Traveling from Cambodia to Vietnam by bus is like going from Three Oaks, Michigan directly to Times Square without everything between. The minibus is packed with a mix of foreigners with their legs crammed against the seats in front of them and locals. We pick up and drop off several people along the way as theContinue reading “Backpacks in Southern Vietnam”
Tag Archives: vegetarian
Bustle and Dirt and Devout Buddhists by Way of a Bumpy Train Ride
My hotel in Mawlamyine arranges for my overnight bus to Yangon (Rangoon). It’s as easy as a phone call and a motorbike ride to the bus station: which is really just a dirt lot with some buses parked in front of a shop. While I wait I’m asked for my ticket several times and amContinue reading “Bustle and Dirt and Devout Buddhists by Way of a Bumpy Train Ride”
Friends on a Friendship Bridge Roadtripping To a Place Called Mawlamyine
The driver is pussyfooting over the bumps in the road, I’ve just found a way to sit so my foot doesn’t go numb, and there is a guy seated in the middle of the two of us contorted in some way that I’m not able to comprehend. I’m trying to cut the guy some slack,Continue reading “Friends on a Friendship Bridge Roadtripping To a Place Called Mawlamyine”
Mud, Tea, and Selfies
The temperature in KL is already miserable by the time we leave at 8 in the morning. As we ascend through the lush hills, the outside temperature starts to resemble the air-conditioned tundra that is common in these types of buses. The mountains are covered in greenery and fog. When we step off the busContinue reading “Mud, Tea, and Selfies”
Highways, Monkeys, Beer Towers
Just as I’m finishing up my meal on Jalan Alor, a street lined with restaurants – tables and chairs set up in the street – I feel a few drops, and then I see umbrellas being set up around the tables. I finish my beer, pay, and start walking. Within five minutes, it’s pouring. It’sContinue reading “Highways, Monkeys, Beer Towers”
Alex J. Parton 