asia

The Scamp in Luang Prabang, Laos

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As hard as it was to leave the elephants in Chiang Mai, I moved on to my final destination of Luang Prabang, Laos.

The city means Royal Buddha Image and is a dedicated World Heritage site. According to Wikipedia, ‘It was listed in 1995 for unique and “remarkably” well preserved architectural, religious and cultural heritage, a blend of the rural and urban developments over several centuries, including the French colonial influences during the 19th and 20th centuries.’ I only had one afternoon and one full day in the city, but after so much time away, I was ready to make the journey home.

I stayed at the Villa Chitdara, which was an amazing guest house nestled in a little jungle. I was told that the sunset from the top of Mount Phou Si. I climbed the 100m hill to the top and even though I was a sweaty mess, it was worth it for the view.

There is a large market that runs every day with trinkets and things for tourists and food for the locals. There are no grocery stores, so they come to the market to get what they need. I got some jewellery and had a good laugh at all the shirts and then enjoyed a good dinner and some local beer.

The next day I met my tour guide Bee and our driver. We started with a tour of the palace and a walk through the market to see the parts of it that are important to the locals. I really liked listening to Bee. He was soft spoken and funny, probably in his early 40s. He asked me if I wanted to buy a rat or some larva for breakfast, and I was not even the least bit tempted.

From there we went outside the city to Ban Ouray, a Hmong village. I really enjoyed visiting the village because there is a large Hmong population in Merced, where I did my undergrad degree. As part of a core course, we all had to read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down about a family in Merced. The book details language, cultural and medical struggles that happen between Western medicine and the Hmong beliefs.

We stopped in a couple of small villages, including one that made buffalo ice cream, and then made our final stop at the Kuang Si Falls. I love a good walk through the jungle and visiting anything water related. We went on a small hike and saw some bears and I got to jump into the water for a bit. While I was drying off, I chatted with Bee about his kids and what he liked to do when he wasn’t working. He asked me about my tattoos and I showed him the one I got in Thialand.

I ended the day looking at the bamboo bridge that connects different parts of the city, and although you can go across it, since I was by myself, I didn’t chance it. I spent the evening packing up and getting ready for the long trek home…..and that was an adventure in itself.

I really enjoyed my time in Southeast Asia, and the tour that Realistic Asia set up for me. I felt safe the entire time, and having the guides to show me around made all of the difference. I would like to go back and see more of Vietnam and Laos because I did not get to spend enough time in either of those countries, but I am so glad that I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the end of 22, start of 23 on my little adventure.

The Scamp at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, Chiang Mai

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This was the best part of the trip for me, and the best way to end a crappy year. My guide set it up for me when I got to the city, and a somewhat questionable van picked me up the day after the tattoo. I was carefully wrapped and protected from the sun and set off into the jungle to visit the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. The sanctuary is different from most of the touristy places because the elephants have all been rescued from terrible situations, and rather than ride them, you give them a spa day. Founded in 2014, they pride themselves on how well they love and care for their elephants. The whole thing was amazing from start to finish and an elephant mud bath does wonders for the soul. I did not want to leave, and still dream about little Ellie, the baby of the group.

Elephants love bananas and hay and are so friendly. They are so much bigger in person and getting in the river with them was a bit scary at first. The best part of this process is that they do this every day, so when they are done with the mud bath, they just get up and move on to the creek to wash off. When they feel they are clean enough, they leave the creek and go back to their waiting area. They are not penned and roam through the camps as they want. The sanctuary also takes photos so that no one misses out on the spa photo ops.

When I returned to the city, I thought about just staying in my hotel room and watching a movie. The city is really safe, so I decided to take the walk to the centre of town and watch the New Years show and send 2022 out on a positive note.

I enjoyed some street food and a lot of different types of ice cream, including honey ice cream made from fresh honey. The show had different performers and a lantern festival where people release their problems into the sky so that they can start the new year fresh. The countdown to the new year was done by the mayor and some other important city figures.

Getting out of the city centre was tough with all the people trying to leave through one gate, and there were a couple of moments that freaked me out given that I don’t do well in large crowds. There was a very nice couple behind me that helped me get through without too much of a panic, and then I had just enough wifi at the hotel to call my parents and tell them that 2022 did in fact end, and I was in fact alive.

I thought 2023 was going to be a good year having survived the death of a second brother, but the universe had other ideas.

The Scamp in Chiang Mai, Thailand

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Chiang Mai is the largest city in Northern Thailand, and to be perfectly honest, until I got the full itinerary for the trip, it was not a place I wanted to visit. I quickly changed my mind when I got there though. Chiang Mai was founded in 1296, and is currently home to 127,000 people. The city is home to 17 important Buddhist temples (also called Wats), and they are all fairly close together and easy to walk to.

I knew I was coming up on the end of the trip, and me being me, I really wanted to get a tattoo. Thailand is a really safe place to get tattooed and the country is known for its artistry. I did some research when I got to Chiang Mai and found Celebrity Ink Chiang Mai. The reviews of the shop were great, and they took walk-ins, so I made my way through the city to see what I could do.

I’m very picky about where I get tattooed and have left shops because I did not like the way that artists spoke to me. When I found the shop, the owner happened to be outside having a break, and immediately asked me if he could help. He had someone that could do a walk-in, and loved the geometric elephant that I wanted. The shop was clean and everyone in there, even the other clients were so nice. Once I got my elephant, I walked through the main square and enjoyed all of the lights and music. They were in the process of getting ready for New Year’s Eve, and there were a lot of people out and about enjoying the warm weather.

I went back to the hotel early because I was going to be up bright an early the next day to do what every animal lover wants to do for the day: hang out with elephants.

The Scamp in Bangkok, Thailand

Posted on by erranteditor

The next stop on my grand adventure was Thailand. I spent 5 days there and divided my time between Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

The guide I had in Bangkok was seriously one of the best humans I have ever met. Chaiya Poboonma is in his early to mid-20s if I had to guess, and was just a big ball of sunshine. He got me to the hotel and ensured I was checked in and cared for. I had the rest of the evening to myself. I wandered a bit and found another 7/11 to pursue treats and interesting flavours of crisps. Asia really did not disappoint with the fun crisp flavours and interesting desserts. I was not brave enough for the late-night street food, but it did smell delicious.

I stayed at the True Siam Rangnam. Of all the hotels that I stayed at during this trip, this was my least favourite. The hotel was clean, but the room was very basic and not super comfy. I think it was a surprise after coming from the luxury spa in Cambodia. The gym I had been going to at the time had made some videos of home workouts for us to do over Christmas, and I tried to do one of the workouts in the hotel room and it was just not comfortable. I did get a good laugh over the hot trainer doing an ab workout and complaining through the whole video though.

Chaiya and the driver picked me up bright and early the next mourning to see the highlights of Bangkok. Chaiya was knowledgable, but also really fun about the way he told me about the different temples and palaces. He also had a thing about photos….he knew how to take amazing photos. I’ve never had so many photos of myself taken in one day.

and all of the photos are fantastic.

The first stop was the Wat Traimit in Chinatown. The temple was founded by three Chinese friends sometime in 1820’s-1850’s, and was originally called Wat Sam Chin Tai (the south temple of the three Chinese). The temple is best known for housing a 9ft tall, 5.5 ton golden Buddha statue.

The statue is a bit of a mystery. It was built in the 13th or 14th century, and at some point, it was covered in stucco and coloured glass to conceal just how important it was. In 1801 the statue was sent to Bangkok to be in one of the many temples built in the new capital city.

In 1955 the statue was being moved and the stucco cracked, revealing the golden statue underneath. The statue is actually made in nine parts that all fit seamlessly together and came with a key on how to take it apart for easier transport. It was truly magnificent.

Our next stop was to Wat Po, the home of a 45-meter reclining Buddha statue. This temple also served as the first school for Thai massage.

The last stop on the guided tour was the Royal Grand Palace, the most revered national royal monument in Bangkok. This place was crazy. It was so full of people and large tour groups. The palace is massive. It is 218,000 square meters and protected by a wall that is 19,000 metres. It has served as the home of the King of Siam since 1782.

While there are many impressive structures and things to see in the palace, one of the most important is the statue of the Emerald Buddha. According to Wikipedia:

is an image of the meditating Gautama Buddha seated in a meditative posture, made of a semi-precious green stone (jasper rather than emerald or jade), clothed in gold.[1] and about 66 centimetres (26 in) tall.[2] The image is considered the sacred palladium of Thailand.[3][4] It is housed in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.[1]

For the three seasons, there are three sets of decorations for the Emerald Buddha:[3][19]

  • Hot/summer season from March to August – a stepped, pointed crown (makuṭa); a breast pendant; a sash; a necklace, a number of armlets, bracelets and other items of royal attire. All items are made of enameled gold and embedded with precious and semi-precious stones.
  • Rainy season from August to November – a pointed headpiece of enameled gold studded with sapphires; a gold-embossed monk’s robe draped over one shoulder (kasaya).
  • Cool/winter season from November to March – a gold headpiece studded with diamonds; a jewel-fringed gold-mesh shawl draped over the rainy season attire.

The sets of gold clothing not in use at any given time are kept on display in the nearby Pavilion of Regalia, Royal Decorations, and Thai Coins on the grounds of the Grand Palace, where the public may view them.

The photo is from Wikipedia because photos are not allowed inside the chapel, and it is considered a very spiritual place.

We wandered around the rest of the palace and had a mini photoshoot to prove that I had in fact, been there.

I had the rest of the day to do as I pleased, so I went to the Pratunam Market to look around. It was way too overwhelming, so I found a nicer mall with a food court and got myself some tasty chicken and then headed back to the hotel. I did stop in all of the 7/11s that I passed. The crisps continued to delight.

I ended the day sat by the pool in the hotel enjoying the warm weather and my book.

The next day I boarded a flight to Chiang Mai. I travelled on yet another budget airline for the 5th flight of the trip.

The Scamp in Siem Reap, Cambodia

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After my incredible day at Angkor Wat, I travelled about 10 kilometres south of Siem Reap to the floating village of Chong Khneas.

map of Tonle Sap Lakes showing the floating village

My guide and I got into a wooden boat and sailed on the Tonle Sap Lake (also known as the ‘Great Lake of Cambodia’). The boat ride was a lot of fun, we zipped through the murky lake to the floating village and stopped at a few of the traditional floating markets. They had everything from alligators to handmade gifts for sale. The last place we stopped had kids flying a kite from the roof of their floating house. They really tried hard to photobomb my selfies, which made me laugh as I love a good photobomb.

boys flying kites on the roof of a floating house

The kids did let me take their photo though so I could remember how funny and carefree they were on their floating house.

The last stop during my short time in Cambodia was the only super touristy thing that I did. I toured Chantiers Ecoles-Les Artisans d’Angkor. This is a Cambodian social business that was started in the early 90s. The goal of the business started as a way to preserve Khmer culture and provide jobs for people close to their villages. Now it is a way for people in rural communities with limited access to education to have a chance to learn skills and earn a living wage in safer working conditions. They currently employ 1100 people and specialise in silk fabrics, wood and stone carving, and polychrome products. While I usually find things like this hard to do, I did buy a very pretty necklace and a beautifully carved elephant that now sits next to my bed.

My time in Cambodia was very brief, just a couple of days, and while I was able to see the one thing that I hoped to see while there, I would go back to see more of the country. Like with my time in Vietnam, I barely scratched the surface of what the country had to offer.

I then hopped onto my fourth internal flight, and seventh overall flight of the journey to head to Bangkok for the next part of my adventure.

The Scamp in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Posted on by erranteditor

While my time in Vietnam was short, my time in Cambodia was shorter. On December 26th I took a short flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap.

Siem Reap is the second largest city in Cambodia and is known for its proximity to Angkor Wat. I got there in the afternoon and was greeted at the airport by my private guide and driver. They took me to the Hari Residence, a luxury spa and resort just a short walk from the main market. I spent some time relaxing by the pool and wandered to the market. In true Kim fashion, I got a bit lost on the way to the market, but it let me see a bit of the city that was off the tourist path.

The hotel room was super luxurious and had the best bathtub I’ve ever seen. The room service was amazing and the food was perfection. Cambodia was the part of the trip that I was most looking forward to. I really wanted to visit Angkor Wat, and when I was looking on Tour Radar for trips to this part of the world, the visit to Angkor Wat was part of what sold me on the booking.

After the best bath and a good night’s sleep in a massive comfy bed, my guide picked me up for a day at the Angkor complex. The day started off a bit rocky because my phone was not fully charged, which meant that my phone and my mini charger were not fully charged. I was a bit panicked that I wouldn’t be able to get as many photos as I wanted, but by some miracle, my phone lasted the whole day. And what a day it was.

Angkor Wat is a Hindu-Buddist temple first built in 1150 and sits on over 400 acres. It is considered the largest religious structure in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, and is on the official flag of Cambodia. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, which is considered to be the centre of the spiritual and physical universe in the Hindu religion.

and I had a private tour. Yes, a private tour of the amazing structure. I wish I could remember the name of my guide. He was a soft-spoken man in his 40s who had been in the army. He was tall and had a weathered look about him, like he’d spent his life in the harsh sun. He talked to me the whole time we were in the temple and he was an endless font of knowledge. I was enthralled as we walked past the walls of stories etched into them. The etchings are beautiful and there are so many things to look at as you move through the galleries. I wish I had taken better notes and written down some of the things that my guide said, but because I was so absorbed in just being there, a Wikipedia explanation of the decoration will have to do.

Integrated with the architecture of the building, one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat’s extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Higham has called these “the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving”.[71] From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana; and the Kurukshetra War from the Mahabharata, depicting the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava armies. On the southern gallery, the only historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II is depicted along with the 32 hells and 37 heavens of Hinduism.[72]

On the eastern gallery is one of the most celebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea of Milk, showing 92 asuras and 88 devas using the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea of milk under Vishnu’s direction. Mannikka counts only 91 asuras and explains the asymmetrical numbers as representing the number of days from the winter solstice to the spring equinox, and from the equinox to the summer solstice.[73] It is followed by reliefs showing Vishnu defeating asuras, which was a 16th-century addition. The northern gallery shows Krishna’s victory over Bana.[74]

Angkor Wat is decorated with depictions of apsaras and devatas with more than 1,796 documented depictions of devatas in the research inventory.[75] The architects also used small apsara images (30–40 cm or 12–16 in) as decorative motifs on pillars and walls. They incorporated larger devata images (full-body portraits measuring approximately 95–110 cm or 37–43 in) more prominently at every level of the temple from the entry pavilion to the tops of the high towers. In 1927, Sappho Marchal published a study cataloging the remarkable diversity of their hair, headdresses, garments, stance, jewellery, and decorative flowers depicted in the reliefs, which Marchal concluded were based on actual practices of the Angkor period.[76]

The next stop on the tour was Angkor Thom, which is famous for its series of colossal human faces carved in stone. The faces may be that of the king, or guards to protect the king, but it is a bit unclear. The street is lined with lions/warriors leading to the temples and they are really something to see up close.

Little did I know that my guide saved the best for last. The jungle temple, or Beng Mealea is a hidden, lesser-known temple that has become part of the earth again. It was by far the best place I visited on this entire trip (minus the elephant sanctuary in Thailand which I’ll share later). This BBC travel article discusses the history of the temple.

For me, it was amazing to hear the birds and to walk among the ruins. My guide took lots of pictures of me and let me wander around on my own. I climbed to the top of one of the temples and tried not to die in the heat. By the end of the day I was a sweaty noodle and the happiest little scamp.

For those of you who are Tomb Raider fans, you will recognise this temple from the 2001 Angelina Jolie movie. My guide rolled his eyes when he told me that, which made me laugh for some reason. Clearly someone thought that fact should be included in the tour, and I am sure that there are people who enjoy that….I just wasn’t one of them.

I ended the day by the pool at the hotel and looked through the hundreds of photos that I took of the temples. It was everything that I hoped it would be, and cannot recommend it enough for anyone who loves history and wants to see a true wonder of the world.

The Scamp in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

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My time in Hanoi was brief. I took a flight to the other end of the country so that I could explore Ho Chi Minh city, one of the largest cities in Vietnam. It is commonly referred to as Saigon, the city’s name until 1945. The city is in the southeast part of Vietnam and is home to around 10 million people.

I was met at the airport by a guide who got me settled into the hotel. I stayed at the Prague Hotel, which had really nice clean rooms and good food in the hotel restaurant. It was also near a 7/11 and the best little sandwich station. I arrived on Christmas Eve, and got to take advantage of the warm weather and the bustling street. One of the great things about being in this part of the world is the smell of street food. Although I was not brave enough to try street food in Vietnam, the smells were amazing.

Christmas day was a journey to My Tho, which is an entrance to the Mekong Delta. I was on tour with three couples from India. The women were all friends from college. There was another couple from India as well as a guy who was travelling solo (also from India) and some people from the US. The whole group was fun and lively and the tour guide was such a nice guy. He was probably in his early 20s and he loved hearing travel stories from everyone.

The first place we stopped was the Vinh Trang Temple. The temple is known for the giant Buddha and the beautiful tiles and gardens. There is a great article that you can find here that provides an overview of the temple, but some of the highlights include:

  • Statue of Maitreya Buddha: This colossal statue was inaugurated in 2010, constructed from reinforced concrete and steel, standing at a height of 20 meters and weighing approximately 250 tons. Under this statue is an office building of the Buddhist Executive Committee of Tien Giang Province.
  • Statue of Amitabha Buddha: Inaugurated in 2008, this standing statue of Amitabha Buddha measures 18 meters in height and 150 tons in weight.
  • Reclining Buddha statue: Often mistaken for the statue of Amitabha Buddha, this Reclining Buddha statue was completed in 2013, with a length of 32 meters, a height of 10 meters, and a weight of 250 tons, made from concrete and steel.
  • 7-story tower: In addition to the colossal and majestic Buddha statues, Vinh Trang Pagoda also houses a 7-story tower located at the rear. This tower serves as a repository for the ashes of Buddhist disciples and monks of the pagoda.

We then boarded a boat and sailed down the Mekong around four islands, Dragon, Unicorn, Pheonix and Tortiose. We stopped on Unicorn island and then took a sampan through the Thoi Son canal to see a honey bee farm and have a very interesting lunch.

The island had a host of animals that were for sale and some interesting drinks that promised a wide range of cures. I was not brave enough for snake wine, but I did hold some bees and a snake.

Once back at the hotel, I had a Christmas Banh Mi, which is a sandwich that was filled with veggies and chicken and some sort of spicy chilli sauce that was amazing. This was not the first Christmas that I have spent away from my family, but it was the first warm one that I’ve had in a while.

I really enjoyed my time in Vietnam, but it was not long enough. 5 days was not enough to see everything, and it is definitely a country that I would visit again. The people were really nice, it was fairly easy to navigate, and the food was amazing. I felt very safe there being a solo female traveller, and found that there were a lot of good tours that could be easily booked to get me around. It really is a must visit.

The Scamp in Hanoi, Vietnam

Posted on by erranteditor

I’m taking it back to December 2022. I have a massive backlog of travels to write about, but life has been very stressful lately, and writing about all of this so long after the fact feels odd. I miss the days when I updated this blog as things happened.

In November of 2022, my stepbrother Sean died. His death came almost 7 years to the day of my brother Eric, forever making Thanksgiving a horrible holiday for my dad. Addiction is a serious problem and sometimes it completely consumes a person. I’d booked this trip months before Sean’s death and had a serious chat with my parents about cancelling the trip or not. My dad told me to go on the trip and use the time to relax and process.

The trip did not get off to the best start. My flight from Edinburgh to London was cancelled, which caused me to miss my flight from London to Qatar. I ended up having to fly out the next day, which cost me the first two days of my time in Vietnam. The changing of the ticket and a new flight will become an issue later, but at that time, I was happy to have a flight out.

I booked my travel with a company called Realistic Asia. I cannot recommend them enough. The company books tours through Southeast Asia. They take care of everything, internal flights, private tour guides, hotels, every aspect of the trip you can think of. They were so helpful when I had to change my flight and even booked me a new hotel. Due to a slight misunderstanding on my part, what I thought was a group tour was actually a group of 1 tour. This turned out to be amazing once I was in Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.

I arrived in Hanoi after a million hours in Qatar’s airport to warm weather and the friendliest hotel staff. After a bit of a nap, I went out to enjoy the city a bit. I was only going to have one day in the city before going to Ho Chi Minh, so I wanted to make the most of it.

After a quick Google search I found the Temple of Literature. It is a temple dedicated to Confucius and was built in 1070. Yes, 1070! The temple was a popular spot for school tours, and it was really fun to see all the kids going through the temple.

According to Wikipedia:

The Văn Miếu is one of several temples in Vietnam which is dedicated to Confucius, sages, and scholars. The temple is located to the south of the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The various pavilions, halls, statues, and stelae of doctors are places where offering ceremonies, study sessions, and the strict exams of the Đại Việt took place. The temple is featured on the back of the 100,000 Vietnamese đồng banknote. Just before the Tết Vietnamese New Year celebration, calligraphists will assemble outside the temple and write wishes in Chữ Hán.

The temple has 5 courtyards and a selection of stone tablets to encourage people to study.

Once I had explored the temple, I decided to brave the streets and wander the city a bit. Let me tell you, that was an experience. Scooters do not stop and the constant honking and beeping let you know that you might get run over if you dare to cross the street. I made it across thanks to a tiny little grandma who just walked like she was invisible. People stopped for her and I just road her coattails across the street. I enjoyed the walk and only had to pop into a hotel once to get wifi so I could get back to my hotel. The day was a major success.

This also started my goal of going into as many 7/11s as I could find. The flavours of crisps on this trip were amazing, so different from what you can find in the US and the UK. The seaweed-flavoured ones were surprisingly good.

Unfortunately, I missed the chance to take a cruise along the Ha Long Bay, and I would definitely go back to visit.