I was lucky enough to tack on a few extra days off on both sides of my vacation this month which enabled us to have 3 weeks to explore Southeast Asia. We started in Thailand where we worked our way through Bangkok, Chang Mai, Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands and then capped it off with a refreshing dose of reality during our week long stay in Cambodia.
Having the extra days off really gave us more flexibility than we had originally planned so once we arrived in Bangkok we were happy to realize that we could take things slow and really explore each place we visited. Our days were full and active, but we took plenty of time to smell the roses as well.
I'll do my best to highlight some of the more memorable snapshots from our most recent journey.Bangkok is a big city. Lots of smog. Lots of begging, not unlike any major city. But its a very first world place. You can get a room anywhere from a $15 guest house to the Four Seasons. There are temples scattered all over the place which provide for a nice resting spot during your day. If we were tired we just popped into a temple, which were usually cooler and quieter, and just hung out for awhile. Some of the temples were amazing. They really like their Buddhas. Apparently the bigger and the golder the better. We learned lots about Buddhism on this trip (more on that later). It was hard not to be in awe of some of the Buddha statues, some were quite ornate with thousands of diamonds and other gems, while others were just room filling gigantic gold plated statues as high 30 meters. To me the size, grandeur and frequency of the Buddha statues all over the place was a bit in your face. But I'm learning more and more that our Western viewpoint on religion having its base in Christianity or Judaism makes it very difficult to understand the cultural aspect of why some Eastern religions do many of the things they do.
Bangkok was fun, but I don't need to go back. Things are still pretty cheep, but as a white guy they try to overcharge you for everything from taxi fares to bottled water. We spent a few days hitting the major sights like the Kings Palace with the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the Temple of the Rising Sun, The Reclining Buddha Temple and several others. Its pretty easy to get templed out if you're not careful. But each one is uniquely amazing and ornate and can be a relaxing place to take a load off and just sit and be quiet in the middle of what could be a hectic day. We took lots of water taxis and spent lots of time being shuttled around the river or exploring the city on foot. Bangkok is a very tourist friendly town with lots of restaurants, good public transportation and enough sights, sounds and smells to last a lifetime.
We really liked the food, of course. Vicki was pretty much in heaven. She didn't quite attain Nirvana, but was pretty enlightened by all the new tastes. The fruits were pretty different and it was somewhat adventurous to try them. We enjoyed going to many of the markets around town. They have a really big flower market that was cool to walk around and it seems like you can buy just about anything in their huge Weekend Market just north of town. We had a great time getting lost in mind and body throughout the maze of merchants that spanned several acres of the city.
One day we took a side trip north to the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. There we were able to explore some ruins and see what Bangkok will look like in about 700 years. Ha ha. But Thailand has a longstanding history of being invaded by Myanmar (it will always be Burma to me) which is evidenced by the destruction the past armies have left in many of the older religious sites and cities. Today, Ayuttaya is basically completely in ruins so while we were looking at the places we visited its was hard to imagine the splendor that once existed. But we were able to learn a bit about the history of the region during our visit which made us glad we took the time to get up there.
We next flew up to Chang Mai for about a week. I was expecting a smaller village like experience, but Chang Mai is a pretty big and bustling place. The Tuk Tuk drivers are insane. We had some pretty memorable rides across town. In Chang Mai we ate really well, shopped till I couldn't take it anymore, rode some elephants, petted some tigers, celebrated the Chinese New Year, learned how to make paper out of elephant poop and had an interesting evening talking to a Buddhist Monk which was one of the main highlights of the trip.
The whole elephant experience was pretty unique albeit quite touristy. You start out with an "Elephant Show" which basically consists of exploitation of the animals to the extreme. But it was cool to see how smart they are. I watched an elephant paint a self portrait that would put Van Gough to shame. We then boarded the back of Lombo, a friendly and not too stinky elephant of 15 years. He really didn't like to walk more than a few hundred feet without eating some sugar cane, but I can't really blame him. He delivered us safely across two rivers and it turned out to be a pretty fun ride. It was great to get out into the countryside and escape the constant noise of the city while sitting atop such a massive animal that seemed so fierce yet careful and precise at the same time.
Our last night in Chang Mai was spent at an out of town Temple where we took part in a "Monk Chat". We got to sit down one on one with a novice monk and ask him any questions we had. We took the opportunity to learn as much as we could about Buddhism in general and about the day to day life of a Monk. After being in country for a bit already, we had lots of questions and were curious about many different things. It was really cool, and his English was quite good. He didn't convince me to convert, but I can see how the simplicity of their lifestyle could be an attractive one for many people. I found numerous holes in the theology he described and felt comfortable asking him some questions that went below the surface. It was a really casual and respectful conversation and Vic and I have a very fond memory of that encounter.
We then headed down south to Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands. I'm not really sure why anyone goes to Phuket except if its to leave. I will say that the West coast does have really long and fine sandy beaches, but we didn't see what all the hype was about. We were glad we only used Phuket as a launching point for Kho Phi Phi. It's about an hour boat from Phuket and they are said to be really pretty islands and we were expecting a nice couple of days to just relax on the beach. We reserved a great resort and were very happy except for a few minor details. There are lots of restaurants on the beach, each competing to be the loudest and unofficial "place to be". Phi Phi it seems has turned into the Cancun of South East Asia. There are still serene and pretty places to hide out, but you have to make a pretty decent effort to get away from the crowds and noise. There are lots of restaurants on the beach and the night life is booming. We got used to it and joined in a bit, but just had to change our mindset once we got there that it wasn't going to be the secluded retreat that we had hoped. Knowing we would head home to a tropical island helped us not care too much.
All in all, we did enjoy ourselves and relaxed a great deal. One day we spent diving, (vicki snorkeled) and I saw some really different coral and animal life. There was a really cool Tiger Shark that didn't seem to be too impressed with us and some great fan coral and really big lobsters and sting rays. I was pretty glad I didn't get too lazy to go diving and it turned out to be a really fun day. We stopped for lunch at the bay where Leonardo De Caprio screwed everything up at in "The Beach", its a pretty popular place for day trippers and for the dive boats to have their surface time. It was a nice beach, but overrun with tourism. If we had to do it over again, we would head for Railey Island about an hour south of Phi Phi, word of mouth tells us its more along the lines of what we were looking for.
After our little R & R we geared up for what would turn out to be one of the more eye opening places we've ever visited. Going to Cambodia was a good decision. To our surprise, the American dollar was everywhere, even out of the ATM's. So that was nice. And everything is quite cheep. 50 cent beer cheep. They have nice and ample accommodations and very friendly people who are well spoken and welcoming. I felt pretty safe and comfortable there. We arrived in Siem Reap and were eager to start learning about the history and ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. Or taxi driver turned out to be one hell of a great guy who introduced us to his close friend who was a certified tour guide. We spent the next two days with Mr. Woean and Kean our trusty Driver and Temple Guide respectively. They really took care of us and showed us some great aspects of their country.
We started off for a sunrise at Angkor Wat that didn't disappoint even though it was a very popular thing to do. Then we spent the next few days exploring several old temples and ruins; Angkor Thom, Bayon and Prea Khan to name a few. These temples were awesome, on par with the Egyptians in my opinion, not in scale but definitely in ingenuity, detail and craftsmanship. Our days were long, hot and dusty but we really enjoyed seeing and learning about Cambodia's past from Kean. It was not just a job for him but his hobby. He grew up adjacent to Angor Wat and told us stories of Vietnamese Army tanks driving in front of his house when he was a child. It was really great to have such a personal touch added to our experience.
After two solid days its somewhat easy to desire a change of venue and Vicki really wanted to go to Phnom Penh (pronounced pa-nom pain) to learn more about the recent Civil War and to see the capital city. I was pretty against traveling to yet another destination and didn't want to deal with working out the logistics of it all, but next thing I knew we found ourselves on a bus headed for the capital. In the end Vicki was right and I was pretty happy we made the extra effort even though it might not have been ideal conditions (6 hour bus ride with Cambodian Karaoke videos the entire time, arggg). We were only in Phnom Penh for 36 hours but we got a healthy dose of reality.
After a quick but thorough visit to Cambodia's Royal Palace and National Museum we headed out to learn more about Cambodia's recent history. The S-21 prison was a former High School turned interrogation center. To this day many former Khmer Rouge service members deny its existence and purpose, much like Germany's concentration camps. It's a really sad and somber place. We were guided around in a very private and quiet way by a lady who told us more about the atrocities that occurred in that place than we thought were humanly possible. She herself had lost her Father and Brother to the Khmer Rouge and as a child walked for 3 months to the Northwestern part of the country where she was allowed to serve the people who killed her family by working 18 hours a day in the fields. Puts a new perspective on mowing lawns and raking leaves for the Big L.
I kept thinking that you never know by looking at a person what they've been through. I would have never guessed that this lady had such a story. And then it occurred to us that pretty much everybody over the age of 30 in Cambodia has some sort of ridiculous story similar to hers. And if you were lucky enough to be born in recent years, you probably know someone or you yourself have been blown up or lost a limb by one of the 1-2 million land mines still buried around the countryside. It's a consensus that things are leaps and bounds better now than before and that each year is an improvement, but there are still 3-400 deaths a year from random people stepping on land mines.
We furthered our reality check at the Killing Fields south of town. Like a concentration camp in that there were mass graves and its really sad, but different in that most prisoners were simply shot right as they stepped off the trucks. Good times. It was hard to imagine what we were doing as kids as all this was going on in the early 80's. I was pretty wrapped up in Kick the Can and Frogger those days. While there are plenty of countries in this world that are humane and all around decent places to live, this trip was a constant reminder that a large part of our planet doesn't have any concept of how cushy Westerners actually have it. They know we have money and plumbing that works, but I wonder if they really know the level of comfort we enjoy not only in our infrastructure but in our security and the general human respect most of us have for each other. We truly live in one of the best possible environments on Earth and I find it being drilled into my conscience more and more that the concepts of actually feeding the hungry, clothing the naked or giving money to those in need are not simply absurd or outlandish ideas.
Below are some pictures. Your comments are welcome!!!
Royal Palace and home of The Emerald Buddha
The Emerald Buddha side hall
Random gigantic Buddha: 60 feet tall
Sitting Buddha at the ruins in Ayutthaya
Reclining Buddha in Ayutthaya
Mountain girl I paid 10 cents to photograph. Quite the little entrepreneur, she was making a killing.
Sunset in Chang Mai
Matt and Vicki ride an elephant
They were having a huge festival during our one night in Phuket. Apparently VW's are all the rage.
Water taxi in the Koh Phi Phi Islands
Our view from the Bay View Resort in Phi Phi
Sunrise over Angkor Wat
The gates of Angkor Thom
Bayon Temple , it always feels like someone is watching you. Yeah, I know I'm rockin a phat goatee. I just hacked it off today. 46 days without shaving, a new personal best.
The faces of Bayon
Vicki poses at Thao Phrom. Nature has regained it foothold and come full circle in that this tree is now the only thing keeping this temple from collapsing. (note: we were told several times that this is where Tomb Raider was filmed)
Our amazing guide, Kean, and equally wonderful driver, Mr. Woen. Two very hospitable and fun guys.
Probably the second most sad place I've ever been. This is the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh where over 20,000 innocent Cambodians were tortured in ways beyond the scope of this blog. All but 5 were later killed randomly.
Opium pipes for sell at Siem Reap's Old Market, tempting to have as a work of art but not worth the risk of bringing drug residue back to the States. Guam has lots of sniffing dogs.
