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China, Travel Words

Spending Time in Shenzhen

Spending Time in Shenzhen For the year and a half that I lived in China, Shenzhen was the base of operations.  Shenzhen is very much NOT old China.  In 1979, the city was a small fishing village overlooking the Hong Kong territory from across the bay.  Since 1980, when it […]

Laos, Photo Blogs

Savannakhet

Unlike Pakse, the town of Savannakhet left me with far less guilt on my conscience.  From my view, it was all about temples and monks and lots of color. And of course sunset over the Mekong, looking into Thailand.

Laos, Travel Words

Pakse

Tired of spending day after day on busses, after leaving Champasak I decided that I needed a few days of walking.  The first of these was in Pakse, a regional center on the Mekong River. The part of the city that sticks out the most in my mind is the […]

Laos, Travel Words

Wat Phu

Not wanting to stick with the crew I had been traveling with in Luang Prabang, I decided to skip past the popular stop of Vang Vieng and headed as far South in Laos as I could. Wat Phu, near the city of Champasak, is an old Khmer temple built on […]

Laos, Travel Words

Villages of Luang Nam Tha

In addition to random nature scenes, the area around Luang Nam Tha is also littered with small villages.  Many of these are home to distinct minorities with their own customs, costumes, and cultures.  Many are also relatively poor, living at subsistence level on the rice they grow and animals they […]