Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand

Hospitals, latrines, cafeterias, meeting rooms, hallways -- all underground. Anti-colonial forces began digging these tunnels in the 1930s for resistance maneuvers against the French and Japanese, and continued to expand the 75-mile network during the Vietnam War. To escape American troops, they would stay underground for days or weeks at a time. Frustrated, American soldiers carpet bombed the entire area; large holes show the site of these explosions. Squeeze down the tiny tunnels, now a major tourist attraction.

An elegant Mediterranean city built on marshland, the economic center of Vietnam, a metropolis of heavy Soviet architecture and sprawling American-style hotels. Ho Chi Minh City (still often called by its former name of Saigon) comfortably -- and profitably -- combines Vietnam's competing colonial influences. See French symbolism at the Notre Dame Cathedral and City Hall, either of which would look right at home on the Côte d'Azur. The War Remnants Museum looks unflinchingly at the wars with both the French and the Americans, and at the damage inflicted on the country and its residents during the wars. You can almost step back into that time at the Reunification Palace, preserved as it was on the morning of April 30, 1975, when South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.

Bangkok grew up from rather watery beginnings -- while the original temples and royal palaces were on dry ground, ordinary residences were on bamboo rafts on the river -- into a modern sprawling city. Old secrets and traditions still run deep within the city, however. The sacred Emerald Buddha, for instance, a tiny figure carved from glowing jade and considered to have miraculous powers, is a bit of a clothes horse. Thailand's kings have amassed a full wardrobe for the figure, including gold shawls for the winter and monastic robes for the rainy season. You can peek into his closet in the Grand Palace complex, which is a bit of a dandy itself -- one of the buildings is called "the foreigner with the Thai hat" because of its classical Western design topped by three-tiered Thai tower. A heartier Buddha resides at Wat Po, whose sacred image is 150 feet long (the Buddha's smile alone is 15 feet long). The picturesque spire of the Temple of the Dawn rises across the river. The colorful flower mosaics on the temple were created using bits of pottery donated by local residents.

Thailand's celebrated cooking combines fresh vegetables, spicy chilies, sweet coconut milk, and splashes of lemon and lime to create outstanding noodle and rice dishes. Sample some of the best at this buffet.

Buddhism entered Thailand at Nakhon Pathom, Thailand's oldest town. The Phra Phathom Chedi (a stupa, or type of temple) commemorates the Buddha's stay here, and is therefore one of the most holy temples in the country. Shaped like an inverted bowl, the temple's spire reaches 400 feet into the air.

During World War II, the Japanese invaders forced Allied prisoners of war to build a railway bridge connecting Thailand to Burma. The conditions and treatment of the prisoners were so harsh that thousands died during the project. Allied bombs destroyed the bridge, but a new bridge is still in operation. The history of the project is chronicled at the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, and the seven-thousand dead are honored at the War Cemetery.