lots of wats

our final stop was cambodia. we arrived at the tiny little siem reap airport and got a taxi to our hotel. the driver snickered as we gave him the name, later explaining that it was a 'gay' hotel. the golden banana, go figure. no matter, the place was gorgeous - filling several complexes, each with rooms surrounding salt water pools with waterfalls of various sizes. not only that, our room had a second story balcony with a private tub and padded lounge chairs. oh, and just about everything in the room was branded with a 'gb' (my intials, heh).. i pretty much took everything that wasn't nailed down.

that first night we roamed outside towards the night market. we didn't make it quite that far, though, because we were pretty hungry. we popped into a little resto with lots of locals and had some pretty bland soup and a couple cold beers. after that it was back to enjoy our fabulous hotel room.

on the bike ride

the next morning it was off to angkor. the temple complex is only about 5-6 kilometers away and apparently a pleasant ride so i was hoping to bike. mom figured she'd better pass and save her energy for temple exploring. so i rented a bike for $2 and had a nice (if sweaty) bike ride to the site.

view with requisite symmetrical palm tries

i met my mother there where we reluctantly decided to get a guide. we normally eschew such things but this particular complex, we had read, was so sprawling that we'd never know where to go, especially given that we only had a day. to his credit, the guide seemed to know what he was talking about. we walked over the bridge and through the entrance building, which already had some pretty fantastic sculptures. through that chamber was the main temple. the site (see below) is what everyone probably pictures when they hear the words angkor wat, though it's just the main temple among a site that is vast and made up of dozens and dozens of such structures.

epic walls

we made our way towards it and started out going counter clockwise along the exterior walls - well, interior exterior i suppose. there was an arcade that went along the outside of the inner courtyard. the walls were covered in intricate low reliefs of the great hindu epics. oh, by the way, this particular temple was originally hindu (a krishna temple) but was then later converted into a buddhist temple. many other temples on the grounds were the reverse. anyway the reliefs were impressive in both quality/attention to detail and just sheer quantity. in addition to the mahabharata and ramayana (not pictured: sita. interesting, no?) there were depictions of hell as well as the gods churning of the sea of milk (the fish were particularly good).

once we had explored the outer walls we went inside, where i climbed up to the central tower. many of the statues that would have been there are of course gone, but there were a few buddhas here and there. and a few nice wall carvings. the view from above was slightly underwhelming. the best vantage point is really from the ground.

believe it or not, by then it was already getting to be lunchtime. so our guide took us to a nearby restaurant. i had beef loklak, one of the few dishes i had read was a specialty of cambodia, along with a mango shake (fruit shakes - another supposed specialty. although these are all over southeast asia and universally delicious). both were fantastic, although pretty much anything would have tasted good after lots of biking and walking in the midday sun.

angelina jolie was here. so that makes it worth seeing, right?

from lunch we went to ta prohm, a former buddhist temple which was supposedly kept intact by the incoming hindus because prohm sounds like brahma? seems like a stretch to me. at any rate, it was pretty spectacular. it was apparently used for filming part of the tomb raider movie. when you're there it's easy to see why - the crumbling walls are covered in moss and tree limbs, climbing up walls and splayed over doorways. the setting made for good pictures and i enjoyed tramping around trying to find shafts of light or mossy corners. we declined, though, to wait in the line to take our picture in a particular doorway.

profile

the next stop for us was bayon temple, the most recently built. its signature is the giant four-faced pillars found throughout. like ta prohm, it was originally buddhist but was apparently not razed by the later hindus because the four heads resembled brahma (again, dubious). in any case walking right up to these massive faces - most of which seem like they're dreaming peacefully - is pretty surreal.

pictured: lots of dragonflies. probably.

from there we did some quick stops at a few other places - the elephant terrace, the 'leper king' statue - but we felt we had hit most of the highlights and were winding down. mom was pretty beat so she took the rickshaw back to the hotel to rest. luckily i still had my bike so i elected to hang around a little longer to catch the sunset. the best time to see angkor wat is really at sunrise, but i never did make it for that (i do regret this a bit). i figured sunset was the next best thing and that, perhaps i would catch that golden evening light on the temple facade. well i didn't. but i did manage to see the sunlight glittering on the lily pond. which was pretty nice in itself. side note: apparently dragonflies really like to sit on water lilies. often perfectly still (handy for us would-be photographers). i enjoyed that for a bit too long, and then biked home just as it was getting dark though. the sun going down didn't make the ride any less hot though.

oh i almost forgot. on the way back to the hotel i stopped just across the river at the night market (yes here too!) for postcards (guess what scene was on them. go ahead, guess). i parked my bike and was locking it up to one of those little fences around a sapling on the sidewalk. well as i was trying to get the key in the lock it fell out. no problem, how hard could it be to find a key in a little 2x2 foot space? as it turns out, very hard. within a few minutes i had attracted a small crowd and had about half a dozen people on their hands and knees digging through dried leaves and dirt to find this key. an elderly woman had her son fetch a flashlight for us. so nice! after about 10 minutes (no, really) someone found it on the opposite side of the tree from me. good grief. by the time i got back to the hotel i was sweaty, dirty and pretty thoroughly exhausted.

but if there were any place to feel rejuvenated, this hotel was it. that night my mom and i treated ourselves to room service dinner and wine while we watched the replay of the academy awards. i followed that up with a nice bubble bath in the private terrace. not bad, golden banana.

lake living

the next day (long after the sun had risen.. sigh) we were up and, after another great breakfast of croissants and juice, off to tonle sap lake - the largest in southeast asia, which literally doubles in size during monsoon season with melting snows from the mountains that trickle down the mekong. the drive was quite nice, passing modest, colorful little houses and green rice paddies. the lake was less exciting, a sort of muddy greenish brown. we took a boat ride (for some reason we had this to ourselves), which started off near the floating village - house and little shops. our boat driver said living here was 'not good'. we stopped at a small shop where we were encouraged to buy things to bring to the nearby school/orphanage. a noble idea, but the prices were extravagant - higher than they would have been in the US even, and certainly much higher than the cost of 'transportation' they required, i imagine. still we bought some things and dutifully delivered them at the school - which was a madhouse. not surprising - i've been in such orphanages before. it was a little odd. we met a few of the kids but they were mostly distracted by the distributing of goods brought by some japanese tourists. like i said, madhouse. it's too bad we couldn't have stayed longer and actually played a bit. but our boat driver continued on to.. the crocodile farm. yeah. a bunch of them were gathered into a watery pit where snakes and other snacks were routinely flung in. there were boxes for donations but as these crocodiles seem to be principally bred for either purses or to be eaten, i was not terribly inclined to offer anything.

a quick ride back to the dock and then a drive back to town. by the way, we decided of the four countries and their respective tuk tuks, cambodia's were the most comfortable. for what it's worth. we almost ran out of fuel at one point. but no matter, the driver pulled up to someone's house that had old plastic bottles of gasoline out front. handy.

going amok

once back in town we grabbed lunch at a small place down a small alley. we tried fish amok - the one other cambodian special we'd read about. it was a little on the bland side, but not bad. also tried some khmer dumplings, filled variously with vegetables, egg and chillis. a little on the raw/doughy side, for my taste. washed it all down with another fruit shake, (naturally) which we lingered over as i wrote the last of my postcards. walked around the shopping area nearby, stopping at a used bookstore that had crazy prices! even by US standards. $10 for a bunged up used paperback?? no thanks. had better luck at a nearby thrift store, where i found a nice (but short) flow-y dress that i'll have my trusty tailors make into a shirt. isn't asia great.

we went back to the lovely hotel to make the most of the salt water pool and relax before heading out again. into the night market, where i scored a new purse (india has proved really great at destroying my purses) and a couple cheap t-shirts. how can you say no to two t-shirts for $5? i ask you. after some light shopping we set out in search of a french place. i had heard that one could find cheap french places in cambodia. well all the ones we saw were stupid expensive. we even ventured down 'pub street' - marked by a neon sign as well as loud western music coming from every continental restaurant on all sides - where i had sworn to my mother i would not go. in the end we found a suitable belgian place (close enough) where we had mojitos (fine, not french) and fantastic steak au poivre with belgian fries. maybe it's just that i haven't had a steak in quite a while but i savored every bite. we capped off the meal with ice cream down the street. though, sadly, my caramel tasted like coffee. and with that it was back to our hotel and off the next day.

the travel wasn't quite as eventful as we'd hoped. our leg to bangkok was easy enough. but once in bangkok we had to leave security and re-check in. well every line was encountered was long and slow. including the check-in line where every other person had one or two large screen TVs. i guess jimmy wasn't kidding about bringing him back one. sorry, jimmy. our hopes of duty-free dried fruits and one last tom yum/iced coffee in the airport were dashed by insane immigration and security lines that seemed to not move. we rushed to check in to our flight, only to sit on the plane for another 20 minutes. the indians on our flight knew better, sauntering in after us, mocking us with all their duty-free goodies (well, okay, not really). at any rate, we made it back to bombay easily enough where we were welcomed back by joining the immigration queue with passengers on a flight from riyadh. there was lots of pushing and grumbling in hindi.

i'm home!

my thai-land

once again we found ourselves at the bombay airport (i think that makes 4 times in 5 days or something obscene) and - after being mistakenly dropped at the domestic terminal - were on our way to bangkok. in less than five hours we were in bangkok. i have to admit, it was a little weird to be out of india. the language of course i knew nothing of (but i will say the alphabet looked something like malayalam or tamil). at first it was a little stressful leaving the airport with no idea how the transportation works, how much something should cost, etc. etc. but once i realized i was just a tourist and there was no expectation (from myself, more than anything) to know any of these things i relaxed and just braced myself to get somewhat ripped off. something that's always hard for me to accept.

we got in a thai version of an auto rickshaw (each country seems to have its own) - he took us a bit farther then realized he either didn't know where we were going or for some reason no longer wanted to take us there. he dropped us off and fortunately we were able to find a nice taxi driver who even went by the meter.

we arrived at our hotel which was perfectly situated in the old part of town along the river and, as it turned out, had an unbeatable view of wat arun, the temple across the water. the hotel - sorry, residence - has only a few rooms and ours was just lovely. a living area and bathroom with a loft bedroom area above. the shape of the space and the look of the stairs (and, i suppose, the presence of water) made it seem somehow boat-like and fun. we briefly enjoyed our surroundings and then rushed out to find some food. it was now past 2pm and the cookies we'd had on our 6 am flight were a distant memory.

fortunately on the corner of our little street was an unassuming outdoor eatery of plastic tables and chairs (this seems to be a wide trend among southeast asia). we sat down and had two bowls of delicious noodles/rice with pork and a few sodas. i made note of the accoutrements on the table - we had a set of various spices, vinegar and chilis - sort of like the typical indian lemon, onion and pickle combo. we devoured everything in front of us and paid our bill (about $3) and were on our way fully satisfied.

from there it was a short walk to one of the ports. along the way we saw all manners of dried seafood, fruits, nuts. at one point i took a picture of a basket of shrimp and was immediately accosted by the shopkeeper and unwittingly dragged into a 10-minute conversation in which he showed me every photo he had of the members of his family and all the countries he'd visited (which was quite impressive). he was nice, but it was still very odd, and ended with him giving us an envelope and enlisting us to send him something from america. lesson learned.

nightly boat traffic on the river at wat arun

we reached the dock and decided to take a trip on the water taxi as an intro to the city. we quickly hopped on a boat - they seemed to be arriving every few minutes - and wobbly found a seat on the long, low narrow boat. we saw a few temples.. then fewer, as we headed into the more hotel/corporate end of the city.. then an interesting expansion bridge.. then the sun began to set and we figured we should turn around. we got off at one stop, easy enough, then waited for another going the opposite direction, and suddenly realized that we hadn't really seen any. it only ended up being about a 10-minute wait, though, and we arrived back at our stop just as it was getting dark and the temples were being lit up. we hurried back to our hotel where we enjoyed both the spectacular view of the opposite temple lit up and our complimentary welcome drinks. it happened to be valentine's day, as well, so on our way down we passed several couples dressed fancily (when was the last time i saw so many miniskirts and heels??) for a dinner at the hotel's classy restaurant.

street food/night life

we walked the other direction this time, in search of a cheaper option. on the way i was excited/dismayed to learn that there was a french movie playing outdoors nearby - very cool, but unfortunately we were too hungry/late to catch it. we walked on and soon came upon the beginnings of a street market (produce and sweets mostly) where we saw another corner restaurant. same plastic chairs, same table garnishes, slightly different but delicious food. this time noodles with pork balls (which can also be seen roasting on every street corner). we got and paid for our food mainly through pointing and gesturing, then enjoyed it as we watched a few cars zip by along the street.

the next day we set out early since we had so little time in the city. hoping to do the royal palace first, we headed in that direction. on the sidewalk we were intercepted by a man who told us we weren't properly dressed for the palace (half-true) and that it wouldn't be open for foreigners until the afternoon (not true). instead he recommended we visit several other temples in the rickshaw that just, hey, happened to be nearby. in retrospect, we quickly realized this was a scam. still, the ride was dirt cheap and we were only taken to a few jewelry/silk emporiums - at one of which we bought something, the others we extricated ourselves as quickly as possible. apparently the drivers get a cut when they bring us there. pretty sneaky. at any rate we saw a few temples, tried a tempting chicken-on-a-stick (full of fat, bleah) and had a wonderfully spicy lunch (fiery shrimp paired with a thai iced tea with milk) before being dropped off back at the royal palace.

all that gold must be heavy

entering the grounds feels very much like entering disneyworld. there's a big crowd, cheesy music piped in and a recording that repeats a welcome message and the opening hours for visitors. once inside we found out i had to cover my shins (seems like vital information for a guide book, no?) so we had to wait in line to borrow a wrap-around fabric. it was actually quite pretty but also very hot in the rather stifling heat. the grounds of the palace are, of course, massive. we wandered around the vast set of temples - all covered in ceramic mosaics or gold. actually there's just a lot of gold here, period. and here i thought india was super-decorated. every inch is covered with something - either a guardian figure, some sort of stylized flames, or just tiny tiles. after exhausting our bodies and cameras we left in search of a respite. we got some water and street food (crab wrapped in dough and dipped in some sort of mango butter, i think) and walked through an informal street market that had wares ranging from food to old coins to plenty of tiny buddha figurines.

baskets and bouquets - thousands of roses

in need of a rest, we headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner. by the time we headed back out it was dark (it does get dark early) and we set out in search of the night market. after a short, overpriced rickshaw ride we realized it was just a bit past where we'd walked for dinner the night before. live and learn. we wandered through the market - first flowers. thousands and thousands of flowers of all kinds. but mainly marigolds (yellower than the indian counterparts), roses, carnations, and orchids (so cheap you almost just want to buy one for the novelty!) an amazing site. i stopped for an iced coffee (so delicious - like south indian filter coffee but with condensed milk) and we walked on through the food sections with produce, sweets, all sorts of fruit, meat, just about anything. we crossed a big intersection and entered the other part of the night market, that is, mostly retail. all kinds of clothes, shoes, cosmetics and accessories. there were some pretty good tees and sneakers - definitely a step above fashion street (sorry, bombay). i had my eye on some sneakers but in the end only walked away with some nail polish. oh and a tiny blueberry waffle which was delightful. we ended up hungry and wandering to the nearest restaurant we could find - over a little bridge right on the river (which i recognized later in a scene of the hangover 2, on tv the next day). they had tom yum soup - exactly what we'd been searching for. it's a delicious tomato-based soup with shrimp, lemongrass, lime leaves, basil, and other subtle citrusy spices and herbs. perfectly accompanied with a cold singha beer. one of our favorite meals of the trip.

gaudi, before gaudi

the next day it was up early to head to the temple across the street. you gotta break up these temple visits; there are so many and it's easy to get 'templed out'. we were there a little after 8 and found a pretty peaceful temple, with just a group of schoolchildren in formation reciting some kind of pledge. we wandered around, watching as people fed the one or two puppies and went about their morning routines. it was more of the same decoration - lots of ceramic of all kinds and a few golden spires. the interior, here, though, was the main attraction. in one of the temples resided the sleeping buddha, a reclining buddha that's over 45 feet tall (god only knows how long) and takes up almost the entire space. the buddha himself is covered in gold - all but the bottoms of his feet, which are mesmerizing swirls of mother-of-pearl. pretty amazing.

we decided we had time so we'd head across the river to wat arun, that temple we'd been gazing at from our hotel every night. a quick ferry ride and we were right there. it turned out this temple was worth a closer look. it was, like others, entirely covered in ceramic and gold, but the ceramic of this temple came mostly from broken cups and saucers of all different designs. very gaudi-esque. you were able to climb up the (incredibly steep) steps up part of the stupa which i did, clinging to the flimsy metal handrail.

then back across the river and out of the sun for a somewhat unremarkable lunch (our first) before checking out of the hotel and heading to the train station to leave our things. this ended up being almost hassle-free, and a nice service to have. from there we went to the jim thompson house (after some minor difficulty finding a cab), which is the residence of a WWII soldier/architect who moved to thailand after the war. i was skeptical as everything was very overpriced and chi-chi (the store prices were ludicrous). but actually the house itself was quite innovative. he incorporated indigenous design elements with clever ideas of his own. he even incorporated antique asian pieces (like doors) in interesting ways - as room dividers or tables.

from there we took the metro to a shopping area in the newer part of town - somewhere we hadn't really explored yet. the metro itself was quite nice - user-friendly and clean, with TVs everywhere. but it was rather expensive. and with all the line-switching (there are two separate lines with separate payment systems for some reason) it ended up being probably more than taxis would have cost us. seems counter-productive to me.

another quick stop for a market (again mostly retail - cute but very small clothes and shoes) and another ill-advised chicken-on-a-stick (same result) and then back to the train station. there we hoped to enjoy a massage as we waited. there was only one staff member on the job so mom got a foot massage while i explored what little the train station convenience store had to offer (ice cream flavored oreo? crab flavored chips?)

then pretty soon it was time to board. next stop: chiang mai