Colors, smells, and toilets

Brittan, you are so right about the children begging in Cambodia. It is incredibly hard to turn down a sweet-looking child. This is our first day in Siem Reap. We were actually supposed to arrive last night, but we missed our flight so we flew on stand-by this morning. We were totally wiped out when we got to the guesthouse (Earthwalkers, thanks Brittan for the recommendation!), and for some reason in spite of this we decided to bike to Angkor Wat this afternoon. I can report from the perspective of a biker that the traffic system here is crazy. People sort of follow traffic lights, but for the most part there aren't any lights. Instead, everyone turns in front of oncoming traffic if they want to, or if they're passing someone they feel free to cross over the center line (if there is one). It involves an incredible amount of trust - you just sort of assume that if you are driving straight into oncoming traffic, that they'll make room for you. And they do. No, Mom and Aunt Susan, this is from observation only - we were very careful.

Angkor Wat was as amazing as everyone says. We didn't have much time to explore today, but that's what the next couple of days are for. AGH! Something just crawled beneath my toes. That was creepy.

Oh, so Dad asked about the colors, smells, and toilets I believe. Yes, definitely been dealing with squat toilets, and in nice places, with regular toilets but water sprayers instead of t.p. It hasn't bothered me much at all actually. It's kind of nice if you're not in the cleanest bathroom to not sit on the seat. Sorry if this is too much information for anyone :). Colors, smells, etc: Bangkok - monks in saffron robes, the smell of exhaust, incense, white and purple flowers for sale, whiffs of latrine smells, yellow shirts and flags with the royal insignia on them everywhere, street stalls selling yummy noodles and other good stuff, people saying "tuk tuk? where you going?", being hot and sticky all the time, ducking under awnings to escape sudden downpours, really friendly people, crazy crazy taxi drivers who drive like they are on speed, dirty dirty canals. Koh Samet - the smell of the ocean! There was a latrine smell outside a certain bar in Ao Phai every time I walked by. Sand, mud, exhaust again (but not as often), mosquitoes...

Well, the internet place we're in is closing now, so I have to get going. But FYI, I think the comment section of the blog should be working now (I just left a comment), so feel free to try again. Much love to everyone!

Chocolate, O Chocolate / How Tasty is Your Flavor

Thank you all for the happy birthday wishes! We're having a little trouble with internet today, so I probably won't be able to send you individual emails for a little bit. We're on Ko Samet, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. It's a little less developed than some of the islands around here, which was why we picked it, but the downside is that power is sometimes intermittent. Specifically, power became intermittent during dinner yesterday, all the restaurants shut down, and my excruciatingly difficult decision between birthday brownie cake, banana fritters and ice cream, or a sundae suddently became an excruciatingly difficult Buddhist exercise in ending suffering by ending my desire for dessert. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the eight-fold path, and there were no gurus standing around the beach to help me, so I ended the night a little cranky from lack of chocolate.

We're pretty glad to be out of Bangkok - it's so polluted and noisy. It's a very vibrant city, but it also made me a little nostalgic for mandatory emissions limits. We took the bus to a town called Ban Phe and the ferry from there to Ko Samet. We're staying in an incredible secluded little bungalow a few feet from the ocean. It's wonderful to fall asleep at night (under the mosquito net of course) listening to the waves. The beaches north of us are a little more crowded with restaurants and bars, catering to us tourists (one of which has some of the most amazing drinks I've ever had). To get up to the other beaches, we walk up a steep hill, on natural dirt steps terraced by tree roots. Then down a rocky stream bed to Tup Tim, the next beach up from us. Follow a path down to the beach, negiotiate some muddy bits, then up to the bungalows and restaurants again. Follow the dirt road to Ao Phai, carefully edging around huge mud puddles that take up the whole road and looking out for motorbikes and pickup trucks. The road narrows and winds between assorted restaurants and bars. Take a seat at a bamboo table on the beach. At this point you might notice the absurd number of dogs lying around the beach; Bill has noticed that they seem to hang out in packs, each with their own territory. Most of them hang out around the restaurants at Ao Phai, curling up under tables or wandering from table to table looking for hand-outs. Others play on the beach or take naps on my beach towel. The Thais seem to know them by name. We met a big fluffy poodleish dog last night who is named after an ugly fruit. They are well-fed, but they are not spayed and neutered, so you start to remember those word problems from junior high math. You know, you have 2 dogs, and they have four puppies, each of whom has four puppies, and so on. Given an average gestational period of x months and a y% mortality rate, how many dogs will be living on Ko Samet in 5 years?

I'm writing this in a little internet cafe/bookshop owned by an intense British woman who has been engaging us in conversation about travel, Southerners, world perspectives on Americans, the recent story about the government monitoring bank accounts, conspiracy theories about 9-1-1, etc. Fun. But I should get going - I'm burning up baht at the rate of 2 a minute, much pricier than in Bangkok since here they have to use satellite. Send our power supply good thoughts - I'm hoping for a sundae tonight. :)

Krungthep, the city of angels

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know Bill and I are alive. And bonus - we're in Bangkok! And super bonus - no missed flights, no interrogations in cold dark cells at customs, and no pirates (yet). It did take a really long time to get here though - that 14 hour flight to Tokyo was a killer. The 6 hour flight from there to Bangkok seemed like nothing after that (at least to me...Bill seemed to retain his sense of time just fine). The plane windows fogged up as soon as we touched down.

In line to get a cab at the airport, we met a crazy man who looked like a scarier version of Gene Wilder. He claimed to be in "finance." He asked us to share a cab from the airport, and we were too polite to say no, or too stupid. Though we did end up only having to pay 200 baht ($5) for the ride. Even the cab driver thought he was crazy - when he got out, we all kind of giggled. Then Bill and the driver bonded over soccer for the rest of the drive.

"Brazil not so good this year. That Ronaldo, he's getting kind of old."
"Yeah, old and fat."
"Yeah."

They were a lot more excited about it than I'm making them sound. Anyway, we made it to the hotel, slept really late (the hotel staff had to call us to make us leave), and set out the next morning for the river. On our way down to the river to catch a river taxi, a very nice Thai lady asked us where we were from, where we were staying, where we were going, etc. Me, I think she was just being nice, and a bit maternal actually - she seemed a little worried that we were walking too far, for example - but Bill, being more pessimistic about human nature, seems to think she was trying to rip us off somehow. Which doesn't really make much sense, because I don't know how she would have benefited from telling us to go to the official tourist information office. But ok, Bill, whatever.

We ended up taking a "tuk tuk" because of the nice/evil lady's advice (maybe she got a commission, I don't know). Tuk tuks are 3 wheeled open cars - I'll try to upload a picture of one here. Anyway, we made it to the river and took a river taxi up to Thewet, a much calmer area of the city. We heard a strange flapping noise when we stepped onto the dock, looked down, and saw thousands of fish flopping and gasping at the water's surface, all competing for the pieces of bread being thrown by people. According to one of our guidebooks, throwing bread to the fish is a sign of respect for vegetarianism... which is funny because the same people selling bags of bread pieces were also selling fish, eels, and turtles.

In Thewet we found the place we wanted to stay, Shanti Lodge. You can see pictures of it at http://www.shantilodge.com/bangkok/index.html - it's really beautiful. I definitely recommend this place to anyone coming to Bangkok. Though our room isn't air-conditioned, I think this is probably a good thing in the long-term; hopefully we'll get acclimated enough that we won't be pouring sweat constantly (it's a little embarrassing - we're such "farangs").

Anyway, more updates later. Feel free to email - there's a cheap internet cafe across the street (with lots of Thai boys excitedly playing Warcraft), so at least while we're in Bangkok it will be very easy to communicate.

The plan

I feel a little self-centered doing a blog about my trip, but it seemed like a nice way to keep in touch with people. I will try to update the blog when I have access to cheap internet. The map below is my attempt at showing the flights I'll be taking. I included the connecting stops to make the route easier to see.


Roughly, that's New York > (connect through Tokyo) > Bangkok > Angkor Wat > Bangkok > Hanoi > Bangkok > (connect through Dubai) > Johannesburg > Cape Town > Johannesburg > Livingstone > Johannesburg > Dar Es-Salaam > (connect through Dubai) > New York. Below is the annotated itinerary:

• June 20, 1 pm: Bill and I depart from New York.
• June 21, 3:30 pm: We arrive in Tokyo after a 13 1/2 hour flight, have a 3 hour layover during which we become reacquainted with the use of our limbs and maybe eat some sushi or noodles, then arrive in Bangkok at 11:05 pm and fall into bed.
• Late June: We traipse around Thailand for a bit and enjoy the people, food, and beaches.
  
• June 26 - I get to ride on an elephant for my birthday. Preferably a happy, well-treated elephant without rheumy eyes.
• Late June: We fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The big tourist draw in Siem Reap is a complex of 12th century temples built in the Khmer empire's capital city, including the largest temple, Angkor Wat.
  
• Early July: We go visit my college friend Alex, who is living in Hanoi.
• July 7: Bill goes back home. I wander around Vietnam and Thailand until July 20 and do fun things.
  
• July 20, 2:30 am: I leave Bangkok for Johannesburg. I connect through Dubai with a 4 1/2 hour layover, during which I can have my pick of internet access, entertainment for children, the special reclining nap chairs in the quiet lounge, or the "lavish" duty-free selections. So many choices! I arrive in Johannesburg at 10 pm local time (3 pm Thailand time) and try to get to sleep.
  
• July 21, early: My childhood friend Allen gets into Joburg. We fly to Cape Town and spend the next few days there. My college friend Orion claims he has a stepbrother in Cape Town who can give us vineyard recommendations, but there has been no proof of this alleged stepbrother or his recommendations so far.
• July 26, morning: Allen and I fly from Cape Town through Joburg to Livingstone, the Zambian town by Victoria Falls. We spend time at the falls and then take a bus down to Chobe National Park in Botswana. There may be elephants here as well. I am not averse to multiple elephant rides.
  
• August 2, 1 pm: We fly from Livingstone back to Joburg and have a couple days there to explore the city and try not to get mugged.
• August 4, morning: Allen flies back to Hong Kong, and I fly to Dar Es-Salaam in Tanzania. Dar is a 10 hour bus ride (or a more expensive plane flight) from Arusha, where my college friend Brittan is working this summer. I spend a couple weeks as a bad influence, trying to get her to go see Mt. Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar instead of working.
• August 24, 4:30 pm: Leave Dar for home. Go through Dubai again, this time with a nice 3 hour layover from 11 pm to 2 am. I will probably go for the reclining chairs in the nap lounge.
• August 25, 8:10 am: Arrive back in New York after a solid 14 hour flight.