Sunday 8 February
Siem Reap to Singapore 
                 
After another buffet breakfast at the hotel, I finish packing, arrange for a hotel car to take me to the airport, and check out.  Since I prepaid for the all the arrangements for this part of my trip (air-fare round-trip Singapore-Siem Reap and the hotel), my bill comes to US$101.00 (two dinners, one lunch, laundry).  But the clerk accidently bills my American Express Card for US$1,010.00 and doesn't know how to credit the refund back to my card.  I am not about to leave without a record of the credit, but instead, she just gives me nine crisp new US$100. bills and everything is fine.

The 90-minute flight back to Singapore is uneventful and it is a short distance to the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel, where the two bags I stored are delivered to my room almost as soon as I arrive.  The hotel is well-soundproofed and I can watch jets landing and departing all afternoon.  The room is well-appointed and the bathroom is especially nice--except perhaps for the picture window between the bedroom and the bathroom (there is a shade that can be pulled down by the modest).  I enjoy my final vacation dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the airport and there are enough shops and exhibits to keep me busy until its time to finish re-packing and call it a day. 

Monday 9 February 2105
Singapore to HKG to LAX to Tucson

This morning begins the long trek home--from the time of my wake-up call in Singapore to the time I hit the bedroom at home in Tucson--a total of 35 hours.  Fortunately, I have arranged to spend the long wait in Los Angeles at the Travelodge LAX, which offers day rooms at half the price of overnight--including free shuttles to and from the terminal and unlimited wifi.

My Cathay Pacific flight leaves Singapore on time and after a good breakfast, I nap through most of the four and a half hour flight. Since my bags are transferred automatically to my next flight, I have only my carry-on to deal with in Hong Kong.  The wheelchair attendant takes me to the gate for my next flight, but since I have about four hours to wait, he leaves the wheelchair with me and I can use it for support as I browse through the all the duty-free shops.  

The flight from Hong Kong to LAX is very smooth (unlike the westbound flight three weeks ago), as we take a route straight west across the Pacific; going eastward we did the Great Circle route, taking us up to Alaska, the Bering Sea, Russia and then down the coast of China.  After customs and immigration I catch the shuttle bus for the five minute drive to the Travelodge.  I thought I would spend the afternoon blogging and relaxing, but I fall fast asleep as soon as I hit the bed.  Luckily, I set my alarm for 6pm and so I have time for a shower and a sandwich and coffee at the Denny's next door to the hotel (welcome home!), before the shuttle takes me to the Southwest Terminal at the airport.  The entrance and drop-off area is under construction and buses are not allowed to stop until half way to the next terminal.  But the driver does a quick maneuver (right in front of a police car, too) and is able to drop me and my bags right at the entrance.  

From here there is nothing to report but waiting for my 9:30pm flight to Tucson, which arrives and departs on time, with only 15 passengers on board.  Considering the hours I have been travelling, the flights have not been too bad.  I took a sleeping pill on the 12-hour leg from Hong Kong to LAX, so the time went pretty quickly. Cathay Pacific allows two free checked bags in Premier Economy Section and, of course, Southwest allows two bags on all their flights.  I checked only one bag on my flights Singapore-Cambodia, so unlike most of my flying in the states, I did not have to pay for any luggage.  For those of you thinking about travelling in the future, you might want to know that Brazil, Australia, and Japan forbid airlines from charging anything for luggage--so you might want to re-route your next trip (!).

My next trip is dreamland and editing the thousands of photos from this trip.  I have signed up for a cruise roundtrip from the UK up the Norwegian coast to the top of the Arctic Circle--in July.  If anyone wants to join me, just let me know . . .

Tuesday 17 February 2015
Tucson, AZ

As promised, here is the adventure at the Siem Reap night market and the Street Food Tour.

Saturday Night 7 February 2015
Siem Reap, Cambodia

At 6pm I am back in the hotel lobby to meet the tour guide for the evening adventure.  Waiting outside are two tuk-tuks:  one for me and the guide, the other with three folk from yesterday's Angkor tour (not the same folk on this morning's tour), a young married couple from North Dakota, travelling with the husband's younger sister.

We begin the tour at the night market, where we are invited to sample some exotic fruits and vegetables as we explore the busy and narrow aisles full of local shoppers.  Our guide is very careful about the food he offers us, making sure both he and the vendor wear gloves as they handle the food and the local currency he uses to pay for everything.  

  

  

Tour Guide at Night Market

From here we ride to what is locally known as "Barbeque Street," lined on both sides with vendors who come out each night to sell barbeque (chicken, pork, beef, frog) and other more exotic foods.  I sample a number of items, including local snails in their shells (not quite escargot!), re-stuffed and broiled eggs (the yolk and whites are sucked out through a small hole, mixed with herbs and spices, stuffed back into the shell, and then baked over hot coals--then just peel and eat), grilled and stuffed frogs, and various grilled chicken parts.  All of this is very tasty and just the appetizer to prepare us for dinner at a local restaurant.

The restaurant provides a respite from the noise and crowds of the markets and streets, and we enjoy a family-style dinner of Cambodian specialities, including egg rolls, soup, vegetables, and chicken.  The food is very much like Cantonese cooking, using interesting, unfamiliar herbs, but not very spicy.  Dessert is fresh watermelon and pineapple.

The guide escorts us back to our various hotels and I spend the evening packing for my mid-day flight back to Singapore tomorrow. I will be very sorry to leave the wonderful surroundings of the Angkor Village Hotel and the charms of the city of Siem Reap.  It would be nice to spend a week or ten days at the hotel, taking day trips to various other small cities and temple sites in central Cambodia.

Monday 16 February 2015

Tucson, AZ

I'm still working on editing the close to 2000 photos I shot during the trip, almost all with my new camera.  I had an accident with the old one (Canon 35X optical zoom) on my second day in Hong Kong.  With not enough time to have it fixed, I was able to purchase a newer model (with 60X optical zoom) at a very good price. 

Saturday 7 February 2105

Siem Reap, Cambodia

I have arranged two tours today:  first a four-hour tour this morning to Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia; then after a good afternoon nap, a three-hour Street Food Tasting Tour in the markets of Siem Reap.

The morning begins, like it did yesterday, with a brief tuk-tuk ride to meet the other tourists and board a bus.  But today there are only four other folk, including three from yesterday's tour.  So instead of a bus, we all just stay in our tuk-tuks (I get to ride with the tour guide) for the trip to the lake and return.  The first 20 minutes are bumpy but not too uncomfortable, since we are on a paved national road until our first stop:  a roadside stand selling snacks--beetles, grasshoppers, moth larvae, and other Cambodian favorites. Even with the proper etiquette instructions from our guide, I simply forgo the treats on offer.  The four other travellers, much younger and braver than I, sample and seem to enjoy what they taste.  

Cambodian Snack Food

  

My Personal Tuk-Tuk

After this stop, we return to the tuk-tuks for an hour's ride on unpaved dirt roads, riddled with potholes and other obsturctions.  Rather than a mild massage while travelling, this is an all-out teeth-rattling, butt-crushing, head-banging journey.  Did I mention that it is also very scenic:  rice fields, farm houses, water buffalo and other local animals.  That is, it is scenic whenever I have the courage to open my eyes. When we reach the boat landing, I ask the tour guide if we are going back on a different route (at least hoping), but, indeed, we have to return on the same route on the same tuk-tuks.  At least the driver is good, trying to miss some of the bumps, and even losing his helmet in the process.

After this, the 30-minute ride on a small wooden motor boat is kind of anti-climatic.  But the breezes are cool and the water smooth.  We stop at a shop in a small village composed of stilt-houses rising out of the water.  Because this is the dry season, the water in the lake is at its lowest ebb and smallest volume; it practically doubles in size during the wet season (June-November).

I enjoy lunch in the quiet of the hotel restaurant, since I will be out on the streets for dinner, followed by a nap before being picked up in another tuk-tuk at 6pm for the Street Food Tour.  But that will have to wait for the next extry.

Sunday 15 February 2015

Tucson, AZ

I have been home almost a week and fully recovered from the 32 hours of travel time from Singapore to Tucson--35 hours if you add in the time from wake-up call in Singapore to arriving at the house in Tucson.  There are still several days I need to write about--another day and a half in Siem Reap and an overnight in Singapore--before the finale.

Saturday 7 February 2105
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Before describing the butt-breaking, ball-busting, spine-crushing tuk-tuk ride on my Saturday morning excursion to Tonle Sap Lake, I promised to make some comments about life in Cambodia under Pol Pot.  I haven't re-seen the film The Killing Fields for a long time, but if memory serves it gives a good idea of what those times were like.

The guide who took our group round Angkor yesterday was a boy when the Khmer Rouge came to Siem Reap and forced the entire population out of the city to work in rice fields—everyone, that is, except the millions (all over Cambodia) they killed for the merest suggestion of not towing their extreme Communist line.  Our guide's father was killed because he spoke some French, a remnant of Cambodia’s colonial days.  Although older Cambodians remember the intensive American bombing of their county during the Vietnam War (known as The American War over here), his experience really begins after that war is over and the communists have united north and south Vietnam.  As a boy, the guide’s first job for Pol Pot's cadres was as a “scarecrow”—standing in the paddies all day to keep birds and animals away.  There was never enough to eat, no education, no family ties for support.  Cambodia has always had the second largest rice production in the world (after Vietnam), but it was all being sent to the communists in China, while the workers at home were starved to death.

When he was a little older, he joined the communist army as a means of survival.  Two and a half years later, when the Vietnamese “liberated” (that word has to be used cautiously in this part of the world, where liberation for some is slavery and death for others) Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge, he changed uniforms and joined the Vietnamese army.

Like others I have met here, he recites this history with calm and equanimity (his word); their forgiving nature has helped them heal.  After the Vietnamese withdrew, their legacy was to leave the country littered with millions (not an exaggerated number) of unexploded and lethal land mines.  The finding and dis-arming of the mines is an arduous, dangerous, and slow process that can only be done by individuals; machines can't do the work.  You see the continuing costs of this work in the very slow rehabilitation of the countryside, but even more in the maimed and wounded bodies of so many Cambodians.

Our guide was able to finish high school after the withdrawal of the Vietnamese, and has worked for the tourist industry since then. Although he admits to getting a bit pudgy, his wife encourages him to eat as much as he wants now, since he was so-often near starvation when he was growing up.  Siem Reap has made much progress with the opening of the Angkor temples to Western tourists, but there is still much work that needs to be done outside the city centers here and in the capital, Phnom Penh.  But in spite of the hardships, the Cambodians I meet are kind and generous; the children amiably posing for photographs without asking for anything in return.

Now that I am home and have the leisure of unlimited wifi, I will stop here and save the adventures of the tuk-tuk ride for the next posting.

Tour Guide

Fellow Tourists Brave Enough for the Stairs

Fellow Tourists Brave Enough for the Stairs

Tour Guide

Sunday Night 8 February 2015
Singapore

I am tucked into bed at the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel in Singapore, right inside the main terminal of this amazing ultra-modern, efficient and very busy airport. After another buffet breakfast and a fond farewell to the Angkor Village Hotel, it was a brief two-hour flight back to Singapore from Siem Reap.  The youngish man who pushed my wheelchair at the Singapore Airport is the first helper who has ever absolutely and resolutely refused to take any money for the service.  What a nice final touch to the trip.

There is so much to tell about my adventures in Cambodia and I am sure words cannot do justice to all that I have witnessed (and tasted). I know it will take several postings just to give a brief idea.

Friday 6 February 2015
Siem Reap

Today I enjoy a small-group (11 people) tour with an excellent guide to explore a few of the ruins of the ancient Angkor Kingdom. Angkor Wat, the most famous and largest of the temples--indeed the largest religious-purposed building in the world--is just a small part of the larger community that at its height, around 1100 AD, was home to over one million people.  It's a 15-minute drive by minibus from the hotel to the ruins, and we will be reboarding the bus to take us from one temple to another (each is much too far to walk, even though there is considerable shade and a cool breeze in the temples themselves). 

We begin the tour at the West Gate (actually the back door) of Angkor Wat, since it is the best time of day for photographs from this side. Without a guide I probably would have gone to the main gate and had the sun in my eyes all day, when they weren't glued to a guide book!  We spend about 90 minutes exploring various parts of the temple, most of which remains in the conditions in which it was found. There is major restoration work at some of the other temples, but Angkor Wat itself has fortunately been left alone.  The walls surroundng the temple are mostly gone, although the gates remain, as does the large moat on all sides.  

Angkor Wat

At our next stop, Angkor Thom (meaning Angkor City), the walls remain but there is only one major building left inside the huge community. The Bayon was built a few years after Angkor Wat, and contains the most beautiful and important wall carvings, relating the history of warfare between the poeple of Angkor and the surrounding tribes.  Most of the temples have a mixed religious history, berginning as Buddhist and then changing to Hindu as the values of the kings changed--sometimes changing back again to Buddhist.  As is always the case with religions, each succeeding generation tried to obliterate the monuments of the previous one, so there are many headless Buddha statues and truncated male lingua (the phallic symbol of Hinduism).  We visit a third temple before lunch at a local restaurant withint the historic area.

The Bayon

Soldier Attacked by Crocodile

After lunch we board the bus again to take us to the "jungle temple," most fascinating because of the way huge trees have taken root and spread through the walls of the buildings, binding with the stone in rhythms of strangulation and sustenance.  

The fifth and final temple of the day is the oldest, built of brick rather than the limestone blocks of the other temples.  By now it is 4pm and our guide gives us the option of remaining at the last temple to watch the sunset, which is supposedly magnificent, but we all elect not to wait the two hours and he takes us back to our respective hotels. 

Although there has been a good deal of painful walking, the most difficult aspect of today's touring for me has been the climbing (or choosing not to climb) extremely steep and long staircases (with very high risers) to reach the highest levels of the temples.  I make it to the top of three of them, but at the other two I call it quits at level two and let the younger folk rush on.  The difficulty for me is not the physcial nature of the climb, but my limited depth perception, which makes the stairs very scary indeed. 

Besides giving us an excllent overview and interesting details about each of the temples we have seen, our guide, who was a young man during the time of Pol Port and the Killing Fields, also gives us some idea of what it was like to live and what it took to survive those years (every Cambodian can recite exactly how many days Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were in power).  I will try to give some sense of that horror in the next blog entry.  But I have gained a true respect for how the Cambodians have risen from the bones of their national tragedy--and a new respect for Angelina Jolie, who is a national hero here, for her adoption of a Cambodian orphan and her efforts to help the nation.  And, of course, the Cambodians remember well that it was Princess Diana who first brought the world's attention to the plight of the survivors of those hellish two and a half years.

Friday Evening 6 February 2015
Siem Reap, Cambodia

I've just returned from my second wonderful dinner here at the hotel. The service is elegant; each course is presented on interesting wooden platters and pottery plates, with each element in perfect harmony of design and taste.  The menu is large and varied, with many Cambodian specialities.  Last night I had fried spring rolls appetizer, with five (count them again) served in an elegant wooden box, followed by a dish with shrimp, rice, and local vegetables. Tonight I enjoy cold cucumbers stuffed with a slightly spicy mix of vegetables and pork and peppers.  The cucumbers were small, but there were four of them!  Followed by chicken with rice, basil, and lemon grass. All of this capped off with three scoops of sorbet: chocolate, vanilla, and pistachio.  I was certainly hungry after surviving, barely, eight hours of guided sightseeing at the ruins of Angkor Wat, the surrounding city of Angkor Thom, and several additional temples ("wat" is the word for temple in most southeast Asian languages).  But you will have to wait for the next posting to get all the details; for now I turn back the clock to yesterday to continue on with my arrival at this fabulous place and my afternoon wanderings around the town.

Thursday 5 February 2015
Singapore to Siem Reap

Everything goes smoothly from my early morning taxi drive to the Singapore Airport to breakfast at McDonald's to a non-stop flight on SilkAir (a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines), including an empty seat next to me, until the rather bumpy landing.  The Siem Reap airport is currently undergoing a vast construction project that will probably destroy the pleasant quaintness of the present one.  There are no jetways, but a canopied staircase and a short walk to the terminal building.  The weather is delightful--and suprisingly cool this morning.  I have no problem using my e-visa that I purchased on line just before leaving home (it takes only 3 days to process and costs only $30.); every country should make it so easy for travellers.  Outside the airport a rep from the Angkor Village Hotel is waiting with a sign with my name, ready to drive the five miles to the hotel.  

Located in the center of the city, with shops and restaurants everywhere--even two temples close enough to walk to--the Angkor Village Hotel is a calm tropical oasis in this tourist-crazy city.  All the guestrooms are suites, interconnected by garden walkways resembling a traditional Cambodian stilt village.  The place is quite luxurious, the mattress the hardest I've slept on in a long time (that's good) and very friendly service from young Cambodians who speak excellent English.  

I did change a small amount of currency at the airport, but that was really unnecessary since prices for everything are posted in US dollars. After settling in I have lunch--don't snigger--at the Angkor Hard Rock Cafe, just a few blocks away.  I am then ready to explore the lovely walk along the river, two local but very large temple complexes, and the very busy commercial and tourist heart of the city; the name of one of the busy streets will give you an idea of the tenor of the area:  "Pub Street."  In addition to all the local cafes and shops there are many US franchises, including KFC and McDonald's.  

Like everywhere else I have been on this trip, the streets are very safe from any kind of petty crime, although the traffic will probably kill the unwary tourist.  The only bother, really, are all the young men offering tuk-tuk rides to wherever you wish to go.  These are small, open two-seat carriages attached to mostly motorcycles, and sometimes even bicycles.  The rates are really cheap and no one is bothered when you refuse an offered ride.

Today is a very busy day here because it is the final day of the Interntional Tourism and Travel Conference, the first time ever it has been held in Cambodia.  Even the King will be here today for the closing ceremonies.  My closing ceremonies include a lovely dinner (with two beers) and a good night's sleep in preparation for the arduous tasks awaiting tomorrow (just to give a hint, they mostly involve going up and down very scary sets of staircases).