The Tranquilo Traveler
The Tranquilo Traveler is a celebration of voluntourism, slow travel, and other interesting ways to see the world. Travel writer and award- winning Moon Handbooks author Joshua Berman created The Tranquilo Travel as a resource for world trippers and international volunteers, a window to the author’s travels in Nicaragua, Belize, and beyond, and an update of his books and articles.
Map: Two Weeks in Laos
By Joshua | 
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[flashback post, painted map a month late] By boat, bus, and second-class bogey, we float and poke down the Mekong, across the northwest corner of Laos; on our way back to Bangkok, and beyond.
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Allons-y a Vientiane!
By Joshua | 2 Comments » 
The Maison du Café is one of many anomalous Parisian flourishes that color the sidewalks, streets, and plazas of Vientiane, the steamy capital of Laos: small round tables, a wooden newspaper rack (Bangkok Post and Vientiane Times only), and European tourists and Lao locals smoking cigarettes and reading the long menu of coffee drinks featuring beans from around the world. It is my last day in Laos, so I order a black Phouphieng Arabica from the southern region, “baw sai nam tan,” or without the inch of condensed sweetened milk that is usually served with the coffee here.
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Country Roads: Luang Prabang to Vientiane, via Pak Lai
By Joshua | 5 Comments » 
Recovered from our respective illnesses, Tay and I tuk-tuk to the southern Luang Prabang bus station to begin a three-day trip to the capital through the southwest corner of northern Laos. The idea is break from the company of our fellow Vientane-bound farangs, 99.9 percent of whom opt for the well-trodden path through Vang Vieng.
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Lost in Laos: Luang Prabang
By Joshua | 3 Comments » 
Luang Prabang gracefully absorbs the 140 people from our slow-boat ride. In fact, I am told that Luang Prabang now hosts over 500 new tourists each day, pumping an unprecedented amount of dollars, baht, and kip into the economy—but not without some payback in the other direction, of course.
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With the Masses on the Mekong
By Joshua | 2 Comments » 
The two-day trip down the Mekong River, from Chiang Khong, Thailand, into the very heart of Laos at Luang Prabang, is indeed something to write home about. The greenery passes by almost interrupted, with only a handful of small thatch villages to be seen, including Pram Bek, where we spend the night in a dingy, stained room, under a torn pink mosquito net. During the days, our long wooden boat follows the main current of the khaki-colored river, swerving from bank to bank and gently rocking and creaking with the motion. The air is cool, bordering on cold in the mornings, when mists cling to the riverbanks and rising hills.
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BY JOSHUA BERMAN
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- 0. Volunteering Abroad
- 1. Round-the-World Honeymoon
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