Southeast Asia Stays: Remote Tented Escapes

The post Southeast Asia Stays: Remote Tented Escapes first appeared on Smiling Albino.

Around the full moon at the end of the Buddhist Lent in October, tens of thousands of people make the trek to a cool, misty expanse where the mighty Mekong River marks the border between Thailand and Laos. They’re there to witness firsthand a phenomenon that has been observed for at least 100 years – the mysterious Naga Fireball. A conclusive explanation of the event has yet to be agreed upon. During this event visitors say that one can see balls of light shoot up from the river, rising high up into the night sky along a 250 km stretch east of the Laos capital Vientiane and Thailand’s popular border town of Nong Khai, which sit near each other on opposite sides of the Mekong. Some years, people will see hundreds of Naga Fireballs in a night, other years only a dozen or so across many nights.

Legend says that the fireballs are produced by the Naga, a large mythical serpent that features prominently in Laotian mythology and culture, but for years skeptics have been trying to find an alternate explanation. In 2002 a Thai TV program claimed that the fireballs were produced by tracer fire from Laos. This was furiously refuted by local villagers on both sides of the river who were both offended at the insinuation that the Naga doesn’t exist, as well as the suggestion that they were trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes. Another explanation says that the fireballs are a result of flammable methane or phosphine gas generated by plant and animal life on the river bed, or even some sort of bioluminescent creatures flying off into the sky. But no matter which explanation you buy into, the only thing that’s for sure is that there’s been no definitive scientific explanation of the phenomenon either way, despite experts and high-tech equipment making the rounds every year.

Although the mysterious light-show has been happening for decades, it’s only since the early 1990s that people have begun to throng to the best viewing areas along the river banks, eating, drinking, dancing, and socializing in a Thai version of a tailgate party. Indeed, some savvy (unscrupulous?) people sometimes set off fireworks to the great delight of the crowd, no doubt keeping the masses there to cheer, and wait, and spend money. [Tweet “This year’s Naga Fireball event on the Mekong River takes place Oct. 27-29.”] This year’s full moon will be on Tuesday October 27, 2015 and the viewing will be its best from October 27 through 29. The Smiling Albino team here on the ground in Bangkok can assist you with planning your travels around any of these unique Festivals found throughout Asia. If you’re in Thailand or Laos in early October during the full moon, go take a look and see if you can explain it. Let us know what you come back with, because we’re not sure either!

The post Naga Fireball Festival first appeared on Smiling Albino.

There’s something primal and ageless in seeing the sun rise or set. It’s one of the few connecting tissues that crosses all barriers – time, class, age, race, location. For as long as we’ve been here, humans have been staring at that huge ball of fire in the sky and going “Whoa.”

Don’t get us wrong – watching the sun rise is pretty awesome too, but if you’re anything like us, you’ve seen plenty more sunsets in your life than you have sunrises. With that in mind, here are a few of our favorite spots to kick back and watch day become night.

Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia

Yes, it’s overloaded with tourists, but they come for a reason – Kuta is a truly spectacular beach that just happens to face directly west. Come sunset, that ball o’ fire in the sky starts to dip toward the horizon, and if the conditions are just right, your entire field of view gets lit up as if the sunset is actually happening inside your eyes. Great photo ops too, especially the ol’ ‘silhouetted-people-walking-on-the-beach’ kind.

Bagan, Myanmar

Did you know that in 1286 Kublai Khan – Genghis’ grandson – sent his Mongol forces into Myanmar and defeated the Bagan army? Perhaps they came for the sunsets. A few centuries later, the thousands of temples that remain scattered across the barren, grassy plain make for a superb backdrop as the sun drops behind the Arakan Mountain range, with each successive ‘layer’ of temples and hills fading into shadow the further away they get. Truly an amazing sight.

[Tweet “Did you know that in 1286 Kublai Khan sent his Mongol forces into Myanmar & defeated the Bagan army? Perhaps they came for the sunsets”]

Ko Lanta, Thailand

Because most of Lanta’s best beaches are on the west side of the island, almost any place with a view gives you a superb sunset. Our favorite is the rocky outcropping at the northern end of Kantiang Bay, where you can stand on a cliff overlooking the ocean and watch as the sun turns the sky from blue to purple to orange to red. It also helps that there’s a bar right there. You know, for soda and juice and healthy thinks like that.

Vang Vieng, Laos

This popular backpacker town used to be like the Las Vegas of Laos, but after a social order crackdown, things have calmed down a bit. If you’re able to head up into the hills to the east of town, you’ll be rewarded with a superb view across houses and temples, over the Nam Xong River, and into to the Luang Prabang mountain range as the sun dips behind the limestone peaks. Just make sure you bring a flashlight for the trip back home.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Let’s be honest – this stunning, massive temple complex would be amazing even if you had to explore it by touch alone. But standing on top of a centuries-old temple looking across a thick jungle canopy to the setting sun is a pretty spectacular way to experience the end of the day. The bad news is that everyone knows it’s awesome and lines up with cameras ready. The good news is that Smiling Albino knows a few secret spots that the masses don’t…

Ngwe Saung Beach, Myanmar

It’s hard to find an awesome beach with a great sunset that allows you a people-free picture (see Bali, above), but when you do, oh mannnnn, it’s great. Whenever SA heads to Myanmar, we try to make it to Ngwe Saung Beach, which is in the southwest corner of the country. Only recently opened to tourism after decades of isolation, this part of the country has almost no development, thus, no buildings or huge crowds to cramp your style as you watch the sun set.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

The endless, rolling tea plantations of Malaysia’s central highlands are a stunning place to watch the end of the day. If you manage to get to a place where there’s no traffic (which is fairly easy up here) you can enjoy the event in almost total silence as the light filters through clouds and casts mountain shadows across the tea leaves in striking, changing patterns.

[Tweet “The endless, rolling tea plantations of Malaysia’s central highlands are a stunning place to watch the end of the day”]

Plan For the Perfect Sunset

Have someone on the ground plan the perfect trip and help with knowledge of the best spot and best time to watch the sunset. Contact Smiling Albino info@smilingalbino.com.

Check out our upcoming Myanmar tour “Asia’s Golden Land” with founder and Adventurer-in-Chief Dan Fraser this November 2014.

The post Best Spots to Watch Sunset in Southeast Asia first appeared on Smiling Albino.