the trip

so ive finally completed these posts recapping the trip amanda and i took to southeast asia for our summer vacation. for two weeks we travelled to taiwan, cambodia, and thailand, having a great time and learning some things along the way.

i had an ambitious idea to record it all...write it chronologically backwards, so itd appear chronologically correct on the blog. unfortunately, i think i bit off more than i could chew, as it turned into a big project which left me writing it in parts with big breaks. its finished now, but if you were reading last week, or two weeks ago, you were probably left hanging and confused by some incomplete parts. sorry. hopefully it all makes sense now.

here was our itinerary:

saturday, august 5 - taipei, taiwan
sunday, august 6 - phnom penh, cambodia
monday, august 7 - siem riep, cambodia
tuesday, august 8 - siem riep, cambodia
wednesday, august 9 - siem riep, cambodia
thursday, august 10 - bangkok, thailand
friday, august 11 - bangkok, thailand
saturday, august 12 - ko samui, thailand
sunday, august 13 - ko samui, thailand
monday, august 14 - ko samui, thailand
tuesday, august 15 - ko samui, thailand
wednesday, august 16 - phnom penh, cambodia
thursday, august 17 - taipei, taiwan*

* because of stupid airport security, not really taipei, but the freezing transfer lounge of chiang kai shek airport!

saturday, august 5, 2006

finally, southeast asia, a place amanda and i have wanted to go to for a while but havent been able to until now.

we got a pretty early start and had some nice mcdonalds breakfast at nagoya station before heading to the airport. we took eva airlines, which operates out of taipei, and in order to get a cheaper flight, we needed a 1 night layover in taipei both on the way there and on the way back.

as soon as you get to taipei, you realize that even though the writing looks the same, nothing is the same. the language is harsh, the people rude, and the streets dirty. none of that legendary japanese politeness and clenliness here.

after the airport bus into the city we tried to find the youth hostel we reserved over the internet. when we finally found the place it was an absolute hole, worse than any place i stayed in europe. dirty showers, used sheets, mosquitos, paint peeling off the walls. even 20 bucks seemed like a ripoff. but it had a convenient location so we decided to check out what taipei had to offer.

unfortunately, not much. the main station area had little shopping, so after dark we went to check out one of taipeis famous night markets, known for lots of food and shopping. but it was a blisteringly hot and humid night and the market was just one big sweatbox. there were lots of people eating disgusting food like animal organs, feet, and brains, and the market was so hot you could literally see the cooks sweat drop into the broths they were cooking. we left rather quickly to the shopping arcades but realized that taipei is not where shopping is at...the clothes are ugly and overpriced.

we went back to the station area around the hostel to recover and get some dinner. we tried to find a taiwanese restaurant, but the images from the night market couldnt escape our heads so we passed. instead, we found a mcdonalds, basically the only thing we thought we could stomach at that point.

thats because around 9pm the stench in the city became unbearable. ive never smelled anything so foul. i guess the humidity was getting all of the sewage and trash into the air and circulating it...it was like walking around in a porta potty. after dinner we couldnt stand it so we went to the hostel and had an early night as we had an early flight to phnom penh the next morning.

hopefully i wont have to go back to taipei again. if youre thinking of going there, dont.

sunday, august 6, 2006

boy were we happy to get out of taipei. what a hole...

we took a flight to phnom penh, the capital city of cambodia. first impressions of the city are that its a different world from traditional tourist centers. first, right out of the airport, several aggressive taxi drivers approach you to drive you into the city and stay at their guesthouse. we needed a taxi but no accomodation as we already had reservations, so we got one that would just drive into the city.

once you start the drive, the world looks very different on this side. no paved roads, poverty everywhere, crumbling infrastructure with bullet holes all over it, no traffic lights and motorcycles galore...its definately not japan. once we got to the road of the guesthouse, we got touted endlessly for just about everything, from tuk tuk rides to drugs to "massages". but once we got to the guesthouse, everything was alright. the place was a cheap, nice, quiet two floor setup right on the lake, quite beautiful setting actually.

we bargained for a tuk tuk driver to take us sightseeing. first, in cambodia and thailand, you have to bargain for everything. at first its cool, trying to see how cheap you can get things. after a while, though, it gets grating, as you just wanna buy a 50 cent bottle of water and not spend 1 minute arguing over the price. the tuk tuk is another cool thing, basically a carriage on the back of a motorcycle. pretty comfortable really, but you really inhale the fumes of the bike and the dirt of the road during the ride.

in phnom penh, the only real "sightseeing" is the stuff from the war, like the killing fields and the torture museum. so we went there and now were glad we dont have to go back. what horrific places. very important historically, but almost too morbid to pass as a must see tourist spot. ive been to auschwitz, dachau, hiroshima, so ive seen my fair share of horrific museums and monuments, but these ones were just so plain as day. the killing fields is nothing but a tower with 5000 skulls and locations of mass graves where they still find bones today...the torture museum honestly details what the khmer rouge did to people before they took them to the killing fields for slaughter. brutally honest stuff, with no velvet ropes or anything restraining you from seeing things. the kind of stuff thatll give you nightmares for years.

to take the emotional load off we went to the surprisingly developed riverside boulevard for happy hour. luckily in phnom penh, happy hour is basically dinner, as it goes from 4-10pm. we had some cheap drinks at the ritzy foreign correspondants club before going to a few more places on the riverside for some beers and food. cheap and good stuff.

we got back to the guesthouse pretty late so we couldnt watch what wouldve been a great view of the sunset on the lake, but no matter...we had to take the speedboat pretty early in the morning, so we went to bed relatively early.

monday, august 7, 2006

the best way to get from phnom penh to siem riep (the town where you stay to explore the temples of angkor wat) was by speedboat, so we had a really, really, early start in order to catch the speedboat by 8pm. once we got there, we found the ride pretty smooth...able to sleep no problem. the villages on the mekong river were just amazing, its like nothing has altered them in the past 300 years or so.

this was especially evident when we started slowing down towards the dock. whole villages were on stilt houses or boats with roofs constructed on them. all the children waved at the passing boat, some while swimming in the river. they have to literally swim to their friends house...all the huts were on water.

when we pulled up to dock somebody from the hotel had a sign with our names on it...convenient. what wasnt so convenient was the mode of transportation to the hotel...a moto. the tuk tuk had been ok, but the moto was nothing other than me on the back of one motorcycle and amanda on the back of another. no helmets, protection, nothing...just balance yourself and hold on. it didnt help that the road was terrible. all dirt, mud, full of potholes and skidmarks. when we finally arrived at the hotel after a 30 minute ride we were glad to still be standing, sore bottoms not withstanding.

the hotel was nicer than we expected...very close to the central market and restaurant area of siem riep, clean, and modern. but the moto drivers stuck to us like glue...they basically ordered us to go for lunch and then meet them back at the hotel at 4pm in order to see angkor wat at sunset. amanda and i arent good at saying no, so we said ok, went up to shower and then explore siem riep.

what a great town! cheap markets, tons of international restaurants, massage parlors, definately a boom town generated from tourism but a good one. we had great mexican for lunch, did some shopping, and then went back to meet the drivers to finally see the long awaited angkor wat.

what a place! the biggest religious site in the whole world and its just mindblowing. it must have taken hundreds of years and millions of people to build the place...its that big. the size of the moat alone boggles the mind, not to mention the outer walls, gates, staircases, and wats (triangular temple tops). we took as many pictures as we could as we walked further towards the center, along with a bunch of other tourists. you dont notice them, though...this place could handle 20 times more tourists and still be great.

the stairs you walk up to the main part are stairs only in the vague sense of the word...its more like climbing because theyre so steep. still, we climbed to the top and took more pictures. hard to describe how it looks, but i urge you to do an internet search on angkor and see some pictures if i cant figure out how to post them on this site.

after sunset, we went back into town to get a nice dinner and introduction to sweet and mild cambodian coconut curry. after that we got an hour full body massage that was great...id never had one before and now i dont wanna go without. they walk on your back and everything, the whole deal. after that we went to a bar for some beers. the local beer, conveniently named angkor, is quite good. this whole night was dirt cheap too. its easy to live like a king or queen in cambodia.

2 more days in this place...what could be better?

tuesday, august 8, 2006

our first full day in siem riep started with a bit of controversy. we really wanted to take out bicycles instead of riding motos, both for fun factor and safety reasons, but when we came down to the lobby of the hotel in the morning, the moto drivers were there with a schedule and a map. we tried to say that we didnt want to use them, but they kept saying that wed promised yesterday (which was true) and that it would be their only work for the week (which was probably true). plus, they just looked so sad when we said no.

we took pity and decided to work out a compromise...today, wed take the motos with them to explore the far away temples, and the next day wed take bicycles to explore the closer temples. good thing too...the first temple they took us to took about 1 hour by motorcycle to get to. that wouldve taken an eternity by bicycle. the drivers said it was beautiful and it was...much smaller than angkor wat, but much more well preserved and with very few tourists. we even had some cocunut curry and cocunut milk (served in actual coconuts) after viewing it.

in the next few hours they took us to several temples, the names of which are blending together but the images staying apart. one was a former giant swimming pool with a massive fountain at its core...another was on a high terrace with a good view of the city or possible invading troops...another had its back door completely envoloped by a giant tree. just fantastic sightseeing, i could write about it but pictures would be so much better.

at the end of the afternoon, they took us to a mountain temple that you can either hike up to or take an elephant ride up. since the elephant was 15 bucks we decided to take the hike. a bunch of tourists gathered at the top waiting to glimpse the sunset. after an hour up there, though, clouds obscured any possible view (with memories of mt. fuji last summer still in our heads). we headed down and got to the motos just as a torrential downpour started. the drivers were kind enough to pull over under a tree and give us rain ponchos but it did little to prevent us from getting soaked on the way back to the hotel. its rainy season, so its going to rain every late afternoon from the building humidity...what can you do?

we had a really nice dinner and for the second straight night went to a place called the buddha bar for drinks after. we met another couple and talked to them about cambodia as well as an older british man whod spent alot of time on ko samui...he got us pretty excited for the beach vacation that awaited us in thailand. before that, though, one more day at angkor was in the cards.

wednesday, august 9, 2006

a final day in angkor wat...a great opportunity to wrap things up in what is probably one of the best sightseeing spots in the world, period.

we woke up earlier because we really wanted to take out bikes for the final day. the map suggested a route that could take us to all of the really important and big temples close by, so we thought a bike would be perfect. getting a rental, though, was a bit of a hassle...i found a sort-of mountain bike, while the guy tried to give amanda a shopping bike with no working brakes and flat tires. we kindly said no thank you and got a bike for her somewhere else. still, our bikes seemed to have no juice. wed pedal hard and get nowhere. add to that the chaos of traffic that is siem riep and after 10 minutes of getting accustomed to the bikes we wondered what wed got ourselves into.

so we did what anybody should do in moments of doubt...go for a nice breakfast. pancakes and maple syrup did the trick, and after that we were ready to tackle angkor. by the time we got to the front gate, about 5km away, i was literally drenched in sweat. it was white hot that day, little breeze and having to cycle through the humidity was going to be a challenge.

still, we went on and started to see what we wanted to see...including the bayon, with its 218 hideously smiling faces of the king etched in stone, and the elephant terrace, where the king would make his speeches about building more temples or whatever. by about 3 pm were getting tired. we were both disgustingly sweatlogged and sunburnt...i think i went through about 5 litres of water in 4 hours and still didnt need to take a slash yet.

the final temple was probably my favorite...ta prohm, aka the jungle temple because the jungle is literally devouring the temple as we speak. trees share the same space as doorways and the roots of trees rise higher than the outer walls. its amazing, and the shadows created by the late afternoon made the place even more spectactular. i took almost a whole roll of film at that place alone...i think i took around 50 pictures this day, which for a point-and-click camera is alot.

but yet again it rained hard around 5pm. we were smart and bought rain ponchos to protect our bags and backs but we still got soaked biking back into town. after returning the bikes, getting a well deserved shower and rest, we did the usual thing to do in siem riep at night...go for dinner, then go for a massage, and then go to the bar. for dinner we went to a place called the red piano...its famous here because its where the crew for the film tomb raider stayed while shooting the movie in 2001. angelina jolie pictures are everywhere...she liked the place and the country so much she adopted a cambodian kid before she left.

we loved the place too, and for all the hard work the bikes gave us, it was much more rewarding than the motos. but wed seen all the temples and it was time for a new country.