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. 

Traveling to Phnom Penh

Up early again to travel to Phenom Pen a 6 hour drive. Most of the group slept, I spent some time writing some for the blog, long bus rides are good fro that, and seeing the sites go by. I found looking at rural Cambodia very interesting, especially the way they do business, most of which is done in stalls on the edge of the road. There are sections that each stall is selling mostly the same thing. baguette, pineapple, etc. The way that they transport the goods is also quite interesting, as cars and trucks are expensive, they tend to us motorcycles to do all the transport so I see a motorcycle with eggs piled higher that the rider, a motorcycle with a bunch of orange cages on the back, longer than our bus, and just as high all pulled by a little motorcycle. I seen a cage full of pigs for the market, about 50 chickens, you name it, it will be carried by the motorcycle. really interesting to see how they work and live. We stopped at a market in a small town, it is a tourist attraction as the locals have a delicacy that is quite odd deep fried tarantula hey who knew, so being the adventurous spirit I am, had to try it can take that one off the list of things I have to do before I die (not really all that bad, it could have been deep fried anything)

Once in Phnom Penh we went to see the genocide museum, and the killing fields the guide told us about this time in Cambodia with Pol Pot a the leader. It was absolutely one of the saddest things to hear. There were 7 million people in the country before his rule, after his rule, there 75 – 79 there were only 4 million. He basically made Phnom Penh a ghost town and proceeded to kill any person who was educated (not a farmer). Now the country has 14 million people living here, and more that 50% are under the age of 18. To give some perspective on the magnitude of the killing Hitler does not even come close to what this guy did yet I had no clue it even happened maybe it is the same for some of you reading this. I must make a point of reading more on this when I get back home. Needless to say the ride back to the hotel was very quiet.

In the evening the tour guide invited us back to his house for a Cambodian feast, and I mean feast, when the group was finished, and you look at the serving dishes, it looked as if we had not even touched the food. The guide who lived through the whole experience seemed so nice to do that, he is also giving back so much to the community. Before the meal, we went to a school that was setup by him to teach local kids to speak English he pays a teacher from his own pocket to come a few night a week so that the kids who can not afford it can make a better life for themselves. We had the opportunity to speak with the kids, they seemed so excited to see us, and use the speech that they have learned. It was quite nice to see that and maybe have a bit of an impact in helping them learn by just speaking with them, and being interested in what they are doing, and who they are. How many are in their family, and so much more. Some want to be tour guides when they grow up, some doctors, etc, all want a better life for themselves. This is something that they would never be able to have under the rule of Pol Pot. It is nice to see I hope that they all can achieve their dreams.

So the day started interesting, changed to something very somber, and ended with hope that the people will have a better life. 

Day Eight

This was a long travel day, We left Bangkok at 7:00 AM & got in Battambang at 3:00PM. It was an interesting procedure at the border on getting Visa. We hired someone to carry our bags in the pull cart and walked couple of blocks to Cambodian border. There wasn't much to see along the road, Battambang is an agriculture city, 75% of population in Cambodia are farmer as you can imagine there are row & row of rice field from Thai border all the way to Battambang city.

After checking in we went for a walk at the market nearby. Small market, few meat, fish, vegetable & fruit tables but half of the market are jewelry booths, I'm talking about 24 carat gold. I don't know how many people can afford this, average daily wage is $1. I was wondering who can afford to eat leave alone buying jewelery. A bowl of fish curry calls Amok with rice cost $4 & a bottle of water $1, my dinner was $5 and my breakfast following morning cost $4.50 -baguette with omelet $2, yogurt with cereal $1:50 coffee $1. Yes I was pigging out this morning, I had to store up for my all day motorcycle tour :).

Off to Kratie

Up early in the morning for a 5 hour bus ride, we joked about how we are told that the ride will be 5 hours, and we are there in 3 and a half. Well today was a little different, started off ok, but I noticed the driver kicking the tires. So about an hour in, we have a flat tire, we get that one changed, (do they ever put the nuts on tight). So the spare is on and we drive about another hour, flat again (the spare went) so we were close to a shop (someones front yard), and got the tire repaired with a new tube, should be fine now. Well bad things have to happen in three right, so 10 min down the road the repaired tire goes flat. Take a tire from the back (they are double) put it in the front, and put the spare that has a leak on the back should be fine until we get to our destination. Another hour goes by, and you guessed it, another tire thing, one of the back tires separates quite a noise, as the rubber is spinning. He knows there is a town a little bit up the road, so we limp along at 5 – 10 Km/h until we get to a shop, this time it is going to take a little bit longer, so we go for lunch.

Now we have two new tires, and a good spare, cross our fingers. We get to town fine, and watch the sun set over the Mekong river.

Missed our tour to see the river dolphins but we changed plans and are going to do that in the morning. Got to get up, but not that early, so decide to get a wake up call anyway, seems standard right well once in the room I look where the phone is so that we can answer it in the morning no phone. I guess we are going to get a wake up knock. The next morning we go and see the dolphins quite peaceful on the little boat, tried to take some pictures, but had too much zoom, then have to find them in the camera and take a picture could not really time it correctly, so I gave up, and enjoyed the time on the water. You may be able to see some of them, in the pictures, the ripple in the water should be a good indication that a dolphin was there.

These river dolphins are quite rare proximately 75 of them. Off to Laos now, writing this on the bus traveling to the boarder. I look forward to it. 

Day Nine

 After breakfast we went on motorcycle tour, we saw what people do for living & it's pretty sad to see how hard they have to work for next to nothing, barely able to put food on the table. this making me realize how lucky I am. Generally life is very simple here, people work to put food on table, they don't have much of material things. They look happy, always a smile on their face when they look at you & say hello. We went to see 4 different factories I means 4 family operated business-Koa Lam, noodle, rice paper, fish drying & fish fermenting process (Pa Dek-Nam Pa).

All these are done by hand exactly the way I remembered 30 years ago in Lao. I am sure they still doing the same in Lao as well. My 22 year old tour guide speaks english pretty good so he was telling me about his family -a wife & 3year old daughter. He wishes that he has more opportunity to make life better for his family, it breaks my heart to hear how unfortunate he is for not being to pursue his dream.

Don Khong

Once in Laos, we made our way to a waterfall across the Mekong river, quite spectacular to see that much water flowing over the edge.

We then continued on to Don Khong in the section of 4000 islands quite the laid back. The next day we rented a couple of bikes, and rode around the island.

This was quite an experience to see all the kids run from their homes saying saw bai di (hello) they are truly thrilled to see us ride by. Seeing the way that they live, and work in the fields is special, the people seem to be happy, and relaxed, something that I can not say for the busy lives in the big city.

While on our way back to Pons Hotel, we came upon a German guy, who had a flat tire, and was walking his bike in bare feet. We stopped to talk for a while and offered him a ride back to the hotel. Since Phaydy had a sore knee at the time, we decided that he would take one of our bikes, and carry his bike along, while I would double with Phaydy back to the hotel. It was about 8 km back so I'm sure that the guy was more than happy not to have to walk all the way back in bare feet. He bought us a drink to say thank you. I introduced him to Juliana (a German girl in our group) and they talking in German for a while, both of them were happy to be able to speak their native language for a while. This guy had been traveling for 7 months already, and was ready to go home, we wished him a nice journey for the rest of his trip.

Day Ten

Starting out at 6:30AM leaving Battambang to Siem Riap, Another long travel day, checking in hotel @ 4:30PM. Went out for a drink-happy hour all drinks 50% off till 7:00PM. It's a fancy bar cater for tourist and it's expensive even with 50% off consider this side of the world a glass of cocktail is $6, bottle of beer is $4, you can imagine they double the price because it cost half of that in lower scale bar. After everyone all happy we strolled to town to local food restaurant that Nicole our leader recommended. What we ordered were pretty good & it's not expensive. I'm talking about $5 for dinner is reasonable, any thing more is too much. It's early night cause we have to go to Angkor Wat at 4:30AM to catch sun rise.  

Don Daeng

This day we left Don Khong to see wat Phu and stay in Don Daeng. This wat was built in the 9 century before Ankor wat more than likely by the same people, as there is an ancient road that runs between the two. Quite interesting the story of the temples origin, and how it has been restored a number of times throughout history.

Then on to one of the highlights of the trip for me, a night at a home stay on Don Daeng we were picked up in boats that were two boats (long canoe style) lashed together with a wooden platform, and four rattan chairs placed on the deck. Thank goodness for all the safety regulations. In North America, the chairs would have to be bolted down, railings placed up, seat belts and life jackets provided, here na, just sit down and we will go.

Once across the river, we were greeted by the members of a village, and were dispersed into our respective home stays for the evening.

We were provided with a comfortable mat on the floor, blankets, and a mosquito net.

The kids were playing around, and were more than happy to have you take pictures with them. Dinner was prepared for the group by the village, and was prepared and served in t rational Lao style where we sat on the floor and food was in the middle family style. I am not sure that all the people in the group liked the dinner as much as I did, but I enjoyed the meal.

Off to bed its only about 8:30, but it is pitch black, and nothing else to do. It poured rain a few times throughout the night, and the rain on the tin roof was quite noisy. No alarm needed to get up the roosters did that job well. Now about the roosters, listening to them all morning there must be some sort of hierarchy in the sound as some can not complete the call ur-ur-ur -ur some could only get out the first ur, other two, and only the best get the whole thing, and hold the last note, Maybe its an age thing who knows, and who really cares, but it is something that I noticed and thought that I would tell you all. A traditional Lao breakfast was given, and then some free time before we leave, so we went for a walk on the beach. The cows use the beach to rest, so one has to keep and eye out where one is stepping.

Nice and relaxing. We take the same boats back across the river, and begin our journey to Luang Prabang via air with a stop in Vientien to change planes and lunch. 

Day Eleven

Angkor Wat has a grand entrance, very nice walk way crossing the pond. The stones were original built in 10 century, It's amazing how people those day can built something so impressive. It took 36 years using 380 000 people to finish it.

we spent just over 4 hrs there, first hour is waiting for sun rise which was quite disappointing because it was cloudy day. we still enjoyed seeing the rest of the Wat. We proceeded to see two more castles before headed back to hotel for lunch. We had 1hr to freshen up & eat before heading out again. Everyone went different way to find restaurant, Ian & I found one next to hotel. That was a mistake we ended up paying $13 for foods that would cost $5 for both of us somewhere else. It's not the cost I'm complaining about the food-We cook much better than that at home. Oh well you win some you loose some! lol

We've seen two more castles in the afternoon & headed back for a rest around 5:00PM. Everyone agree to meet for dinner @ 6:30PM just enough time to shower, change & out the door gain. Patrick, Ian & I walked to Kmer restaurant and the rest took Tok Tok. We got there half an hour after them cause we got lost in the maze. We had curry soup & I enjoyed the dinner very much cause it's really close to what I cook at home. Again I can't resist the night market, not as big as the Bangkok one but enough stuffs to look at. Of course I went on spending spree again, I bought sling bag to carry around my junk like tissue paper, sun screen lotion.... that was my excuse anyway oh because it's also cheap :).

Luang Phrabang

Luang Phrabang is noted for its many temples, scenic views, and long lines of monks collecting morning dak bhat. Since we arrived in the evening we went into the center of town to the night market and got some food, purchased some goods at the market, and went to the Hive bar for some drinks with the rest of the group. I guess the Hive bar must be the bar of choice in the lonely planet book, because it was just full of tourists.

Beer bottle mosaic at the hive

The next day, I got up early in the morning 5:45 to see the monks collect the dak bhat, seems I was not quite early enough as I only seen a few, and not the hundreds that the place is known for. I checked out the morning market (dalat sow), and then sat by the Mekong for a while. Since we were only here for one day, we had to decide what we wanted to do, take a boat up the river to see the buda cave (4 – 5 hrs), see the waterfalls ( 3hrs), or stay and walk the town. I had seen pictures of the caves, and the waterfalls, so decided to walk about town and see the many wats. I took many pictures, you should see them in the photo gallery in the Laos section. I started to look at some of my cameras features, in particular, the colour enhance, and colour swap, you will see a number of the photos that I took using this method, where the robe is in colour, and the rest of the the photo is black and white cool effect. The colour swap pictures make the trees look like it is fall, but everything is actually green.

A good dinner, and an early night so that we can get up to see the monks this time at 5:20, and we were rewarded with seeing many monks mostly young collecting their morning dak bhat.

Then the group leaves for Van Vieng on quite a scenic trip through the mountains. For those of you who think that the road to whistler has a lot of curves in it, if you drove on this road you would think that the sea to sky hwy was a straight line. Small villages dot the road, which is in essence carved on the side of a hill, I'm not sure how they get their houses to stay, or what they do for a living, but there are many villages, and many people living in them. I'm glad that we did this trip rather than fly. The views, the farms on the side of a hill, the mountain tops surrounded by clouds, the mist rising from the forest due to a recent rain. I like it 

Day Twelve

Another travel day from Siam Reap to Phnom Penh from 6:00AM to 11:00AM. @ Town View 2 hotel. Check in & rush out to find quick lunch because we had to leave by 11:30AM to chilling Toul sleng Prison. We had a very knowledgeable guide who was able to explain the life of prisoner so in detail that it chill my spine. Walking around this prison cell from room to room giving me the chill & goose bump. I can't even imagine what they went through before they got executed. I can't describe the emotion that went through me seeing their pictures on the wall. Hundreds of innocent faces that happen to be born in a wrong place at the the wrong time. Second stop was killing field about 40min. away from prison. This is where Pol Pot soldier brought prisoners in by truck load daily to be executed. There were bones along the walk way, skull were stuck in the monument towel built by Chinese?....Overall today was a sad somber day. We went to our tour guide house for dinner $6/person, there were lots of foods so it's a pretty good deal. His house is not too big but 4 families live there, because his wife have 3 sisters who are married & in Cambodian tradition men move in & live with wife's family.

We also get to meet around 20 village kids age from 6-15 in their english class room. This class room was set up by the tour guide under neat his house so we donate $1 each to help him pay for the teacher & supplies. On the way back to hotel couple people decided to hang out in the heart of the darkness night club so we joined them. This suppose to be the craziest club in Phnom Pen ( drugs are abuse openly there) but we've seen nothing happening, it was pretty quiet there were more worker than customer so we decided to leave by 10:30PM. Few of us stayed longer, guess what @ around 11PM people just pouring in. There was pretty crazy party there for sure oh well I had good night sleep.  

Van Vieng

So after the windy road we arrived in Van Vieng just after mid day. We had to rush to get the last tube ride down the river. Let me tell you about the tube ride, it is a tradition to take the tube ride and float down the river, the scenery is spectacular, but what makes the ride special, and ruins things a bit as well are the bars that line the river. The bars are along the river, and have rope swings, slides, etc for you to play on. This is all in place to get you to have a few drinks at their establishment, now realize that one can get more than just drinks here, or special drinks as they call them.

So seeing all the kids swinging, drinking and partying is interesting, but the mountains the seem to come out of the river, are beautiful. The group stopped at a number of the bars along the way, and had a lot of fun. At the last bar we were graced by a long boat visit from Phaydy, and Rolina, who brought the camera, so you can see some of the pictures along the river, and some of the swing over the river.

It was a whole lot of fun, some of the group say that it was their highlight of the trip, it was fun, but I would not say that it was the highlight of the trip for me. Another thing that is interesting about this place, is the many cafe's that have tables and pillows to sit at, and watch reruns of friends, Simpsons or something like that.

They are all young backpackers stoned or drunk,at ruined by the drunk party antics of the young backpackers. For dinner we tried Lao BBQ similar to Korean BBQ, but with a broth in the bottom to cook noodles and vegetables, served with jeow sukiyaki. A nice stop on the trip.