Thailand still??

Some of you may have heard about the protests taking place in Thailand currently. These protests are peaceful, but unfortunately for us, they have completely managed to shut down the country - including the airports!! So, we are still in Thailand!! Hope to be home soon :o)

Khao Sok and Phuket

Our arrival in Thailand took us first to Khao Sok national park. This enormous park is approximately 2.5 hours north of Phuket and to reach our bungalows you had to take an hour boat ride through the beautiful scenery that makes up the park. It is nearly untouched by humans, has the tallest limestone mountain formations in all of Thailand, hundreds of wild species and perfect, glassy water, that Shane and I were desperate to try and water ski on! The one thing the park lacked was accommodations. Our floating bungalows were just that – bamboo huts, floating on the water. There was an outhouse that you had to walk across a bamboo floating plant to reach and you didn’t dare try after 10pm because the generator was shut off and there was no electricity!

The sightseeing and activities did make up for the primitive housing. We did 4 kayaking trips where we saw beautiful limestone formations, several monkeys jumping in the trees and, our last morning there; we saw an Asian black bear clawing at a tree for termites. Our guide said he had last seen one 4 years ago! We also saw several wild elephant tracks but were never close enough to see one.

We also took a 3 hour hike up a mountain in the park. We were slightly unprepared since we were unaware there would be hiking involved so Sarah wore her only pair of lace up shoes and Shane had dress socks and boat shoes! To make matters worse, it is the wet season so leeches are out in great numbers and to avoid them you have to move fast. We basically sprinted half way up the mountain, taking occasional breaks to check for leeches and pick them off our socks before they embedded into our legs. About halfway up the mountain turned into limestone and we had to scale our way up. We were now more concerned about falling and breaking our heads open than the leeches! However, we made it and the view from the top was exquisite. We were also able to see several great hornbills, huge black and yellow birds that are quite majestic.

After 2 nights in our bungalows we took the 1 hour trip by boat to shore then drove 2.5 hours to Phuket. Phuket is a beautiful island with white sand beaches surrounded by mountains. It unfortunately has been a little tourist infested and you are accosted as you walk down the street by tuk tuk drivers and store keepers who will do anything to get you to enter their shop (again, of all fake items). Think Cancun in Asia. However, we were thrilled to be there. Our hotel had air-conditioning and electricity (a huge step up from Khao Sok) and we were off to scuba dive the day after we arrived.

Our scuba trip was a “liveaboard” trip, famous in Thailand, where they take you out for the day, provide lunch and great diving. It was everything we expected with very professional guides and great diving. We went to banana bay at Racha Noi and did 2, 1 hour dives at around 60 feet. The coral in Thailand is huge and very distinct from the Caribbean where we have done most of our diving. There were tons of small fish in the coral and swimming around us. No big manta rays or sharks were seen, which was a bummer to Shane and the other diver with us but a relief to Sarah. :o)

Today is the last full day of our vacation! We have spent it laying out on the beach, getting our last Thai massages and overall relaxing. We leave tomorrow for Hong Kong and then Sunday for the USA. It has been a great trip but we are exhausted and ready to get home and back to some semblance of normalcy. We hope you have enjoyed reading our blog and maybe it will help plan a SE Asia trip for you! We will send out pictures once we can get everything downloaded. Thanks to everyone who sent emails and we can’t wait to see you all again soon! Love, Sarah and Shane.

Phnom Penh

We arrived in Phnom Penh around dinner time and after checking in decided to head out on the town. We ate at the FCC (foreign correspondents club), the site where many foreign correspondents ate and lived during the Vietnam War and after. Phnom Penh, more than anywhere we had been, bears the scars of a country of recent civil war, and only recent investment from the West. There were homeless people on the streets, several men offered us drugs and/or girls under there breaths as we walked by and the streets were only lit occasionally – all which lead to Sarah being slightly terrified! However, Eddie and Shane were determined to press on and see the city so after dinner we stopped at a bar for some drinks. We ended up having a wonderful time and meeting several foreign travelers as well as Cambodians. The Cambodian people are extremely warm, have a wonderful sense of humor, and actually speak better English than anywhere we have visited in SE Asia! It struck us, however, that they have a complex relationship with tourists and the West. While they depend on us for their livelihood, they are largely exploited by us—generally; tourists come to see evidence of their recent genocide and/or sex (at least to Phnom Penh). But all of this actually made spending a few hours with both native guys and girls at a bar among other Western travelers an experience neither of us will forget.

The next morning we started our day of touring Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. We began at the Royal palace, the Kings residence. It was built by the French in 1866 then rebuilt in 1917 in traditional Khmer style to symbolize their independence from France. Behind the palace is the silver pagoda which used to house the Emerald Buddha. Several of the smaller statues had been stolen by the Khmer Rouge to be sold but many of the larger ones still remained and it is a holy place for the Cambodian people and the King.

After the palace we began learning more about the Pol Pot regime, the Khmer Rouge and the genocide that lasted from 1975-1978 (although the Khmer Rouge continued guerrilla warfare against the government until the early 1990s). We began at S21 (security prison 21) that was housed at the Tuol Sleung primary school. The school complex was divided into 4 areas and the prisoners were divided into VIP (receiving the most torture) and mass detention cells. Only 7 people survived this prison and the atrocities that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge committed were the worst acts of torture and hatred that any of us had encountered. Pol Pot had studied the philosophy of Marx and was aiming for an entirely equal society therefore anyone with any education whatsoever (education was determined by those who could write to 10 and those who could not!!) was tortured and killed. It was truly horrible and disastrous for the country with absolutely no redeeming aspects. As mentioned above, and as expected, this continues to shape the way Cambodians interact with each other and outsiders. Most Cambodians have lost many relatives as nearly 35% of the population was executed or died of starvation. In many ways, Cambodians seemed to have the most acute sense of human nature and the importance of maintaining a sense of humor through it all. I think we both learned a lot from our time there.

To continue the depressing tour of this side of Cambodia’s past, we visited the killing fields. This is where prisoners were taken, once the prisons were too full, to be killed in gruesome ways. You could still see scraps of clothing in the ground and pieces of teeth and bone sticking up. There were several mass graves that were marked and a large memorial had been erected, full of the skulls that were found here after the Khmer Rouge fled the city. It was sobering to say the least.

We continued on to the Russian market. Every city in Asia seems to have one of these markets where you can buy anything you could ever possibly want, and everything there is a fake. It is amazing! After the market, and lunch, we went to the center of the city where a large, man-made hill exists with Wat Phnom on top of it. It is the reason for the name of the city and features a large pagoda (Buddhist temple) built in 1372.

After our touring we returned to the hotel to relax at the pool, grabbed dinner at a local noodles restaurant and returned to the hotel in time for Eddie to head to the airport. Shane and I left the next morning for southern Thailand.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia around 10am on 8/21/08. We met our guide and headed for our hotel a few kilometers away. Cambodia is a beautiful country and they are trying hard to get out of the poverty and oppression that has resulted from years of civil war and genocide. This was somewhat apparent in Siem Reap (more in Phnom Penh) - only the main roads were paved and you see significantly more pedal bikes and walkers than motorbikes. Siem Reap is famous for the discovery of the temples of Angkor, all built from approx 900-1300AD by Kings of the Angkor period. We began, shortly after our arrival, at the oldest part of the complex including Banteay Srei (967AD), Prasat Kravan (921AD), East Mebon (952AD), Pre Rup (961AD) and Takeo (early 11th century). These temples are smaller than the famous Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom areas but are well preserved and were very beautiful.

Our 2nd day of touring began at the Chong Kneas floating fishing village. This is a village, entirely built on the water. They have floating homes, floating stores, floating schools - you name it, it floats. The inhabitants are Vietnamese who came down in the late 1970's and built this village. Several children swam around one of the floating stores and would hold up snakes and even a baby crocodile (mouth tied shut) for us to take pictures for $1!! It was crazy. There are no crocodiles in the lake now because they have been farmed out to the zoo and others sold to make purses and other items from their skin. Our first night in Cambodia we went to a restaurant with a crocodile pit. It was about 10 feet below where the tables were and you could see crocodiles – it was terrifying!

The next part of our tour took us to Angkor Wat. This is the largest of the temples, the most intact and the most restored out of all the temples. It was huge, approx 3K around. The walls had murals of Hindu mythology including the Ramayan story and the churning of the Sea of Milk. It is a beautiful temple and amazing to see how much work was put into it – it took approximately 30 years to complete.

Our final day took us to Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. This was all of our favorite day because these temples were unique. Ta Prohm has been left almost untouched although they are beginning work to restore it. Large trees have grown up around and on the temple; crushing it in some places and supporting it in others. This is where Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raiders – Cambodians are huge fans of her and the movie! Angkor Thom was the last great temple built by the Angkor kings. He was considered the kindest King of them all and created several hospitals and community centers throughout the kingdom as well. We entered through Victory gate – a colossal stone sculpture 1.5K from the temple. After exploring the temple itself we left through the Southern gate where there were several playful monkeys hopping around. We bought some bananas and feed them for awhile.

After lunch we headed over to the new National Museum of Cambodia. It was very well done and walked us through the history of each Angkor King. It also housed several of the artifacts from the temples that had been found and moved to prevent their theft. After the museum we headed to the airport for our flight to Phnom Penh.

Saigon

We arrived late in Saigon, around dinner time and headed out for some south Vietnamese food. Saigon is very different from Hanoi; wider streets, more lights, larger stores - all in all it felt much more like a western city than anywhere we had been in awhile. The traffic is ridiculous! Motorbikes fly all over the road and treat traffic signals as suggestions. To cross the street you just go, and assume they won't hit you! It was terrifying!!

The next morning we headed out for our tour of Saigon (according to the locals, Saigon and Ho Chi Minh city are OK to use). We started at the History museum where we traced Vietnamese history from ancient civilization to the 20th century. There was definite mention of defeating the "US invaders" and unifying the country in the last room which picqued our interest for the remainder of the day. Next, we visited the Reunification Palace, named after N and S Vietnam reunified. Before that is was the royal palace and the main base of operation in Saigon during the Vietnam war (called the American war in Vietnam). It was amazing to see the underground bunkers, rooms with huge maps pinpointing the locations of all the Viet Cong strong holds and rows of old fashion telephones that were the "hotlines" for top officials to call Washington D.C. Everything was slightly more fascinating since it involved our history, as well as Vietnams.

Next, we headed to lunch at a delicious local restaurant, Quan An Ngon, where our guide ordered us excellent Saigon fare. After lunch we relaxed with a massage at L'Apothequaire spa. It was Eddie's first massage and the entire spa was pink!!

After lunch we went to the War Remnants museum. This museum is focused on the Vietnam war, from the North Vietnamese side. It was interesting to learn a little more history about the war although sad to see the atrocities that were a part of it. After the museum we saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, fashioned after the one in Paris when Vietnam was part of France. We also visited the Old Post office, which still functions and is beautifully designed in French architecture. Finally, we ended at the Ben Thanh market were we practiced our bargining skills!

That night we met with Eddie's friend and former JET teacher, Holly, and the 4 of us headed out for dinner at a local bbq restaurant recommended by our guide. Later we tried out "Lush" the nightclub recommended by our guide. It was quite trendy and we enjoyed the Saigon nightlife until the early morning hours when we rushed home to grab a few hours of sleep before our 8am flight to Siem Reap Cambodia the next morning!

North Vietnam

After a lazy few days in Laos, we were ready to kick it into high gear again for our exploration of Vietnam. We arrived Sunday night and met up with Eddie, our friend from Michigan who now lives in Japan. The 3 of us headed out for some traditional Vietnamese fare and then to a water puppet show. The water puppets are a traditional Vietnamese art form, started by farmers several hundred years ago. The performers are behind a curtain, in the water, and the acts are performed by puppets spinning around the water. The acts tell traditional stories of Vietnamese villages and life as rice farmers, living near and on the water. Even today, 65% of Vietnamese are still farmers by trade and the water continues to be an important part of every day life. The music was all traditional Vietnamese instruments. We didn’t know what any of them were but they looked like early versions of a banjo, flute, drums and a very interesting harp played with a pick and a hand crank to change the octaves. It was very entertaining, even though it was completely in Vietnamese!

After the show we met up with Eddie’s friend, Holly, also from Michigan but now working in Korea, and the 4 of us stayed up enjoying cheap Vietnamese “bia.”

The next morning we got up early for breakfast and a 3 hour drive to Halong Bay. We awoke to a huge storm with lighting and thunder so loud we thought the hotel would crumble! The storm didn’t break until we were about 30 minutes from Halong Bay and we were blessed with beautiful clear weather for the remainder of the day! Once on the boat we headed out to Halong Bay. This is an enormous area with hundreds of small rock, islands. There are approximately 11,000 people who live on the water in “water villages.” They even have a floating primary school! The area is beautiful and is being considered for one of the 7 natural wonders of the world; it is already a world heritage city. We kayaked around the junk and over to a small beach where we climbed 500 steps to reach a look out to watch the sunset over Halong Bay. Half way up we ran into Jade and Melanie, the friends who flew to Hong Kong with us!! We couldn’t believe it and spent several minutes catching up with them and exchanging restaurant suggestions. After we took pictures and said our goodbyes again, we continued the hike and saw the sun set behind the mountains. It was gorgeous. We kayaked back to the boat with a short detour through a small opening in a mountain and into a “lake” or ocean water completely surrounded by mountains. It was beautiful and we would have liked to stay longer but Shane, unfortunately, ended up with his 2nd migraine of the trip and we had to hurry back to take his medicine. Thankfully we caught it in time and he was able to rejoin the group after about 45 minutes for dinner. The lunches and dinners on the boat were delicious seafood extravaganza, not so good for Eddie who doesn’t eat seafood. He enjoyed fried tofu and pork while we ate prawns, fish, crab and calamari!

That night the boys tried their luck at some fishing off the side of the boat with bamboo poles. Unfortunately, there was no bait and the closest thing they came to catching was a small crab that Eddie managed to convince to climb up his pole and then jump off whenever he pulled it halfway out of the water.

The next morning we had a quick breakfast on the junk and then went out in a bamboo boat, rowed by our guide. We toured through the mountain tunnel again and into the lake so we were able to get some good pictures. We returned to the boat just in time to shower and pack up when the rain started again. The timing was perfect and we headed back to shore for our flight to Saigon.

Laos continued

Our 3rd day in Luang Prabang we were scheduled to go to the Luang Prabang orphanage. We picked up some school supplies for the kids, then headed to the orphanage. We were able to present the supplies to the director and hear about the orphanage, its funding and the kids. Unfortunately for us, it was a holiday and most of the kids were visiting there relatives in villages. Only 35 children at the orphanage school have no family whatsoever. We were able to meet them and see there workshops where they were busy painting and making small sculptures from rocks to sell at the night market. After visiting we returned to Luang Prabang and spent the rest of the day walking around and relaxing.

The next day we got up early for breakfast then headed down the road to the Tum Tum Cheung cooking school. We were in a class with 14 other people and it was fun to hear all of the other's travel adventures. The class took us to the morning market where we shopped for the fresh ingredients to go into our meal. We prepared, as a class; spring rolls, fried rice salad with tofu, sour fish soup, stuffed bamboo sprouts/stuffed lemongrass, sticky rice and spicy beef salad. In Lao cooking, the preparation takes most of the time (approx 4-5 hours for a party of 16!) so we only chopped the basics - lemongrass, ginger, galangal (type of ginger), garlic, and shallots. The chef showed us all of the different types of herbs, spices and vegetables that are typically in Lao cooking, and educated us on what to supplement once we were at home. The class was a lot of fun and the food was delicious!

After the class we relaxed in our hotel until 5:45pm when we met our guide to head off to the Baici ceremony. This is a traditional Lao ceremony where the community blesses people coming or going on a long journey. The traditional Lao belief is that people have 22 spirits that leave them when they leave home, so in the ceremony they tie 22 strings on your wrists to call the spirits home. Each villager tied 1 string on each of our wrists. They then sang to us, and presented us with several sweets as well as having us take 2 shots of Lao Lao, the local whiskey, by crossing arms with each other and drinking. No one said the Lao don't know how to throw a party! After, some of the local children entertained us with traditional dances. The girls danced in groups of 5 or 6 doing several dances and 2 boys did traditional Rama dances with masks. It was excellent (I felt like Clara in the Nutcracker!).

Following the ceremony we returned to our favorite Lao bbq restaurant where they immediately recognized us and, once again, cooked most of our food for us :o) Shane proceeded to sweat profusely and we thoroughly enjoyed every bite!

We are now packing our bags and saying goodbye to Laos. We head for Hanoi this afternoon and will meet up with Eddie Mears to explore Vietnam and Cambodia.