People  and  Faces
of Laos, Cambodia and Thailand

Aside from looking at all the wats around SE Asia, people watching is a pretty good activity when you're on the road.

Here are some photos of faces (or people we saw and/or met) along the way...



One of many, many smiling faces at Angkor Thom


This first "face" is one of the hundreds of smiling faces at Angkor Thom, in Cambodia.











Ok, and now for some flesh-and-blood . . .




Two young monks and a bicycle (Sarawan, Laos)

Here are two young monks, in southern Laos (Saravan) hanging out and counting their money.




And here's Karen on a crowded bus in Laos, with a curious little guy in front:

Karen on a crowded bus, southern Laos




Also in southern Laos, a fairly common sight when you're on long-distance buses: people (mostly women, unsurprisingly) selling food and drink to us weary passengers. Anyone care for corn-on-the-cob or a hard-boiled-egg-on-a-stick?

A young Lao woman selling hard-boiled eggs and roasted corn-on-the-cob-on-a-stick




Here's a young guy who approached us as we were walking around the strange Plain of Jars, near Phonsavan, Laos:

Young boy at the strange Plain of Jars (Phonsavan, northern Laos)




And also near Phonsavan, we "met" some nice Hmong people (they didn't speak English, and we haven't exactly mastered their language), and got a little flavor for their courtship "game."

How it works: a young Hmong man and woman stand about 10-15 feet apart, and toss a small ball back and forth—often for hours on end—to see if they're compatible or not. (We only tried it for only 10 minutes or so, which was perhaps enough!)

The Hmong courtship 'game' of tossing a ball (to see if you're compatible)


Mom and child, Chiang Mai



And now to northern Thailand (Chiang Mai), where we spotted this busy mom—probably from the Akha tribe, though we're not entirely sure—and her not-so-busy child.








Also at Chiang Mai, while visiting the famous Wat Chedi Luang (at about sunset) this pickup full of monks was spotted leaving the temple grounds.
Truckload of monks, on their way home at sunset (Chiang Mai)




Actually, monk-watching is kind of fun, although it does take some effort to not appear too obvious about what you're doing!

If you've already been to the page at this site about Luang Prabang, you'll probably recognize/remember this strange, blurry shot. Yes, it's one of a few monks as they walked past our cafe one morning. (Also interesting to see are all the people, mostly local Lao, who stand out on the street early each morning and give the monks offerings of rice as they march on by to their wats.)


A blur of monks!


And we couldn't help but notice this young Lao woman (in Phonsavan) walk by wearing this rather distinctive shawl. Obviously, at least among the younger Lao, some of the feelings of animosity towards the US—for all the bombing during the Vietnam War—are beginning to fade.

A young Lao woman wearing a distinctive shawl (Phonsavan, Laos)


Here we are, at Angkor, along with our drivers Nak (right, next to Karen) and Kha.

Karen and Marc with their drivers at Angkor: Nak (right, by Karen) and Kha


By the way, Nak—a very friendly guy who speaks good English—owns a guesthouse in Siem Reap, called Chen La Guesthouse, and can be reached at 012835488@mobitel.com.kh.



And to finish off this page...


An elderly couple, at the Salavan bus depot, Laos Here are various people we met/encountered on our trip. Laos, especially, is extremely poor, and we were always amazed at the hard work and good humor displayed by the people there. It's also extremely safe, which is a good thing, because the kip is worth so little that everyone is carrying around large brick-sized cubes of money!

We always enjoy the things we see in our travels, but even more, it's looking back at these photos of people that make us realize how lucky we are to have been to places like these.

Rather than label all of these, we've put a (partially-hidden) caption on each. You can view the caption simply by moving your cursor onto the photo, and leave it there for a second or two until it appears.



Oh, come on! You can fit a little bit more room on there! [at Salavan, southern Laos]


Two Lao women, selling snacks and drinks to riders on a long-range bus [also at Salavan]


There's nothing quite like a bag of a (presumably sickly sweet) BRIGHT GREEN drink to quench your thirst on a long bus ride [also at Salavan]   A nice Lao guy, working on a medium-range 'bus' (actually a covered truck), hanging off the back--southern Laos   Mom and child, on a bus in Laos  


Child getting a haircut on the street, probably from grandma [Siem Reap, Cambodia]   Another woman on a Lao bus, another surreptitiously-taken photo with our digital camera... great skirt!   Another bus worker, in Laos


A monk-topped truck, whizzing by...




That's it! Hope you enjoyed these shots, and that you'll have time to take a peek at some of the other pages at this site.


Thanks for stopping by!



Background image on this page:
extreme close-up of bas-relief carving at Angkor Thom







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