Happy Anniversary to Us

Today is our 6-month anniversary of marriage and our 5-month anniversary of traveling. I can say that we still love each other (or so she tells me) and that we are getting tired of traveling. We still love seeing new and interesting things but we long for the comforts of home. Then again, we don't have a home. So better put, we long for the comforts of your home. Only question is what night are we crashing at your place and for how many nights? See you all soon!

Change in plans - No Thai beach but we have an extra week in India!

So after spending a few days in one of our favorite towns, Chiang Mai, enjoying the basic comforts of the internet and a bed we took off on an overnight bus to Bangkok. The bus has the largest seats of any transportation I've taken shy of first class on an airplane. However, it's still not a bed so you never sleep that well. We arrived in Bangkok in the morning only to find out that many of the transportation options to the Island of Koh Tao and other points south were booked up as it is the start of the Thai New Year's celebration. From the story we got this is like going to Disney during April school break - that is to say there will be WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE. Oh well...no more beaches in Thailand . So what does that mean for our trip you may be asking yourself? We're coming home. Just kidding. We moved our flight from Bangkok to Dehli up to that night. We flew Air India at 2:30am and arrived in Dehli yesterday at some other god awful hour. We then found a hotel, dropped off our bags and walked around for a while. After having some of the best Indian food ever we decided to take a nap. That nap lasted from 1pm till around 6am today. I guess we were a bit tired. We both woke up around 7pm chatted for a moment or two and decided that we should get up. Needless to say that we both then promptly laid back down and slept for another 11 hours. It's kind of funny. We are in INDIA which is so far from home and so amazingly different and we spend the first afternoon and night sleeping. Also, I don't think I've ever slept that long. Today we spent our time wandering the Red Fort and the Jama Masjdi. Both were impressive sights. We've also spent quite a bit of time just wandering the streets and the little alleyways. Pretty cool place. In all of our travels we had never seen a cow this far into the middle of a city. Especially not a city this large but the buggers are everywhere! We'll try to add some pics soon.

On the road in Laos

Laos - after a good time in Vientiane we headed for what turned to be my favorite so far - Luang Probang. We got there on a local bus as seen on the picture. The trip was not bad - we had our own seats and no babies were handed to us for the ride. The local habits are becoming the usual - just imagine bathrom break is literally side of the road experience. Also adding to it is the presence of a "security guard" here captured in action. The trip provided us with some good views of the country, its people and with some really nice scenery when passing Vang Vieng (which we had to skip to keep our itinerary less hectic). It was disturbing however to see fires right next to the road followed by fields just burned, sometimes replanted with banana tree seedlings.

After Luang Probang we were off to taste something different in Laos. We headed north for the "less-civilized" experience. We sure got it. The trip from Luang Probang to Luang Nam Tha was not so gentle on our bodies. 14 people in a 10 person seat minivan. Does not sound that bad, right? WRONG Imagine the seat divider right across your back for 8 hours. Imagine your hips crammed against on both sides by somebody else's, all sweating profusely for 8 hours. Imagine sitting in the back row of a van with no rear shocks, on a crappy road with a bad driver for 8 hours. Really - if you are planning the trip save up the extra $70 and go via an airplane. We thought that the views will make up for it. Instead we just got depressed seeing many trees being cut, many fields on fire. Beautiful panoramic views were also impossible due to the ever extended smo(g)/ke in the air. We did pass many villages though and seeing the country side did give us more of a feel of the region.

In Lam Nam Tha we spent a night. The town/village was our jump off point for the tribal experience around the village of Mui Singh. However - after we have learned more about the area we decide to change our destimation from Mui Singh (which appeared to become a more known touristy tekking place) to Vieng Phouka which had about 2 paragraphs dedicated to in "Lonely Planet bible". To get to that viallage we went to the bus station. The "bus" (imagine a pick-up truck with wooden benches in the back) was to leave at noon and would gladly pick us up at our guesthouse on the way. Happy we run home to be ready. 12, 12:30, 1 - ... still no sign of the "bus". James borrowed a bike to go and enquire. No worry - the bus was still at the station waiting for more people. Around 2 PM we were picked up for the journey. Things are getting better as the road is being updated to a "highway", but for now the pavement is "spotty". On the "bus" we sat right across from some locals and got to see a funeral procession and again several local villages. Two hours really went by quite fast and we were there ... Vieng Phouka.

Vieng Phouka and the the highland Acha villages trek

This was by far the most remote cultural experience we have had yet. But how do I even begin to describe it? Imagine the truest camping experience you have ever had. No direct access to water, no electricity, cooking on open fire. Getting up with a sun and finishing the day by the fire or a candle. Your water is a stream a walk away which you use for drinking, bathing, laundry etc. Imagine bathing wrapped in a sarong, just as dozen other people bathing at the same time. Imagine cows and buffaloes bathing just a few feet downstream from you. Occasional motorcycle and car will bathe there, too. That is life for most people in the small "town" Vieng Phuka. Imagine now that the nearest stream to bath in is a 1.5 hour up and down steep hill-trek. Imagine that the closest community is about 6 hours trek through hills and forests with no vehicle access. Your village has no vehicles at all as none could take the terrain. Imagine that the only money that you get is from selling produce you grow at a market the same 6 hours foot-only distance away. Imagine an elementary school for the village with only 1 teacher and no substitutes when the teacher is busy or sick. No hospital, only a visiting doctor when necessary. Imagine existence on elevated lands which you "claim" by slashing trees and burning remaining vegetation to be able to farm on it. Well - you might be getting the idea of the Acha villagers' life. Once we got to Vieng Phuoka we were startled that this lifestyle is still considered a town. Bathing is the stream was not very appealing but what else is one to do. Lucky for us our guesthouse was a privileged place in town and for 2 hours daily (7-9PM) the generator would be turned on and there was light before falling asleep. Hatched roof and walls ensured a good air circulation. Guesthouse's menu consisting of two items "vegetables" or "omelet" filled our tommys well, too. Early in the morning we headed off to market where we had noodles and then we started our trekking experience. After a short drive on a back of a pick up truck we were dropped off close to a small Khmu village. People there were as interested in seeing our faces as we were in theirs. It was nice to start our trip in this village as our guide was originally from there. His personal connection made the transition into "a different world" much smoother. We even got to snap a few pictures.

Soon we were off on the Acha trail. Literally we went of a small dirt trail that the Acha people use daily. We passed them carrying their produce, collecting wood, tending to burning fields, bringing home wood and water... Life "as usual"... It was just amazing to see these tiny ladies carrying loads that I am not sure James could carry. Their faces worn by a hard life, their teeth black or missing. Yes - the belief here is that black teeth are healthy teeth so people chew on betel nuts constantly which makes their spit bright red and teeth eventually turn black. Really spooky to see. What I really liked about them is that the ladies have not lost apparel battle to modern clothing (like almost everywhere else in the world). They still wear their silver coin hair ornaments, traditional black shirts, and pleated skirts. In no Acha village have we seen the older generations wearing anything else. It was so special.

Kids on the other hand were wearing whatever was available. After all day hiking, 8 hours with one stop for lunch, we reached the first village. It was just hard to imagine that we would encounter such a large village right in the middle of forests and fields, with no civilization signs for hours. There was several rows of "rice huts" - where the rice is stored and the 15 year old have fun at night, followed by the spirit grounds (not for photos), a school building, and then the village of family huts. Our hut was constructed just like the the other family houses in the village: all hatched walls, high, also palm-made roof, and firepit in an extra "room". Picture an open fire pit on the elevated wooden/hatched floor or your easily combustible house. I must admit, I was a BIT concerned. But all was safe and fine and the food cooked with simple ingredients bought from the locals was delicious. Boun Yee is an awesome cook! The ginger and garlic combination added to all foods was just super delicious.

The second day we also walked a lot. Half day in we encountered another large Acha village. This one was even further from "shower facilities" (2 hours to the nearest stream) We were welcomed to a family house of a grandma who was taking care of the kids while the parents were off working "their" fields. We walked a little in the village, took a couple of pictures, ate another delicious lunch cooked in grandmas kitchen and continued our trek. At night we got to our last Acha village. This was a lucky village . They were connected with a world via a dirt road so there was even a few motorbikes in the village. Also the EU help got here. There was a "shower" set up for the entire village. It was awesome. About 2 huts away from us there was a large bamboo "pipe" which was directed via long other bamboo pipes to some stream. All I know is that there was running water under the pipe and once I waited in the line for my turn - I was able to take a shower without worrying about leaches or anything else. This time I felt like I was really rinsed and cleaned even though, as before, the shower was taken totally wrapped in a sarong as everybody is right there watching you, waiting their turn. After another awesome dinner (unbelievable pumpkin dish) and rough Acha massage and we went to sleep. In the morning we were going to walk around the village but we got invited by the chief to come and meet him. The chief (in charge of all local Acha villages) was in this village as their was a funeral that he was going to lead the ceremonies for. This turned to be a real treat experience. The chief was a very nice man, quite open to the outside world. He invited us into a hut where he was spending the morning with the locals. It was the house where the body of the deceased lady was resting. A mother from a different village was visiting her daughter (living here with her husband and kids) and within a week of the visit the grandma passed away. In real sorrow the son-in-law wanted to give the best possible burial for her. So the local men the night of our arrival went into a local forest looking for a perfect tree for a coffin. What we saw in the hut was more than just a box which would be the norm. It was a fan carved sculpture on top of all hand carved out coffin - all from one piece of wood. Incredible. The body was sealed in there yet the coffin was still wet as the wood was so fresh... On the coffin there was food for the trip to the outer-world and there was an egg to give to the guard of a river that the soul has to cross. Very interesting how distant cultures have similar beliefs. Greek mythology anyone? We were allowed to snap a few pictures since we promised to send some prints to them. Interestingly, they were going to bring the pictures to the deceased woman's village to show her remaining family what a splendid casket she had in order to convince them that there was no foul play in her dying away. We hope that the pictures were sufficient although the logic might not make much sense. We sent the prints from the nearest place we could to the guide's office and hopefully he'll be making a trek tot eh Acha hills soon to deliver them. We sent prints of all pictures taken on this trek to Boun Yee as the locals appreciate getting a print if they allow any photography at all.

After enjoying fascinating conversation with the chief and snacking on some local pork with the locals (a pig was killed to commemorate the funeral and a piglet was sacrificed for the spirits too) we were off. The last day we hiked to a local cave and a couple more "civilized" Khmu villages. The cave trek was really tough. Very steep uphill with a lot of leaves on the ground making it even harder to climb.But once we got there we were in for a treat. The cave is huge and was totally to ourselves. This is the first cave of this size that I have ever been to (and I have been to many) that was so remote and so "uncivilized". Many much smaller and less impressive caves are all tourist accessible with colored lighting, guides, sidewalks... Here we were with Boun Yee and our flashlight, trying not to slide too much on the guano around and look around so as to not break any mineral formations. Oh how I wish we had a stronger flashlight and overall better equipment to see more of this beauty.. Next stop was unplanned but very eye-opening to us. Our guide stopped in the woods where we heard a chainsaw, to talk to the local logger about the wood for his house. Here we experienced a tragedy. A tree thicker than my height *see picture for scale), easily more than 400 years old, was taken down and cut into slabs of wood. This gorgeous tree was gorgeous tree the thickest we could see in these woods was becoming raw lumber material for the loggers house. Can you imagine it? You get this indescribable sick feeling when you see it happening. The shortsightedness of the people in need is so so sad! and infuriating!

The last two village stops were short but it still was great to see yet different people and how they live. Check out the hairstyles. Coming back to the 2 hours of electricity in Vieng Phouka was nice but the vegetable and omelet menu had nothing on Boun Yees culinary delights that we so got accustomed to. If you would like to look into getting on a similar adventure, check out: http://www.greendiscoverylaos.com/nt-t-15.htm

Vientiane, an intro to Laos

From Hanoi you have 2 popular options of travel to Vientiane - 1) a 26 hour bus ride or 2) a 2 hour plane. We opted for the plane. This may not be what many backpackers do but screw that I'm not wasting a day on buses and messing with boarder guards and we couldn't afford another Cambodia/Vietnam boarder issue. Our plane trip was uneventful and our trip through the immigration line was about 30 seconds. I've never seen it that fast anywhere. Then when arranging for transport from the airport to town an American couple asked if we wanted to share a cab. Turns out they are from Hartford, CT and were also on an extended honeymoon of 11 months. Small world we live in. Vientiane is the capital of Laos but based on what you see on the ride to town you would never know it. The trip is only a few kilometers but seemed to take a while. As we later rented a motorbike we learned that this is because there are some dirt roads in town and many of the other roads are in mediocre condition at best. The city is small and relatively undeveloped when compared to the cities we visited in Vietnam. Allow me to put this in perspective, the country of Laos is approximately the size of Utah but it has a population smaller than that of Manhattan (approx 7 million people). The entire country's GDP is about $2.4 Billion ($13.4 Billion GDP purchase power parity) which is smaller than half the deals I've worked on in the last 2 years. As we explored the town we began to like it. The Mekong river is the boarder between Laos and Thailand in this area and Vientiane is right on the Mekong. There are dozens of street vendors that have built makeshift little decks on which they serve their customers dinner overlooking the river. Also, there was a noticeable absence of overly pushy vendors which was a great change from Vietnam. It was really nice. We ended up meeting our new CT friends, Eric and Rachel, for dinner one night and went out for beers on St. Patrick's day which was great.

They were a refreshing change from many of the English speaking traveler's we've met. So many of the US, UK, Aussie and Kiwi travelers we meet are only interested in talking about the lighter parts of life and of travel rather than what they really saw or experienced, good and bad on their trip. Rachel and Eric are both really smart and well spoken about issues facing the US at home and internationally. What a great change! Another great time we had was taking the motorbike out to this Wat which has afternoon mediation classes and next to the Wat is an outdoor sauna and massage place. We decided we would head out for some time sweating the dirt out of our pores, get a massage and then go to the meditation class. Well, we had so much fun hanging out in nothing but a sarong with about 10 other travelers chatting about the lighter side of travel that we missed the mediation class. We ended up spending about 3-4 hours there and loved it all. If you saw the place you might not think anything of it but the funny Lao lady who runs the place just makes a great atmosphere for travelers. One afternoon we had the bright idea to ride the motorbike 35km to this waterfall. We are so bright. It's the end of dry season. Here is what the waterfall looked like...

Anyhow, we're happy and healthy and taking a bus to Luang Prabang soon so we'll catch you later.

The cool Hanoi

I mean literally - we are back to wearing socks! After over a month of super sunny, hot, and dry weather, Hanoi welcomed us with cool temperatures, drizzle and rain. Still carying our shnazzy matching red rain jackets :) we were ready for it. We strolled the streets trying to see as much as possible but not stress ourselves too much as the sightseeing was starting to get very tiresome.

James' top interest was going to the "Hanoi Hilton" where local political prisoners and shot down American pilots were held. Not surprisigly the propaganda did not escape this place either. You got to see the brand new yellow sweater and shiny leather shoes that supposedy the pilots were given while imprisoned there. You saw pictures of them playing cards - looked more like a fun dorm than a prison. The American pilot stories heard back in America were quite different... There is no such thing as one history... My favorite place was the Museum of Ethnology. In this great place they have collected exhibits showing different local cutures with their clothing, some ceremonial artifacts and super interesting recreated huts on the outside ground of the museum. It was neat to be able to walk in, sit down and have some tea at the different style huts. We were also lucky to go there during the weekend when they had a special weaving exhibit where people form different countries from around the Mekong River were showing their local weaving specialties. My favorite were the fishing traps. So many different types! Forget fishing rods or nets - wicker "traps" are the Mekong specialty!

James really liked the exhibit about food coupons during tough times in Vietnam. For me it was a weird reminder of the Polish rationing days. So far yet so similar...

One night we attended the traditional Vietnamese water puppet show. Basically puppets are performing over water with the operators standing knee deep in water behind the background. The show was about the different everyday activities on the mekong River with some dragon legends intertwined. Accompanied by traditional Vietnamese music it was cute but since it was all in Vietnamese we were not getting the full show.

Fresh beer (unfiltered and untreated) was another local activity we absolutely could not miss. Imagine an intersection in a middle of old town, lots of plastic stools, and kegs around (some people too :) . A glass of beer 12.5 cents. Doner Kebab about 70 cents. That comes to a light dinner for 2 people for about 3 bucks! The beer is not great (as judged by beer drikers) - a bit on the light side but with this price you cannot complain. I (non- beer drinker tolerating Rolling Rocks and such, with hot wings) enjoyed the lightness with the bit spicy kebab.

More in Hanoi - if you look closely at the first picture in this entry - James and I are taking a picutre of ourselves in front of the Haonoi Opera House where we went to see/hear the local symphony performance. It was stunning (both the music and the place).

Diving in Nha Trang

Hey boys & girls. Sorry for being such bad friends and not keeping the blog up to date. Thought I'd fill you in on life a bit. We recently finished our time in Nha Trang which is billed as on of Vietnam's best diving locations. We came to this town with one thing in mind, diving! After checking out the local dive shops we chose one and signed up for a night dive. Ok smartass, we use flashlights so we can see. This really adds to the freak you out factor as you can easily loose track of which way is up, even if only for a moment. The night dive was great, that is after I got over my initial panic attack. Having never dove at night before I really screwed up some simple things on the decent. While we descended, I needed to add a little bit of air to my BCD (the vest the tank is attached to and that you wear to keep you buoyant) to keep from hitting the bottom. Well, I managed to shine my flashlight in my eye and then overinflated the BCD and sent myself flying back to the surface 20 feet above me and right into the bottom of the boat (I'm ok) before sinking like a rock when I finally got the air out of the BCD. This is beginner mistakes that I don't usually do and it hurt at the time but I can laugh about it now. The company that took us diving managed to persuade us to sign up for the PADI Advanced Open Water course and we spent 2 of the next three days completing this course. What does it mean to be certified? Nothing really. We are allowed to dive deeper now and it has helped us become better and more confident divers. It's also step towards becoming dive masters for our active/early retirement plan of running charter cruises with diving and gourmet food.

The other big news from Nha Trang is that after 3 1/2-months of travel we were robbed for the first time ever. I guess our luck just ran out. We were robbed in the pre-dawn hours while sleeping in our hotel room. Our room had 2 rooms, one we slept in and another room where we left our bags. It was a warm night so we had the fans on and the windows open. The hotel owner had told us to close the windows while we slept but we never thought about why and she never said. The windows had bars over them and the building had a big gate with nice metal spikes on top so we thought we were pretty safe. While we slept, someone crawled onto our second floor balcony which wrapped around the two rooms and using a 7 foot pole with a hook on it (pics below), reached in and lifted my shorts, Ewa's shorts and Ewa's daypack to the window, emptied both of our shorts of cash and anything interesting and took Ewa's backpack with our little camera with 2 days of pictures on it. We will be reimbursed by our insurance company so life goes on. It's just that getting robbed shakes you a bit. Everyone we've discussed it with is amazed we weren't robbed already after spending 3 1/2-months on the road, and especially after 2-months in South America, so I guess we've been lucky. (You can see the pole they used in the first photo on the lower left corner - bastards!)

Off to Hanoi to see the "Pickled Ho". Believe it or not they for some twisted reason they actually preserved Ho Chi Mihn after his death and you can see him on display. Really twisted but how can you resist!?!

Saigon

We arrived in Ho Chi Mihn City, better known as Saigon to us in the West, after nightfall and almost immediately found ourselves comfortable here. Ewa took a rest and had some Pho - Vietnamese beef, noodle soup - while I looked for a place to stay. While trying to find a recommended hotel I couldn't figure it out until I realized that these little tiny alleyways were actually marked streets. It was a bit freaky at first to walk down this dimly lit alleyway with not a tourist in sight but I was soon walking past people watching TV on the floor of their homes. This put me at ease but I never did find the recommended hotel down this little maze. Picture a city block but dissected by a network of alleys, some of which intersect and others that are dead ends. This may be what NYC is like but I don't believe many of my friends spend much time in alleys in NYC. After a good nights rest in a nice little shop house - guesthouse we spent the day touring some of Saigon's markets. This is really Ewa's thing. She loves to go see what the locals buy and also loves to see what stuff she can buy there for about 1/10th the price of the US. She's sooo cheap but hey, I still love her. We enter the first market by walking past some knock off clothing places selling Nike and Adidas shirts only to be assaulted by these 4 foot tall Vietnamese ladies. Ok so maybe assaulted is a bit strong and they were probably 5 feet tall but they were by far the most aggressive salespeople we have ever encountered. Later in the market, one lady started giving me a hand massage just to keep me in front of her shop. Too bad for her that I rarely ever buy anything and this time was no exception. Several people we had talked to had told us to have a drink on top of the Rex hotel. It's a nice hotel with a decent bar on top overlooking one of the nicer corners in the old quarter of Saigon. What was funny to us is that we had dinner - both of us - for less than the price of one drink at the Rex. We took a city tour - something we have rarely done - and were quickly reminded of why we normally avoid the packaged tours. The first stop was a handy crafts factory. On the positive side, these places often hire a lot of Vietnamese people who were victims of Agent Orange or other toxic defoliates used by our Military during the Vietnam War and our dollars go to them. The bad news is normally that it is an unscheduled stop that takes up a lot of your tour's time. Ewa bought a pair of sandals there that I expect to see once. They were pretty cool but not the most practical - they were black lacquered with cool painting on them. Saigon was a fun and now we are off to do some diving in Nha Trang! Later

Leaving Crooked Cambodia for Vietnam!

Anyway, as you may recall we went to the beach to wait until our Vietnam visa's were effective so we could enter the country... Well, Feb 25 rolls around and we're off and running to the boarder. We take a bus an hour south where we pick up a slow boat down the Mekong river. Nice! Then we jump off at Cambodia's boarder shacks and get our exit stamps without needing to pay a bribe so that was good. Then we jump back in the boat to head to Vietnam's entry stamp shacks. The nice young gents there summarily tell us to pound salt and kiss off! Apparently they didn't like the fact that Ewa's visa is in the old but still effective passport while her new passport is the "active" passport in the Polish Embassy's terms. We cannot get in but even getting back is a challenge. We race back on the back of two hired motorcycles to the Cambodian boarder so that we can have our exit stamps canceled and beg them to re-enter the country (again no bribe paid to the nice young gun toting boarder guy in his t-shirt i.e. not bothering to wear his uniform any more in the heat). From there we have to race by "speedboat" (picture a row boat with a small outboard engine) back to the place where we caught the slow boat so we can hopefully get a ride back on teh mini-bus to Phnom Pehn. This was hairy but one of the most fun adventures we've had yet. The fear of being stuck in the shanty town between the boarders overnight was enough to get the heart pounding a bit. A pic from our trip up the Mekong back to Phnom Pehn.

Next day we got everything squared away with the Vietnamese consulate ($10 bribe) and caught a bus to HCMC. All is well and we are currently sitting in a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.

Cambodian Beach Party

Well, as we were getting ready to head to Vietnam Ewa asked a great question. "When do our visas become effective?" Good thing she asked as they became effective 2 days after we were going to try crossing the boarder. That means 2 more days to do something fun in this messed up country of Cambodia. Well, we couldn't handle any more tragedy so we ran for the beach! The beaches of Sihanoukville were great! It is a small sliver of beautiful white sand beach squeezed between beautifully clear and blue water and little beach shacks selling everything from pizza to fresh lobster and drinks like fresh pineapple juice to whatever booze filled creation you or they could think of. I know this is a tough life but someone has got to do it. We stayed in a small little place with a nice balcony overlooking the water. The water was literally 10 meters from our door. And we dinned at night on the beach with the water near our feet. There had been a power outage shortly before the sun set so everything was so incredibly peaceful that we almost stayed for a few extra days. When the power came back around 11 and the loud music kicked in we decided to head back to Phnom Penh and try our luck in Vietnam.

The tragedy that is Cambodia

If you read any of the history of what is now known as Cambodia you will read about the battles, great cities and the culture which ruled much of Southeast Asia at one point or another. If you read the history of the past 50 years it is much less about creation and much more about destruction. The conflicts that arose between successive governments devastated the country and all should share the blame - King Norodom Sihanouk, the government of Lon Nol, the Americans who supported him, the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese, and the current Government of Hun Sen and King Norodom Sihamoni. Not just for the loss of life caused by their conflicts but for the disrespect they showed their countrymen through their lack of leadership, freedoms for the people and economic development. I blame the post Vietnamese occupation "freely elected" governments most as any "democratic" government should have put in place and enforced basic freedoms and implemented the basic plans required to lift your country from the ashes of war. The country today is 20+ years behind its neighbors of Thailand or Vietnam in terms of visible development. The country is corrupt and the lack of structured development has led to a feeling of the Wild West. People are doing whatever they have to in order to feed themselves or their families. We have seen 9-year olds selling books at 10pm on weeknights and doubt that they go to school; been harassed by the incredibly pushy tuk-tuk drivers who would take your wallet if you let your guard down or worse, many of these same tuk-tuk drivers also offer to sell you drugs as you walk down the street at night. We have heard stories about people selling their children into prostitution, entire villages devoted to adult prostitution and we have seen a gun range less than a kilometer from the killing fields. I could not confirm it but the country appears to be lacking basic education for its children and based on what we learned when we donated blood in Siem Reap, the health care system is inadequate and corrupt with nurses and doctors requiring side payments prior to dealing with you. The country is 14 years past its free elections and still appears to lack any plan to bring its people any prosperity. The most widely known part of the tragedy is the reign of the Khmer Rouge (KR) which killed approximately 1/3 of the population (2+ mil of a total of 7 million). There are several sites in the country which have been developed help people understand what happened. Two of the most visited are the Choung Elk killing fields and Tuol Sleng the former Secret Prison S-21. The KR murdered people throughout the country and buried them in mass graves. Many of these have been found during subsequent construction of homes or buildings. The most visited is 14km outside of Phnom Penh and is called Choung Elk. Per KR records, approximately 16,000 people were murdered and buried at what had been a peaceful orchard. While visiting Choung Elk you walk past large holes in the ground which the very poorly maintained signs tell you are excavated mass graves, you look at a stupa (Buddhist temple) which houses the sculls of too many innocents. The skulls show the trauma of a blunt object or a bullet hole which likely killed that person. Near the excavated graves you see cloth coming through the ground and bone fragments mixed in the leaves. Ewa and I stopped for a moment at what we though was an unusual bone fragment only to realize it was a tooth.

Our general observation is that unlike the Holocaust sites in Poland which pay proper respect to the dead and the horrific fashion in which they were murdered, the Choung Elk killing fields left us with the feeling of a cold, obligatory explanation of facts rather than a heart felt explanation of a national tragedy. It seemed to us that the country has not reconciled with itself and the tragic nature in which countrymen murdered each other. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, located in the former S-21 prison, was again more focused on a cold representation of the facts. It however had several art installations which softened the impact of the museum. One of which was done by one of only a handful of prisoners which survived. His paintings depicting scenes he either saw or heard about during his time in the prison. When I say it softened the impact, I mean it was a careful way to portray the tragedy without placing blame on anyone who may have been in the Khmer Rouge. (Sorry but pictures just can't do justice to some scenes. Tuol Sleng was a school prior to the Khmer Rouge.)

The final part of the tragedy is the fact that the Country does not seem to be able to reconcile with itself. That is, there is no apology on the part of the former members of the KR towards those which they nearly starved to death or the families of those they killed. The current government is run by Prime Minister Hun Sen who was the #2 man for most of the KR's rule, the foreign Minister during after the Vietnamese occupation and since the “free elections” he has led the democratic country like many murderous dictators. That is that his opponents backed off after being intimidated, beaten or killed shortly before Election Day. More recently the government enacts laws which allow outspoken opponents of the government to be indefinitely imprisoned.

Siem Reap

Memory that will last. As James describes in his blog entries - Cambodia is such a complex country. Poverty with incredible history and beauty. Siem Reap is where one goes to experience the Cambodian history and its beauty still present in the incredible ruins of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and others. It was really, really wonderful to walk through these magnificent structures. Sunrise, sunsets, hundreds of pictures - we spend 3 full days before we were close to "ruined out." Super strong sun, lots of walking, vendors everywhere, dust in the air and so much history - it is not so easy to be a competent tourist. (check out our anti-sun gear and transportation)

Here is some ruins but much more will be posted later on Snapfish.

Besides ruins another moving place we spent an afternoon at in Siem Reap was a Land Mine Museum. It is a make shift place where an ex-mine layer turned into mine excavator (see more at http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-akira.htm) shows the different kinds of mines used all across the country. His addopted children, all of which were either orphaned or injured by landmines explain how each of the mines works. It is so sad to hear their personal stories - it really touched me. I have never realized that there are still so many mines buried around the world. Worse yet- they are still being laid by some countries. Sadly the US is included.

We felt good about being travelers in Cambodia. We stayed at a hotel which was actually a school for underprivileged kids to learn the hotel industry, bought plenty of postcards from kids on the streets (sadly - many of them are the providers for their families), got massages from the local trained blind masseuses, went to children hospitals charity concert, where earlier we gave blood. The region is still fighting a hemorragic dengue fever outbreak and blood is needed. It was shocking to find the facts about the health state of Cambodia. Some 3/4 of the population have some signs of tuberculosis. HIV is on the rise. Malaria is easy to get. With immune systems already weak from hard work and malnutrition - those poor people have to fight their diseases with very little organized health care. Even the NGOs, placed there to help, often provide outdated medicine that in the past have shown to do more harm than good. It is all so sad. The children's hospital we visited is a huge success story as it provides free care for all children and exists solely on the support of donations from all around the world. If you would like to support a good charity I feel confident that this hospital support is a very worthy cause. Check out more at http://www.beatocello.com/. With only 5% of the money going to administrative expenses - 95% of your money goes straight to the Cambodian kids care and fairly paid local medical stuff.

On a lighter note - I learned that my B+ blood is very popular among Asians. If blood indicates anything of intelligence - I have a potential to be smart - the kids around here are just amazing.

Entering Crooked Cambodia

For those who can afford the cost of a plane ticket from Bangkok to Siem Reap, I HIGHLY recommend it. The boarder crossing at Poipet, Cambodia is the worst we've been to...and we've been rejected at a boarder, leaving us stranded 3 hours from the local city, so we know how much boarder crossings can suck. As we have traveled, we normally enter a place and find things we like and don't like. Poipet offered nothing that we liked. It is a dusty, trash ridden town with loads of glitzy Casinos which just don't fit in with the fact that nobody who lives in Poipet can afford to enter the casinos. Oh, and the 18 yearolds with large hand guns are more than happy to keep locals and dirty sweaty backpackers like me from entering. The travel experience goes like this. Catch the 6am Government bus from the Northern bus terminal in Bangkok to the boarder town. This is about 5 hours and you then need to catch a tuk-tuk from the bus station to the Thai side of the boarder. Unfortunately you know the the tuk-tuk drivers are going to gouge you on the price - always a good feeling. Oh and then he makes 2 stops at travel agents who will expedite our visa for us for twice the price of the visa. Too bad we agreed with him that we wanted to go straight to the boarder. After you clear Thai passport control (the only honest people we dealt with in this experience) you walk across the 300 meters of no man's land between the Thai boarder and Cambodian boarder. When you hit the Cambodian side you must purchase your visa. Your intrepid travelers were idiots and had not purchased this ahead of time. The lovely guards at the boarder tell you they only accept Thai Baht and that with their exchange rate we must pay 1000 Thai Baht each. This is about $28, even though all the signs say US$20, your receipt says US$20 and the forms you filled out say US$20. After some pleasant words exchanged and Ewa's threat to kill them they eventually they saw it our way and accepted our US$20. Then as we clear the Cambodian boarder and enter the town of Poipet you realize the full extent of the warm and pleasant greetings laying in front of you. There are two options of travel to Siem Reap, taxi or bus and they are 3 hours and 5 hours respectively. Knowing that the difference in time is due to the fact that the road is unpaved and the buses can't avoid the bomb crater sized potholes we try to negotiate a taxi ride. The only problem as you try to negotiate a taxi is that they are all controlled by the same family so they don't negotiate... at all. This may not strike those of you in the US as odd but EVERYTHING is negotiated here in SE Asia. Everything. Oh well, we pay the high rate of US$50 to take three people (we met another traveler) to take us there and things are all good. Ride is painfully bumpy, mildly interesting and relatively uneventful until we hit the town of Siem Reap where the taxi driver refuses to take us to the hotel where the other traveler has his reservation and insists on taking us to his bosses hotel. More uncalled for shadiness! So between buses that drop you off 7km from the boarder, tuk-tuk drivers who try to screw you, corrupt board guards, kids with guns, mob controlled taxi's and drivers who don't get basic instructions we were pretty fed up with the experience.

Floating Markets - what a concept

Even though the destination has become quite full of tourists - it still was interesting to see. About two hours outside of Bangkok by a local bus is a small town that for most part still operates like it used to for hundreds of years. Filled with little channels - most of the weekend commerce happens right outside of the houses lining the channels and right on the little boats. At this point a lot of goods are very tourist geared (crafts, hats, coconut decorations etc.) but we were still able to catch some of the authentic produce exchange in action. Of course we would not leave without sampling the local food, appropriately served from the boat, too.

Flowers and more in Chang Mai , Thailand

Yes, it is over a month after we left the town that I am writing this blog about but I still cannot get over the good times we had at this relaxing, ancient town in Northeast Thailand. We went to Chang Mai on my crazy desire to see an annual Flower festival which this year was held the first weekend of February. James is such a great husband - not only did he not complain when I asked to include this on our top priority itinerary but also as we had to change around days to make sure not to miss it. And we did not miss it! Gorgeous flower floats and most beautiful orchid contests were just outstanding. The colors, the designs, the creativity! Just beautiful. But Chang Mai had SO MUCH more to offer.

One of our especially my) favorites were cooking classes. We spent two full days learning how to cook Thai food from two different schools in town. It was awesome! the tastes, smells, explanations, recipes, even vegetable carving... If you are nice to us, we might even treat you to a meal when we get back :) Another awesome fact about Chang Mai is that the re are massage places almost everywhere and ... in most of them you do not have to worry about being offered a " happy ending". Both James and I loved our foot massage one day. another day I loved being contorted in all kinds of positions by a very strong Thai lady (Thai massage) while James right next to me had his very relaxing deep tissue massage (oil massage). We both enjoyed the muscle relaxation - even though they were quite different...Besides activities mentioned above we spent the rest of the 9 days in Chang Mai doing day trips in and around town to different wats , the queen's palace, the elephant camp, the strawberry festival preparation in a neighborhood town and the queen's garden. The last one was James' favorite.(not!)