Itinerary

This blog has been setup as an online scrapbook of our travels to Asia in June 2009

Our itinerary is:

So I believe we will be quite busy with planes trains and buses.  We should also find some time to relax in there somewhere, or maybe we will have to take a vacation when we come back to recover.  We will take lots of pictures, and keep the blog updated with our comments, stories, and many pictures.

Wish us well

Ian & Phaydy

Chore of Packing

Help!  Is  anyone out there can help me with the most difficult task of packing very little for a long trip.  I am not good at deciding what I'd like to wear every time I'm away on vacation leave alone packing one month clothes on back packing.  My medication & toilettery are already fill up my bag!  what about my clothes & shoes?  After 5 no 6 times of  trying to reducing from nice to have if needed to a must have only it's sooo hard :-(  Here they are finally this is final decision...oh may be I still have a week to change things around.  A pile of tops, bottoms, bag of medication & couple pair of sandals.  Oh well the worst thing could happen is I might have to buy new clothes, wait aminute that's actually the best! :-)  I should leave my credit card behind otherwise I might need new suitcase to bring stuffs back.  I'm so excited!!!! this coming week at work might be the longest week ever.

The Crazy Packing thing continued

This packing thing is a little trying, as we are trying to get by with just carry on bagage.  We do not want to have to wait for baggage at airports etc.  Also, we will be moving from place to place every couple of days, so carying big bags on busses, trains, boats etc.  would not be that much fun.  So we got the small bags, Phaydy got hers in the states, it has rolling wheels, and a back pack style thing, mine is a little bit bigger, without wheels, but a better back pack strap, and a zip off day pack, so I guess you can not have it all.  If you see us in pictures wearing the same clothes all the time, you will know why, not so many clothes in the bag.  I also found out that clothes are only half the equation, all the other stuff takes up so much space as well, the sandles, the sun screen, the toothpast, the this the that, etc.  So now our bags are packed, we have a week to go, and then we are off, if we do not have what we need, then we will have to buy.

A little bit of flu anyone

So this past week Phaydy and I both got sick, no its not the flu (H1N1) or whatever they want to call it, but just a nasty little cold, that has us coughing, sneezing, and all stuffed up.  Well I am glad that it will be over with before we travel.  It is not that nice to have at any time, let alone while you have to be on an overseas flight for 10 hours.

I am however concerned about how we may be welcomed at our destinations.  I have heard on the news about Canadians being quarantined in China, not because they have the flu, but because they are from Canada, and some Canadians have been reported to have the swine flu.  So I also remember back when the SARS thing was going on, that Canadians that traveled to Thailand had some restrictions put on them, something like having to wear a mask for the first 5 days or something.  I should look it up (tried but could not find anything on it).

So we should be better soon, and hope that there are no more colds etc. that we will pick up before we leave.

Mask or No Mask

Getting ready to travel

Well here we are getting ready to travel

The planning is mostly done, and we plan on having a little bit of free planning while we are on the trip.

Where

Korea (Seoul)



Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai)



Cambodia (Siam Reap, Phenom Penh)



Laos (Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Pakse)



Myanmar (Burma) (Yangon (Ragoon), Bagan)



I will add some more about the planning in a day or two

Meeting Alain in Seoul

Well after a couple of hours at the airport, and an 11 hour flight, we are finally here, and have met up with Alain. It was nice to see him, and he was excited to see a familiar face from home. We went to dinner with him, and had some Korean BBQ. The next morning, Phaydy and I went for a walk went to do a loop, but ended up getting a little bit lost in all the twisting side streets, without too much worries we made our way back the main street and were back to the hotel to wait for Alain, who was going to show us some of the sites of Seoul. We went to Insa-dong, which is a traditional Korean Marketplace, and browsed the many shops along the way. At the end of the street, there is a park Tapgoi Park, which was lined by many elderly people just sitting around, we all had a good chuckle as it looked quite odd. Now we were going to walk from here to a royal shrine, and three palaces. The shrine was quite interesting and it goes to show how much space, and energy went into appeasing the king with extravagance and ceremony. Oh did I mention that there were even more old people at this park, playing chess, and just hanging around. We then proceeded to walk to Changgyeonggung palace quite a ways away, when we got there, we found that it was closed on Mondays, bummer. So then off the other Palace Gyeongbokgung, after a whole bunch more walking, we arrived at the palace, and went into the museum first. After walking in the museum, we ended up calling it quits before entering the palace, as we have been walking since 10 am, and it is now 3:00 (just in case the math skills are rusty, thats 5 hrs). Maybe another day we will go into the palace, maybe not.

Alains Place

Alain Placecold noodles

Keep away the spirits

Shrine

First day with Alain

Went to see where he live, as expected it's studio room that have bed, one table, fridge & one corner for his luggage I mean a place for his stuff. To my surprise he actually has washer but not dryer for his clothes. Kitchen is kind of not much but enough to do the very little cooking for himself because he likes eating out & is pretty cheap. We went to eat his favorites cold noodle soup for $4 a bowl-very filling & good. We decided to take subway to explore town, what an experience I never seen a subway system that is so big, complicated design that it's amazing for $1 a trip you can go wherever you want in just a short time. After walking around for 5 hrs from shopping to sight seeing I was so poop out. We decided to head back to recoup I had 3hrs nap & recharge for a night tour – street shopping there was crazy street where were so many people shoulder to shoulder on Mon night street shopping & eating! After 3hrs walking around I was hungry again, we went in for another dish of Alain's favorite it's chicken with noodle but it's so spicy hot because there is a handful of dry chillis. It's 12:30AM we were too tired to walk so we decided to call it a day.

Phaydy with year of the pig

Alain year of OX

Navigating the City.

So how do we get around the city. Well we use the subway of course, this must be one of the best subway systems that I have ever seen, there are so many lines, and they have many exchange points. One can go anywhere in a short period of time. 

Myeong-Dong In the Evening

 Myeong-Dong, Alain wanted to show us this place in the evening, as that is when it is alive. The area is like a street market for the younger fashion crowd. There are fairly high end clothing shops in the buildings on the side, and then a whole bunch of stands setup in the middle of the street. It is mostly a walking area, although cars can drive down the road, which is just full of people, I can not understand why anyone would want to drive, as you would have to go so slow and wait for all the people to part to let you through, and there is a regular street just one block away. Anyway there are street vendors selling all kinds of food and things, as stall just selling sandles (I can not understand how anyone can make a living selling this stuff). So we walked all of the streets looked at all the stalls, had some street food, looked at all the people, then we went for a late dinner with Alain at a place he really liked. We ordered a dish for three, and when it came, it was more like a dish for 5 It was a chicken dish with a soy base, a bunch of clear noodles, potatoes, carrots, onions etc. It was really good, but how can three people finish that, when we were finished, I took a picture of what was left, I was going to show the picture, and say that this was the dish, but I decided that I would show the picture, but let you know that this is what was left over. Crazy isn't it. Quite a nice evening overall. Tomorrow it should be a more relaxing day.

Myeong Dong

Professional Train Sleeping

What train sleeping? ya train sleeping. We have been doing most of our travel in Seoul via subway and walking. When taking the subway, we see that many of the people come in, sit down, and proceed to fall asleep almost in an instant. They sit completely upright as to not interfere with those next to them. They sleep without a motion until it is there stop, then wake up just in time to exit. Alain and I then joked about if anybody ever sleeps while holding onto the hand straps, do they hook their wrist into the strap and just hang there demo seen below.

The Park

The plan today is to go to the park, and relax after our marathon day of walking. Alain must have been really tired, so we had to walk the maze to his place, and get him up. We then had a bit of lunch at the favorite buckwheat noodle place. Then off to the island park for a relaxing day, and possibly take a river cruise. Well we navigated our way to the correct subway station, got out, and wondered what direction to go to get to the park. So wandering around the area, the wind picked up, the thunder caped, and the sky opened up, and it rained really hard. Realizing that the day at the park was now a bust, we ran back to the subway station and went home. Oh well another day.

In the Subway 

Namdaemun Market

So after a not so good weather day yesterday, and thunder all night, we were hoping things would clear up today. We were lucky that things did clear up, a bit, and there was no rain. We had Alain's favorite cold noodles again for brunch, and proceeded to Namdaemun market. This market is one of the oldest markets in Seoul, it is really crowded, and I'm sure that you can buy pretty much anything that you wish. Stalls for just about anything, socks, hats, belts, clothes, pots & pans, you name it, it is there. Did not purchase anything (the bags are just not big enough). It is just interesting to see all the people that are there and how they go about their daily routines.

Silk worms for snack

Seoul River Cruise

Instead of walking all around, we decided to take a river cruise to see more of the downtown area. So the cruise was good, not that exciting, but we did get some open views of the city. The interesting thing is the grouping of the apartment buildings, and the density that the population live in. There was a magic show on the cruise, I can not believe that all the people would actually go and watch that LOL. We stayed up on deck chatted, and looked out at the city. The sun decided to come out so the day was good.

bridge and yes that is smog

Second day with Alain

Well after a marathon day yesterday, I slept till 10:00am & still felt really tired. Waiting for Alain to join us for another adventure day but no sign of him so we venture to find him. Pretty good for foreigner to find anyone in a twisting alley that have no address nor name, we found him & went out for lunch at his favorite restaurant. Today suppose to be relaxing day in the park but turn out to be relaxing day in hotel room. The rain sent us back to hotel but we had fun chatting till midnight. It was a very good day catching up with Alain about his future plan & dream. That's what I love the most is being part of his life.

Seoul Tower

In the heart of Seoul there is a tower atop a big hill, it is the highest point in the city, and is supposed to have the most spectacular views. So our next stop after dinner is the tower. For dinner we went to an area where all the restaurants serve the same dish, as we walk by each of the owners are outside trying to get us to come in. Not sure which one will be the best, we just chose one and sit down. The meal is a mix of noodles, vegetables, and an egg boiled together at the table to form a stew. We also get chicken feet on the side, covered in a deep red chilly sauce. As this can be quite messy, they provide aprons and plastic gloves for the guests so that they do not get everything that they are wearing all red. Overall quite a nice dinner, would have never found a place like this without Alain as a guide.

Now on to Seoul tower, we get into a taxi and ask him to take us to the tower, he says that he can not go up to the tower, but can drop us off at the bottom, and we will have to take a bus, so we agree. By the way taxis here a so cheap, something that would cost us $30 in Vancouver, cost us the equivalent of $3. So at the bottom we decide to walk the 2.6 Km to the top on our own. The walkway is quite good, separated from the buses and taxis well, and has a soft layer under your feet. Yes some of you heard correctly taxis were passing us, that guy we had said that he could not go to the top the slimeball. So we get some good views on the way to the top, when you see the pictures bellow you may think that it is foggy out, no, it is sunny, and what you see is the thick fog in the city (Seoul is the second most polluted city in the world next to Mexico city).

There are many people walking to the top, from young to old, and some running, some biking. It seems like the grouse grind, only a lot less steep, and all paved, maybe more like mount Douglas in Victoria. At the top, we walk around, and see that the fence surrounding the edge, is full of locks that people put on the fence, many with notes on them etc. cool. Walking down we seen many more bikers coming up, a couple of running groups, and even one guy who was running while skipping a rope the whole way up. Retiring to the hotel we stayed up and chatted with Alain till the small hours of the morning, as tomorrow we travel to Bangkok.

Third day with Alain

When we parted on th second night we agree to meet no later than 10:00AM, guess what? You know Alain just can get up early so we venture to his place to wake him up again. On the wayto Alain we stop at Starbuck for coffee & we spend $6 a cup and no free internet because we don't have Korean keyboard. Anyway we found one PC place to update our blog as we saw that Kim already wants to know what we're up to. We miss you too Kim & Eric :-) We got Alain up went for lunch, did the boat city cruise. On the way back we bought silk worm for snack so Ian can try something he hasn't had, I thought he like everything no he doesn't like silk worm. We had pretty cool lunch & went hiking up the mountain, I really liked it kicking Alain ass up the hill cause he kept complaining it's so far...lol. l

Kicked Alain up the hill

I had great day we got back to hotel with a handful of soju & chat till morning. 

Fourth day with Alain

 We got up late because not much plan except want to hang out with Alain till the time I have to leave. Again we walk up to get Alain up & went for lunch, pretty classic pig's guts soup with rice. We hang out near by hotel shopping area, we walk by everyday but haven't had the chance to check them out. Most of the store are selling the same stuffs that we've seen before so we decided to just hang out & chat in a Tom & Tom coffee shop till 3:00PM & it's time to leave. This is the hardest time for me cause I don't want to leave Alain behind. Anyway he promises that he will go home soon cause he misses everyone at home as much.

Travel to Bangkok

 We got up a bit late, had lunch with Alain, said our goodbyes and we set off on the subway to catch our flight. We left later, as we wanted to spend more time with Alain, and knew that were were going to have carry on only, so we did not have to be there as early. So off we go on the subway, time is passing, we make all our stops on time, the problem is that we underestimated the amount of time that it was going to take to get to the airport by train. We get to the airport, and the plane is already boarding, my heart is beating fast, as I do not want to miss this flight. Now it is like amazing race, run to the counter, get a special one open for us, get our tickets, and go to the gate. Wait that security check thing, line up for that, Phaydy makes it through fine, but they do not like my bag (I somehow collected all the liquids in my bag). They check it once, then put it back through, don't like it again, check it over another time, all is good, but we lost some sunscreen (why do they not sell bottles that are 100 ml instead of 120 ml). Now we are both through, 10 min left till the flight leaves, I can see the gate we should be fine. Well we made it on the plane, note to self, leave the extra time even though we only have carry on.

Bangkok day one

 Our hotel is the royal hotel in Bangkok, near the royal palace, and wat Po, so we decided to walk around and see what we can see. Getting close to wat po we were approached by a guy wanting to show us around, not that unusual, but what was unusual, is that this day only, the tuk tuk drivers got vouchers from the government for gas, if they give a good discount to tourists (good for us). We were supposed to go to a few places then that would be it, instead, we ended up keeping the guy the whole day, and seen so much. We ended the day with a river cruise which was quite nice.

Now on to some real meat, the driving in Bangkok is something to behold, they have lights, and the lights have numbers beside them that count down to the change, so that you can really get ready to go when the light changes. Even the walk symbol has a guy that is walking, and as time gets short, they symbol starts to run. So now back to the driving, all the scooters, and tuk tuks tend to find their way to the front of the line, this includes weaving between cars, running up the middle etc, until you get to the front. Right turns are also interesting (like our left turns) it is a race to get a few vehicles through the turn before the on coming traffic catches them. Now rush hour it gets worse, there is two lanes each way, now one would think this is the case, but the fast lane of the opposite direction is open game before a light, and sometimes the scooters and motorcycles use both the oncoming lanes to move faster. This is just crazy, but somehow it works, as I did not see one accident 16,000,000 people 5,000,000 cars, and who knows how many scooters.

The cars on the left of the yellow line are good the ones on the right are in oncoming traffic hmm

Bangkok day 2

This day we are taking a tour to Ayutaya, where the king has the summer residence. The kings summer residence was nice, but the real gem was the ruined temples, the brick once covered in concrete now exposed after years of weather, and wars, just amazing, to imagine that at one time all these structures were smooth, and covered in gold. I took a tone of pictures. The stairs to the temples were not too high at this time, but in the past there were at least 3 – 5 more stairs, over time they were covered in dirt from floods etc. this is something to remember. I hope that you like the pictures, I really enjoyed this trip. We took a boat back along the river, and were able to see how the people lived along the riverside.

Day five

we didn't have any plan today, just wanted to check out what's around us, so we signed up for couple of trip that we really like to do. The rest of the day we run into tok tok with government promotion 40 bath to show us places in order to promote their tourism because it's a low season right now. We see almost every places there is to see plus some more than we didn't need to see.

We ended up spending more money on things that we don't really need. Oh well that's vacation is all about right you talk yourself into buying something you don't need. Anyway we end up spending 300 bath=$10 on tok tok by the end of the day. Have half an hour left to get ready for dinner cruise which was the best choice. Night light along namchoapraya river was nice, dinner & entertainment were pretty good. Overall it was a productive long day.

Battambang Cambodia

This day we traveled to Battambang Cambodia. We were on a bus for most of the day, about 4 hours from Bangkok to the Cambodian border, and then another couple of hours from the border to Battambang, Once there, we checked into our hotel, and got a gift from the hotel, which was a colorful scarf, which is a local thing that they use to tie their hair, carry food, carry their babies etc. generally used for everyday things.

We wandered to the market in the heat, purchased some fruit and water, and proceeded to look at some of the sites the city has, the architecture is colonial in style not sure why but interesting in an Asian country. For dinner the group went to a rooftop restaurant to have some local food. The two dishes that are local are Lok Lak, and Amok, one a sweeter red sauce, and one a coconut based stew, I prefer the Amok, and will have it again.

The next morning, we will take a motorcycle tour of the area, and see some local stuff. Well this was quite fun (we did not drive the motorcycle but were passengers). Where the other days so far have been in big cities, and the touring was all about the sites this tour was all about the people. We visited a bamboo railway, where the people have a bamboo floor placed on top of some train wheels. It can easily be taken off the track, and turned around with only a couple of people. The thing is powered by a simple lawnmower type engine and a fan belt.

We took the train for about 8 Km down the rail, to visit a brick making factory, and seen how they prepared the brick from mud to stacking in the kiln to firing the kiln heated by burning rice husks. The family who runs it is quite nice, they have their kids helping out where they can.

Off to a fish paste factory, where they have fish drying in the open air, smoking in the back, and buckets of salted fish fermenting into many types of fish sauce. Oh at this time the temperature was 39 C a little bit hot.

Getting back onto the bikes we got to a place where they are making rice whiskey (just a still in the back of the house) moonshine anyone, it tasted quite good. The family also breeds fighting fish, housed in many jars all separated by paper so that they do not see and want to fight each other. Then off the the fish fighting ring (OK it is illegal to fight these fish) wander down a path in the forest to a table with a number of fish in jars fighting, it actually looks like they are kissing more than fighting. The men are all around, and betting on which fish will win, what a way to spend the day. Not over yet, we get back on the bikes at travel in a rural jungle, watching as the kids run from their houses to say hello as you pass by. We get to a place where they make sticky rice in bamboo (Khow Lam) I like this in Vancouver, so it is a real treat to have it right off the fire. Back on the bikes and to a house where they make rice noodles (Khow poun) one of my favorite things to have with tam mak houng, or noodle soup. We usually have them dried and have to reconstitute them in water. Seeing them being made was quite fascinating, I wanted to have some right there so fresh. Then back on the bikes to another house where they make rice paper, no not the kind that you write on, but the kind that you use to make salad rolls. I was quite amazed by the process they use, and how each member of the family helps out to make the product, we were told that on a nice sunny day they can produce 3000 of them. Now that seems like a lot, but they get paid for them by the thousand, how much you may ask well $1 per thousand $3 for the family for the day, on a good day. I can't help but to wonder if the ones we buy come from a home just like this.

The people and the kids seem to just love when we come by, they do not want anything, just to see you and hear you say hello. They come out to see you, but when I bring out the camera they hide under a table etc quite cute. The people really do not have much in the way of money and possessions, but what they lack there they can make up for in the passion for what they do, they pull together as a family each playing their part in sustaining themselves. What more does one need in life than to have a place to sleep, some food to eat, and somebody to love and share life with. It makes one think about what is important in your own life I can't help to think how truly blessed I am

Day Six

This was all day sight seeing Atyuthaya tour from 6:30AM to 5:00PM, starting from bus tour till 1:00PM and ended in the boat for lunch & cruise along Namchoapraya river back. Along the river during the day is totally different from the night. Water is very brown-muddy looking, along the river are many run down houses on stilt. Many small & big boats were buzzing around but not as busy as the traffic on the road.

The night still not ended yet, many things to do & see so we headed out to night market. It's almost as busy as seoul night market so many people on the street trying to get you to their store or restaurant. Quite exauslting trying to say no every step along the way. Eventhough I have no room in my bag pack but can't help it to buy more stuffs because it's so cheap. My night ended with a nice dinner after searching high & low for a quiet corner just to get away from the noise on the street.  

Siam Riap & Ankor

This part of the trip I was really looking forward to, I have seen documentaries on this site, and know a bit of the history around it. So up at 4:30 am and out to the wat (temple) have to catch the sun rising over the towers. A little bit disappointed here as the sky was a bit overcast, and you could not see the sun rise, but spectacular none the less to be in a place with such history.

Some of the temples and cities here were abandoned for 200 years, some were always used, and others abandoned only for short periods during war. Those short periods of war sometimes lasted for many years. The most impressive for me was the temple that has been kept with the forest overgrowing the walls and buildings. You can see in the gallery the pictures, the piles of rocks (the building) that you see all around, are where they fell naturally, there wasn't any earthquakes or the like that made them tumble, just the natural breakdown. Some temples have been restored to make them more resistant to the weather. One of the buildings had parts that were taken apart, and you can see piles of blocks that have been numbered in order to put them back in the correct place. The sad thing is that this restoration was being done and the civil war broke out, and the restoration team left, never to come back, and no plans as to where the numbered blocks will go. Sad, as the jigsaw puzzle to put them back together is overwhelming, so the pieces lay on the ground around the temple :-(.

One of the things that happen while you are at the temples, is that kids come up to you selling you goods post cards, flutes, bracelets, books, fridge magnets, scarfs, and all kinds of other things. The come to you in the meekest voice “mister 3 for one dalla” and will not stop until you get to an area that they are not allowed to be. Ya you hear correct, they can only bother you in certain areas, once you approach the line, they will be on you. I mentioned this to the guide, and was told that it got so bad that they had to impose these type of rules. She said she seen on kid cross the line, and a security guard come and hit the child quite sad. So now for some reality, this is Wednesday at any time during the day, these kids should be in school, their parents take them out of school to sell for them. See the tourist are more sympathetic to a child selling things than a grown adult, and are more likely to purchase something. We did purchase some post cards, as we wanted them anyway. Your heart say buy something from them it is not that much money, but truly your heart should say not to purchase from them, so that they can get an education so that they can have the skills for a better future. So the rule do not buy anything from them, but it is so sad not to. Some of the kids are even told that the tourists know about the school thing, and will say that the go to school in the morning or afternoon, they ask where you are from, then tell you the capital city, the prime ministers name etc, to show that they are educated, sad as they can use that memory skill in learning rather than just memorizing the capitals of countries. This is a sad reality in a country this poor, but I must say for the most part the people are genuine, and happy to see you and if possible tell you about themselves and how they live, and are equally interested to know how you live.

Day seven

It's another relax unplaning day except to see the Grand Palace which is few blocks away from Hotel. Grand Palace is where the King lives, it's huge & very pretty, well kept lots of history written all over the wall. the museum also very interesting dated back from 1300-1400 year.

By the time we finished sight seeing is 2:00PM & we decided to hangout in the market place having street food for lunch. Bought the food but have no place to sit down & eat so we hope on water taxi for 3 bath to eat our lunch while enjoying the ride across the river & back to market again. Ian got the chance to tried out durian because it's in the season right now but he was quite disappointed because they pick it to young so it's not as sweet as he thought it should be. Durian fruit is forbidden from bus & hotel because of the smell is so strong that not everyone has the stomach for it. I bought a handfull of different

kinds of fruits that I really like but don't know all the english name to list them. It's 6:00PM it's time to meet Gap adventure group leader Nicole from Australia & 10 others travelling mate. It's nice to see the good mix of people from Australia, Germany, England, Philippine & Montreal Canadian who is a doctor. Well I feel much safer now that I have personal doctor on board. We went for dinner together, this give us time to get to know each other more. No I don't remember all their name yet, hopefully soon. Did my last shopping along the way back to hotel of course can't help to get more junk in my little back pack. Anyway I'm done, have to repack get ready for 7:00AM departure from Bangkok to Cambodia.