Travel Tales

Young Chang

A group of Newport Beach residents took a three week trip to Vietnam,

Cambodia and Laos early last month, but they’re hesitant to call it a

“vacation.”

“It was an educational trip from every standpoint,” said Lido Island

resident Lois Tingler. “I certainly did enjoy it, but ‘enjoy’ is not in

the way you would enjoy a trip to Europe.”

With tour stops including sad historical lessons at the Killing Fields

and a quick but consistent look at general life in Cambodia, which is

still suffering from the repercussions of recent wars, the trip abroad

was more eye-opening than it was fun.

Travelers included Sam and Gigi Spragins, Dave and Lois Tingler, Karen

Carlson, her son Rand and his friend John Skinner. The two boys met with

the group in Angkor Wat, Cambodia as they’re in the middle of traveling

the world for a year.

The group, which included some Stanford graduates, traveled through

the Stanford University Travel Study Program.

“The university-sponsored trips offer opportunities that ordinary

tours don’t,” said Karen Carlson, of Balboa Island. “For example, we met

the ambassadors of Vietnam and Laos, and the ambassadors of Cambodia all

came and spoke to us.”

In Vietnam, one striking sight was Ha Long Bay -- a waterfront spot

considered the most beautiful find in a land used mostly for coal mining.

The Vietnamese were warm toward their American visitors, Tingler said,

but called what we call the Vietnam War, the American War. Saigon was

large and spread out while Hanoi was smaller and almost entirely

walk-able.

“I compare it almost to going to San Francisco and going to Los

Angeles,” Tingler said.

In Angkor Wat, Cambodia, the group marveled at the more than 30 miles

of elaborate stone temples that were built between 900 and 1100 A.D.,

eventually abandoned and later rediscovered in the early 1900s, Carlson

said.

Some of them are Buddhist temples, others house small chapels and most

are used for tourism.

“Of course I had wanted to see Angkor Wat for many years,” said

Tingler, a retired teacher. “You see pictures of it and it’s so massive,

but the entire complex was so much larger than I had expected.”

The travelers also noticed a large number of children everywhere, as

43% of the population there is under 14.

In Laos, the group visited a village in the highlands called Luang

Prabang, set near the Mekong River. The area was scattered with low,

two-story homes, lots of temples and beautiful flowers.

“Both in Cambodia and Laos, it’s very sobering because the people are

very poor,” Tingler said. “You read about it and it’s not quite the

same.”

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.