three locals and explored the jungle.  As the trails narrowed and occasionally disappeared, we saw some very remote temple ruins, stone carvings, and sculptures.  Some of the stone carvings were coated in moss that the drivers rubbed away as we watched.  These remains were older than those in the more well-known temple complexes closer to town.  As the mountain was a rebel strong-hold, the drivers were former Khmer Rouge members.  They took us to a bat cave that used to be a weapons cache (although we only found this out after the fact.)  They also pointed out unexploded weapons that they had recently reported to the mine removal program.

On our layover in Seoul we visited the DMZ and went within 170 meters of the border in a 2 meter high tunnel dug surreptitiously under the DMZ by the north.

We had the pleasure of the company of some great guides throughout our travels.  Thanks to Na in Laos, Tuong in Hanoi, and Pheng in Cambodia for fun and rewarding companionship.  Absolute Asia arranged our itinerary.