Author Archives: Brandin Kreuder

I’m happy that Laos in the middle of my SE Asia itinerary. Why? — It is the perfect place to slow down after so much moving around. The number of sights I’ve checked off on my To Do List on recent stops has become fewer and fewer, and once I left Luang Prabang I stoppedContinue reading “Finding Gratitude And Relaxation In Laos”

Landlocked between Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, and Cambodia — Laos is relatively unknown to the average person. However, I think it may be the most magical and rustic country in all of SE Asia. I intended my visit to be an opportunity to slow down and just … be … but naturally I had aContinue reading “Luang Prabang & Nong Khiaw, Laos”

Coming to SE Asia I wanted a specific purpose for visiting each country. For Vietnam it was to test my day to day backpacking endurance. In Cambodia it was to wander the Angkor Wat temples. As for Thailand, the goal was simple — eat as much as possible and let everything else slip through theContinue reading “Bangkok & Northern Thailand”

For my first trip to Cambodia I allotted myself seven nights, with three stops in quick succession. In this post I’ll be focusing on my last stop, and Cambodia’s main attraction — the World Heritage temple complex of Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is located a short bit outside of the city of Siem Reap. OfContinue reading “The Jungle Temples Of Angkor Wat”

The final two stops on my 26-day journey down through Vietnam couldn’t have been more different. I arrived in the holiday city of Da Lat around 6:00 AM on a clear morning. As I stepped off of the sleeper bus I was relieved to feel the cooler air of the Vietnamese highlands. Not only that,Continue reading “Vietnam — VI. Da Lat & Saigon”

No one told me that the 14-hour overnight bus from Ninh Bình to Da Nang was going to make a stopover in the city of Hue, or that we would be swapping buses, or that we would have a two hour “layover” between said buses. A man on a Grab bike (the SE Asian equivalentContinue reading “Vietnam — V. Da Nang & Hoi An”

Coming to the region of Ninh Bình after two days spent with a bunch of binge-drinking 20 year olds in Ha Long Bay felt like a relief. Other than the constant feeling that I’m defying American societal norms, the most difficult thing about backpacking around the world in my late 20’s has been separating myselfContinue reading “Vietnam — IV. Ninh Bình”

One of the things I find both good and bad about backpacking South East Asia is that everyone seems to stick to the routes known as the Banana Pancake Trail. These tried and true sequences of major cities and smaller towns are ideal for the first time traveler. But as I approach my 30th birthdayContinue reading “Vietnam — II. Cao Bang Province”