Homeward Bound...

We are sitting at the Taipei airport having just landed from Bangkok. We will be here for the next 5 hours waiting on our flight to San Francisco. At least they have free internet!

We had a great trip and we will put up links to all the pictures we took in the next few days after we have had some time to decompress.

Cambodia

We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia on Tuesday and were picked up at the airport by our guide for this leg of the trip, San Park, and our driver, Yun. San immediately began telling us some historical facts about Angkor Wat and the other temples, making it clear to us early on that he really loves his job as a tour guide. They dropped us off at our hotel very near to Angkor Wat and agreed to pick us up at 8am Wednesday.

We then spent some time walking around the area and noting some of the differences between Cambodia and Thailand: they drive on the right side of the road here, more motorbike drivers/riders wear helmets here (they get a $10 fine for not wearing a helmet), the main currency is the US Dollar (San says the gov’t chose to use our currency because it’s relatively stable, but some people still use the Cambodian Riel), and most everything is slightly more expensive. Otherwise, it has a similar “feel” as Thailand because of the shack-type markets, chickens and dogs running/sleeping in the streets, and the food is very similar.

San and Yun were at our hotel to pick us up bright and early on Wednesday, as promised. We visited several places, including Angkor Thom, Bayon Temple, Baphoun Temple, Phimeamakas, the Leper King statue, Elephant Terrace, Ta Prohm temple, Angkor Wat, and Phnom Pekheang. San was a wonderful guide and a genuinely nice person, so we’ve really enjoyed being with him. He knows everything there is to know about each of these places, including the length, width, and depth of the moats. He’s really an impressive guy!

Angkor Wat was our favorite temple on Wednesday; it’s a 900 year-old temple that took 400 years to build. It’s huge and ornate with thousands of carvings all over the walls. San pointed several out and told us the stories that were carved. Many were about battles between God and the Demons, where God would hold a snake on one end and the Demons had the snake by the other end. Other carvings just showed everyday life of the time – people playing with their children, cooking, fighting, fishing, dancing, etc. Some carvings depicted hell at the bottom, earth in the middle, and heaven on the top.

Today the guides picked us up at 8am again (actually we looked out the window at 7:30 and they were already here, waiting for us). We drove about an hour out of the city to see a “floating village”. That village and the one we drove through to get there were the poorest places we’ve ever seen. People lived in poorly-made wooden shacks that were set 10 - 12 feet off the ground because it floods in the rainy season (September). The houses weren’t stilted on 4x4s or even 2x4s though – they had used small tree trunks or even limbs, so the houses looked frighteningly unstable for the most part. Most didn’t have doors, so we could see straight through them to see that there weren’t walls or rooms, just hammocks, plastic chairs, maybe a bed, and lots and lots of children and babies. “No family planning here”, San said. As odd as it may sound though, it wasn’t a pitiably poor place. We didn’t feel sad or sorry for the people because they seemed very happy and seemed to have everything worked out the way they wanted. The children were all smiles and loved to wave at us. One little girl melted my heart when she put her hands to her mouth a blew us a kiss.

The floating village was literally a village built in the largest lake in Southeast Asia. People either live in houses stilted over the water or on wooden boats with tree limb roofs over them. There was even a floating school, church, and markets. We mostly just looked around in awe, and many of the people looked right back at us with mutual curiosity. We passed one boat that was *filled* with people, mostly teenagers. They all stared at us like we were the first white people they’d ever seen! One girl’s jaw dropped when she saw us and then she and the others just continued to stare and smile as we floated past.

Floating Pigs (and rooster):

Floating Homes:

Floating Children:

We then headed to the oldest temple here, the temple where an Indiana Jones movie was filmed. Of course, Jeremy was ecstatic. It was a super cool temple and one of few that hasn’t been restored at all since it was found. Most of it was in ruins where the ceiling or walls had fallen over the years. There were piles of sandstone blocks all over the place. San asked us if we wanted to “rock and roll”, meaning get adventurous and climb through the piles of rocks to get around on the inside of the temple, which of course we did. There were only a few other visitors there and that added to the mystique of the place. It was really still and quiet and a tiny bit creepy, and we loved it.

Koh Phi Phi

Yesterday we took a tour to the Phi Phi Islands (pronounced "pee-pee").  We rode for an hour on a speed boat to get to Phi Phi Ley, the smaller of the two main islands in the group.  We docked at Maya Beach to swim in the crystal waters and take photos of the landscape of limestone islands that just pop up out of the water.  The place really was stunning.  Actually, the 1997 movie "The Beach" was filmed here.  

We then went to Pileh Cove which was an absolutely beautiful laguna.  

We snorkled nearby and breezed by Monkey Island before heading to Phi Phi Don, the largest island of the group.  We had lunch on the beach there (a buffet of typical Thai food and spaghetti).  

We then went to Khai Island which was a really pretty little island with soft white sand and beautiful clear water, but it had become kind of a tourist trap where local people charged 150 Baht to sit in a chair under an umbrella.  We had too much of the sun by that point, so of course we were eager to pay the money for the relief of some much needed shade.  

Overall, it was a good trip and we were glad to see more of southern Thailand and the islands.  I swear that I know now where Crayola got the ideas for some of its colors: agua-blue from the deeper parts of the Andaman Sea, burnt-sienna (you know you remember that one) from the weathered limestone of the island walls, and spring green from the new growth on trees that grew out of the rock.  It really was an amazing place of staggering natural beauty.

Phuket

We're enjoying the beach and sun at Nai Yang beach in Phuket, at our resort Indigo Pearl.  We're staying in a really cool room with a private courtyard and an outdoor bathtub and shower (there's also a shower indoors, thankfully).

The first day we were here, it rained most of the day with a little sun in between showers.  There were big storms that night that lasted all night long - but when we got up in the morning, the skies were clear and it was beautiful all day!  We just alternate between one of the awesome infinity pools and the beach throughout the day.  There are a bunch of kite surfers at the beach, which is fun to watch, and there's a strip of restaurants out there that's a LOT cheaper than eating at the hotel, so that's where we've had most of our meals.  

The breakfast at the hotel is wonderful though (and complimentary!).  There is a huge selection of pastries (my favorites are chocolate croissants, buttery croissants with coconut jam, and the bite-sized blueberry muffins).  There is also a fruit section with freshly squeezed fruit juices (guava, mango, apple, orange, pineapple, carrot, etc), a bread and cheese section with beautiful artisan breads, a section with deli meats from Paris, and an "English breakfast" section with baked beans, roasted potatoes, roasted tomatoes, bacon, and several types of sausage.  There is also a waffle and pancake section, but we haven't eaten those yet (though they look delicious).  

Last night we had dinner at one of the shack-type restaurants on the beach, and Jeremy ordered a whole fried fish!  It came out with a smile on it's face and it's tail and fins were intact.  It was probably a foot long from head to tail.  

We'll add some photos later.  We're off to enjoy the day...

At the beach!

We are in Phuket and our hotel is awesome. We'll put up some pictures later, but since we have no internet in the room, don't expect much out of us over the next few days.

Elephant Nature Foundation

Yesterday we woke up bright and early, again before dawn, to get ready and have breakfast before the guide from the Elephant Nature Foundation picked us up for our day at the park.  Around 7:30am, a Thai who introduced himself as "Brad" arrived to collect us.  We were sort of expecting another truck with bench seats in the bed but he was in a nice van, and most importantly, an air-conditioned van.  We drove into the city of Chiang Mai and picked up seven more passengers - three Aussies, two Brits, a young Thai girl and another girl (not sure where she was from).  We started our 1.5 hour journey towards the mountains of northern Thailand.  Brad then began talking to the group to explain a little about himself and the Foundation.  He began by saying, "I am Brad... Pitt.  I am a legend."  We immediately knew he would be good entertainment for the day.  We actually never found out what his real name is, but he said it means "mammoth" in English.  He's from the "hilltribe" in northern Thailand, and grew up in a village that borders both Burma and Laos, and so the area is called the "Golden Triangle".  It's a small village of 145 people.  

Our Asian Brad Pitt:

Brad then put in a DVD (yes, there was even a drop down TV screen in this van!) to give us an introduction to the Foundation's cause.  We learned about the sad fate that many elephants have as they are trained to do shows for tourists or to be working elephants (working in the logging industry or as trekking elephants, etc).  Many are beaten severely while in training in order to break their spirits and make them submissive to their masters, or mahouts.  Then if they refuse to work at some point in their lives, they are beaten very badly and oftentimes blinded or killed by their masters.  Some of the stories we heard were incredibly sad.  

The Foundation rescues these elephants by purchasing them from their masters and taking them to their park, which is a huge natural area where the elephants can roam free and just be elephants.  They receive veterinary care and each elephant here has a mahout too, though these mahouts are kind and use a positive re-enforcement system rather than negative tactics to acclimate the elephants to their new lifestyle.  

Once we were close to the park, the main road we had been driving along was closed for paving, so we veered down a dirt path.  Apparently it had rained quite a bit recently and the path had turned to mud - so we ended up muddin', Thai style.  After a few times trying, we finally got past a curve/mud pit and saw an SUV stuck in the mud ahead of us, so we had to turn around and go back the way we came.  We ended up moving the barrier (several tree branches) on the street that was being paved and drove down it anyway.  There were several people working on the road, but the pavement was actually dry so it wasn't a problem to drive down it.

Once inside the park, we were given a safety lesson (things like "don't approach an elephant if her mahout isn't nearby"), and then we ventured out to see the baby elephant who was born in the park just two weeks ago.  She was so small and cute and she didn't know how to use her trunk yet to suck up water, so she stuck her whole head in the bucket to drink. 

Baby elephant:

Then it was lunch time for the elephants, so the mahouts called them to a platform, where we fed them whole bunches of bananas at once:

We then took the elephants down to the river to help bathe them.  I rolled up my shorts and got in the river with a bucket and a scrub brush, while Jeremy stood on the shore to photograph the scene:

We then ate a good buffet-style Thai lunch, watched a documentary about the Foundation, then fed the elephants a snack (more bananas), bathed them again, then headed back to our hotel.

More elephant pictures:

Brad asked us a couple of "trivia" questions:

1. Why do elephants trumpet with their trunks?

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Because it's too hard to learn to play the piano.

2a. Why do ducks have webbed feet?

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To put out forest fires.

2b. Why do elephants have flat feet?

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To put out burning ducks.

BA DUM CHA!  

We would have loved to spend more time with Brad, but alas, today we must move on from Chiang Mai and head down to the beach at Phuket!!!

Chiang Mai

We flew into Chiang Mai last night on a jet that sat 146 passengers, but there were only about 30 on board. Peter, the owner of Secret Garden, picked us up a few minutes after we landed and we were on our way to the hotel in his 2-door red BMW. Secret Garden is a beautiful place a little ways out from the hustle and bustle of the city. The grounds consist of 6 guest bungalows and the family's home, a community dining area, open-air kitchen/bar, and swimming pool. It's run by Peter (a German ex-pat), his wife Pai (born and raised in Chiang Mai), and their 16 year-old daughter, Isabel. The family is so nice and gracious, and extremely accommodating to their guests. They have community breakfasts and dinners here (similar to a bed & breakfast), so Jeremy and I joined in on the dinner last night. We had my favorite Thai meal - coconut soup and green curry, with crepes for dessert! The coconut soup was *really* spicy and had the back of my throat burning, but it was delicious, as was the rest of the meal. Peter had American blues music playing and later put on a BB King DVD for everyone. We were pretty tired and went back to our room around 9:30 to conk out. We woke up before sunrise this morning, rested a little longer, then ate Peter's homemade breakfast with the group.

Photos of Secret Garden:

The community dining area:

The kitchen in our bungalow:

A fountain in the garden:

Some very vocal birds in a cage beside the pond:

After breakfast, we went to the front of the property to wait for the people from the elephant rescue park to pick us up.  Jeremy was really concerned that they wouldn't be able to find Secret Garden and as we waited, I thought he looked a bit like a kid waiting for the schoolbus:

We waited for about 30 minutes before it occured to Jeremy that maybe we didn't have the reservations until tomorrow... and he was right.  So we turned around and headed back to figure out a new plan for the day.  After talking to an Australian couple who has been here for a few days, we decided to venture into the city of Chiang Mai.  Peter drove us to the "bus" stop and explained how to go the rest of the way.  We hopped on the "bus", which was actually a pick-up truck with bench-style seats in the back, and rode into the city.  We walked around the markets, temples, restaurants, and stores for about 5 hours in some pretty brutal heat, and talked to a few more natives (we came to the conclusion that they just want to speak English with someone).  We had a really tasty lunch at a Thai restaurant for about $7 total - we each had a giant beer, I had the chicken coconut curry, and Jeremy had the chicken in a basil sauce.  It was delicious!  We saw lots of neat things to buy today but didn't manage to make any purchases.  Maybe another day.

Here are some photos of things we saw today:

Proof that I'm in Thailand:

Three Kings Statue:

Front of a Buddhist temple:

Another Buddhist temple:

Bangkok

Hello from Bangkok!

We stayed at the Hilton last night (for *free* thanks to the Hilton points I racked up at my last job!), which is on the west side of the river that runs through the enormous city of Bangkok. We woke up at 6:00 this morning and got on the boat taxi to get to the other side of the river. The boat driver was really friendly and let Jeremy drive the boat!

On the other side of the river, there was a little market with several food stalls. We both had an awesome iced mocha (we noticed that the barista added sweetened condensed milk to it instead of sugar... something to think about) and then we bought some little fried dough balls with bean paste in the middle. We recognized them because we get them from a Thai restaurant in Atlanta. They were really tasty and only 10 Thai Baht for 5 of them, which is equivalent to about $0.30.

We then took the subway to Siem Square, which is a big area with tons of stores, all of which opened at 10am or later! So we just walked around and people-watched for a while, then sat in a restaurant to catch some air conditioner. Right when we got back out on the street, a really friendly Thai man stopped us to chat for about 20 minutes. He couldn't believe we came all the way from America.

Jeremy found this sign hilarious...



If you can't read it, it says Happy Virus.

When we had our fill of walking around that area, we came back to this side of the river and found a really neat Thai market next to our hotel. We had some good food there for really cheap - I had grilled chicken on a stick for 25 Baht and Jeremy had a really good dish (we don't really know what was in it) which is pictured below. His lunch was about 49 Baht. There was a side of a really spicy sauce that he put on it - when the wind blew it in my direction, it burned my eyes!

We only had one day in Bangkok and are about to catch our flight to Chiang Mai, which luckily is only about an hour long flight!

Travel Day(s)

We arrived in Taipei after a very long couple of flights - Atlanta to San Francisco (which was delayed and caused us stress) and then San Fran to Taipei. We were on airplanes for about 18 hours - needless to say, our butts are sore. China Airlines has really friendly staff and most of them speak English pretty well, though the girl who brought our breakfast had a pretty thick Chinese accent and I had no idea what she was saying to me - so I ended up with rice porrage for breakfast. Jeremy was smarter and got the scrambled eggs.

I thought it was worth mentioning that 12 of the 13 hours from San Fran to Tapei were in the dark, since we were basically flying away from the sun the whole time. That was weird.

Jeremy has asked me to tell you that he watched Frost/Nixon and Dean Spanley on the flights. I watched part of Frost/Nixon and then fell into a very deep sleep (there was drool involved on at least two occassions).

We just had a second breakfast at the airport - I had a ham and cheese croissant and a mocha, and Jeremy had the "chicken rice" which was actually a piece of chicken and some rice. Both were tasty.

Next stop: Bangkok!