On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Dagaetch
In 2015 I took a break from real life and traveled for 6 months!
I started my adventures in Southeast Asia, specifically Thailand. While I have no regrets about starting there, and I ate extremely well, I had not yet adjusted to a ‘road’ mentality, and spent time more in cities going to tourist stops. I’d love to get back to Thailand some day and explore the country more. I also took a boat tour down the Mekong River into Laos.
My trip began in Bangkok. I was absolutely doing standard tourist stuff to start – guided boat tour, check out the temples, etc. I did get to dip my toes into the street food experience (yum), eased into walking many miles a day, and just adjusted to being halfway around the world in a very non-Western culture. Bangkok worked very well for that, it’s an incredibly tourist friendly city that is easy to manage but also feels very different. A good starting point for a trip like this – but I also want to go back to experience it with a more practiced approach.
I took a ferry across the Chao Phraya River (fare was 3 baht, or about 10 cents) to the Wat Arun complex, or Temple of Dawn. It’s a giant tower that you can climb about half way up. The stairs, however, are deceptively tall. Each step is about 10 inches high, and there isn’t much depth. I kept a very firm grip on the handrail and tried not to think about it. The temples were very impressive, and I enjoyed seeing monks visiting from other places taking tourist pictures.
I enjoy cooking and love Thai food, so it made perfect sense to take a cooking class! I was in Chiang Mai and went to Sammy’s Organic Cooking, which was a multi-hour course at a beautiful farm (where Sammy was very proud of his outdoor toilet, as one is.) Sammy picked up the participants in town and took us all to the market, sharing brief lessons about ingredients and techniques. We then headed to his farm outside of town and spent a wonderful day making curry paste from scratch, Tom Kha Gai (coconut soup with chicken), Pad Thai, papaya salad, and mango with sticky rice. I ate every bite and had no regrets.
I made a friend! This is Mae Eloo (pronounced meh-E-loo), who was living at a camp for rescued elephants. She was about 40 years old, weighed 3.5 tons, and looooved bananas. I took a day trip to learn more and get a chance to play. We did ride the elephants – I thought I had done my research to make sure it wasn’t bad, and it was bareback riding so there wasn’t any kind of seat to cause her pain or lasting harm, but upon further reflection I probably shouldn’t have. Ah well. Mae Eloo got a bit of revenge when we walked her into a pond for her bath and she immediately started rolling over, had to quickly dismount and got very wet!
Chiang Rai was very different from Bangkok or Chiang Mai; a more industrial town, it seemed to me? I didn’t get to see all that much of it, as it’s more spread out and a little harder to walk around. The only major sight I went to was the White Temple, which is…different. It’s relatively new (started in the early 90’s) and expected to take another 70-80 years to be completed as originally planned. The imagery is surreal – parking cones with skull heads, a garden of statuary hands grasping, trees with heads hanging in them. I think the theory is that, in order to achieve enlightenment, one must pass through a figurative Hell or something. Mostly, it was just strange.
After Thailand, I wanted to visit Laos, and rather than fly everywhere I decided to take a boat trip down the Mekong River. (You can drive as well, but I was warned that the road was terrible and it was unpleasant.) Speed boats are considered an excellent adventure if you have a death wish and a very strong stomach. I have neither so chose to take the slow boat, which takes two days including an overnight stop. The boat was surprisingly comfortable and came with a tour guide who shared information occasionally and was a big help getting you through customs at both ends.
The river trip was actually delightful. I made some good friends, we learned a bit about local ecology (dams upriver in China had changed the river drastically over recent decades), and got a couple of opportunities to stop and wander on shore, including one brief village visit. The overnight stop was pleasant and we had good weather, so a very positive experience overall.
It’s a rock. That looks like a dog. For some reason I figured the jackals would appreciate this :).
I hadn’t really heard of this city before I began planning my trip, but it was a wonderful place. The relaxed pace and feel, the lack of crowds and ‘pressure’ (hawkers and the like) compared to Thailand and later Vietnam, and the delicious French influenced food all made it place where I felt completely at ease and comfortable. I wandered a lot, stopped at some local temples and other destinations, and generally had a delightful time.
Outside of the city are the Kuang Si Waterfalls, which is a whole complex. There are many different levels of waterfalls, including this one which I absolutely loved. There was also an Asiatic bear rescue center in the area, where the bears had free rein and the humans stayed in a small protected area.
eclare
I can’t decide which of your adventures I want more: the cooking class, the slow boat down the Mekong, or the easy day in a town in Laos. Looking forward to more posts!
PS long ago a friend of mine did a world tour. Said Laos was one of his favorite places.
OzarkHillbilly
Thailand is a favorite of my niece’s, has been there several times. Broke her ankle there (I forget exactly how, only that it involved a bicycle) Barely escaped the 2014 coup, flew out just hours before it began. She and her hubby can tell some tales (not just of Thailand).
That White Temple: Wow. I could easily spend a whole day there.
raven
Great shots. I used to have to take a ferry across the Mekong at Vinh Long and Can Tho and it sucked because they could only take two deuce-and-a-half’s and we’d sit there for hours. Now they have a bridge that looks like Charleston!
raven
Here’s what it looked like in 1969!
eclare
@raven:
That is a big change!
raven
@eclare: Yea, it actually collapsed during construction and they were able to complete it. That part of the Mekong is called the “Bassac”. This is a shot of Seven Mountains and the river from a chopper that a photographer gave me.
Paul in Jacksonville
Was this a solo trip?
JPL
Wow! The pictures are incredible and thank you for sharing.
AM in NC
What an adventure! Thank you for sharing these pictures and I hope this is just the first installment you share of of your 5 month trip.
If you don’t mind answering, were you solo? Are you a man? How old were you on your trip? I just recently retired early (mid-50s) and am beginning to plan adventures, and want a realistic goal to aim for. I’ve never traveled in Asia but it is somewhere I and husband very much want to visit. We are both fit and game to try a lot, but he is more geared toward comfort in travel than I am.
Thanks again – really interesting photos and also your descriptions full of info!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Stunningly beautiful pics of the trip down the Mekong
HinTN
@raven: That’s an excellent photograph of an amazing place!
Also, cable stayed bridges are beautiful.
HinTN
@Dagaetch – would love to get the recipe for the curry paste. What a trip!
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Must have been the rainy season.
mrmoshpotato
Wonderful pictures. And is it wrong to want a coconut curry for breakfast now?
Dagaetch
@Paul in Jacksonville:
It was. I met people who I then traveled with at various points, but for the most part it was just me myself and I. Although I maintain that with the number of voices in my head, I’m never all that solo!
@AM in NC:
More to come! Yes, solo cis male, early thirties at the time. SEA is a great place for flexible travel – the (relatively) low prices mean that you can afford last minute planning, and there is a huge tourist infrastructure. Although I have heard anecdotally that COVID has definitely changed things, so please do lots of research. I do think Thailand and Vietnam, particularly in the main cities, would be very easy for you to manage.
@HinTN:
I do have a cookbook from that class somewhere! But this looks right. I almost never bother tbh, the canned stuff is good enough for me most of the time.
@mrmoshpotato:
Never!
pieceofpeace
Great photos – thank you!
UncleEbeneezer
If we ever get back to SE Asia, we definitely want to check out Laos and Cambodia. And do a trip down the Mekong. Great pix!
There go two miscreants
Wonderful pictures! It is strange to think of taking a boat on a river to actually travel somewhere (as opposed to something local like a ferry) since that is rare here in the USA.
Anonymous At Work
They let you try noodling any Mekong catfish?
lee
@AM in NC:
I would make one suggestion. I have no idea of y’alls experience so my suggestion is ‘practice’. Traveling is a skill. Eveything from making sure all your dates and modes of transportation actually work to finding the best way to convert currency and now ensuring your cell phone works while away.
Practice with some trips of various degress of difficulty in the US then start branching out.
C Stars
Amazing photos and (vicarious) experiences! Thank you for sharing.