My first day in Nepal (~March 1994). We went to the Kathmandu stuppa - which you see from the plane on the way in. It's pretty big (and the plane isn't). People walk around the stuppa turning the prayer wheels (clockwise of course - always).

Fujifilm is so green.
And that concludes my trip!

We spend most of the time (after a delicious Sushi lunch in Shibuya) in the gardens of the Imperial palace.

On my way home I was fortunate to have a 12 hour layover at Narita. My step-brother was kind enough to give me a whirlwind tour of the city. Our first stop was Shibuya neighbourhood. It was a Sunday, so it was quiet.

This is the view from tne hotel window. I think it's looking Northwest but I could be totally wrong. Soon we will be on our way to the airport.

Back in Hanoi. Penultimate day.

Same trip - early 1994 (March by now, must be). Of course I have the classic covered buddhas shot, but any search on Borobudur will reveal one so I won't use up the bandwidth here.

Yes, I have now swum in the South China Sea.

Any tour of HaLong would not be complete without a visit to the impressive but garishly lit caves. It would have been neater to discover them ourselves. If nothing else they were a welcome respit from the heat.

Yes, there at the bottom. It's a boat.

We drove several hours from Hanoi to enjoy a boat ride around HaLong Bay.

How could I leave Hanoi without this picture? Taken from a rickshaw.
Actually, they're probably chickens.

We are out of the mountains now well on our way to Hanoi. Still several hours of driving to go though.

Really this is just the start. It extends for some way in more or less a single line.

This is a picture taken on our way to Coc Ly market. We left Bac Ha in the morning and this evening we will be back in Hanoi. We had to walk from about here because the road was too muddy from the rain.

After arriving in Bac Ha we went for a walk in the surrounding hills. They were growing lots of plums. They are not in this picture though.

It rained yesterday so for the first time we had clear views! Unfortunately this is also the day we left Sapa and started our way out of the mountains.

Walking back down through the garden. The rocks looked like good climbing but I didn't stop to try.

After the village outing I walked through Sapa's flower garden to a look-out atop one of the surrounding hills. This shot is looking down at the garden that I came through and Sapa off to the right.

We visited this village outside of Sapa. It looked like it was doing well, a lot of the houses looked new and well built. It seems that this is a stopping point for visitors from Sapa to go and see an authentic village and buy some nice needlework. From the moment we got there until we left we were circled by an entourage of chatting Red Zyao women eager to sell there goods. We promised we'd buy something but not until the end of the tour, a compromise that pleased everyone.

Turning my back on the waterfall affords this view.

One of the features that Sapa has to offer is a nearby Hmong village. The walk through it takes you past this waterfall.

We are enroute to Sapa, the main tourist destination of the area. For both foreign and Vietnamese tourists. Sapa is fairly high up and picturesque, and features a strong Black Hmong presence owing to the nearby village whose subsistance is now based on the tourism - like many of the villages around here.

A lot of this hike was through rice paddies.

Once we got past the dogs these two were happy enough to pose for a picture - Though the grandmother insisted on changing first.

This woman is harvesting some tea. No scones to be seen...

Taken on a hike originating from Phong Tho.
Boy did she jump when she heard the sound of the shutter.

Looking back at the way we came. All those curves are why it would take a full day to travel 200km.

We stopped along the way to Phong Tho to take some pictures.

If you look closely you can see a boy in the stream and a water buffalo hanging out.

This is a monument to the battle of Dien Bien Phu, this being the site of one of the Vietnamese artillery installments. The guy on the left, gregarious as he was, insisted that I take his picture. It was suggested later that he might be mafioso owing to the multiple tatoos along his arms, which you can't make out in this picture.

This was a small market we stopped at somewhere between Son La and Dien Bien Phu. All the tribes around here have different costumes - the most distinctive aspect is usually the colourful headpiece.

I may be mistaken about which river this was. I think it was the Black River or the Red River. (Though it looks like the Brown River).

Sadly I do not know to which tribe these girls belong. There house was surrounded by Jackfruit trees. Seeing these unlikely tree-borne fruit reminded me of a conversation about what if watermelon's grew on trees.

We arrived in Hanoi last night. Today we are enroute to Son La in the mountains to the West North West of Hanoi (if I remember correctly). The climate and relatively low altitude mean the mountains are covered in jungle where they are not farmed. Most of the jungles are dotted with bursts of bamboo, but here we found, overlooking a few small rice paddies, a bamboo forest.

It's quite a drive out to Beng Mealea. Although there are really almost no reliefs at all, the jungle's presence gives an atmosphere that you can't find in the other temples. And instead of teh usual well groomed paths and walkways, the trail here climbs over fallen blocks and along the relatively steady walls of the temple that are still standing.

One last visit to Angkor Wat.

We were told that this monestary, next to the Bakong temple, was built about 300 years ago. We spoke to an older monk. He was about 70 or so I think. There were an extrodinary number of butterflies.

If I remember correctly, as we went down the Eastern passage of Preah Khan the temple became more and more overfrown by Jungle. I think fewer people head eastward.

We rushed back to Bayoun at the very end of the day. It almost entirely empty. These are some temple attendents chatting before they close up for the night.

This is the sexiest relief dancer ever.

How can I resist the classic To Phrom shot?

This was walking north of Bayoun still within Angkor Tom.

We arrived at Siem Reap this morning and went out to see some temples. This is the famous Bayoun temple with all the faces on all the towers. For a better picture check out the national geographic one.

The water level was a little low at this time of year. Off to either side, just beneath the canopy of leaves, are little huts for sitting in while you picnic. They line the length of the water on either side a few layers deep.

Today we went to Kirirom National Park. We mannaged to miss most to of the rain.

We went out to the killing fields. The series of excavated pits was not as evocative as Tuol Sleng, though there is this pile of skulls in the middle of the site, and occasional groups of bones at the base of trees and such. It is a far cry from a happy place.

This little boy desperately wanted me to take his picture. He had an empty 500ml water bottle and he kicked it against the wall to show how strong he was. He danced through the alley. I took a shot of him - more posed than this one - but I like this one better.

This is on the outside of the big market in Phnom Penh.

One of the main streets of the picturesque fishing town of Kompong Chhnang

From the top of Oudong Penh, the old capital, looking out across the Cambodian countryside. The little girl in the picture, against all protest, fanned me during my visit.

This was one of the rooms at the museum, when it was a prison it was used for torture.

These were some of the pictures of the prisoners kept at Tuol Sleng. The place used to be a school. It was converted to a prison by the Khmer Rouge where these people were kept and tortured until they were executed. It is now a museum. For most of my visit I felt slightly nauseous.

This is the view from Izzy's balcony in Phnom Penh.

Walking to the market (in the background) on my first morning in Phnom Penh

Today we went back for more massages at Wat Po and afterwards walked through the market behind it towards the river. These are a number of tasty dishes that I did not eat. But they were across from a woman selling grilled sticky rice in banana leaves. They were really tasty. The banana leaves were kept folded around the rice by a toothpick through the middle and staples at either end.

I'm not sure what road-side dining adventure these are for. What would you make with peanuts, dried shrimp, small crabs, tomatoes, limes, and long green beans?

Among my first impressions of Bangkok is the smell. My memory is the pervasive smell of car exhaust mixed with the sweeter aromas of propane and the grilling of octopus. The underlying drone of durian, whose smell is like a nostalgic nausea, wasn't to fully join this nasal jamboree until Phnom Penh. I expected the heat - but its burden was the more noticeable for its alliance with the scents of the city.

This picture is from my second day in Bangkok. This is the street my sister used to live on when she lived in Bangkok. I believe her building lies immediately to the left outside the frame.