Angkor Wat, Cambodia: Smiling Faces Through Centuries

Yup, I got a little carried away with befunky.com again.

And now for this week's featured attraction: a wrap-up of my visit to the legendary temples of Angkor Wat.

First of all - I am EVER so glad I opted to fly to Siem Reap (vs. taking the far cheaper, but mind- and body-numbing 12 hr. bus.) Indeed. No contest. Best 323 bucks I ever spent.  And though I'll ever be an avid budget traveler (both by ruble necessity, as well as by personal choice), there are surely times when an extra bundle of green makes life a whole lot sweeter.

Which is to say - in this case I oh so sweetly arrived at the Siem Reap International Airport at 10:35 am on Monday morning, all rested and fresh - with a full 4 days to play.

First impressions?  The Siem Reap airport has got to be the most charming and beautiful I've ever seen.  Abounding in lush tropical greenery, it felt more like arriving at a resort than an airport.  And immigration was a breeze.  $20 (yes, yes, USD is the currency of choice for most everything in Siem Reap - so refreshing after muddling for months now with thousands of dong) for a 30 day tourist visa, and I was swiftly out the airport doors and...

...into the OMG sultry humidity of Cambodia!  I'd heard that Cambodia was "hot", but I figured - how could it possibly be hotter than Ho Chi Minh City in May?

Uh, it could.  And it was.  Hotter.  More humid.  Seriously.

Ah but I quickly nabbed a mototaxi (for just $2) for the 7 km whiz to my hotel, and soon I was happily frigid amid the a/c coolness of my $21/night room at La Villa Loti.  The hotel (that I booked online through an Agoda.com "Flash" sale for half price) was divine.   Just 5 rooms on a quiet lane along the river, a tad removed from the busy downtown, Night Market, etc. district.  My hammock hung invitingly waiting, and the pool proved most refreshing for afternoon dips.


So much to tell.  Just four days, but I packed a lot in (without seeming at all rushed.)  It was just that everything was so easy in Cambodia.  Indeed, so much easier than the months I've spent here in Vietnam.  Mainly because most everyone speaks ENGLISH in Siem Reap.  And while I have little problem getting around most any country in the world with but a smattering of the local lingo, I must admit, it was awfully nice to be able to chat freely with the locals in Cambodia.

Now, a quick rundown on the highlights of a most excellent four days in Cambodia:

Sunset atop Phnom Bakheng

• The mototaxi driver - Sak - that I happened upon at the airport turned out to be a key asset to much of my visit.  For starters,  he tipped me off on how to save a bundle on a pass to the Angkor Wat temple complex.  They offer a 1 day pass ($20), a 3 day pass ($40) and a 7 day pass ($60).  BUT on the day of my arrival, Sak urged me to wait until after 4:30 pm to head to the complex for sunset, 'cuz they close down the ticket booths for the day at that time, and then REOPEN them 10 minutes later to sell the tickets for the following day.  Which is to say - I bought a 1 day pass, but was able to get in for the first night's sunset for free.  Kewl!

Those legendary "Smiling Faces"

• The weather was mixed for my stay.  Ever sunny and hot by day, followed by torrential rain most evenings for a few hours.  I actually loved the nightly deluges (being from Seattle, it's "only water" after all, yes?) especially the night we got caught in a downpour while at Bayon temple (the one noted for the tree roots).  The torrent in the fading light only added to the eerie mystique of the centuries-old temples.
  
  The only weather downside was that the cloudy skies made for decidedly ho-hum photos of the temples. Indeed - photographer confession: in the photos posted here and at my Through the Eyes of TravelnLass Cambodia gallery, suffice I tinkered quite a lot adding dramatic sky backgrounds and lighting effects to many of the temple shots.
  
  

  Kinda like...

  ...an Asian "Mona Lisa", yes?

  
  Nonetheless, sunset atop Phnom Bakheng was wonderful, and sunrise...

Now THIS is worth getting up at 4 am for!

• Yup, I got up BEFORE the crack of dawn (4 am!) so as to make my way to Angkor Wat and be in place to watch dawn break over those lofty spires.  And though the sunrise itself proved less than jaw-dropping, the best part was before dawn as I stumbled solo in the dark, walking slowly through the ancient temples to sit quietly at the edge of a pond awaiting the dawn.  It truly was a special kind of spiritual experience.

•  Other highlights:  The Night Market.  A bit "touristy" true.  But nonetheless most refreshing after the months of shopping dearth here in HCMC, with some really nice trinkets and especially scarves (I bought two, along with some very nifty "Khmer pants" and a most fabulous purple top with handmade Thai Hill Tribe embroidery), along with great food.  Best of all, on my final night, I opted for an hour-long, full-body massage at "Seeing Hands" (all the masseurs are sightless - brilliant way to provide jobs for the blind, yes?)

Across an ocean...

• Took a boat trip down the river to Tonle Sap Lake to visit the floating villages.  Had hoped to do an overnight with a family there, but when we got to the boat launch, the "brass" nixed the idea saying it was "too dangerous".  Sak, my dear mototaxi driver tried hard to convince them that he'd be my "body guard", etc.,  but in the end they wouldn't budge.  It was No Dice. ;(
  
  Still, the boat ride was great fun, and the boat driver took me to a school amid the floating village and I was able to distribute the school supplies that I'd bought in Vietnam (a bundle of mini-whiteboards, dry erase pens, crayons, pencil sharpeners, etc.)  Alas, Cambodian Angkor Air had confiscated the handful of kid's scissors I'd tucked in my backpack (but... they're harmless ROUNDED points, see???)  Nonetheless, the kids and the teachers welcomed what I'd brought, and for me, the school visit was the HIGHLIGHT of my trip to Cambodia.

Khmer cooking class - yummm!

• Enjoyed a Khmer cooking class at the Angkor Palm Hotel.  Oh my goodness, it was such fun!  A PRIVATE class for just me (only $24!) with my own chef to instruct me in the art of Khmer cookery.  First we strolled through the market buying fresh ingredients, then back to the verandah at the hotel for a 2 hr. lesson.  We made 4 dishes:  Fish Amok (a most traditional Khmer dish much like curry), Sour Soup with Chicken (utterly divine flavor made with oh so simple Asian ingredients), Morning Glory Greens, and Sweet Potato Dessert (again, very simple, made with toasted mung beans, tapioca, sea salt, a bit of sugar, sweet potatoes and coconut milk.) 

• Oh, and... I rode an ELEPHANT! 

• And I found a geocache (of course!)

• AND... I had my fortune told in the market whilst we were shopping for the ingredients for the cooking class (my cooking instructor was kind enough to interpret.)  My future?  All good.  Apparently 2012 will be a fine year for me (it already IS!)

I took more than 500 pics, but (you'll be relieved to know) I kindly whittled them down to just a little over 100.  You can view them all at my Cambodia gallery at Through the Eyes of TravelnLass.

All in all, I honestly couldn't have asked for a more splendid visit to Cambodia.  Indeed, I was so enchanted with Siem Reap as a promising place to live, I checked out a couple of private English schools to see what the teaching options might be.  Suffice, if it weren't for the tropical heat (like here in Saigon) I could very easily see myself spending a year or so there.  Especially volunteering for some of the excellent projects implemented by ChildSafe International.

Proof Positive: I Have a Gob of Nomadic DNA in My Genes

Seriously, I truly have to laugh.  Here I sit glued to my laptop on a Tuesday morn, when...

Suddenly it occurs to me that I surely must have a goodly gob of nomadic DNA running merrily through my veins, cuz...

1. I'm already living in a g-forsaken rice paddy here in Vietnam - more than 8,000 miles from "home" (Seattle); and...
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2. Just 3 days ago I returned from a (most fabulous) week's jaunt into neighboring Cambodia to drop-jaw at the legendary temples at Angkor Wat; and...
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3. Next Monday, I've got plans to head to Mui Ne - a beach haven along the South China Sea about 6 hrs. by bus from here in Ho Chi Minh City; and yet...
o
4. Here I am, STILL rooting 'round the internet dreaming of where I might head when my EFL teaching contract is finished come August.  Oh my yes, delicious dreaming and researching exotic adventures, such as hanging out with Eagle Hunters in Mongolia, and/or tracking pigmy elephants in Borneo...

What can I say? I'm HOPELESS! I simply was not born to sit in one place for very long.

My only excuse for such rabid flitting hither and yon?

Because it's such an OMG humungous, wondrously ecclectic globe out there with NO END of fabulous landscapes, fascinating people, and luscious exotic foods to be sampled.  And (even w/ nearly 30 countries under my gossamer travel belt) I've yet to see but a smidge more than a 10th of it!

So all I can do is try my level best to keep these two feet moving to ever new corners of the globe.  Which is to say - stay tuned for both a boatload of pics from Cambodia, along with some exciting news about where I'll be heading next.

I'm Off On A Mini Adventure To... Cambodia!

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Often the plethora of dizzying options on our beloved www can seem more of a curse than a blessing.  But with patience and persistence I've finally nailed down the gist of my short jaunt into neighboring Cambodia to drop-jaw at the legendary temples of Angkor Wat.

First there was research as to the various means of transport to get to Siem Reap, Cambodia from here in Ho Chi Minh City. Suffice, there are but two options - each (frustratingly) equal in tantalizing pros and cons.

Option A: Bus to Angkor Wat
Pros: Achingly cheap! A mere $40 round trip
Cons: HCMC to Siem Reap is a (blisteringly tedious) 12+ hrs. ride including 6+ hrs. HCMC to Phnom Penh (incl. a border stop for $20 Cambodian visa), then another 6+ hrs. from PP to Siem Reap, arriving in the evening: 2 full days of my precious 5 shot just in tedious transport.

While I've certainly endured such marathon bus trips in my travels, suffice that I've lately come to my senses and will now consider only bus trips of a maximum of 8 hours (and even then, I dread them.)

But... alternately, I could still go the cheapo bus route to Angkor Wat, by overnighting in PP en route to and from Saigon: Though now we're talkin' 1.5 days lost each way = 3 full days in transit, with a single full day (Wednesday) plus 2 half days in the (did I mention l-e-g-e-n-d-a-r-y?) Angkor Wat. Ugh. Sounds like a recipe for a thrifty nightmare.

Ah but the alternative was equally daunting:

Option B: Fly to Angkor Wat
Pros: A single hour flight - I could be in Siem Reap before noon on Monday! Wouldn't have to fly back to HCMC til Friday afternoon! Majorly maximizing my limited time to explore this exquisite corner of the globe: 3 full days plus 2 sweet half-days of pure play (i.e. I could gawk at the splendor of the temples at sunset on Day 1 AND gaze at them blushing at sunrise on Day 5!)
Cons: Spennnnnnndy. Very spendy.  Especially when you consider it's but a one hour flight. We're talkin' nearly $350 vs. the bus for $40.

Decisions, decisions.

Suffice I pondered the two opposing transport options for two weeks (whilst I anxiously awaited the return of my passport embellished with a crisp new 3 month Vietnamese visa extension) and slowly came to the conclusion:  "You're squeezing a quick weekday visit to the LEGENDARY temples of Angkor Wat, girl.  No question.  No way are you going to squander more than half that time in transit on a stupid bus.  This is clearly one of those times to splurge.  Bite-bullet, dear - and buy that air ticket!"

Bus?

It was really a no-brainer.

Plane?

So that's what I did.  And at least by doing a bit more research, I managed to get the fare down a smidge (to $323) by flying Cambodia Angkor Air.  I depart on Monday at 9:25 am and arrive in Siem Reap at 10:45 - ready to ROCK!  Return Friday at 11:15 am, so plenty of time to gawk to my heart's content.

I also hope to do a homestay at a stilt-village at Kampong Khleang on Tonle Sap Lake, and spend some time (possibly teaching a bit of EFL) at a rural school at the International Volunteer Development Center (this, thanks to a facebook chum who's done a lot of volunteer work there in the past, and hopes to return in December (hi, Mary!)  In any case, I've packed a bundle of school supplies (mini white boards and a bunch of dry-erase pens), and have already volunteered to fiddle with their website in the future.  Then there's the Night Market, and a Cambodian Food Walk, oh and did I mention - there's no fewer than *5* geocaches hidden amid those crumbling temples?

The pool looked divine...

O.K. so with the transport dilemma resolved, the only thing left (other than tossing a few things in my backpack) was a place to stay.  Normally when I travel for any length of time (beyond a week) I only book the first night's lodging in advance.  But with time so short on this trip I opted to pre-book all 4 nts. through Agoda.com (my fave!)

There were lots of good options, several for less than $15 per night (including a highly rated hostel with a pool!)  But Agoda had a special half-price "Flash Deal" at a beautiful boutique hotel called "La Villa Loti" for but a few bucks more.  Indeed, I even opted for an upgrade to a "Superior Deluxe" for just $21/nt. single.

But it was that hammock that sealed-the-deal!

So now I'm ready to go.  Just my four teaching classes this weekend, and come Monday morn I'm off on a mini adventure.  No doubt I'll have lots to tell and tons of pics, so stay tuned to find out how it all turns out.

WWWWhat Inspired My Addictio... errr Love of Travel

I know, I know - I've been promising a post about my experience as a newbie EFL Teach here in Saigon for weeks now (and more recently, pics and such of last Monday's "Liberation Day" potluck with some Vietnamese chums).  Ah but such blather must wait yet another week (at least) 'cuz your regularly scheduled TravelnLass broadcast has been temporarily interrupted by...  It seems another travel meme has been darting about the travel blogosphere. This one initiated by our friends at EasyJet (and nope, alas no free jets to Paris involved here) seeking posts on the Who, What, Where and When that inspired one's penchant for travel. Fellow wanderlust Travels of Adam "tagged" the TravelnLass, so here's my WWWW of what inspired my own personal wanderlust.

The truth is, I believe that the wanderlust gene was already in my DNA from the moment I entered this merry world.

Nonetheless it clearly took me awhile to actually set out on my first serious travel adventure.  You see, my family (Mom, Dad, a younger brother and older sister) wasn't exactly what you'd call the "nomadic" type.  Nope, no airline pilots nor foreign ministers in my childhood world.  Just your every-day, garden-variety, "Leave It To Beaver" family of the '50's.  Indeed, decidedly stationary but for my dear Dad's rare win to drag the carload of us camping to the wilds of Minnesota (uh, are we there YET, Dad?) for a bit of family bonding amid the splendor of the great outdoors.  And yes, Ely, Minnesota was considered both "wild" and quite the adventure for we Chicago suburbians - especially for my poor Mom, who had to cook over a wobbly camp stove for a week.

Ah, but I digress.  Just Who, What, Where, When did my wanderlust kick in in earnest?

The WHO: Seriously.  I honestly believe my lust for roaming the globe began the moment my 10 year old brain heard the lyrics of a particular song - a decidedly sappy favorite of my parents:  Patsy Cline's rendition of "You Belong to Me" that begins with:  "See the pyramids along the Nile..." That was it.  That's all that it took - those few simple lines.  Images in my 10 yr. old mind of those pyramids, and a "jungle...wet with rain" (little did I know then, that there are TONS of such jungles in the world - and yep, most every one I've trudged through has been quite soggy). And especially the notion of flying "the ocean in a silver plane".  Oh my yes.  As early as 10, I wanted nothing more than to hop on one of those magical planes that apparently could whiz you swiftly to deliciously mystical places like "the market place in old Algiers".

See the pyramids along the Nile Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle Just remember darling all the while You belong to me See the market place in old Algiers Send me photographs and souvenirs Just remember when a dream appears You belong to me I'll be so alone without you Maybe you'll be lonesome too, and blue Fly the ocean in a silver plane See the jungle when it's wet with rain Just remember till you're home again You belong to me

Yup, I finally made it to those "...pyramids along the Nile"!

The WHAT:
Ah but it was still a handful of years before I actually boarded one of those "silver planes". Finally, when I was 16 my family flew from Chicago to Connecticut to visit some old family friends who had moved to Long Island Sound. In retrospect, it must have been a HUGE event for my entire family - exceedingly spendy in the days before deregulation of the airlines, and clearly an adventure for one and all.

Looking back it now seems silly, but what made it all the more adventuresome in my adolescent mind, was that we flew on a "red-eye" though the dark of night.  For some reason, that made it all the more magical - that one could actually start off after dinner in Chicago, and land on the eastern edge of the continent - in seemingly the blink of an eye.

Needless to say, the journey did absolutely NOTHING to dampen my already fertile imagination for exploring far away places.

The WHERE:
But it would prove more than a DECADE before I actually embarked on my own serious international adventure.  (did I mention, I'm a bit of a slow-learner?)

What can I say?  A war (ironically, one we Americans lost, in the country I'm presently living in!) intervened and I got a tad distracted from my dreams by a few small matters like, uh...

Jumping into a (only later to learn) disastrous marriage 'cuz my (then) true love risked being sent to g-knows WHAT g-forsaken rice paddy compliments of Uncle Sam's "draft" (yes, young grasshoppers, military service was not optional in those heady days.)  But on the bright side - that otherwise painful decade did bless me with two precious daughters that I promptly dragged to...

Finally free from an abusive marriage, I wasted little time in testing my long-latent wanderlust gene.  As a single mom with two young daughters (aged just 5 yrs. and 8 yrs. old) I enlisted a good chum (and likewise single mom of an 8 yr. old son) and hatched a plan to wander the beaches of Mexico for a couple of weeks in the summer.  I'll never forget the orange backpacks the girls wore.  Towering above her flaxen head, the view from behind my 5 yr. old prompted us to dub her "The Pack with Legs".

We flew down to Nogales, AZ and then took the 24 hour train down to Mazatlan (though we enjoyed first class berths, walking through the live chicken-littered 3rd class car come morning was a "developing world" eye-opener to be sure.)  But other than the flight and the 1st class rail, our little rag-tag party of 3 kids and 2 single moms was most definitely on a shoestring.  We took local buses from town to town, camped on beaches mostly - relieved only every few days by a welcome night in a cheap (and believe me, truly DIRT cheap in those days) hotel.

We ate freshly baked corn tortillas from a lone vendor (a single mom just like we!) selling them out of a crack in the wall, got our ears pierced (every blessed one of us, including Danny, my friend's son), swam in the warm blue waters of the Gulf of California, and made it all the way south to Alcapulco via local buses speeding through the night (singing "Jeramiah was a Bull Frog" at the top of our lungs.)

In short, my long-dormant wanderlust was ignited in earnest.

The WHEN:
From that moment on, there was no stopping my fervor for travel.  As a single mom responsible for two youngsters I had plenty of practical considerations of course.  I opted to return to college (having been abruptly interrupted in my 2nd year by Uncle Sam - see acky "war" above) to better my job opportunities and create a more secure future for my little family of three.  But in my final year as an undergrad, the travel bug crept up and bit me BIG TIME.  Walking home from a psychology class, I happened to see a poster for a study abroad in France.  That such programs were designed for 20-somethings sans a couple of youngsters tagging along, deterred me not in the least.  One glance at that poster and I was HOOKED.  From that moment on, I was DEE-termined to spend a term studying in France WITH my two daughters (then age 11 and 8).

Long story short?  We not only lived in Avignon, France for a term, but the girls were able to enroll in a French school - soaking up the language like it was chocolate milk!  We had a little apartment in London for awhile, visited Paris (munching  on LOTS of Camembert and French bread for that was about all we could afford), and camped for a week on the island of Corsica.  Even better, we backpacked through Greece and Switzerland for a month, before settling down again for another term at the University of Foreigners in Perugia, Italy.  Yup, slept on the beach on Crete, tossed snowballs on glaciers in the shadow of the Matterhorn in Switzerland, went to mass at the Vatican,  attended the opera  (with live camels!) in Rome, and gawked at Michelangelos and other masterpieces (amazingly, the girls learned to spot a Monet from a Manet!)


Ah but that wasn't the end of it for me.  The "WHEN" of it just kept/keeps going on and on, and on.

A decade later, I opted to take my annual vacation to a (then) obscure little country by the name of "Belize" (there were no Belize guidebooks in those days, and nary a single T-shirt for sale) and...

Inspired by a young American/Swiss family running (one of only two in those days) small, rustic jungle lodge (they'd arrived with backpacks a few years earlier, and decided to stay) - little more than a handful of thatched huts, with kerosene lamps and cold water, outdoor showers, it suddenly (finally???) dawned on me:

Dyanne, you can DO absolutely ANYTHING you want!

(so.... why not...)

Suffice, upon my return, I finally caved in to the wanderlust DNA flowing through my veins once and for all.  I suddenly turned my back on my (decidedly lucrative, and not at all unloved) corporate job in Denver, and opted to start my own international tour company specializing in travel to Belize (and later, Costa Rica).

Fast forward 20 years (see "So You Wanna Be an Int'l Tour Operator, Huh?" for details). I surely didn't get rich, but I spent more than two decades doing what I love - romping through jungles, lolling on beaches, and exploring far away corners of this wondrous Planet.

Even now, effectively "retired", here I am living the life of an expat, teaching English in the heart of Southeast Asia, and skipping off to ever more exotic lands every chance I get.

In short:  *** FAIR WARNING! ***

The wanderlust gene is unrelenting.  It takes little to ignite it.  And I dare say - there's no turning back once you take your first step down that road...

P.S. Oh - if you too, would like to post your own WWWW travel inspirations, just give a holler in the comments and I'll "tag" you and place a link to your WWWWs here.