Epic Adventures in Southeast Asia

We arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos this past Sunday - the top tourist destination in Laos and a much more interesting spot for tourists than the capital, Vientiane.  We stayed at a hotel that has an interesting history:  during the Vietnam War and the “Secret War” in Laos it was the headquarters for USAID (now dismantled by Cheeto Benito) and a cover for CIA headquarters.  The “Secret War” in Laos was a covert CIA-led operation during the Vietnam War during which the US aimed to disrupt North Vietnamese supply lines along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.   While US troops did not invade Laos, as they did Cambodia, from 1964 to 1973 US bombing missions in Laos occurred almost every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history!  Unexploded cluster bombs in the soil continue to claim the lives of Laotians, especially children, and while efforts at clean up are ongoing, it is estimated it could take another 100 years or more ...

We loved Cambodia!  All the people we met were super friendly and welcoming (they were actually happy to have Americans visiting!).  The capital city of  Phnom Penh, located on the Mekong River, is a thriving and bustling city, but not overwhelming like Hanoi or Bangkok.    [Roughly 3/4 of the Cambodian population of 18 million is rural, and the vast majority of these rural residents depend on agriculture - particularly rice farming - for their subsistence.] While it is difficult to imagine when you see Phnom Penh today, as most of you probably know, Cambodia has an unspeakably tragic recent history.  Briefly, the Cambodian monarchy lasted for nearly 2,000 years until events precipitated by the Vietnam War led to its overthrow by the U.S.-allied General Lon Nol in 1970.  A short-lived U.S. and South Vietnamese invasion of troops into eastern Cambodia to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines, including the Ho Chi Minh Trail, triggered massive anti-war p...

Good Morning Vietnam!     (Not very original, I know, but it had to be said….) We landed in Hanoi (the former capital of North Vietnam for the historically challenged) last Monday and I was immediately struck by the number of banners flying with hammers and sickles.  Make no mistake, this is a one-party, authoritarian country, ruled by the Communist Party.  In fact, Vietnam is one of only five remaining officially communist countries in the world, alongside China, Cuba, Laos and North Korea.  Based on its trajectory, it does seem, as Ronald Reagan said, that communism is destined to end up in the dustbin of history (though I expect capitalism, at least as its practiced today, may end up right beside it…..). On the ride from the airport to our hotel I started a conversation with our guide about wealth inequality in various countries (I was curious about it especially in a nominally communist country).  I stopped to ask him whether in Vietnam it was...