It’s that time of year to run for cover if you’re anywhere near Laos, Cambodia, Thailand or Myanmar. The water guns are out. Pails are filled to the rim with liquid ammunition. And children line the streets to soak the unsuspecting
The annual water festival ushers in the New Year for a handful of Southeast Asian countries. In Laos, the New Year begins April 15. Some people observe the holiday with solemnity and piety. Others, not so much.
In Luang Prabang, tourists duck into alleys to avoid a drenching. Or they raise …

I’ve started this blog in midstream. Perhaps I should return to the beginning and explain why I’m on my current journey.
I’m now in Luang Prabang, Laos, as part of a journalism fellowship awarded by the International Center for Journalists. I will spend nearly three weeks in Laos to do a story on traditional Hmong medicine and the tensions between modern medicine and the old ways, and how each is adapting to the other. The story, of course, is still evolving.
This trip is not only about a journalism fellowship. It’s a …

The plane descended from the clouds into a thick, dreary haze, patches of fire shimmering through billowing smoke. The passengers aboard the near-empty flight murmured, their voices hushed by the scene below. My heart sank.
I had come to Laos in April to avoid the rainy season that usually starts in May. Who knew that fire and smoke would put a damper on my excitement?
Travel books describe Luang Prabang as one of Southeast Asia’s grandest jewels: ancient temples, verdant mountains, waterfalls, rivers and creeks gurgling through a modern-day Shangri-La, and monks …

IGUAZÚ FALLS, Argentina — Two years ago, I fell madly in love with Buenos Aires and could not bear to leave the sultry den of tango and its hip-as-Paris vibe.
It was love at first sight, and I intended to use every minute exploring the playground that is Buenos Aires — its leafy streets, teeming avenues, bountiful (and inexpensive) restaurants and cafes, and pulsing night life.
But as in many love affairs, there had to be sacrifices. One of them was spurning a trip north to behold the grandeur of Iguazu Falls, …

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — A look of panic overcame the hotel concierge when I confessed I had never driven a motorbike. Yet, here he was scurrying to arrange a rental.
He offered a driver. I declined.
I preferred to ride solo. I don’t like being tethered to guides, I explained.
He glowered, turned to a bellhop and barked out in Vietnamese before his eyes again darted in my direction.
The deal was off, said Dao Cong Lap, the concierge at the Giant Dragon Hotel, which provided us comfy and inexpensive accommodations in …

From Nov. 6, 2007
For the past week, I’ve been traveling through Iraqi Kurdistan — the “other Iraq,” as the region touts itself. It is a semi-autonomous region mostly populated by Kurds. It has its own government, much like a state does in the United States. It flies its own flag and has its own militia.
Folks here are not Arab. They are Kurds, a proud population that speaks its own language and has long been proud of its ethnic identity. Saddam Hussein had oppressed them, even using lethal gas against the …