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Southeast Asia
  • Orion Global Nomads
  • Craig Bowman

Southeast Asia

A 160-day adventure by Orion Global Nomads & Craig Read more
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  • Southeast Asia

    Revs and Island Sun

    December 10, 2022 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Today, we met up with Montana friends Vos and Todd and rented some scooters. We took a day drive around Phụ Quốc island and saw some pretty sites. It was a perfect day for a ride on scooters. At times, we were the only ones on the road. Then at times in town we were in heavy traffic.

    We stopped by a cool lunch spot owned by an Australian couple. They had a “ship wreck” theme right on the beach with a pool facing the ocean and a fun miniature golf course.

    We drove through some small and interesting island towns. Phụ Quốc is a beautiful island and if we had more time here, we’d love to spend time on this side of the island full of small and charming boutique hotels and local restaurants.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Goodbye Vietnam - Hello Cambodia!

    December 11, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After a great week in Phụ Quốc, we boarded a ferry and headed to Ha Tian on the mainland to cross over to Cambodia. The crossing this time was much smoother tận our last to get another Vietnam Visa.

    We arrived at our cute bungalow in Kep, and after checking in we headed to the “Crab Market” for some lunch. We walked around and saw lots of freshly grilled seafood. It’s interesting to hear both the Cambodian and Vietnamese languages spoken at the market. We settled on a local seafood stall and had some tasty stir fried fresh crabs in a pepper sauce - wow!

    After lunch we headed back to the bungalow for some pool time.

    There may be an island visit tomorrow.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Pepper Farms

    December 12, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    We had a wonderful time in Kep, the smallest and least populous province of Cambodia. It was founded as a seaside retreat by French colonizers in 1908 and has a lot of charm and history. We stayed in a bungalow at a French owned boutique resort, with a nice pool and friendly staff.

    One of the highlights of our trip was visiting a pepper farm. We learned that Kep is famous for its Kampot pepper, which is considered one of the best peppers in the world. We took a tour of Sothy’s Plantation, and saw how they grow and process different varieties of pepper, such as black, red, white and green. We also tasted some of their products and bought some tea to take home.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Rabbit Island

    December 13, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    After a day of motoring around Kep and relaxing pool side, we hopped on a boat this morning to Rabbit island. This small island can be hiked in 2 plus hours. The beach is lined with a few cute beach restaurants and hangouts via hammocks and chair. We opted for the hammocks.

    On our short beach walk we saw some interesting coconuts, starfish, and some sort of memorial given by South Korea.

    Enjoying a beer to the comfort of a cool breeze, the calm sounds of gentle waves crashing, all while swaying in a hammock is not a bad way to spend one’s December.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    On the Road to Phnom Penh

    December 14, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We left Kep via van late morning. Snapping photos in a moving vehicle as a passenger does not usually yield great results. However, capturing the Cambodian sky, rural areas, palm tree lined streets, golden temples, shops, and daily life can be quite interesting.

    Cambodia is a beautiful country with a turbulent past. This country is made up of resilient people, often offering welcoming and gentle smiles.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    First Night in Phnom Penh

    December 14, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    After checking in to our hotel in central Phnom Penh, we hit the pavement and found a great roof top bar and had some whisky from Nepal - very tasty!

    Our friends we met in Jersey City but now living in Phnom Penh treated us to a fantastic dinner at Cuisine Wat Damnak Phnom Penh. This tasting menu was a fusion of Khmer and French cuisines. The ingredients were fresh, great combination of savory, tangy, sweet, and well balanced spices - Thank you Chanda and Tean!Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Killing Fields

    December 15, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today was a very sobering day. We took a group tour to visit the Killing fields of Choeung Ek, followed by the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, the notorious Khmer Rouge prison known as S-21, through whose gates more than 13,000 people passed to their deaths.Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Going Bats

    December 21, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Nature is amazing - Craig and I were sitting at the foot of Battambang’s Phnom Sampeou at dusk, as a stream of millions of bats take flight in a snake like formation from the cave looking for mosquitos to eat in nearby rice patties. These were the Asian Wrinkle Lipped Bats that put on quite the aerial display while we sipped on soda and Cambodian beer from the local vendors. The bats come out every evening to eat.Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Floating Village

    December 22, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    We took a boat on Sangker River to Siem Reap. Along the way, we observed river life among locals in floating villages. Fishing was a way of life for many of these people. We also leaned that many of the population was Vietnamese. The banks had plenty of bird life. There were also a few temples and schools in these floating villages.Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    The Roluos Group temples

    December 23, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    In the morning we visited three smaller Angkorian temples that we had not visited on our trip in 2009. These temples form part of the Roluos Group, which are spread out over the former site of the royal city of Hariharalaya, and encompass some of the earliest monuments of the Angkor period. We visited (I) Bakong, the first state-temple of the Angkor period, constructed by Indravarman I and consecrated to Shiva in 881; (ii) Preah Ko, the first temple to be built in Hariharalaya, constructed by Indravarman I in 879 to honor the spirits of his parents and grandparents, and also the original founder of Angkor, Jayavarman II; and (iii) Lolei, which originally stood on an artificial island in the centre of the Indratataka Baray, though the reservoir is now dry, and which has some well preserved Sanskrit inscriptions.Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Angkor National Museum

    December 23, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    In the afternoon, we visited the excellent Angkor National Museum. The galleries were beautiful and the artifacts were generally very well labeled, plus we bought the excellent audio guide. The museum really helped to add some context to the temple sites, although given the complexity of the Hindu pantheon, I didn’t fully absorb many of the explanations. 😢Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Preah Khan

    December 24, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We spent Christmas Eve revisiting two of the Angkor temples we saw in 2009. The first was the massive (140 acre) complex of Preah Khan (“Sacred Sword“ in Khmer), which was built in the 12th century by Jayavarman VII and served simultaneously as temple, monastery and university. It was consecrated as a multi-faith temple, catering to worshippers of Buddha, Shiva and Vishnu, plus a further 282 gods. The main deity was Lokesvara, made in the likeness of the king’s father, and placed in the central – Buddhist – sanctuary.
    Much of the complex is overgrown by trees and remains unrestored. Among the highlights of Preah Khan are the causeways from each cardinal direction flanked by demigods and demons bearing nagas. The outer wall is lined with 2.5m tall stone garudas. The central sanctuary and other buildings are covered with fantastic stone carvings, including stone Dvarapalas (swordsman) guarding the entries, a hall of dancers, ornate wall and pillar carvings, etc. it’s hard to imagine how it all must have looked in its heyday.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Neak Pean

    December 24, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    The next temple we visited was Neak Pean (“the entwined serpents") which stands on an artificial island in the middle of the enormous northern baray.
    The temple consists of a single tower sitting in the center of a large pool, connected to four subsidiary pools at the cardinal points. Neak Pean was originally designed for medical purposes (the ancients believed that going into these pools would balance the elements in the bather, thus curing disease); it is one of the many hospitals that Jayavarman VII built. It is based on the ancient Hindu belief of balance. Four connected pools represent Water, Earth, Fire and Wind.
    The main sanctuary is difficult to see well due to the size of the pool, but has carvings of Lokesvara on each of its four faces and two stone serpents curling around the base of the platform on which it stands. The heads of the two serpents rise to the east of the tower. Emerging from the waters of the pool close by is a large statue with tiny figures clinging to its sides: this is a depiction of Lokesvara in the form of a horse, Balaha, rescuing merchants from ogresses on an island off Sri Lanka.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Cambodian Vietnamese War Memorial

    December 24, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    On the way back to the hotel from the temples we stopped at a memorial to the Vietnamese soldiers who died in the war against the Khmer Rouge in 1975. The tiled structure in the background contains the names of the war victims.Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Christmas Eve night

    December 24, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We spent Christmas Eve with Voss and Todd, who had arrived the day before from their motorcycle trip through Vietnam, and Chanda and Tean, who drove up from Phnom Penh. We had a very nice dinner at a restaurant called Khema that Chanda and Tean knew. Dinner was a little rushed, as we had to leave to go to the circus - definitely a first for me for Christmas!
    The Phare Circus is an awesome local acrobatic circus that was developed by a Cambodian NGO as part of their work with vulnerable Cambodian children and young adults. The circus has been very successful and these days tours the to destinations including Korea, Japan and India. The performance was very fun.
    After dinner we went back to Khema for a drink with Chanda and Tean.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Angkor Thom - Bayon

    December 25, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We spent Christmas morning with Voss and Todd visiting Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. We hired a guide through the hotel, but he wasn’t that great, mainly due to his mediocre English. We had thought maybe Christmas would be slow, but the temples were quite crowded with local families.

    Angkor Thom is one of the absolute highlights of Cambodia and SE Asia.
    It was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer Empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by King Jayavarman VII. It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors. At the center of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Bayon, topped with dozens of towers carved with enigmatic faces of the bodhisattva Lokesvara, one of ancient Cambodia’s most iconic images.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Ta Prohm

    December 25, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    After leaving Angkor Thom, we went to the temple of Ta Prohm, which is very popular with tourists, partly because it was featured in the movie Tomb Raider. The ruins are half-consumed by the encroaching trees.

    Ta Prohm was constructed by Jayavarman VII around 1186, as a Buddhist monastery dedicated to the goddess Prajnaparamita. The monastery accommodated twelve thousand people, who lived and worked within its grounds, while a further eighty thousand were employed locally to service and maintain the complex.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Angkor Wat

    December 25, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Todd and Voss decided to head back to their hotel after lunch, so we continued on to Angkor Wat without them.

    Angkor Wat is the most famous of the many temples spread out over an area of 400 square km. Dominated by five majestic towers, this masterpiece was built by Suryavarman II between around 1113 and 1150 as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century.

    Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world. The temple complex is stunning from a distance, but its intricacy really becomes apparent as you approach, with almost every surface covered in bas relief murals and other fine carvings.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Kbal Spean

    December 26, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today we headed out again in the tuk tuk with Mr. Phorn on a longer journey from Siem Reap.

    First we visited the site of Kbal Spean, which was used by the Khmer as a hill retreat in the mid-eleventh century, during which period they carved sacred linga and Hindu gods into the bedrock of the river – the water flowing down the river would thus be blessed by the carvings before flowing on to Angkor. It is commonly known as the "Valley of a 1000 Lingas". Getting to the site involves a hike of about an hour each way. Many of the carvings are in the river bed, while others are located on the canyon walls.Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Banteay Srei Temple

    December 26, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    After leaving Kbal Spean, we drove by tuk tuk to the ruins of Banteay Srei Temple, which is on the way back to Siem Reap. Banteay Srei is the most elaborately decorated of all Angkor’s monuments, its walls, false doors, lintels and exotic soaring pediments all richly embellished with floral motifs and Ramayana scenes. Banteay Srei was built not by a king, but by two local dignitaries, and as a result it was required to be somewhat smaller in scale then the temples built by kings.Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Angkor Thom - Baphuon

    December 27, 2022 in Cambodia

    In the morning we went back to Angkor Thom to visit complexes that we did not go to on Christmas Day.

    We started with the imposing Baphuon, the eleventh-century state-temple of Udayadityavarman II. At the end of a long causeway rises the temple itself, centered on a mighty central pyramid (24m high) consisting of five steep tiers divided by galleries into three enclosures. The entire west-facing wall at the base of the pyramid has been carved into the form of a gigantic reclining Buddha, although it is a little difficult to make out at first, both live and in the photos.

    Restoration of Baphuon was particularly difficult. In 1959 French architects decided that the only way to save Baphuon from collapse was to dismantle it piece by piece and then put it all back together again. After the temple dismantled, though, war broke out. Work was abandoned in 1971. After gaining control, the Khmer Rouge decided to destroy all of the archaeological records. When restoration work restarted in 1995, conservators were faced with “a three-dimensional, 300,000-piece puzzle to which we had lost the picture”. Restoration wasn’t completed until 2011, and even after completion many unidentified stones can still be seen laid out around the complex.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    On the Road Again

    December 29, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Craig and I had our last breakfast in Siem Reap this morning before hitting the road for Preah Vihear. I had my usual rice noodle soup with a delicious broth and Craig had a nice omelette.

    We took a tuk-tuk to mini van pick up. The ride was 3 hours long through the countryside. I did my best to take some photos looking through the front windshield or door. These photos are unedited - no cropping. They capture rural Cambodian life. From agriculture, kids going to school on a makeshift bus, and the usual cattle herding on the road. It’s a beautiful country with beautiful people.Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Koh Ker temple

    December 30, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    After a roadside lunch near Preah Vihear, we drove a couple hours south to another set of Angkor ruins called Koh Ker.
    Koh Ker was briefly capital of the Angkorian empire in the 10th century. The ruins have been largely left to be overtaken by the jungle, and there are a lot of uncleared mines in the are, but the remaining ruins are quite impressive. Koh Ker’s major temple complex is Prasat Thom, consisting of three enclosures laid out in a row with the sanctuary at the center of the final courtyard. Beyond the moat on the far side is the Prang, a 110 ft-high, seven-tiered sandstone ziggurat that can be climbed by means of wooden stairs on one side.
    We also visited a few of the smaller temples scattered around the 40-acre Koh Ker site, including Prasat Pram, with five (pram) towers (four of brick, one of laterite), two of which are being slowly strangled by fig trees.
    After the temples, we had a fairly long car ride back to our guesthouse in the town of Preah Vihear.    Read more

  • Southeast Asia

    Preah Vihear temple

    December 30, 2022 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We hired car and driver for the day and spent the morning driving about 1 1/2 hours to Prasat Preah Vihear, an ancient Angkor temple (and now a World Heritage Site) located in a dramatic mountaintop setting along the long-disputed Thai-Cambodian border. Construction of the temple took place from the 9th through the 12th centuries and was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. In two separate rulings (the most recent in 2013), the International Court of Justice has ruled that the temple belongs to Cambodia.Read more

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