Ankor Wat, Angkor Thom and some more temples

Yesterday was a fantastic day of site seeing. We had previously arranged for a private guide to show us around Angkor Wat. Being basically devoid of knowledge on the subject of the Cambodian people and these temples, it was decided this would be the best way to glean the most interesting experience of our time in Siem Reap. We also hired a tuk tuk for the day to drive us around, starting at 5:45 am so we could get the most out of our one day at Angkor Wat.

Although the beat down of the 13 hour bus trip from Saigon to Siem Reap was weighing on us, I insisted on waking up for the sunrise at Ta Prohm Temple. This particular temple has not been restored and the jungle is slowly retaking its place all over this temple. There is a magnificent tree on top of one part that shimmers like silver (I stole that line from the tour guide). Furthermore, to add to the jungle atmosphere, since we arrived at 6 am, we were two of the four people exploring the temple. It was so quiet and it felt like a little spooky like we were discovering a new place. After our jungle temple exploration we headed back to the guesthouse for breakfast and to pick up our guide for the day.



Here's a picture of our tour guide explaining to me about some bas relief in the temple. Speaking of bas relief and more bas relief was what our tour guide liked the best. He had gone to University for archaeology so he was extremely knowledgeable about all of the carvings throughout the entire Angkor Wat complex but after awhile, I think Chris' eyes started to glaze over. I was also worn out with his extremely detailed explanations but we both learned a lot about the Hindu and Buddhist religions.



After a lunch, we headed to Angkor Thom. We visited Bayon where it started to rain. Did we mention it is the rainy season now? Well, it rains pretty much everyday here and usually in the afternoons. It continued to rain while we visited the elephant terrace (sure wish that terrace could have been restored) but the rain stopped by the time we climbed to the top of Phimeanakas. It was pretty darn scary up there and the stairs were insanely steep so I let Chris go to the highest part and get the best pictures. We ended the day at Preah Khan which is similar to Ta Prohm but in much better condition as they are slowly working on restoration.

Here's Chris in a short video of Preah Khan


Since we had started our day at 5:30 am we decided to make it an early night, but not before we enjoyed the city of Siem Reap. By the way, Siem Reap actually means "Siamese Defeated", hardly the most tactful name for a major city near Thailand! We had a drink at the Angkor What? Bar before dinner at the Red Piano. The Red Piano is in an restored French era building, reminiscent of the French Quarter in New Orleans.



Our last four days had been early for vacation so this morning we took it easy. I signed up for another cooking class today. It was on par with the Thai cooking class we took together in Chiang Mai.

Snakes....I am very very afraid of snakes. After being in Southeast Asia for two weeks, I had resigned myself to just avoiding the whole snake thing they put on for the tourists (i.e. taking a picture with a snake during the Mekong Delta tour, or buying a snake preserved in alcohol in a glass bottle). Well, I have to admit, I never EVER thought mu closest encounter would come during a cooking class but today, ladies and gentlemen, it did. Yes, that is right, during my cooking class today, I was upstairs chopping away the vegetables for my fish amok (a Cambodian dish) when a man brought up the stairs, a 12 foot skinned boa constrictor. I just about lost it when they gutted it right before my eyes and then started hacking it to bits. After the shock and horror subsided, I asked for what dish did they use snake (in my head I was praying she wasn't going to say something I had eaten already) and she said....Cambodian Barbecue. OK, check that off the list!! Anyways, after they were finished I was able to focus on my dishes only to realize that the man brought up another one after they were done with the first! Luckily, I had almost finished my dishes and could go downstairs and try to eat what I had prepared. Shockingly, my appetite had waned after the whole snake butchering spectacle. Chris ate the rest of my leftovers. Sorry but I accidentally left the camera at the guesthouse for the cooking class so there are no pictures of the snake being hacked up for human consumption.

Mekong River Delta and finally some serious rain

So, before I go on to talk about our day trip on the Mekong river, I have to briefly mention our official introduction to the rainy season. After beginning to think this whole monsoon/"rainy season" talk was a bunch of baloney, our day of sight-seeing around Ho Chi Minh City was cut short by a serious downpour - so much that we invested in some ponchos just so that we could walk out of the War Remnants museum and go get some lunch. Since it basically rained very, very hard for the next couple of hours, we didn't see much else that day - however, it was hilarious to watch the evening commuters make it home in the rain and near-flooding (see video below):

The next day was the famous Mekong River Delta excursion, which in addition to some boating on the river and canoeing thru a narrow canal, included some typical "buy our local stuff" visits to the locals for everything from banana wine to coconut candy.

However, on a brighter note, we did get to see a bee farm and a live python (but we opted out of having a picture taken with it wrapped around our neck; in fact you couldn't get Mary Beth within 10 feet of it). Overall, the tour was good and it was neat to patrol the shores of the delta just like John Kerry did back in the day...

But, despite the tour's name, the tour seemed to include more time on land doing the above things than actually going down the river. Therefore, it was good that we luckily had the foresight to pay double and spring for the return to Ho Chi Minh City by boat instead of the standard bus. This ended up giving us some serious time on the river itself - almost four hours to be exact. Although it was much more than we anticipated (and to be honest, a bit much), I think I enjoyed this more than Mary Beth who was wishing we would have just stuck to the bus, particularly since our promised "speed boat" was a farce, instead being an old smoke-belching polluter, as you can see from this picture.

The next day, we got up ridiculously early to catch the all day bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia, which departed at 6am. The first leg of 6 hours to Phnom Penh went by just fine and fairly quickly, including an hour stop at the Cambodian border for passport control and the requisite $20 "pay-off" fee. Then, once we arrived at Phnom Penh, we had to switch to a more "local" bus, which of course was full when we boarded, leaving only the crappy 'hot' seats on the slightly-elevated back row available; I say hot seats because they were just above the engine, and therefore pretty warm. This, combined with barely any air conditioning and non-stop Cambodian music/drama shows/apparent comedies (I caught a couple people laughing) being played via DVD on the bus at the maximum volume (I couldn't hear my own music playing through the headphones), made this 2nd, 6 hour leg of our bus journey very, VERY long. But what even longer was once again the quality of the roads (not to mention all of the random livestock, people and other hazards in the road), which, in Cambodia, are just slightly better than in India, making it perhaps the bumpiest bus ride I ever hope to take in my life. Needless to say, by the time we arrived at the desolate, pitch-black shack they call a bus station, we were beat and just wanted to get to our hotel.

Halong Bay and Ho Chi Minh City

Hello Everyone from Ho Chi Minh City


We are still enjoying the chaos of Vietnam but now we are in the southern part, in old Saigon. Before I update you on all that has happened since this city went from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City we need to rewind back to Halong Bay.

After our hectic walkabout in Hanoi, I was sure glad to get some R&R!! Halong Bay is touted by the Vietnamese as being one of the Seven Wonders of the world. I am not sure about all that hype but it is one beautiful place, although at one point Chris said it reminded him of Possum Kingdom Lake (which he thinks Hell's Gate should also be one of the Seven Wonders). We had to take a three hour bus ride to get to the Bay through the countryside of Vietnam. While there were rice paddies, mostly it was random half urbanization along the "highway" and not quite as scenic as promised in the tour brochure. After we arrived, I quickly bought a typical Vietnamese conical hat for about 80 cents. Chris bought a more "manly" hat for the four hour boat trip, but I still got him to try on my hat!
Chris in my conical hat

The boats that cruise the bay are called junks. We hopped on our piece of junk...I mean, junk with a few other day trippers for the ride. At this point we were starving so thankfully we headed straight to the fishermen huts floating in the middle of two islands in the bay. We watched our crew negotiate a price for a large fish. Then, without warning, the fisherman whacked the fish with a large metal rod to kill it and handed it over to our crew. A few minutes later, we were munching on that fish, stir fried with a few vegetables. Talk about freshness!! Anyways, we relaxed some more on the boat before we went cave exploring.

Chris and I in Halong Bay

After our tour guide explained to us that we were on our way to some caves, we really didn't know what to expect. Surprisingly, the cave was a little Disneylandish, complete with the rules of the cave being piped over a loud speaker before we entered, fluorescent colored lights illuminating the cave and a horde of tourists. The cave was quite beautiful but our tour guide kept showing us natural animal shapes made from the rock. Most of us weren't buying what he was telling us but he was sure insistent. At one point, the Russian girl said, "I think the Vietnamese have very good imaginations because I don't see any of what our guide tells us!"

After our long ride back to Hanoi, we had a nice simple meal of Pho which is Vietnamese beef noodle soup and called it a night. We headed to Ho Chi Minh City the next day to continue our tour of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City is somewhere between Bangkok and Hanoi in its development. The infrastructure seems to be better than Hanoi but lacks the small winding charm of the capital. HCMC, also still called Saigon by most of its inhabitants, definitely leans towards the West and Bangkok as far as the hustle and bustle of city life. Similarly, there are still millions of motorbikes and crossing the street is a little like a human version of the video game Frogger.

We had a nice ramble through the streets yesterday just trying to get the feel of District 1 of Saigon, which is the oldest and most tourist-worthy of this city of almost six million people. We got lost about four times before returning to our neighborhood, the Pham Ngu Lao area. Today we plan to see the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum. We also hope to find some of the places important to the Americans stationed here during the war.

One last topic that we have inadvertently skipped in our last few postings....our evening cooking class in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had a class of about eight people in our group and the class started off with a trip to the market. After the quick market lesson in all the different vegetables and fruits, we chose the four dishes were preparing, Chiang Mai noodles, Tom Ka Kai Soup, Cashew Chicken Sir fry and Green Curry Chicken. Chris was a natural in the kitchen and will be in charge of Thai night when we finally have a kitchen again!!

Green Curry Chicken

The other participants definitely made for interesting topics of conversations but not the most expert in the kitchen. Our "chef" instructor, kept picking on this one guy in the group because he was more interested in talking than cooking. Three of our classmates were traveling alone so I think they were happy to eat and chat during a meal. All in all the cooking class was a fun experience but not as educational as I had hoped. I guess after all those classes in Paris, I am just spoiled! Anyways, I hope you enjoy the photos of Chris in an apron as much as I did!!

Chris making Tom Ka Kai Soup

On to Vietnam...The Lone Star [Communist] Country

After another half-day in Chiang Mai, mostly spent laying by the hotel pool followed by a bit of sightseeing, we returned to Bangkok for another night and half-day before jetting off to Hanoi, Vietnam.

We arrived in Hanoi yesterday evening and enjoyed an interesting minibus voyage to our hotel in the 'Old Quarter'. Although as it turns out, this was just an imposter minibus (versus the official Vietnam Airlines bus), it was only minimally more expensive and well worth it. After waiting 30+ minutes for the transport to fill up (remember we are in a communist country), these guys managed to squeeze in 15 passengers into a minibus just slightly larger than a Chrysler Voyager (and yes, we were of course the only 'whiteys').

So now we're on the road to the city and, like in Delhi, we quickly realize we are back in the land of honking and road chaos (after a brief respite in the more peaceful and honk-less Land of Smiles, aka Thailand); I promise there are more mini-scooters and motorcycles in Hanoi than in all of Texas. Furthermore, they apparently have the right of way over pedestrians and don't appear to be bound by the same traffic laws as their 4-wheeled bretheren, such as having to stop at red lights (however in exchange, the downside appears to be the wearing of the not-so-fashionable anti-pollution facemask).

So, back to our visit - as Mary Beth wisely convinced me to spend our 2nd day here tomorrow taking a boat excursion off the NE coast of Vietnam in the Halong Bay area, the agreement was that we walk the city today like madmen to catch all the main sites (and for the most part, we did - pictured below is the Temple of Literature (1st Vietnamese university and favorite study grounds for Confucious), the standard statue of Lenin, and the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum monument); we even paid a visit to the "Hanoi Hilton", famous for housing McCain and other American pilots during the war - the museum exhibits and associated commentary relating to the American prisoners held there are priceless, more or less portraying their stay as all fun and games and smiles for these guys, playing volleyball, basketball, chess, decorating Christmas trees, etc.):

Stay tuned for how the boat excursion goes, which includes a nice long drive in the rice paddy-filled countryside; the bay is supposed to be one of the highlights of the country.

Elephants, Waterfalls and Rapids

Yesterday we booked ourselves on an one day adventure tour. We were picked up at our hotel in a covered pickup truck with two benches in the pickup bed along with seven French people, an English couple.

Our first stop was an elephant camp. We all got to climb onto a seat on the back of the elephants for a short walk around the camp that took about 45 minutes. Initially I was scared of the height but after about 5 minutes it was nothing but fun. We bought some bananas to feed to the elephants.


Here's a picture of a picture of us riding on the elephant.

Chris feeding one of the baby elephants

After a simple lunch of rice and fruit we headed back into the truck for a quick drive up the mountain for a bit of hiking. We hiked about an hour to see a waterfall and go swimming in the shallow pond. By this time we where both really hot and sweaty so the refreshingly cold mountain water felt so good!

Our next "adventure" was white water rafting down the river that ran alongside the mountain road. After a long delay in the tour waiting for the rafts we finally got to get in the boats. We were paired with a French-Chinese family in our boat. The mother was terrified of white water rafting but after a few of the light rapids she seemed to enjoy ourselves. The biggest of the rapids weren't anywhere near the difficulty we had done in Colorado a few years back but it was still the adrenaline highlight of the day. We even saw a snake cross the river right in front of us!!

Today we have been taking in easy in the chilled out town of Chiang Mai and just walking around the town. We have reserved two spots in an evening Thai cooking class. Chris plans to go to the snake farm this afternoon but there is no way I am going there. I have opted for something more my style, but still uniquely Thai, a massage.

Chris at one of the many temples in Chiang Mai

Once last note...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! WE LOVE YOU AND HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

Another few days in Bangkok

Well, we are in an internet cafe in the airport about to get on a flight to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. We are excited to see a new part of Thailand and hopefully some of the countryside.

We explored Bangkok yesterday afternoon by bike on a five hour tour. Biking is one of Chris' hobbies so we both decided to go along. I am not so into biking but I wanted to see more of Bangkok and the tour promised a boat ride through the canals of Bangkok which we had not seen yet. We all met at a hotel and were grouped with 6 other tour participants. The company is run by a Dutch man so 90% of the people who take them are Dutch. We were the lone English speakers in our group but everyone was young and about our age.

After selecting our bikes, we headed through the alleyways of Chinatown and even rode right by our hotel/guesthouse. It was a bit hairy but we survived so far. After a lovely long boat ride (the best part, in my opinion) we were let out somewhere in the marshy swamps in way-outer Bangkok.

We were supposed to ride on these narrow sidewalks with green swampy water on either side. Now, this was not the Fat Tire Bike Tour in Paris; this was much much harder and there was no room for error. Everything was going fine until I decided to take a turn without getting off my bike. The next thing I remember was my bike in the ditch and black mud covering my legs. Luckily I happened to fall where there was an embankment so it wasn't too bad. I was a little embarrassed and muddy but that was all. We were able to laugh about it a little later but I was ready to get back to the hotel and be done with the bike tour. Overall, we had a great time and saw lots of Bangkok we normally would not have seen.

One Night in Bangkok...

We're now at the tail end of our 2nd day in Bangkok, and boy what a difference. Don't get me wrong, Delhi had a lot of interesting sights and was definitely an experience and a half, however, it's one of those places that looks best in your rear view mirror - in short, 4 days was plenty.

Bangkok is great, and we are having a blast here so far. It's a nice mix of tight-knit, small-village bungalow-type neighborhoods (i.e. location of our lovely, yet very down to earth Riverview Guest House, thanks to the good recommendation of Rebecca & Maggie who stayed there back in 2000 - the picture below is from our room's balcony) and modern, cosmopolitan areas filled with New York-style skyscrapers and many other Western reminders.

On the day of our arrival, after taking a bit of a catnap since our flight arrived at 5am, we took the often-used Riverboat Express up the river and back to soak in the city - here's a couple of the pictures we took from the boat:

Since then, we have been to countless "Wats" or Buddhist temples (such as the Wat Phram Kaew shown below), strolled through Chinatown and various other of the many many markets in this town (which of course, Mary Beth loves) and walked around various other areas, such as the backpacker friendly Khaosan Rd.

So far, the rains have been nice & hard, but short-natured luckily, mainly lasting only 1 hour at around 7 to 8pm each evening. Tomorrow, we embark on a 5 hour bike tour to see some of the less touristy areas of the city. . . shockingly, I couldn't convince Mary Beth to go to the Snake Farm with me.