Beautiful stuff, Terry. I'm curious. Why did you decide to visit Southeast Asia? Were you there during the war? If you'd like to see some shots from the Vietnam delta during the war, look here: http://www.russ-lewis.com/photo_gallery/Asia/Vietnam/index.html.
I'm Canadian and was too young for the war to impact me directly, expect that one of my favourite teachers - my Grade 11 Geography teacher who inspired to me to pursue Geography - was a draft dodger.
SE Asia has not really been on our "bucket list", primarily because my wife and I are definitely not hot, humid weather people – Iceland is more our style! But our daughter spent almost 4 months in Hue last year on an internship for her degree in International Development. She fell in love with Vietnam, the people, the culture and food. With her having just graduated from uni, we were looking for a destination we could all travel to as a family and she offered to put together an independent and inexpensive tour of Vietnam and Cambodia finishing in Bangkok. We tacked on a hop to Singapore to visit friends who had just moved there.
I was pleasantly surprised by Vietnam and Cambodia; Thailand less so as it is more westernized. The heat, humidity and rain were, at times, oppressive, but we (mostly) became used to it. The people go out of their way to be helpful. It is incredibly safe walking the streets of Ha Noi, Hue, Da Nang, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap at night. People leave their shoes outside their hotel rooms with no worry of theft. Hotels, homestays, hostels and meals are very inexpensive. The history, architecture, temples and scenery are all spectacular and very photogenic.
Judging by the number of shops, restaurants and hotels busy with local people, Vietnamese tourists and westerners, business is thriving. The best part was they were all family-run, Mom-and-Pop operations, not homogenous chains and franchises like here. I was very surprised to see so many young western families independently touring the country - Mom, Dad, 2 or 3 kids - French, German, Brits, Aussies, but distinctly few Americans. On the tour buses, it was Vietnamese and Chinese tourists, not westerners.
Although the traffic seems dangerous by North American standards, there is a rhythm to it and we fared well while walking, on motorbikes, tuk-tuks and taxis. Even the night trains were a thrill. Airports for both internal and international flights were effortless. There is far more security at US-Canada borders than anywhere there. In fact, coming home to Canadian Border Services with their militaristic flack vests, gloves and batons was startling to see when compared to any of the border services over there where the passport and customs officers wore business attire or regular police-style uniforms without flack vests, guns, batons, etc. Except for getting Visas on arrival in Vietnam and passports being recorded at hotels and for SIM card purchases, we never felt like we were in single-party, military states. Even the Thai military, overt during the Queen Mother's birthday parade, were authoritative, but not intimidating like so many US and Canadian police have come to be.
If it weren't for the heat and humidity, I would happily travel back there again as it is such an amazing region of the world to explore and experience.
