Cambodia: Siem Reap, Angkor, Phnom Penh

To get to Siem Reap from Koh Chang, we traveled for about 12 hours, using six different forms of transportation - mini bus, ferry, walking, shuttle bus, tour bus, and tuk-tuk.  Our experience crossing the border was interesting.  The tour company we were with was supposed to see us all the way from Koh Chang to Siem Reap.  When we approached the border we conveniently took a lunch break at a restaurant.  The tour operater came around to each table asking for passports and money to pay for the Cambodian visa.  They were kindly going to get our visas for us while we had lunch and in doing so we would get to go through the "fast" line at the crossing.  The only problem is that they were charging us twice what the visa actually cost and we later learned that a "fast" line does not exist.  When we said we wouldn't pay it, the tour operator's immediate response was that it was fine if we wanted to go get our visas ourselves but he couldn't guarantee the bus would wait for us on the other side...the bus we had already paid for.  Eventually we agreed to pay more than actual cost of the visa but less than initially demanded.  He made us promise not to tell any of the other passengers and within minutes we were asked to get back on the minibus to go to the border.  They claimed we wouldn't all fit in one bus (a bus the same size as the one we had just come in) and everybody else was still eating lunch (also not true).  The three of us loaded up and began the very long process ("fast" line indeed!) of walking across the Cambodian border.  We never saw our fellow passengers again.

Squeezed into the mini-bus with luggage about to crush me

Crossing the border into Cambodia

Our main purpose in traveling to Siem Reap was to visit Angkor Wat.  After our very long day of travel, we decided to take one day to rest up before going to Angkor, which we knew would be another long day.  We had a nice time wandering around the city of Siem Reap, visiting the markets as well as a monastery that we just happened to stumble upon.  We had lunch on Pub Street and then walked back to the hotel for some relief from the heat.  When it cooled off a bit (it was never really "cool" out), Si and I went out for a walk around the French Quarter.  There wasn't much to see in there, but we continued on and found ourselves in the Royal Gardens.  As we walked through the park, we passed a buddhist temple full of people making offerings.  Others were selling flowers and incense.  A bucket full of turtles sat on the walkway.  I'm still not sure what their purpose was.  Large bats screeched and hung in one particular tree.  We took all of this in with some lively music playing near the temple.  It was a very festive atmosphere.  A bit later, Britainy joined us and we did some more shopping at the Night Market.  The vendors were all very eager to get our attention and eventually we hardly responded to the cries of, "Hey Lady, You buy something?"

Simon and I at Preah Prohm Rath Monastery

Pub Street

Royal Gardens

Night Market

We spent Easter Sunday touring the wondrous temples of Angkor.  Angkor Wat is the largest and most famous.  Built in the 12th century, it was first a Hindu temple and later Buddhist, as it remains today.  Throughout the day, our tuk-tuk driver took us from temple to temple within the park.  Though we did not see them all, we did see the highlights.  We had some serene moments sitting in in the large, stone temple doorways looking out over the tree-covered hillsides, after climbing a ridiculous amount of steep, decaying stairs.

The backside of Angkor Wat

Simon climbing the stairs of Ta Keo

Ta Keo

Britainy and I - touring by tuk-tuk

Bayon Temple

Monk on his cell phone at Angkor Wat

The Elephant Terrace

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm

The shops that surrounded almost every temple took away from the atmosphere a bit, but we couldn't help being amused by some of the selling tactics.  One girl of about eight tried and tried to get us to buy magnets from her.  When I told her that I really don't need one she said, "No.  You don't need one.  You need two!"  Another kid was so persistent that she followed me from the tuk-tuk to the entrance of the temple and promised she would remember me when I came out.  Sure enough, as soon as we started back to the tuk-tuk, she started demanding I buy something.  Other comments by the locals were just comical.  One woman asked where we came from and Simon responded by telling her we came from the tuk-tuk.  Realizing he was joking, I guess the woman thought she'd joke as well and said, "No, I think you come from your mother!"  While we tried to relax by a lake, three children were relentless with their insistence that we buy various trinkets.  We told them we had no money and a girl of about three responded, "no money, no honey."

Souvenir Shops

The day after visiting Angkor, we packed up and moved on.  A seven hour bus journey (complete with bathroom breaks on the side of the road) took us to Phnom Penh.  The hotel we had booked claimed not to have our reservation because they don't have a computer.  I still don't know why a hotel that takes online reservations would not make sure they have access to a computer.  We ended up in another hotel down the street.  In the morning, our first stop was the Vietnam Embassy.  The main reason we went to Phnom Penh was to get our visas for Vietnam.  We were told that we could have our visas in 45 minutes so we left and booked our travel to Hanoi for the next day.  When we returned, the man at the embassy told us we could not have the visas until the next morning and claimed to have never said 45 minutes (even though all three of us heard it.)  This led to us scrambling for a good part of the day to figure out how we would be able to pick up our visas and catch a bus to Ho Chi Minh City in time for the flight to Hanoi we had already booked.  It eventually all worked out but not without some major stress.  While in Phnom Penh, we finally gave in and went to KFC for lunch.  It was as unsatisfying in Cambodia as it is in California.

Shop on the road to Phnom Penh

House on stilts on the road to Phnom Penh

Koh Chang, Thailand

To get to Koh Chang, an island just off the coast, we went back to the airport and booked a bus.  Online and at the bus ticket counter, it said the first bus left at 7:30 am.  We woke up early and arrived a little after 7 so that we could catch the first bus.  After buying our tickets, we were informed that we would be on a 10:00 bus.  The man at the ticket counter claimed the 7:30 was full, but we thought it was a bit suspicious that there were not any passengers milling about.  We waited at the airport until 10:00 when we were taken out to the bus parking area.  We walked past several large, spacious tour buses to arrive at a small mini-bus.  I thought there was no way everybody would fit in, but with a little squishing we did.  Nobody was happy with the situation, but at that point, there's not a lot you can do.  Britainy had the pleasure of sitting in a fold down seat next to the driver.  I was next to her in the front passenger seat.  We traded for about the last hour of the four hour drive and I found that the booster seat, as we were calling it, was extremely uncomfortable.  The mini bus drove us directly on to the ferry, which took an hour, but was a welcome break from the road.  On the other side, we piled back into the bus, but our journey was brief.  It was not long before they stopped at their own tour office and then squeezed us onto a songthaew (basically a small pick-up truck with two bench seats in the bed.)  It was a tight fit with 7 passengers and all of our luggage.  After a short ride, we were dropped off in White Sand Beach.

We spent seven days in the small town of White Sand Beach and I would have been happy to spend more.  Each morning we walked across the street to the beach and sat ourselves down for the whole day. Vendors selling various crafts, fried bananas, and beach toys made themselves known but were not too aggressive.  As the sun went down, the restaurants lining the beach pulled out their folding tables and plastic chairs.  We were able to sample pad thai, spring rolls, and fried rice from several of the restaurants, though our favorite was called Bam Boo.  We appreciated the English translations on the menus but were also highly amused when things like "Buddy Mary," "Rice Pounding," or "Shirm with rice" appeared.

We had thought about renting motorbikes to  explore other parts of the island, or maybe joining an elephant trekking tour, but the weather convinced us to stay on the beach.  Thunderstorms were in the forecast nearly everyday and we did get to experience a few downpours.  Luckily, it never lasted too long.  Even though it kept us from venturing elsewhere on the island (the last thing we wanted was to be caught in a downpour on motorbikes on poorly kept steep roads), the weather did not interfere much with our beach time.  Britainy and I did manage to find time for a fish spa.  Hundreds of little fish nibbled away at our feet, supposedly eating any dead skin.  It was strange, but my feet did feel softer afterwards.

We spent our evenings walking down the beach, listening to live music (which unfortunately was across the street from our hotel so we had to listen whether we wanted to or not), playing pool at the western themed Buffalo Bills Steakhouse, and indulging in a few fried banana pancakes from the street vendors.

Approaching Koh Chang by ferry

White Sand Beach

Nightly fire throwing show

Fried Pancake Street Vendor

White Sand Beach Sunset

Enjoying a Chang Beer on the beach

Fish spa

One Day in Bangkok

        We spent just one full day in Bangkok.  We arrived late, so we got ourselves checked in and bought some snacks at the "family mart" across the street for dinner.  At that point, we thought we might stay two days in Bangkok, but before booking extra nights at the hotel, we decided to see what day one was like.  In the morning we went to the Grand Palace, which is actually a large complex full of temples, shrines, and palaces.  The Grand Palace has a dress code which prohibits shorts, short pants, short skirts, tank tops, or see through shirts...yes, see through shirts are actually on their list of prohibited clothes.  I put my serong on around my shorts.  For some reason, the wrap Britainy brought to cover her shoulders was deemed not good enough so she had to rent a shirt to wear over her tank top.  Ladies' shirts were gone so she selected a nice blue short-sleeved man's shirt.  We called it her "prison blues."  We were all looking good as we entered the Grand Palace.
       After a few hours there we decided to go hide from the sun for a while in a restaurant.  We walked to Khao San Road, where backpackers tend to gather due to the numerous cheap hotels and guesthouses.  The short street is lined with shops selling handcrafts, clothes, and pirated dvds, as well as pubs and bars.  There, we selected a restaurant that looked somewhat busy and I had my first Pad Thai of many while in Thailand.
      When we were a bit more rested, we walked back through the city, past the Grand Palace to visit Wat Pho, an important Buddhist temple complex.  We saw the "Reclining Buddha" which is quite impressive due to its enormous size.  We viewed a few other sites before the heat and humidity had finally taken its toll on us and we decided to head back to the hotel.  Little did we know that would be an adventure in itself.
       We found a taxi that would take us back to the metro station for the taxi fare that we had requested, as long as we agreed to go to his friend's shop on the way.  We climbed in and set off.  Two hours later...two hours(!) we had only gone a few miles and had not even made it to the shop.  I thought traffic in L.A. was bad.  Its nothing compared to Bangkok.  We simply didn't move.  Finally, we got out of the taxi and walked.  If we had waited any longer, it would have gotten dark before we found our way back to the hotel.  It took us about an hour to make our way back to the metro station.  After a long, hot, sticky day in Bangkok, we all agreed that the next day we should head to the beach instead of having a second day in the city.

Grand Palace

Britainy and I in Palace-approved attire

Mural at the Grand Palace

Simon and I at the Grand Palace

More Grand Palace Views

Khao San Road

Reclining Buddha

Remember - the pickpockets are not Thai

Wat Pho

Nepal

After several weeks back in western countries, Kathmandu was a bit of a culture shock. It took some time to adjust to the overcrowded streets, the dust, the smog, the stray animals (including cows wandering down the highway), and the, well, "different" standard of cleanliness in hotels.  I never got used to the constant honking and could have done without the fear of being rundown by a motorcycle or car trying to squeeze by on a narrow road. This was of  course worse when caught outside at night during one of the many power outages. Kathmandu has scheduled power outages and only has electricity about twelve hours a day. All of that being said, I found Nepal to be an incredible country with things to see and do that I never imagined. 
We had only five full days in Nepal, so with the exception of a two day outing to the countryside, we stayed in the Kathmandu Valley. With more time, we could have gone trekking in the Himalayas or joined a tour into the Chitwan National Park, where tigers roam the jungle. With our short visit we managed to get out of the city by booking a white water rafting adventure. We left on a bus from Kathmandu early in the morning and drove about three hours to the Bhote Koshi River near the Tibetan border. The drive itself was worth the trip. Once I got over my fear of the entire bus falling over the edge of the steep cliffs or being in a head on collision on the nearly single lane winding road, I was able to take in the beauty of the green hills covered with terraced farmland. On our drive we made one stop for food and a second stop to pick up the rafting gear. We also stopped at numerous police checkpoints. We weren't sure what the purpose was since once we passed the first one, there was not any other way to get on the road. So, to be at the second and third checkpoints, you obviously would have already been through the first. 
We finally reached our point of entry where we strapped on our life jackets and helmets, received our paddling instructions and climbed in the raft with our guide and five other teammates. We rafted for a few hours before having lunch on the side of the river. The first day was spent mostly drifting down the river and going through the occasional small rapid. The drifting allowed us time to appreciate the surrounding scenery. We passed small villages, farmland, and forest. Goats wandered the hillsides and children waved to us from suspension bridges. With day one of rafting complete, we loaded back onto the bus to head up river to camp. Rather than deflating the raft, it was tied on top of the bus. Apparently it was not tied tight enough because it was not long before our guide opened the bus door and using the open window as a step climbed on top of the roof - all of this while the bus was still moving! He stayed there until we reached camp twenty minutes later. 
The campsite was right alongside the river. We had a permanent tent with beds and mattresses. The candlelight added nicely to the atmosphere. Dinner was included (albeit served much later than we had been told it would be) and we indulged in the buffet and ate at a low table, sitting on cushions, and chatting with our fellow rafters. 
In the morning we had breakfast and drove to our starting point. Our "team" was split into two rafts.  Ours included Simon and I, a useless girl who claimed she couldn't paddle because her arm hurt, the guide, and another guy who works for the company. We went through larger rapids and more of them than the day before. We had a great time being tossed about in the raft, trying not to fall out, and getting soaked in the process. After a few hours and another lunch by the river we headed back to Kathmandu.
In Kathmandu, we stayed in Thamel, the main tourist area. The busy, narrow streets are lined with guesthouses, hotels, restaurants, and of course shops full of items to interest tourists in search of a bargain. Shops selling cashmere, pashminas, and yak wool were the most common. Being the home base for trekkers heading out to the mountains there are numerous shops selling gear as well. I would have thought most people would bring what they need but the amount of shops catering to hikers makes me believe that plenty of people arrive in need of supplies.
On our first full day in Kathmandu, we walked from our hotel to Patan and had a look around Patan Durbar Square. Durbar square simply refers to a square by a palace. Later we went for a wild taxi ride to Swayambhunath. The ancient Buddhist complex sits atop a hill that overlooks the Kathmandu Valley.  It includes a stupa and various shrines and temples. Monkeys wander around and happily accept food from tourists, including ice cream cones. 
The next day we went to Bhaktapur where a portion of the historical city has been pedestrianized. We wandered around looking at the Hindu temples, had lunch in one of the several impressive squares, and did some shopping. It was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu for a day.
After returning from our rafting trip, we had one last day in the Kathmandu Valley.  We visited Boudhanath, said to be one of the holiest sites in the Kathmandu Valley.  The Bouda Stupa is the largest stupa in Nepal.  To round out the day, we also visited Pashupatinath, which is one of the most significant Hindu temples in the world.  Since only Hindus are allowed to enter the temple itself, we had a look around the premises and could view the interior of the temple grounds from a hill on the opposite side of the river.  
First thing in the morning, we began our long and frustrating journey to Bangkok.

Jenny on the river

Simon taking the plunge during a rafting break

Borderlands Resort Campsite

Thamel street view

Simon in front of the Bouda stupa

View of Kathmandu Valley from Swayambhunath

Swayambhunath monkey

Lunch in Bhaktapur

England

From Iceland we traveled to England where we enjoyed some time with family and friends.  Though we were still "traveling," it was nice to feel at "home" for a few days.  The only disappointment was the amount of time we had allotted for our visit.  Looking back, it was not nearly enough time.  We had to forego meeting up with some friends and would have loved to spend more time with family.

While in England, our family made sure we continued our sightseeing.  Our fist stop was St. Michael's Church in Hathersage, a medieval church dating from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. A stone in the churchyard marks the grave of Little John.  Not far from Hathersage is Eyam, also known as "plague village."  The plague was first discovered in Eyam in 1665.  The entire village was quarantined to prevent further spread of the disease.  Fewer than a quarter of the villagers survived.  There are several cottages with  plaques outside commemorating the deaths.  

St. Michael's Church

Little John's Grave

On St. Patrick's Day, we went for a hike in the peak district.  Starting in the village of Castleton, we went through Cavedale, a limestone valley, which gently rises until you have a beautiful view which includes Peveril Castle.  We continued on over rolling green hills, passing grazing sheep and climbed the steps up to the peak of Mam Tor.  As we began the climb up Mam Tor, it began to rain.  The rain, however, tapered off, and left a beautiful rainbow...especially fitting for St. Patrick's Day.  We finished our hike with a walk through the village and a meal at the local pub.

Cavedale with Peveril Castle in the distance

Rainbow view from Mam Tor

After a few days in Sheffield, enjoying the countryside, we traveled back south to spend some time with Simon's brother and his family.  Since the sun came out, we all went to Brighton for the day.  We walked along the pier and had some delicious fresh donuts.  We then wandered about the small town before having a nice lunch and returning to the shoreline for some hot chocolate.  (The sun was out, but it was still cold enough for a warm drink.)  The next day we visited the Knole House estate.  Knole House was built in the 1400s and is surrounded by a 1,000 acre park.  Though the house was closed, we had a nice walk through the park.

Though we were excited to get to Nepal, we were both a bit saddened to leave England.  It's always nice to see our family, especially our adorable one year old nephew.  (See you all again soon I hope!)
 

Clowning Around on Brighton Pier

View of the Brighton Shoreline

Deer around the Knole House estate

Knole House