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It was supposed to rain this morning and clear up for the afternoon but we awoke to partially cloudy skies and mild temperatures. I decided we should take one of the three popular 4×4 trips offered in the area. The one that sounded most intriguing was the trip into Skipper’s Canyon, the site of the gold mining activity in the 1860s. The problem was that articles described it as traversing very narrow dirt roads high above the Shotover River and considered it to be one of the most dangerous roads in the world (https://www.wonderslist.com/10-most-dangerous-roads-in-the-world/). Car insurance companies prohibit normal drivers from using the road.  Hmmmm, how do I break this to Yvonne and convince her to go as she is not fond of heights and sheer drop offs?  Surprisingly she said she was game (I somehow forgot to mention the #7 dangerous road information to her) and we made reservations to take the 4 hour trip leaving at 1:30 PM.

The next order of business was finding a good place in town for breakfast as neither of us wanted to do the hotel breakfast buffet. We walked through town reading menus in windows.  Most were similar. While walking back to one that sounded nice we happened to walk by the Vudu Cafe & Larder restaurant on the waterfront that was packed with people!  That is normally a very good sign so we wandered in and decided this was the place as the menu offerings were both unique and looked great as we passed tables with people enjoying their meals. They gave us menus and after ordering at the counter they delivered our meals to our table. We chose to sit outside at a communal table to enjoy both the weather and the scenery. Our decision to eat here was rewarded with two fabulous dishes (see photos)!

We wandered down a few new streets after breakfast, finding several restaurants (a hamburger/bakery place with a huge line of people waiting to order, and a donut shop featuring filled donuts) both worthy of a future visit. Hopefully we will have enough time here to try them before we have to leave.

We were picked up at 1:30 as promised by Pete, our driver/guide, in his rugged 4×4 vehicle. Luckily there was only one other couple (from Auckland) on the trip so we had room to stretch out and each have a window for unobstructed viewing.

Skipper’s Canyon Road is a one way, one lane 22 km long dirt road that sometimes is 200-300 feet above the canyon and river bottom,  it leads to the area where gold was discovered on the Shotover River in 1862.  The area lays claim to being one of the biggest gold finds in New Zealand. At one time over 1,000 people lived in the area but as with all “gold rushes” the area lost its luster after a few years, although mining continued until the early 1900s. All that remains are a cemetery, the old schoolhouse, some rusting equipment on the riverbank and the tailings on the shoreline of the river.

While traveling the road we occasionally met an oncoming car and had to find a “wide” spot in the road to allow it to safely pass, but other than that we had no problems negotiating the road. The scenery is spectacular but desolate. Pete explained the history of the area and pointed out features related to the mining of gold here. We stopped  at several locations to take in the beauty of the area and take pictures, had a sandwich lunch at the old schoolhouse where we got to see old pictures of life there and even panned for gold on the shore of the river. Pete did find a few “specks” of gold (no nuggets) which he added to his collecting bottle. Over the years he has collected measurable ounces (at $1,400/ ounce). We safely returned to the hotel after our four hour journey into New Zealand gold country. It was a memorable and worthwhile trip, and we can claim to have safely traveled one of the most dangerous roads in the world!

We slept soundly until 8 AM (thanks to good old Zzzquil). Jessica, our daughter-in-law who lives in Auckland, met us at the hotel around 10AM to receive the two extra suitcases we brought that contained a painting for their home and things they ordered and had delivered to our home. There is no Amazon or Costco in New Zealand yet and there are many products that are simply unavailable, so whenever they come home or someone heads to New Zealand there is usually a suitcase or two to bring products they need or want (like Catalina Lite salad dressing).

After visitng in the hotel lobby for about an hour we headed to the airport for our 1.75 hour flight to Queenstown, New Zealand. Fun facts:  New Zealand has a population of 4.4 million people, with 1.034 million living on the South Island. There are over 30 million sheep in New Zealand, and the vast majority reside on the South Island. The 2013 census indicated that 28,224 people lived in the Queenstown area. It is probably closer to 35,000 now we were told.  We were met at the airport by a driver (part of the tour package)  who collected our luggage and drove us to our hotel near downtown Queenstown for the next three nights.

Queenstown is framed by the Remarkable Mountains and lies on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, which is 84 km long and has a depth of 399 meters. Originally a gold mining town in the 1860s, it was named Queenstown because “it was fit for Queen Victoria”.  It is recognized as the adventure capital of New Zealand. As would be expected the town is populated with younger, adventurous people. Outdoor sports dominate – hiking, bicycling, climbing, water sports, snow skiing- all are available in the Queenstown area. Bungee jumping was first started here. It is a beautiful site and reminded me a bit of of Switzerland or Austria.

Our hotel was a five minute walk to the compact downtown area which is the home of shops featuring outdoor clothing and equipment, and restaurants and bars catering to the thousands of tourists that visit here every year. It is certainly a “vibrant” scene. I had researched some of the suggested restaurants in the area and had made reservations at a highly recommended one called “Rata” which turned out to be simply fantastic!  Surprisingly New Zealand is not inexpensive. Prices in restaurants for both food and drink are “Seattle” prices. We walked the town a bit after dinner and found a “funky” cookie/ice cream store called Cookie Muncher where I found my dessert for the evening – an ice cream sandwich. We then returned to our hotel and called it a night by 9 PM (still catching up with jet lag).

Our official escorted tour does not begin until March 22 so we have a couple of days to explore the area and take in some of the local attractions before our group departs. The weather is expected to be somewhat iffy the next few days so we are going to let the weather and our mood determine what we do and when.

 

 

Auckland is 20 hours ahead of Seattle time. We basically lose a day coming but gain it back when we return home. The total scheduled flight time is about 16.5 hours. You appreciate how big Earth is when you make a trip like this!

Our experience with US based airlines often leaves something to be desired when it comes to equipment and customer service, so I was not expecting much when we were scheduled to fly Hawaiian Airlines from Seattle to Auckland with a change of planes in Honolulu. Friends told us they really liked Hawaiian and always fly them when going to Hawaii but I was still skeptical. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised when we boarded our 9 AM flight to Honolulu.

The first surprise was it was one of their newer Airbus 330 planes, with full lie flat seats in the premium cabin rather than the normal first class seats on their older planes. Although we did not expect to sleep on the 6 hour flight it was a very pleasant surprise. The “pods” are state of the art. There are no built-in entertainment centers on these planes. Rather they hand out “top end” large (13 inch IPads and good headphones. There is even a special holder attached to the arm rest where you can position the iPad while watching movies or TV programming that is preloaded on the devices. The quality of the images is vastly superior to normal airline entertainment systems. I read it will be the wave of the future. I believe it!

The next surprise was the genuinely pleasant staff servicing the cabin. What a difference! They were friendly, courteous, helpful and eager to make sure our flight was enjoyable. Note to other airlines: fly Hawaiian Airlines to see what customer service should be. We had a thoroughly enjoyable flight to Honolulu.

We arrived in Honolulu on time and had about a 1.5 hour layover. Wow, has the airport changed. I remember the small open air concourses from the 1990s. No longer, it is a big city, busy airport now.

Our flight to Auckland was on an identical Airbus 330, but since it is a 9+ hour flight the lie flat seats will be appreciated (at least by me, as Yvonne tends to get caught up watching movies). Since it was now 5 PM somewhere I had the mai tai they offer when you board prior to taking off. It has been many years since I have had one and it brings back fond memories of previous visits to Hawaii.

I watched Bladerunner 2049 but got bored with it and almost did not finish it, but I did want to see how it ended. I was not one of the many who said it was a great movie. Way too long and slow moving.

Hawaiian served another great meal, starting with those lovely plates of macadamia nuts (oh, the calories! ). It was as good a meal as I have ever had on an airplane. The “sleep amenities” included not only a quilt, but also a big fluffy pillow and even a mattress pad to soften up the sleep surface. Yvonne said it did seem to make her shoulder feel better.

We left Honolulu about 20 minutes late but made up a bit of the time in flight, arriving in Auckland only 10 minutes late (10:10 PM local time-2:20 AM body time). What amazed everyone was the boarding lounge at the gate was already loaded with people who were going to board this same plane two hours later for the 9 plus hour return flight to Honolulu. Talk about equipment reliability (and utilization).  Impressive by any standards!

New Zealand is very strict about their environment, requiring all plane baggage storage areas to be sprayed with an aerosol chemical to kill any unwanted creatures or bacteria. We had to remain in our seats while the 10 minute procedure was performed. Clearing immigration is a snap here. They use  “do it yourself” kiosks where you insert your passport, answer a few on-screen questions and have your photo taken before being allowed into the country. There was staff available to handle questionable transactions if needed. We sailed right through and headed to baggage claim where luggage was already being delivered. The last step to entry is passing through another strict area: customs,  who critically enforce their no food brought into the country policy. There are warning signs and disposal bins regularly located as you approached the customs inspection area. The fines for violation are high -$400. There were even cute little beagles eager to point out offenders. Although all we had in hand luggage were some energy bars (for when we get stranded according to Yvonne) but I dutifully noted on the form that I had some foodstuffs to declare. The agent was friendly and said they were fine and off he sent us to find our ride to the local hotel where we were spending the night before flying to Queenstown on the South Island tomorrow.

We are safely in our hotel room by midnight localtime (4 AM body time). Z quill tablets would make sure we got a good night sleep.

 

Kia Ora (hello in Maori)

On our first trip to New Zealand in 2016 we only explored the North Island, where Auckland is located, as the prime reason was to visit our son, Scott and family who had moved there the previous autumn for a new career opportunity. On this current trip we will be exploring the South Island before visiting Scott, Jessica and Isaiah in Auckland. The South Island is less populated (with people, not sheep) and is considered by most to be more beautiful than the North Island. Continuing our current  “take me, show me” philosophy of travel we are taking a nine day escorted trip that traverses the South Island seeing all the major sights. We start in Queenstown, the home of the original bungy jump ( no, I will not be doing it although it is rumored that it is free if you are over 70!) and end up in Christchurch. From there we will fly to Napier, the art deco city on the North island,  where Scott and Jessica will join us for a three day holiday (it is Easter weekend) before flying back to Auckland. We will see if I can keep up with my blog entries on this trip!

 

Amui mai ia matou…..which is “join us” in the Maori language.

When I retired 10+ years ago Yvonne told me I needed a hobby. My golf game was not good enough so I decided to try to see more of the world. Surprisingly we had visited 60 plus countries during my working years so I set a goal of visiting 75 countries before I turned 75 or 80 before turning 80 years old. At the time I thought that would be a tough goal. The goal was surprisingly easy to reach and a few years ago I restated my goal to be 101 countries (with no age limitations). I chose 101 as 100 was too obvious a goal.

My quest has been completed. Myanmar was country #101 on my “Countries Visited List”. There is a bit of fudging here as some places I count as a country (like Azores, or Aruba) are truly not official countries on the UN list of countries. They are territories of other countries. In this example the Azores are part of Portugal and Aruba is owned by the Netherlands.

I inferred I would quit after reaching 101, but….. I am still able to travel and the world continues to intrigue me, so I will probably continue to add countries to my list, but not as my prime objective. There are many places in the US, Mexico and Canada that we have not visited or wish to revisit. I once said I wanted to see all the national parks in the US. Maybe that can be my new goal. There are also wonderful places in Europe that I would love to revisit(France, Ireland, Prague, Poland). I will simply let serendipity guide my future destinations.

On this trip I heard a compelling quote: “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer!”    I totally agree.

Until the next trip, I bid you “adeiu”.

Our guide and driver picked us up at 5:15 AM and the hotel had prepared box breakfasts for us. Although we made excellent time getting to the airport we were surprised at how many people were on the road even at this early hour.

We said our goodbyes to Gerry and Sue as they were flying back to Chicago via Tokyo while we are retracing our flight via China. Our 2 plus hour flight for Guangzhou left on time. As we emerged from our plane in Guangzhou we were met by a young man with our name on a sign who acted as our transfer agent, leading us through the steps needed to clear immigration and ultimately taking us to the business class lounge where we would wait for our next flight. Nice touch!

Unfortunately we learned our flight to Vancouver was going to be delayed by two hours, meaning we will miss our flight to Seattle. I called Alaska Airlines (using Skype) who told me that China Southern is responsible for rebooking us. I talked to the local agent who said she would alert their Vancouver rep about the issue. Hopefully it will be resolved by the time we get there.

We did depart after the two hour delay (it was a maintenance issue) and we arrived in Vancouver just as our scheduled flight to Seattle left.  The good news is we were met at the airline door by a representative of China Southern who told us we were booked on an Air Canada flight leaving in two hours and our luggage was noted and will be on our flight. We were directed to the local agent for Air Canada who promptly issued our boarding passes and assured us that our luggage will be on our plane. Now that is service! Friends later told me that we got “special” service because we were flying business class. I wonder?  If it were the case it was worth the money we spent for the tickets.

The flight to Seattle went smoothly; and indeed our luggage arrived with us. It was cool and rainy when we landed but it felt good after all that heat and humidity we had in Bangkok. We retrieved our car and in a couple of hours were safely home on Miller Bay. We even managed to stay up a few hours before heading to bed, hoping to get back on a regular sleep schedule ASAP.

Reflections on the trip:

• Gerry said the trip would be on his “top 10” list. I think I would agree. Experiencing these 1,000 year old temples was something. Yes, we saw a lot of Buddhist temples but that is no different then seeing all those churches when you visit Europe.
• My favorite site was Inle Lake, Myanmar.  I think it might have been everyone’s favorite because of its diversity and beauty. Bagan and Angkor Wat are certainly high on the “to do” list. Would I go back?  No, because there are other places I would want to see first.
• The people of these countries were truly friendly and welcoming (something to be said for following the tenets of Buddhism?). I felt safer there than I have in many other places in the world I have visited.
• The weather was pleasant except for the last few days in Bangkok.
• Yes, the food was repetitive but it was healthy eating and there were ample opportunities to feed our cravings with other cuisines.
• Prices were much lower than we have experienced when visiting many other parts of the world. It is a cheap place to visit.
• Having private drivers and guides was really nice. I would certainly recommend it if you consider going to this region of the world.

Our major excursion today was a 3 hour morning boat ride on the Chao Phraya River from Bangkok upriver to Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand. We were on a large, air-conditioned boat that served a buffet lunch while en route. As we left the hotel it began to rain, the first rain we had seen since we arrived two weeks ago. Luckily by the time we boarded the boat the rain had stopped and the sun emerged while we were cruising. There was an outdoor viewing deck and we watched the life along the riverbanks as we went. We never got into a true countryside but the buildings became smaller and it was obvious we were in a rural area. The homes were mostly older, some were extremely old and looked like they were close to collapsing into the river. But there were also newer, modern homes scattered amongst them.

Our driver met us when we disembarked around 11:30 and proceeded to take us to walk the grounds of the King’s Bang Pa-In summer palace. It was a beautiful place with ponds, trees, flowers and buildings each built in varying European architectural styles. I could see why the king enjoyed coming here. It is serene and a dramatic departure from the maddening crowds in Bangkok.

There were several stops at other temple sites as we worked our way back to Bangkok. By this time the names and places were starting to blur together and we would have liked to simply call it a day, but Ben was eager to show these treasures to us. The one I do recall the name of is Wat Yai Chaimongkol. It was built in 1357 for use by monks who had studied in Ceylon. and was used mostly for meditation. It is distinctive in that a reclining Buddha is part of the complex, along with a very large pagoda (called a chedi in Thai).

The early Dutch traders estimated that Ayutthaya once had 300 to 450 monasteries, established from the 14-17th centuries.  It was the capital of Thailand until 1767.  Our last stop was at Wat Phra Maha That, which is thought to have been built in 1374.  It is now mostly in ruins, never having been restored after the wars of the 18th century, when the city was abandoned. The individual brick temples were not large as others we have seen but we were surprised at how large the grounds were. The temple complex covered many acres of land and there were always many individual structures in the complex. They reminded us of the ancient temples we saw in Cambodia.The sites were beautiful even though in ruins and I am glad we continued the tour as she had outlined it. The main attraction for tourists is the face of Buddha that has been encased in the trunk of a very large tree.

 

We told Ben it was too hot and we were too tired so we headed back to the hotel. Traffic was not as bad as previous days and we arrived back at our hotel about 3:45PM, with enough time to shower and head out for our farewell dinner. We had talked about having a good old-fashioned steak and imbibe with a Manhattan (or two). I found that one of the local Marriott hotels was noted for its steakhouse and I assumed they knew how to make a good Manhattan. In addition, they had an outdoor cocktail lounge on the 45th floor that offered great views of the city. I decided that was the place to end the trip on a high note. We put our trust in our hotel to tell our cab driver, who spoke no English, where to take us. We arrived about 15 minutes later, safe and sound, with a cab fare of $1.50 (try to find that in the US)! Gerry doubled that and, boy, did the driver grin and profusely thank him.

The views from the outdoor lounge were all they said they would be and they created a decent Manhattan (stirred rather than shaken, the only way to mix according to Gerry). The only negative was the cost for the drinks were big city prices, not the $4-8 we paid in Myanmar and Cambodia. Dinner at the District Steakhouse in the hotel was equally rewarding and a nice change from all the Asian dishes we had been eating. Again, the only negative was the big city pricing for the meal. We talked about what we had seen and done these past 16 days, amazed at the sights we saw, the friendliness of the people we met and how thankful we were for our lives in the good old USA. We toasted the fact no one had gotten ill or hurt doing our trip, other than bug bites that seemed to plague both Yvonne and Sue. Mosquitos were out day and night in Cambodia and Bangkok. Their (winter) weather had been excellent except for the hot temperatures we experienced while in Bangkok.

It was back to the hotel to pack and get to bed early as we had a 4:30 AM wake up scheduled. We are heading home in the morning.

Our local tour guide met us at the hotel at 8:30AM. It was a woman (our first on the trip) and she said to call her “Ben” as her full name was Benchaporn Udomsook. She has been a tour guide for over 40 years. We again had a fabulous Toyota oversized van with comfortable seats, plenty of room, and air conditioning which turned out to be important as the day wore on.

It was expected to be over 90+ degrees today with matching humidity so we asked Ben to make sure we saw the most important sights first so we could quit early if need be. She had recognized this and took us first to the most important attraction in Bangkok, the Grand Palace and the most important Buddhist temple in Thailand, Wat Phra Kaew.

Although it was not far away Ben said it would probably take an hour to get there. We would come to find that one hour seemed to be the magic number for wherever you wanted to travel in the city. I have complained about the traffic in Seattle and Gerry complains about Chicago traffic but Bangkok has taken traffic to a whole new level. There are 30 million people living here (for comparison New York City has 8.9 million people). In addition Ben says there are 1 million motorcycles in Bangkok and I think we saw them all today as we drove around the city. They are everywhere, weaving in and out of traffic, snaking between cars as they did so. What is amazing to me was the sense of calmness to it all. There was absolutely no honking of horns, no finger gestures, no road rage. The only thing I can attribute that to is the fact they are Buddhists, which promotes calmness and serenity. Oh, and all (?) of the cars have manual transmissions. The Thai must be excellent drivers as we saw no dented cars, no motorcycle/car accidents. They somehow make it all work, but you certainly must have patience to drive here! It is something to behold, but I would not want to live and drive here.

Our first stop was at Wat Traimit, also known as the temple of the gold Buddha. Why?  Because it contains a 10 foot tall Buddha made of gold, weighing 5.5 tons!  At US $1,400 per troy ounce, the gold in the statue (18 karat) is estimated to be worth 250 million dollars. The body of the statue is 40% pure, the volume from the chin to the forehead is 80% pure, and the hair/topknot, weighing 45 kg, is 99% pure gold.  Now you know why it is called the golden Buddha.

The next stop was the Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. When we got to the Grand Palace grounds I was astonished at the number of people touring the complex, mostly Chinese. We had heard they have become big visitors to these countries and we now see that in real time. At times it was difficult maneuvering in and around the complex but Ben was able to effectively move us through the crowds and see the highlights as she explained what we were seeing and the history associated with it. Both the temple and palace complex are huge and spectacular! Solid gold and gold covered statuary and buildings that can be blinding in the sun. The site is truly one of those that causes one to simply say “wow”!

Wat Phra Kaew is commonly known as the “temple of the emerald Buddha”, and is the most revered site in Thailand. It dates back to the 15th century and was brought to Thailand in 1782. It is only 26 inches tall and made of jade, not emerald. It is revered here because it was said that its presence will bring prosperity to wherever it resides; thus most Thai believe it is the protector of their country.

When we visited temples in Myanmar and Cambodia we were asked to enter temples with bare feet. In Thailand they simply ask you to remove your shoes; socks are OK- much easier on our feet! The big problem at the temple of the emerald Buddha was finding your shoes after you emerged as there were hundreds laying around near the temple entrance. Luckily ours were distinct enough and no one decided they liked them better than the ones they wore, so we always found and reclaimed our shoes.

Wat Phra Kaew covers 234 acres, contains over 100 buildings, and is part of the Grand Palace grounds. Besides various stupas in the complex there is a fairly large scale model of Angkor Wat built in 1860. The king wanted to move Angkor Wat from Cambodia but the expedition was a failure so he settled on a scale model instead.

Most of us are familiar with the musical,The King and I. Well this is where it all happened. Although most government functions reside elsewhere today the Grand Palace still is the ceremonial focal point for the Thai monarchy.

 

It grew hotter as the morning progressed. The back of my shirt was drenched but we plugged on, consuming lots of cold water carried in the van and cooling towels provided by the driver. Ben wanted us to see Wat Arun (temple of dawn), which sits on the banks of the main river of Bangkok, Chao Phraya. To get there we had to cross the river via a 2 minute ferry. We kept expecting to keep seeing more of the same when it came to temple complexes, and we continued to be surprised. Wat Arun was no exception. It is unlike anything we had seen so far, anywhere. The main stupa is somewhere between 281 and 282 feet tall. The various buildings are covered with porcelain figurines and tiles.They even used old dishes, carving them into segments to make petals of flowers. The temples are colorful and quite pretty. It provides a total different look to the traditional Buddha temples.

Lunch in an air conditioned riverfront restaurant gave us renewed energy to carry on, for at least a short while. The restaurant was right next door to the wholesale flower market which we walked through. Yellow marigolds are the flower of choice for a Buddha offering. Everywhere you looked in the market was a sea of yellow. Of course there were other flowers, like roses, lotus flowers and a small white delicate flower (I forgot to ask what it was) strung on string to make delicate bracelets and wreaths. People buy a ton of flowers in Bangkok, mostly to place at statues of Buddha (at home or in a temple).

We were ready to quit but Ben encouraged us to see one more temple, Wat Pho, which is the site of one of the largest reclining buddhas in Thailand. It is also considered to be the first public university of Thailand, teaching students in the fields of religion, science, and literature through murals and sculptures. A school for traditional medicine and massage was established at the temple in 1955, and now offers four courses in Thai medicine: Thai pharmacy, Thai medical practice, Thai midwifery, and Thai massage.

After seeing the reclining Buddha we cried “uncle” and headed back to the hotel for a well needed shower and nap. Dinner consisted of a visit to the rooftop outdoor lounge for another happy hour, followed by a walk to a nearby Italian restaurant that got high raves. We all agreed it was well deserved!

The hot weather we endured wore us out and everyone opted for an early end of the day.

We had one last excursion before moving on to our final destination-Bangkok, Thailand. Our guide, Joe Top,  took us for a boat ride on the largest lake in SE Asia, Tonle Sap. It is the home of many Vietnam fisherman who settled in this area after the war in Vietnam. They have also created a waterside village from which they live their lives. We boarded a small boat with an ingenious steering system consisting of a very old auto steering wheel and a series of ropes, pulleys and old auto clutches to operate an archaic engine to “drive” the boat-a perfect example of human ingenuity. It seems to work!

A young boy about 10 joined his father and soon went around giving us all shoulder and back rubs using his fists, fingers and palms to slap, massage and knead for about 3-4 minutes each. Obviously we each had to give him a dollar for his efforts- a true entrepreneur in the making!

The fishing village appeared much poorer and less developed than the ones we saw at Inle Lake in Myanmar. This lake also rises 10-20 feet during the rainy season so the homes must be versatile enough to deal with that. Some were actually floating homes, resting on barrels. Others were on stilts to deal with the varying water levels. Our guide said some homes are stored in the woods until the lake rises, then are somehow dragged to the shoreline. There are 170 villages on the shores of this lake, where 80,000 people live. Unfortunately life is hard. The average life expectancy is 54, 12 percent of children die before the age of 5, 50 percent are malnourished, and the literacy rate is 46% (17% below the national average).

Once on the lake we were taken to a large floating structure where they were raising crocodiles for the skin and food. As we walked around we were first greeted by our guide, Joe,  holding a fairly large (6 foot) python for us to see. Needless to say we never got to close even though Joe assured us they were tame. Yeah! Then things got really dicey as a small, local naked boy about 2-3 years old began running around with a small python draped around his neck, eager to show his “pet” to the visitors. Luckily he seemed to focus his attention on some Chinese visitors who ran screaming and giggling trying to avoid him. We chose to watch from a distance. He eventually returned to the small boat where he joined his mother and older sister who also had a large python near her. I took some pictures, in return giving her a dollar for her willingness to allow me to do that without holding the snake! Another entrepreneur in the making. We all breathed a sigh of relief as she rowed away, obviously looking for another boat of tourists. We then focused on why we came – to see the crocodiles. I was amazed at their size. I expected them to be 2-3 feet long. These were more like 10 feet and there were about 20 of them in a penned-in area near the water. It takes about 5 years for them to reach maturity and be “harvested” for other uses.

Moving on we returned to the shore and spent about 10 minutes walking through the dirt street of the village to see how the people lived. It was depressing. The “homes” are mostly one room huts made of corrugated metal or wood. People sleep in hammocks surrounded by mosquito netting as mosquitoes are very prevalent here.  Some choose to sleep on the floor. There is no furniture that I could see. There was no evidence of bathroom facilities, the back of the home sufficed and sadly garbage and litter was simply thrown out the door. This was by far the poorest example of living we had seen since being here. Joe said the government is trying to get the people to practice better living standards but to no avail so far. Surprisingly the children do go to school so maybe there is hope for the future. Their lives revolve around working the nearby rice fields or fishing in the lake.

Before lunch we visited a local “trade school” where children are trained to become proficient in making local art and crafts , thus giving them a livelihood. There are classes in wood carving, sandstone carving, painting, jewelry making and lacquer.  Their products are sold in local stores. It seems to be a very successful program and we saw some talented works being produced.

Before boarding our plane we had another excellent lunch at the Asian Square in downtown Siem Reap. Although it was still Cambodian food we all agreed it had a different flavor. We all thought perhaps the earlier French occupancy brought a slightly different twist to their cooking.

Our flight left on time and we arrived in the “big” city of Bangkok. The airport is huge and we had a little difficulty finding our guide, but we ultimately did. It turned out the lady who met us was not our guide, she was simply there to take us to our hotel for the night. Our local tour guide would meet us the next morning to begin our tour of Bangkok. As it was about 8 PM the weather was not too bad but our guide told us it was supposed to be quite hot (over 90 degrees) the next day-great! None of us like hot weather. She told us that Bangkok has two seasons – hot and hotter!

Our small (80 rooms) “boutique” hotel (U Sukhumvit Bangkok) was located on a side street near the main drag of Bangkok. Gerry said it reminded him of a smaller version of a W hotel-modern and funky. I later learned it was only 4 years old. All we cared was that it had a well-functioning air conditioner, which it did!

 

We had a option of getting up before dawn to go back to Angkor Wat to try to capture sunrise pictures of the complex. Being of sane mind we passed and slept in as we figured seeing it at sunset the previous day was just as dramatic.

Today Joe wanted to talk us to several more “lesser” temples, one of which we would certainly recognize as it was the setting for the 2001 movie, Lara Craft: Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie.  Now you are talking!  Some of the movie was filmed at the Ta Prohm temple. Yvonne reminded me that Angelina has adopted some Cambodian children as a result of her early visits there and Joe says she owns property and is well liked by the Cambodian people.

The Ta Prohm temple is nowhere as large as Angkor Wat but it has that “jungle” feel that I had expected to find at Angkor Wat. It also was built by King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th-early 13th century in honor of his family.  It has purposely been left in a semi-jungle state to show what the area looked like when rediscovered in the 20th century. The major trees that have “occupied” the site over the centuries are either silk-cotton or strangler fig trees, both not strong enough to completely destroy what is beneath them. They certainly lend an eerie, fascinating look to the whole site.

After leaving Ta Prohm we drove 20 km through a rural area to the next stop, Banteay Srei. Banteay is not a royal temple; it was built by a counsellor to the king. Banteay Srei was built in 967 AD and dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva. It was only rediscovered in 1914. The temple is constructed largely of red sandstone, a medium that lends itself to the elaborate decorative wall carvings which are still observable today. The buildings themselves are miniature in scale, unusually so when measured by the standards of other Angkorian construction. Because of the ornate carvings the temple is extremely popular with tourists, and have led to its being widely praised as a “precious gem”, or the “jewel of Khmer art.” I have to admit it really was lovely. 

Banteay Samre was built in the early 12th century and dedicated to Hindu gods. The design of its single ogival tower is immediately recognizable as Angkor Wat style along with other temples in the region. It is certainly not the most elegant temple in the area and I think we were taken there to simply fill out the day. But it was last on the list and we did not linger there very often before heading back to the hotel. By the way, a piece of trivia. Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was built in 1163, the same time frame as these temples.

 

 

 

It was now time for lunch and Joe took us to what looked like a high end restaurant featuring Khmer food, called Mahob. It was obviously a favorite with tourists but it had impressive decor and food. It was a worthy stop.

 

Joe asked if we wanted to visit the market in town and obviously we did. We spent about 45 minutes wandering around and, yes, finding a few new treasures to add to our collection, including a cool, carved wood frog that sounds exactly like a frog when you stroke it with a wooden stick.

 

Joe asked if we might want to attend a dinner and cultural show that night. Not having a great desire to eat more meals at a hotel we opted to try it. It turned out to be a very pleasant $20, set 4 course meal, and a one hour dance show featuring local folk dancing. We were glad we went.