Halong Bay

Now that I'm back in Belleville, IL -- universally recognized as the ideal place to blog -- I can fill you in on the long-awaited details of Halong Bay. It was an amazing way to end a fantastic trip: for three days, we cruised, swam, and kayaked around one of the most beautiful places in the world, ate delicious food, and relaxed on the boat or at our resort.




The trip began with a boat trip around the bay, on a boat much like the one shown here. This geology is very typical of the bay, which contains some 3000 islands made of limestone karsts. Note that this particular island has a small tower at the top, where we hiked in order to see a commanding view of the bay and many islands. This picture also barely shows the edge of a sand beach (look between the boat and the floating structure it's moored to), where we spent some time swimming. Katherine stayed relatively close to shore, because she was afraid of jellyfish; this fear was completely justified, as I discovered on an ill-conceived swim with Gwynne out to the buoys that marked the edge of the swimming area. Near the buoy, I encountered (though never saw) a jellyfish, which stung me on my arm and foot. As Wikipedia notes, "... jellyfish stings are known to be extremely painful," which I can now corroborate. Another triumph of Web 2.0!



On the second day, after enjoying a lovely sunset, a fascinating lightning storm, and a rejuvenating night's sleep on the boat, we spent the bulk of the day kayaking around some of the islands. We began by exploring a "floating village," a collection of boats semi-permanently moored to an island and to one another. These villages feature most of the comforts of home, including power, garbage collection, and even cell phone reception; the largest floating village we saw had nearly two thousand residents! This village, in addition to the myriad of fishing vessels and homes, also had a school and a pub, with a pool table -- I think that playing pool in a floating village would pose a particular challenge.



My favorite part of kayaking, though -- in fact, my goal for the trip, which I articulated to the ladies before we set off -- was paddling through natural tunnels in the limestone into lagoons among the karsts. In this picture, Katherine and I are emerging from the first of three tunnels that took us to an incredibly beautiful pool far from the shore of this island. The third tunnel was so small and well-hidden that I doubt we would have found it without our guide.



After a long day of kayaking (and a refreshing swim off the boat, preceded by a careful check for jellyfish), we were ready to relax at our amazing resort on Cat Ba, the largest island in Halong Bay. This is the view from the beach bar at the resort, which we enjoyed while sipping tropical drinks in between dips in the pool. Gwynne suggested that we swim out to this island, but I had learned my lesson.



Our excellent guide Thuan joined us for a six-course Vietnamese dinner that evening, and we decided to take advantage of the resort's karaoke room afterwards. Thuan's English while singing bad 80's music was even better than it was while describing the geology of Halong Bay or the nuances of Vietnamese cultural history. My duet with him of "Hello" by Lionel Richie was unforgettable; I also really enjoyed our group rendition of "Under the Sea."



On the last day, I had a terrifying moto ride to a national park on Cat Ba island, to take a 3 km hike up to the highest point on the island. The ladies remained at the resort, getting massages and/or lounging on the beach. The hike was challenging but short, and the view at the top was a spectacular array of row after row of these limestone karsts marching out to the ocean in the dim distance.



After one last dip in the ocean, we left Cat Ba and Halong Bay to head back up to Hanoi. We had a few more adventures on our complicated routes back home (for me, Hanoi to Bangkok to Taipei to San Francisco to Denver to St. Louis to, hopefully, Indianapolis and then Rochester), which I'll detail in my final blog post sometime in the next few days.

Vietnam, part K

Vietnam has stealthily pulled into the lead of favorites on this trip (unfairly besting Laos, where we had only 6 nights). But it's been a great mix of big cities full of great food and fun shopping, natural wonders like Halong Bay, and lots and lots of relaxation and beach time. This is Cua Dai beach, near Hoi An, which was one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen (ranking up with Ipanema, but less crowded). Clear, clear water, thatch huts, and what appeared to be virtually no jellyfish. Not the case for the rest of the trip...


Vietnam also adheres better to some semblance of traffic laws, and moto drivers and passengers wear helmets (one driver in Saigon offered me one and insisted I wear it, out of fear of a ticket). This makes crossing the road less anxiety-ridden and renting motorbikes a less-terrifying proposition as well. (Nick and I rented them for the second time this trip in Hoi An. I did not fall off this time.)

While it is true that we could post an entire entry on "Things People Carry on Motos," I'm including only my favorite highlight -- there are two pigs (alive) in this mesh bin on the back of this man's bike. (We have also seen moto drivers carrying bicycles, blocks of ice, huge sacks of rice and salt, and, another favorite, a passenger carrying a computer monitor on each leg.) Nick hypothesized that Vietnamese tourists in the U.S. might take pictures of hundreds of pigs in a transport truck, thinking to themselves, "Oh my goodness! Look, they carry their pigs in a truck!"

I'll try to steal only a fraction of what Nick intends to post about Halong Bay, but our final few days in Vietnam have been spent in this natural wonderland. The bay contains 3,000 limestone kearst islands jutting abruptly from the ocean, which is the most beautiful shade of jade green (you can't tell that in this picture). We were delivered from Hanoi to our boat, on which we ate lunch, dinner, and slept our first night. The second day we switched boats and went kayaking around the kearsts themselves.

We kayaked through both Halong Bay and Cat Ba protected areas (Cat Ba is a national park; the two abut one another but belong to different provinces). The kayaking included a few neat trips through tunnels in the kearsts.

We ended up on Cat Ba island for the night (the only inhabited island in the bay, home to about 17,000 people). We're staying at a beautiful resort right on the beach. It's definitely relaxing (though our night of karaoke last night was less so).

And so begins the end of our trip. We're quite pleased to finish our trip in Halong Bay -- it's been a marvelous experience, in terms of what we've seen and what we've been able to do (kayaking through holes in kearsts, jumping off the roof of the boat, relaxing on a beach in beautiful surrounds). I even feel a little bit cleaner, having worn my brand-new, custom-made dress last night to dinner! Nick and I fly to Bangkok tomorrow from Hanoi, and we'll fly back to the U.S. Saturday (Nick via some five flights). But the views and the relaxing vibe of Halong Bay have set us up well for the return trip.

Vietnam, Part I

I was unsure how to divide my blogging in Vietnam, since we have about ten days here and we're visiting four or five different places; it does not divide neatly into halves or thirds. However, now that we're most of the way through our Halong Bay tour, it's clear to me that there are two parts of my trip to Vietnam: Halong Bay and everything else. In fact, it would be only a slight exaggeration to say that my entire trip to southeast Asia divides up in a similar way. To keep you in suspense about Halong Bay, this will be the "everything else" entry.

Our first night in Vietnam was spent in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, and I did observe the exterior of some of the marquee sights: the Reunification Palace and the Notre Dame cathedral. But our main sightseeing was consumed by the Cu Chi tunnels, where many of the Viet Cong lived during the war to avoid the constant bombing (and worse) by America and its allies. Incredibly, the Viet Cong even had tunnels under the Saigon airport, of which the U.S. was unaware until after the war. The tunnels were built to accommodate a Vietnamese frame, which was ok for Gwynne and Amy (height: 5'3") but posed some difficulties for me.

Our time in Vietnam has been dominated by relaxation, on the beach and otherwise, which is just fine for Katherine and me, who have been traveling long enough that we're tempted to burn our clothes once we return to the States. In Nah Trang, Gwynne and I went scuba diving; we saw some fascinating coral and fish, including something that my guide referred to as "Christmas Tree Lights": small animals with shells of all colors living on a large, smooth piece of coral, which if the nearby water was disturbed would flee into the coral so rapidly that they appeared to vanish instantaneously. In Hoi An, we spent some time at Cua Dai beach (shown here, in the background), which features several kilometers of white sand, warm clear water for swimming, and delicious cocktails.

Hoi An was our third of four UNESCO World Heritage sites, and like Luang Prabang, was so designated for the unique architecture of its old town. This small lagoon with dragons was in the back of a temple dedicated to a Chinese emperor -- Hoi An was, historically, a center of trade for southeast Asia, and the cosmopolitan feel of a city with Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese influences endures to this day. Katherine and I also spent a morning visiting the nearby Marble Mountain (on rented motorbikes), where we saw some breathtaking marble carvings.

From Hoi An, we flew up to Hanoi, where we spent just an evening before leaving on the Halong Bay tour. I will have plenty more to say about Halong Bay later; for now, suffice it to say that I have seen three of the seven natural wonders of the world (at least, according to CNN), and I can't see why Halong Bay should be left off the list.

Phnom Penh

I thought I'd write just a little bit more about Cambodia, before moving on to the first part of our time in Vietnam in a future post. Tomorrow we head to Halong Bay, expected to be a highlight of the trip and our last big destination before we fly back to the States. More on Vietnam soon!


The first thing Katherine and I did was to visit Choeung Ek (commonly called the Killing Fields), a site near Phnom Penh where people perceived by the Khmer Rouge as threats to their vision of an agrarian collective (intellectuals; people who spoke foreign languages; incredibly, even people who merely wore spectacles) were executed. There are over a hundred mass graves with a total of thousands of bodies, and a haunting monument near the entrance with hundreds of skulls that have been exhumed. We also visited Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which traces the history of the Khmer Rouge and the atrocities they committed, beginning with its rise to power, through the war with Vietnam, and all the way to the present day efforts by Cambodia to bring some of these war criminals to justice. One interesting thing about visiting Cambodia and Vietnam has been learning more about the history of this part of the world from a local perspective -- needless to say, it's a little bit different from the version we're taught in the U.S.!


The other main sight to see in Phnom Penh is the royal palace which fortunately -- but inexplicably -- survived the reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge. Dozens of buildings feature traditional Khmer architecture, and the beautifully landscaped grounds made for a very scenic visit.


Other highlights of our time in Phnom Penh included reconnecting with Gwynne and Amy and sharing some delicious meals, as well as a boat ride along the river, on which we were the only four participants. Amusingly, the boat ride lasted a bit longer than expected, apparently because our captain wanted to swing by his friend's house to show off the three beautiful ladies he'd managed to bring along!

Hoi An and points north

Hoi An, our most recent stop, is awash in tailor shops (as Gwynne mentioned) and lantern shops. It's incredibly beautiful at night; this is also the only time of day where you don't sweat just by virtue of existence. (The Vietnamese appear to beat the heat by rising before dawn -- about 5:30 a.m. here. Amy reported that the beach was even more crowded at sunrise than during our time there yesterday afternoon.)

Today we fly to Hanoi, where we have a quick night before our cruise in Halong Bay, our fourth and final World Heritage site. Our time in Vietnam has proven especially relaxing -- with time on the beach and smoother sailing with travel snags.

More on food

My last food posting was roundly evaluated as lacking in pictures. So to that end, we have made even greater tourists of ourselves by taking pictures of almost everything we order and eat. This post shows some of the really great Vietnamese food we've had since arriving here on Wednesday, but it misses some other important highlights:

In Ho Chi Minh City, we went to this great (and locals-filled) place Gwynne selected based on the recommendations of her guidebook -- and our favorite pedicurist at Dupont Nails. It was amazing, and it was clearly the kind of place Saigon residents would do well to keep to themselves. The picture of che below is from that meal.

In Nha Trang, after visiting a couple local photography galleries, Amy and I went to this hole in the wall vegetarian place, which shocked and dazzled us with a variety of vegetarian treats. I also put back two large mugs of jasmine tea -- so good. The total bill came to a 50,000 dong - about $3 for the both of us.

And Gwynne finally found a couple good cups of coffee, just in case you thought it would never happen. It's touch and go, but when it's good, it's really good.

I don't have pictures of what was perhaps our best meal of the trip, at Lac Canh in Nha Trang, but Gwynne has included information and a picture of that below in her most recent post. Now onto the things I do have pictures of:

In Hoi An, a "foodie heaven" according to Lonely Planet, there are a variety of local specialties. One of my favorites is this, cao lau noodles. The noodles have to be prepared with water from a particular well in Hoi An (which means that the dish anywhere else isn't the real thing). They are served with fresh greens and herbs, croutons, fried onions and garlic, and for Nick's and mine, topped with grilled pork (vegetarians miss out on this portion). Sooo good. Other Hoi An specialties include a shrimp dumpling (a white rose) and fried wontons.

Vietnamese desserts are a unique treat. Che (which I think should have an accent on the e) is a warm soup, often containing coconut milk, rice or tapioca. Gwynne's was made with black sticky rice. Nick's had cooked banana and the same kind of crispity bits used in the mango dessert we had in Thailand. Mine, pictured here, was called "floating cake" which had little doughy dumplings floating in a very sweet, rice/coconut stew. Mmm.


Even the drinks have been amazing (and photogenic). This is a carrot sinh, a traditional Vietnamese drink made with fruits, vegetables, ice, and sweetened condensed milk (making an appearance in many, many drinks here). We tried out the sinh at Nha Trang when a large and persistent rainstorm interrupted our diligent relaxation on the beach.


And a prettily named, dragonfruit-flavored Capri Sun. Our soccer games would never have been the same.









And we also discovered that Vietnam even offers world-class tiramisu. For the record, by far the most common Western food along our trip has been Italian. Pizza is everywhere, and pasta is almost as ubiquitous. So it seems almost normal to find such a fabulous tiramisu.

Southern Vietnam

After much apprehension about entering a Communist country, we arrived in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City uneventfully. And, after the dirty and chaotic streets of Phnom Penh, Saigon was a much welcomed improvement. It is cleaner, more modern, prettier...all in all a place that I wished we had more time in.

Our major tourist trip was to Cu Chi tunnels, about an hour's drive NW of the city. The Vietnamese lived in this elaborate tunnel structure during the war. The tunnels were 3 stories deep and built with a variety of fail-safe measures to keep them protected (including the smoke from the kitchen being diverted 10-20 feet away so that the actual kitchen location wouldn't be detected. The tunnels are built to be tight for Vietnamese, so we had a tough time fitting to say the least. I jumped down into one of the holes. We also walked through a 30 m stretch of the tunnel, which was filled with hot, stale air and we were all glad to be out.

We returned to Saigon after our driver ran a moto off the road and into a water-filled ditch (the driving here is as crazy as I've seen; they actually hire traffic guards to help tourists cross the street in Saigon b/c otherwise we'd never make it). We had a train in a few hours, which I think we were all looking forward to though the experience was way worse than anticipated. Our car had some rotten garbage in it, and I (having the lowest bunk in the sleeper) had to obey some sort of cultural norm that anyone could sit or rest his/her feet on my bunk. At one point, a man sat on my leg and didn't move until I moved my leg. The train ride was about 9 hours long to Nha Trang, and we were relived to be done.

Nha Trang is a great little seaside town. Nick and I went diving, and saw amazing coral, fish, eels, urchins, etc (my favorite were giant purple starfish, though the rose/silver coral with the matching fish is a close second). The coral was apparently decimated until 3 years ago, but has grown back surprisingly quickly (we were in a marine protected area). We did two dives and I was down about 50 minutes each dive. That night we had an incredible Vietnamese barbeque dinner. We grilled fish, eel, and beef at the table, supplemented with a crab and spring rolls. Easily the best and most unique meal I've had here.

We're now in Hoi An, another seaside town known for its Old Town (a UNESCO World Heritage site), 200 custom tailors, and a white sand beach about 5 k up the road where we spent yesterday.

Phnom Penh

Since Nick and Katherine covered Angkor, I'm skipping to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia and a city where nothing sits still for very long. Amy and I arrived yesterday morning and went to visit the National Museum, which covered the Angkor period as well as more recent history (up till the turn of the 20th Century). An impressive collection for Cambodia. From there, we went to a restaurant called Friends, not to be confused with the TV program. This one provides employment and skill training to street youths, and makes some pretty awesome food in the process. I, of course, bought the cookbook. You can learn more here: http://www.streetfriends.org/.

From there we went to the National Palace, and FINALLY Amy experienced a brief period of being uncomfortably hot. Women are not allowed to have bared shoulders or thighs, so no tank tops and shorts. I had a light cardigan for this purpose, but she only had a rain coat. The palace is incredible, particularly in contrast to the staggering poverty surrounding the palace. This picture is of the palace grounds. Note the dark clouds in the background.










We quickly hoped in a tuk tuk, a scooter with a trailer that has two bench seats, and went back to our adorable little hotel. It POURED on the way, and as I looked out the balcony, I noticed all of the moto drivers had lined up under the gas station roof:

Today we went to the Killing Fields, which I'll spare you the details of for now. We then breezed through the Russian Market, which has almost nothing to do with Russia but is a great place for getting good deals on souvenirs (note to LBI crowd: Dominoes purchased!). Amy and I then had fantastic massages and met back up with Nick and Katherine for a "sunset cruise," which was in fact a ride on a boat around the time the sun set, but there was not much more to it than that.

Then, Amy headed home in her first moto ride:

Tomorrow we're off to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon.

Cambodia

One of the more confusing aspects of being in Cambodia is the currency. Officially, the currency is the riel, which trades at about 3800 riel per U.S. dollar. However, when I tried to withdraw money from an ATM at the Siem Reap airport (or, indeed, anywhere in Cambodia), it just gave me U.S. dollars. My first transaction in Cambodia was buying a blizzard at a Dairy Queen at the airport, which listed all of its prices in dollars (e.g., $2.1 for the blizzard I wanted). When I tried to pay with two singles and a dime, the clerk patently refused to accept American coinage, and helpfully suggested that I buy a hot dog as well, to bring it up to a round four dollars. We have since learned that almost all prices in Cambodia are quoted in dollars, and riel are essentially only used in place of coins for fractions of dollars. U.S. coins are worthless.

Our first -- and principal -- stop in Cambodia was Angkor Wat, which is the largest religious building in the world and so closely identified with the nation of Cambodia that its silhouette appears on the flag. Our pictures from the temple leave a little bit to be desired, since (as Katherine mentioned) it is difficult to photograph the whole thing, and there is currently scaffolding on a few of the towers for the ongoing restoration work. This is a view of Angkor Wat from the top of nearby Phnom Bakeng.

After spending the morning at Angkor Wat, we explored a few of the smaller temples. Among our favorites was the Bayon, which features 37 (originally, 49) face-bedecked towers. Later kings decided it would be too costly or complicated to rebuild this, the royal temple of the city of Angkor Thom, so instead merely added to it, creating a labyrinthine effect. This picture shows Katherine kissing one of the ancient faces.

On the morning of the second day, we began with Preah Kahn, which was a university after Buddhism reached the city in the 14th or 15th century. The structure was essentially ruined, so I happily spent the morning clambering around on the rocks, often emerging (only slightly embarrassed) from behind a "Do Not Entry" sign. Imagine our surprise when our guidebook described Ta Prohm, on the agenda for that afternoon, as a "ruined" version of Preah Kahn!

After meeting up with my other sister Gwynne and her friend Amy for an evening in Siem Reap, Katherine and I took a boat trip to Battambang the following day, which was not exactly what either of us had expected. I love this picture, taken from inside the boat along the way. Note that our captain seems unfazed by the fact that there is no water in sight.

We spent the evening in Battambang relaxing after the 8-hour boat trip, and opted for a bus instead to take us the rest of the way to Phnom Penh. Gwynne and Amy have enjoyed the capital city with us, and I'll have more on that later... tomorrow, on to Vietnam!

Khmer Culture

For those faithful readers of "Wemblin," you now have a third author. Amy Horner and I (Gwynne) arrived in Siem Reap after an unremarkable trip half way around the world. After a cheery reunion with Nick and Katherine and some yummy Khmer food, we made a beeline for some much needed sleep.

For those of you who know me, you know that coffee is a non-negotiable start to my day, and worse, I am picky about it. I had been slightly concerned about where I would acquire said java, so set out early Saturday morning in search of the perfect cup (or even a mediocre cup). I started at the place across the street, where they nodded knowingly when I said, " Two coffees with milk." I was pleased. Momentarily. What I had in fact ordered was two small baggies of a luke-warm grey-brown liquid, wrapped in a larger plastic bag with a plastic cup and two straws. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Having given the Khmer place a shot, I headed to the ex-pat bakery a half-mile away where the goods were a more defined quantity. Amy was visibly disappointed when I returned. The first substance turned out to be related to coffee - I think it was Sanka mixed with condensed milk. Sort of a mocha shake kind of flavor.

The rest of Saturday and Sunday was spent at Angkor, which I will cover later. We are now in Phnom Penh and have visited the National Museum and the Royal Palace. Soon, we will reconnect with Nick and Katherine and go to the Foreign Correspondents Club.

Vang Vieng

Once again, Katherine shames me with her up-to-the-minute blogging. Now, finally, I will fill in the details of Vang Vieng for all of you avid blog-readers who've been disappointed by several days of waiting.

The minivan we took to the waterfall was fine for a half-hour ride with no luggage, but the same vehicle was more problematic for a six-hour ride along a winding mountain road to Vang Vieng. Katherine was mostly annoyed that the air conditioning didn't work, despite repeated assurances to the contrary when we were booking the ticket. Perhaps the heat was compounded for her by the several backpacks -- and the various bags of vegetables purchased by our driver en route -- that she was forced to balance on her knees. I was mostly annoyed by the fact that I was seated in the middle of the front seat, awkwardly trying to avoid being punched in the leg every time we shifted gears, which on this road was approximately every ten seconds. On the plus side, the scenery was gorgeous, and I had a fantastic sandwich when we stopped for lunch.

Vang Vieng itself is famous for its "tubing," in which tourists ride inner tubes down the Nam Song river, occasionally stopping to drink more beer or, exhibiting the bravado that comes only with the aforementioned beverage, to swing on ropes into what appeared to us to be a rather treacherous river. Since neither Katherine nor I is a 19-year-old fraternity boy, we opted to spend our day in Vang Vieng on a "trek" with Green Discovery, which began with a brief kayak trip along the Nam Song and then continued with a walk along these terraced rice fields.

The paths through the rice fields, and the "trail" that we took from there to the edge of the valley, proved to be somewhat muddy. Katherine has since discarded these socks, and the shoes are secreted in a plastic bag somewhere in the depths of her backpack. I wore my Tevas, which had the advantage that I could keep them on for our long kayak ride later in the afternoon, and they ended up being mostly clean after my two dips on the river (one voluntary, one not so much).

We spent some time exploring a few different caves, although Katherine remained in the antechamber of this one and skipped the second one entirely, due to a lack of appropriate footwear. However, the last cave we visited was the most fun, because it was full of water and we swam into it. There was quite a strong current sweeping us outward, which on balance is probably the safer direction. Apparently in the low-water season, there are some caves that you can kayak straight through, under the mountains.

By far the strangest feature of Vang Vieng is the fact that in almost every restaurant, the tables are set up essentially with couches on one side, facing a television that is showing non-stop episodes of Friends. I enjoy Joey's antics as much as the next guy, but it still seemed a little bizarre. By the second night, though, we had summoned the cultural sensitivity necessary to embrace this local custom and chose our restaurant on the basis of which episode we wanted to watch.

Our last night in Laos was spent back at the Sene Souk Guesthouse in Luang Prabang, which is my favorite place that we've stayed on this trip. I found a new reason to love them when a man arrived on our plane minutes before takeoff the following morning to return my credit card, which I'd forgotten I'd left with the clerk at the hotel (so that he had some confidence that we'd return and pay our bill after our trip to Vang Vieng). The hotel clerk must have realized I'd forgotten it soon after we left, and sent someone by taxi to the airport just to return it to me!

On to Cambodia

Last Wednesday, we reluctantly left glorious Laos for Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our first impression of Cambodia -- a no-show ride from the airport; a taxi driver who midway through our trip to the hotel, removed the taxi sign from his roof; and internet poised to view virtually any website except Gmail -- left us Lao-sick. But as time passed -- and we explored the temples of Angkor -- we grew more fond of Cambodia.

The whole area around Siem Reap is packed with temples, mainly in the ancient city of Angkor, but distributed all across a region probably 20 or 30 km wide. The temples are amazing -- dating mainly from the 9th through 12th centuries and in various stages of ruin, they show the former strength of a huge ancient Khmer empire. But they also are home to a depressing number of begging children and tourist-dependent locals. Nick's major lesson: Don't tell the children your name. Unbeknownst to me, he had shared it with a couple of them; as we rode away, there was a chorus of "Nick! Nick! Nick!" I said, "It sounds like they're saying your name... there must be some Cambodian word that sounds like your name!" Despite the throngs of insistent vendors and sadly monotone young ones, our two very full days at Angkor were definitely a trip highlight.

We started, predictably, with Angkor Wat itself, which sits a couple kilometers below the ancient town of Angkor itself. A king built the wat -- the world's largest religious building -- as a funerary temple for himself. It sits on an island surrounded by a moat, accessed by two opposite causeways. Its size is mind-blowing, and the sheer effort must have required thousands. But Angkor, at its height, was a bustling city of one million. London, in the same era, contained only about 50,000 people. This picture shows just the inner part of the building itself, with the visible central towers and an amazing 800 meters of bas-reliefs.

I'm sure Nick and Gwynne have more pictures of the other temples within Angkor Thom, the central city. We visited a number by bike the first day, including Baphuon (a giant reconstruction, the plans for which were lost in the Khmer Rouge siege of Phnom Penh), Bayon (which features 216 faces of the god Avalokiteshvara), and Phnom Bakheng, from which it is possible to view a sunset over all of Angkor and the surrounding valley (which we did not see, because it was remarkably cloudy).

And, of course, Angkor has its share of smaller wonders, too... like this guy who was looking for bananas. Another monkey, walking past my foot, grabbed my ankle with his tiny hands. My response? I shrieked, of course -- totally reasonable response to a four-pound, vegetarian and in all other ways totally harmless animal.



Our second day, we hired a wonderful tuk-tuk driver who took us all over, to some other highlights we wanted to be sure to see before we left. The reason we hired the driver was to see this beauty, Banteay Srei, which lies a good 15k trip out from central Angkor. The temple is carved in pink sandstone, which prevented more severe erosion in the carvings. It was one of my favorites.


We also got to see Ta Prohm, a 12th- century Buddhist temple that has been left, essentially, in the same shape the French found it. This adds to its allure -- trees clamber over its walls, moss greens every surface, and if there weren't a hundred other tourists, you could feel like you were the first person there in centuries.




Yesterday we took a boat from Siem Reap to a small city, Battambang. I originally planned this because my trusty Lonely Planet hails the trip as traveling along "the most scenic waterway"in Cambodia. Now having made the trip, I don't know which part of their characterization is more confounding, the "scenic"part, or the "waterway"part. This picture shows one moment of our boat's navigation through what amounted to flooded woods. The trees, if you can't tell, are actually pressing into our cabin; those people are holding up life preservers to protect their faces. The brushy parts of our eight-hour trip amounted to only about two hours total, and we did get to see some beautiful views, as well. We also boated through the Tonle Sap, a 3000 sq. km lake in dry season that swells to some 13000 sq km in high water! During the rainy season, the influx of water actually forces the Tonle Sap river to run backwards (from the Mekong) into the lake, which somehow makes the lake one of the largest sources of freshwater fish in the world.

We also got to see a good stretch of rural Cambodia, much of which appears to be comprised of floating river villages. It's difficult to comprehend the vast difference between life in a floating hut on a river in Cambodia and life in my eighth-floor apartment in Washington, DC.






And the public health nerd in me was pleased to see this in Battambang. I also cheerfully sunbathed under a poolside umbrella advertising some brand of condom (at first, it was not cheerful but embarrassed, and then I pulled myself together), the distribution of which appears to be partially funded by PSI and USAID.

Another organization we've seen a lot of is Stay Another Day (www.stayanotherday.org). They produce a booklet for a number of countries, it appears, highlighting sustainable local organizations and businesses, and aim to educate tourists on how to have a more low-impact visit.

Luang Prabang

On Thursday, we arrived in Luang Prabang, and since then we've been assailed nonstop by reasons to love Laos. The city is located on a small tongue of land between the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, and the scenery and the architecture are both spectacular. Our guest house here is probably my favorite place that we've stayed; this Wat is across the street and provides a nice view from our balcony.


Near the center of town is a "mountain" with a few small temples on top, and panoramic 360-degree views of the valley. We climbed it on Friday afternoon, before we realized that there's a rainstorm every afternoon here. Afterwards, we had a very productive evening of shopping at the night bazaar -- Laotian souvenirs are both beautiful and cheap!



Our other full day in Luang Prabang was spent on an organized trip to a couple of interesting local destinations. During the morning, we took a boat up the Mekong to Pak Ou cave, a cave right on the river that contains thousands of Buddha statues. Along the way, we stopped at a Hmong village, where I tried locally distilled Lao whiskey (over the strenuous objections of Katherine, dropping some hard-earned knowledge from her year of working on alcohol health policy). The cave itself was a bit of an anticlimax, but the ride along the river was pleasant and scenic.

During the afternoon, we went in a minivan to a nearby waterfall. As this picture of Katherine illustrates, during the rainy season the river overflows its banks and runs along most of the trails as well, so we didn't really hike so much as wade to the waterfall. The park also presented an opportunity for swimming and jumping off rocks. The only disappointment of the afternoon trip was the ride in the minivan, which proved to be a dark foreshadowing of the next day's journey to Vang Vieng...

Errata

For the record, I think I mentioned skipping Laos by saying, "If I thought you would go for it, I would suggest skipping Laos entirely." But also: Laos is amazing. And I'm glad that I didn't even think Nick would go for it.

Chiang Mai

Objectively speaking, Chiang Mai is really a lovely city: there are hundreds of spectacular Buddhist temples (shown here), the pace is a bit slower than Bangkok, and the night bazaar is both a lot of fun and a great source of inexpensive Thai souvenirs. But I don't think I overstate the case when I say that Katherine and I were thrilled to see the last of this city. You see, we overestimated the ease with which one can casually hop from one southeast Asian city to another on Lao Airlines (tagline: "now everyone can fly"). So we had an extra day in Chiang Mai, which we mostly spent sulking about how we had to radically reorganize our time in Laos -- we cut out both Vientiane and Pakse, due to the vagaries of the Lao Airlines flight schedule, which would be more accurately described by the tagline "everyone can fly, but not right now."

Actually, aside from the morning spent talking Katherine out of "skipping Laos entirely," I rather enjoyed Chiang Mai, and our hotel was definitely a highlight -- three nights in the same place! Also, it had a pool. And delicious coconut shakes that they would serve to you in your reclining chair by the pool. Chiang Mai, as Katherine has mentioned, is also the jumping-off point for Wat Doi Suthep, one of the holiest shrines in Buddhism. Here's a shot of the main plaza, framed by these charming bells that hung from all of the eaves surrounding it.

Climbing up to the temple afforded some spectacular views of the city of Chiang Mai and the surrounding valley. Also perched atop the mountain was the Orchid Jade Factory (comically mislabeled on one sign as the "Orchid & Jade Factory," leading us to wonder how, precisely, one manufactures orchids), which featured a wide variety of beautiful Jade sculptures. I nearly purchased a jade chess set, but in the end balked at the price of around $3000 US. Damn you, weak dollar!

We've spent the last couple of days in Luang Prabang, Laos (a UNESCO World Heritage site), but I will maintain my tradition of postponing my blog entry until after we've moved on. Spoiler alert: Laos is awesome!