Phnon Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia (Dec.5-8)

Phnon Penh Impressions: Written by Caleb Cohen
This was not one of the most pleasant days on this trip. In fact probably one of the most depressing. We started out with a nice banana pancake at the blue dolphin café. Then we all squished into our tuk-tuk and headed to the prison of the Khmer Rouge for the movie at 10:00. We step into the insane heat and head toward the third floor for the movie. (Which has already started.) We walk in and find some seats. The T.V. was showing an old woman crying. Her daughter had died and she was telling her story.

On a peaceful day in Phnom Pen during the Vietnam War, a group of ravenous men starving for murder came in and told everyone to leave. The said to pack up all things they could carry on their backs and bring it with them. The people obliged knowing that if they didn’t they would be tortured and killed. They where brought to rice fields where all the families where separated. Husband to wife. Sister to brother. Even mothers to there little babies where torn apart. People where put into cottages with complete strangers. They weren’t allowed to talk, sing, whisper basically no making noise AT ALL. People from the Khmer rouge would hide under the cottages listening to see if people talked. The old woman said that one night a girl sang a song quietly and that night they took her away and killed her. The next day they came back with her clothes soaked in blood and held a meeting to show everyone the consequences.

The peasants here forced to produce extraordinary amounts of rice. When they didn’t grow enough (which was always) then the rice they did grow went to china, Japan, Korea and other foreign countries and it also went to feeding the army. So the villagers didn’t have much for themselves. The villagers quickly starved. Those who did survive where sent off to the prison where they where tortured and killed. Out of all the people in the prison (about 10,000) 7 of them survived.
Portion of the Prison - as it was

One man who survived was a painter who was sent to a special jail room and was told to paint. And paint he did. He painted some of the ways they tortured people (to vile to describe.)

There was also a man from the Khmer rouge who explained how they killed people:
1. Blindfold and handcuff 15-40 people.
2. Put them in a truck.
3. Drive them to the killing fields.
4. Bring them all out of the truck (still blindfolded) and take the attendance.
5. Line them all up and tell them to get on there knees.
6. One by one hit them hard on the back of the neck with a metal pole and then slice there thoughts.
7. Throw the dead bodies in a pit.
8. Let them rot.

Fortunately this mans job was just to take the attendance. I walked out of the room a little flustered from all these new ideas in my head. We walked around the building a bit looking at all the cells and rooms. The whole place was letting off an extremely bad vibe and none of us felt very good.

We lost Mark so we went and sat down for a while to soak everything up. Artemis wasn’t feeling very good (we thought it was from the BLT she had this morning. Who the hell eats bacon in Cambodia? We finally found Mark after waiting around for a while, turns out he was on the top floor of another building and that’s where all the information was. We read it and bought a few waters and hopped into a tuk tuk towards our next destination: The killing fields.
The Killing Fields

I thought it would be a mass of barren wasteland plastered with huge pits piled p with bones. Boy, was I wrong. We got there and first got inside and headed towards a huge monument which inside was about 10 stories pilled high with skulls. That was quite fascinating.


We continued on to a nice field about 30 by 50m covered in grass. The holes where nicely shaped and it was surprisingly lush. Behind the trees on one side was a nice river. We walked one massive tree and read the sign:

“This tree was used to hit little kids and babies against.”
*shiver*
We had a nice stroll along the river and then hopped into our tuk tuk to head to the shooting range. Unfortunately the tuk tuk driver told us it was 40$ us for one magazine (a magazine is about 100 bullets). So we decided to skip that and head over to the Russian market.

It was a nice market with a wide array of beautiful scarves, dodgy DVDs and delicious food. We quickly found the eating area and sat down to a steaming bowl of noodle soup and a nice cold fresh sugarcane juice. It was without a doubt, hands down the best meal in Cambodia.
Soup shop in the Russian market

After lunch we looked around a bit and I bought some computer games.
Once I had finished my buying mark had already sat down in a nice café and Artemis and mom where getting a mani-pedi.

Again we hopped into our tuk tuk and headed back to the hotel.
People loading up in a truck on the streets of Phnon Penh

We had a great night at the Blue Dolphin playing lots of pool and drinking loads of Bintang.

Caleb

To see more photos of our trip, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelallplanes

ANGKOR WAT, Siem Reap-PART 2 (Nov.30-Dec.4)

Angkor Wat

Thoughts and impressions
Artemis

It’s scorching hot. I’m in a tuk tuk, sitting on the seat looking at the city as we drive by. The tuk-tuk has leather seats so its makes it even hotter. Luckily the wind is blowing on my face and body so it’s not that bad. I’m watching people live there lives, doing all the usual routines. I start to like being in a tuk tuk because it’s not hot while its moving. As we drive I smile at everyone I can, and they usually smile back. If I don’t smile when they smile at me and their car speeds ahead, I realise that my face must have looked unfriendly. So I try to always keep a friendly smile on my face.

The tuk tuk slows down and I see that we’ve approach some kind of ancient gate with a visible large temple behind it. There is what looks like a lake (man made) in front of the gate (but later I found out it served the purpose of a moat). The tuk tuk driver parked across the street from the long low bridge that takes you across the moat and through the gate.

We get out of the tuk tuk and start walking across the bridge (you could call it a bridge but it was more of a walkway). We got to the huge gate/wall and made our way into the ancient world of Angkor Wat.


The first temple was the Angkor Wat temple. We stayed there for about an hour then moved on.


To me the main Angkor Wat temple was the least interesting, it was so big and wasn’t very memorable. But the second temple was amazing probably my favourite out of theme all. It was called Angkor Thom. I think what interested me was how old it was. Coming from Canada where the oldest thing is 400 years old its quite a surprise to see some things that are 1,000 years old and there practically crumbling before your eyes.

In Angkor Thom, there were huge stone spires that were hollow with faces on them. The spires were in all the corners of the temple. There was also one huge spire in the middle of the temple. My dad and I saw inside one spire and it was infested with bats. Since there was no light coming from the top all the bats stayed there, we saw lots flying around the top and there where tones that you couldn’t see. Another thing I like about Angkor Thom was that it wasn’t to big like Angkor Wat and it wasn’t to small so you didn’t get bored of it, or tired of walking around. The Angkor Thom was my favourite temple we saw in Angkor.


Another really intriguing temple was the temple in the jungle. I don’t recall its name. It was one of the older temples (as Angkor Thom). The interesting thing about it was that these massive trees had grown into this crumbling building. The tree roots had swivelled and twisted their way through the walls. It was fascinating to see these beautiful trees inside the temple (well what was left of the temple.)





The temples weren’t crumbling just because of age. Pol Pot, a crazy leader of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970’s who tried to kill everything that involved religion he had tried to destroy the Angkor temples by bombing some of them. Also if you look inside at the statues of Buddha you would see all the heads had been taken off the statue’s. This is because people would steal the heads and try to sell them.


After we saw all the temples we made are way to the sunset. its supposed to be legendary. We park the tuk tuk and the tuk tuk driver says to follow a trail. We do as he tells us and start walking up the little trail to the top of the hill to see the sun set. As we are hike up there are lots of other tourists. the walk was about 15 minutes long. When you get to the top of the hill there is a huge temple to see the sunset on. We start to climb the steps of the temple. It is the sun worship temple. The stairs to get to the top of the sun worship temple are so steep it may as well be a ladder. We start to climb. Once we get to the top of the steps (ladder) we’re all sweating. We got there early so we had to wait 30 minutes for the sun to set. The sunset itself was pretty ordinary I think it was because it was cloudy out. After the sun had set the sky went pink that was beautiful but I wouldn’t say it was amazing. When you walk back down the hill its very dark so you can’t see where your going. All in all it was an enjoyable experience

We saw lots of other temples that day but the others didn’t catch my eye like the jungle temple and Angkor Thom.

When we got back to the hotel my feet hurt so much from walking all day. I think I’ve seen enough temples for a lifetime.


By Artemis Walden

The Kingdom of Cambodia, Siem Reap-PART 1 (Nov 30-Dec.5)

Walking to the Border of The Kingdon of Cambodia

Siem Reap, The Kingdom of Cambodia
November 30-December 5, 2008

Why would we go to Siem Reap? For Angkor Watt of course.
Having only heard of Angkor Watt from my good friend Rita who had travelled there last year, I was very curious to see this ancient site, which is also a World Heritage Site.

Our arrival into Cambodia was not pleasant. We were herded around by people trying to seem official but not really explaining anything. From the bus we were first warned of children begging and who may possibly cut us to get money and to follow the guide carefully when walking to the border. We hadn’t even booked a guide so not sure where this fellow came from. The line-up at the border office, a kind of ramshackle extended trailer, was a couple of hours. Then we were herded into another bus to a nearby transfer station where we had the choice to take another smaller bus or a taxi. We opted for the taxi. We had hooked up with a lady from Australia, Trish, (she was in the process of writing a cookbook so testing foods all over Asia) who we hoped could travel with us in the taxi but it could only hold 4 with luggage so she joined another taxi group.

We were told that is would be a 6 hour ride to Siem Reap from that point. So we settled in but after one stop on the dusty bumpy road and 2 ½ hours later we stopped just outside the city. The taxi driver didn’t speak English to explain what was going on so he was on the cell phone making calls. We were saying “Please go to the hotel”. Suddenly we were surrounded with 4-5 young Cambodian guys. We were told every taxi stopped here and that now we would have to get into a tuk tuk for the last 2 km to the city. Well Mark refused to pay a cent or get out of the taxi until we had arrived at the hotel. They didn’t like this as they wanted all the money for the ride immediately, then throw us into a tuk tuk. After some altercations and tension, it was finally decided to pay the tuk tuk driver once we arrived at the hotel.

I had a place that I wanted to go directly to, a referral from a French couple we had met, but the tuk tuk guide, not sure who he was but was joining us for a ride, kept trying to persuade me to go elsewhere.

Anyway we finally arrived at the hotel, disgruntled and confused but safe.

The rest of the time in Siem Reap was wonderful. We woke up the next day. Put out of our mind what had happened the day before, put our trust in the people and the city. The first hotel was fine but we soon discovered for a few dollars more we could get a pool and WIFI so we moved to a hotel with a swimming pool located only a few buildings down. It was lovely to say the least.

Heading in a Tuk Tuk to Angkor Watt

Lianna

Back in Bangkok (Nov.26-30)

Artemis relaxing in hotel lobby of D&D

Return to Bangkok
November 26-30, 2008

We arrived back in Bangkok the day before the airport was taken over. Not really paying attention to news on a daily basis we were not aware of anything until we saw the notice in the elevator of our hotel. From there all the talk began as we were surrounded by tourists who were now stranded in Bangkok. For us Bangkok was a resting place to decide where and what we were going to do next and now that the airport was closed, we were not going to fly anywhere.

Caleb outside the Palace - just walking around

For the next 4 days we talked to various agents about possible routes and places to go and I guess more than anything else we lay around the pool on the rooftop of the D&D. This was the place to be, we had never seen it so packed. For us it was great, people just hanging around with nothing to do, waiting. We gathered up all sorts of travel stories and possible itineraries. Caleb made a friend, young guy from Kelowna, whose family was travelling for 6 months and were now waiting to get out for their flight to Australia. Mark and I went out for dinner with the parents and another couple one night and had a great fish feast and good conversation. The Kelowna couple, travelling with 2 children, one 14 and one 18, were going through some similar challenges that we were, so very interesting to swap stories.

Having another delicious meal on the streets

A hi-light for Artemis was going to see the opening of a movie she had been waiting for “TWILIGHT”. She had already completed reading the series of 4 books, books which we had to search for in every city until she found them. Then she was very torn to part with them once finished but after carrying them she realized there was only one choice.

Seeing a movie in another country is always an experience. The theatre was enormous with plush comfortable seating. We had to sit through at lest 30-40 minutes of commercials and pre-views first and then we all had to stand to sing the salute to the King – Thailand is obsessed with their king and it seems to be hammered into their heads wherever one goes.

The movie was a success! We all enjoyed it. Artemis was pleased but was also very critical of things they missed or expectations she had had for the movie.

Having breakfast at our favorite - Hello Cafe (they make homemade English muffins)

The airport was under siege, there was talk of the occasional random bomb going off, the traffic was horrendous, we were receiving many emails from concerned family and friends but sitting there on the rooftop of the D&D or walking around the city, one would not have any idea that there was anything drastic going on at all.

We left Bangkok on a bus early morning of the 30th to explore Siem Reap, Cambodia.


Lianna

Koh Tao, Thailand

Introduction from Lianna, Scuba diving by Artemis

Koh Tao is a small island off the Southeast coast of Thailand. Taking a boat from the mainland, Koh Tao is about a 75 minute boat ride. We took the large catamaran which holds a couple hundred people. The waves were very rough and although Artemis and I managed to make it through, there were many passengers heaving over the side, including Caleb. Mark and Caleb spent the whole journey on the upper deck with many others, trying to make it through the journey.

On a small island, in a hut, living simple lives of swimming, snorkelling, reading and napping, eating slow delicious meals, sleeping long comfortable sleeps. That is what I did in Koh Tao for 9 lovely days.

Our Hut for 9 days

For four of those days the kids and Mark learned to Scuba Dive gaining their PADI certification as Scuba Divers. While they were busy studying and diving I took the time to go for a few runs to the other side of the island where the wind was soaring and the waves crashing on the shore. On the side of the island we lived, it was much calmer and snorkelling, beach tanning was the main activity.
Lianna


Scuba diving
Koh Tao, Thailand

I went Scuba Diving! I actually did it! I am now a certified PADI Scuba Diver, Lets rewind a bit to the first day.

I’m on a boat. I’m about to jump in the water and do my first dive. I no I’m ready after sitting in a classroom for 3 days learning about Scuba Diving, all the dangers it brings and how to prevent them, or how much fun it is and things you’ll see. Now it’s time to put that knowledge to use.

Boat heading out for Scuba diving - the yellow one

My Scuba diving teacher says “everyone ready?” We nod then he shows us how to jump in the water. Right hand on your regulator and mask, left hand on your wait belt, look straight forward take a step of the boat and into the water. I watch attentively and nod my head. He jumps in and I realise I’m next. The boat we’re on is swaying so much from the waves; the tank is so heavy on my back I can barely stand. On top of that my fins are on my feet so I cant walk that well. My stomach is doing flips like this boat, man is it wavy out here. I stumble forward and do what the instructor did. I take a deep breath and jump.

My head pops up instantly. The instructor tells me to fully inflate my BCD (buoyancy control device). I do as he tells me and then swim away from the boat so the other people can jump. My dad jumps next then my brother. I watch as there heads pop out of the water one at a time. There are only 5 people in are group including the instructor.

After we’re all in the water the instructor (Nacho) signals to go to the rope. We’re supposed to descend while holding on to the rope so it’s easier to go to the bottom. The bottom is 12 meters deep. We all swim over to the rope and slowly start to descend while deflating are BCDs. As you descend you have to equalize your ears, witch means to pinch your nose and blow through it. Then I see it. The coral, the fish, the bottom.Instantlly all my fears disappear and I am overcome with amazement and curiosity. There are two big rocks and wedged between them is the rope. I look around and see 2 schools of fish pass by each school containing about 100 fish. Nacho signals to let go of the rope and to follow him, and we do.

Returning from the first dive.

Exploring the under sea world is one of the most amazing, thriling, scarry and beautiful experiences in my life. There is life and action in every direction I look. As we swim along I see Spotted Groupers witch are about a foot long and its either black grey or white with polka dots all over its body like a cheetah. We see lots of Butterfly fish that travel in pairs for their whole life. Butterfly fish are the shape of a rounded square with a little triangle fin, they’re as flat as a pancake and they’ve got pointed faces. Nacho points out a Blue Spotted Stingray that’s hiding under a rock, its baby blue with some yellow dotes on its back. Me and my dad are looking around and then Nacho signals to come over. We see our group is huddled in line they’re all looking at a fish a couple of meters away, it’s a Trigger fish. Trigger fish are about one and a half feet long they’re round and have got glowing eyes, there supposed to be dangerous. Nacho says they bite your fines. He has showed us a dent in his fin from a Trigger fish biting him. It looks like the Trigger fish is eating something, we stare at it for a few minutes then move on. Caleb (my brother) starts to nudge me and then points to a Puffer fish (its not puffed) they can only puff up 3 or 4 times in their life. The Puffer fish has kind of a square head and then its body slimes like a pyramid (its head as the bottom). We stare at it for a while. Near the Puffer fish I see an Angel fish. It is a beautiful fish. It’s kind of the same shape as a Butterfly fish but it’s more rounded and much bigger but still quite flat. It is black with the most shimmery gorgeous blue stripes down its body. They’re not strait stripes they are wavy stripes. Of course we saw lots of anemonies with clown fish living in them. I see so much more that I could go on forever..

Certified Divers

We did another dive today ,and tomorrow we have two more! The rest of the dives were just as wonderful.

So that’s it, I am now a certified Scuba Diver. I can go Scuba Diving wherever, whenever I want.

By Artemis Walden

Bangkok

Shopping, shopping and more shopping in Bangkok

Its been at least 18 years since I was last in Bangkok, for Mark longer. Coming from Khatmandu we had no idea what to expect. We arrived at a sleek new airport, washrooms were clean, there was toilet paper. We searched for a room with the travel agency at the airport. She could only find us a room for $80 a night. “Very busy in Bangkok” she says. We take what she offers for 2 nights. She says “This is the best deal”. We decided we will look for other accommodation once we get settled as it was already late.

The hotel is clean but nothing special. We do find a Night Bizarre walking distance from the hotel. This Market is massive, with a huge eating area, all delicious Thai food and a market of all sorts of goods, clothing, art. We see all sorts of incredible stuff we want to buy.

Curries and more curries

The next day we visit a few areas in Bangkok. The city is not what I remember. It has become modern, high paced, it is clean and a sense of orderliness. The people are friendly and many speak a few words of English. We visit the Siam downtown area. It is expensive and high end. There is a street of hotels that are more affordable. We find possible places to stay. Artemis wants a pool so we are looking for cheap, clean, nice and a good pool. We don’t find it in this area but we do find just the right hotel for the price in Khaosan Road. This is the tourist area of Bangkok.

Easting delicious Thai Food

It is has changed so much since I was last in Bangkok that I do not recognize anything. It has grown in size. There are streets of hotels and services for tourists but it also seems that it attracts Thai people for its vibrant night life.

Feeding pigeons and fish at the river - kids have a good time.

The hotel we find is perfect. We have two rooms which are simple but very nice and there is a pool on the rooftop! We indulge in the best of Bangkok which includes lots of fabulous markets and delicious food. Bangkok also includes lots of personal pampering. I indulge in a facial massage – fabulous – pedicure and hair highlighting. Artemis was too busy in the pool to do much but she did find time for a manicure and pedicure.

Eating amazingly flavorful Bangkok soup

One day we decide to take a tour to see some sights just outside of Bangkok. The tour includes visiting the Floating Market, which sounds interesting on the brochure but ended up being a HUGE tourist trap we called the Floating Junk Market. Next we are taken to the Bridge at the River Kwai. Seemingly interesting but really nothing there except the bridge, no information, a crappy museum. We left there quickly and we hoped the final destination would prove to be exciting, The Tiger Temple. This was certainly the hi-light of the day and since we had not really read up about the temple before going we are more than pleasantly surprised.

The Tiger Temple was established in 1999 by a monk who was instructed by his superiors to find a higher calling. He started when an injured wild bird was delivered to him He cared for and healed this bird. When people heard of this, one day a baby tiger was presented to him. This tiger had been a pet, but soon too much for the owner it was sent to a taxidermist to be stuffed. Already injected with chemicals somehow the somehow got a hold of it and brought it to the monk. He cared for it and healed the tiger which stayed with him. Hearing of his ability with tigers, other abandoned cubs were brought to him (abandoned b/c of poaching). He also cared for them. The number grew and the cats began to mate. At the same time other animals started to gather around the monk. (a short version of the story)


Artemis petting a baby (we ran out of battery for the petting of the adults tigers. AHH)

So now there is The Tiger Temple where at least 10 grown tigers and a number of cubs, numerous wild pigs, oxen, birds and goats which live peacefully and safely. It has been opened to tourist for them to pet the Bengal Tiger, walk amongst them. It was amazing to kneel beside these tigers and stoke their fur. The monk was there, along with a number of attendants, many of who were from abroad and one I who came from Vancouver, escorted you amongst the tigers as they basked in the sun.
It was definitely one of the Thailand Hi-lights. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos b/c the battery died! I did take video but am not able to upload this to my blog.

Crunched in a Bangkok elevator
Back to Bangkok and then on to the overnight bus ride to Koh Tah, Thailand.
Lianna

Check out more photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelallplanes

Chitwan National Park in Nepal - Part 2

Contiued from part 1

After our second amazing elephant bath we rent some bikes and take a ride down to the elephant breeding grounds. What we didnt know was that the ride there was crazy. It was a gravel road but the rocks were big like the size of your fist. And the bikes were crap with no spokes and very hard to control. We get there and there is just a river with a guy washing his jeep in it and a bridge made out of cement bags and bamboo which is about 60m long. So Mark sees this guy selling peanuts so he buys a handfull and were nipping on the peanuts while crossing this treaturous bridge not knowing were were going. ON the other side of the bridge theres a big field with lots of water buffallo running around and a couple cows.

Bridge to the Elephant rehabilitation centre

We headed across the feild and went upto a little hut that saold the tickets. We head through a little gate and walk down a little path and theres a big L shaped outdoor elephant pen. There are about 30 elephants all about 3 metres away, and they're all chained to the ground. We later found out they were chained because some times they run away and rampage the nearest village. We look at all the teenage elephants and then finally get to a mother and its baby. The mom is doing some kind of dance and the baby is trying to break a ball of hay which has been rolled but it is actually just stepping on its trunk. It was pretty cute. Artemis is squealing with joy. She won't stop going on about how that was the cutest thing shes ever seen. But the mom won't stop doing this weird dance. For a while we thought the mom was trying to teach something to its little baby but she just wouldn’t stop! So we ask one of the tour guides what she’s doing and he says it’s just a nervous habit. So we continue until we see another babby.


This time the baby walks right up to us and a whole bunch of people gather around and start petting it. The mom looks like she is gonna have a heart attack but the baby seems to bee enjoying itself. And then this one guy backs up into me really hard and I'm like what the hell! So I turn around and the baby elephant is running right at me! So I start running away and it just goes back to getting pet. The baby rammed a few more people before another baby came to check out whats going on! And then about 10 guys come that work there with these huge bags of little balls of hay.

Baby Elephant


Artemis and Caleb petting the baby

So all the elephants go back into their spots and start eating. But they eat the hay really weirdly. First they kind of unravel it a bit and then stick it in there mouth and then pull it all out again as one big string of hay! So I ask a guy why they do that and he says that there is sweet potato and rice inside and that they eat all the hay later. So we go to watch how the baby is doing and its realllllllly funny. Its still on its first hay roll and it cant get the first bit unwound. And then it gets fed up so it starts shaking its head trying to break it, just like a puppy dog with a chew toy. And then next thing we know the rice inside is flying everywhere. It picks up the sweet potato and eats it and then it seems happy.

Our bike back we were back on the gravel but on top of that all the elephants are coming back from their jungle ride and we're trying not to bump into them. But what feels like forever.
Caleb


All of us sitting on the back of the elephant

On our final day we decide to try the elephant ride again in order to see Rhinos but still not luck. Somewhere else I guess. Then back to Katmandu.

The drive back of just over 100km once again takes about 5 hours. There is a protest at one point, some farmers are blocking the road protesting the price of rice, that takes and hour and then Caleb gets sick and we have to stop while he pukes his brains out. Entering Khatmandu we are once again amazed by the total and utter mayhem.

We returned to the Melungtse for a few nights,our favorite hotel, finally ate Tandoori at the Richmond Bakery and Cafe, it was fantastic, and then off to Bangkok.
Lianna
Check out more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelallplanes