Our route

Here's our planned route - contacts/advice for all destinations welcome! Or why not come & meet us somewhere ;-)

Feb/March - Ukraine to Istanbul, via Moldova (& Transnitria)/Romania/Serbia/Bulgaria (Lisa); south France to Istanbul, via Slovenia/Italy/Greece (Chris)
April - Istanbul, Jordan & Israel
late April/May - north India to Nepal, overland
June/July - Hong Kong, Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam (Hanoi)/South Korea/Japan
August - Hawaii & California
September/October - central America - Panama to Guatemala, overland
late October - arrive in Canada (Uxbridge, ON)

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Eating, meeting & hiking in Korea

Even though we have a few half-written blog posts about Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam eagerly awaiting our attention, we felt the need to write about South Korea and get it published sooner rather than later. Perhaps this is because more than one person told us that the country was “boring”; perhaps it's because we feel like there's not so much information out there for travellers (whereas there is a wealth about south-east Asia); or perhaps it's just because we've had such a great time here that we can't wait to tell you about it!

Here's a brief summary of how we spent our 10.5 days here:
  • In the Secret Garden, Seoul
    Several days in Seoul, including a couchsurf with an amateur tarot card reader; a games night; a visit to the Arts Center; catching up with an old colleague, Hyeyoon; some contribution to the building work at awesome new hostel Seoul Base Camp; and some of the best food (more on that later).
  • Seoraksan National Park
    An overnight camping trip to Seoraksan National Park, with a hike to a beautiful waterfall. A quick thanks to new Couchsurfing friends Amy & Ayax for “hosting” our extra stuff to make hiking a bit easier – and also for treating us to a homemade dinner with their own kimchi!!
  • A day trip – on a free bus! - to Jeon-ju to visit the historical “hanok” houses, wander down “Wedding Street”, and stuff ourselves with bibimbap.
  • Happy camper!
    Sleeping on the floor of the cinema in Dragon Hill jimjilbang (spa) after a long naked soak in a dozen different pools, and a short nap on a heated marble floor with jade pillow (the latter was Lisa's experience – who knew such a thing could be so comfortable!?). Waking up with a super-hot sauna (Chris tried the salt variety & Lisa tried the pine) and a violent massage chair!
  • Chris & Hyeyoon at Changdeokgung Palace
  • Another free bus journey to Busan, where we spent a few days couchsurfing with a great family, hiking, hanging out with a traditional percussion group, and eating so many delicious things (washed down with soju!).
  • Free Guinness! (or gweenass as they say in Korea  ;-)  )
  • A whirlwind overnight trip to former royal city Gyeong-ju, to visit: the massive tumuli (burial mounds); an ancient observatory; a beautiful pond & pavilions lit up at night; and Seokguram (Seokgul Grotto) with an amazing huge Buddha statue (and more). Oh, and to eat ssambap and some local pastries!
Seoul Base Camp- panelling by Chris
Jeonju - hanok house
  

You may notice a theme – we were continually amazed by the delicious food that we tried. There really wasn't anything we didn't like, and since you generally receive several banchan (side dishes) with each meal – with free refills – you will never go hungry! We even felt comfortable ordering at random.
Paht bingsu

Here is a list of local foods that we ate, for posterity =) This doesn't include many random snacks we grabbed along the way!

Mystery meal in Seoul – a bibimbap-like item (see below) with barley or some similar grain, instead of rice; mushroom & lasagna-noodle soup; and a thin noodle soup with shellfish. This was our first “point & shoot” menu experience ;-)
Soondeh- blood sausage
Pajeon – somewhere between pancake & omelette; chock full of onions
Paht bingsu – ice flakes topped with ice cream, red beans, dduk (rice cakes), fruit & whatever else they feel like adding...
Bibimbap – a bowl of many, many vegetables & rice, topped with an egg. We had this in the originating town (Jeon-ju) with over 25 ingredients, and later we had a free one at a temple – see below!
Bibimbap

Sides for bibimbap!!












Soon to be sashimi
Shellfish BBQ (grill your own)- including fresh octopus that wiggled and jiggled inside...
Pork BBQ (grill your own) - with plenty of banchan, soju (sweet potato liquor) and great company, and finished with mool naent myeon (buckwheat noodles in chilled soup – icy and delicious!)
Choose your own fish for sashimi or as you like it, at Jagalchi Fish Market
Ssambap – rice & banchan which you wrap in various types of leaves, served with fermented soybean stew
Bbang - red bean pastries
Ssambap
Bbang - two types
Also 3 quite special pizzas – chicken, garlic and sweet potato (from Dominoes!); one with a green tea crust; and bulgogi (beef) & sweet potato with an Imsil (Korean-made) cheese-stuffed crust. And of course, many different kinds of kimchi (fermented vegetable in chilli sauce...Lisa was familiar with the most common version, cabbage, but apparently there are over 200 different kinds! That's why you can buy a special “kimchi fridge” in Korea ;-) Radish was particularly nice.

And cake for breakfast, courtesy of the lovely Jyeon-Ah, our host in Busan!


There is one particular day which we'd like to describe in detail, because it was especially good for a lot of different reasons. On our first night in Busan, we joined a Couchsurfing meet-up at a seafood BBQ place. Lovely local, Sunny, arranged everything and even picked us up from the Metro station. Ironically, one of the other attendees was Talisa, an Indonesian girl who was staying with the same couchsurfing host that we were (she just beat us to the honour of being Jyeon-Ah's first couchsurfers!). It was funny to meet her at dinner and then go home together.

The whole group, minus Talisa, reconvened the following morning for a hiking trip up nearby Bongrae mountain. We all piled in Thorsten's (German engineer working in Busan for a few months) car and headed for the hills! It was just a short drive to the mountain and we were soon heading up the path to the peak. Till (German guy who's travelling around Asia for several months) raced on ahead, but the rest of us sauntered along quite slowly, chatting to local people as we passed them. We couldn't help but notice an inordinate amount of outdoor gyms – seems weird to hike halfway up a mountain to work out, but we guess it's common in Korea. Saves on the gym membership! 

Sara, Thorsten, Sunny & Chris
at Beomeosa
Lisa spotted a sign for Beomeosa temple and made a beeline for it. The others (except Till, who was probably at the top already!) followed her and we arrived in time to catch the end of a ceremony (Sunny said this is a daily occurrence). The temple was covered in beautiful murals and had a line of super-cute Buddha statues. We paused to enjoy some Korean cookies (courtesy of Sunny) and some huge oranges (courtesy of Thorsten). Then Sunny broke the news that the temple would be serving a free bibimbap lunch after the ceremony! We called Till and he came to join us for a hearty lunch. Everyone was really sweet, asking Sunny if we'd enjoyed our lunch and giving us extra “dessert” (small squares of glutinous rice – better than they sound!).
Free lunch!

Now we were ready to reach the peak...if only we could find it. As we ascended, we entered a huge cloud and it became very misty (but thankfully also much cooler!). We eventually reached a marker at a “lookout” point (not much to look at!) and celebrated with a glass of makgoelli (cloudy rice wine). Then, we split into two groups- Till & Lisa were determined to visit the other two peaks on the trail, and convinced Sara & Chris to join them; Sunny & Thorsten headed back towards the car. Ironically, after wandering around in the clouds for a while, the larger group found that they'd gone the wrong way (affording them the opportunity to meet 2 cute dogs and some huge free-range chickens!); whereas Sunny & Thorsten ended up on the other peaks! Finally we all managed to reach the car (in fact, we returned to find Sunny & Thorsten sound asleep in the front seats!). As we arrived there, a Korean woman came up and randomly gave Till a bag of chips. Sunny said it was because Korean ladies like handsome foreign men ;-) Actually, Lisa thinks it was intended for Chris, but he'd just ducked off to the bathroom!

We crammed our sweaty selves back into the car and Thorsten dropped Chris & Lisa at the Metro station. We were off to watch a practise session of traditional Korean drumming by Jeong-Ah's percussion group “Duruk”, who meet every week at a school in central Busan. In fact, this is where she met her husband!

The percussion was great (see the video), although it did look like awfully hard work, and the group was so welcoming. They describe themselves as a family, and it really seems to be true as everyone brings their kids along. Apparently we were their first foreign visitors. Talisa was also there and one of the little girls enjoyed playing “rock, paper, scissors” with all of us, although she had some unusual rules that we didn't quite understand...

Talisa left a bit early to go to the jimjilbang, but we took the group's invitation to join them for dinner & soju-drinking. We were duly slotted into someone's car and set out to a restaurant. After slipping off our shoes, we took our places on the floor around a low table. There was a huge amount of banchan, including some crab claws in a chilli sauce, and we were asked to select the meat for our table. The majority of the menu was beef but our neighbour recommended a type of pork, so we chose that one. The waiters threw a bucket of hot coals into the well in the center of the table, and slapped a metal grill tray on top, and we were left to cut & cook our meat (see point 2 below). It was really tasty & there was plenty to go around, as well as our ever-full shot glasses of soju to wash it down. Jyeon-Ah explained that it was very rude to let our glasses stay empty! We also managed to squeeze in a little of the amazing honey-soy (?) marinated pork that our neighbouring table had selected. And in the interest of spreading English slang around the world, we taught the group the term “pass out” (what happens if you drink too much soju!) which they put to use immediately =)

Eventually we were all stuffed, and baby Su-Min had been asleep in a corner for quite some time, so we bade our good-byes to the drummers (who insisted on paying for our meal, so they also learned the term “my treat”!) and hopped in a taxi with our hosts for the short journey back to their apartment.

Finally, some things we noticed about South Korea & Koreans:
  1. Food items surprised us – we quickly learned NOT to think we knew what something would taste like, just from looking at it. And we ate a lot of red bean paste – but luckily we liked it!
  2. A big pair of scissors is pretty handy to deal with long pieces of kimchi, stubborn shellfish, strips of meat, and anything else that can't be manipulated with chopsticks & spoon. Normally these items are cut by the customers themselves, after the food has all be served.
  3. Korean people are not so good at standing in a line; nor at respecting any kind of personal space. Prepare to barge and be barged!
  4. Although there is an incredible amount of forest & small mountains throughout the country (and subsequently many national parks & hiking trails), we were never alone on a hike. Koreans are such keen hikers that it's perfectly normal for ¼ or more of the people on your Metro carriage to be dressed in full hiking gear, complete with backpacks & hiking poles. We did laugh when we saw hoards of such people disembarking from buses at Seoraksan and heading straight for the cable car – especially since it was an incredibly cloudy day and even the ticket office had a sign up, warning about “poor visibility due to fog”.
  5. Over half of all stores in South Korea must be either coffee shops or hiking gear stores. Unfortunately this doesn't make prices more competitive – it's not unusual to pay US$ 5 for a cup of coffee, which came as a shock after the amazing low prices in south-east Asia. The best (and cheapest) one that we found was a Korean version of ubiquitous (in Korea) chain Paris Baguette, which sold coffee for a reasonable US$ 2 and had free samples of many of their pastries (helpful – see point 1).
  6. There do not seem to be many non-Asian tourists here. At a guess, many of the people we saw at tourist destinations such as the grotto were actually Korean. Subsequently, most of the signage at museums etc is only in Korean (although the title for each information board or section might be written in English, just to tease you!).
  7. It seems impossible for tourists to buy a SIM card for their phone (something which is easy in most, of not all of the countries we've visited on this trip).  It is, however, possible and reasonably simple to rent a mobile phone (or it would've been, if the phone rental company hadn't moved their office without updating the website!).  We later found out that the National ID number which we would require to buy a SIM card is in fact, issued automatically for everyone once they've been in the country for longer than 3 days.
  8. The Metro systems (especially in Seoul) are really extensive, but have lots of features to make them easy to use. Here's a little video that Lisa took of the “arrival fanfare” and train location screen; and here's a very funny song that someone wrote, based on the “transfer station” music that we heard so often!  But don't bring your wheelie suitcase, because there are a LOT of stairs...
Now we are enroute to Japan on the PanStar luxury cruise.  Pity we are travelling in "ferry class" - they woen't even let us enter the nice lounge, so we are left to wander the decks with lots of noodle-eating schoolchildren! (and also, their wi-fi is so dire that we've had to publish this post in Japan!)

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Vietnam



We arrive at Hanoi airport late in the evening. Armed with instructions from Vu, our CouchSurfing host, we avoid the normal exit for arrivals and head up to the departures area, as these cabs supposedly offer better rates into town. However, we appear to have made an error as we wait and wait. During this time a 'gang' of Vietnamese youth on mopeds pulls up and proceeds to pump us for information. They are really good-natured and are led by the Hanoi version of the Fonz, from 'Happy Days'; you can tell he's the leader of this particular pack. There's some music, cross-cultural communication and lots of laughter before they all re-mount and zoom off, wishing us a good stay in their country. While we eventually get a cab and head towards Vu's house.

We cruise into the suburbs of Hanoi, out toward Tay Ho lake, and everything starts to get less well-lit. We peer out of the taxi windows and it's clear the driver doesn't know where the address we've given him is either.  However, we have since learned that this is not a bad reflection of taxi drivers but an intrinsic quality of the urban addresses in many eastern Asian towns: even locals end up asking directions as naming and numbering of dwellings is very much an art and not a science. Having said that, the fellow then tried to overcharge us. Welcome, tourists!

Vu is a friendly young man who welcomes us into his family's home. It's in a gated courtyard off the main street, along with a number of other houses. It reminds us of a town house in that each floor is not large but the house is quite tall. We get our own room on the top floor (Vu's sister's room, free while she's at college) and an electric fan to help cut down the tropical heat.
Living large on the sleeper bus




The next morning we aim to get an early start to Halong Bay. Vu gives us a ride to the bus stop at the top of his street – three people on a moped, Hanoi-style. He then sticks around to make sure we get on the right bus, which stops at a random, unmarked place that only locals know! As we embark we discover that this is a sleeper bus. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, this bus is decadently furnished with rows of beds instead of seats. Each bed has a little place to stow your bag and a TV screen. While this seems like a good idea for overnight journeys, it feels a little odd to be reclining so much on a coach in broad daylight like some kind of rock star. The experience is somewhat dimmed when (again) the driver overcharges us. Even our hand-written maths fail to break through his entrepreneurial nonchalance as he pretends to fail to understand both English, hand gestures and all forms of arithmetic. It doesn't break the bank but it's the principle of the thing – harumph!

We are dropped off near the harbour, now even more determined not to over-pay for the boat tour. We're soon hailed by a fellow offering a tour for around $59. However lunch included and a few other things we aren't interested in so we play hard to get, eventually coming away with a $35 trip on which we plan to eat our own packed lunch.

The bay has an unusual beauty that you may have seen on some designs on ceramics. It has tall, thin rock pinnacles and sudden spires rising out of the calm waters, including a formation that is held to look like two birds kissing and another that looks like a gorillas head (this second one takes a little more imagination to see).

After a smooth voyage and a brief explanation of local history and economy, we arrive at one of the famous floating villages. Lisa and Chris have already decided that they would like to take a kayak and tootle around the village. It has everything from a post office, school, bank to cafes, all built on stilts in a sheltered part of the bay. After this, the boat heads for a mountainous island that we can walk through from end to end, using an underground system of natural tunnels in the limestone. Some of the light effects were a bit overdone but the organic shapes of the rock were duly impressive, including one particular place where there was a crack leading up to the surface that channelled some very picturesque rays of sunlight down to us.




We return lightly toasted by the sun and happy that we had visited in the off-season, as we are sure it will be much busier in a few months time. A quick taxi ride and then we are Hanoi-bound on a bus without beds. We get back to the city and are treated to a Vu and his mum taking us on the back of their scooters to a very local eatery, located on a street corner on the way to down-town. This allows the Vietnamese to laugh at the visitors who were trying to eat Pho (noddle soup) with chopsticks. It is an acquired skill and uses up most of the calories gained from the soup itself. It was also great to have some real 'street food', at a place we would never have found ourselves.

The next day we sally out and locate a bus going to the centre of town, or at least we hope so. It was one of those bus rides where you are always wondering, “should I have got out at the last stop?” We disembark at roughly the right stop and find a cafe. Unfortunately, in Vietnam, a coffee shop only sells coffee and not the hoped-for breakfast. Luckily, after some alley wandering we located a bakery (bakeries are the traveller's friend ;-) where we noticed vestiges of French influence in the patisserie!

Directions are followed towards the Women's Museum, which sounds like an interesting mix of the history of women in Vietnam combined with a female perspective on the 'North American War'. In familiar fashion however we get side-tracked when Lisa sees a plaque at the mouth of an alleyway announcing some kind of bead and handicraft establishment. We ventured down the alley but all we could see were some houses and workmen. One of these fellows saw us looking and, after we pointed to the plaque, he began knocking at one of the gates on the alley and shouting for the occupant. Luckily, the old gentleman that emerged didn't seem to mind and invited us both in for tea!

It turns out that the plaque actually refers to his daughter, Bong, who has now moved elsewhere in the city. But he turns out to be an intriguing guy. He speaks pretty fluent English and tells us that he used be be a diplomat and travel writer and he's very interested in our own trip.

Taking our leave of Bong's father, we continue on to the Women's Museum. This place is as engaging as it sounded. It contains examples of traditional dress from the many ethnic groups in Vietnam and alongside this is information on historic roles and lives of women, as well as videos of contemporary women working as street vendors and veterans of the war.

Some of our favourite aspects are the floor showing marriage costumes accompanied by explanations of various traditional marriage practices, some of which required years living with the bride's family, a second marriage ceremony and then moving to the groom's family's home. All very complicated and drawn out! 

There was also lots of artefacts, documents and visual material covering the 'North American War', as it is called in Vietnam. The role that women played was significant as the whole population of the north was mobilised.

Lacquered teeth were a mark of beauty


Upon leaving we get caught in a heavy rain shower but soldier on toward the old town, a twisty maze of narrow streets in the north east of the centre of the city. Lisa picks up a silk top for the bargain price of $22 and we manage to book a tour for the next day to see the villages outside of Hanoi that make ceramics and wooden furniture. That accomplished, we decided to do something touristy and went to the Water Puppet Theatre. This was a quite peculiar show where the main stage is a tank of water and most of the scenery is at the back and around the sides. All character are puppets that are controlled by rods and pulleys hidden beneath the surface of the water so that they seem to stand on the water and move by themselves. There are human puppets, boats, fish and aquatic dragons that spit water toward the audience. While this is going on there is live music using traditional instruments and a series of singers. Altogether a unique performance!

Afterwards we retire further into the maze, to a restaurant called Little Hanoi where think Chris had Bo Luc Lac (Shaking Beef) and we made friends with a small dog who wandered in and out, acting like the owner of the place. The 'old quarter' really gets going in the evening, to the extent that it becomes hard to navigate between crows on the sidewalks (where these exist), and parked and weaving scooters. However, beware of the universal closing time of around 9:30 – it's like trying to get  a taxi to South London at, well, any time I supose.

For day three we have arranged a tour guide to show us some of the craft villages on the outskirts of Hanoi. Our guide, Quan, and his driver are happy to answer all our random questions. At one point we pass a formal looking gathering and Quan fills us in on Vietnamese funeral traditions. All dress in white, except the great-grandchildren, who are dressed in bright colours. Apparently the deceased is buried then, after three years, the bones are exhumed, put in a jar and transferred to a relative's house. Dead ancestors are an important part of daily life and are assumed to attend family events and can be asked for help in day to day living.


The craft villages are interesting too. One specialises in ceramics and we were privileged to see the craftspeople molding, glazing and painting all items by hand – from simple beakers to delicate ornaments and tea pots. Quan tells us that a traditional bridal gift is a complete set of crockery for the wedding meal. We also see huge stacked of pottery being precariously ferried round the village on the back of the ubiquitous mopeds!
One of many offerings to the ancestors

The second village is more of a small town (despite the rice we see drying in the middle of the road) but was a traditional centre of wood crafting. We are introduced to a group of women who are busy smoothing some beautiful furniture. The next stage is lacquering and some of the most detailed mother of pearl in-lay we have ever seen. The tiny size of this work is truly amazing, especially when you are reminded that it's all done manually. The women and Lisa strike up quite a rapport and they are very complimentary about her 'paleness', which in Vietnamese culture is valued much more than being 'sun-kissed'. We also learn, to our amusement, that we are being described as Mr and Mrs 'Tei-tei'; meaning 'foreigner' in the local slang. Our fame precedes us.
Intricate hand-inlaid mother of pearl
Making the most beautiful wooden furniture


This evening our host, Vu, has invited us to dine with his family. In attendance are his mum, his teenage cousin and Vu's sister's friend. We are honoured as Vu's mother has prepared a special dish for us, as well as lost of other soup, noodles and other scrumptious finger food. We have a pleasant chat using hand gestures, facial expressions and Vu and his cousin as translators. A truly hospitable group of people.
Vu and family and some fantastic food

Our final day in Hanoi we spend taking in the sights. We planned leisurely breakfast downtown but, despite the tasty G7 coffee, we find out that in Vietnam coffee shops really only serve coffee. Although, the cafe we are in also comes with a guy stood outside using a 'tennis racquet' bug zapper to individually electrify wasps living in a large hanging plant outside the window. We are also entertained by the use of a particularly broad length of pavement that is being used for a series of badminton matches, with the court markings permanently painted on the ground. However,  rumbling stomachs ensue until we stock up at a small bakery where point and smile is the order of the day.

Ho closed
Due to our late start (unheard of, I know) we arrive at the Ho Chi Minh Museum just as it closes and totally miss the One Pillar Pagoda. However, we do manage to navigate our way to the famous flag tower, by dint of it being pretty darn tall. In our wanderings we also discover some of the many artificially constructed lakes which hide in the middle of the city, all surrounded by trees and socked with fish, for the enjoyment of local anglers and roller-bladers alike.
Vu, Hien and some vagabonds






The day is capped by meeting Vu, our host, and his partner, Hien, for a meal at a downtown restaurant serving Vietnamese food buffet-style. Good food and great company was topped off by the couple offering us a parting gift. Lesson in hospitality and how to be a fantastic couch surfing host: check! Feeling sated and sleepy, we are ushered into a taxi by Vu and Hien and, after some hugging, we are off to the airport, bound for South Korea via Laos.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Random traveller thoughts

Now that we've been on the road for a bit, we're starting to reflect on our experiences and (trying to) put them in some sort of context.  Here are a few things we've discussed on recent long bus journeys:

  • Chris in particular used to think of European cultures as quite distinct from each other.  But after a couple of months travelling in Asia, "Western" cultures actually seem more and more similar by comparison to all the weird & wonderful things we're experiencing in this region!
  • Wet rooms and fish spas are both trendy in Britain.  But how many people realise that the typical Asian bathroom is a wet room (if the home is lucky enough to have a shower, that is), and that you can have a fish spa for free in the sea?  Those fish particularly liked Chris for some reason (hairiness?!).
  • We are feeling very self-centered right now.  It's hard enough to keep up with "where are we" and "what should we do next"...and that means we have no idea what's happening in the lives of our friends & family.  We will have so much catching up to do when this trip is over!  Meanwhile, please bear with us - we do love you and miss you, even if it's not obvious at the moment.
  • You never have enough time to do & see everything.  There isn't one country that we've visited, that we couldn't go back to and see something we wanted to see, or do something we wanted to do, but didn't have the time/money/energy.  Some of the toughest choices have been about where to linger - because every once in a while, we need a home - and where to speed through.  We've even resorted to flying (rather spontaneously), partly because we were getting so frustrated with glimpses of life through the bus window....but we didn't have time to step off and have a proper experience.  Sorry to all of the countries (and their fascinating citizens, cultures and of course cuisines!) that didn't get enough of our time & attention...
And now, a GREAT piece of news - as a reward to loyal readers who managed to make it through the above ramblings.....


Chris has been granted permanent residence status in Canada!!!!

The process has taken about a year, and since we submitted the application in November they've actually changed one significant thing - he no longer has to send his original passport to the embassy in London for processing.  This is really a relief because we have a lot of borders to cross in the next few weeks, which would've been impossible under the old system.

This means that we will again one day have a home to go to!  And of course, everyone can come and visit  =)


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Cambodia - Phnom Penh


We enter the capital of Cambodia rather later than we would like. It's dark now and we end up taking a tuk-tuk to a hotel we pick out of the guidebook. Luckily, the place has space and seems fairly normal! In fact, it looks like an old club of some sort; our room has marble flooring and what looks like a former trophy cabinet. Whatever it was it has a working shower, for which we are tearfully grateful.

Our first day in Phnom Penh is spent getting our bearings. We locate the main post office and post the package of beads & souvenirs to Canada (thanks Mom & Dad, for acting as our safety deposit box!). Across the road from the post office we encounter the city's solution to recycling: an old woman with a handcart  collecting plastic and drinks cans as she passes. Part of a coherent recycling strategy? We also come across Wat Phnom, the temple that stands on a hill in the centre of the city. It looks intriguing but, upon seeing yet another sign advertising special (read "high") tourist prices, we decided to enjoy it from the roadside.


Picturesque post office

Naga near Wat Phnom
Royal palace
Stupa of Wat Phnom

 We continue on to the riverside, which is described in our guide as a romantic walk. We should point out here that a main road runs right alongside the river and it's a deadly game of 'Frogger' to get across it, like most roads in the city. It actually takes Chris so long to cross that Lisa has time to photograph a passing boat & some fisherman, and befriend a local fellow. Hardly romantic! However, we did meet some characters, including the persistent DVD-selling kids, a selection of Westerners that looked like old rockers and a chatty drinks vendor who hailed from Siem Riep. Walking further alomg the river, we encounter a large 'Dairy Queen' (our thoughts turn to an American friend....hello Smith!), a Buddhist shrine where they are selling small live birds for some unfathomable purpose, and a gathering of international flags, although no-one can tell us their significance.

We have just enough time to enjoy a steaming bowl of our Cambodian favourite, amok, before heading to a CouchSurfing gathering organised by local CS'er Michael.  Over some cocktails, we meet lots of locals and a few people who are passing through like us:  Matheiu (new guy in town, a law intern), Irish John & his partner (whose name we have forgotten, sorry!, she has been here 6 months and John's just come to join her), Shannon & Silvia (visiting from Italy, about to become CS hosts there), William & Kenny (Vietnamese locals), plus a crowd of French visitors - so many that we revert to speaking French for part of the time!  We even draft in a few non CS'ers who happen to be in the bar enjoying happy hour.  Talk eventually turns to heading to a dance club, but Chris is feeling a bit poorly so he decides to head back to the hotel.  The rest of us crowd into a couple of tuk-tuks, and with William (on his motorcycle) hanging on to the side we swerve in & out of the crazy riverside traffic.  We pull up to a mini-mart and invade the place, snapping up beers, a bottle of vodka & the local equivalent of Red Bull before moving to the chairs & tables outside (something tells me they're accustomed to long-term visitors).  There are 15 of us sat outside chatting to kids and checking out ladyboys (from the special club next door), when a couple of guys who are passing by greet Lisa by name....but who else does she know in Phnom Penh?  It's only while writing this that she realises it must have been the Portuguese brothers.  Must really take one of those courses in recognising people, how embarrassing!
Some treatments just don't translate
After acquiring our Vietnamese visa in Bangkok several weeks ago, we now realise that due to staying for so long in Thailand, we have a lot less time to play with in the next country on our itinerary. Also, getting across China cheaply and in time for us to fit in South Korea and Japan is looking tricky. After checing out a potential three-day, non-stop train journey through China that costs over US$ 300, we start to think about giving China a miss.  We find a flight with Vietnam Airlines from Hanoi to Seoul for just US$ 200ish each and try to buy the tickets online, but darn Nationwide keeps refusing to process the payment on our credit card.  We can't imagine what the problem might be but they're already closed, so we vow to call them tomorrow.  Meanwhile, we drop into a nearby travel agency (they do still exist) who presents us with almost exactly the same flight but from Phnom Penh instead, with a lay-over in Hanoi.  This is even better as it cuts out a couple of long days of bus or train travel in Vietnam.  We try to pay on our card but her machine tells her it's been naughty!  We tell her that we'll come back tomorrow after we get the credit card issue sorted out.

With slightly lighter hearts, we continue on to the National Museum for a spot of Khmer history. Many Buddhas are therein, along with paintings of Hanuman (the Monkey King), and the biggest sedan chair we've ever seen. On the way back to our place we pick up a bottle of Angkhor Dark (a tasty version of the local tipple) and a Maredsous (for something comforting and familiar). We then stop briefly at a gallery-cum-cafe run by some Americans that is tidying up after a July 4th barbeque.

We take a meandering route back past the royal palace, where the road is mysteriously closed. It's quite impressive with architectural features reminiscent of temples we've seen through out the old Indo-China. We march past the big Dairy Queen to re-emerge on the riverfront. There are many activities taking place there: football games, some kind of sponsored aerobics, lots of older people taking gentle constitutional walks accompanied by hand-clapping (in front, behind, in front, behind ...), and one fellow speed-walking backwards.

Chris isn't feeling very spry, so he sets off for the hotel for some quiet time while Lisa searches for a boat party she'd read about on Couchsurfing.  As always while walking on the riverside, she makes a few friends, including a really lovely local fellow whose sister is a nurse in Toronto.  People here are really interested in chatting to visitors, getting their impressions of Cambodia, and practising their language skills.

Finally she manages to reach the boat pier, just in time to notice a few familiar faces leaving the area in a small group - people from last night's party.  But there's only a few minutes until the boat is due to depart so she doesn't have time to ask them why they aren't coming aboard.  She rushes down to the dock and searches the 4 boats which are parked there, but the occupants all look very Vietnamese whereas this should be a mixed crowd (and in costume - the theme is "F", although Lisa hasn't had time to dress up....she did plan to attach some fruit to our mosquito net and call it "fruit salad"!).  Finally she has to admit that the boat party isn't happening and heads back into town in search of the others.  She meets a few locals who've seen them (group of white folks, one with a feather headdress - fairly distinctive!) but never manages to locate them.  Oh well, it's back to the hotel for a quick cheese sandwich and to kick back with Chris over our tasty beers.

The next morning Lisa attempts to sort out the credit card issue.  We haven't managed to find an international phone card nor anywhere that specialises in international calls.  Knowing how long this call is likely to take, we decide to attempt it via Skype - we noticed that they now offer a "call phones" service for a good price.  We add some credit to our Skype account and dial...no problem!  Well, except that our connection is awful and the poor lady on the other end of the phone can barely make out what Lisa is saying.  A lot of shouting, repeating, speaking very slowly, and copious amounts of patience on each end...but the outcome is that there doesn't appear to be any problem with the card!  She assures us that it should work and there's nothing else to say.  We later surmise that there were just too many zeroes in the amount due - since it was in Vietnamese dong, the amount was about 9,000,000  ;-)  Luckily she turns out to be correct - the card seems to be fine again, although we do buy our flight tickets from the travel agency so we don't cause the problem to resurface.


Central Market by night
Self-made soup











That night we take a walk toward the Central Market building. It's a huge, art deco style pile that, from above, looks a little like an alien spacecraft. While trying to get a decent night-time photo of the market we begin to hear some music. We follow it to a nearby shopping centre where there is a concert going on outside. It seems to be some kind of promotional or marketing event with a Cambodian boy-band performing in front of a huge Vaseline banner. The 'Vaseline Boys' maybe? Look out for them as part of the Asian invasion along with 'Gangham Style'. We proceed into the mall, up to the top floor and have some 'do it yourself' soup in a Japanese chain restaurant. Rather tasty even if we didn't fully understand how it worked to begin with.

The next day is our last in Cambodia and we decide its time to broach some of the country's more recent, darker history. Our hotel organises a driver for us (sounds extravagant but it was combined with transport to the airport later that day) to take us to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Phnom Penh Killing fields. The genocide museum used to be a school in a residential district of Phnom Penh but it became known as 'Security Prison 21'. This was a secret prison the Khmer Rouge used to house and interrogate political prisoners and members of their own party. There are exhibitions of photos of the thousands who went through here, many never to leave. One of the blocks has been kept in the same state as when the prison was liberated; wooden or brick cells only a few feet on a side; warnings on the wall to keep silent and not raise your eyes, and occasionally a bedframe or radiator with chain and manacle attached. It was uneasy seeing the organised way in which this had all been conducted.
View from within 'B Block' at Tuol Sleng

This had such a powerful effect that we decided that going to the Killing Fields would be too much and decided to ask our driver to take us somewhere to eat our DIY lunch. He drives us across the river to an old monastery area. We eat surrounded by Buddhist monuments, a friendly pack of dogs and monks' laundry. On the river we see moored boats that seemed to be people's homes and next to our picnic spot we can hear a party at what looks like a rather grand restaurant. We also met some children on bikes who were happy to take our picture.

On this note it's time to get to the airport for our flight to South Korea. The flight isn't until after 11pm but we feel that we should get there with plenty of spare time. In fact, we get there so early that we have loads of time to wait around after check-in. We buy some food supplies, do some reading and suddenly, around 10, all of the shops close and we are all told to hurry up and get through to the gates, where we wait again for some time before finally boarding. We have a stop of about 1 hour in Vientiane, the capital of Laos so does that mean we've also 'done' Laos? Probably not. Seoul, here we come.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Cambodia - Siem Riep and Angkhor Wat

After acquiring our 30 day entry stamp, we head for the shuttle buses which are free to the "International Tourist Terminal"... hmm.

The 4 of us (we are still with the Portuguese brothers) are practically adopted by one of the local fellows who works for the transport company.  We decline his offer of a minivan trip to the terminal, but somehow end up with our own private shuttle bus instead.  It's a bit strange but we do seem to end up in the same place as the other (full) shuttle so we're not too worried.  Our new Cambodian friend shadows us as we exchange some money and discuss our travel options to Siem Reap, and tries to encourage us to buy a ticket for the minibus which is "leaving right now".  This seems uncomfortably pushy, and also we're curious as to whether we could get a better price outside the terminal (where the prices are fixed - US$ 48 for a taxi, or US$ 9 each for the bus).  Sure enough, the minute we walk towards the exit of the terminal we are approached by taxi drivers offering US$ 35, 32, 30...  Finally we negotiate a price of 100,000 riels (approx US$ 26) and hop in.  This thinking in dollars is going to take some getting used to!


A Cambodian ´petrol station´
Our taxi travels about 1 km and then pulls over.  He says we're at the gas station but it doesn't look like one we've ever seen before. It appears to be a closed shop with a few large gas canisters, guarded by a metal grille. It takes several mobile phone calls by our driver to get an attendant to appear.  The car remains running the whole time, and our driver even lights up a cigarette near the gas tanks and the "No Smoke" sign.  Zoolander comes to mind....

Finally we are on the road and zipping along past green farmlands, small villages of houses on stilts (the living area seems to be under the house - neat), people on scooters & heavily laden bicycles - including one with 2 dead pigs in the rear basket.  Many people are working the fields or herding the cows.  There are elaborately decorated archways with dirt roads under them leading into the invisible distance, and there are also many political party signs and small offices, especially for the Cambodian People's Party.  It's overcast and periodically stormy, and the light is beautiful - Lisa is dying to get out and take some photos but it's just not viable.  We're all keen to get to Siem Reap and off our numb bottoms!

As we approach the city, the taxi connects with a pair of tuk-tuks.  We meet Pow, who says that his tuk-tuks are included in the price of the taxi, and will take us to our accommodation or help us find one.  He's very chatty and has a notebook full of positive references, so we decide to take this offer (it's not like we have much choice, since we don't know where we are!) and switch from taxi to tuk-tuk.  Of course, our taxi driver tries to up the price to 120,000, but we hold firm to the agreed price and we're soon on our way to the tourist center of town near the Night Market and Pub Street (oh dear).  Pow joins us in our tuk-tuk (which has a separate driver) and chats to us about English slang and how much he likes tourists, while we bounce over the potholed streets.

We stop at a hostel which has huge rooms, an ensuite with a bathtub (Lisa gets really excited - it's been months since she's had a bath) and oddly, 3 smallish beds.  It's $10 for the room which sounds great, but also makes us wonder what else is out there.  The Portuguese brothers strike out on their own to find some food and a place to sleep, and we go with Pow to our first choice (which Chris read about online), the Golden Temple Guest House.  It looks grand but unfortunately it's also full.  We return to Pow's tuk-tuk (which he is now driving himself) and have a chat, where we try to explain to him that we don't want to make a quick decision about where to stay.  Suddenly his demeanour changes for the worse and he gets very stroppy about "not working for free".  This is especially weird since he said several times that the tuk-tuk to town was free, and that he wasn't affiliated with any particular accommodation.  We're not sure if that was all a lie, or if he's just upset that he won't be able to show up outside our accommodation the next day to offer his tour guide services.  It's too bad, as we would have been happy to use his tuk-tuk over the next few days if we needed one, but now there is no chance.  We give him a bit of money for his time and make our escape to the restaurant of the Golden Temple.

Over a delicious plate of Khmer amok (vegetables & meat in a coconut-y sauce) and an Angkor beer, we look up a few accommodation options.  We find two places for $7-8 which are just north of the market area (better for cycling to Angkor Wat which is north of the city, and probably more peaceful for sleeping!) so we walk to the first one.  It's another big room, this time with 2 double beds and a bathtub, so we decide to take it.  Lisa immediately falls asleep while Chris arranges our bicycle hire and checks out an alternative guesthouse for the next night. Unfortunately, the other place is not quite as nice, this view being cemented by Chris stepping in cat poo courtesy of the guesthouse´s resident moggy!  Lisa does eventually wake up (at 1:30am!?) and makes use of the vaunted bathtub  =).


Our first task the next day (after devouring the free breakfast!) is to go to the post office. We take our “new” bikes for a spin and find it alongside the small river which divides the town. We get some prices for shipping our unneeded sleeping bags to Canada (way too much!) and decide just to send the beads Lisa bought in Thailand plus a few souvenirs...now we just need to package up the stuff & actually ship it.  We weren't sure which items would be going so we just brought a list of guesstimated weights. 

On our way out we meet an elderly man who was asleep on a bench by the river – he suddenly pops up & addresses us in French. We have a little chat with him en francais which seems to please him immensely. It's only really recently that Lisa realised that Cambodia is an ex-French colony...so, many of the older people speak French as their first language. This really ups our chances of being understood!

We decide that we have enough time to cycle to Angkor Wat, which is a couple of miles north of town. It's a pretty pleasant ride for the first part, along the river and through the forest, but then we join the main road which is really busy with tuk-tuks, motorcycles, cars, trucks, bicycles, pedestrians.... It's a bit intimidating but the road has a good shoulder in most places so we manage OK. Like much of the temple ruins we´ll see later, the main road is very long and very straight. 

We come to a ticket office where we buy a 2-day ticket. Happily they don't need to be consecutive days, since we aren't sure what our plans are for tomorrow...but we already know that one afternoon will not be enough for Angkor Wat! We continue on the road, now passing through a forest again, and eventually reach what looks like a large moat. The scale of this puts most European castles to shame. It's huge! It takes us a good 5 minutes to bike one quarter of the perimeter to get to the main entrance.  We weave amongst the tourist tuk-tuks to a large parking area. We can just see the towers of Angkor Wat over the trees to our right.

We realise that we're pretty hungry, but the options here are limited – a really expensive, air conditioned sandwich shop; a ridiculously expensive French restaurant; or one of a series of nondescript noodle places. We opt for the latter and have an edible but non-memorable meal. Now we're fuelled up and ready to explore! On our way through the parking lot, various people try to get us to buy their wares (which all seem to cost $1, oddly)....the funniest is a woman who tries to sell us water. When we show her our full bottle and say “maybe later” she insists we should buy it now – because we won't be near her stall when we need water “later”!  But it's not too pushy overall so it's easy to say no & carry on.

So that we don´t risk missing out on it, what with our famous laissez faire attitude to closing times, we decide to visit the main Angkor Wat complex first. Although the whole area is known as Angkor Wat this properly refers to the most complete temple complex, with the other ruins spread out over a very wide area, hence the bikes.


The entrance is a long stone bridge with a couple of weathered Nagas acting as balustrades; we recognised these hydra-like serpents from temple architecture in Thailand.  There is a multitude of outer and inner courtyards and the buildings themselves often consist of long corridors on all four sides. The walls are covered in a profusion of carvings, telling stories from Hindu, later overtaken by Buddhist, mythology and lore. One of the most famous carvings is the 'Churning of the Ocean of Milk', which looks like a huge tug of war between gods and demons, using an enormous serpent as a rope! There are stories told on the other walls and a profusion of dancing women and yogis in the lotus position. As well as the 'story panels' most of the surfaces here are decorated in some way, making the many towers look almost neo-gothic.

We tromp through seemingly endless corridors, circling ever inwards and we are rewarded by sudden vistas over incised and vine-wrapped rooftops or turning a corner to discover a hidden shrine or statue. We finally find our way to the Bakan, the central and highest shrine, only to find it is closed for cleaning (hmm). We vow to return tomorrow.


It's getting late as we leave the temple but there is a lot more exploring to do. We pedal quickly over the river, through the huge stone Gate of Victory, and past a long line of more demons and gods taking part in a tug of war on either side of the road. We soon come to an intersection where the road to our right will take us to some ruined temples & other points of interest... but a policeman & a guard are positioned at this junction and tell us the road is already closed for the evening. We decide to insist and promise to cycle really quickly...amazingly, this is successful and we're allowed to pass.
This part of the cycle journey is the best – hardly any traffic and beautiful forest all around us. Every once in a while we whizz past a ruin or a tower, and as sunset is turning the sky coral & pink we pause to admire a particularly large, beautiful red ruined temple (we think it's the one where Tomb Raider was filmed), which is in the process of being restored.

There's one problem though – after the sunset dims, so does the light of course, and we have no idea where the end of this road is. It's taking much longer than we expected and we're worried about cycling back to town in the dark, especially since our pedal-powered lights are not very reliable. Chris straps on his headtorch and Lisa tries to hold a small flashlight alongside her handlebars, but it's still pretty hard to see at times. We are fortunate to notice a GIANT pothole just in time! Eventually we make it back to the main circuit (phew!) and stop to have some water and rearrange our lighting. A passing car stops to ask us if we are OK. Did we mention how NICE Cambodian people are?

The main roads through town are quieter at night so we manage to cycle almost all the way home without too many scary moments. We decide to lock up the bikes and hit the Night Market - Lisa needs a new watch, since the strap on her Breo broke recently, and we want to check out the “new” food market area. Unfortunately the latter turns out to be rather like a food court at a mall – ie. mostly fried, fast food – so after bartering for a fake Gucci watch (we know it's fake because we paid $5!), we head to Pub Street in search of food.

There is a great bakery there where we pick up a day-old loaf for a bargain price, but their regular fare is too expensive. Rather randomly, we end up in a Mexican restaurant where we have some soft and translucent spring rolls with fresh greens inside (delicious!) and some Mexican mains (nondescript). A mojito washes it all down nicely =) Then we stumble back home, exhausted; crush a few bugs that will keep Chris awake with worry; and collapse into bed.

The next day is soggy so we have a leisurely breakfast and get some planning done for the next leg of the trip.  We're considering taking the famous boat trip from Siem Riep to Battambang but we are told by some helpful online sources that it is not yet wet enough and the rivers will be of questionable depth. We end up watching ´Journey 2: the Mysterious Island´; not a great use of our time, but comforting. We belatedly try to get on a dinner cruise down to the floating village but it´s too late in the day. Well, we guess today was all about taking it easy after all. Tomorrow will be a different matter!

We get up before the birds (around 4am), mount our bikes and head for the temples in the dark. The aim is to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat, while at the same time not have the moment spoiled by hordes of other tourists. The ride up mirrors our recent night-time ride but at least the light was waxing this time.

We arrive at the main entrance and spot a very welcome sight, a coffee truck. Lisa is particularly impressed by his entrepreneurial spirit, and Chris by his really good coffee!  Refuelled and with a renewed sense of purpose we head across the moat. Needless to say, it's a little busy within. We manage to find a spot on what was once a library (it must be some kind of homing instinct on Chris's part) and are approached by ´Lady Gaga´, who in addition to her singing also runs a stall selling breakfast. Who knew?


Sunrise (ish)
Alone at the Bayon!
The sunrise is nice, if a little underwhelming (rainy season equals clouds). Memorable pictures are taken and then, in a clever wheeze to avoid the crowds, we scarper from the main temple in order to visit the Bayon, which had been closed the other evening. This works well as there's only one other couple there and we get to roam around unimpeded. Almost as famous as the main temple, the Bayon features square towers topped with large, enigmatically smiling stone faces on each side. Of course it also has many other carvings and story panels, one featuring an unfortunate man becoming a crocodile's lunch. The Bayon is less imposing but more atmospheric than the main complex, maybe because it is still in a somewhat disreputable state of reconstruction.
We take a quick spin to visit an atmospheric overgrown temple that we whizzed pass at twilight during day 1.  Then we overtake a train of elephants on our way back to Angkor Wat, hopeful that we will get a chance to enter the Bakan this time. They have finished whatever they were doing (full moon ceremonies, apparently) and we are told to conceal shoulders and legs as we ascend the steps with a line of other visitors. Being the highest part of the temple we get some great views over the rest of the buildings and surrounding jungle. The interior is like the larger temple in miniature; a little maze filled with sudden shrines and ancient vistas.  It's very hushed inside which makes a nice change from the usual tour group  chatter.

We speed back to our hotel in time to return the bikes, where Chris gets a chance to sample some fried bugs (they taste like soy sauce), then catch the bus to Phnom Penh.  More beautiful scenery speeding past on the other side of a bus window, argh!  And it's hard to believe that the rivers are too low for boat travel - the ditches are all flooded and a lot of the flat countryside distinctly resembles a swamp...