Without an H

Photography from south-east Asia by Jon Sanwell

Posts from the ‘travel’ category

Capital

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I knew that travelling in south-east Asia in the wet season would be awkward at times, and that was certainly the case for the few days I spent in and around Vientiane. The capital city of Laos, not the most picturesque place to begin with, wasn’t done any favours by the rain. It wasn’t even dramatic-tropical-downpour rain, but persistent-drizzle-under-grey-skies rain, the kind of rain I left England to get away from.

Vientiane looks and feels very different to other places in northern Laos. The French influence is much more apparent, in the street names, food, architecture and general ambience. It hardly rivals Paris or London as one of the great capitals of the world, but it’s still a city, albeit a small, low-key one, and that makes it distinctly different to Luang Prabang or Luang Namtha.

Above and below are views of and from Patuxai, Vientiane’s Arc de Triomphe.

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Wat Sisaket is home to hundreds of buddhas, big and small.

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Khou Din market seems to have escaped the mallification, if that’s a word, which has made nearby Talat Sao market not very interesting.

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Nong Khiaw

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Nong Khiaw, in Luang Prabang province in northern Laos, is the kind of place that adjectives like breathtaking and stunning were invented for. A bumpy three hour bus ride from Luang Prabang town, the village is on the banks of the River Ou, surrounded by towering (there’s another one) limestone karsts.    My landscape pictures don’t begin to do it justice, as I wasn’t organised enough to be in the right place at the right time, but that gives me the perfect excuse to go back another time.

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Eleven monks

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I don’t know what exactly makes Buddhist monks such compelling subjects for portrait photographs. I think maybe it’s something to do with how their shaved heads seem like an attempt to deny them their individuality, but their orange robes demand that you look at them.

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Going slow in Laos

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I wrote before about how the Xishuangbanna region in southernmost China felt a lot like Laos, but crossing the border into the actual Laos, you really notice a difference. On the Chinese side of the border, in Mohan, there’s austere concrete architecture and businesslike, though not unfriendly, customs officials. On the Lao side, in Boten, there’s a small shed, probably built as a temporary measure five years ago, occupied by portly, vaguely-uniformed middle-aged men, whose long lunch break is occasionally interrupted by the stamping of passports. It’s a nice introduction to the country; nothing is rushed here, and there’s no standing on ceremony.

From the border, the bus took me south to Luang Namtha, capital of the province of the same name. The town had a sleepy, off-season feel to it, but was none the worse for that.  I spent about a week in the town and surrounding area, walking, cycling, napping, taking photographs.  No rushing.

This post is especially for my sister Kate, whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday, Kate.

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Xiding market

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Xiding market, a couple of hours’ drive from Jinghong, near the border with Burma / Myanmar, early on a Thursday morning.  It’s a family affair.

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The women do the hard work, while the men concentrate on the serious business of early morning boozing.

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I wish that I’d included the market trader’s hands in this shot, to give a sense of scale. These chillies were enormous.

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I’m too fashion-illiterate to know the name for these hats, but they’re a popular look among the market ladies of Xishuangbanna.

Border country: Xishuangbanna

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Sometimes it seemed like China was disguising itself as other countries.  Yuanyang reminded me of northern Vietnam, while in Xishuangbanna, it often seemed like I had already travelled into Laos.  It’s border country.  Jinghong, the region’s small main city, is only a few hours drive from both Laos and Burma.  Thailand is not so far away either and exerts a strong cultural influence.  Eating a Thai red curry and drinking a Beerlao on my second night in town, I had to remind myself what country I was in.  It wasn’t the only time.  Jinghong has a distinctly south-east Asian feel: the people are relaxed and friendly, the food is spicy, the temples wouldn’t be out of place in Luang Prabang, and elephant imagery is everywhere.

Jinghong is also where my Mekong journey really got started, as it’s where I joined the river, known in China as the Lancang.  My friend Chris would argue that this is a pretty half-hearted Mekong trip, since I’m not travelling all the way down from the river’s source in Tibet in a canoe that I fashioned myself from bamboo and recycled plastic.  But starting in Jinghong a) is easier and b) gives me the chance to spend plenty of time in the places where I stop, rather than rushing from one town to the next.  I was able to spend about a week in the border country of Xishuangbanna, without feeling rushed or hurried.  As I say, very south-east Asian.

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Postcard from Kunming

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I spent a few days in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, in May. It’s a pleasant, but not desperately interesting city. Looking back, there are a few things that stick in my mind: cool evening breezes; electric motorbikes gliding soundlessly round corners; overpasses, underpasses; shopping malls; the view of mountains behind the city’s modest skyscrapers on the drive in from the airport; more shopping malls; taxi drivers caged inside their cars; markets selling a hundred varieties of mushroom; and overall, a sense of stillness, order and calm, which I was surprised to find in a Chinese city. This is a slightly random selection of pictures of Kunming from the few days I spent there.

These China posts are actually being sent from Luang Namtha province in Laos, where I’ve been for the last week. I couldn’t access my blog in China as WordPress is blocked there, and I didn’t do anything clever with my laptop before leaving Vietnam. So the blog is lagging a little behind real life. For the next couple of months, I’ll be on my Big Mekong Trip, following the river, loosely, from southern China, through Laos and Cambodia, and finally into the Mekong delta in the south of Vietnam. Once the blog has caught up with where I actually am, you’ll be able to follow my progress here.

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