Calcutta Craziness

Talk about sensory overload! One car ride in Calcutta is enough excitement to last the entire trip. I don't know if there are amusement parks here, but I doubt they'd be too popular. Bumper cars and roller coaster must seem tame in comparison. Whatever you think it is, up the craziness by 1000. The horn is used to interesting effect here. It's not actually anything rude and is in fact encouraged. It's used to say "hey I'm over here and I know you have no reason to expect me to be cutting you off by millimeters from the wrong side of the road with my headlights off so I thought I should let you know." Ok, now that that's out of the way... what have we been up to?

I spent the first afternoon in Calcutta just relaxing at Aileen & Rahul's lovely apartment - once again I got up so early for my flight that I was exhausted by 2pm. We gathered our energy again to hit the "clubs" in Calcutta with some friends of theirs. Clubs in this sense is more along the country club lines. Most people in Calcutta belong to at least one club. Aileen and I definitely stuck out and no one can say I never strayed from the tourist path!

Sunday morning Susan arrived from her hellish flight from Chicago (6 hours in the Delhi airport overnight anyone?) and we had already planned to ease her into this timezone with lunch at the "club" and a trip to the spa. While not exactly stressful, it wasn't the epitome of relaxation. I asked for a facial and a pedicure, which they happily announced could be done at the same time. Susan headed off for her massage and Aileen for a facial and manicure. As a man prepared my facial concoction a woman washed my hands. I thought it was a bit odd but what do I know about Indian spa techniques? After gauze had been placed over my eyes, the woman began to file my nails. Apparently, I was getting a pedicure on my hands. But at this point it was a little tough to do anything about it. She must have thought I was crazy to have a manicure, since there was literally nothing to file. Then once she finished she started setting up a pedicure bath so I thought maybe I was just getting both. Not so- they asked me to move to another chair so they could finish my facial while they brought in Susan for her facial and pedicure. Which they finished in about the same amount of time I finished my facial, which had started an hour earlier! Poor Aileen came in with her face burning from the reaction to her facial. But we had to all admit that our skin looked remarkedly better. So we left more attractive if not more relaxed, and that's what matters, right?

We rounded off the evening with a home cooked Indian meal (home cooked by their maid/cook of course), catching up around the dinner table and playing with little Xochi, Aileen and Rahul's 10 month old girl. It was great to see old friends again and to see Xochi, clearly the cutest infant on the planet. And no, I'm not remotely biased.

Monday was back to work for Aileen. Susan and I met her at the American Center shortly thereafter to see Gloria Steinem speak regarding the problem of human trafficking, specifically in India. There were other speakers as well, and it was fascinating to hear the problem discussed in an area where it is having such an effect. Afterwards Aileen, Susan and I hit Buzz, a Tibetan place for momos, the Tibetan equivalent of dumplings. We ordered 6 dishes of 6 momos each, for a grand total of 36, thinking we'd be able to try many of them and take the rest home. The man was shocked and kept saying, "You mean four?" Then Aileen wanted to order noodles and asked if there was any sauce on them. The waiter answered that it came with a gravy (Indians use this to mean sauce). When asked what kind of gravy, he answered "bland and tasteless!" with a smile on his face. I quickly said, "We'll take the garlic chili noodles instead." In the end we got our noodles but only 3 orders of momos - he had clearly restricted our momo intake. We finally asked for 2 more orders, with which he grudgingly complied.

Susan and I rounded off the day with shopping at New Market, a crazy experience of chaos, even after my experience in Thailand. We were told we had to try pastries in the old Jewish deli, but somehow we managed to find the only two disgusting items there. Luckily it was a waste of only a dollar or so! Then we plopped down some cash for beautiful silver jewelry headed out before we could do any more damage. I wanted to buy a new pair of shoes as I only have sandals, which won't be quite appropriate in Tokyo in January where it will be below freezing. (My tennis shoes were buried in Cape Tribulation, Australia.) I had read in a guidebook that you could have shoes made and given my ridiculously wide foot, I thought this would be a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. However once the driver got us to the area where such shops supposedly are, he asked around and told us there was no such thing. He took us to another shoe shop area, but they only sold men's shoes and women's sandals. Oh well! Back to the apartment where we met up with Aileen and Rahul and went out for a yummy Chinese meal at Red Hot Chili Peppers (which of course started a music discussion - some of you will get that reference). Aileen gets very sick of Indian food and looks for any opportunity to branch out. A quick stop for 98% fat free gelato at Mama Mia's (I don't think so! one of them had Snickers in it!) where we were served by an Indian in a beret, then some paan for Rahul (a "digestive" sold from the world's tiniest shop - photo below) and home again for an early night for all of us!

Crash Course on India

Upon arrival at Bangkok airport, I crossed my fingers my luggage wouldn't be too heavy for my allotted 20 kilos. When I saw the amount of luggage the passengers in front of me were carrying, I began to worry a bit less. As it turned out, my bags weighed 31 kilos (!!!) which they didn't even flinch at, thank goodness. Luckily my flights home are in business class which allows 30 kilos. Anything heavy I buy from here out will have to be carried on the plane!

I told my friend Aileen that taking an Indian airline to India is a great way to ease into the culture. It was a mob scene getting on the plane, even though we all had assigned seats, and I was in the 2nd to last row so had to push through all of it. The overhead compartments at the back of the plane were used for airline storage so we had to use those a few rows up. I wonder what happened by the time the first row got on...

I was pleasantly surprised to see that each seat had it's own video console with a selection of TV shows and movies you could start at any time. I watched one sitcom before they served breakfast, another nice surprise as it was plentiful and even tasted good. This is where things started going off the rails. In order to serve drinks, the crew had to get the cups that were stored in the overhead compartment above me. In doing so, they dropped a heavy metal cup (or something of the sort) directly on my head. The only reason it didn't hurt more is that it landed on the band of my headset. She looked embarassed, but didn't say anything and went on her way. The lines for the bathroom started forming before breakfast was even cleared away and were two people wide, forcing the flight attendants to push through to take each individual tray back to the galley. Needless to say, this took most of the rest of the flight. As one flight attendant pushed by me I felt something stab me in the back. Did she seriously just drop a fork on me? I reached behind me and realized her nametag had fallen of. I returned it to the next flight attendant that walked by, who looked very confused that I would have her colleague's name tag. Moments after that another flight attendant reached into the overhead compartment again and dropped dozens of plastic cups all over the man sitting in front of me. Again, a look of embarassment, but no real apology. The most ungraceful crew ever! I have learned always to fly in a window seat on such flights...

My excitement over the video screens was shortlived as all the screens on the right hand side of the plane died 10 minutes into my movie. The man behind me decided that pounding on his screen would be helpful, even though they had announced that all of them were not working, so I was jolted back and forth continuously. Eventually the crew announced they were going to restart the system to see if that would fix the problem. That meant the left side could not use theirs either. The system finally came up 10 minutes before they announced our descent and the right side never did work. The flight attendants then came through and collected our headsets. By the time they got to our row their arms were quite full. In reaching over to get the headset from the person in the window of my row she managed to whip the woman in the middle seat in the face with a few dozen headset cords. It just didn't end! At this rate we'd all be battered and bruised upon arrival. After they finished with the last row, another crew member made an announcement that they would now start collecting the headsets. Did she not see this going on?

Our landing was smooth, but we jerked down the runway after hitting the tarmac, the way a car jerks when a new driver is learning to use the brakes. At least this was after we had already arrived safely! As we landed, the crew announced that all cell phones should remain switched off until the seat belt sign came off. Before the announcement was even completed the text message tones of dozens of phones echoed throughout the cabin. Then the man behind me (the screen smacker) stood up and bolted to the front of the plane as fast as he could. Half a dozen other people followed his lead, albeit a bit slower. The flight attendants had to collect them all and put them in their seats so we could taxi on to the gate.

While we were taxiing, a German man asked one of the flight attendants if he needed to fill out the immigration form since he was catching a flight that would take him out of the country and wouldn't be spending any time in India. Her reply was "I don't know so just fill it out so you'll be ready no matter what."

While I waited to get off the plane, I started chatting to another American standing next to me. He had been on a similar solo trip and was winding down as well. Turns out he was from Chicago and used to work in advertising. Small world. He had been on numerous flights from this airline and said the video screens had never worked. Welcome to India!

Last Night in Bangkok

I was only back in Bangkok for 2 nights/one day after leaving Siem Reap. I would have probably skipped another trip to Bangkok completely if I could have changed my flights, but as it turned out it was great as I could store so many things there during the trip to Cambodia, making that whole trip much smoother. On my last day I stopped by the places I had missed or not spent enough time at the first few times around - more shopping at MBK shopping center, a visit to the Erawan shrine which is meant to bring good luck and is very surprising in that it is very small and in the courtyard of a luxury shopping center, the main Jim Thompson silk store and the Patpong Night Market. I arrived at the night market a bit too early - the stands were just getting set up. I can't believe they go through the entire process of bringing in tables, canopies, etc. every night in addition to having to set up their wares. I stopped into the equivalent of a Thai fast food place, convinced by their proximity to the market, the cleanliness of the restaurant and free wifi! It was a semi successful meal as the lemon ice tea and spring rolls were wonderful and I was able to download all my emails onto my Palm, but my chicken dish was a bit tricky. It was hundreds of tiny chicken pieces mixed in with fresh chilis. They were far too spicy for me so I had to pick out the chicken bit by bit. It did kill most of the time necessary.

I still had about another hour before the market would open - not enough time to head back to the hotel. So .... another foot massage! This was BY FAR the best one of the trip, which I've found a trend in past experience. My last massage in Beijing last year was also the winner. Always a nice way to leave the country! Then off to the market to buy a few remaining souvenirs on my list and more importantly, a duffel bag to carry them home in. This market requires even more bargaining than the others - the first price quoted for my fake North Face duffel bag was the equivalent of $35. Hello - I might be able to buy a real one in the US for that! So after we negotiated that for 15 minutes, I finally headed off back to the hotel to watch a movie and get the items reconfigured into my new luggage. I was shocked to realize that everything I've bought in Hong Kong, Thailand and Cambodia filled the entire duffel bag, and it's not a small one.

Back up early in the morning and off to the airport I had just left for my flight to Calcutta. Another fairly brief one - about 2 1/2 hours - especially in comparison to the flight my friend Susan was taking to Calcutta from Chicago the next day. By this time I was really looking forward to seeing India with friends!

Random & Fun Thai Moments

A few things happened to me along the way that I forgot to mention or don't remember exactly when they happened, so I've consolidated them here.

• Buying my jacket at the "Very Sale" in a Chiang Mai shopping mall
• A taxi driver in Bangkok who seemed to fall asleep and snore at every red light. It worried me at first, but he always woke up the second the light turned green!
• The "foil blankets" men were selling to the millions of tourists picnicking for the King's birthday. These are actually sample shampoo packets, ketchup packets, soup packets, etc. that haven't been cut out yet. One family was sitting on a large "blanket" that said Pantene Pantene Pantene Pantene across it. Were these stolen from factories? They would be effective at keeping you from getting a wet butt, though - always a big plus.
• The new pizza offering at a Thai pizza chain - pizza with hot dogs in the crust. Mini hot dogs are laid around the edge of the pizza and the crust is rolled over it. It's advertised as "the best of America meets the best of Italy!". Wow.
  
• Women at the markets shouting "Madame, madame, we have big size for you!" It does give you a complex. Another shop referred to it as "European size" which was a little less offensive. And since when am I a "madame"?
  
• Helping a woman at the security checkpoint at the Bangkok airport convince the guard that the plant she was carrying was not real and therefore no agricultural threat to Cambodia. We had to argue with her for ages until she finally consented with a "Wow. It looks real!" comment. I have to admit it was a very good silk plant. But then again, Thailand is known for its silk, right?

Angkor's Away!

On our last day in Siem Reap we stepped out of the hotel, waved down a tuk tuk driver and negotiated a $10 rate for the next 4 hours of sightseeing. A little cheaper than the $60/day for our car, driver and guide - and our tuk tuk driver couldn't be any worse of a guide than ours from the previous few days. We visited the three much smaller Roluos temples which are clustered in an area about 30 minutes (via tuk tuk, probably a lot quicker in a car) from Siem Reap. They varied from mere ruins to large, elaborate and fully intact. At the first (Lolei), the one that was mostly ruins, we also visited the onsite monastery which was repainting its ceilings. About half of the paintings were already completed and I remarked to Aileen that many of the people in them didn't look Thai and looked more Western. She responded that it was probably due to lack of skill, as many of them didn't even look human and that one "looked like something out of Star Trek." These are the fun experiences on explorations like these! We passed a young couple getting a tour in English and in the 2 minutes I overheard I learned more than in the previous 3 days with our guide. I definitely suffered from guide envy for a moment.

Then off to the most intact temple of the three Bakong), which was one of my favorites of the trip, probably for the fact that it wasn't as busy as those closer to Angkor Wat. We had a great chat with the guard who checked our pass who wanted to know where we were from and explained all about the temple to us. Again, our free advice was better than that we had paid for! He clearly was very bored at the checkpoint and was excited both to talk to someone and also to practice his English. When we left a little boy gave me a ring made out of reeds, for which I paid my last remaining Riel, amounting to about 25 cents, and the guard said, "Your driver said you are only here for half a day!" We clarified that we'd already spent other days at the other temples and laughed to ourselves that they had clearly been talking about us.

After a brief spin around the final temple (Preah Ko), where we took more pictures of Aileen with Nandis, we asked our guide to take us to the village. He replied, "You've already been there!" It took many back and forth clarifications and the help of two other drivers before he finally understood what we meant. He told us, "Sorry I didn't know. Foreigners never want to go there - they only want to see temples!" Our trip to the local "town" involved a five minute walk through the market and the purchase of a bunch of mini-bananas, but we were glad we went to see how people live that don't reside in a city like Phnom Penh or large town like Siem Reap.

We had just enough time for lunch by the pool and a quick dip before we had to finish packing and set off for the airport. We had managed to sweet talk our way into an almost unheard of 2pm checkout time and took full advantage of it. We were at the airport almost 2 hours early, the recommended amount of time, which is ridiculous when you see the size of the place. Unfortunately Aileen and I were in separate terminals, as I was off to Bangkok and she was taking a domestic flight to Phnom Penh first. My flight left 40 minutes after hers, but you have to show your ticket to get into the terminal, so I couldn't wait with her. Also, our driver told us my terminal was very far away from hers. So we dropped Aileen off and I said a brief goodbye, as I'd be seeing her in Calcutta less than 48 hours later. We then drove about 50 feet and pulled up to a door to the international terminal. Heaven forbid I have to walk that! It was too early to check in, so I admired the Dairy Queen, one of about 6 shops in the airport. If I hadn't already had 2 doses of DQ while in Thailand and been stuffed from just downing 8 of my 12 mini-bananas (as I figured customs wouldn't let me bring them into Bangkok) I would have indulged. My flight was delayed about 40 minutes so I got to know all corners of the airport.

For some reason my flight on Bangkok Airways was on a plane painted with flowers and Edelweiss written on the side. Needless to say, I had the Sound of Music song stuck in my head for the entire hour-long flight. Then it turned out our pilot was German, with a think Bavarian accent. This was handy for me, as he announced everything in German as well as English and Thai - and was extremely more detailed in German. For example, in English he said the weather was nice in Bangkok. In German he said it was sunny, 80 degrees with a light breeze.

We landed around 7pm in Bangkok and I immediately headed back to the Sheraton where I'd be staying for the next few nights (yay Starwood points!). I decided to save some money and took the shuttle bus and then a tuk tuk down to the street to the hotel. I may be the only person who has ever arrived at the Sheraton by noisy tuk tuk with my suitcase on the seat beside me. I certainly got looks that said as much. In the lobby I was greeted by terribly cheesy Christmas music, but said to myself that there are a lot of bad Christmas CDs out there and you probably hit some of them when trying to keep up the variety over a long season. Then I turned around and realized the source of the music the lobby bar where a man with a synthesizer and two blonde women in red, satin Marilyn Monroe type dresses were jamming away. I was so excited to get to my room and my movie channels!

(Pictures of Angkor Wat to be added as soon as I get them online... hopefully very soon!)

Angkor What?

Day 2 of 3 in Angkor Wat was more of the same with our "tour guide," a term which must be used loosely but we did get to see parts of the complex much different than the previous day. We started off on a long drive to a famous river, which of course required another payment for the extra gas. We certainly felt we were being nickeled and dimed the entire way. I understand they would need more for gas, but $20? Hm, I doubt it. Oh well.

We hiked for about 20 minutes up to a small waterfall and river called Kbal Spean. It's noted not for the scenery, but for carvings (linga) that remain on the banks and on the bottom of the river centuries later. It was especially relevant to us because some of the linga are of the Nandi, the sacred bull of Hinduism, and Aileens last name. We took the obligatory photos of said carvings, both with and without Aileen in them and headed off to the Pink Temple (Banteay Srei), which is grey like the rest of them. It is only called that because the translation is "Citadel of the Women" and it is said it must have been built by a woman, as the carvings are too fine for the hand of a man. After a quick tour around we were accosted once again by women selling their wares, but this time I found the t-shirts they were selling quite nice and left wondering once again how I was going to smash all this in my already strained luggage.

A yummy and cheap lunch and we were off again to the last temple of the day, Ta Prohm, which is now most famous for being the location of the Angelina Jolie film, Tomb Raider. The temple is amazing in its own right, however, as there are massive trees growing in, out and around the ruins throughout. Our guide was very helpful as he said "Tomb Raider was filmed here." Then he brought us to another corner of the temple and declared, "Tomb Raider was also filmed here." Then to another entrance with the helpful remark, "Tomb Raider was also filmed here." I guess he was trying to fill in the gaps in his knowledge and make it sound like he had something to say about everything.

This time we didn't get back to the hotel for lunch and instead had our lovely swim around 4pm and then headed into town for dinner and shopping. I had a fantastic prawn dish at The Red Piano and managed to resist the temptation of the "Tomb Raider" drink, despite the fact that it was "blessed by Angelina Jolie." What was this town like before the movie?

After dinner, we indulged in yet more shopping. The night market was fantastic in it's own right, as each of the stalls were actually thatched huts with smooth, loose pebbles as the walkway between them. With Christmas lights and the brights colors of the products, it was by far the prettiest market I've seen yet. We went a little overboard once again, but luckily I managed to constrain myself to mostly very small purchases.

Then of course we went back into Siem Reap where we bought even more, not so small items from various shops (including one with a photo of Angelina Jolie with the owner), stopped at Blue Pumpkin (site of the "bitchin'" waiter) for dessert and tried out yet another foot massage place. It was even better then the previous night's, as well it should be since it cost SEVEN dollars, rather than five. After a brief stop to buy Diet Dr. Pepper at the local supermarket, which neither Aileen nor I had seen in months, we selected a tuk tuk driver from the dozens that plied for our attention and headed back for the hotel.

We were really looking forward to our last day at Angkor Wat, as we had managed to shake our driver and guide. We told them we were leaving early the next day and our hotel already had transportation arranged (the second part was true) so they didn't need to come for us. So we would be flying by the seat of our pants the next day. How exciting!

Uncle Tom... I mean Angkor Thom

Well, it was certainly an interesting start to our Angkor Wat trip... We were picked up by our tour guide and driver at the airport and after dropping our bags at the hotel, he had a full day planned for us already. Without any input from us, of course. He had decided that we definitely needed to see the floating village, a boat trip which would "only" cost us $15 per person. Oh, I forgot to mention - everything is in US Dollars in Cambodia. It's very odd. They do have their own currency, the Riel, but it's basically only used in place of coins as it's 4000 Riels to the Dollar. Menus are in US Dollars and the ATMs all spit out $20 and $5o bills. It's very odd, but certainly makes it simpler to not need to figure out the exchange rate and to not feel you need to guess on the precise amount of money needed, as you can always use it when you get home.

But I digress. We decided to go ahead with the floating village tour, even though $15 is a LOT of money in Cambodia. And would be in the US too, probably, for a short boat ride. For some perspective, I went out to a very nice dinner, had a beer and dessert and then a foot massage and it didn't cost more than $15. But oh well. It wasn't as bad as we had thought, although it was clearly a tourist trap. It was very interesting to see how the people live on the river. The majority of the people in this area are Vietnamese. Vietnam had previously controlled Cambodia and when they withdrew many of "regular" (non-military) people stayed behind. We were a little incensed that we were told we needed to tip after the boat ride. Normally we would have been happy to do so, but this time it felt like we were getting gypped twice.

On the way back to the hotel, our guide told us we should see one of the traditional Khmer shows. Basically, the Cambodian equivalent of a luau, with a buffet of local foods and a dance show. He told us that the hotels charge $25 for such a show, but that he knew of a very nice one that was only $12 and that "they also feed the driver and the guide." So clearly no ulterior motives there... He had basically guilted us into it, so we went ahead and met up with him an hour later. He insisted on picking us up at the hotel and driving us to the show a block away. We felt incredibly ridiculous for doing this, but it was clearly so he and the driver could claim their free meals. The show was boring and the food even more so, but it was about what we expected, and hey, it was only $12. My main complaint about the show was not the dance, but the tempo. They had a number of different dances, but all were at the same mid-tempo speed. A little variety people! We left before the finale. Who knows, that may have been fantastic! But we felt it was better to be well rested for our first day at Angkor Wat. Yippee!

Our first temple on the itinerary was Angkor Thom (Angkor means city, Thom means big or main) and the Banyan temple within it. It took me a while to realize our guide wasn't saying Uncle Tom, hence this post's title. Banyan Temple was an incredible place, with something like 54 towers that are all still standing, but it's also the most overrun with Korean tour groups of old ladies who all have the same haircut. We were ready to after about 30 minutes of exploring. We spent the rest of the morning at some of the smaller, more ruined temples before heading back to the hotel for the hottest part of the day. Our guide told us he'd come back to pick us up in 4 hours to see Angkor Wat and sunset from a nearby hill. We thought 4 hours was a bit excessive, but agreed that if we started before 3pm we probably wouldn't make it to sunset. As it turned out, we were easily able to fill it with a swim, a lounge by the pool, lunch and a massage (2 for 1 during lunchtime!).

Agkor Wat is technically just one temple - to refer to the whole area you'd call it Angkor. It's the one everyone has seen pictures of and is probably the most impressive purely for the long entrance bridge and the moat that reflects the building in it. Most of the other temples have moats as well, but they no longer contain water. It's also much larger and with broader open areas than those in Angkor Thom, so although there are just as many people there it doesn't feel quite as packed. After a spin around the complex by our completely personality-less guide, telling us random, disconnected and repeated musings about the temple (his favorite phrase was "same story I told you before") we headed up a hill to watch the sunset. Our guide stayed by the car and we were certainly not devastated to leave him behind. Sunset was a bit anticlimactic as it basically set behind a cloud way before it reached the horizon, but the hill gave a great view of the surrounding area.

Back in Siem Reap Aileen and I headed out immediately for dinner at Blue Pumpkin. We sat on a long, room-length white couch covered in white sheets with a tray table sat between us. We decided to splurge on a glass of wine each, for $1.75 a glass. I believe the entire meal came to $20 including an appetizer, 2 glasses of wine, 1 Orangina, 2 entrees and 3 desserts. (Yes I know, three desserts for 2 people. Two of them were for me. At $2 each, how could I resist?)

Our young, flamboyantly gay waiter was the highlight of the evening. As we finished our dinner, he stopped by and said something we couldn't understand. We asked him to repeat, to which he pointed to the remains of our dinner and said, "Awesome?" We laughed and said yes, our meal was awesome (it was). "Totally awesome" he answered. That sent us into hysterics. After that he stopped at our "table" each time he passed with "Dynomite?" and "Groovy?" I was just saying that he needed to learn some newer phrases when he stopped by and asked "Bitchin'?" We totally lost it on that one to which he confidently announced "Off the hook!" You can't get a more entertaining dinner than that.

We rounded off the evening with a beer at the local Irish pub (Molly Malones - think open-air, island bungalow meets Irish pub) and then an hour long, $5 foot massage (great after hiking around temples all day). Then back to our lovely hotel for an early night before braving our tour guide again!

Speed Tour of Cambodia! (revised)

Exhausted, I arrived at the Bangkok airport at 4:30 am for my quick flight to Phnom Penh (less than an hour). I knew my friend Aileen would be flying through the night from Calcutta and would therefore be at least as tired as me, if not more so, so wasn't too worried. The airport was FREEZING so I changed from my t-shirt and shorts into my long pants and fleece and was still none too warm. Why do warm weather cultures always do this? It is such a pain to have to carry warm clothes when it's 90 degrees outside. When boarding for our flight was finally announced, everyone dashed to get on, as it was unassigned seating ala Southwest. I didn't care that much for such a short flight and from the lobby area it looked like the flight would probably not be full, so I wandered up after everyone else was in line. I had to laugh when I realized we were in line for the bus that was going to take us to the plane, therefore defeating the purpose of being the first in line - and in fact probably making it worse since I ended up being the closest person to the door when we pulled up to the plane. Which was ages. At one point, I wondered if we were driving to Phnom Penh.

I ended up a few minutes delayed and so only arrived in Phnom Penh 15 minutes before Aileen. Just enough time to get my visa and bags, which was more difficult than strictly necessary, only for the lack of signage. I waited in the short line for the visa desk and was pointed in the direction of a small table that held the forms I needed to fill out. Back to retrieve the form, enter the information and then in line again. Then I was asked for a passport photo, which I had - in my checked luggage on the other side of passport control. No problem - for another $1 we'll make a color copy of your passport and use that. Then in line to pay the $20 for my visa (in US dollars). Then to passport control, where I was directed to another table with more forms to be filled out. Returned to passport control, retreived my bag and met Aileen, who already had a visa and could go through the super speedy diplomatic line. Then to customs, where I didn't have the right form (which I was supposed to get on the plane) so we had to track one down to get out of the airport. Whew!

After that everything was a cinch. Aileen's friend Nathan picked us up and within 30 minutes we were at the house to meet up with his wife and two kids. They have about 6 months left on their 3 year stint in Phnom Penh where Jennifer works at the US Embassy. And after this trip and this blog, I think I've finally sorted out how to spell the Cambodian capital!

Saturday (the day we arrived) and Sunday were speed tours of the city. Saturday we started with shopping, of course, at the Russian Market where we stocked up on jewelry, fun odds and ends and clothes that are manufactured in the city, such as Adidas, Gap and Nike. We all left feeling a little offended, as both Aileen and I had to ask for larger sizes when the Extra Large didn't fit us. For the rest of the trip it came up when we were tempted by a dessert. Clearly we couldn't have that if we're Extra Extra Large!

Then off to more cultural venues, with a trip to the Silver Pagoda, one of the few buildings of the Palace open to the public. It earned its name by the floor made entirely out of solid silver tiles. Back to the house for a leisurely evening and playing with the kids, getting ready for our much heavier Sunday.

Sunday morning was spent at the genocide museum, which was originally the prison where the Khmer Rouge interrogated and tortured individuals they felt were a threat to Pol Pot's regime. In Phnom Penh, this mostly meant intellectuals, who Pot feared would rebel and tell the outside world what was happening. He wanted everyone in the country to be a farmer, as he felt they were easier to control. What was shocking to us was this all happened within our lifetimes, from 1975 to 1979. Many of the perpetrators are only in their 50s. It was especially shocking to us, as we had spent so much time learning about the Holocaust, which was so far before our time. It's amazing this was allowed to happen again. At the end of the tour our guide showed us on the map the various cities she was forced to march to, including where her daughter died of starvation and husband, brother and other family members were killed by the Khmer Rouge. What do you say to that?

After a quick respite at a lovely cafe, we took our tuk tuk back to the house and met our car & driver for the trip to the Killing Fields about 30 minutes outside Phnom Penh. Chong Ek (I believe that's the right spelling) is only one of 77 killing fields throughout the country. The Khmer Rouge differed from their German equivalent in that they imprisoned citizens in the city but then took them outside it to a separate spot to be executed. The killing fields are essentially mass graves. In this one they found around 10,000 bodies, but they know there are about that amout again under a lake. When it rains, more bones come to the surface and we could see them scattered around. Very creepy. Apparently it's often said that the entire country is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and could sincerely use therapy. It does make our "troubles" seem so minor.

After a very heavy day we ended by buying a few more items at the Russian market before dinner at our hosts' house. It is so nice visiting people who have household help, especially when you don't know them well, as you don't feel like you're imposing. The extra food and laundry just increased the workload a bit of their maid...

Monday morning we slept in before heading back to the airport for our flight to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. This post has gotten far too long, so I'll continue that next...

Bangkok's Greatest Hits

Now that the King's birthday celebrations were over, I was able to view the sights that had been in use the previous few days and therefore off limits. I decided to follow most of Lonely Planet's walking tour that included most of the "must sees" for Bangkok. Somehow I had managed to spend at least 4 days in Bangkok without really seeing any sights! (The dangerous lure of the market...)

It started out a little frustrating, as my hotel was practically across the street from the Grand Palace, the first stop, but that "street" was one 6 lane road and three more 2 lane roads. With no crosswalks. Or stoplights. I was even more determined to get across after the tuk tuk drivers kept pestering me to let them take me there. I felt like it was all done on purpose to give them work! I eventually followed a group of Thai women as they commandeered the street and caused all traffic to stop.

The morning was already hot, so I stopped for a limeade at a roadside cart. A very unusual flavor - think limeade slushy with some salt in it. Tasted horrible for the first sip but after that I got used to it and it was quite refreshing. Once inside the gates I was mesmerized by the amount of gold in use on the buildings - it even seemed to interfere with my phone signal! It was a bit overwhelming. Also on the grounds is a large jade buddha (the largest, I believe) called the Emerald Buddha, in an incredibly elaborate shrine. His "clothes" (robes made out of precious stones) are changed by the King according to season and weather.

Then off to Wat Pho, where the world's largest reclining buddha is. (I'm slowly checking off all the buddhas with their qualifiers, having already seen the world's largest seated brass buddha on Lantau Island off Hong Kong last year. Of course that means there's a larger seated buddha and a larger brass one, but not a larger seated brass buddha.) For some reason, I didn't realize it was going to be gold. It's really quite striking and impossible to get a good picture of. The picture at the top of this blog is just the head - this show's about 1/10 of the entire statue.

No trip around Bangkok would be complete without some shopping, so the last "task" of the day was to explore the amulet market. Thais wear huge necklaces with amulets in plastic pendants for luck and/or protection. I loved wandering the lanes of this area and purchased a few of the more subtle amulets, but chose to skip the massive gold chains.

Then off to go check in to the Sheraton! Yippee! I had booked it with Starwood points, so it was a free night. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take advantage of it too much, but it really helped out for storing items. I had a gorgeous view of the river and took the hotel's river shuttle boat to do a bit more shopping before having a quiet night back in the hotel with a movie! I only got a few hours of sleep as I had to pack up all the items I was leaving behind while I went to Cambodia and then leave at 3:30am to catch my 7:00am flight!

A History Lesson and Communing with Tigers

At the last minute, I decided to I was going to have plenty of time in Bangkok and should see something else as well. I selected a day trip to Kanchanaburi, about an hour outside Bangkok to see the Bridge over the River Kwai, which I had no idea was even in Thailand. (Note to self - must brush up on Asian history...)

The day didn't start out very auspiciously, as our minibus was delayed picking us up and then we were crammed in so that I was surrounded by luggage. Once again on a tour to meet people and put in a situation where I couldn't do that! Then they realized they needed to get more people in, so figured out a way to cram the luggage under the seats and put an English guy next to me. Who smelled of alcohol. And slept the entire way to Kanchanaburi. On my arm. Sigh. At least it was a source of amusement for everyone else. From then on I had a great icebreaker with the other people on my trip who kept expressing their condolences to the girl who couldn't get the hungover, sleeping guy off her arm. The only thing that saved me on that first ride was when a turn sent him hurtling to the other side and I quickly used my fleece jacket to wedge some space between us. Luckily the tour improved immensely after that, as we changed minibuses often and I never sat next to him again. I met an English couple and a few nice Australian guys and generally had a fun day.

I didn't know much about the River Kwai either (another note to self, add the movie to my Netflix queue) so the Jeath Museum (stands for Japan, England, America/Australia, Thailand, Holland - the countries involved in the war at that location) was a good place to start. A very small museum with not much in it, but a great explanation of what made the bridge significant. It was built by allied prisoners of war in a year, a feat that would have taken three times as long in any other situation. So many prisoners died in such rough conditions that they call the railway that used to cross the bridge the "Death Railway", as there are as many sleepers on the railway as there are men that died.

After the museum and a walk across the bridge, we rode the Death Railway and visited a waterfall. It was pretty, but we were there for 15 minutes. Too long to just stand there staring at a waterfall, not long enough to actually go swimming in it. But I was happy to leave, as our next stop was the Tiger Temple!

The Tiger Temple is run my monks. At one point, these monks were given a tiger cub that had been abandoned or orphaned, I forget. Once people heard that they were caring for this tiger cub, they were given others to care for. Now they have many full grown tigers that have all been raised by them, and are therefore more like house cats than like wild animals. The draw here is to have your picture taken with various tigers. It's quite incredible. I think pictures definitely speak louder than words here...

Then back to Bangkok where I had a few drinks with the Australian guys where we discussed all the tall tales Aussies like to tell foreigners, especially Americans. Some examples - flying crocodiles, drop bears and silicon spiders. One of the Australians I was talking to had told someone about the flying crocodiles of Queensland. I had heard the drop bear story, once from a German who convinced me that more people are killed by these bears that drop out of the trees in the forest, land on hikers and maul them than by anything else in Australia. Our deckhand in the Whitsundays had told us about the silicon spider story he concocted for the more gullible of his sailors. He told them that if the sand squeaks under your feet, you're near a silicon spider nest and should get away soon, just so he could watch people run around the beach trying to get away. The sand in the Whitsundays is all silicon, which always squeaks when you step on it. All Aussies take part in this kind of teasing - it seems to be a national sport.

Then back to the hotel to get ready for another hectic day of sightseeing. You can see why I'm so behind on the blog...

Long Live the King!

Thailand loves its King! He's been on the throne for over 60 years, the longest running monarch in history. December 5 was his 80th birthday and Bangkok was all decked out for the occasion. Preparations had started weeks ago and on the actual day, the city was swarming with people who had come in for the day, all dressed in yellow shirts, many which proclaimed "Long Live the King" on them. In Thailand (as in many other Asian cultures) each day is associated with a color. Yellow is the color of Monday, the day the King was born. Pink seemed to be the secondary color used in decorations and shirts, but I'm not sure what the referenced. Interestingly enough (or at least for me), the King was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts while his dad was studying there. Do you suppose he has a US passport? Or do you have to give that up to be king?

The King plays a very important role in Thailand, even though he's not the political ruler. (Thailand has a prime minister who seems to be overthrown in a coup every 3 years or so.) Before every movie in the cinema, they play the Thai national anthem, which everyone stands for. (Luckily I read about this in Lonely Planet before I went so I didn't make any faux pas.) During the anthem the screen shows images of Thailand superimposed with smaller photos of the King throughout his years on the throne. He must be an avid photographer as almost every picture shows him either taking a photo or with a camera around his neck.

The King's birthday was an amazing sight. People everywhere waving flags and all sorts of shows, food and other random events. Such as a tent of dozens of hairdressers cutting people's hair. No idea what that was about! I wandered around for the day and then finally settled down to watch the upcoming parade. Other people had been lining up since 3pm, but the parade didn't start until after 7:30. I got there around 7, not too worried about getting the prime spot. Eventually a few secret service cars (they look the same in every country) drove past followed by a stretch Mercedes with the King and Queen in it. The crowd stood and screamed, waving their Thailand flags like crazy. A few more cars followed with other members of the royal family. Then a few military cars, more secret service cars and then the crowd stood and walked away. That was it? People had waited over 4 hours to get a glimpse of the King? Just a good indication of their intense love for him.

I felt very lucky that I happened to be in Bangkok on that day and that I got to see the city in its preparations. If you're in Asia next year around this time, keep it in mind!

Back to the normalcy of Thailand?

Our last day of the tour was a LOT of driving. Our drives were always interesting as our Jeep only started by hot wiring it. It did make us laugh every time we got in the car. Not to mention the fact that there was a lot of sign language going on to communicate with our non-English speaking driver.

As for they day's activities, we hiked to a waterfall and spent a large amount of the day 4 wheel driving through the hills on bumpy dirt paths, going through various hill tribe villages and coffee farms (is that what you call them?). This is the Doi Chang coffee company. We topped off the trip with a quick dip in the hot springs just outside Chiang Mai. Then off to ANOTHER market with the two Israeli guys I met.

The next day I wandered Chiang Mai, which is a beautiful town surrounded by a moat. I spent a large amount of the time at a shopping center as well, where I was happy to find a replacement for my favorite jacket that went missing somewhere near the end of my Australia trip. I also splurged on snacks of Auntie Anne's pretzels and Dairy Queen blizzards. Yum, yum, yum. And they cost a grand total of $3! I caught the 9pm overnight train back to Bangkok. I unfortunately didn't sleep much, as the phone of the guy across the aisle from me rang every 30 minutes and he never woke up, so it just rang and rang and rang and my seat mate took up her seat and half of mine as well. Eventually I did sleep and woke up in Bangkok where the festivities for the King's Birthday were in full swing. That warrants its own blog...

More animals?

Day 2 of the jeep tour started with a visit to the Karen hill trip, also called the long neck tribe, the reason for which is pretty obvious from the photo. I felt quite uncomfortable there - it was similar to being at the elephant farm, walking from stall to stall where the women were on display and buying food to hand to the children. I was relieved to leave there and head for the monkeys! I have no idea where I was (again, it was only explained in Hebrew) but I quickly stopped caring as it was a large temple with monkeys running all around it. We bought bananas and peanuts to feed to the monkeys and they came right up to us. I could have stayed there for hours. There were hundreds of them and quite a few babies (who manage to look young and old at the same time) and some of the moms were carrying them around. It is amazing how much like us they are, especially when you see them interact as mother/child.

Driving further north we entered the Golden Triangle (where Laos, Burma and Thailand meet) to gawk at the first large buddha of our few days, but not the last for mine. We topped off the afternoon with a boat trip down the Mekong River (the longest in the world) and stopped at a market on the Laos side, pretty much just so we could say we'd been there. This area used to be a heavy heroin trafficking area, made from the poppy farms. They've cracked down on this with checkpoints everywhere and adding incentives to move the farmers to other occupations.

We spent that night in Chiang Rai, hitting our 3rd market of the trip and the millionth of my last few weeks. I went to my room fairly early, very excited by the BBC and Australia networks on the TV!

Animal House

As for the Chiang Mai tour itself, day 1 added to my animal count, which seems to be the theme for this trip. Our first stop was at a snake farm, where a snake charmer did such tricks as kissing a cobra and wrestling a python underwater. It was a bit cheesy, but still quite fascinating. Then back in the Jeep and on to the elephant farm. More animals! That was a real highlight as we got to feed elephants (their snouts feel so bizarre), ride an ox cart (NOT comfortable), ride an elephant (motion sickness inducing) and watch the elephants paint, play soccer, play basketball and dance!

After lunch at the elephant farm (better than it sounds) we drove to a hilltop where a new temple was being built to house some of Buddha's hair being brought from India. The outside was mostly completed but they were still working on the inside. Didn't make much sense to me that they had already installed the large porcelain vases before they finished the interior, and were still jackhammering and using sledgehammers. The real highlight to stopping here was that we could see Burma and Laos from the hilltop.

The rest of the day was spent 4 wheeling through rough jungle terrain to our hotel, in the middle of said jungle. Then it was off to bed, after managing to figure out what time I was supposed to be up!

Trekking in Chiang Mai... or Israel?

I had signed up for my 3 day/2 night trip through Northern Thailand expecting an adventure, but got a bit more than I bargained for (not including the treacherous bus trip up there). When doing some research online after booking my trip, I found that the guesthouse I'd be staying in for one night in Chiang Mai catered to Israeli tourists. A rather odd thing, I thought. Then when I got to the travel agency to meet the bus (the one that would later break down) I realized all the other tourists there were Israeli. I started looking around the travel agency and saw clues that hadn't been obvious to me before - an El Al sticker, a small Israeli flag included in a Thailand mural, books on the shelf in Hebrew. Somehow I had managed to stumble into an all Israeli travel agency and hadn't realized it. But the trip was already booked, so I went ahead. Once we got to the bus, we were joined by other riders of all different nationalities so I stopped worrying about it.

During the bus ride, I talked with the American living in Chiang Mai and he told me that yes, I had signed up for a tour that catered to the Israeli market. The bus stopped outside of town and put those of us on my tour in a mini bus. I debated whether or not I should go with the minibus that was heading into town and just book another tour, since I didn't need to pay for the tour until onsite and wouldn't lose anything financially. But I would have to start the research over again, with no guarantee of finding something better, and would have to wait at least another day to go. I decided to go to the guesthouse where we were to check in for our tour and check things out first. Once I got there, I realized therer was at least one Canadian on the trip so I decided to go ahead. As it turned out, he was the only other non-Israeli among the approximately 50 of us! We were divided into various Jeeps with Matthew, the Canadian, and I put in our own Jeep.

The rest of the trip was a little bizarre as the Thai tour guides all spoke Hebrew to us. It was good and bad that Matthew happened to be Jewish and had been to Hebrew school. The positive side was he was able to translate for me when the guides would tell us what time to be up in the morning but the negative side was that he was able to talk to the other guests, which made me even more the odd man out. About half of the group was in their 20s (it's very common for Israelis to travel after they get out of the army, which everyone has to do some time in, including the women and Thailand and Central/South America are their favorite destinations) but none of those spoke ANY English. We did eventually get talking to an older couple and two older men, who found it very surprising that the others didn't speak English.

Phuket to Chiang Mai

Whew a long trip was coming up the next day, so I'm glad I started with a lazy day of shopping and hitting the beach on my last day in Phuket. I met up with the two couples for drinks and our final goodbye on Thursday night and headed out Friday morning for my early flight back to Bangkok. I had the afternoon in Bangkok which I used to blog a bit and then headed for my bus to Chiang Mai. The bus ride takes about 12 hours and is overnight so I wasn't necessarily looking forward to it, but it was included with my Chiang Mai jeep tour.

As it turns out, the passengers around me were very interesting and most were traveling on their own. An American working in Chiang Mai, a Canadian making a documentary about an elephant sanctuary, an Irish guy traveling Asia for three months before moving to Australia and two English girls. It was quite lucky that I enjoyed the company, as about 2 hours into the trip we heard an awful sound from the bus, but it kept going. About 30 minutes late the bus headed down a small street in a small town. We got to a corner and realized he'd never get around it. Turns out they never planned to. We were stopped there for 3 hours while the bus drivers dismantled the engine and attempted to put it back together. Luckily it was warm and not raining, so we all sat outside chatting. No one was awake around us, which was rather spooky as it was 10pm on a Friday night. We were all hungry and were laughing that just around the corner was a Pizza Hut and a 7-Eleven. I walked around the corner just in case, but nothing.

The drivers finally got the bus moving again, but had to back the bus down the street. At one point it got stuck, and the had to back up quickly to get over some sort of bump. We realized later this was a concrete ramp to a store that we were going over sideways. No longer an issue, now though, as the bus desinigrated it upon impact. Once we got to an open area, the bus driver decided that the appropriate thing to do with a bus not running very well in a small street is to attempt a 3 point turn. After a few turns, we were squarely stuck between two buildings. Go back, and we crumple the canopy of the shop whose ramp we'd already destroyed. Go forward, and we'd be in someone's living room. Plus the gears still weren't working well, so going from drive to reverse and back frequently was causing the bus to die. Eventually we all had to get out and push the bus a few feet forward, and then back and then forward again while the engine was off and the driver steered. Finally we were off, only to see a 24 hour 7-Eleven a few feet down the street! Sigh.

We drove for 30 minutes going about 20 miles an hour down the expressway, partly so the bus driver could time the lights appropriately and not have to stop. Then we stopped for snacks at a roadside stand, and then headed to Chiang Mai at the normal speed. Not sure what the brief stop did. Finally we arrived a few hours late, and had to head immediately on our jeep tour! That was quite the adventure as well, and will have to wait until the next post as the keys on this keyboard stick so badly that my hands are exhausted from typing!

Hong by Starlight

My kayak trip was recommended by Zannie, the girl I met in Singapore. The company is called John Gray Sea Canoe, and was started by an American living in Phuket who discovered these amazing caves.

I was picked up at noon in a van and taken to the pier on the other side of Phuket Island. There were 4 other passengers (there were many vans picking people up), two from Australia and two from the US. It turned out the couple from the US were from Chicago and live just down the street from me! Small world. I may bump into them again back home, as it turns out we frequent a lot of the same places.

We were the last to arrive at the boat and so took off shortly after arriving. There were about 30 passengers total, mostly Americans and Australians. I think I met more Americans that day than in the previous 2 1/2 months together! We took off for another island known for the sea caves and stopped for an incredibly yummy lunch of spring rolls, noodles and fruit. This trip was by far the most expensive, in relative terms, as it was over $100 - in Thailand! It's amazing what you get when you get away from the budget track. Everything was so lovely! After lunch we headed into the first cave. I was paired up with an older woman from Oklahoma. We got in our inflatable canoe with our guide paddling at the back. He paddled us over to the cave, where our job was to shine the flashlight and lie down, as the caves have very, very low ceilings. After about 100 yards we came out into what they call a hong, an open lagoon. On both sides were sheer cliffs up hundreds of feet in a perfect circle. Sometimes you can see monkeys there, but we didn't manage to that day. The hongs are so still and quiet except for the birdsong. The water is only a few inches deep. The time we enter the caves is selected by the tides, as during high tide the water fills the caves completely and at low tide there is no water at all. The second cave we entered is called Diamond Cave, and the walls glitter. Quite spectacular.

A picture from John Gray's Sea Canoe website - my wimpy camera couldn't take shots in here

Then back onto the boat (loading and unloading us was quite a feat!) and off to two more caves, Bat Cave and Oyster Cave. The names are very simple and easy to remember. Unfortunately we were notified that we would not see Batman, as he was busy in Hollywood, but we did see hundreds (actually probably thousands) of insect bats hanging above us. After exploring both caves and their hongs, we had dinner on the boat of cashew chicken, sweet and sour chicken, tempura vegetables and all sorts of other yummy treats. Then we were taught how to make katongs, the offerings that float in the waters. I was glad to see the center is made up of a slice of banana tree trunk, as it had looked like non-biodegradable styrofoam to me. We were taught to fold the banana leaves just so and include orchids and marigolds (for prosperity), three incense sticks and a few candles. Once night had fallen completely, we headed back into Oyster Cave with our katongs. Once all the kayaks were in the cave, the guides lit the katongs and we were to make a wish and place them in the water. When all the katongs were lit, the light in the cave was unbelievable - words definitely wouldn't do it justice. Unfortunately for us, we released our katong near the back of our kayak and then immediately ran over it, knocking it over and dousing the candles and incense. What do you suppose that means for our wishes? Can't be good.

The people on the trip were great. I talked to a few Australian women (partially about the Australian election where John Howard was replaced as prime minister, after over 10 years I think), to an adventure tour guide about his job, to a woman who is a graphic designer at Nike and taking some time off to reevaluate her career (I can relate!), a stereotypical, but very nice Jewish couple from New Jersey, and to my kayak partner. She and her husband take a 4 month cruise around the world every year! They go different routes, such as New Zealand up the east coast of Australia to Asia or NZ up the west coast of Australia to India, etc. They've been just about everywhere - and only had to unpack once! Apparently the boat holds 700 and 300 of them do it every year, so they meet the same friends over and over. I'm not a big cruise person, but it sounds amazing to me!

We dropped off a few people and guides who were staying overnight and headed back to the pier. I got back to my hotel around 10:30, tired but happy. Pictures to come soon!