Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Every day during a recent trip to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam provided fascinating sights - along the Mekong River.   Natural limestone monuments in Halong Bay, Vietnam Peaceful reflection by the river in Hoi An, Vietnam Sparkling waterfalls Kuang Si, Laos   Not all the amazing sights were natural - many many wondrous temples, statues, structures....   Mosaics.... Bridge built by Japanese in Vietnam Cave entry .... stone dragons .... homes and hotels.... and even tunnels ... Obviously not built for the western physique!  POST SCRIPT - HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY 

I often wonder what most people remember about a holiday. In an earlier post, I said it was the 'people", but there seems to be a bit of consensus amongst friends that "food " is definitely up there. Certainly exotic foods add another dimension to the experiences. Yes, these bottles of wine were for sale, and they did contain snakes, scorpions, and other creatures often considered nasty. I did try some, but it wasn't amongst my souvenir purchases. There were of course, other delicious and more familiar food found in markets and from street vendors. - bananas, mangoes, tamarind, dragon fruit, corn, fresh greens and noodles .... and lots more ... anything and everything....   Shopping is not easy  a) when you're not sure of the language ;    b) when you live in a floating village ( Here a woman and her child stop at the local shop for dinner supplies) ; c) when you have a weak stomach for raw meat ( apologies to all my vegetarian friends) We ate wond...

It's been a week since we returned from our holidays in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos and most of our holiday stories are about the people we met...  Memories are about the people first, the experiecnes, second and the places after that?   My photo of  our holiday is this one taken in a small Vietnamese village, where a baby was totally fascinated with Jim's "white"  beard, and just wanted to touch it and play with it.   The family , outside their village home. A moment of craziness - a group of young Japanese tourists having a "fish massage" in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Nara, recollecting his own incarceration, and the tragedy of family deaths during the Pol Pot regime, the Killing Fields, Phonm Penh, Cambodia   "Snow" explaining what was edible,  Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Our boat man , Mekong River, Vietnam   Family welcoming us to Vientiane, Laos in a "baci" ceremony. Buddhist monks at dawn alms gi...