The Endless Summer

I LOVED this city! It was a great mix of east meets west with the energy/density of New York and the charm of San Francisco. Great food, beautiful views and dangerous shopping. I've always loved a big city and HK is right up there at the top of the list. Weather can be hit or miss, but we were blessed with mostly sunshine. Hong Kong was extra special because we got to visit a few friends.

We stayed at Traci and Sherwin's apartment in the SOHO area. Sherwin is the older brother of Stephanie (matron of honor/co-worker/roommate/partner in crime). Steph's family has been like a second family to me since I first came to California. Unfortunately, Traci was back in the US and Sherwin was traveling most of the time we were there, but we did get to hit a few of Sherwin's favorite places for dim sum and Szechuanese. He also took us over to Kowloon for a painful, yet wonderful massage where we were literally walked on. Thanks Sherwin!

It had been a long time since I last saw my old friend and ex Gap co-worker. When Kennis moved back to Hong Kong with her husband and little boy, we had lost touch over the years until recently. We had the best time catching up, eating hot pot and of course, shopping. I have to admit, I was a little jealous of her job where she gets to travel around the world for fashion week(s). Kennis, we will meet up again of these days!

We have ONE more entry! Our trip recap with statistics, graphs, pie charts and much more more. So stick around.

The longest outdoor escalator in the world! It's 800 meters long going up several city blocks to Mid-Levels.

Views from Traci & Sherwin's apartment

Taking the tram to Victoria Peak and city views

Around Hong Kong




Brett at the vodka ice bar

Tea House in HK Park

Hot Pot with Kennis

Views from Kowloon

We've taken many buses across SE Asia, but the ride from Mui Ne to Hue was the longest- 23 hours to be exact.

Hue was at one time the capital of Vietnam and also the dividing line between North and South Vietnam. Much of the city was severally damaged during the Vietnam War, but many architecture gems remain. We visited the Citadel, Forbidden City and a few emperors' tombs.

The best pineapple!!

Woman rolling incense

Citadel and Forbidden City

Minh Mang and Tu Duc Tombs

Hanoi
Hanoi was such a change from Ho Chi Minh. HCM is a huge city, far more modern than Hanoi, with no Old Quarter and looks in some places almost European. We stayed in the Old Quarter where the streets are named by the goods sold... a few examples-Hang Bac-silver, Hang Ca-fish, Hang Dao-silk, Hang Giay-paper, Hang Gai-rope, Hang Ga-chicken. It was very cool to walk around street to street seeing the rows of little stores selling goods.

Pictures around Hanoi






Cha Ca La Vong- some of the best food! Fish with dill, onions, peanuts, etc.

Temple of Literature where Confucian values which were instilled in scholars who studied there


Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum

Halong Bay is made up of 1,969 islands of various sizes. It is a densely concentrated zone of limestone islands, world famous for its spectacular scenery of grottoes and caves. We took an overnight cruise on a traditional Chinese junk (sister boat is pictured below) where cruised around Halong Bay, kayaked, explored caves and visited a fishing village.

Halong Bay Cruise & floating village

Tam Coc- countryside bike ride and rowboat
Tam Coc is often referred to as the Halong Bay of the rice paddies. It was some of the most beautiful countryside we saw.











Water buffalo cooling off

Row boat ride through Tam Coc. Our guide (pictured below rowing with her feet) needed a little help so Brett and I rowed with our metal paddles made of bamboo.

We are home but it's not over yet, a few more entries to go. Ah Vietnam... where your fashion statement is your helmet, mask and seat cover. We spent 3 ½ amazing weeks traveling up the coast of Vietnam. We got to meet up with friends in Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon). Alexia & Pepyn were visiting Pepyn’s parents in HCM. I can’t tell you how happy Brett and I were to see familiar faces after several months. It was just what we needed! I think Vietnam surprised us both and ended up being one of the more memorable experiences of the trip.

Traveling through SE Asia for a few months prepared us for the INSANE traffic of Vietnam. I thought it was crazy in Cambodia, but Vietnam takes the cake. Here’s just example of city traffic. Driving down the highway was a whole other experience!

After a quick flight from HCM, we landed in Danang and headed to Hoi An to meet up with A&P. Hoi An is a charming little city know for its gastronomic delights and talented tailors. The old town architecture and art was untouched by the war. Just when we thought the food couldn’t get any better, it did. Hoi An does not disappoint. We spent most of our time eating, catching up with Alexia & Pepyn and getting clothes made (well, that was Alexia & I). I ended up with five dresses, two tops and coat.

We went back to HCM to see a little more of Alexia and Pepyn before they headed back to the UK. We relaxed by the pool, ate more amazing food and checked out a little HCM nightlife at Apocalypse Now and Crazy Buffalo. Sadly after they left, it was back to backpacker land and the tourist trail. We visited the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels. They refer to the Vietnam War as the American War. It was eye-opening to learn about the war from the opposite side. At times it was completely subjective, but by the end I think we had a much better understanding of the devastation that occurred on both sides.

Spending time with Alexia & Pepyn

Cu Chi Tunnels


Traps

Make shoes out of tires

Brett's favorite thing to eat bahn mi

Saigon traffic & wires

After HCM we took a bus up the coast to the little beach town of Mui Ne. Mui Ne is also known as the “Sahara” of Vietnam because of its beautiful sand dunes. Kitesurfers come from all over the world to ride the waves of Mui Ne.

We took a day trip with another couple and guide to a lake village about 45 minutes from Siem Reap. I was so happy because the wife in the other couple loved photography as much as me, so we were swapping ideas and shots all day. After boating around the lake, a local family cooked us lunch in their stilted house.

Tonle Sap Lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia spanning 12,000 km in the wet season and shrinking to 2500 km in the dry season when it drains into the Tonle Sap River. During the wet season, a unique phenomenon occurs causing the river to flow in the reserve direction filling the lake instead of draining it. It is caused by the Mekong River which becomes bloated with snow melt from Tibet in the wet season.

Surrounding the lake are houses in the floodplain built on stilts. In the dry season, the stilted houses are 10 meters in the air and in the rainy season the water rises within 2-3 meters of the houses. This community makes its living fishing. During the dry season, many villagers move out onto the lake and build temporary stilted houses then move back during the dry season. The lake also has a large community of Northern Vietnamese refugees. They live permanently on the lake year around in the boat houses (vs the Cambodians in the stilted homes).

We stopped off at a little village on the way to the lake.


Ice being delivered to villagers


Motorbike repair shop (Dad this one is for you.)

School kids pumping water from the well



Arrival to Kampong Khleang



Fisherman out on the river


The engineering of our boat


Houses along the river





It was shallow and muddy

Out on the lake




Notice this house is complete with own livestock of pigs

Fishermen + family cleaning fish and selling it to the middleman



Village monks collecting alms

Amazing! You could spend several days getting to all the temples. Built between the 9th and 12th century, the temples span across several miles. Many of the temples were damaged through wars over the years, but Angkor Wat itself is the most preserved. We didn't get to see it all, but saw plenty! I think I took about 500 pictures, so here's a few.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Thom South Gate

Bayon

Royal Palace

Terrace of the Elephants

North Kleang

Ta Prohm

Preah Khan

We were virtually the only ones at this particular temple. Out of nowhere, a tour group comes and Brett gets trapped quickly.

At the end of the day, taking final pictures of Angkor Wat across the moat.

After a five hour local bus ride from Phnom Penh, we arrived in Battambang. We've learned not to look at the road while riding, because there aren't two lanes and it's just a constant game of chicken with other buses, trucks, motorbikes and cows. Battambang is a little countryside town compared to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. We enjoyed taking in the local village with our tuk tuk driver Mr. Theain.

The bamboo train is a creative form of local transportation. It consists of a small motorcycle engine-powered bamboo cart that rides the railroad rails picking up and dropping off passengers, cargo, animals, and motorcycles along the way. When it meets an on-coming train, it can be disassembled and taken off the rails in two minutes, allowing others to pass.

Assembly of the bamboo train

Our drivers

25 minutes later we arrived at a little village where they make bricks

Cow crossing

Old Pepsi factory in the same state as when the Khmer Rouge was in power

Mr. Theain... our tour guide for the few days we were there

Villagers growing bean sprouts, making rice paper, sticky bamboo rice, fish paste, dried bananas and so much more!

Ek Phnom- 11th century Angkorian ruin and friendly guides

More life from the lens

This last picture shows the sad reality through much of SE Asia. Pollution is a large problem.

Unfortunately, I feel like we are barely giving you the cliff notes of what actually goes on while we are traveling. It’s hard to find time to capture every moment in this blog and sometimes it’s just easier to write captions above the photos! Yes, there is good, bad and ugly. We are lucky that we haven’t had anything stolen and haven’t gotten sick, but there’s plenty of things that have gone wrong along the way. It’s all about the adventure of traveling. Arriving to Cambodia from Thailand was a huge wake up call. We left “The Land of Smiles” and arrived to the gritty, hustling city of Phnom Penh. Everyone in this city hustles… even the eight-year-olds were wheeling and dealing with us. You wouldn’t even believe it. After spending 10 days in Cambodia, this country has truly grown on me as you will see in future blogs. We have made more connections with the local people here than anywhere else on our trip.

A quick history lesson on Cambodia! In the 60’s the Vietnam War spilt over into Cambodia. The US dropped some 500,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia. In the early 70’s, Cambodia’s leader was ousted and the Khmer Rouge took control implementing one of the most radical and brutal restructurings of society ever attempted. The goal was to create a classless society, but the reality of what happened was that 2 million people lost their lives through starvation, disease and murder. Education, religion, medicine, currency, homes, businesses were destroyed during this time. The Vietnamese defeated the Khmer Rouge in 1975, but fighting continued up until the 90’s with many Cambodians displaced in refugee camps. Cambodia is ranked near the top of world countries with active land mines and bombs. Before all of the war, Cambodia was leading SE Asia in modern development, but now it is probably 40 years behind Thailand.

Wat Phnom- set on the only hill in PP

Tuol Sleng Museum- It was once a school that was turned into a prison/torture chamber by the Khmer Rouge

The Killing Field is where most of the Tuol Sleng prisoners were murdered and buried. The picture below is a memorial holding the skulls and clothing of some 8000 people that died here. I had a lump in my throat the whole time we were there as you can still see tattered clothing and bits of bones around the excavated mass graves.

Royal Palace

Local life

River view from our little oasis at the Foreign Correspondents Club... half price happy hour!

We took a short day trip to the Chiang Rai area, approximately 3 hours further north of Chiang Mai to see the Golden Triangle and the hill tribes.

Wat Rong Khun Temple or "The White Temple" was designed by a very famous fine art painter in Thailand. He volunteered his services in 1977 for the construction of the temple, all at his own expense. Construction of the temple complex did not begin until 1997. For 20 years prior to this, he collected funds for the project through the sale of his paintings. He had managed to accumulate 30 million baht (US$890k) for the construction of the temple main complex. It is still under construction.

The Golden Triangle is tri-country border where Myanmar- Burma, Thailand and Laos meet at the Mekong River. It's called the Golden Triangle because it is where traders would pay in gold for opium.

In order to get a real hill tribe experience, one must do hours of trekking into the mountains. I was a little dissapointed, but none the less it was interesting to see and learn about how local tribes are adapting into the modern world. The particular place we visited wasn't far from town where tribes live on government funded land. Most of the men have jobs in town and the women weave scarves, etc. for money. The kids there melted my heart!

After a very LONG overnight train ride (19 hours), we arrived from Bangkok to Chiang Mai! We've learned as we've traveled, SE Asia travel times can vary from 1-6 hours. Basically, you get there when you get there and many times transport doesn't leave until it fills up with riders.

Chiang Mai is Thailand's cultural center. The old city of Chiang Mai is a neat square bounded by moats and the remnants of a wall built 700 years ago to fend off Burmese invaders. It's a gateway to the northern mountains with many trekking opportunities. Unfortunately since it was the dry season (upper 90's temp), we didn't do any trekking. Thais burn off crops in the dry season so not only was it hot, but also very polluted with smoke. As you can see from the pictures below, we found plenty to do! **Not pictured below, we also took a two day meditation class led by three monks. We learned about Buddhism, a day in a life of a monk and how to meditate. It was well worth the experience and as simple as clearing your mind seems in theory, it is much more difficult to do in practice. Here's a link to the pictures... we are in the very back row on the right. Don't know if you can see it, but I actually had my shirt on backwards and inside out (that's what happens when you get up a 5:00 am to chat and meditate!).
http://www.monkchat.net/?name=gallery&file=gallery&galleryID=75

Muay Thai Kickboxing match- We watched several rounds from various age groups. The beginning matches were authentic, but by the end it turned into something similar to a WWF match. In the first picture, you can see the Ram Muay Thai boxing dance that precedes every match. It is a way for boxers to show respect to their teachers. It usually lasts about five minutes and is done through a series of gestures and movements performed in rhythm to ringside musical accompaniment. Amazing to watch!

Pictures at & around Wat Chedi Luang. A few of the pagodas had trance-like monks meditating in glass boxes.

Wat Chaing Man- The oldest in the city center erected in 1296

We took a trip to the market and had Thai cooking class where we learned how to make curry pastes, spring rolls, papaya salad and few other stir fry dishes.

People are setting up for the night walking market in this picture. Chiang Mai is filled with markets and night bazaars with everything you could possibly want to buy or eat. Notice the little crispy treats below...

Traditional teak house on stilts

We rented a motorbike and drove up to the top of Wat Suthep. It's normally a picturesque view, but with the smoke, not so much. I took people pictures instead.

I finally gave in to try the fish spa. It actually does work. I made Brett try too, but he lasted 2 minutes.

HELLO Bangkok... What to say? It's a bustling city with so much energy and entertainment. It does take a little getting used to... its seedy side makes the city so lively. It's not everywhere, but it's not hiding from you either. We spent our time exploring the magnificent wats and the many neighborhoods of Bangkok. Bangkok's major thoroughfare is series of canals. Almost everyday we were in a boat getting around the city.

The best massage I've had so far was in Bangkok. If you've never had a Thai massage, I highly recommend it. I convinced Brett to go with me to Wat Pho (the leading school in Bangkok for Thai massage). It's a pressure point massage where they use hands, legs, feet and arms to contort (or torture) every muscle in your body. It was more like intense physical therapy than a relaxing massage. I think I heard Brett let out a few cries. We both walked out feeling like noodles.

I will add in the titles later...............

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