as promised, we decided to think back on the past month and capture the little things that have made this trip so memorable for us. these are far from deep and in no particular order (and honestly, without much editorializing, might not even make sense to anyone other than us), but here goes:
best moments...
- sitting at sabai ba bar in krabi, thailand, in our tree house perch watching the sun go down with the most entertaining hits of the 80s and 90s playing in the background (e.g. Extreme "More Than Words")
- kim looking over at andrew during our vietnamese cooking class at brother's cafe in hoi an, and finding that while she had peeled her eggplant quickly and skillfully, andrew had absolutely massacred the poor thing
- fearing death as we crossed the streets in saigon for the first time
- hearing our wedding song (which, mind you, we don't think we've ever heard played on the radio in the U.S.) playing in the van going through krabi jungles, sitting in siem reap airport AND in our hotel room in koh samui
- making eye contact with at each other after our thai masseuses left the room, saying virtually in unison "that was torture" and laughing hysterically in hindsight
- sitting watching the sunset on the outside daybeds at X2 in koh samui...and andrew saying something that made kim cry in a good way
- dinner at mango rooms in hoi an, sitting in the upstairs balcony looking over the pristine river lit by candlelight and red lanterns
- kim's first game of pool at larry's bar over some large mugs of saigon beer
- our first night of private dining in our villa at X2 in koh samui, with votive candles all around and the sounds of our waterfall in the background
- meeting thia, our stark black elephant in cambodia, and enjoying feeling her prickly skin with our bare feet and she rode us down from the ancient temple
- deciding the best way to spend our last night in bangkok was to eat subway sandwiches, drink beer and watch our favorite show (the wire, in case you're wondering) in the luscious air conditioning of our hotel room
- realizing our swan boat was going to take us about 5 feet for every 5 minutes of exertion we put into pedaling that wretched thing, but doing it anyway
- enjoying the nighttime breeze and some cocktails at the rooftop bar on the 61st floor of the banyan tree hotel
superlatives...
- best restaurant: wild rice (hanoi)
- best buffet breakfast: duxton hotel (saigon)
- best hotel overall: X2 (koh samui)
- best sunset: krabi
- best tour guide: duong (hanoi)
- most likely to be a hot spot soon: danang
- best nighttime atmosphere: hoi an
- favorite beverage: vietnamese coffee
- best asian beer: chang
- weirdest experience: dr. fish "massages"
- best american indulgence: tie - subway sandwiches and KFC
- best souvenir find: michael aram knock-offs
- most overwhelming market experience: bin thay, saigon
- destination most likely to lure us back: X2
- best books read along the way: the help (kim); the god delusion (andrew)
>>note: we read ten books altogether and are happy to share our reviews on the others
- best massage: waree raksa hot springs (krabi)
reflections...
- january seems like the most perfect time to head to this part of the world. not only is the weather the best that it gets, but there have been almost no tourists despite the fact that it's high season. we think it's because everyone traveled for xmas/new years and aren't ready to hit the road again yet.
- kim should wear her hair curly more often. and ouidad is the best curly hair product ever made.
- as excited as we are to have our own kids someday, we like our resorts kid-free. peaceful sunsets aren't quite the same with wailing babies around.
- waking up to enjoy an extensive buffet breakfast every day is an amazing way to live; you just have to be willing to pay the lb piper.
- we're big fans of taking a month off to travel. and we wish life let that happen more often.
and... despite the amazing sights and food and scenery and relaxation that vietnam, cambodia and thailand have had to offer, the best part of the past month has been spending it together. believe it.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
21-27 january: koh samui and krabi
we've been busy reveling in the paradise of thai beaches, hence the lack of recent updates. "breakfast, sunning ourselves, reading, napping and relaxing....repeat" wouldn't have made for the liveliest of posts but it's certainly made for a pretty awesome week.
we first flew from bangkok to koh samui to arrive at our hotel, X2 (pronounced cross-two). from the very second we got there, we were nothing less than awe-inspired. it was hands down the most beautiful, peaceful, classy resort we've ever been to and we'd highly recommend anyone going to lengths to vacation here. you can get a sense for the decor from their website - and it holds the rare distinction of being even cooler in real life. we were taken on a quick tour of the grounds and led to our pool villa, which meant that we kind of had an entire one-bedroom apartment to ourselves, complete with a an 8x12' pool and waterfall. we rarely left our villa, since we had our own private pool, delicious air conditioning, apple tv and the lovely perk of no extra charge for any meal being served to us on our private veranda instead of at the restaurant. we'll stop gushing now.
all good things must come to an end, however, so we departed on monday for our final destination: krabi. we've been here for two days enjoying another beautiful hotel and today marks the last full day we have on our trip. it's kind of hard to believe. tomorrow we are taking a day trip to a remote spa with natural hot springs for a one last ultimate bout of relaxation. and...gasp...at 5pm we head to the airport to fly from krabi to bangkok, to tokyo, to our new home in washington dc.
kim wasn't given the nickname kim "lets make a moment" rem in middle school for nothing, so stayed tuned for our last post where we'll (who's kidding who...she'll) wax nostalgic about our month in paradise.
next up: reflections
we first flew from bangkok to koh samui to arrive at our hotel, X2 (pronounced cross-two). from the very second we got there, we were nothing less than awe-inspired. it was hands down the most beautiful, peaceful, classy resort we've ever been to and we'd highly recommend anyone going to lengths to vacation here. you can get a sense for the decor from their website - and it holds the rare distinction of being even cooler in real life. we were taken on a quick tour of the grounds and led to our pool villa, which meant that we kind of had an entire one-bedroom apartment to ourselves, complete with a an 8x12' pool and waterfall. we rarely left our villa, since we had our own private pool, delicious air conditioning, apple tv and the lovely perk of no extra charge for any meal being served to us on our private veranda instead of at the restaurant. we'll stop gushing now.
all good things must come to an end, however, so we departed on monday for our final destination: krabi. we've been here for two days enjoying another beautiful hotel and today marks the last full day we have on our trip. it's kind of hard to believe. tomorrow we are taking a day trip to a remote spa with natural hot springs for a one last ultimate bout of relaxation. and...gasp...at 5pm we head to the airport to fly from krabi to bangkok, to tokyo, to our new home in washington dc.
kim wasn't given the nickname kim "lets make a moment" rem in middle school for nothing, so stayed tuned for our last post where we'll (who's kidding who...she'll) wax nostalgic about our month in paradise.
next up: reflections
Thursday, January 21, 2010
20-21 january: bangkok, days 2 and 3
you can tell that we've been traveling for a while! our two free days in bangkok were spent doing whatever we wanted to do, versus what the guide books would have dictated. on wednesday, we had a leisurely start to our morning and didn't really head out for an activity until the early afternoon.
we hadn't yet indulged in thai massages so we decided to head over to a really nice (but surprisingly reasonable) spa we had passed while exploring the previous day. they were able to take us right away and we were on top of the world as we sipped tea, enjoyed the eucalyptus scents and had our initial foot baths. for anyone who hasn't gotten thai massages, it's usually described as a cross between yoga and a massage because the therapist is actually moving you and stretching you, as opposed to just massaging your muscles. we walked into a beautiful room with two little mattresses and put on our assigned karate uniforms, excited for a luxurios TWO hours ahead. we're laughing just writing this, because what actually transpired was the most torturous "massage" either of us have ever experienced!! ha. our therapists definitely knew what they were doing and had vice grips for hands, so every poke and prod was kind of excruciating. each of us silently suffered through, thinking we were just wimps until we looked at each other afterward and DIED laughing, admitting that it was absolute torture. maybe it was us, maybe it was them. either way, it's a funny story we won't soon forget. plus, andrew was told (in these exact words), "maybe you try oil massage (i.e. traditional massages we get in the u.s.). you back too strong. you no good thai massage." the compliments just keep on coming. kim is pissed.
that night we got dolled up and headed to a recommended spot -- vertigo, the rooftop bar at the banyan tree hotel. wow. we headed up the 61st floor and walked onto an absolutely gorgeous veranda overlooking all of bangkok's twinkling lights. it has an upscale vibe, a delightful breeze and the most perfect nighttime city view. we loved it. had some drinks and headed over to a different restaurant - baan khanita - that we really enjoyed. it was only later that we realized the mosquitos really enjoyed having us there as well. kim's feet had 25 bites between them (what is it with kim and the feet issues on this trip?)! oh well. small price to pay for a great night.
the next day was our last in bangkok and though the day's agenda wound up being anything but "native," it was a great day all around. did some separate exploring for the late morning, b/c kim saw some stores she wanted to head back to and andrew had an area of town he wanted to walk around. as andrew said, kim "be-bopped" around with her ipod to a street known for itsjewelry and housewares. if you recognize the housewares designer michael aram that kim is downright obsessed with, this must be where he actually gets his things made. she was successful in procuring some serving platters that match our other things at 1/3 what you would pay in the states (andrew could not have been happier at both the cost savings and the fact that he wasn't dragged along on this journey. he's less happy about having to carry around 10 pounds of hammered steel for the remainder of the trip). in a separate part of town, A walked around, took some pictures and enjoyed exploring some of bangkok's less-travelled alleys. highlight of his journey: seeing a thai-style venice beach outdoor weight room with monster truck tires for weights on a flat bench (seriously).
we then met up at the siam paragon, bangkok's huge movie theater on the top floor of their main shopping mall, for an afternoon showing of Avatar in 3-D. separate commentary on each: the movie theater itself is amazing, with graduating pricing for seating depending on the desirability of the location of the seats in the theater and their comfort level (this makes way too much sense for us to not have this in the states). even the lowest grade seats are huge, awesome recliners and we were almost tempted to just curl up and take a nap. there are at least 20 theaters, some for imax, some for 3-D, and the whole structure is super modern and clean. if there had been more movies in english, we probably would have spent the day. as for the movie itself, we LOVED it. just blown away.
we blogged about KFC but that evening might have been our "low" point (read: absolute high point in our opinion) -- we got foot-long turkey sandwiches from subway across the street, sat in our room with beers from 7-Eleven and watched re-runs of The Wire season 2 and a national geographic show on snake bites. sometimes you just need a night in...
next up: fly to koh samui
we hadn't yet indulged in thai massages so we decided to head over to a really nice (but surprisingly reasonable) spa we had passed while exploring the previous day. they were able to take us right away and we were on top of the world as we sipped tea, enjoyed the eucalyptus scents and had our initial foot baths. for anyone who hasn't gotten thai massages, it's usually described as a cross between yoga and a massage because the therapist is actually moving you and stretching you, as opposed to just massaging your muscles. we walked into a beautiful room with two little mattresses and put on our assigned karate uniforms, excited for a luxurios TWO hours ahead. we're laughing just writing this, because what actually transpired was the most torturous "massage" either of us have ever experienced!! ha. our therapists definitely knew what they were doing and had vice grips for hands, so every poke and prod was kind of excruciating. each of us silently suffered through, thinking we were just wimps until we looked at each other afterward and DIED laughing, admitting that it was absolute torture. maybe it was us, maybe it was them. either way, it's a funny story we won't soon forget. plus, andrew was told (in these exact words), "maybe you try oil massage (i.e. traditional massages we get in the u.s.). you back too strong. you no good thai massage." the compliments just keep on coming. kim is pissed.
that night we got dolled up and headed to a recommended spot -- vertigo, the rooftop bar at the banyan tree hotel. wow. we headed up the 61st floor and walked onto an absolutely gorgeous veranda overlooking all of bangkok's twinkling lights. it has an upscale vibe, a delightful breeze and the most perfect nighttime city view. we loved it. had some drinks and headed over to a different restaurant - baan khanita - that we really enjoyed. it was only later that we realized the mosquitos really enjoyed having us there as well. kim's feet had 25 bites between them (what is it with kim and the feet issues on this trip?)! oh well. small price to pay for a great night.
the next day was our last in bangkok and though the day's agenda wound up being anything but "native," it was a great day all around. did some separate exploring for the late morning, b/c kim saw some stores she wanted to head back to and andrew had an area of town he wanted to walk around. as andrew said, kim "be-bopped" around with her ipod to a street known for itsjewelry and housewares. if you recognize the housewares designer michael aram that kim is downright obsessed with, this must be where he actually gets his things made. she was successful in procuring some serving platters that match our other things at 1/3 what you would pay in the states (andrew could not have been happier at both the cost savings and the fact that he wasn't dragged along on this journey. he's less happy about having to carry around 10 pounds of hammered steel for the remainder of the trip). in a separate part of town, A walked around, took some pictures and enjoyed exploring some of bangkok's less-travelled alleys. highlight of his journey: seeing a thai-style venice beach outdoor weight room with monster truck tires for weights on a flat bench (seriously).
we then met up at the siam paragon, bangkok's huge movie theater on the top floor of their main shopping mall, for an afternoon showing of Avatar in 3-D. separate commentary on each: the movie theater itself is amazing, with graduating pricing for seating depending on the desirability of the location of the seats in the theater and their comfort level (this makes way too much sense for us to not have this in the states). even the lowest grade seats are huge, awesome recliners and we were almost tempted to just curl up and take a nap. there are at least 20 theaters, some for imax, some for 3-D, and the whole structure is super modern and clean. if there had been more movies in english, we probably would have spent the day. as for the movie itself, we LOVED it. just blown away.
we blogged about KFC but that evening might have been our "low" point (read: absolute high point in our opinion) -- we got foot-long turkey sandwiches from subway across the street, sat in our room with beers from 7-Eleven and watched re-runs of The Wire season 2 and a national geographic show on snake bites. sometimes you just need a night in...
next up: fly to koh samui
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
18-19 january: bangkok
after a short flight from siem reap, on which the airline served an absurdly large snack box (including both a chicken salad eggroll-ish wrap and a tuna salad sandwich) at 9am, we made it to bangkok and met our final tour guide "Natalie." a couple of thoughts on natalie: 1) think that's her real name? and 2) she's keenly interested in selling us stuff, namely additional tour packages and shopping experiences. within the first 10 minutes of meeting her acquaintence she had already foisted numerous "opportunities" upon us, from visiting "the world's largest gem factory" to signing up for a dinner cruise to having clothes made to shopping for "copy" (read: fake) handbags. it was unbelievable! and annoying. the good news is that we came away with some valuable knowledge about fake bags - did you know that there is a hierarchy of fake handbag manufacturers? you get the "class a" product from japan, fyi. aren't you jealous of everything we're already learning from natalie?
with no tour booked for the day and no particular agenda, we decided to spend some time exploring the city and getting our bearings. this led to an extended stroll around the city, starting from our hotel and proceeding through beautiful lumphini park and back again. all together it took a few hours. andrew loved it; kim was accepting. at least the flip flops held up. to make up for it, kim was able to partake in her first starbucks coffee since the trip began. unlike the cities we've visited so far, bangkok is more developed and significantly more infused with western businesses (hello mcdonald's, sbux, and subway...it's good to see you again!) there are also way more cars than motorbikes, and motorists obey traffic signals. crossing streets just got a whole lot easier.
after the self-created walking tour we headed back to the hotel for a little rest before heading out to dinner. oh yeah - we forgot to mention something key. our hotel, which is amazing on the inside, filled with wonderful amenities and "close" to many of the famous hotels in the city, is actually in a secondary red light district called nana (the primary one is patpong, for the record). this means that when we leave our hotel we get to see unattractive, overweight 60 year old european men courting (sometimes) skinny, (not always) attractive 20 (to 50) year old thai women. classy!
back to dinner. we took the recommendation of our tour guide, andrew's parents, and the guide book and hit up 'cabbages and condoms', an hiv-prevention themed restaurant a couple of blocks from our hotel. as you may be able to guess, condoms figure prominently in the decor. however, and we mean this sincerely, it's actually a really nice restaurant with a great ambience. we sat in the outside courtyard area surrounded by tropical foliage strung with twinkling white lights. kim was in heaven, clinking glasses and all.
our tour the next day started at the very civilized time of 10am. we thought natalie was just being nice to us when she made the suggestion the day before, but it turned out we just didn't need that much time. 'why?' you might ask. we'll tell you: natalie doesn't actually know anything she could pass along in the form of relevant information. unlike our other guides on the trip who were a wealth of knowledge on all aspects of history, culture, life, etc., she was content to babysit us in silence as we went about our activities. we did get to do a couple of cool things, notably our long-boat tour of the bangkok canal system during which we "fed some fish." this involved buying loaves of bread from an old lady on one of the canal docks and feeding them to swarms of hungry catfish congregated next to the boat. it was a literal feeding frenzy with so much excited splashing from these crazy catfish that we actually got pretty wet! you'll have to see the pictures to believe it.
we also visited the grand palace, but with almost no voiceover from natalie it didn't last long. the low light of the tour was our visit to the previously mentioned "largest gem factory in the world," which was one of those tourist trap places where they show you a video about gem stones (it was a series of still pictures spliced together with cheesy asian-themed music), take you on a "factory tour" (a few old thai men sitting in rows completing various stages of the jewelry creation process), and then funnel you into a gigantic show room where you have an opportunity to buy. not so much our thing, so we left quickly (but not before seeing a sapphire that's allegedly worth $2.5m). from there we went to a "secret" handbag store where at least ten other tourists were paraded into after us, located upstairs from an innocuous looking souvenir shop across from the shangri-la hotel. it was straight out of a movie, with this brighly lit, boutique style retail space two floors up from the dingy tourist shop on the ground floor. kim was tempted, but we didn't end up making any purchases, grade a copy or not.
with that out of the way, we spent the remainder of our afternoon strolling around the city (again), taking our first ride on the sky train (bankgok's above ground subway/monrail system), and going to the siam square mall to check out movie times for later in the week (we're ready to do something other than sightsee). after getting back to the hotel and resting up for a couple of hours we headed out for drinks in patpong (in case you forgot, this is the main red light district). nothing major to report, but kim was definitely entertained by her first experience being accosted by the doormen at the "clubs" with their laminated sheets of paper describing the wonderful things we could see should we decide to attend a performance. after careful deliberation, we decided not to attend. oh, and one more thing: since we couldn't find a restaurant that looked appealing, we broke down and went to kfc. never had a spicy chicken sandwich and fries taste so good. certainly not fine dining, but after a few chang beers, food is food. and american fried food is even better.
next up: more bangkok.
with no tour booked for the day and no particular agenda, we decided to spend some time exploring the city and getting our bearings. this led to an extended stroll around the city, starting from our hotel and proceeding through beautiful lumphini park and back again. all together it took a few hours. andrew loved it; kim was accepting. at least the flip flops held up. to make up for it, kim was able to partake in her first starbucks coffee since the trip began. unlike the cities we've visited so far, bangkok is more developed and significantly more infused with western businesses (hello mcdonald's, sbux, and subway...it's good to see you again!) there are also way more cars than motorbikes, and motorists obey traffic signals. crossing streets just got a whole lot easier.
after the self-created walking tour we headed back to the hotel for a little rest before heading out to dinner. oh yeah - we forgot to mention something key. our hotel, which is amazing on the inside, filled with wonderful amenities and "close" to many of the famous hotels in the city, is actually in a secondary red light district called nana (the primary one is patpong, for the record). this means that when we leave our hotel we get to see unattractive, overweight 60 year old european men courting (sometimes) skinny, (not always) attractive 20 (to 50) year old thai women. classy!
back to dinner. we took the recommendation of our tour guide, andrew's parents, and the guide book and hit up 'cabbages and condoms', an hiv-prevention themed restaurant a couple of blocks from our hotel. as you may be able to guess, condoms figure prominently in the decor. however, and we mean this sincerely, it's actually a really nice restaurant with a great ambience. we sat in the outside courtyard area surrounded by tropical foliage strung with twinkling white lights. kim was in heaven, clinking glasses and all.
our tour the next day started at the very civilized time of 10am. we thought natalie was just being nice to us when she made the suggestion the day before, but it turned out we just didn't need that much time. 'why?' you might ask. we'll tell you: natalie doesn't actually know anything she could pass along in the form of relevant information. unlike our other guides on the trip who were a wealth of knowledge on all aspects of history, culture, life, etc., she was content to babysit us in silence as we went about our activities. we did get to do a couple of cool things, notably our long-boat tour of the bangkok canal system during which we "fed some fish." this involved buying loaves of bread from an old lady on one of the canal docks and feeding them to swarms of hungry catfish congregated next to the boat. it was a literal feeding frenzy with so much excited splashing from these crazy catfish that we actually got pretty wet! you'll have to see the pictures to believe it.
we also visited the grand palace, but with almost no voiceover from natalie it didn't last long. the low light of the tour was our visit to the previously mentioned "largest gem factory in the world," which was one of those tourist trap places where they show you a video about gem stones (it was a series of still pictures spliced together with cheesy asian-themed music), take you on a "factory tour" (a few old thai men sitting in rows completing various stages of the jewelry creation process), and then funnel you into a gigantic show room where you have an opportunity to buy. not so much our thing, so we left quickly (but not before seeing a sapphire that's allegedly worth $2.5m). from there we went to a "secret" handbag store where at least ten other tourists were paraded into after us, located upstairs from an innocuous looking souvenir shop across from the shangri-la hotel. it was straight out of a movie, with this brighly lit, boutique style retail space two floors up from the dingy tourist shop on the ground floor. kim was tempted, but we didn't end up making any purchases, grade a copy or not.
with that out of the way, we spent the remainder of our afternoon strolling around the city (again), taking our first ride on the sky train (bankgok's above ground subway/monrail system), and going to the siam square mall to check out movie times for later in the week (we're ready to do something other than sightsee). after getting back to the hotel and resting up for a couple of hours we headed out for drinks in patpong (in case you forgot, this is the main red light district). nothing major to report, but kim was definitely entertained by her first experience being accosted by the doormen at the "clubs" with their laminated sheets of paper describing the wonderful things we could see should we decide to attend a performance. after careful deliberation, we decided not to attend. oh, and one more thing: since we couldn't find a restaurant that looked appealing, we broke down and went to kfc. never had a spicy chicken sandwich and fries taste so good. certainly not fine dining, but after a few chang beers, food is food. and american fried food is even better.
next up: more bangkok.
16-17 january: siem reap, days 2 and 3
clearly we've been remiss at keeping the blog up to date these last few days, which makes it even harder to want to climb out of this hole we've dug for ourselves! so we're going to soldier on and quickly capture the highlights to bring you back to present day...
on the 16th we had our second day of sightseeing in siem reap where, you guessed it, we saw a few more really old temples! since we had already seen angkor wat, these were the one-off temples that each had some unique characteristic. for example, of course we saw the "tomb raider" temple (for those of you who aren't video gamers, angelina jolie starred in a feature length film a few years back and they shot at this temple). the most amazing part about that one was the fact that no matter what language various tours were being given in, you could make out the words "angelina jolie" about every 30 seconds. then we saw one that most closely resembles how the temples looked when they were originally stumbled across by the french about 75 years ago, tangled up in massive tree roots. admittedly, we were templed-out by noon that day. spent a relaxing afternoon at the pool, went to dinner at a cool place called madame butterfly and called it a night pretty early.
the next day was just awesome. no alarm, nowhere in particular to be. spent most of the day lounging by our hotel's gorgeous pool, reading our books (we've finished a few great ones since we've been away). in the late afternoon we trekked out to see the sunset, perched on the walls of one of the ancient temples that offers the best unobstructed view. picturesque, much? then we figured, why walk back down the hill when you can ride an elephant instead?! definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far (ours was named "tia" and she was a black elephant). kim is not even joking when she claims she wishes we could have an elephant as a pet. we're trying to channel this love into perhaps an elephant-esque dog, so let us know if you know of any that fit that bill.
we went straight from there to the center of town where we had a great last night in siem reap - got drinks in a bar/cafe overlooking the street and dinner in a low-key cambodian restaurant with great "khmer style" food (which is basically a cross between vietnamese and thai). we ambled down the street and saw something so weird that we decided we just HAD to partake -- there was basically a street with three or four different places offering the same weird service called "dr. fish," where you sit on the edge of a kiddie pool filled with little goldfish (or at least that's what they look like) that swim around your feet and (not making this up) are there to "massage" your feet, which means eat the dead skin off. if you close your eyes and forget that there are actually gross little fish biting you, it kind of feels like little jacuzzi bubbles swarming all around your feet. but no, its flesh-eating fish. there were three other girls sitting across from us that will help us paint the picture, since they had about one or two fish paying attention to each of their feet. how many did andrew have? probably 100! even the owner of the place came over and started pointing in disbelief at how ferociously these fish attacked andrew's feet. we need to get that boy some more pedicures, apparently.
a fun end to the middle portion of our trip. goodbye cambodia, hello thailand. can't believe we're heading to our final destination country!
next up: fly to bangkok
on the 16th we had our second day of sightseeing in siem reap where, you guessed it, we saw a few more really old temples! since we had already seen angkor wat, these were the one-off temples that each had some unique characteristic. for example, of course we saw the "tomb raider" temple (for those of you who aren't video gamers, angelina jolie starred in a feature length film a few years back and they shot at this temple). the most amazing part about that one was the fact that no matter what language various tours were being given in, you could make out the words "angelina jolie" about every 30 seconds. then we saw one that most closely resembles how the temples looked when they were originally stumbled across by the french about 75 years ago, tangled up in massive tree roots. admittedly, we were templed-out by noon that day. spent a relaxing afternoon at the pool, went to dinner at a cool place called madame butterfly and called it a night pretty early.
the next day was just awesome. no alarm, nowhere in particular to be. spent most of the day lounging by our hotel's gorgeous pool, reading our books (we've finished a few great ones since we've been away). in the late afternoon we trekked out to see the sunset, perched on the walls of one of the ancient temples that offers the best unobstructed view. picturesque, much? then we figured, why walk back down the hill when you can ride an elephant instead?! definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far (ours was named "tia" and she was a black elephant). kim is not even joking when she claims she wishes we could have an elephant as a pet. we're trying to channel this love into perhaps an elephant-esque dog, so let us know if you know of any that fit that bill.
we went straight from there to the center of town where we had a great last night in siem reap - got drinks in a bar/cafe overlooking the street and dinner in a low-key cambodian restaurant with great "khmer style" food (which is basically a cross between vietnamese and thai). we ambled down the street and saw something so weird that we decided we just HAD to partake -- there was basically a street with three or four different places offering the same weird service called "dr. fish," where you sit on the edge of a kiddie pool filled with little goldfish (or at least that's what they look like) that swim around your feet and (not making this up) are there to "massage" your feet, which means eat the dead skin off. if you close your eyes and forget that there are actually gross little fish biting you, it kind of feels like little jacuzzi bubbles swarming all around your feet. but no, its flesh-eating fish. there were three other girls sitting across from us that will help us paint the picture, since they had about one or two fish paying attention to each of their feet. how many did andrew have? probably 100! even the owner of the place came over and started pointing in disbelief at how ferociously these fish attacked andrew's feet. we need to get that boy some more pedicures, apparently.
a fun end to the middle portion of our trip. goodbye cambodia, hello thailand. can't believe we're heading to our final destination country!
next up: fly to bangkok
Saturday, January 16, 2010
15 january: siem reap
we made it to cambodia after a short flight from hanoi around 8:30pm. the flight was uneventful and getting through immigration and customs went smoothly (let's just say the level of scrutiny here wouldn't exactly pass muster in the US). we were met by our cambodian tour guide, som, who is about 30 years old and we liked immediately. one of the most interesting things we noticed on the short drive from the airport to the hotel is the amount of tourism-related development that's occurring in siem reap. we're talking massive hotel developments on both sides of the street starting just outside the airport and continuing all the way to city center. it's kind of like las vegas in some ways, but way less gaudy: instead of themed monstrosities and neon lights, the developments mostly try to resemble a french colonial plantation...so cheesy at times, yes, but offensive, no. we can see, though, why people say that the town is becoming more touristy and less remote with each passing year.
back to our hotel. like most of the hotels in the area, ours is built in the french colonial style and is located right off of siem reap's "central park" near many of the other resort style hotels in the area. we won't bore you with all of the amenities, but there is an amazing pool in the central courtyard area, a number of nice verandas that house bars and restaurants, and well-appointed rooms. kim is in heaven!
also, and this isn't unique to our hotel but is certainly prevalent there, the level of service in cambodia is unbelievable (mostly in a good way). it's actually a bit too much at times since the traditional etiquette for the country is to clasp your hands together like you're praying and then bow whenever you a) greet someone b) take an order (like at a restaurant) or c) say goodbye. so lots of bowing. all in all the people are unfailingly polite and friendly, which is a far cry from the service you would expect in the US.
the next morning - after another buffet breakfast (you might say our eating habits have changed on this trip) - we left to tour angkor wat, the biggest and most famous of the temples in the siem reap area. the place is simply awe-inspiring. a few interesting facts: the temple was built in the 12th century, took 35 years to complete, and involved 4,000 elephants and 1 million workers. the elephants, which were described as "very sensitive animals" by our tour guide som (his family had two when he was a child), were used to drag gigantic pieces of sandstone and lava rock from the quarry to the building site over a kilometer away. poor things.
the finished product, as we said, is amazing. it's gigantic, covering something like 200 hectares (400 football fields), and rises to ~200 feet in the air at its tallest point. also, basically every surface in the entire place - from the outside walls to the most holy inner sanctums - are carved with some sort of design. you'll have to see our pics to appreciate what we're talking about, but rest assured it's fantastic. also, while the structure itself is the focal point, in many ways the more interesting part of the visit came from hearing som talk about the hindu and buddhist mythology related to the temple. the stories are AMAZING in their complexity, particularly the hindu ones. they sound vaguely american-indian like, involving many gods and mythological explanations for "scientific" events (e.g. a solar eclipse occurs because a demon got angry at a god and took a bite out of the moon). all very interesting.
one big surprise we got upon arrival to the central area was that the upper tower was open to the public. according to som, this area wasn't supposed to open to tourists for a couple of years due to renovations, but when we arrived we saw people climbing around at the top. he may have been putting on a show for us to make us more excited about the experience, but regardless we got to climb to the top and view the breathtaking scenery from up above. it also provided the backdrop for som's story about the king and his concubines, which became one of andrew's favorite jokes as the day went on (the king had one queen and hundreds and hundreds of concubines who paraded around topless, for the record). andrew's looking into the acceptability of this sort of arrangement in arlington, va.
one final note on angkor wat. while we were expecting it to be very jungle-like in its physical appearance (kim was warned that there would be "swarms" of insects at every turn), it's really more like a nature-themed amusement park (think animal kingdom at disney). this isn't meant to be a put down, but rather that the grounds are well-groomed and open rather than forest-covered and closed off. it definitely makes it easier for tourists to appreciate the scale of the buildings. and the jungle-like climate of cambodia? not so much, or at least not in january. the temperatures have been totally comfortable (probably 75 in the shade, 85 in the sun) and there haven't been any swarms of bugs. though, som laughs hysterically every time a butterfly gets within an inch of kim and she FREAKS out (once she even threw the camera in a reflexive reaction to one of these highly dangerous and deadly creatures; luckily it was in the case).
after 4 hours of exploring the temples we were ready to relax, so we went back to the hotel and sat by the pool for a couple of hours before departing for our night time activity. said activity was an apsara show, a traditional dance performance described as cambodian ballet. a couple of interesting things happened.
1. we had the best seats in the house because som strong-armed the staff at the "theater." we were literally sitting at a 2-seater table right next to the stage, while everyone else (probably about 500 people) were sitting in long tables set back from the stage. it was hilarious.
2. the show was a "dinner theater" event, so we had our second buffet meal of the day. we're going to need seat belt extenders on the flight home.
3. we witnessed some absurd tourist behavior related to picture taking. people would walk up to the stage from their seats and stand right in front to snap some pics (ironically, using SLR cameras with gigantic zoom lenses), thus blocking the view of diners sitting near the front. it looked like a runway shoot from fashion week in new york. crazy! and at the end when the actors came out to bow, they literally hadn't even lined up for the bow yet before hoards of tourists stormed the stage (no joke) to stand between them and have their friends take pictures. it was hard to tell whether this is common practice or just a domino effect once the first weirdly aggressive group did it, but it then continued on for about 30 minutes. like standing between mickey and goofy for your very own souvenir shot.
the show was great, though, and we're really happy we went. afterwards we were strolling down the main street in siem reap and came across a convenience store called "6-11". we're not sure why they chose this rather than 8-11, but we got a good chuckle out of it and have a picture for proof.
it was a long day, but a great one.
next up: angkor thom
back to our hotel. like most of the hotels in the area, ours is built in the french colonial style and is located right off of siem reap's "central park" near many of the other resort style hotels in the area. we won't bore you with all of the amenities, but there is an amazing pool in the central courtyard area, a number of nice verandas that house bars and restaurants, and well-appointed rooms. kim is in heaven!
also, and this isn't unique to our hotel but is certainly prevalent there, the level of service in cambodia is unbelievable (mostly in a good way). it's actually a bit too much at times since the traditional etiquette for the country is to clasp your hands together like you're praying and then bow whenever you a) greet someone b) take an order (like at a restaurant) or c) say goodbye. so lots of bowing. all in all the people are unfailingly polite and friendly, which is a far cry from the service you would expect in the US.
the next morning - after another buffet breakfast (you might say our eating habits have changed on this trip) - we left to tour angkor wat, the biggest and most famous of the temples in the siem reap area. the place is simply awe-inspiring. a few interesting facts: the temple was built in the 12th century, took 35 years to complete, and involved 4,000 elephants and 1 million workers. the elephants, which were described as "very sensitive animals" by our tour guide som (his family had two when he was a child), were used to drag gigantic pieces of sandstone and lava rock from the quarry to the building site over a kilometer away. poor things.
the finished product, as we said, is amazing. it's gigantic, covering something like 200 hectares (400 football fields), and rises to ~200 feet in the air at its tallest point. also, basically every surface in the entire place - from the outside walls to the most holy inner sanctums - are carved with some sort of design. you'll have to see our pics to appreciate what we're talking about, but rest assured it's fantastic. also, while the structure itself is the focal point, in many ways the more interesting part of the visit came from hearing som talk about the hindu and buddhist mythology related to the temple. the stories are AMAZING in their complexity, particularly the hindu ones. they sound vaguely american-indian like, involving many gods and mythological explanations for "scientific" events (e.g. a solar eclipse occurs because a demon got angry at a god and took a bite out of the moon). all very interesting.
one big surprise we got upon arrival to the central area was that the upper tower was open to the public. according to som, this area wasn't supposed to open to tourists for a couple of years due to renovations, but when we arrived we saw people climbing around at the top. he may have been putting on a show for us to make us more excited about the experience, but regardless we got to climb to the top and view the breathtaking scenery from up above. it also provided the backdrop for som's story about the king and his concubines, which became one of andrew's favorite jokes as the day went on (the king had one queen and hundreds and hundreds of concubines who paraded around topless, for the record). andrew's looking into the acceptability of this sort of arrangement in arlington, va.
one final note on angkor wat. while we were expecting it to be very jungle-like in its physical appearance (kim was warned that there would be "swarms" of insects at every turn), it's really more like a nature-themed amusement park (think animal kingdom at disney). this isn't meant to be a put down, but rather that the grounds are well-groomed and open rather than forest-covered and closed off. it definitely makes it easier for tourists to appreciate the scale of the buildings. and the jungle-like climate of cambodia? not so much, or at least not in january. the temperatures have been totally comfortable (probably 75 in the shade, 85 in the sun) and there haven't been any swarms of bugs. though, som laughs hysterically every time a butterfly gets within an inch of kim and she FREAKS out (once she even threw the camera in a reflexive reaction to one of these highly dangerous and deadly creatures; luckily it was in the case).
after 4 hours of exploring the temples we were ready to relax, so we went back to the hotel and sat by the pool for a couple of hours before departing for our night time activity. said activity was an apsara show, a traditional dance performance described as cambodian ballet. a couple of interesting things happened.
1. we had the best seats in the house because som strong-armed the staff at the "theater." we were literally sitting at a 2-seater table right next to the stage, while everyone else (probably about 500 people) were sitting in long tables set back from the stage. it was hilarious.
2. the show was a "dinner theater" event, so we had our second buffet meal of the day. we're going to need seat belt extenders on the flight home.
3. we witnessed some absurd tourist behavior related to picture taking. people would walk up to the stage from their seats and stand right in front to snap some pics (ironically, using SLR cameras with gigantic zoom lenses), thus blocking the view of diners sitting near the front. it looked like a runway shoot from fashion week in new york. crazy! and at the end when the actors came out to bow, they literally hadn't even lined up for the bow yet before hoards of tourists stormed the stage (no joke) to stand between them and have their friends take pictures. it was hard to tell whether this is common practice or just a domino effect once the first weirdly aggressive group did it, but it then continued on for about 30 minutes. like standing between mickey and goofy for your very own souvenir shot.
the show was great, though, and we're really happy we went. afterwards we were strolling down the main street in siem reap and came across a convenience store called "6-11". we're not sure why they chose this rather than 8-11, but we got a good chuckle out of it and have a picture for proof.
it was a long day, but a great one.
next up: angkor thom
Friday, January 15, 2010
13-14 january: halong bay
left the hotel at 8:30am for a 3.5 hour drive from hanoi to halong bay, our final destination in vietnam. not too much of particular interest to report on from the ride itself, with the following exceptions:
1. people in vietnam are quite label conscious, particularly as it relates to cars. as a result, the owner of the car we were in (not sure if it was the tour company's or the driver's own car) had doctored brand insignias on it. basically the owner had taken the leaves from a cadillac emblem and placed them around the toyota decals on our mini suv. the result was quite entertaining.
2. when we exited from the road out of hanoi onto the highway that would take us to halong bay, we saw no less than 25 individual people selling baguettes (bread) to passing motorists. this is literally on the shoulder of a major highway, and apparently commuters will stop their cars/motorbikes and buy some bread as a gift for their family in the countryside.
we arrived at the port as scheduled around noon to board our "junk" (you can only imagine how many times andrew said "junk in the trunk"). junks are wooden boats that cruise around the bay - they come in a variety of sizes, from small ones that have no cabins and are used for day trips all the way to cruise ship-like yachts that sleep 75 people; ours had 12 cabins. the whole port scene was pretty crazy because so many people were taking off on their trips at the same time, and it's definitely a tourist magnet - but we just have to embrace the fact that we are, indeed, tourists. plus when the tourists are speaking dutch, hebrew, german, french and chinese, it's still a multicultural affair.
we took a little tender (basically a big boston whaler with bench seats) out to our junk, and our junk WAY nicer than what we expected from afar. it's comprised of two floors of rooms, the upper deck for hanging out and a dining room (where we spent the vast majority of our time). it would have been ideal if the weather were just a tad warmer, because we would have enjoyed more outside time and could have even kayaked, but the cooler weather created fog that was beautiful against the mountains. to set the stage, halong bay (the part where the junks cruise around, anyway) is probably a few miles wide and 30 meters deep, with lots of limestone islands with mountain formations on them that the boat navigates through. we're not sure if the voting is done already, but halong bay was up for one of the new 7 wonders of the world and certainly deserves it.
we weren't on the boat more than 15 minutes before it was apparently lunch time - so we took our seats for a SEVEN course lunch! this was totally unexpected. seafood in vietnam is VERY expensive (at dinner, a normal main course would be between $3-5 and shrimp or crab might be $28-30), but aboard the junk we lived like kings with every course being a different seafood delight. lucky us! they also served us some white dalat wine, which if you recall from prior posts kind of tastes like wine at services/church. no so lucky us.
we made our first stop about 90 minutes later to explore a massive cave carved into one of the mountains on the bay. when we say massive, it was probably the size of 3 football fields in total. they've also added mood lighting with different spotlights shining upwards in each of the rooms which gives a very cool effect (destination wedding, anyone??? apparently companies will use the place to hold events for their top salespeople, which would be quite a perk). afterwards we got back on the boat and then stopped at a beach where we hiked up to the pagoda at the very top of the mountain. good thing we got that miniscule amount of exercise in, because as soon as we got back on the boat it was time for our NINE course seafood dinner. it seems that cruises are the same gluttonous affairs no matter where you are.
the next morning we set off on a little speedboat to go through a smaller cave and stopped along the way when we spotted tons of little monkeys running around. got some great pictures of them eating the bread that our tour guide threw out to them. they are undoubtedly the best fed monkeys in vietnam. we sped around a little cove and then idled for a bit and just took in the perfect temperature (probably around 65 degrees), the gorgeous turquoise water and the huge mountains surrounding us. even though its quite a drive from hanoi, it was totally worth it.
we got back to shore around noon the next day and started the drive back to hanoi to catch our flight to cambodia. in the seven hours that we spent talking with Duong in the car, we gleaned some amazing cultural insights:
- how the phenomenon of "keeping up with the jones'" is just as prevalent in the vietnam countryside as it is anywhere else; Duong referred to it as "keeping up with the nguyens". supposedly it wouldn't be uncommon for one family to have a tv that the other kids would be jealous of, which would spur the father of those children to go and work in the city for up to ten years in order to save up the money to buy his family a tv (as long as it was bigger than the neighbors').
- how most young people have ipods and iphones, even though they cost the same amount in vietnam as they do in the states. in vietnam, however, that one ipod costs approximately two months' salary for an average worker. doesn't matter - people will save for a year or more to get just one new device b/c they're that sought after. if ipods cost 2 months salary, we wonder how debeers (that devil company responsible for the diamond commercials) positions engagement rings.
- how property in hanoi is pretty damn expensive - again, given the average salary. supposedly 1 and 2 bedroom apartments can range from $150K-$600K, which really isn't too different from some US cities. and yet there is no such thing as a mortgage here. Duong makes about $2-3K a year bought his apartment in 2003 for $32K which he described as very basic/budget, and it's now worth $120K. But that $32K took him 15 years to save and he borrowed quite a bit from different family members to get the total amount, which he ultimately paid in cash.
so that's it - five locations in 13 days. we truly enjoyed vietnam and would recommend anyone make the trip. every city offered a completely different but fascinating/entertaining experience. and now we're off to cambodia!
next up: siem reap, cambodia
1. people in vietnam are quite label conscious, particularly as it relates to cars. as a result, the owner of the car we were in (not sure if it was the tour company's or the driver's own car) had doctored brand insignias on it. basically the owner had taken the leaves from a cadillac emblem and placed them around the toyota decals on our mini suv. the result was quite entertaining.
2. when we exited from the road out of hanoi onto the highway that would take us to halong bay, we saw no less than 25 individual people selling baguettes (bread) to passing motorists. this is literally on the shoulder of a major highway, and apparently commuters will stop their cars/motorbikes and buy some bread as a gift for their family in the countryside.
we arrived at the port as scheduled around noon to board our "junk" (you can only imagine how many times andrew said "junk in the trunk"). junks are wooden boats that cruise around the bay - they come in a variety of sizes, from small ones that have no cabins and are used for day trips all the way to cruise ship-like yachts that sleep 75 people; ours had 12 cabins. the whole port scene was pretty crazy because so many people were taking off on their trips at the same time, and it's definitely a tourist magnet - but we just have to embrace the fact that we are, indeed, tourists. plus when the tourists are speaking dutch, hebrew, german, french and chinese, it's still a multicultural affair.
we took a little tender (basically a big boston whaler with bench seats) out to our junk, and our junk WAY nicer than what we expected from afar. it's comprised of two floors of rooms, the upper deck for hanging out and a dining room (where we spent the vast majority of our time). it would have been ideal if the weather were just a tad warmer, because we would have enjoyed more outside time and could have even kayaked, but the cooler weather created fog that was beautiful against the mountains. to set the stage, halong bay (the part where the junks cruise around, anyway) is probably a few miles wide and 30 meters deep, with lots of limestone islands with mountain formations on them that the boat navigates through. we're not sure if the voting is done already, but halong bay was up for one of the new 7 wonders of the world and certainly deserves it.
we weren't on the boat more than 15 minutes before it was apparently lunch time - so we took our seats for a SEVEN course lunch! this was totally unexpected. seafood in vietnam is VERY expensive (at dinner, a normal main course would be between $3-5 and shrimp or crab might be $28-30), but aboard the junk we lived like kings with every course being a different seafood delight. lucky us! they also served us some white dalat wine, which if you recall from prior posts kind of tastes like wine at services/church. no so lucky us.
we made our first stop about 90 minutes later to explore a massive cave carved into one of the mountains on the bay. when we say massive, it was probably the size of 3 football fields in total. they've also added mood lighting with different spotlights shining upwards in each of the rooms which gives a very cool effect (destination wedding, anyone??? apparently companies will use the place to hold events for their top salespeople, which would be quite a perk). afterwards we got back on the boat and then stopped at a beach where we hiked up to the pagoda at the very top of the mountain. good thing we got that miniscule amount of exercise in, because as soon as we got back on the boat it was time for our NINE course seafood dinner. it seems that cruises are the same gluttonous affairs no matter where you are.
the next morning we set off on a little speedboat to go through a smaller cave and stopped along the way when we spotted tons of little monkeys running around. got some great pictures of them eating the bread that our tour guide threw out to them. they are undoubtedly the best fed monkeys in vietnam. we sped around a little cove and then idled for a bit and just took in the perfect temperature (probably around 65 degrees), the gorgeous turquoise water and the huge mountains surrounding us. even though its quite a drive from hanoi, it was totally worth it.
we got back to shore around noon the next day and started the drive back to hanoi to catch our flight to cambodia. in the seven hours that we spent talking with Duong in the car, we gleaned some amazing cultural insights:
- how the phenomenon of "keeping up with the jones'" is just as prevalent in the vietnam countryside as it is anywhere else; Duong referred to it as "keeping up with the nguyens". supposedly it wouldn't be uncommon for one family to have a tv that the other kids would be jealous of, which would spur the father of those children to go and work in the city for up to ten years in order to save up the money to buy his family a tv (as long as it was bigger than the neighbors').
- how most young people have ipods and iphones, even though they cost the same amount in vietnam as they do in the states. in vietnam, however, that one ipod costs approximately two months' salary for an average worker. doesn't matter - people will save for a year or more to get just one new device b/c they're that sought after. if ipods cost 2 months salary, we wonder how debeers (that devil company responsible for the diamond commercials) positions engagement rings.
- how property in hanoi is pretty damn expensive - again, given the average salary. supposedly 1 and 2 bedroom apartments can range from $150K-$600K, which really isn't too different from some US cities. and yet there is no such thing as a mortgage here. Duong makes about $2-3K a year bought his apartment in 2003 for $32K which he described as very basic/budget, and it's now worth $120K. But that $32K took him 15 years to save and he borrowed quite a bit from different family members to get the total amount, which he ultimately paid in cash.
so that's it - five locations in 13 days. we truly enjoyed vietnam and would recommend anyone make the trip. every city offered a completely different but fascinating/entertaining experience. and now we're off to cambodia!
next up: siem reap, cambodia
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