The Temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom, Episode I

I'm not sure I've got the ability to describe the magnificence of Angkor Wat. The entire park is enormous; the sheer amount of space covered by these amazing Khmer temples is staggering. Look it up on the Google Earth. Even more amazing is the fact that these temples were built in the 12th century. We spent the better part of 10 hours in the park, and I don't think we covered even half of the area. We did a small circuit and took in as much as we could but I could have easily handled a few days more if given the chance. (Note: That's Kristi in the pink DANGER MINE FIELD tshirt and Fiona in the cowboy hat.)


Each temple we visited was more spectacular than the one we had just come from. A large number of the temples have been cleared of the jungle that had covered them for hundreds of years; one of the temples has been left as it was found to underscore the fact that mother nature always wins.




You can't tell from these pictures, but all of the walls and columns featured engravings depicting Buddhist (and some Hindu) deities and figures. Like this:


And these hand carved stone statues of Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva, and Lord Brahma:

This is the temple that Mother Nature took over:



Uhhh...the formatting of blogger.com leaves a bit to be desired. Sorry for the wide open spaces.



Interesting fact that may interest only me: this temple is where portions of the timeless masterpiece Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie, was filmed.


I hope you guys are loving these old rocks as much as I did! There's plenty more pictures to come. Tune in tomorrow for Episode II.

El Noche Primero en Siem Reap

This picture just about sums up night one in Siem Reap. After dropping our stuff off, we headed down town and went to a Khmer restaurant for dinner. I wasn't really sure what to expect from Cambodian cuisine, but after eating PAL inflight food I'm pretty sure I'm up for anything. Boy was I surprised- it turns out that Cambodian food is a lot like Thai food's tasty cousin. Curry, ginger, coconut milk, saffron, jasmine rice- any combination thereof and you're probably going to get something good. I had ginger chicken and spring rolls with sour peanut sauce (sounds gross, tastes awesome). I might have licked my plate clean had I not been traveling with a bunch of co-workers. Top off a delicious meal with icy cold .50 cent beer (actual price, not affiliated with the hip hop star/former crack dealer) and you've started off any trip the right way. Adding to the fun at the restaurant was the fact that our Cambodian waiter spoke Spanish, so I was able to habla broken Espanol I learned from mis amigos mexicanos all those summers ago while eating microwave burritos under a Twin Enterprises tractor trailer. Uno cerveza mas aqui, por favor!

After some great conversation and food, it was off to the night market.

The night market was my kind of tourist trap. There were hundreds of stalls selling goods ranging from Buddhist figurines to carved ivory to spices to scarves to hammocks. The most prevalent item was t-shirts. Every stall sold them; the funny thing was it seemed like there were probably only five different prints over and over: Angkor Beer Logo, Tiger beer logo, "Tin Tin in Cambodia" (for the Europeans), Khmer Alphabet, and "DANGER MINE FIELD" with a big skull. There are still mines all over Cambodia as a result of their civil war and plenty of signs warning people not to step off the marked path. I ended up buying a Tiger beer tshirt because I read that Zac Efron wore one to the Hannah Montana premiere, and the kids tell me he's pretty cool.

Sorry, Sara, I didn't get you any bags. But I did get you a DANGER MINE FIELD tshirt.

Coolest thing I saw that I didn't buy: homemade whiskey with an alcohol preserved Cobra holding a scorpion in its mouth inside the bottle. As if a whiskey bottle with a cobra inside it weren't badass enough, you had to add a scorpion! It took a lot of will power not to drop 6 bucks on that (note: instead I spent 4 bucks on a full back tattoo of a cobra eating a scorpion- who's bad ass now?).

After a few hours at the market, it was back to the hostel for another round of Angkor beer and then some rest. Reveille for Angkor Wat was 0600.

Happy Easter

It was a rainy Easter in Washington today. This didn't stop us from our festive activities. Addie found the Easter Bunny had left her a basket and a few gifts from family this morning. She was thrilled by the Easter egg hunt in the yard. Even better was the family gathering with her cousins all afternoon. She played for hours with them, I barely saw her! She took to her cousin Amira's Daddy (a hip young dad just like her own). He rough housed with her just like she loves. She is missing Daddy so much. Jaron was a great sport about being a substitute Daddy for a few hours. It was a long day for everyone. I even caught a few pictures of her in her Easter dress before the play clothes went on. It was a perfect Easter celebration.

Busy days

All our days seem to be super busy, whether we are running and errand or visiting friends. I’m exhausted after every day. Today was no exception. We had a play-date with Addie’s second cousins. Emme and Addie are the same age so we were excited to get the girls together again. The last time they had seen one another was at 7 months of age. Addie was thrilled to be playing at a friend’s house; she made herself at home like she usually does. She loved their cat and we heard about it the entire visit. I caught a few pictures of the girls together although they were all on the move. We had such a nice visit that Addie and I are already excited for the next one.
After all that excitement Addie decided it was a no-nap day. It doesn’t happen often but some days she just can’t fall asleep for whatever reason. It was the first time I’ve caught her playing in her bed and she really had a look of guilt on her face. I couldn’t help but chuckle. It was doomed to be an exhausting day after that (no nap for Addie means no nap for me). Grammie and Addie colored Easter eggs in the afternoon which was so fun and brought back tons of childhood memories of my sisters and I using the wax crayon to write our names on our eggs. Addie proudly decorated the colored eggs with stickers.

Getting Closer

Joe, Fiona, and I were told it would take two hours from Poipet to get to Siem Reap. Our chariot was a Toyota corolla, our driver a Cambodian who spoke no English aside from "Go" and "Siem Reap" which, lucky for us, was all we really needed. He popped in a cassette of his favorite Cambdian songs and off we went.

30 minutes in to our drive, a loud whistling began coming from under the hood. The driver was clearly alarmed at the sound; so were we given the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere Cambodia. Lucky for us, there was a shop about 5 minutes down the road in the direction back to Poipet. We turn around and pull in to the Cambodian equivalent of a mom and pop gas station/garage.

Two dudes run out to help us and realize that it's a loose belt. No problem! They tighten it up and in 10 minutes we're back on the road. The whistling sound has stopped and all is right with the world....until ten minutes up the road when the whistling begins again, the air conditioner begins blowing furnace like air, and all the lights and dials on the dash stop working. Back to HUMTANGSOUR WORKING SHOP it is. The same two dudes run out, pop open the hood and find the loose belt- only this time it's loose because it's broken. Siem Reap seems a looooong way away. Joe, Fiona, and I wait out in the blazing sun praying HUMTANGSOUR has a spare belt. Buddha's answering prayers that day, a belt is found and the working shop gets to work fixing the car. Across the street is a little shop selling soda and various other Cambodian sundries.

It's hot, so I run over to pick up some cold Cokes and find the shop manned by a ten year old boy. I pay two bucks for the soda and the little boy stares at me like I'm Daddy Warbucks. I'm guessing they don't get a lot of Americans dropping two dollars on Coke around these parts.

By the time we finish our sodas, the repairs are done and we're back on the road. The rest of the car trip is uneventful. It's a straight shot that reminds me a lot of driving from Pasadena to Ocean city (only more tropical and dusty and fewer people saying hon).

When we reach Siem Reap, our cab driver drops us off at a Tuk Tuk stand to get us the rest of the way to our hostel. Tuk Tuks are open air carriages attached to motorcycles, and are a really fun way to get around. It costs one dollar for a 15 minute ride (side note: that's not the only 15 minute ride in Cambodia that costs a dollar- HEY O!). We hop in the tuk tuk, and lucky for us, one of the locals jumps in to give us a "tour" of Siem Reap. I learnt quickly that this was a common m.o. for the people of Siem Reap: if you see a group of westerners walking together, walk with them and just start spouting off facts about the town; if said westerners don't tell you to piss off, then they owe you money for listening to you. I admire their enterprising spirit. Our tour guide quickly informs us that Cambodian women really like men with big, hairy chests- "like you" he tells me (how he knows that under my shirt I look like Chewbacca's brother, I don't know). He also offered to find Joe a "girlfriend" (see fifteen minute rides for a dollar above). I stopped paying attention to him after that, and tried to take some pictures of Siem Reap- no easy feat in a moving tuk tuk.

In no time, we reach the Siem Reap Hostel and meet up with our friends Kristi and Brian. Kristi and Brian work with me in Manila, and had left earlier than us to see other parts of Southeast Asia. The hostel was surprisingly nice; Joe, Kristi, Brian and I had a spacious room with AC and a private bathroom, all for only $11 a night. Joe and I drop off our bags and all of us head out onto the town for a night of drunken debauchery. And by "a night of drunken debauchery" I mean "dinner and souvenir shopping at the night market".

The Adventure Begins

The fun starts on a Philippines Airlines flight from Manila to Bangkok. Since I'm traveling on my dime, I don't get to enjoy the luxury of business class. PAL (as it's called locally) is actually a pretty nice airline; economy class in Southeast Asia isn't probably what you're imagining- i.e., peasants in the aisle with their water buffalo, tea leaf reading, and the obligatory flying chickens. The best part of my flight from Manila to Bangkok was the constant back and forth of two drunken Brits sitting behind me. For the better part of three hours, it was like listening to 'Liza Doolittle and Bert the Chimney sweep only surlier. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but it must have been pretty funny based on the bark of their "i'm too drunk to realize how loud I am" laughing. Further adding the fun was the fact that they smelled a lot like what I imagine Amy Weinhouse must smell like- booze, cigarettes, and taxi cabs. Bert the chimney sweep is a pretty classy guy though, judging by his drink order of Sprite and Vodka- the true choice of any self respecting gentleman scholar. Long story short, my travel mate Joe and I make it to our hostel in Bangkok for a short rest before our train to Cambodia departs at 0600.

We arrive at the train station without any issues and purchase our tickets. The 6 hour train ride costs about $1.25. You get what you pay for- no one's going to confuse this ride with the Orient Express (looking at the picture above, it does say "ordinary train"; maybe 2.50 would have gotten me the extraordinary one). No AC or toilets, but the price is right so we settle in to a seat built for two-Asian sized people and hope for the best. I'm a firm believer that the best way to travel anywhere is by train; you really get a sense of the people and a good view of the countryside. The ride was hot, but Thailand was beautiful. It was extremely green, which is a color we don't get a lot of in Manila, and the air was fresh. There wasn't a lot to see other than trees and fields; every 30 minutes or so a train station would pop up out of nowhere.

More people would jump on for the ride, as would food vendors. The vendors had baskets full of rice and egg dishes, served with an as yet unidentified meat. If people wanted some, they just reached into the basket and pulled it out. No matter how hungry I was I didn't want to risk an amoeba so I passed on the grub. Good decision? you be the judge:

I probably could have handled it, but better safe than sorry. During the course of the ride Joe and I met a fellow traveler by the name of Fiona (a Scot). She was back packing around southeast Asia after she lost her job- a casualty of the world financial crisis . I guess that's as good a time as any to pack up and hit the road. Anywho, she was headed to Siem Reap like us, so we all decided sharing a cab would be a good economical idea. We crossed over from Thailand to Poipet, Cambodia and were on our way.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Blog...

Long time reader, first time poster. My beautiful wife has given me the go ahead to take over the blog for a little while in order to write about my recent trip to Bangkok, Thailand and Siem Reap, Cambodia (onward to the Khmer temples of Angkor Wat). Although the travelogue may leave a bit to be desired (Bill Bryson I'm not), I hope the pictures are enjoyable. If people don't like the pictures, I'll just photoshop Addie in and pretend she was there with me.
(Play Globe Trekker theme now).