A flower market in Bangkok
Every night, I went to a different upscale lounge for a specialty cocktail. This is one of my favorites: a Saigon Crush (Absolut Mandarin, passion fruit) at the Park Hyatt, Saigon accompanied by an evening torch music.
I also took a little time for some sightseeing. I visited the Cu Chi tunnels north of Saigon, where Viet Cong soldiers hid and conducted their guerrilla operations. Although these tunnels had been expanded to fit large tourist arses, they were incredibly narrow--it's necessary to crawl on your hands and knees, and they are very, very dark. Ahead of me was a young corn-fed American man who was having great difficulty squeezing through. "He's going to get stuck, with me behind him," I thought, and I speedily exited the tunnel at the next exit point.
Overall, I felt conflicted about the fact that the tunnels were a tourist attraction, complete with a firing range and multiple gift shops. The Vietnam War was a bloody war, lasting 20 years, with an American death toll of more than 58,000 service members. Although the booby traps and tunnels showcase the ingenuity of the Viet Cong fighters, the entire place was a theme park glorifying war. As a counterpoint, the War Remnants Museum (formerly the Museum of American War Crimes) in downtown Saigon showcased the human toll of warfare. It showed photographs of the My Lai massacre and Agent Orange victims (both American service members and Vietnamese civilians) and it chronicled the peace movement abroad.
After a few leisurely days in Bangkok, hanging out in Chris' expatriate enclave and eating more delicious street food, Chris and I and his friend Nok drove down to Surithani, where we caught the ferry to Koh Phangan, a lush, quiet island known for its full / half moon (and party for no other reason) parties. We drove all day and caught sunset on the ferry, above.
Can you imagine: a religious holiday in the heat of summer where you get to douse your friends (and strangers) with water, sprinkle people with powder, drink and dance in the streets? So much fun!
and here is Chamrong's favorite snack: roasted crickets!
Luckily, we can buy both at the same stall.
Because I purchased a 7 day temple pass rather than the standard 3 day pass, I was able to return to some favorites as well as places that I hadn't spent enough time visiting on my last day in Siem Reap. I didn't love Bayon, a temple near Angkor Wat when I first visited--it was hot and it's very exposed--so I returned to check out the bas reliefs today in the late afternoon. I was more or less the only visitor there, yet I felt as if someone was watching me...
a long dead god-king with an enigmatic smile, perhaps?
One of the things you must do at Angkor Wat is, of course, see sunrise over the temple. I awoke at 4:30a to fulfill my tourist obligations, but it was a brooding, cloudy morning and the sun didn't make a spectacular appearance, as I had hoped. After the tourists wandered away, Chamrong and I walked around the temple to look for birds, who were also reluctant to appear, although we did spot an Indian roller. Finally, we left the the temple grounds and walked across the totally exposed causeway. Suddenly, it suddenly started to rain, torrentially. Like a monsoon! 
We sheltered under an informational sign wearing a little bamboo hat and we were joined by two girls from Singapore. Chamrong bravely ran back to the tuk tuk to retrieve an umbrella and escort me back. While I was nicely ensconced in my chariot, he drove exposed on the motorcycle and was soaked to the skin, poor dude! Everyone says of the rain "This never happens in April." Hello global weirding, hello the end of civilization!
And here is my amok, or fish curry served in banana leaves. 
Everything was delicious and I promise to host a Khmer dinner when I return to New York, you can hold me to it!
The next day, I traveled through the countryside, which reminds me a lot of bits of Africa--the same red dirt roads and bamboo huts--to visited the Banteay Srei temple. Bantey Srei means "Citadel of Women," and it is renowned for its intricate adornment, red limestone and petite size. I held up an entire tour group of oversized Americans to take this shot at the entrance. Ha!
Then my driver, Chamrong, and I climbed a mountain to visit the Valley of 1,000 Lingas, where 1,000 lingams, stacked neatly together, and a lone vulva or two were carved into the river stones.
At my urging we stopped for palm sugar candy, which I remember from my childhood in the Philippines. Palm juice is boiled and stirred, as below, and then dried into little candies.
I ate an entire banana leaf sleeve of the candies, much to the Chumrun's shock. This was after snacking on a green mango with chili salt, banana sticky rice and before eating a dessert similar to halo halo. This dessert, from a roadside stand, consisted of ice, sweetened condensed milk, chunks of banana cake, sweet bean paste and jelly candies and was wonderfully refreshing and very sweet. As you might imagine, I returned to my hotel with a bit of a belly ache and several more sleeves of palm sugar candy.
While Angkor Wat was well preserved due to its conversion from a Hindu temple into a Buddhist monastery, some temples were left for the jungle to devour. One wonderfully ruined temple is Ta Prohm, which was featured in Tomb Raider. The temple is surrounded by dense jungle, and silk cotton trees have eaten some of the structures. 
I like to imagine that this is what New York City will look like in a 1000 years, after the apocalypse (civil, environmental, whatever form you imagine it will take) comes. Can you imagine Trump Tower taken over like this?
Call me misanthropic, but I relish the thought!
I left Hanoi on a drizzly morning. I was sad to go--I absolutely loved Hanoi, with its misty streets, corner pho stalls and little temples. While I was sad to go, it is pleasant to leave a place wistfully rather than gleefully. And I feel like I might return to Hanoi one day.
Included in the rate is a sumptuous breakfast, a complimentary massage, a bottle of wine, and best of all, my own chariot--a tuk tuk--and driver, who I can use from sunrise until 10 at night. I could get used to this. Traveling via tuk tuk is slow and breezy, you can view the world around you in a leisurely way.
After lunch, it was off to Angkor Wat, the best preserved of the temples in the Ankgor complex. I loved the amazingly detailed bas reliefs adorning the outside of the temple.
The depictions of torture in Buddhist hell were said to inspire the Khmer Rouge. Here are a few of the less ghastly images.
And, to close, a sunset over the temple. 
This meant, as I knew it would, putting up with a certain amount of continental European foolishness and way too much secondhand smoke. For instance, on the tour was a Spanish couple in their mid-sixties traveling with their ne'er do well 30something son, in grubby jeans reading bloody comic books. When I boarded the bus, the tour guide and the family were in quite a state because the slovenly son had left his passport at the hotel. Because Vietnamese law requires all tourists to present passports when visiting Halong Bay, he had to double back via taxi to retrieve it. Also on the tour was a group of Polish sisters, resembling several piglets gathered around one ostrich. Strategically, I formed alliances with some Flemish girls on holiday and young French students and spent a pleasant two days on the Bay. We visited an enormous cave in one of the limestone islands and kayaked among the islands, which was my favorite part of the trip.
In the morning, I awoke on the boat to the sight of the islands clothed in mists, very atmospheric. 
And then it was back to Hanoi for my last evening and some final shopping. With the last of my American currency (which everyone prefers to Vietnamese dong) I selected two silk ties, one lavender and one slate gray, for J. featuring frolicking kittens. Will he receive them upon my return or will he have to wait until Christmas? I haven't decided. I had a wonderful dinner consisting of sour fish soup, served in a pan simmering over a small burner, and caramel custard. For a nightcap, I returned to the bar that features traditional rice spirits for a glass of the apricot liquor. I couldn't resist buying a large bottle of it to drink in Cambodia and beyond. But the question remains: how will all of my purchases fit into my small backpack?
