Cambodia: Country of Contrasts

Cambodia is a country full of dramatic contrasts that go from the utmost sad history of the not so far reign of terror perpetuated by Pol Pot and his cruel dictatorship -the effects of which are still palpable today- to the most exquisite beauty and admirable creations of human kind.

The architecture, the color, the design and detailed ornaments, the flora, the natural environment and kind folkloric people are very heartwarming and admirable; while the negative past and present makes us conscious of the cruel reality of some people on Earth, and make us want to reach out and help, if only with a kind gesture or a smile saying we care.

Phnom Phen has one of the loveliest Architectural Designs in the World, the extremely beautiful Royal Palace Compound and Silver Pagoda are sure to take your breath away and bring out the photographer in you.

To read more about Cambodia, including its history, highlights and travel information, as well as an ample photographic gallery, go to: http://claudiatello.hubpages.com/_1fclx5rkjd1r/hub/Phnom-Phen-Cambodia

Temples of Angkor, Cambodia's Greatest Khmer Ancient City

If you have an adventurer within you, if you love nature and enjoy spending time surrounded by the peaceful beauty of a natural environment, if you like to admire the great accomplishments of human civilizations of today and yester years, if you like to travel and step into a different time and place coordinate, if you are curious and get pleasure from learning about different cultures, or all of the above, Angkor is one of those places you should get to know in this lifetime, and explore to the fullest.



The Temples of Angkor are a group of religious buildings spread throughout the Cambodian forest, whose mesmerizing beauty made them creditors to the Eighth Wonder of The World designation.



If you would like to read more about this Khmer Archeological Site, please go to the following article, where you will find a thorough description of the place and ample photographic documentation: http://claudiatello.hubpages.com/_1fclx5rkjd1r/hub/templesofangkor

Hanoi, Vietnam

If you go to Vietnam by airplane, you will most likely arrive either at Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) or Hanoi. I chose to fly to Hanoi simply because it sounded much more attractive on paper, and actually discarded Ho Chi Minh from my schedule entirely. It sounded too noisy and obscure for my kind of travel destination.

I arrived in Hanoi early March; this means it was still theoretically winter time, not-too-cold not-too-warm weather with cloudy sky (that is way you’ll see most of the pictures with a grayish kind of light). All in all, Hanoi was a very pleasurable city to visit; it is culturally, gastronomically and artistically interesting and has many alluring places to visit: some of them beautiful; some of them quite clever; some of them outright strange. It is a place that will certainly surprise you in many ways.

If you would like to read more about this elegant and unique oriental city go to my second article of the Vietnamese series "A Visual Guide to Hanoi, Vietnam's Capital".

Goodbye Laos, Hello Vietnam

I would have liked to visit many other places in Laos and give you a broader scope of this country, unfortunately, time and money weren’t limitless and I had to make some choices. With the consideration that traveling through Laos was going to be somewhat complicated and would represent a lot of time, I decided to make the jump to Vietnam. Nevertheless, I want to clarify that I would love it if you could tell me about your experiences in Laos (where else did you go, what did you see), there can always be a next time.

So now it is turn for me to write about Vietnam. Before I planned my visit to this country, I had only thought of Vietnam in association to war, bombs and injustice. That was the only thing I knew about the place and the only thing that made me indifferent to it as a travel destination. Fortunately, I am the kind of traveler that likes to document myself before launching my adventure and I read about all the countries located in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, before deciding where I wanted to go. Vietnam sounded very attractive to me on paper. It has all the mystery and exotic qualities of a far and unknown land. What I read about Vietnam lead me to believe that it had the potential of a novelty extravaganza, and I had to go see for myself.

Vietnam turned out to be a multilayered cultural explosion. It really takes you to another world where you can communicate with many realities I’d bet you’d never seen before (if you come from the western world). One of the interesting destinations that have a check on all this excitement triggering factors is Sapa, a tinny little village surrounded by Hill Tribe Villages, an opportunity to get in contact with a life completely different to the one we live in modern Mexico City.

And the journey through Vietnam begins!

Here is my first article of the Vietnamese series "Sapa & Surrounding Hill Tribe Villages in Vietnam"........ yuhu!!!! I get excited all over again.

Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang Laos

Wat Xieng Thong is one of the biggest and most beautiful Buddhist Temples in Luang Prabang. Once you get there it is almost impossible not to feel the need to photograph every building, every sculpture, every wall and every detail. It is absolutely amazing to see all the work and creativity Laotians put into their worshiping temples.

Wat Xieng Thong

Laos: Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is a charming little town in Laos that has all the ingredients of a fantastic travel destination. It has the natural beauty of a southeast tropical environment; it has the fantastic, mostly religious art that extrapolates to every creative expression; it has the rich gastronomy; it has the loveliness of a well designed city; and it has many different activities in which to enroll. If you are a food enthusiast, you can take a cooking course and learn how to make traditional Laotian food. If you are into sports, you can rent a bike and peddle around town or even do mountain biking. If you are an adventurer, you can take tours into the jungle. If you are fond of the fine arts you can visit the many extraordinary Buddhist temples or go to the royal ballet. If you want to buy nice Laotian arts & crafts, you have plenty of formal commerce and street markets to shop around.
Besides all of that, Luang Prabang has a very pleasant old quarter encompassed by two rivers, in which you can also take boat rides. The accommodation and food offer is amazingly extent for such a little town. It has a huge variety of guest houses and little hotels as well as restaurants, bars and cafés –including several alongside the river- where you can have a great variety of romantic breakfasts, lunches and dinners. All in all, Luang Prabang is arguably one of my top Southeast Asian destinations.

If you’d like to read and see more of this destination, go to my “Visual Travel Guide to Luang Prabang, Laos” my latest published article.

Chefchaouen, Morocco

Chefchaouen is a very small town located in the Rif mountainous region of north Morocco. It is right in midst of Jebel Bouhachem Nature Reserve and Talassemtane National Park. This is what I call a village in a natural environment. The air is fresh, the view is green and fertile, the streets are tranquil and quiet and there is plenty to explore for the trekking lover. Apart from that, Chefchaouen is a charming town with a Berber-Jewish-Spanish-Muslim mix, which you can appreciate in the architecture and coloring of the buildings. It is one of a kind in Morocco, no other village is similar. It will only take a couple of days in your itinerary and it is worth the time. The only down fall is that you have to get there by bus or car. It is not the most accessible place to visit but that comes along with a cleaner, more natural environment, a more authentic experience, and less tourists; you'll have to balance out the pros and cons. Do not connect from Tetouan, the hustling there gets too intense and it is quite uncomfortable; I would advise you to pick some other destination to connect instead (try Asilah or Souk el-Arba du Rhab, I haven't been there but maybe they turn out to be an amazing experience; what I know is that almost no tourists go there, let me know how it went!) Finally, I present to you the 9th and last article of the Moroccan series "Chefchouen, a Hispanic dot in Morocco", where you can read more about this unique little town.