Cambodia And Laos (DK Eyewitness), by Simon Ostheimer and Daniel Stables

Cambodia and Laos happen to share a great deal in common besides their shared space on the borders of the Mekong River region. Both nations have a glorious and enigmatic history that is full of religious architecture and political tragedy, past glories and also recent suffering, largely due to the tragedies of imperialism as well as Communism. The authors are seeking to encourage travel, so they generally tend to focus on the positive and on elements that the supposed reader would like to know about (where they remind the reader repeatedly that Cambodia and Laos are both traditional societies where modesty in standards of dress are important in general and that it is inappropriate for couples to show physical affection in public regardless of what sort of couples they are). There is a lot of advice shown here and the authors appear to have taken the time to go to some pretty off-the-beaten-path places, and so this book is one that offers plenty of information to a wide variety of travelers, though it appears that the ideal audience for this book is somewhat hip, interested in eco-tourism, and willing and able to hike and enjoy adventurous exercise.

In reading this book, I was concerned about some of the things that the authors said. For one, the authors stated that Laos was not a place that was an easy one to visit for people who had mobility problems and was not in general a place that ranks high when it comes to handicapped accessibility. Given the mobility changes of my own family, that raised some concerns, and we will see exactly how we will need to be able to address this and whether it will affect what we are able to do there. Similarly, The author’s discussion of Cambodia was heavy on discussing either religious temples (which makes sense) or memorials relating to the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. It is unclear the specific political bent of the writers, or what they mean when they comment so much about the lingering effects of the greater Vietnam War as it relates to the current geography and situation of both Cambodia and Laos. The fact that places in both places (especially Laos) are endangered because of the continued presence of landmines is definitely a concern as well.

In terms of its contents, this book is almost 250 pages. It begins with a discussion of several ways that the reader of this book can discover Cambodia and Laos, welcoming the reader to the area, reasons to love the two countries, exploring them, and giving various possible itineraries. This is followed by four regions of Cambodia that the reader can explore: Phnom Penh, Siam Reap and Angkor, as well as Northern and Southern Cambodia. This regional approach contains a mixture of materials, from information about transportation within and between towns and cities, restaurants to stop at, sights, including museums and beaches and temples, and hotels to stay at, as well as obscure sights that are not often viewed by travelers. After this the author similarly divides Laos into four regions: Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Northern Laos, and Central and Southern Laos. Here we see the obscurity of the country, as one of the district capitals involves either a ten-hour long trip by bus or a two-day boat trip to get there, which piques my interest for future visits, it must be admitted. This is followed by information that one would need to know about both countries–what needs to be done before one goes to the countries, getting around, and practical information–after which there is a general index, phrasebook, and acknowledgements.