Angkor

Everyone says a visit to Southeast Asia isn't complete without a visit to Angkor, the massive complex of temples built by the Khmer civilization between 900 and 1200 AD.

Siem Reap is the town just south of Angkor that hosts the some 2 million visitors that come every year.
From SR, most of the temples are less than 15 km, with some of the further temples another 35-45 km away.

There are hundreds of tuk-tuk drivers serving the streets of SR, and it being low season when we visited, everywhere you went, you heard "tuk-tuk, sir?"

We hired a tuk-tuk for the first 2 days of our Angkor visit, because we were following the recommendation of our Lonely Planet guidebook for a 3-day tour of Angkor.

The first morning, we visited some smaller temples, called the "Roulos Group" which are some of the earliest temples remaining from this empire.

In the afternoon, Mr. Nat took us to some of the other popular temples on the "big circuit".

There are 2 main circuits set out for people wanting to tour the temples on their own, usually by bicycle. The "small circuit" takes you past Angkor Wat (the biggest and most famous) and through Angkor Thom, the walled city that contains several notable sites. The big circuit takes you past more of the bigger temples further from town.

The second day, we visited Ta Prohm, the huge sprawling temple that has been used as a film location for various movies, including Angelina Jolie's "Tomb Raider".
This temple was abandoned when the Khmer empire fell in the 15th century. However, during that same time, the monks remained at Angkor Wat and maintained it.
But nature was given free rein at Ta Prohm, and you can see the results. It was amazing to walk through and see the ongoing fight between man and nature.

Later that day, we headed out to Bantey Srei, one of the temples about 35 km from town. The tuk-tuk took us through some beautiful countryside
and we stopped at one house to say hello to some children that Nat knew, and to give them some of the coloured pens we bought to give to the children selling souvenirs at the temples.

At this point, we were getting a little "templed out", but as all the temples are quite different, they were still interesting.

On the third day, we decided to rent bicycles and see Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom at our own speed. It was an easy 30 minute ride out to Angkor Wat, but it was the hottest day thus far in Cambodia.
We quickly went through the water we took, and bought a few more bottles from the children who are at the entrance to nearly every temple.

Angkor Wat was incredible, and even though the center tower was closed for upgrading and maintenance, we still got to see all the incredible wall carvings and different features of the temple.

Some of the wall carvings in Angkor Wat.

"The Churning of the Sea of Milk", a mythological scene from Vishnu lore. The gods and demons use the serpent Visuki as a cord wrapped around the the holy Mount Mandera, which rises from the Sea of Milk. By pulling alternately on the serpent, together they churn the primordial ocean in order to produce amrita, the elixer of immortality.

The public bath in Angkor Wat.

After a quick lunch, we set off to Angkor Thom, and passed a family of monkeys on the way. There were a few women selling bunches of bananas to feed the monkeys, only $1 for about 10 small bananas.
So we spent a bit of time getting to know the monkeys. One was missing one front arm, so we made sure he got a couple of bananas.

In Angkor Thom, we visited Bayon, the temple of a thousand faces. As the guidebook says, it just looks like a pile of rocks from a distance, but once you get close, you can see all the incredible stonework and faces carved into the towers.

At this point, we had had just about enough of temples. However, on the way home, we stopped by two more sites that were highly recommended; the Terrace of the Elephants, and the Palace of the Leper King.

Cambodia-

The road from Poipet (the border town in Cambodia) to Siem Reap (near the temples of Angkor) is famously bad. Much worse than you'd even expect, given Cambodia's extreme poverty. The fact is (or rumour has it) Bangkok Airways, which has the only contract to fly between Bangkok and Siem Reap, is paying the government a bribe to indefinitely stall the upgrade. The work is going, as slowly as possible, and the road is TERRIBLE! And it's a 3.5 hour trip. So once their contract finishes and other airlines are able to fly that route, the construction will presumably be completed. So please boycott Bangkok Airways for this low-handed corruption.

One of the countless detours we went through.




While in Bangkok, we met a guy named Viroth, who owns a restaurant and hotel in Siem Reap. He told us we should only pay around $30 per taxi (max 4 people) to get from the border to Siem Reap. However, once we got into Cambodia, we ran into another neat little setup.

Once through the border, we boarded what they called a "tourist shuttle bus" which took us, for free, to where we could get a taxi. Once there (with a couple of German guys who crossed the border with us) we agreed on a taxi. However, the cheapest they could offer was $60. And when I asked about the price I'd been told by Viroth, they gave me a story saying that price was only private drivers, not companies, and that the police cleared out all the private drivers early in the day, gesturing to the uniformed man sitting in the corner. So we had the option of going off looking for another cab (just Yoshi and I; the Germans didn't want to bother) and maybe getting one for $30. Or just going in the cab with 4, and still paying only $15 each. So in the interest of not rocking the boat, we agreed on the $60. On the way, I figured out their deal. The "shuttle bus" was not a free service for tourists, it was that company's bus, which is why they only brought us to that particular taxi company. And the "policeman" was just another guy on the payroll to offer some support to the story. He may have even been a policemen; in these countries, they all have their price.

So we got to Siem Reap, passing by 3 hours of mostly flat, mostly flooded, countryside. The road was under construction most of the way, with repeated detours around half-finished bridges. Children swam in the flow of the culverts passing under the road, and cows and water buffalo roamed freely. At one point, we had to slow to a crawl to make our way through a herd of cows wandering down the road.

In Siem Reap, we were dropped on the outskirts of the city at a tuk-tuk stand, where we transferred to 2 separate vehicles to take us the rest of the way into town. They were very helpful; took us past 3 different guest-houses before we finally found the one we wanted. It was a simple place, about a 5-minute walk from the main downtown. 2 single beds, basic bathroom, cold-water shower. But it didn't have very good ventilation, and by the end of our 4 days there, Yoshi had a nagging cough that I suspect is from the musty smell (and maybe the pesticide we sprayed every night to ensure a mosquito-free night). Picture: Yoshi in our guesthouse

Our first day, we wandered around the town, got some dinner, shopped for some necessities, tried to use the internet (with little luck) and met up with Viroth (the Cambodian guy we met in Bangkok) for some tips for our temple tour the next day. It's slow season in Siem Reap, so there are hundreds of tuk-tuk drivers sitting around trying to get a fare. Everywhere you go, you hear, "tuk-tuk, sir?". It seems like the national greeting...

Picture: Yoshi at Viroth's restaurant

Thailand, Part 1

Day 4, around 3 pm.

We have finally arrived in Thailand, and headed straight to our B&B for a little relaxing by the pool and a much-needed workout in the gym.

The next day, we headed out to get some things done. I wanted to get to Khao San Road (the backpackers ghetto/heaven, depending on who you talk to) for a little discount shopping (very little, mind you; the bags are already full) and to exchange some money, and to get our bus tickets to Aranya Prathet, the little town east of Bangkok on the border with Cambodia. We decided to do the trip to Siem Reap over two days, rather than one long marathon.














Pictures: Riding the river ferry, with a large turtle destined for someone's dinner. When I asked the owner how much it would cost to buy and drop into the river, I was told $30.

Some Buddhist monks on their way to the temple for the festival.

However, it turned out to be a public holiday in Bangkok, which was good and bad. Good because all the tuk-tuk (motorcycle taxis) drivers took you anywhere for only 10 Bt (30 cents) but bad because the market was closed. So we just headed to the bus station, found our 3:15 bus, and
said a sad goodbye to Bangkok.

Around 8 pm, we arrived in Aranya Prathet, found the guesthouse recommended in Lonely Planet (LP) had a little dinner and went to bed.

Our tuk-tuk driver from that night offered to meet us in the morning to get our photos taken for our Cambodia visa, and then take us to the border, which was very convenient. However, he dropped us off at this building about 500m from the border crossing, where the very official looking men assured us that that was the only place we could get our visas, unless we wanted to wait 3 days or go all the way back to Bangkok. However, everything they said contradicted LP. The visa is supposed to cost $20 (plus "service charges", which is whatever you haggle the border guys down to) and require 1 photo. These guys wanted $30 and 2 photos. And they were very smooth; one even spoke Japanese rather well, so when Yoshi and I were trying to discuss our options without them understanding, they were still able to listen.

Finally, I decided to say thank-you and goodbye, and go on to the real border, where I was sure we could get our visas. That decision was confirmed when the one guy told the most outrageous lie, telling me that if we left Thailand without our visas for Cambodia, we wouldn't be able to come back. But obviously, I can't leave Thailand unless I can get into Cambodia. And I can't get into Cambodia unless I have a visa. So no problem, right?

No problem. They were just an operation set up to get a little more money from tourists. We would have gotten our visas, but paid a little more for the service. As it turned out, our "service charge" at the border ended up being about 200 Bt ($6) each, so we only saved around $4. But it's the principle of it!

Next stop, Cambodia.

Hong Kong and Macau...to fill in the blanks and answer the questions

Whew...it is now 6:15 pm on Day 10 of the "Trip of a lifetime!" and I am finally sitting in a comfortable internet cafe, with a high-speed connection, and computers that have so far, not crashed. However, I wasn't exactly prepared for this, so there are still no pictures.

So from the beginning...Day 1, Thursday, Oct.2, 2008. The night before, we managed to get everything packed, shipped, given away, and otherwise disposed of and to our friends Gerald & Shig's place for dinner and to spend the night. In the morning, caught the bus to the airport, got on our plane, dried Yoshi's tears, and were off to Hong Kong. We made our way to our friend Spyros' apartment on "The Peak" on HK Island, where he lives in a HUGE empty apartment in one of the buildings called "the Chopsticks", so called because they are side-by-side stick-thin skyscrapers; apparently the tallest residential towers in HK, possibly in all of Mainland Asia.

We stayed there for about two and a half days, and did almost nothing other than hang out in his nest. We were still completing our immigration application, which was the first priority. With a couple of hitches, we finally got that done and posted, so I could move on to worrying about if I did it correctly or not.

Leaving HK we hit our first snag. We checked in online, and then failed to get to the airport on time to catch our flight...by about 10 minutes! And the best Cathay Pacific could offer was about $400 per person to fly the next day. So we headed back to Spyros', got online and managed to find a flight leaving from Macau the next day at 11am, for about $150 each. Not bad...much better than I had even hoped.

So that is how we ended up in Macau, for those who saw my status on Facebook. We caught the 7:30 am ferry, rode through a typhoon, caught the local bus to the airport (which in itself wasn't the easiest, as most people in Macau speak Portuguese...and I don't.

From Macau, we went to Bangkok, arriving about 14 hours later than planned. All's well that ends well, I guess. And it's another stamp on the passport!

Next up, Thailand Part 1...

Sayonara!

Reuben;
So after almost 3.5 years, my time in Japan has come to an end. And at just the right time, I would say...I didn't overstay, so I don't hate Japan and never want to come back! But I'm not sad to leave; obviously I'm sad to say goodbye to a lot of good people, and a few very special awesome friends, but I know I'll see them again.

Having left Canada to come to Japan, I have a little experience saying "So long" to people and knowing it might be a long time until we meet again. But when I left Canada, I knew I'd be back someday, and until then, for fairly regular visits. But leaving Japan was different; I very possibly might never be back. Of course I now have "in-laws" there, and lots of friends, but who knows when I'll actually get the chance to return. Someday...

And now we're off on our tour before landing back in Canada. The last few weeks were unbelievably busy! I got back from teaching in Korea late August, and had about 5 weeks to wrap everything up in Japan. Simultaneously, I was working on my application to return to school next year (to hopefully study naturopathy in Vancouver); working on our immigration application for Yoshi to come with me to Canada; selling/packing/giving away 3 years of accumulated stuff; saying goodbye to a LOT of people; and planning 2 months of travels on as little a budget as possible!

Now for those of you who wonder how we have so much money for this trip, the simple answer is, "We don't!" But if all goes well, it won't cost that much. Traveling in South-East Asia is about as cheap as living in Japan; you can get by easily on about $20/day in Thailand, without including extras like scuba diving or rock climbing. But hotel, meals, and some simple bus travel can easily be covered for that price. And we figured the time to do a trip like this is when we're not paying rent. So the only difference is that we'll be unemployed for 3 months. And I can't say I'm not looking forward to it!

Our rough itenerary; we left Japan this morning at 10 am and flew to Hong Kong (HK). The ticket we ended up getting from Osaka to Bangkok (BKK) was with Cathay Pacific, based in HK. So we already had a 2-hour layover scheduled. So we just extended that to 2.5 days so we could see a bit of one more city. Plus we have a friend living here who is letting us stay at his (GORGEOUS!) apartment.

From here, we've tried to balance the culture (temples), city life, beaches and jungles.

On Saturday, we'll fly to BKK and be there for a couple of days. Then we'll take the bus to Siam Reap, Cambodia, to visit Angkor Wat for a few days. From there, we'll fly to Luang Prabang, Laos. Overland travel in that little part of the world is slow and UNCOMFORTABLE! We could spend about 30 hours over 3 days in buses, or we can fly in 2 hours for about $190. Not a hard choice!

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with beautiful architecture from when Laos was a French colony. We'll stay there a few days, then go to the north part of Laos to do a 3 or 4 day trek. Then head west to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand for a few days. We fly out of Chiang Mai on October 21st, to Phuket, in southern Thailand. We'll be there, Ko Phi Phi and Krabi for about a week total, scuba diving and snorkelling in Ko Phi Phi and rock climbing in Krabi; both sites are among the best in the world for their respective sports!

From there we'll go to Pulua Perhentian, on the east coast of Malaysia right near the Thai border. As long as the monsoon season holds off, we'll stay a few days, then go into the interior to Taman Nagara, a big jungle national park, for another 2-3 days hiking and animal watching.

Then we'll spend about 6 days split between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, before we fly to Perth on November 12th. We'll visit friends there until the 22nd, then fly to Sydney to visit friends, then fly to Hawaii on the 29th.

The only reason we even decided to see Hawaii is because that's the cheapest way to fly between Sydney and Toronto; going that way, you fly Jetstar from Sydney to Honolulu, then an American airline on to Toronto (in our case, Delta offered the cheapest ticket!) So we'll spend a long weekend in Honolulu and fly to Toronto (via Salt Lake City) on December 3rd.

So I have my laptop along on the trip, and we hope to update this regularly, with pictures! I hope you all follow along on our trip (sort of) around the world!