Interior designer, furniture designer and stalwart world traveler Jiun Ho joins us once again for Designer Travels — this time, recounting a nearly 300-mile bicycle tour through Southeast Asia.
Destination: Biking from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, to Siem Reap, Cambodia
Month traveled: December between Christmas and New Year
Duration of trip: 10 days
Temperature range: between 85-95 F, 70% humidity
Solo trip or vacation with family/friends? Vacation with family
First visit or repeat destination? I have been to Vietnam more than a dozen times for both business and leisure, and four times to Cambodia.
What drew you to this locale?
I was drawn mainly by the vibrant culture and rich history of Khmer civilization, as well as the landscape, food and the warm hospitality.
The Lodgings…
We started the trip from the colonial-style architecture at the Park Hyatt Saigon. We biked along the Mekong River, staying at the Legacy Mekong, a beautiful, serene resort in the middle of the Hau River. The room was in the middle of a giant Lotus pond, which was magical. Along the way, we stayed in many local hotels with a heavy Khmer influence — most built with hundred-year-old teak wood — along the Mekong river all the way to Siem Reap. In Siem Reap, we stayed at the historical Grand Hotel d’Angkor, an authentic expression of 1930s French Art Deco style.
Must-sees for design and architecture enthusiasts…
There is so much! Angkor Wat for sunrise is a MUST. Bayon Temple with the iconic giant smiling faces. The grand Terrace of the Elephants. The intricate Baphuon Temple. The Terrace of the Leper King and also all the main impressive South Gate with its rows of gods and demons pulling a naga.
Postcard moment…
Angkor Thom has become a living blueprint for my interiors and furniture. I draw from the temple’s monumental rhythm — axial alignments, stepped terraces and human scale rendered monumental. The exquisite bas reliefs inform the surface language of drawers, panels and hardware, introducing narrative texture without overwhelming form. Beyond stone, the serene lotus pond informs my textile collection’s color, texture and pattern vocabulary: muted aquatic greens, silvery reflections, and overlapping rounded motifs that recall lotus pads and ripples. Together, these elements create spaces that feel both timeless and domestically poetic.
Souvenirs…
Aside from some delicious local snacks, I returned with a suitcase full of memories and photos — each one a spark for new designs, textures and stories.
Lasting influence…
Angkor Wat taught me that design is not just form — it’s experience, proportion, and narrative. Its balance of monumentality and detail inspires me to create work that feels structured yet emotional, precise yet human.
Greatest takeaway…
Cycling from Vietnam to Siem Reap reshaped the way I understand space, material and movement. Traveling at human speed allowed me to experience landscape not as scenery, but as rhythm — the repetition of rice fields, the texture of unpaved roads, the filtered light through palms, the quiet balance between structure and openness in rural homes. That journey continues to inform my work as an interior, furniture and textile designer.
I design spaces as sequences rather than static compositions. Like a long road unfolding, my interiors reveal themselves gradually — through proportion, light transitions, and tactile layering. Furniture is grounded in the body, informed by ergonomics and movement. Textiles carry subtle narratives inspired by craft traditions, natural fibers, and the imperfect beauty of handmade surfaces encountered along the way.
My work seeks balance: structure and softness, monumentality and intimacy, precision and imperfection. Influenced by the discipline of travel and the humility of craft, I design environments that feel intentional yet lived-in — spaces that invite pause, reflect movement, and honor the quiet poetry of place.
Ultimately, I design with the intention of creating immersive experiences: interiors that guide movement, furniture that feels architectural yet human, and textiles that quietly narrate their own story within the space.
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