Siem Reap (Angkor), Cambodia

It is good to be alive again!

I am feeling healthy (aside from a persistent cough that sounds worse than it is) and have just added another once in a lifetime set of experiences to the matter between my ears.

The Angkor temples are beyond words. I feel very lucky.

I think I should just start telling you what I have seen and the descriptions will flow.
The first day at about 3 I went to the center of town (which is 2 blocks from my hotel) and ate some pretty fantastic food. I had Chicken Amok and a local Ankgor Beer. I loved it; I never knew Khmer food was so delicious.

After lunch I met my Tuk-Tuk driver who would take me off to see the sunset. A tuk-tuk is one of the coolest things ever. It's basically a rickshaw strapped to a motorbike. Of course it is modernized and made to function as a little trailer, but I bet that is how it got it's start.

My Tuk-Tuk driver is a tiny little Chinese-Cambodian kid who when wearing his helmet resembles a bobble head doll because the helmet is almost wider than his shoulders. It certainly was an amusing view for the last couple of days.

Well, it was too cloudy to see the sunset, so Back into town for some more Khmer food! YUM YUM YUM!!!

I hit the sack early cause I had agreed to meet my Tuk-tuk man at 5 am so I could see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. This was a real treat. The sky was beautiful colors behind the largest and most intact temple in the whole complex.

As my first temple introduction I immediately clambered my way to the top by way of the famed Angkor "stairs". These things are insane. With no exaggeration, these things are somewhere between 70 and 80 degrees...that's right near vertical and at their highest are about60 feet tall. Halfway up I remembered that I am terribly afraid of heights...oops. Don't look down...too late.

Well I made it to the top with little panic completely exhausted...my first thought was "Oh Shit! How am I going to get down?"

There are stairs in each of the cardinal directions and one has been "Upgraded" for tourists and outfitted with a makeshift piece of rebar posing as a handrail. It must have helped, because I am here now.

I spent the remainder of the day (12 hours) hopping from one temple to another. Over 2 days I visited some 30 ruins. Some big, some small. Some in total ruin, others with huge trees growing out, over, and around them. There is a temple with huge faces carved everywhere you look. There are bas-reliefs, statues, and carvings everywhere you look. The detail is extraordinary!

I will post tons of pictures when I get to Julie's, but if you have the means...get here before 2010 before they change the tourism policy. This is the first time on my trip that my camera ran out of batteries. In one day alone, I took 354 pictures. Simply amazing!

I have also become quite enamored by the little town of Siem Reap. Design is alive here. Here in this little tourist town are some of the finest designed interiors I have seen in Asia. I am very impressed.

I have one more temple group to do tomorrow, then it is back to Hanoi for the last few days of my trip. That makes me so sad just thinking about it.

Check back on Friday for a ton of pictures! I promise.

HCMC

I mustered up some strength to got out of my hotel room and take a brief look at Uncle Ho's city.

The Reunification Palace is just around the corner from my hotel, so I decided to check it out. It was South Vietnam's "White House" before the southern liberation and reunification of Vietnam.

It is always interesting to see things from someone else's perspective.

After that I caved to some comfort food and got a burger at a place the Lonely planet recommended. I guess after being so sick, I just needed something familiar.

I am feeling progressively better and am very pleased by that.

Today I head out for Siem Reap and the Ankgor. I look forward to spending 4 days in the same place reading about the different temple sites.

I have not been able to take too many pictures yet, but I am sure I will make up for it!

Next stop Cambodia!

The best laid plans...

I would love to report that I have not updated my blog in a few days because I was having so much fun in Nha Trang. Sunning on the beach, Snorkling in the turqouise blue water, relaxing on a boat trip to Monkey Island....

I really would love to report that.

Instead I spent the entire stay in Nha Trang in bed with a terrible cold. I missed the whole thing. And nothing adds insult to injury like the thought that I paid for the flight and hotel only to gaze at the inside of my eyelids, the ceiling of my hotel room, and oh yeah...the bathroom...JOY!

Once again I met the kindest people ever. The head security guard was the only one at the hotel who spoke english and he took me under his wing like the lame chicken I was. He brought me food, water, and medicine. He gave me this crazy herbal scented oil rub thing that he massaged into my back with the force of a hundred elephants.

When I was feeling a bit better he walked me to to the pharmacy, then to a spot to get dinner.

If he didn't save my life physically, he sure did mentally. I can only recall being that ill a few times in my life. Let me tell you it is a VERY frightening experience when you are alone in a foreign (developing) country and few people speak your language and you are very sick.

I am now on my 1 day stop in Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon) and unfortunatly still lack the energy to get out there and see the city. I am going to head out for lunch and take it easy as I want to save up strength for Ankgor Wat.

I wish you all (and myself) good health and happy travels!

Holy Hoi An!

Where do I even begin today?

OK from the top...I started the day with some shopping and sight seeing. I have been wanting an original local work of art so I spent most of the morning hopping from one artist's shop to another, and another, and another, and another, and another...Oh Sorry.

Seriously there are almost as many galleries as tailors. This place is simply fantastic.

Long made short, I bought 7 pieces from one guy. Six 5x10 oil on paper and one 16x22 oil on paper. This artist was the first one that really grabbed my attention. I was able to spend a half hour with him asking about his technique and inspiration. I asked him what he sees and hope others see...It was a great experience. I got all seven for $22.

The last one was one of those moments where it was just meant to be.

I had passed several galleries content with my purchases, but something made me turn left. I didn't see anything in the front that I liked, but continued in anyway. And there it was. Striking. The only problem was that it is something like 40x60 inches and there is surely NOWAY I could afford it. I spent a while talking with the artist and liked it more and more. There is some point when I knew that I would probably buy it at almost any cost...He started a $350...My heart sank. (That passed "almost any cost" by a longshot.)

After what must have been 10 to 15 minutes of continued chatting, I got the courage to make an offer.

"This is a very nice painting, but I can only offer $100." I said with a furrowed brow and sagging lower lip.

He shook his head without a word and said "I can see you really like it. I have not sold a piece in a while and maybe you will bring me good luck. OK, $100."

WOW! I got it! This is the first large canvas I have ever purchased.

So by now, I was late for my fitting of all the clothes I ordered the day before.
I tried it all on. Mostly fantastic with a few alterations here or there. I was amazed that after trying a shirt on, she would chalk in the alteration to be made, I would take it off and it would be whisked away. It seemed like before I was done putting on the next one it would reappear with the changes made. Amazing.

I am very impressed with the speed, quality and cost of the clothes. I tugged all the seams, buttons, snaps, etc. I looks pretty good. I will keep you posted on the life of them as I wear them.

OK. So I know I have typed a lot, but this is where the day gets really interesting. While getting fitted I was chatting it up with the shop keepers. We were laughing (mostly they were doing the laughing in a language I couldn't understand) and joking (at least I think they were jokes).

The next thing I know, I am in the market with one of them buying food for dinner. That's right I helped cook dinner for the entire family. Lao Cao and Hot Pot....Mmmm Mmmm Good! There I am with 8 Vietnamese sitting indian style on the floor sharing a meal that I helped prepare. FANTASTIC!!!!! That is a memory I will cherish for a long time to come.

After dinner, the younger members of the family took me out to a KTV spot. KTV is the private room karaoke thing. We sat there singing songs, sipping Fanta from little glasses, and rolling with laughter.

I sang my standard "Sweet Caroline" and "Lady in Red" and got a perfect score of 100 on both...that's right you get scored. The songs are a bit different as you may imagine and there was no one to do the "Bah, bah, baaah" in Sweet C, but a great time was had by this weary traveller.

This was a day that made memories to last a lifetime.

Sorry to write so much and for breaking the picture promise, but it is midnight and I have an early start tomorrow.

Woooohoooooo! Go Life Go!!!!

The day of the Xe May.

Today consisted of me on the back of a motorbike zooming around the country side of central Vietnam. I spent the night in Hue, a city very close to the DMZ. I arrived pretty late from Hanoi after a last minute decision to take off for this new adventure. The OpSmile folks set me up in a really great hotel about a mile out of town. I had made reservations for the bus down to Hoi An, so I only had 4 hours to visit Hue in the morning. This is why the Xe May (mortorbike taxi) came into play. I had a lot to see and a short time to do it.

I highly recommend this way of travel because for a little less than $2/hour you get your own transportation and a defacto tour guide. One hint i learned this time is to bring gum or a breath mint. There is nothing worse the riding downwind of a man with terrible breath. Imust have looked like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura hanging my head off the side of the bike.

So having paid $2/hour for a private chauffer, i began to get a lil worried about the bus I was going to be on for my trip to Hoi An. I was told it departed at 1:30p and would take 2.5 hours to reach Hoi An. That would get me in at 4 right? WRONG!.

What they don't tell you is that they drive around Hue for close to an hour and a half picking people up from their hotels. So we finally leave Hue around 3. Then they must have worked this deal with a restaurant in the middle of no where because our bus and several others stopped for a half hour break. Oh Joy!

Then we stopped a couple places in DaNang and dropped some locals at their houses in Hoi An before being kiced off the bus in front of some random hotel about a 4 kilometers away from where I was going.

This is where the second Xe May came in. This one was comical because I had my big backpack on and was holding my daypack. For the first time, I felt like a local...putting WAY too much on a little moped.

Finally at 6:30 I get to my hotel. I am staying at the Ancient House Resort. This place is amazing. Anywhere in the states this would cost 4 to 5 hundred a night (or more). Again Thanks OpSmile.

So, Hoi An is known for it's tailors and the ability to whip out suits, shirts, whatever.
Two of my favourite shirts had reached the end of their useful life so I thought I would get them copied. Well, 6 custom designed shirts, a 3 piece grey pinstripe suite, and 2 hours later, I foundmyself eating a local meal with the people that worked at the store. They were so nice and being able to design my own clothes was really cool. Oh and by the way, I spent less on all of that than I did on the two shirts I brought in to be copied. I can't wait to try them on tomorrow night.

What a way to start and finish a day. The middle part I would skip next time and hire a private car for $30.

Cheers to all. I promise I will post pics tomorrow night.

Off on another adventure!

Hey all.

I am off again on another adventure. From Hanoi, I will head to Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, Then Siem Reap, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat.

Wish me luck.
I will post along the way.

Back in Hanoi

Xin Chau.

I am back in Hanoi and it has been good to unwind a bit after China. "The Boys" (2 of Julie and Richard's coworkers) took me out to see the Hanoi nightlife on Thursday. It was great to see some of the local places.

Mom arrived on Friday. It has been great having her here and fascinating to see someone experience Hanoi for the first time.

Today we went to see Uncle Ho's Moseleum. Kinda creepy to see a preserved dead guy, but seeing the throngs of Vietnamese who had come to pay their respects was indeed fascinating. The system they have is all whacky as well. They take your cameras from you but let you kep your cell phones (like they don't have cameras?) Anyway, you go through this metal dectector and have to have your bags scaned like at the aitport. They take away all food and drinks, cameras and ipods. They put the banned visual items in a red bag and shoo you on your way. You follow some signs and (if you are lucky) you come to a little counter where you hand over your cameras in exchange for a claim ticket. The cameras got tossed on a tray with 50 or so other cameras. I thought for sure that woud be the last time I saw it. I was very surprised when we got to the end, after surrendering my claim ticket, I recieved the cameras back. Cray system, but it works. How? I have no idea.


Apres Bac Ho, we took a lil walk to Ho Tay near J+R's house before heading out to se the water puppets.

These things are amazing. If you are ever in Hanoi, it is definately worth checking out. Buy your tickets early (a day in advance) because the front row is great. I had been warned earlier about the temperature and the extremely small seats. The front was cool and we had all the legroom we could want. The view was fantastic too!

Fun, Fun Day!

Goodbye China. For now.

Ni Hao!

I am sitting at the Kunming Airport right now waiting for my connection to Hanoi, Vietnam. I can now consider China (at least Shanghai and Beijing) something I have experienced for myself. As my first foray into solo international travelling, I would rate this a fantastic success. I have learned so much about travelling alone. So much about myself. And so much of another culture.

I learned that when travelling solo, you accommodation becomes one of the most important factors. It shapes your experience of a city.
I found the language barrier to be quite difficult at times, but I never went hungry. I learned to try to do less in a day. I was happy if I could navigate to one site to see and get a meal in the same day.
Orientation and transportation were the most difficult. The strangest thing is that when you translate a street name from Chinese to Pingyang (phonetic based) it becomes quite difficult to translate it back. The guidebooks show everything in Pingyang, so trying to get it translated to Chinese to show a taxi driver is always a crap shoot. I also found it odd that I would point to an intersection on a map and it would invariably take several minutes of the taxi driver staring blankly at the map before you started moving. Even then I would sometimes get dropped off a few blocks from my desired destination.
I learned to take all of these things in stride...they are part of the experience.

I really enjoyed my time in Beijing. It is a city I could definitely spend more time in, and I know that I will return someday. Although next time, I don't wish to do it alone.

If for nothing else, then for the dumplings. I love them.

So, I am saddened to be leaving China, but I am really looking forward to the next couple of days in Hanoi. The company of Julie, Richard, and my mom will be a welcome change to the solitude of the last couple weeks.

I will post more pictures and share more stories from Julie's house where I can reduce the image file sizes and the internet is in English.

Goodbye China...Thanks for the memories!

Beijing cries for me.

Today is my last day and Beijing is apparently sad to see me go. It is pouring today. I tried to go out and was completely soaked before I made it to the end of the block.

I think I will call a taxi and perhaps take in the theatre or a puppet show. I had such plans for the day...Oh well. More to do when I return.

Architecture dork take on Beijing.

I dorked out on architecture all day. There is some pretty fantastic stuff going on here. The best part was when navigating to one of the places I knew, I would stumble on a couple others. Sadly, my memory card was nearly full so I only snapped 20 or so pics.

The CCTV complex was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It is very impressive to see the two towers going up at such steep angles. Most of the site has a 40' billboard around it, but I was able to sneak into an alleyway and get a bit closer. Next to CCTV/TVCC there was a giant housing project that was quite nice. http://images.google.cn/images?complete=1&hl=zh-CN&newwindow=1&q=cctv%20oma&btnG=Google+%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2&cr=countryCN&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

The National Stadium structure looks to be all up. Unfortunately I could not get close to this one as the whole area is one BIG construction site. From the distance I was at, it looks just like the renderings.
http://images.google.cn/images?svnum=10&um=1&complete=1&hl=zh-CN&cr=countryCN&newwindow=1&q=olympic+national+stadium+beijing
(google: Olympic National Stadium Beijing)

I could get a little closer to the water cube. Very cool, though the blue color is a lot more subtle in the renderings. Some of the ETFE pillows have not been inflated and that made it look a little dishevelled. I imagine the interior experience will be amazing because you could see faint shadows of people moving about inside. The whole thing will be bathed in natural light. It will probably be tough to cool though.

http://images.google.cn/images?svnum=10&um=1&complete=1&hl=zh-CN&cr=countryCN&newwindow=1&q=national+aquatics+center&btnG=%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87
(google: National Aquatics Center)

Overall this will be a VERY impressive complex. I will have to come back here when it is finished. I will definitely return to Beijing.

For the non architects...I hope this post didn't bore you.