In the 1920’s, shortly after World War I, the Southern Railway was constructed in Thailand, allowing people to travel overland from Bangkok to the Malaysian border. Almost immediately, the town of Hua Hin, located just two and a half hours south of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand, became a popular seaside resort town where … Read more
My visit to Cambodia was simultaneously intoxicating and exhausting. Each morning, rested and ready to tackle a new day in no-holds barred Phnom Penh, crumbling Battambang, or mind-boggling Angkor Wat, I stepped from my air-conditioned hotel room into the summer’s suffocating heat and humidity. Within minutes I was drenched from scalp to toes, clothes stuck … Read more
I’m a sucker for Buddhist temples. The sometimes subtle, sometimes not-so-subtle design differences from country to country fascinate me and the pagodas of Cambodia were no exception. In contrast to the lavish decadence of Thailand’s gilt-covered monasteries, the pagodas in this poverty-stricken country were simple, with one notable exception. As if to make up for their … Read more
Ever since I visited the Angkor Wat Ruins in Siem Reap, Cambodia in 2007, I’ve been itching to go back. Back then, I was on a six-month around-the-world journey and I had allocated only three days in Siem Reap. I was under the mistaken impression that the ancient Khmer site that most refer to as … Read more
Cigarette dangling from his mouth, our wiry Cambodian engineer yanked the starter rope on a small motor mounted to the rear of our open-air rail car. The engine sputtered momentarily, then roared to life. Straining at the weight of the iron frame, he pushed our rudimentary vehicle down the tracks a few feet, hopped aboard … Read more
