January 24, 2012 – February 29, 2012
For each significant trip, I like to have a “theme” to set the tone. It’s something I see or hear along the way that catches my attention and makes me ponder.
For this trip, I found it on Day 1, painted on the wall of the breakfast room in my Bangkok hotel.
“Do what makes you happy.
Be with who makes you smile.
Laugh as much as you breath.
Love as long as you live”.
Pictures are posted at:
Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand - Day 1 - 4, Thurs – Sunday, January 26 - 29
Door to door, it was 29 hours travel time. That includes a 14 ½ hour flight Atlanta to Tokyo, a 2 hour layover and a 7 ½ hour flight Tokyo to Bangkok. A long way but the new experiences make it well worth it. At 1:00 a.m. my taxi takes me the 40 minutes to my hostel in the center of the Silom district, a very happening part of time. For $32 dollars per night I have a private room, breakfast, wireless and a fabulous location within walking of much entertainment but also next to a subway train station and a BTS Sky Train station. Their subway is the cleanest I have seen. Both the Sky Train and subway trains are very simple and efficient to use.
As far as traffic, that’s a different tale. Sixteen hours a day, seven days a week the traffic downtown is horrendous. Atlanta traffic cannot hold a candle to the snail’s pace and long waits at stoplights in Bangkok. Every time I had to cross a busy street, I just held my breath and hoped for the best. Mopeds, bicycles and Tuk-Tuks (3-wheeled motorbike taxis) duke it out with the cars and buses constantly weaving in and out like dancing. At each stoplight, the mopeds push to the front of the line and come racing out of the gate the instance the light changes. But with all the traffic, it’s rare that you hear a honking horn. Did I mention they drive on the opposite side of the street? Surprisingly, the cars a compact to mid-size, SUVS included and many late model cars. It’s not often that you see the tiny cars like you see in Europe.
What a day of “firsts” for my “first” day in Bangkok! So how many official “positions” are there in the Kama Sutra book? In 5 minutes tonight, I saw 30 of them demonstrated. Then there are all those amazing tricks women can do with balls and coke bottles and ribbon and magic markers and……..You get the picture, I’m sure. Those women must have started doing Kegel exercises when they were 2 years old.
For $5 - $10 I’ve decided that I’m due a massage everyday possible. Not a bad goal to have. I’ll skip the massage oil next time. I’ve never had so much oil poured on my body. They make you take a shower both before and after the massage. The choices of massages are many but the main options are Thai (massage and stretching wearing a 2-piece pajama set, Oil massage (full body more like a Swedish massage, Foot (from a reclining chair then finished off with head, neck and shoulders).
I quickly ditched the idea of fabric shopping for more “firsts”. Within minutes of leaving my hotel, I was “claimed” by a local to be my un-official tour guide of the day. He started by giving me suggestions on better places to buy fabric. Then he started showing up after every store with more suggestions then stuck with me like glue until bed time. The objective is to take me to shops/restaurants/tourist offices where he gets paid a commission if I buy something. Even if I don’t buy anything, I believe he gets a small commission. On my own though, I did manage to find a coffee shop that serves Coffee Smoothies. There’s nothing like a Cappuccino coffee blended with Cappuccino ice cream to get the body going after the jet lag of traveling halfway around the world.
Day #2 was a long day on a mini-van (6:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) at a cost of $80 being shuffled 2 hours outside Bangkok to a floating market then another hour to lunch and Tiger Temple then an hour to the Bridge Over the River Kwai then a long 2 ½ hours back to Bangkok. All the sights were amazing. The Damnoen Saduak floating market was devised by Chinese that settled in Ratchaburi and built the canals. Boats filled with wares and food float around or, pull up and anchor for buyers to make their purchases. We arrived on a James Bond boat, the long, skinny, 2-person wide boat with a driver and loud motor. Nearby is a Snake Show. I missed the show but the man marketing where we stepped off the boat used me as his marketing aid by wrapping a python all around my body. Soon, lots of tourists also wanted to get wrapped in the Cobra, for a price.
Tiger Temple was created when locals brought an orphan tiger to a monk years ago and it just grew from there. The tigers eventually started reproducing. Since they have all been raised by humans, they are more docile than they typical tiger. The monks feed them in the a.m. then let the tourists in with them in the afternoon while they are napping during the heat of the day. The tigers have a 3’ chain at their neck and one attendant is assigned to each tourist to supervise who/when/where to touch the tigers. I petted probably a dozen tigers. For extra money, you can go in with the tigers while they play in the water in the afternoon. I only saw two tourists choose that option. The tigers are totally free and the tourist gets in the water holding a long stick with poofy pillows attached at the end. The tigers play in the water and jump at the pillows while you wave them way above their heads. Very playful but I’ll keep my distance.
The Bridge over the River Kwai (movie by the same name) was a solemn time, after reading the book. The Japanese used P.O.W.s (including Americans) to build the bridge. The conditions were inhuman and approximately 100,000 soldiers (many American) died during WWII. I took the tourist train across the bridge. While long, in my mind I had pictured it as being even longer.
Day #3 was a time to explore Bangkok shops, temples, China town and river on my own without the aid of a local directing me into the shops of his choosing. Although, my guide from day #1 did find me shortly after I left my hotel, I managed to escape his “assistance”. I suppose it was a holy day or full moon of some sort because the temples were full of people burning 3 sticks of incense and laying flowers. After a few hours of wondering, I hoped on a large ferry boat to go upriver a few miles to see the sights from the water. This was the river that flooded much of Bangkok last fall and water stood in many of the house for a month or more. It’s a very wide river with lots of commercial traffic and barges. After touring 30 minutes, I hoped off and caught a ferry going south to let me off near my hotel. At that port were many large, swank hotels and shops including the bank that had the most amazing and romantic open-air Sky Bar on the 64th floor. On my first attempt to visit the Sky Bar, I was turned away since I was wearing flip flops. The next evening I visited the night market and purchased a Sun dress and “fashionable” shoes for under $20. That did the trick. I was welcomed to the 64th floor with an amazing view Bangkok skyline at night. A live orchestra played. The glass bar was lit with blue lights and had a glass chest-high glass railing for better viewing of the city. Diners could enjoy a romantic meal in the warm open breezes of the city.
On day #4 I signed up for a 15k half day bike tour ($35) with www.realasia.net, run by a Dutch man. Thankfully we did not spend much time on the busy streets but trust me; this was not a bike tour for neither the faint of heart nor a beginner. We zigged and zagged among many tine alleys and thru markets to see how the common Thai person lives. While the official population of Bangkok is 7 ½ million, in reality it’s closer to 18 million. Family and friends come from all over Thailand and settle in tiny spaces to earn money to send home. For $60 a month they can rent a tiny apartment. While they appear very poor, I’m told they are not. They live cheap so they can save money. They working class will have a tiny room but live mainly on the street since the weather is warm year-round and they are very social. All food is shared. Cooking is done on the street and people are fed throughout the day. They all combine their food and share it which is very uncommon in the U.S.
Next our bike tour took us to the river for a Long-boat trip across the water. A 10 minute boat ride we’re in another province and a jungle. It’s an agrarian society with farms handed down over the years to children. The land is very swampy with canals through-out and much farming done so near the city. Until a few years ago, all the raised platforms were wooden. The Thai government paid to have approximately 150 miles of platforms replaced with concrete platforms 4 – 5’ above the swampy land. Now the government will cover the cost of future repairs but, the residents must do the repairs themselves. The platforms are very narrow and all the right angle turns usually required a “foot down” to keep from falling off. My tour guide said they don’t lose more than one tourist a month that falls off the platforms although amazing there have been no serious injuries. Or so he said.
Our guide was from Holland and had lived in Thailand long enough to give me the 10-4 on the Thai Toilet Habits. There are mainly two types of toilets I have seen. In the more rural areas or parks is a squat toilet you stand over which has a huge container of water next to it. The container has a handled pot you use to pour water into the squat toilet. There is no flushing. It all works by gravity. If you pour enough water, the waste flows elsewhere. Those type toilets do not include toilet paper so always carry your own supply in Asia.
The civilized toilet as found in the cities does indeed flush although you still are not supposed to put paper in them. Next to each toilet is a hand water sprayer on a long hose. It looks like the hand sprayer we have at our kitchen sinks. The routine is to wash you with the hose each time then, dry yourself with the toilet paper. What a great idea. You are cleaner and the paper you use is cleaner and makes less smell when you put it in the trash can. I think the Asians are a bit more progressive on this topic.
Chiang Mai, Thailand - Day 5 - 7, Monday – Weds, January 30- February 1
Day #5 was a travel day with a one hour flight to Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai, population 1.6 million. A $3 taxi ride quickly got me to the Old Town section, beyond the moat, where the Backpacker trade is centered. There are many narrow streets to wander, all filled with shops, restaurants, hotels, cooking schools, tourist offices and temples. Temples are everywhere, three hundred in this city. After a while they all appear to be the “same-same” even though they really are not. The temples are very ornate and intricate with Golden Buddha’s scattered all around in his various sitting positions, each with a special meaning.
My first choice for a hotel was full so I walk a few feet, choose another to my liking and have a private room and bath for $20. As in many places in Asia, shoes are left at the door and you walk upstairs in bare feet. The floors are wooden and kept very clean. I spend the rest of the day surveying my options of things to do (many, many tours & options), drinking ginger tea and getting a massage.
Since I enjoy touring my bike, my choice for Day #6 was a full-day hike and bike tour ($70) in the mountains. The tour company has been written about in National Geographic and has a huge list of options for various distances, days and abilities. http://www.mountainbikingchiangmai.com/multiday.html#trip13
Since I’m still recovering from my broken arm, I choose an easy option of a one hour tour of the most elaborate temple in Chiang Mai which is on the side of this mountain, a 2 ½ hour hike up a mountain with lunch at the top at a Hmong Indian village followed by a one hour (10 mile) bike ride down the mountain and across to a serene lake at the bottom surrounded by rice fields. The ride down was on a dusty one-lane road and very steep in places. We traveled through jungle, a coffee plantation and Lychee orchard. The views from the mountain were lovely. Lunch at the top was a bowl of soup with chicken and vegetables. A second “lunch” at the bottom at 4:00 was in a lovely thatch hut sitting over the lake with stir fry chicken and vegetables over rice.
Only three of us did the tour with a guide. The most interesting person on the trip was Michael Yon, a writer that has spent more time covering the Iraq & Afghanistan wars, often embedded, than any other journalist. You may have heard some of his reports on the various news channels. I had hours to glean information of his experiences and of much of the politics involved. In his writings, he had recommended the firing of two Generals (one U.S.-McCrystal and one Canadian). Both eventually were fired. His writings are oriented more toward the families and what life is like for the soldiers at war. He has discovered a unique way to earn money. While he has written a couple of books, most money has come from either people donating on his web site (http://www.michaelyon-online.com) or, from copy-right infringement lawsuits where others have stolen his material. That has been the most lucrative. His next venture appears to be settling in Texas and writing about the Mexican drug wars and possibly doing a book on Cannibalism. Yes, they still exist in this world and he managed to embed himself in a group recently. For fun, he went in search, and found, the twin elephant babies that were born near a tribe in the mountains of Northern Thailand. Apparently, twin elephants are very rare.
I enjoyed the Hike & Bike tour so much that the next day (#7) I went back for their City Cultural Tour ($30). http://www.mountainbikingchiangmai.com/leisure.html#trip7
I joined with an older couple from Holland and our half-day tour ended up taking us until 4:00. Our local guide was excellent and had much knowledge to share about the Buddhist religion. We toured the two major temples in Chiang Mai before heading to the local city market then out into the country. The most interesting specimen at the market was the skinned hog’s head, on ice. In the country-side we visited a rice field, just planted. The farmer was setting off fireworks to scare away the birds. We rode through farms of rose bushes and fields of Teak trees which are protected by government rules.
The evening was packed with a tour of the night market, live music at a bar, pedicure and massage and ended with a Thai Boxing match. I arrived late (10:00 p.m.) and just in time to see a knock-out match followed by a match with the winner declared based on points (I guess). In other words, the second guy lost without the pain of getting knocked out. When you don’t know the language, it’s not always easy to get the full gist of what’s happening.
Laos
Day 8 - 12, Thursday – Tuesday, February 2 - 6
Liang Prabang
Rather than spend three days traveling (1 day van and 2 days slow boat) I decide to book last minute airfare to Liang Prabang, Laos arriving at 5 p.m. It’s less commercial than Chiang Mai and is a historical UNESCO city. There is a fabulous night market. Nightly the locals set up their wares under tents with authentic items to sell. The Lao silks and tapestries are gorgeous. The town has lots of tourist offices offering many, many tours to waterfalls, caves, cycling, kayaking, tribal villages, etc. This also gives great opportunity to meet many, many travelers from all over the world. Tonight I had dinner with a couple from Germany who are spending one year traveling around the world.
I often try to eat from the street vendors. The food is great, authentic and cheaper. Meals lately have been lots of stir fry vegetables ($3) although every now and then I throw in something strange, like some yummy chicken gizzards. The Hmong night market has many vendors serving fabulous buffets of local grown vegetables. A full plate, you fill, is $1.25 whereas eating at a restaurant along the river would cost $8 - $10. The romantic outdoor restaurants along the river (cooking with propane gas tanks) with the twinkling white lights have the best ambiance by far.
I chose a hotel on a quiet side street very near the Mekong River and two blocks from the main thoroughfare. I picked a room with 3 beds because only one of the beds had a comfy mattress. It was $20 vs. $15 so no big deal. Laos also seems to be a country of hard mattresses. The bathroom has a hot water shower but not a separate shower stall. So the water wets most of the bathroom then runs out a drain in the corner. Thus, flip flops are kept in each bathroom for the guests since the floor is often wet.
I’m heading north up river tomorrow (slow boat – 7 hours) to spend two nights – a small town and then a small village. Scenery should be dazzling. Doesn’t sound like I’ll have internet so no worries, I’m safe and sound. Will spend Monday night back in Liang Prabang then fly Tues to Hanoi.
Day #9 consisted of more “firsts”. In addition to riding an elephant, I also fell off the elephant, totally immersed in the Mekong River. Ugh! We took the elephants into the water and were goofing off with them doing a balancing act standing on his head. Then I lost my balance when my elephant decided to sit all the way down in the river. My plan was to stay dry which did not happen. As soon as we got to the water, the elephant kept spraying me with his spout. After that, it didn’t seem to matter if I got any wetter since I was already soaked. The half day at elephant camp included teaching us to ride them, with commands, but 2 ½ hours on an elephant was about an hour too much.
The day trip ($40) also included a visit to some religious caves and to their Whiskey Village. The caves were filled with Buddha’s, no surprise there. Whiskey Village is a tribal village with lots of stuff for sale including rice whiskey which they gave us samples. Yuk. They also sell bottles of “medicine” which has a snake, scorpion or centipede in the bottle.
At 7 a.m. today I happened to stumble across the morning ritual of the monks (about 400) doing their processional through town to collect food (alms) from the locals, and now the tourists. The monks carry a large pot which eventually gets filled with rice very tiny little amounts from each person. A bag is also carried to collect the other food. How would you like your meal to be touched by 50+ people as they drop the cooked rice into your bucket? Not me. Whatever you collect in the a.m. is all you eat the entire day.
Day #9 begins my adventure further north into Laos via a seven hour slow boat cruise 40 miles up the Mekong River. I didn’t realize how much I could enjoy Asian music but somehow the tunes seemed perfect for the setting. The mountains got more dramatic with huge, steep limestone Karsts (cliffs). The boats are long and skinny and will hold ten people, sitting two across. I lucked into a boat with only two plus the driver which still seemed like a balancing act as the boat would sway if either of us moved to the opposite side. The seats were short, hard wooden seats but I managed to pull a blanket out of the drivers bag for padding.
During dry season, the Mekong River has many sand bars and rock gardens to navigate. The trip is up river and we often had class 2 rapids to power through. I was thrilled the “little engine that could” didn’t disappoint all day. During the seven hours, we had two potty stops. One stop was within the first hour at a dock-side restaurant. Next stop was at a sandy beach the climb up the sand hill find a “spot” at the farmer’s garden.
The Mekong has all types of life growing in it and along its sides. Men and little boys fish with nets from their small boats. It’s not uncommon to see young boys swimming (usually naked) or boating without an adult in sight. Water buffalos stay immersed in the water to keep cool during the heat of the day. Gardens are grown along the steep banks and protected with bamboo fences. Hogs and cattle roam free along the river. Ducks are swimming. There’s a jungle on both sides with occasional homes hidden beyond the banks.
Our destination is Nong Khiaw, a small dusty Lao town at the only bridge I saw all day. Nong Khiaw has many guest houses and restaurants with even a couple of “spas”. The buildings are either plain concrete block or wooden bungalows. I settle on a room with a little porch and a hot shower for $7. Only one restaurant in town has Wi-Fi so that’s my choice for dinner and lunch. It’s owned by an Indian man so that explains the Wi-Fi. At 9 p.m. I visit a thatched hut for a Khamu massage. I’m told that Khamu (a hill tribe) is a stronger massage than a gentle Lao massage. Perhaps it is but it sure doesn’t beat a good Thai massage. Plus it got a little chilly in the open air hut in the cool mountain air.
Day #10 takes me further north via a 1 hour boat ride to a smaller Laos village, Muang Ngoi Neua. The skinny boat only has six seats so the remaining eight of us get the wooden floor but the price was right, $2.50. As we arrive, we all scramble off the boat to find the best room for the best price. All that I tried along the river were full. I was getting a bit concerned about finding a room until a Lao woman took me the opposite direction toward the jungle. It’s a bed (hard) and primitive bath for $4. Even with her promise of a hot shower, I doubted it. Supposedly the water is solar heated but I missed it. It didn’t really matter since I was plenty hot from the hike and climb to two caves tucked into the side of a mountain over-looking the Mekong. With all the poverty of this village, they still have a nice temple with a few monks in residence. All varieties of animals roam the streets. Shops are open-air normally filled with junk food and soft drinks. The village has electricity 3 hours a day. At 6:30 generators start churning to transmit electricity via the “extension cords” I see strung from building to building. Of the two bulbs in my cottage, only one works. I choose a restaurant that has an electrical plug as part of the overhead light bulb so I can charge my laptop while I eat. Once again, the food is delicious and very fresh and healthy. The gardens are only a few feet from the wood-burning stoves so how much fresher can it get? My pumpkin soup ended up being a vegetable soup with various squash which I suppose is their version of pumpkins.
Monday is Day #11 at and time to travel back to Liang Prabang via one hour boat ride and three hour (sardine-packed) bus ride.
Vietnam
Hanoi & HaLong Bay - Day 13 - 17, Wednesday – Saturday, February 7 – 11
A one hour flight into Hanoi at night wearing flip-flops and thin dress, and I quickly realized there was a climate change. It was cool and the next few days got cooler (cold) and rainy. What I had chosen to ignore reading my travel books is the northeast coast of Vietnam has rainy monsoon weather in January and February. The range of temperatures was mid-50s to mid-60s but the Vietnamese do not care for the cooler temps. Many wore winter coats. Of course most of them get around by motorcycle or bicycle also requiring warmer clothing.
I chose to stay in the Old Quarter which is a maze of streets geared toward the tourists. Everyone is trying to sell you something. When I stepped off the airport bus to get a taxi to my hotel there were six taxi drivers vying for my business. Did I mention, aggressively vying for my business? I got repeated advice not to take a moto-taxi (motorcycle, too dangerous). My taxi drops me off at a hotel I had selected from my travel book. It was closed. I quickly chose a hotel across the street since a blond gal pulling luggage is a sitting duck for every hawker trying to sell anything. For $25 I have a large room with tub, Wi-Fi and breakfast and very helpful desk staff.
The next day my goal was to find Le Mar, a.k.a. Snake Village. Yes, I’m going to eat a snake. The “village” is in the thick of Hanoi city only five miles from the old quarter but 20 minute drive due to thick, slow traffic. For $8 my taxi driver waits for me while I chose a restaurant and ate my feast of snake. I did not care for the first few restaurants. Either they charged too much ($40) or had no customers. I shot down an alley and find one to my liking that had one person to speak English, had many customers and charged $13. So the ceremony begins. A waiter brings out my serpent, about 5’ long, which meets my approval. The snake is slit open and an assistant holds the tray of two small cups. The blood is drained into one cup and mixed with some Rice Vodka (wine). The heart is cut out and placed on a small saucer. They scurry back to the kitchen with the snake while other staff is trying to communicate to me what to do next. I have two glasses, one red and the other yellow, and a snake heart. What to do next? Drink it of course. But first I am to drop the heart into the glass of blood and wine. I did. I even drank it. But I couldn’t bring myself to eat the raw heart at the bottom of the glass. I’m not totally nuts!
Next, food starts appearing with little saucers of seasonings and dips. My snake is prepared into two types of meat sticks with different seasonings. It was very tasty actually. It’s accompanied by crispy bread, soup, salad, sticky/corn and the grand finale, snake skin. The skin was fried crispy, crunchy and reminded me of pork rinds. Yes, I liked it. I took left-overs to my taxi driver and head back to the maze of shops and masses of people in the Old Quarter and continue to sample unusual food from the street vendors. One item was a roasted bird, very bony. I saw a couple of bar-b-qued dogs but, did not partake.
While I thought the traffic in Bangkok was bad, Hanoi is worse. It is just shocking how the masses of motorcycles, bicycles and cars dance in the street without crashing. They just weave in and out. My taxi had a horn that you press once and it continues honking (in a chirp) for the next 10 seconds. Stop signs, what’s that? They enter an intersection and work their way through whatever opening they can find. Whoever is largest has the right-of-way. What’s amazing is I still have not seen any accidents. To cross busy streets, I look for a local (especially one with a small child) and cross shoulder-to-shoulder with them. The trick is to keep a steady pace so the cyclists know whether to weave in front or, behind you.
To get my bearings in the Old Quarter, I rent a Cyclo-taxi ($8) for an hour. It’s a taxi with the tourist seat in front and the cyclist pedaling behind you. For me the most interesting sight was seeing how much “stuff” a local could load onto a bicycle or motorcycle. They tie on huge boxes, baskets, bags, cartons, you name it. Give a Vietnamese a little rope and no telling what he will haul home on his bike or scooter.
Hanoi is well known for its water puppet show. The theater is by the lake in the Old Quarter and for $5 I have a 3rd row seat. Water puppets date back to the 11th century when rice farmers used water puppetry as entertainment in the rice paddies. With an orchestra of ten and colorful puppets I am entertained for an hour.
Ho Chi Minh is embalmed in a huge mausoleum in Hanoi. Pictures are not allowed of the dead leader but are allowed on the grounds displaying his palace house, his house on stilts and three of his cars (gifts from the Soviet Union). I had planned to visit some other museums but lost interest late in the day after many wrong turns and cool, damp weather. Instead, I opted for a two-hour massage – Thai body and foot massage. The cost is three times as much as Laos but $30 is still cheap for two hours. What was unique about this one is the masseuse stays with you to assist you in dressing and un-dressing. There are no funky Thai pajamas to wear so I stop at the T-shirt and panty level. It’s rather strange have a petite, Oriental man hand me my clothing, one piece at a time. Also unique with the foot massage was the stack of hot towels he put on my legs after the massage then rubbed my neck and shoulders with hot stones. All in all, it’s a pleasant experience.
Three hours from Hanoi is HaLong Bay, a huge tourist mecca. HaLong Bay is well-known for huge monolith limestone out-cropping’s (nearly 2,000), beautiful grottos and huge caves. It has been designated as one of the Seven New Wonders of the World. I chose a two-day package tour but rather than sleeping on the boat, I choose the hotel option on Cat-ba Island. Fifteen tourists board a 100’ Asian wooden boat and begin to explore. They truly are amazing. We get off the boat for an hour long tour of a huge cave system with beautiful natural formations. Of course, just for the tourists it is made all the more gorgeous with the many, many colored lights shining through-out.
After my return to HaLong Bay, I had arranged a different, better hotel recommended to me by a Dutch girl I met at the puppet show. It was my birthday so I wanted it to be nice. I was so surprised when I returned to check in and they had a birthday cake, with my name on it, waiting for me in my room. Some of the folks here are really sweet. I took the cake to the lobby and shared it with the staff and my new Dutch friend along with tea and coffee.
Central Coast - Day 18 - 21, Sunday - Wednesday, February 12 - 14
Hue
To save myself 16 hours on a bus, I booked a flight from Hanoi to Hue (sounds like Whey), a city on the coast of central Vietnam. It is very near the Demilitarized Zone in South Vietnam. With 20-20 hind-sight, I would have skipped this city. After a two hour cyclo-taxi (bicycle) ride, I saw the highlights. There ruins of an ancient city for a walking tour. Even less of the city remains after we bombed it during the “American War”.
Hoi An
Four hours by bus and I’m thrilled to be in Hoi An. The weather is gorgeous (70’s, no humidity, sunny) and I’m in a shopper’s paradise. En-route our bus stopped at Marble Mountain, a huge marble out-cropping with a tourist elevator to the top. From the top, you walk down exploring caves and carvings. At the bottom are a multitude of merchants selling huge carvings of marble statutes along with many jewelry trinkets. One woman talked me into buying a marble elephant for $1, like I really need the extra weight in my luggage. From the Hoi An bus station I take my first moto-taxi (motorcycle taxi). He even had a helmet for me. He places my luggage between his legs of the scooter and my backpack is strapped to my back. Cars are not allowed in the Old Quarter where I’m staying. We visit four hotels until I find one to my liking. For $25 I have a prime location on the river with breakfast, Wi-Fi, TV, hot water and an English speaking clerk. Those are my requirements when shopping for a room.
Hoi An is a very charming and romantic historical town. It has a huge Chinese influence and at night Chinese lanterns are lit at all the businesses and across the bridge. It has been designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site with many historical temples, houses and museums to tour. At night, street merchants sell candles in a paper lantern for $1 to make a wish then drop in the river and watch it float downstream.
Hoi An is the tailor-made clothing capital of Vietnam. Shops and art galleries line the streets with merchants vying for your tourist dollar. At the local market I did some negotiating with a tribal woman for jewelry of various stones and colors which became my theme for selecting silk for my tailored clothing purchases. For $100 I had made a blouse, dress and 2-piece pant set made of silk and a pair of slacks made of cashmere wool from Italy. What’s amazing is they can have the articles ready for you in a few hours.
For a dollar each day, I rented a bicycle to explore the town, one morning going the 3 miles to the beach of the South China Sea. During the war, this long stretch of beach was referred to as “China Beach” for soldiers on R&R.
Central Highlands – Day22 - 24, Thursday -Saturday, February 15 - 18
Dalat
Working my way south, next stop is Dalat in the Central Highlands, population 150,000. After checking the bus schedule, I learn it’s an 18 hour bus ride from Hoi An. Or, for $100 it’s a 1 ¼ hour flight so you can guess my choice. The hotel clerk in Hoi An booked my flight and I paid cash in Vietnam Dong. The exchange rate is 21,000 Dong to one USD. Often I hear from the locals that “prices keep going up”. Vietnam has had a growing economy the last few years.
Dalat is a popular vacation destination for the Vietnamese with nicknames of La Petite Paris or City of Flowers. Located at 5,000 feet, the temperatures are cooler and the scenery is beautiful mountainsides of gardens and plantations (tea and coffee).
On my bucket list for the past year has been a multi-day trip with the Easy Riders. Dalat is the home of the Easy Rider tour guides via motor-cycle. The “real” Easy Riders speak excellent English and give a great motorcycle tour whether it’s one day or ten days. Because of their popularity, many imposters of the Easy Riders hang out at cafes and try to sell you a tour. They stop you on the street with the initial question of “Where You From”. It gets rather tiring after a while. I found my Easy Rider via a very professional internet site (www.easy-riders.net) and after many email exchanges displaying excellent English skills. While in Hoi An, I arranged a 2-day tour of the Central Highlands from Dalat to Mui Ne, a beach town to the south. Since I’m traveling solo, the price is a bit higher at $75 per day, hotel and admission fees included. Also included, my guide picked me up at the Dalat airport. While very excited about seeing the beautiful mountains via a motorcycle, I also have a “healthy respect” for the dangers of riding a motorcycle. Actually, it’s called “Fear”. So, I’ll have to get over that if I’m going to enjoy this tour.
So with this “healthy respect”, while on the plane it dawns on me that I’m arriving at night and my first ride will be at night. I’m tempted to hop on the bus into town after my guide was not waiting for me at the door. I’m only steps away from the bus and the smiling and bubbly Toan (sounds like Twan) shows up. Ok, I guess I’m committed to this tour or, maybe I just need to be committed. He straps my luggage on a tiny rack which becomes my back-rest. My backpack is strapped to the gas tank and away we go. The airport is 20 miles away from Dalat, the streets are wet and it’s very dark. It’s even darker because his headlight barely glows. He explains he has a battery issue which will be replaced tomorrow. Earlier in the day I had taken an hour long moto-taxi ride from Hoi An to Marble Mountain and my neck and shoulder still ached from the stress of that trip. Fortunately there is little traffic going to Dalat and I try to focus on calming breaths and the night scenery. We stop at a café in Dalat for ginger tea and to get to know each other. Toan is 35, has been doing Easy Rider tours five years after a career change from construction where he used his four year Physics degree supervising installation of communication lines and equipment. At 11:00 p.m. he drops me off at my hotel which has closed for the evening. Toan bangs on the door until a very sweet girl appears who had been expecting me. They carry my luggage to the room and she brings me a cup of fresh ginger tea. I am really appreciating Asia’s love of ginger since I also love “anything ginger”.
Thursday I am on my own in Dalat to explore before starting my tour. After a few failed attempts, I find a clunker of a bike to explore the city beginning with a ride around the large man-made lake. Rain keeps threatening so I return the bike to start the walk back to my hotel. To escape a downpour, I dash into a café where I met Adina, a 27 year old South Africa woman. After college she left on a six month trip and has just continued traveling the next five years. Whenever she needs money, she picks up a job for a couple months then continues on her journey. We spent the rest of the day together walking and exploring Dalat. Spending time with such a well-traveled person broadens my horizons and gives me even more desire to travel. We explore “Crazy House” in Dalat. Crazy House was built by the daughter of a Vietnamese political head and is truly crazy. It’s like exploring a real-life house of an Alice in Wonderland fantasy. It reminded me of the Gaudi (sp?) houses I toured in Barcelona. Perhaps she had been to Barcelona?
Friday arrives and my motorcycle tour is to begin at 8:00 a.m. Ugh, it’s raining again. I’m wondering if it’s really meant to be but atlas, by the time we chit-chat, pay fees, etc. the rain has stopped. From 9:00 – 5:30 I am whisked around the mountains of the Central Highlands stopping frequently to tour and take pictures. The weather cooperated until 5:00 when it started pouring. Toan pulls put ponchos and rain pants for both of us. Do you really think its safe riding a motorcycle in the rain with gushing water running down both sides of the road from earlier rains that day? Oh and by then we are coming into Bao Loc, the town where we’re spending the night so we’re on a busier road with buses, cars and lots of scooters. Toan did a great job getting us there safely. I learned early in the day not to look over Toan’s shoulder and try to back-seat drive. Once I quit doing that and just focused on the scenery to each side, I was able to relax. By the afternoon, I was even starting to doze on the bike after a long stretch. Progress!
Saturday is a new day and great weather with temps in the low 70’s and breezy. While I thought we had a powerful motorcycle since we would pass most of the other scooters and motorcycles I was shocked to learn it was 150cc, the same as my scooter at home. Most of the time, due to the narrow curvy roads, we didn’t go faster than 30 mph. It just seemed so much faster. Our fastest speed was 50 mph on a new stretch of 4-lane, straight road along the beach with no traffic. Both days we road approximately 90 miles. Saturday was also 9:00 – 5:00 on the bike. After two days, I was happy to be done. Bucket list item fulfilled but three days would have been one day too many for me. I saw waterfalls (Dambri at 3,500’), beautiful hillside gardens, coffee and tea plantations as far as the eye could see, mushroom farms and gained a better understanding of the farming people of Vietnam. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee in the world. Brazil is #1. Only women work in the fields to pick the tea leaves. They carry a straw basket on their back wearing the typical cone-shaped hat then cut the leaves by hand and toss them into the basket. Mushrooms are grown under thatch covered shacks attacked to bags of dirt that look like buoys. When large enough, they are picked then laid in the sun for days to dry. I was offered a beer a family having a picnic at the waterfall. I was offered rice wine by teenage boys wasting the day away in a hill tribe village (K’Ho ethnic minority) at the top of a mountain. This was the mountain that reminded me of the popular motorcycle destination in North Carolina, Tail of the Dragon. For 20 miles it was constant hairpin curves climbing to the top and back down again on a very narrow road. At the top I walked through the hill tribe village to see the poverty of their life. Their homes were small wooden shacks and the air was filled with the smell of burning wood. Still, they offered to share their rice wine with me.
My most disgusting tour was at the farm which made Weasel Coffee. The farmer has cages of weasels which look similar to possums. My guide had to explain the process to me a couple of times before my mind could comprehend. The farmer feeds coffee beans to the weasel which digest the hard shell covering the bean then “excretes” the remaining bean. These “excretions” are washed and dried then ground as coffee. A large bag of these excreted coffee beans were on display which I picked up to examine, before I understood the process. Apparently, only the most special beans get this process and the resulting coffee is a very expensive, sought-after treat.
The tour of the silk factory was interesting to see the process from cocoon to thread, to rolls of thread then weaved into fabric. We drove by farms that produced the silk worm cocoons upon acres of Mulberry Bushes. The trees growing Dragon Fruit looked very exotic (see pictures). As we traveled south, the scenery changed from mountainsides of farms to mountainsides of wild forest growth. In the farming area, many hillsides were terraced where heavy equipment cut into the sides to make flats plots all down the side.
Once reaching the coast we passed through a city where the main industry is fishing. Boats filled the harbor. We visited a temple which housed the bones of a giant whale skeleton. The people come here to worship the whale and pray for safety on the sea. On the coast we visited three remaining temples of the Cham, an indigenous people. The brick temples were built in the 9th century and the recipe for making the mortar to hold the bricks together has been lost.
Outside Mui Ne are giant sand dunes. They are a tourist attraction for walking to the top then sliding down. From the road, people look like tiny ants climbing the dunes to the top for their thrilling ride down the other side.
Mui Ne is a resort town with lots of tourists, hotels, restaurants and spas. After stopping at many hotels which were full, I find a room across the street for $15 which met all my requirements. Plus it had the restaurant that served the best meal of my trip – grilled tuna with ginger, orange sauce and hot chili’s. It was so good, I ordered a second entrée and still my total bill was only $8.
Saigon - Day25 - 26, Sunday -Monday, February 19 -20
From the beach town of Mui Ne I booked a bus for Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I stood in front of my hotel and the bus stopped to pick me up. While that was convenient, it also meant we stopped at the hotels of all passengers. So the bus trip took 6 ½ hours which included a 20 minute toilet break and 30 minute lunch break. I was told none of the Vietnam buses have toilets so it’s good they stop every couple hours for a break.
My tour book said the bus stations were a long way from the tourist area so I was expecting a long taxi ride. Instead, the bus dropped us on a busy street in Saigon. I have no idea where I am. Ten minutes prior, I selected a hotel from my tour book and wrote the name and address on a slip of paper to give to a taxi driver. I flag a taxi and as I am waiting for the driver to open his window, a local Vietnamese sees my note. He reads and speaks English! Then informs me that the hotel I picked is ½ block away. What luck! I get to the hotel and within 3 minutes I’m in my room. For $16 I get breakfast (egg, bread, bananas, drink) and dinner (noodle soup). The hotel clerk quickly books my nine hour guided bus tour of Saigon for tomorrow ($9) and suggests a dinner cruise on the Saigon River for the evening.
Travel Tip – bring an expired passport. All hotels request your passport at check-in and keep it until you leave. I don’t like to give up my current passport so I hand them the expired one. Only in Saigon did the clerk actually open the passport and look for my visa. Even then, I showed her the valid passport/visa and kept the current passport while she kept the expired passport.
The dinner cruise on the Saigon River was beautiful, viewing the lights of Saigon at night. We had entertainment on three flowers and surprisingly, the food was good. Cost of cruise, soup, Sea-bass and vegetables was only $15. Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam with nine million people, 6 million motorbikes and 800,000 taxis. Most people cannot afford a car. The average price of a Toyota Camry is $30,000. I’m told that is after a 200% tax. Earlier I was told the tax on a car is 35% so your guess is as good as mine. A spiffy 150cc motorbike costs $7,000. A smaller motorbike is $2,000. Someone asked the price of a 750cc Harley Davidson in Vietnam. We were told you can’t buy a bike that large nor would you need it. The speed limit for motorbikes is 25mph in the city and 35mph outside the city. Are you curious as to the typical foot-ware for riding a scooter? That would be flip-flops for men and high heels for women.
Even though the official name (after the defeat by the North Vietnamese in 1975) is Ho Chi Minh City, they still fondly refer to their home as Saigon. The temperature in their dry season is 90’s and humid. While sticky, I much prefer it to the rainy, dreary Hanoi. The guided bus tour of Saigon was interesting and I saw much more than I could ever see if I had tried to do it on my own. The War Remnants Museum was the most somber experience of my trip. Photos displayed the cruelty to the Vietnam people and the property destroyed. A large focus was on the use of Agent Orange with many pictures of birth defects to the children and grandchildren of those affected. The courtyard displayed much of the U.S. equipment (planes, tanks, etc.) that was left behind when we quickly evacuated in 1975. Sections of a P.O.W. prison were displayed including the Tiger Cages used for prisoners. They are small barb-wired cages with a dirt floor which looked nasty enough. Then I read the sign to learn they put 2- 3 prisoners the smaller cage and 4-5 prisoners in the “larger” cage. Also displayed was a guillotine from France used for be-headings. Much of the carnage displayed in this P.O.W. camp display was the North against the South Vietnamese. It was certainly enough to make my stomach quizzey.
Onto a cheerier part of the tour was the local market, China town, Buddhist temple, Notre Dame Cathedral and lunch. An hour was reserved for the Reunification Palace which is basically preserved as it was the day the North Vietnamese tanks broke through the gates for the surrender by the south. Two tanks still reside on the grounds. A more somber visit was the Handicraft Village operated by the handicapped from the war. Many have deformed legs but are still able to use their arms. They have the tedious job of making hand-cut inlaid shell handicrafts. While walking around town, I have been noticing many more disabled and deformed people on the street than elsewhere in Vietnam.
The most interesting part of the tour was not the sights but my fellow traveler. I met Ernst at breakfast and invited him along for the tour. He is one of the most traveled people I have met. It was wonderful listening to his travel adventures and learning about future destinations on my list. In his 70’s, he wrote a book about the village he spent three years saving from starvation in Africa and later a documentary was filmed about his endeavor. He spent $150,000 to buy a car and equipment to do the annual 21-day race from Paris to Dakar race. Near the finish line, they crashed and it took three days to find them and by then he had gangrene on his leg. Last year he lost an eye when his motorcycle hit a huge hole in the road driving at night in Zanzibar. He made his money by developing some decrepit buildings into condos in SoHo in NYC. He paid $25,000 for his first rental house in the 70’s. It’s currently worth $1.8M. He has four successful grown children. One daughter held the record for years as the youngest female to sail around the world single-handed at age 18. Lately he’s spent some time in Burma trying to find a route in northern Burma to escape across the border into China since there are no official border crossings. His life-long adventures were inspiring. More on him at www.ernstaebi.com.
Next was my adventure with a lovely lady which disappointed me when I realized she was a scammer. While I’ve either read or encountered scams in other large cities, I didn’t see this one coming. I met a woman (40-ish) from Malaysia as we were trying to cross a major street. I still have trepidation to start across a 4-lane street in front of all the on-coming traffic. It just goes against everything we are taught since we’re children. I haven’t developed the blind faith that all those scooters will see me and avoid me, especially at night. Anyway, Grace (what a lovely name) grabbed my arm and walked across with me to the waterfront. We struck up a conversation and she said the traffic is even worse in Malaysia because they drive even faster. I couldn’t imagine stepping in front of that. Anyway, we chatted and walked for 30 minutes and parted with plans to meet for tea tomorrow near my hotel. She wanted me to meet her sister who’s going to nursing school in Santa Cruz, CA. So what harm could there be in that? I’m certainly willing to be helpful and I was interested in learning more about Malaysia. Her brother lives in Saigon and Grace and her sister are in town for his wedding. She offers to bring me some Malaysian food to sample.
The next day we meet at the coffee shop but her sister is home cooking the meal and I am invited to come eat with them. I thought we were walking there but instead she stops a taxi. With rush hour, it’s 30 minutes to her brother’s house. He is there but the sister is not and some other woman is in the kitchen cooking. They are both very nice and I inquire about his marriage and job. He is a dealer in a casino in Phnom Phen and is starting a new job on Holland America to deal on cruise ships. I am very skeptical when he starts telling me about one of his customers that he has helped to win a lot of money. This woman is coming over to take him out to dinner since he helped her win $80,000 the night prior. At this point, I’m looking at this as an adventure and waiting to see what will un-fold next. After we eat, he suggests showing me how I can also win at Black Jack. Understand, the sister (and purpose of my visit) still has not appeared. He wants to show me how I can also make a lot of money if I visit him at his casino. It involves me gambling in the V.I.P. room where I am to play against the “high-roller”. In the V.I.P. room you don’t play against the house, you play against one other player. The house gets 10% commission from total winnings. His proposal is he will give me the hand signals so I can’t lose then he gets 40% of the winnings and his manager gets 10%. Perhaps that is the scam? Nope.
He suggests we go upstairs to his bedroom where he has his table set up so he can teach me the game. He spends 30 minutes teaching me the finer points of Black Jack and the Casino rules for V.I.P. players. I also learn his hand signals. Right hand tells me my next card. Left hand tells me the turned-over card of my opponent. Ironically enough, after he has finished his teaching, his $80,000 customer from last night shows up at his house. Remember the original plan is for me to tell his sister about the U.S. and for him to go out to dinner with his customer. Instead, his customer joins us in the bedroom, he quickly pulls out two one hundred bills for me to gamble and his customer drops $1,000. He places the cash in his silver box on his bed and the games begin. Of course I’m winning every hand or else, it’s a draw. But since my opponent has put in more money than his advance, she has continued to up me until I have no chips. At that point, I have a winning hand, 21 vs. 20 but no chips to meet her bet. So he asks for cash from me. Ah-Ha, the scam is revealed. I tell him I have no cash and no plans to put in cash so he gives me a $100 credit which he writes on a sheet of paper. So the scam is revealed, my curiosity is satisfied and I’m now uncomfortable and ready to leave. So I announce that this is the last hand, last game. His customer gets excited. Since this is her last chance to bet, she pulls out a stack of cash and tells me its $50,000. Its 4” thick stack with hundred dollar bills on the top and bottom. He quickly places it in his silver money box on the bed. So now I am really ready to leave. I inform them I have no intention of really betting or continuing the game even though I supposedly have 21 vs. her 20. He’s winking at me like crazy; his sister is kicking me under the table and making every argument to keep me there as if his customer has no idea what is happening. I refuse so he suggests we step outside the bedroom to talk. Great idea! I grab my bag, step outside the bedroom and keep walking. I don’t look back. I’m quickly down the steps and out the house. His sister is following me down the alley and to the street wanting me to stay. Then she wants to take me back in a taxi. Then the other guy from downstairs shows up on his scooter and wants to take me back on his scooter. I’m not to be stopped. I’m quickly to the main street, flag a taxi and give my farewells to her on the street. It was certainly a disappointment that this very pleasant lady had dis-honest intentions. It took 2 ½ hours from my evening but for the cost of a taxi ride, it led to an adventure and a ‘lil education.
Mekong Delta - Day27 - 28, Tuesday -Wednesday, February 21 -22
From Saigon I signed up for a three day tour which was two days of the Mekong Delta and one day boat trip up the Mekong River from the Vietnam border to Phnom Phen, Cambodia. For $60 I get all buses, boats, bicycle ride, tour guide, admission fees, two nights lodging and one lunch. Plus, it was much simpler to have everything arranged since I’m covering a lot of space in a short time. The first night was Can Tho and the second night in Chau Doc. Both are popular tourist areas so we were shuttled around the rivers on various boats to see the floating markets (wholesale) and demonstrations of making rice/coconut candy, rice husking, rice noodles, anything rice. While I am always intrigued walking through the local markets seeing unusual and exotic foods, I got to see where many of the fruits and vegetables are purchased wholesale. Farmers come from miles around and spend many days living on their boat in the market area until their crop is sold. Their “marketing” consists of one bamboo stick from their boat with one fruit or vegetable hanging from the top. Then the retailer cruises through the market, checking the bamboo sticks until he finds what he needs to purchase to take back to his local market. Among all this are small boats sweeping along-side the large boats selling drinks and snacks. As far as toilet facilities on the boats, it consists of a square hole near the front of the boat with a direct exit to the water.
Prior to crossing into Cambodia, we visited a fish farm. Houseboats line the shore and underneath are 2’ x 3’ wire cages to hold the fish. My tour book states each houseboat farm costs ~$100,000, via a bank loan. The family lives on the boat and three times a day, opens the wooden door above each cage to feed the fish. The fish are crowded and flap hungrily after the feed. It’s given me a new appreciation for “wild-caught” fish.
We tour a Cham minority villag. The Chams are Moslem thus their temples have a more Arabic design. Vietnam has four main religious – Buddhist, Moslem, Catholic and Khymer (from Cambodia).
While waiting to get on a boat, I had a quick conversation with a cycling group that booked a cycle tour from Bangkok to Saigon – www.spiceroads.com. Comments were positive so perhaps an option for a different part of Asia.
Meeting other travelers can be much more interesting than looking at a rice-husking operation. For two hours on the bus I gleaned great travel stories from a 37 year old woman from Finland. She is eight months into a year-long trip. Her husband is at home while she travels since she has a job where the Finnish government continues to pay a portion of her salary while traveling. In Finland, after you work ten years for one company, you can take a one year leave every five years. In your absence, they place an unemployed person to do your job. For that year, you collect the unemployment amount from the government and the previously unemployed person collects a full salary for one year. Since her husband has changed jobs before reaching ten years, he is unable to participate. On non-travel years, she gets eight weeks’ vacation. What a great concept! Since she works as a journalist, her Visa into Burma was rejected. She stated her profession as “student”. When she returned to the Burma embassy in Bangkok to pick up her Visa, she could see the officials had researched her on the internet and had news articles she had written. At that point, she admitted being a journalist and the Visa was rejected.
The weather, as expected, was 90’s with high humidity. The roads are small and slow moving with our bus honking regularly to clear the scooter traffic out of our way. I’m just happy to be in the “big fish” vehicle on this segment. From Chau Doc to Phnom Penh, Cambodia it took seven hours by boat plus a three hour wait at the border while Visas were obtained for all the passengers.
Cambodia
Phnom Penh – Day 29 - 30, Thursday -Friday, February 23-24
With only 1 ½ days to cover Phnom Penh, I clicked into high gear. Phnom Penh (1 ½ million) is the capital of Cambodia and is a true city with modern new skyscrapers along with much poverty. Many of the office buildings have the ornamental designs of pagodas or temples so you have to look closely to distinguish between business and religious. The city is built on the Tonle Sap River which flows into the Mekong River. I was surprised how “touristy” the riverside is with all the flashing neon signs, bars, restaurants, music blaring and horns honking. Our boat lets us off at a wharf in the touristic area with the usual flock waiting to sell us a tour or a tuk-tuk driver wanting to drive us to his “recommended” hotel in which he gets a commission. I make my way through the hub-bub and until I find a quieter area and a tuk-tuk driver that is less obtrusive. He allows me to use his phone to call a couple of hotels of my choice until I find a vacancy. My basic hotel is located on the river in the midst of the craziness at $15 per night.
The most historical attractions in Phnom Penh are unfortunately very chilling and disturbing. I visited both the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek and the Tuol Sleng Museum, also known as S-21 for Security Prison #21. Over 2 million Cambodians were killed in a Civil War led by Pol Pot, a Khmer Rouge communist. The war lasted nearly four years (4/17/75 – 1/7/79) and I must admit that it was only a blip in my life during that time while living on the opposite side of the world. It was four years of Genocide. We all know of the Genocide by Hitler 30 years prior but how was I so unaware of a Genocide that occurred during my lifetime? In three days, the Khmer Rouge soldiers cleared out the city of Phnom Penh, killing and herding everyone to work in labor camps in the rice fields. The goal was to make it a classless society and those with education or money, or even if they wore glasses, were the most persecuted. Most Buddhist monks were killed because of their religion. My tuk-tuk driver drove me the 40 minutes at the edge of town where at night, with music blaring; over 20,000 people were killed and buried in mass graves during the war. The largest grave held 450. Bullets were not used since that cost money. Farming tools like hoes, machetes and knives were the most popular weapon. There was the Killing Tree where baby’s heads were slammed against the tree. A monument holds 9,000 skulls that have been excavated. This is just one of many Killing Fields used throughout the country.
In the city, a high school was converted to a prison where men and women were tortured and killed. This is one of many and was named S-21. The rooms were subdivided into tiny cells. In 1977 an average of 100 were killed daily. People were tortured until they confessed to crimes they or their friends and family did not do. Torture was by tying hands behind your back then hanging you upside down by your hands while submersing your head in water. The war ended when Vietnam invaded and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. But Pol Pot was never captured or tried for his crimes. He lived a normal life for another 20 years. It was 30 years before the top five Khmer Rouge leaders were charged with war crimes and tried by a U.N. council.
Onto a lighter topic was a visit to the Royal Palace, National Museum and three different markets for shopping. Cambodia has a king with all the pomp and circumstance but the real governing seems to be done by the Prime Minister.
Siem Reap – Day 31 - 34, Saturday -Tuesday, February 25-28
A 5 hour van ride ($10) delivers me to Siem Reap, the pride and joy of Cambodia where the famous Angkor temples were built between the 9th and 13th centuries. One road connects Phnom Penh to Siem Reap which is a two-lane, bumpy road used by the farmers, scooters and the mega-sized tourist buses. We saw many farmers driving ox-carts hauling wood or supplies. Our driver had a much better eye than me for spotting the slow moving objects at night since the ox-carts do not have lights, just a farmer shining a small flashlight to avoid being hit. The landscape is flat with mountains in the far distance north, east and west. The temperatures are hot in the 90’s with lows in the upper 70’s. Jungle growth remains where the farmers have not cleared the land.
On the van I met Sally, a doctor from the U.K. who has lived in Cambodia three years. Her ex-husband began the ultra-light plane business to fly tourists over the temples. An ultra-light flight is much cheaper than the eight minute helicopter ride at $90 for each of the four passengers. Unfortunately, the government shut down all the light airplane businesses like theirs until the government devises a set of rules for all aircraft to operate. Sally spent the last four days in Phnom Penh meeting with officials and offering the set of rules she obtained from New Zealand.
With a population of 160,000, Siem Reap is bursting with tourists, 5-star resorts, and mega-sized tour buses. All arrive to see the famous temples 15 minutes outside Siem Reap, coined the 8th wonder of the world. It is truly amazing how the massive temples were built with rudimentary tools, elephants and rafts. The city is more laid back with a French Colonial style along a shady river. It’s calm enough for me to enjoy a leisurely bike ride through the city and delving into the Old Market for more shopping. Pub Street is their rocking/rolling street lined with bars, neon signs and loud music. The Night Market is pleasant shopping with many outdoor massage businesses. An hour long foot massage costs $3 while joined by 20-40 other tourists viewing an outdoor movie on the history of the temples. Also popular are the fish massages. For $3 you can dangle your feet in a fish tank for 30 minutes while the fish nibble away your dead skin. I chose to get a facial, just for kicks. For an hour my face is slathered and massaged with various combinations of cucumber, honey, milk, sugar and egg, all natural.
The “must-do” in Siem Reap is to tour the temples. Tickets are $20 per day plus the cost of a tuk-tuk driver unless you join a large tour group (not for me). I found a good-natured tuk-tuk driver with good English and made arrangements. For $25 (and lunch) we drive out for the sunset over one of the temples then spend 10 hours the next day covering many, many miles of temples. At its peak, the population of the Khmer Empire was 1 million at a time when London was 50,000. They built Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world with 54 towers and a crocodile filled moat. Within seven months, this empire was deserted after it was invaded then lost for 500 years. In 1860, after 500 years of jungle growth, the empire was re-discovered by a French naturalist. Among the various wars, re-construction of the temples occurred with the exception of one temple that has been left with much of the jungle growth still intact. The Ta Prohm temple was the most interesting with the huge trees engulfing the structures. The movies Tomb Raider and Two Brothers were filmed at this temple. We also drove 20 miles further north to visit Banteay Srei Temple, said to be the jewel due to the elaborate carvings.
I must say, this was my bumpiest day in a tuk-tuk. It’s not a ride to be done on a full stomach. My driver is 24 and comes from a farming family. When he was 14, his family sent him to Phnom Penh to live in a Pagoda and attend school. Lodging is free and he still lives there. One rule is everyone must be home by 9 p.m. His 110 cc scooter and tuk-tuk (2-wheeled wagon) cost $1,100 which he purchased by selling cows given to him by his father. There is huge competition as a tuk-tuk driver. Tuk-tuks seem to be on every corner. When walking through town, I’m constantly asked if I need a tuk-tuk. Farming and tourism is the major livelihood.
Visiting the Landmine Museum was also a sobering experience. There are still 5 – 6 million unexploded landmines remaining as remnants of the Khmer Rouge Civil War and Vietnam/American Wars. Aki Ra, began the museum with some of the landmines he has de-activated. He’s cleared approximately 50,000 landmines. He’s so good at clearing them because he was a soldier at age 10 and he planted approximately 1,000 landmines a day. Boys were not given a choice. The army would send out a group of boys to spend the day planting landmines. If they refused or did not finish a day’s job, they were shot. Often the boys would trip a landmine on their return to the camp. Aki Ra changed armies over the years serving under the Khmer Rouge, Vietnamese then Cambodian Nationals. Aki Ra was awarded the Top 10 CNN Heroes Award for his valiant efforts (heroes.cnn.com) in clearing landmines and for the orphanage of 37 he maintains of children that have lost limbs from landmines. Also impressive was the discussions with a volunteer from Ohio. Several years ago he read the book written by Aki Ra and was so moved by the book that he traveled to Cambodia to visit Aki. The next several years, he and his wife made many trips back to Cambodia to volunteer at the museum. Now they are here 11 months every year. He gives tours at the museum and does the major fund-raising. His wife teaches at the orphanage. They are retired, middle-income America and just felt so moved by the plight of the Cambodians that now it is their full-time mission.
The Cambodians come across as happy, faithful and very family-oriented. They are a sweet people but many are very poor. Begging is more prevalent in this country. Prostitution and slavery has become an issue. They country has the highest incidence of HIV than any other Asia country. Many of the men were killed in the Civil War so women and families are still struggling. Corruption in the government is still high so not many funds go to help the poor. I met many volunteers there that are helping to build houses, provide health and nutrition education or medical care.
Summary
The trip was amazing, my first trip to Asia, and hopefully not my last. Overall, the people are warm and welcoming. Most are very religious and respectful. I enjoyed being referred to as “Madame”. Adjusting to the traffic, so many scooters, was a challenge. I had to re-learn how to cross a street in a major city. Traffic lights are not common. Interesting that their dogs are docile, don’t chase cars and are not aggressive with strangers. Perhaps they have a Buddhist up-bringing too?
With nearly daily massages, this was the most cracking my spine and joints have ever enjoyed. The food was fabulous and so very fresh although, meat tended to be tough. Perhaps that relates to the skinny, rib-protruding livestock. Since they missed the earlier age of the land-line telephone, most everyone has a cell phone. I never witnessed “road rage” in spite of the slow-moving traffic and most intersections where you just slow down and ease into the fray. Never have I been told so many times to “Sit Down” whether at a shop, restaurant, tourist office, etc. Many have limited English so “Sit Down” must be in the English 101 manual for dealing with tourists. Southeast Asia is a very budget friendly destination with warm (hot) weather and exotic sights to see and food to experience. Next stop….Myanmar (Burma)???
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