Travel Warning

Khmer Sanctuary with a View
Location: Champassak, Laos

Wat Phou as seen from a nearby hill

Built in stages between the 6th and l4th centuries-and thus predating Cambodia's Angkor Wat by 200 years-the hill top temples of Wat Phou contain some of the best Khmer art in Southeast Asia. Even though centuries of abandonment left little of the original temples intact (they were only rediscovered in 1866), the scale and age of the complex is breathtaking, as is the hike up the massive stairs to the ruins of a 9th-century temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. From this fantastic setting against the majestic mountain Linga Parvata, you can view the spectacular landscape---on a clear day as far as Vietnam and Cambodia. Below, the broad expanse of the Mekong River with its narrow fishing boats winds through fertile lowlands dotted by small villages.

Farther downstream, and often included in the same organized tour, is the Oum Moung, a less-elaborate Khmer temple that was probably used as a station for pilgrims on their way to Wat Phou. Little more than a romantic ruin, with less extensive and brilliant carvings than those at Wat Phou, Oum Moung is most interesting for the jungle walk that takes you there, beginning at a riverside settlement where life seems not to have changed since the 13th or 14th century, when the temple is believed to have been built.

Elaborate Funerals and, Eloquent Architecture
Location: Sulawesi, Indonesia

A village in Toraja

Once known as the Celebes, Sulawesi is a fascinating island destination for exploring one of Indonesia's most distinctive cultural groups. Tanah Toraja, or Torajaland, located within mountainous folds north of the popular port city Ujung Pandang, is famous for its unusual and elaborate death feasts. A visitor hits the jackpot if he or she arrives in time for a local funeral ceremony, to which outsiders are enthusiastically welcomed. Joyous celebrations of the soulos departure for the hereafter go on for days, and are marked by flowing palm wine, music, dancing, colorful dress, and the sacrifice of a pig or water buffalo or two or dozens, depending on the family's means. Wooden coffins and earthly goods are buried in caves hewn into the limestone cliffs. The Toraja profess Christianity, but instead of crosses, carved and painted wooden effigies-lifelike figures of the deceased called tau tau-line the cliffs. Although grave-visiting is the draw (there are cemeteries for the nobility, cemeteries for babies . . .), the island itself is a marvel to explore, for the templelike architecture of its tongkonnn homes (bamboo-roofed structures that resemble the prow of a sailing ship), clove and banana plantations, bamboo villages floating on beautiful Lake Tempe, and remote mountain enclaves accessible only by foot. Unlike their policy in other parts of lndonesia, the colonial Dutch encouraged the Toraja to presewe their rich architectural and cultural traditions-with the exception of human sacrifice, a custom extinguished sometime ago.