An Unforgettable Tour Through Southeast Asia [Photo Essay]

GoMadNomad.com founder and friend of our site Stephen Bugno spent a good part of this year traveling through Southeast Asia as part of his nomadic wanderings. To try to encapsulate such a trip in 10 or 11 pictures would be futile, but I asked Stephen if I could share with our readers some of my favorite pictures from his Flickr sets to try to give a small taste what it’s like for those who’ve never been.

From the 1000-year-old temples, to the food, to the other backpackers one encounters on such a trek, what follows, I hope, is a gentle kick-in-the-behind motivation for those thinking of traveling there.

The walls at Preah Khan, probably the most famous temple in Angkor, Cambodia.

Looking downstream in Muang Ngoi, a Lao town along the Nam Ou River.

An early-morning stroll in Luang Prabang’s morning market, north central Laos.

Dinner during a two-day trek to an Akha hill tribes village near Phongsali, the northernmost province in Laos.

Taking the slow boat ride down the Mekong River in Laos from Houayxai to Pakbeng.

This tea salesman, in the Chinese village in northern Thailand called Mae Salong. is writing out the brewing instructions I asked for.

An older woman from Mae Hong Son, in northern Thailand near the border of Burma.

Visakha Bucha Day in Chiang Mai. The holiday celebrates the birth, enlightenment and entry into nirvana of the Buddha.

A vendor prepares for the crowds at the night market in Chiang Mai.

Sunset in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

By Stephen Bugno

About the Author

Stephen Bugno has been traveling the world for more than a decade as both a volunteer and a wanderer, and is the editor and publisher of the online travel magazine GoMadNomad.com and his personal site BohemainTraveler.com. You can follow Stephen via twitter at @bohemiantrav or on Facebook.

Posted on September 06, 2011 by Matt Stabile