What I learned from travelling in Southeast Asia

People say that travel broadens the mind and it’s probably true for many people, but I’m not convinced that my mind has been broadened, maybe just bent a bit out of shape. I seem to end up with a smattering of impressions and odd nuggets of information from every country I visit. After a month of travelling, only the following thoughts seem to have lodged in my brain.

I was surprised to discover that in Thailand they drive on the left-hand side of the road, but they drive on the right in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Although Thailand was never a British colony, apparently they imported British cars at the beginning of the 20^th century and so drove on the left. Although the rules of the road seem to be optional in Southeast Asia and no-one pays much attention to them anyway.

Real silk doesn’t burn, although I can’t imagine that shop-owners would be very pleased if you took out a cigarette lighter to test whether their so-called 100% silk scarves were actually nylon.

Thai massage is bizarre, brutal and blissful.

Even though the Chinese themselves were absent owing to the coronavirus scare, their economic might can be felt throughout the area, particularly in Laos. Projects to build casinos, dams and a high-speed railway are much in evidence. Laos still feels like a sleepy backwater, but change is unstoppable.

I have developed a very unhealthy taste for condensed milk in my coffee. The coffee was delicious, especially in Vietnam, and was even nicer with condensed milk in it. Their speciality is egg coffee, which is made by mixing egg yolks and sugar with the already very sweet condensed milk. It’s like tiramisu in a cup and you can feel your teeth decaying as you drink it. And their iced coffee was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever tasted. If summer ever comes, I’m going to buy a tin of condensed milk and make my own.

The Vietnam War (which they refer to as the American War) has cast a long shadow over Laos and Cambodia, as well as Vietnam, but they are wonderfully forgiving people and don’t seem to feel any resentment towards the various countries involved. Buddhist beliefs must play a part in this and one of our guides said that revenge is never-ending but forgiveness draws matters to a close. People told us over and over that they felt no anger about the past and were concentrating solely on the present and the future. It must be very liberating not to be weighed down by past hatreds and surely we’d all benefit from adopting that approach.

Life at home is so easy. You speak the language, the money makes sense (it’s easy to lose track of the zeros when there are 30,000 Vietnamese dong to a pound), you don’t have to worry about malaria or dengue fever and crossing the road isn’t a life-threatening activity. However, it’s not good for me to get too comfortable – I might curl up on the sofa and never budge again. Plans for the next adventure are already taking shape.