Archive for the ‘SE Asia’ Category

As Jeff and I sat down for one of our first meals in Siem Reap, I asked him (probably prematurely) what would be his lasting impressions of the trip. His response was simply “the little things”. I figure to a large extent, mine will be the same. I kept a log of daily events in my notebook so that I could remember as much as possible but my friend Gerald very wisely commented, “The best memories are the ones you don’t have to write down.”

While memories of this trip may fade, my primary takeaway from this trip has little to do with Thailand, Laos or Cambodia. It’s a realization of how much I love to travel. Seems silly to say but I enjoyed every part of the experience. Why am I so surprised? Well, before taking this trip, I worried about just about everything when it came to international travel. I figured it would be hard to communicate, hard to get around and hard to find things to do without tagging along on some watered-down tourist tour.

I’m well aware Jeff and I took probably one of the more touristy routes through that part of the world. The spots we visited are heavily dependent upon tourist dollars and have no choice but to be as accommodating as possible. Jeff also took care of the majority of the travel arrangements. All of these things helped make my first real international travel experience in over 10 years quite comfortable.

Given this newfound love of travel, Jeff and I have starting planning another trip for later this year or early next. It’s looking like Europe in the Fall or South America in the Winter for another New Year’s adventure.

Can’t wait.

I wanted to share a few odds and ends from the trip that didn’t warrant their own individual post…

The national currency of Cambodia is the “riel”. However 11 of 24 national banks in the country won’t accept deposits in the currency. All ATMs (that I used) dispensed US dollars, all items were priced in dollars and we only paid in US dollars. It was weird.

The serving size of food in Asia is perfect. Jeff and I would typically have an appetizer, a main course and often desert as well. Very few times did I leave a meal feeling stuffed. I can’t remember ever leaving food on my plate which happens a lot at home and is usually accompanied by some guilt.

While I am right-handed, I play pool left-handed, shoot a gun left-handed and apparently zip line left-handed.

Put this on the list of memories I never thought I’d have… returning the fist bump of a falling down drunk Asian girl at a bar in Chiang Mai, Thailand as we listen to an awesome all-Asian band cover American music like U2, Jason Mraz and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

As we passed the gate at the Chiang Mai airport, we noticed the lone security guard asleep… with his gun in his lap. Security FAIL.

You don’t realize how limited a point-and-shoot camera is until you travel with a real photographer.

During a three week trip, I was never able to get more than one side of a Rubik’s cube completed. Despite this futility, it’s a great way to kill time on a one hour flight.

$1 US = 34 Baht (Thailand) = 4000 Riel (Cambodia) = 6800 Kip (Laos). It pays to be good at math… literally.

Nearly 1500 photos taken this trip consuming 5.96 GB. And this doesn’t even hold a candle to what Jeff took. He filled his laptop’s hard drive as well as 10+ DVDs.

Since we were always on the go and knowing that food portions were a little smaller, I wondered early on whether I would lose weight on the trip. Turns out I lost 6 or 7 pounds dropping me to my lowest weight since college. Let’s see how quickly I put that back on.

Stray dogs are EVERYWHERE in SE Asia. One temple alone that we visited had about 200 strays.

Traffic in Asia is an odd mix of chaos and calm. There are no stop signs and a scant few stoplights outside of Bangkok but traffic moves slowly enough through intersections that most people don’t need to stop… they just slowly merge into the flow of traffic whether they are within the painted lines or not. Everyone just kinda lets you in. For example, our Chiang Mai tour guide, Peter, decided he wanted to pass three cars that were moving a bit too slowly while a pickup truck was in the oncoming lane and obviously too close for us to actually complete the pass. No worries though… he just pulls out in the lane to pass and the pickup slides over to the shoulder to avoid the head-on collision. No stress though… Peter and presumably the pickup driver didn’t even bat an eyelash.

A few things about being American…

• Americans don’t travel much. This surprised me but seemed to be something Jeff was well aware of. Apparently we think we have everything we need at home.
• Americans still have a bad rep abroad. Arrogant, loud, obnoxious, etc. And from what I observed, it’s fairly warranted. Most of the few Americans that I met on this trip thoroughly annoyed me.
• The first thing people wanted to talk about when they found out we were Americans was Obama… what the sentiment was in the US, how people we reacting, etc
• Also after finding out we were Americans, most were surprised we weren’t fat.

While in Chiang Mai, we walked by a girl selling paintings although when Jeff stopped for a brief second to take a look I could have sworn the girl said, “Would you like to see my panties?”. I did a nice double-take on that one.

And finally, Bizarre-o moment of the trip: While waiting for the 8am taxi (that never showed up) to take us home on New Year’s day and after having been up for 24 hours straight, Jeff and I ate breakfast in a restaurant that had “Friends” on their TVs in English but with Thai subtitles.

Good times.

“Perfect”

Jeff probably said that literally hundreds of times on the trip. I don’t mention this because it was an annoyance but rather because everything on this trip seemed to fall into place. If we needed to book a flight, we’d get the last two seats on one that had previously been booked for over three months. Twice we flew into cities without concrete plans for where we would stay. Once we stumbled upon a brand new guesthouse with the most friendly and helpful staff imaginable. The second time, we had a gentleman and his wife waiting at the airport for us with a “Mr. Jeff Nyveen” sign and a free ride to their guesthouse.

This trip certainly wasn’t perfect or without it’s bumps in the road. You only have to read Jeff’s post about our New Year’s adventure to understand that. But more often than not, things did work out… almost like it was meant to be. I’m very thankful for that.

Cleared customs, picked up our bags and after another generous ride from my friend Don, finally made it home yesterday at around 2pm. First order of business was to put my clothes from my suitcase directly into the laundry machine and hop into my first shower that didn’t involve also drenching the sink and toilet for the first time in about 10 days. From there it was fighting off every urge to take a nap in an effort to convince my body it was really on east coast time.

My first meal back was from my favorite take out place, El Pollo Rico followed by a late night drink in DC to celebrate the birthday of my friend Alyssa. All of this managed to keep me awake until about 1am. 12 hours later, I finally woke feeling like I could have slept for another 12.

While I am glad to be home, clean and (somewhat) rested, the larger part of me wishes I could be back on the road. Jeff and I agreed another week back on the beaches of Thailand with a much more leisurely pace – and by leisurely, I mean laying on the beach doing nothing – would have been a great alternate end to the trip.

Today I’ll enjoy a little NFL playoff football and begin the arduous task of organizing photos. I’ll have a couple of more posts in the next few days to wrap up the experience but before I get to that, I wanted to publicly thank the people that made this such a great experience…

Thanks to Dung, Joslyn, Bob, Laura B, Ginny, Caesar, Sally, Jules and anyone I may have forgotten for all of the suggestions, advice and assistance related to the trip. Special thanks to Jules for keeping suggestions coming as things changed on the fly while we were in Asia.

Thanks to Michelle OL and Ginny for help with my exhaustive search for the perfect travel bag. Sometimes I go a little overboard weighing pros and cons. This was one of those situations but I ended up with the perfect bag and would be happy to lend my knowledge to anyone in need.

Thanks to all of my friends and family who put up with my emails, read or commented on my blog, followed along with Jeff’s blog and sent emails just saying hello. I feared being a little annoying with the updates (especially via email) but hope you enjoyed following along half as much as I enjoyed being there.

And finally, thanks to Jeff for making this a reality for me, for taking care of all of the travel and accommodation plans, for putting up with any annoyances I may have provided over the past 21 days (there had to have been some), for keeping up with his blog that I know I’ll go back to read time and time again and for being a near perfect travel companion.

Two days near complete in Cambodia and I think the pace of the trip is beginning to take its toll. Jeff and I are both pretty beat and probably a little grumpier than usual but all-in-all, we continue to enjoy every day to the fullest extent.

After spending the afternoon and evening of our first day here at Tonle Sap Lake, our schedule during the day in Siem Reap has included little more than exploring the historic and ancient temples of Angkor Wat. You can purchase one, three and five day passes to the archeological park which should give you an indication of how much there is to see. We’re on a three day pass and feel like we’re only scratching the surface.

Jeff and I hired a Tuk-Tuk driver named Voy (the same one that picked us up from the airport) for $12 a day to transport us from temple to temple each with its own unique architectural twist on the standard Hindu design. Many of these temples are 800 or 900 years old so it’s quite incredible to tour each one and try to imagine what they were like in their prime. Most were adandoned hundreds of years ago allowing the jungle to creep in and overtake them. Since rediscovery of the temples, each is in its own state of restoration… my favorite being Ta Prohm, one that has been almost left alone since being rediscovered in the 20th century. Used as a set for shooting Laura Croft: Tomb Raider, this temple is comprised of a maze of corridors (Jeff got lost inside) and toppled stones that have been knocked over by the enormous roots of massive trees. Of the 1200+ photos I’ve take so far on this trip, over 200 have been taken in just the past two days.

After our daily temple explorations are complete, nights are spent at the local “Pub Street” just a kilometer or two away. Geared specifically towards the tourists, the street is packed with restaurants offering both traditional Khmer and western food coices, has English speaking staff and even offers Wi-Fi in a few spots. We are off in just a few to enjoy some more traditional Cambodian BBQ.

Tomorrow is our last day in Cambodia before we pack up and begin our journey home. We’re up at 4:30am hoping to catch a glorious sunrise over the Ankgor Wat main temple. From there it’s off to see as much more of the park as we can before one more wild night on the town. We’ll have a 12 hour sprint through Bangkok before boarding our Air France flight home late on Friday night.

After finding out that boat rides from Siem Reap to Battambang in Cambodia were taking seven hours instead of the expected three, Jeff and I called another audible to sacrifice that portion of the itinerary for another day in Luang Prabang. As luck would have it, Vietnam Air had a direct flight to Siem Reap on the 12th so we canceled our flight that took us through Bangkok and booked it. We managed to save ourselves about $150 each as well as several hours of travel time.

As expected Laos didn’t provide quite the excitement that Thailand did but we still managed to keep ourselves busy during our two full days there. Day 1 consisted of most importantly sleeping in… our rigorous schedule of site seeing during the day and bar hopping at night hadn’t left either of us with a full night’s sleep since we arrived in Thailand. Up at about 10:30 that day, we enjoyed a quality breakfast at a local cafe followed by exploration of the small city on foot for most of the afternoon. Luang Prabang is much smaller than any city we visited in Thailand. The majority of town is located on a small peninsula with one main road giving you easy access to just about all there is to offer. You can easily cover the peninsula in under a day. After our tour of the city, we ended the afternoon with our first quality sunset of the trip. The centrally located and elevated Phusi Temple is the city’s hot spot for viewing the event. We climbed the 190 steps to the top and elbowed our way onto a rock for a good view of one of the more scenic landscapes we’ve seen so far.

Day 2 started off with an uncomfortably cold hour and a half ride on a slow boat up the Mekong river to visit a collection of caves just off the western bank. Along the way we stopped at a local village by the river to, as I originally thought, get a glimpse of rural life in Laos. Much to my disappointment, it was just an opportunity for the villagers to hawk the same key chains, bracelets and scarfs that we’d seen a thousand times over already during our trip. We hastily made our way through the gauntlet of stands and quickly returned to the boat to continue our journey. Another 30 minutes later we found ourselves at the caves which turned out to be quite disappointing. No depth, no color and no real sites aside from many more buddha images made for a ho-hum experience.

The hour ride back downstream brought us back to the dock around 1pm. The other activity we considered for the day was a trip to scenic Kouang Si falls but knew the van taking us there left at 1:30pm. We had just enough time to stuff our faces with some ham and cheese crepes (the French influences in Luang Prabang are noticeable if not strong) and hop into the last two seats of a van with several other tourists arranged by one of the local travel agencies. A 45 minute ride brought us to the head of a jungle trail which led us to some of the more impressive views of the trip. The waterfalls we visited in Thailand were okay. One was quite underwhelming while the second albeit less than spectacular, managed to save the day. However this set of waterfalls in Laos completely blew me away. I don’t know what it is about water falling over rocks that I find so beautiful and interesting but the soft cascade of water into blue-green lagoons that we found along this trail gave me more of what I expected to see on the trip.

The jungle trail brought us to 6 or 7 scenic places along the way where most were stopping to take photos. Three of these stops contained lagoons where visitors are permitted to swim while one of these three contained a tree designed specifically for launching yourself into the lagoon from high above. We watched 3 or 4 brave souls make the leap before moving on further up the trail.

As we continued the hike, I kept thinking how cool it would be to make the leap into that lagoon. Jeff and I weren’t aware of the opportunity to swim at the falls when we departed so we weren’t prepared to take part. Jeff was in jeans and t-shirt while I was in my convertible hiking pants. Not really ideal swimwear. But how often are you in Laos and have the chance to jump from a tree into the type of lagoon that you could easily see in a movie?

I mentioned to Jeff that I was thinking about it. I figured we had enough time for my clothes to dry before jumping in the van home so as we descended down the trail and came to the spot, I decided to pull the trigger. I stripped off my t-shirt, converted my pants to shorts and climbed the tree. Jeff had his camera setup on its tripod while also holding my point-and-shoot to record a video of the jump. When I got to the jumping off spot, I immediately noticed it was much higher than it looked from beside the lagoon. I knew any hesitation would doom me so after a brief look over at Jeff and a “This is pretty high” comment, I was off and into the ice-cold water with a canonball producing a splash Jeff rater a 9.5.

We’ve got great photos and a great video to share when we get back to DC. Highlight of Laos for me.

Editor’s Note: I wrote most of this on the flight from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang but am just now getting a chance to post about a day later from a cool, little coffee shop in Luang Prabang. The weather here is much cooler… long sleeves and jeans at night. We had to cut last night short since I got some serious stomach pains immediately following dinner. Feel better this morning but we’ll probably take it easy today before heading to Cambodia tomorrow.

After almost 11 full days in Thailand, Jeff and I find ourselves on a Loas Airline flight taking us from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang in Northen Laos. I’m certainly a little sad to be leaving Thailand. All of the great things that I read and heard are so completely true. The people are quite kind, the food is wonderful and the landscapes are breathtaking whether it be in the mountains or on the beach. Each city we visited seemed to offer something a little different.

Bangkok was the big, bustling city (11 million strong) that reminded me a bit of New York but with a little more warmth. The palaces and wats added a touch of history and maybe even mystery that I’ve not quite seen in a city of its size. I was a little disappointed with the nightlife but that may be on Jeff and me since we missed Cao San Road which is supposedly the place to be. We have about 12 hours in Bangkok before coming home on the 16th so hopefully that will give us enough time for me to form a better opinion.

Aside from the 20,000 person New Year’s Eve party on the beach that Jeff and I attended, most of Koh Pangan resembles a sleepy beach town like you might find along the coast of Delaware. Nothing incredibly flashy or fancy. Many roads are still not paved and in fact, without the use of a 4×4 pickup truck, the only access point to the resort where we stayed is via boat. While we certainly had a few difficulties getting around and there wasn’t a ton to see or do beyond lay on the beach and watch the waves (a perfectly acceptable way to pass the time for many), I’d give Koh Pangan strong consideration as a destination for a honeymoon or romantic getaway.

Koh Samui felt almost like the big brother to Koh Pangan. Much larger and much more developed, it’s more tourist friendly giving Jeff and I the widest range of activities to enjoy. The scooters that we rented took us around nearly 3/4 of the island allowing us to immerse ourselves in the vibrant nightlife by the beach or escape to the hills and waterfalls of the interior of the island when we needed to escape tourist central.

Chiang Mai, nestled in the mountains of Northern Thailand, offered a seemingly more cultural experience than the other cities. We hired a guide named Peter for our two full days in the city. Cost was 3000THB (about $88 US) and that included the elephant, riverboat and ox-cart rides we experienced on day two. A few stops at a celadon factor and rug store to “kill some time” along with a poor massage parlor recommendation led us to believe Peter was 60% on the level and 40% shyster. Nevertheless, he was super nice, spoke excellent English and was able to provide some cultural and historical significance to the sites that we saw. That wasn’t a luxury we had at our previous stops so was well worth the money. Each night ended at the Riverside Bar where Jeff and I became fast fans of an Asian cover band called “The Bugs”. Aside from developing quite the crush on their lead singer, I was amazed by their ability to cover American music as well as any band I’ve seen in the US. I got a full video of U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name” that I’ll post when I get home.

After looking through our travel books, it appears as though Luang Prabang will bring a little more leisurely pace to our trip. While in Thailand, we certainly sacrificed some rest and relaxation in order to see as much as possible. Only about a day and a half here before moving on to Camodia and the temple complex of Ankor Wat.

btw, have I mentioned Jeff is blogging too? I shoot for summaries since I have so little time online. However Jeff provides the (often humorous) details. http://travel.jeffnyveen.com/

Our small bit of downtime yesterday afternoon left Jeff and I with enough time to plan out the rest of our trip. Here’s the remaining schedule…

• 1/7-1/9 – Chiang Mai, Thailand
• 1/9-1/11 – Luang Prabang, Laos
• 1/11-1/14 – Siem Reap, Cambodia
• 1/14-1/15 – Battambang, Cambodia
• 1/15 – Back to Siem Reap for the eveing
• 1/16 – Bangkok – One final day in Thailand before returning to the US

While these three countries are located right next to each other, I’m very interested to see how our experiences will differ from our time here in Thailand. I’ve been blown away by how tourist friendly the trip has been up until this point.

Off to dinner now. Hopefully one last post before we leave Chiang Mai.

Of our first three destinations so far, I think Jeff would agree with me when I say Koh Samui has been the favorite. In fact, two days ago we contemplated extending one more day but knowing it would probably cost us the Laos leg of the trip (Vietnam seems to be losing favor), we decided against it. As we boarded the plane to Chiang Mai this morning, it also occurred to both of us that we were ready for a change of scenery.

While in Samui we did manage to tackle just about everything on our “to do” list. Zip lining through the tree tops in the hills was one of my favorite moments but our trip yesterday to Angthong National Park made for my favorite full-day excursion. Angthong National Park is an archipelago of 42 islands located about 90 minutes west of Samui via ferry. The morning at the park consisted of kayaking as well as a leisurely climb up to a green lagoon nestled in the hills of one of the larger islands. Following lunch, Jeff and I embarked upon a much more strenuous hike to the top of Ko Wua Talap which provided a near panoramic view of all 42 islands. As Murphy’s Law would have it, my camera battery died just as I reached the end of the 500 meter hike (seemingly straight up) but thankfully Jeff still had some juice in his camera. We made our way back down to the beach and had another 30 minutes or so to relax before heading home.

While we still need to work out the details of most of the remainder of the trip, we do know we will be spending the next three days in Northern Thailand in a town called Chiang Mai. One day will most likely consist of touring the temples in and around town while a second will hopefully allow us to embark on a day-long trek that we saw advertised in the lobby of our hotel. An ox-cart ride is followed by hiking, swimming, white-water rafting and elephant riding. Should be a great way to see the countryside.

Jeff continues to crank out blog posts with regularity and much more detail so don’t forget to check out his site when you get a chance… http://travel.jeffnyveen.com/

After spending two whirlwind days in Bangkok and two more in Koh Phangan, Jeff and I have just arrived at the Fair House resort in Koh Samui, one of the islands in southern Thailand just off the mainland. Great beaches, great night life and tons of other activities to keep us busy.

Internet hasn’t been quite as easy to come by as I expected so most posts will be few and far between as well as pretty short. Jeff brought his laptop along with him making it easier to write during downtime and post in the few moments when Internet is available. He’s been very diligent about recording some of the more interesting highlights of the trip so for some specifics (and good stories) about our adventures, check out his site… http://travel.jeffnyveen.com/. He’s a great writer and spares few details.

The plan for the next few days is to enjoy Samui as much as possible. Originally we were scheduled to be here for just two days but our “to do” list is so long, we’re thinking about extending a couple more until the 6th or 7th. The current list… relax on Chaweng beach, zip line adventure, national park visit, waterfalls site seeing, scooter rentals, shopping and maybe most importantly laundry. We’re still confident we can make this happen without jeopardizing Laos or Vietnam at the tail end.

I have to admit, I struggle at this moment to describe how much I’m enjoying this trip. Awesome, amazing and unbelievable don’t seem to properly convery what it’s been so far.

Sawatdii pimaï! (Happy New Year!)