When my hosts suggested that I visit the elephants in Ayutthaya, I had some serious reservations about it. I expressed my concerns to them and they reassured me that while elephants might be treated poorly elsewhere in Thailand, the elephants in Ayutthaya are treated well. Being locals, it was safe to assume they knew what they were talking about. After all, there is a spectrum. It's not ALL terrible. But either way, wouldn't feel very entitled to an opinion on it if I didn't go see for myself. So I resolved to approach the experience with skepticism.
Pretty much the only city in Thailand that anybody outside of the region has ever heard of is Bangkok, both famous as a tourist destination and infamous for the debauchery it plays host to. Chiang Mai also gets a good bit of press. But there was a time when the center of culture and politics was entirely different. Have you ever heard of Siam?
On my trip to Bangkok I was lucky to have a Thai friend from University who is a Bangkok native. I stayed with her and her family. My gracious hosts were, financially, pretty well off… to put it mildly. So I should let you know right now, that the parts of Bangkok detailed here are not on the typical traveler’s itinerary. These places are for the elite and for the locals. I was brought to and from each place in an air-conditioned private car. And thanks to the miracle that is Thai hospitality, I barely spent a dime. I could definitely have gotten used to it. I'm a baller on a budget after all.
From Toul Sleng, these people were herded onto buses like cattle. Before the buses revved their engines and headed for, what would eventually be known as the Killing Fields, the people were told that everything was okay; they were just moving to a new ‘home.’ Maybe some of them believed that and hung onto it for the duration of the bus ride, but I don’t think many of them had many illusions left.
The reports I had heard about Phnom Penh prior to my arrival were overwhelmingly negative. People talked about the drugs, theft and the prostitution before they mentioned anything else. So I arrived prepared for the worst.
Not far to the South of Siem Reap is Tonle Sap Lake. Being of comparable size to the great lakes in the U.S., this lake is the biggest lake in Southeast Asia. Sitting at one of the Northern most points of this lake is one of the floating villages. This is an actual small town that is floating a few hundred meters off shore. Its population is mostly fishermen, but it also has all of the normal small-town trappings like a supermarket, restaurants, even a pagoda, all floating out there in the lake.
Angkor Wat is perhaps, behind the Great Wall of China, the most recognizable landmark in all of East Asia. But despite its fame, is actually one of the smaller members in a much bigger complex of temples. Angkor is an area of about 20 square miles, containing more than 200 temples. Angkor Wat is special amongst these temples because it is perhaps the best preserved. This is thanks in part of the giant moat that surrounds the temple, keeping the jungle from swallowing it back up like so many of the other temples in Angkor.
Going to Cambodia is a lot like going to a strip club – you better arrive with a fat stack of ones. Trip Advisor ranked Siem Reap as the #1 destination in Asia last year. The Khmer new year was just 2 weeks ago and Siem Reap apparently received roughly 300,000 international visitors in addition to 1,000,000 domestic visitors (in that week alone) who all came to take part in the giant party that was being held in Angkor Wat and the surrounding temple complexes.
Hội An was a very important trading post of the old world. It was the opinion of most Chinese and Japanese merchants that Hội An was the best trading post in Southeast Asia, if not Asia at large. However, thanks to a treaty signed with the colonizing French, Đà Nẵng eventually became the port of choice in lieu of Hội An. Also, due to a build up of silt at the mouth of the river, Hội An became all but inaccessible to the large ships that used to frequent its docks. The effect of this was isolation. The ancient town of Hội An was all but forgotten about during Vietnam’s tumultuous next 200 years.
Travel plans! On this trip, we'll be visiting Da Nang, Hoi An (in Vietnam), Siem Reap, and Phnom Penh (in Cambodia). Included in these destinations will be Angkor Wat and the Killing Fields in Cambodia, as well as a legendary lantern lighting festival in the backwaters of central Vietnam.
