Tomb Raider and Temple Run at Angkor: Saturday, 5 January & Sunday, 6 January 2013

After spending a few fun days in the city of Siem Reap, we figured it was time to take in the real reason for our visit to Cambodia - heck, the reason for almost every tourists visit to Cambodia! - the temples of Angkor.

We secured two tuk-tuks and, after purchasing our 7-day pass (good for any seven days over a month long period and not seven consecutive days as we originally thought), headed to Bayon.  the temple with 216 massive smiling faces.  A few of the faces can be seen in the photo to the left.

After viewing just this one temple, it become quite clear that several things had changed since we last visitied Angkor.  Here's a short list:

• Tour buses: Large tour buses carrying 30 to 40 passengers are omnipresent in Angkor now and Meghan and I don't recall seeing one such bus when we there here 10 years ago.
• Larger crowds:  Not surprisingly, if there are tour buses around, there will be more people.
• A focus on the Small Tour and Grand Tour:  Last visit we just hired a tuk-tuk driver on the street for $10/day and we went wherever we wanted - to the temples, to town, to the hotel, and what not.  Now, you basically pay for an itinerary with a set price.  Deviation from the itinerary come at a cost...as we'd see tomorrow.  
• More restrictions at the temples themselves:  The more popular temples - namely Banteay Srei and Ta Prohm - have suggested routes indicated with signposts - humorously labeled "Possibility of Visit" - and some areas roped off to limit access and/or organize photo ops.  For instance, the whole centre section of Banteay Srei is out of bounds and both the Tomb Raider and Alligator Trees at Ta Prohm are roped off.  All photos now include pictures of the ropes and the surrounding wooden walkways.

While much has changed, the temple complexes are so large it was always possible to find some peace and quiet.  Many times, I just turned a corner and found a spot with on one around.  The tranquility didn't last long, as a general rule, but some solitude is better than none.

After Bayon, it was off to Ta Prohm - the temple that was more-or-less left as it was found - jungle covered.  Several scenes from the Angelina Jolie film Tomb Raider were filmed here (as well as at other Angkor sites, including Angkor Wat).  To the left is a bit of the action filmed at Ta Prohm.  The Tomb Raider tree is the one that Jolie steps toward before picking the flower and falling into...Pinewood Studios.

After a long hot day of exploring, Meghan, Lockie and Maeve headed off to the Lotus Lodge while Eric and I took in Preah Khan.  The tuk-tuk driver was reluctant because PK is on the grand tour but we'd only signed up for the small tour...yada, yada, yada.  Eventually, he relented and we drove up to PK for views that were very similar to the much more famous Ta Prohm.  In fact, the back of PK sports two large criss crossed trees that have overtaken the outer temple wall and this is quite a striking image, perhaps more compelling than the Alligator Tree at Ta Prohm:

On Sunday, we took a morning elephant ride at Bayon - 15 minutes on the elephant's back as we circumnavigated the temple of Bayon.  It was a bit tricky to get into the bench on the elephant's back and the drivers were surly but, overall, it was a lot of fun.

After our ride, we embarked on the Grand Tour with stops at:

• Preah Khan: ...again.  Meghan, Lockie, and Maeve wanted to see what they'd missed
• Neak Poan: a group of pools virutally empty of water and fenced off to enable restoration efforts.  Nothing to see here.  Move along
• Ta Som: another temple with a lot of jungle covered remains
• Pre Rup:  a pyramid-shaped temple that offered us views of the East Baray (reservoir).

As a general rule, the temples on the Grand Tour and less busy than the more famous ones - Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm - on the Small Circuit.  Fewer people meant that we were able to more easily play our new favourite game...Temple Run.  Inspired by the app of the same name, we would run around the temples chasing after one another.  The last person to be spotted was the winner.  The uneven footing - there were fallen stones and tree roots all over the place - made the game tricky but, I'm happy to say, no injuries were suffered as we played.  Phew!

With two days down, we'd seen a lot.  We were holding out on viewing Angkor Wat, however.  The Lonely Planet guidebook we were using suggested leaving it until the end so the other, less impressive temples didn't all seem underwhelming.

Each day's temple visits were followed up with dinner at the Lodge, a swim in the hotel pool, and some reading and relaxing.  Tired out by our exploring, we were generally in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 pm.  The more sleep we got, the more ready we were to face the next day's adventures.

- LH

Silk Farming and the Best Khmer Cooking Class Ever: Friday, 4 January 2013

We started today's adventure with a tour of the Angkor Silk Farm.  The 40-minute tour was very informative and interesting.  We saw the production from the growth of the silk worms, their feeding of mulberry bush leaves (that's all they eat, apparently), their spinning of a cocoon in preparation for a metamorphosis that never happens.  The worms are killed by sunlight before they can escape their cocoons and become moths.

Once the worms are dead, the silk thread from the cocoon is worked with in a variety of ways.  Ultimately, it's separated into raw (cheap) and fine (expensive) silk that is woven into the scarves, bags and what not that are sold in the Artisans Angkor shop.

We really enjoyed the tour as it gave us a newfound appreciation for all the effort that went into the making of the silk products we saw sold around town.

After a light lunch at our new favourite restaurant, we hit the Paper Tiger for our cooking school.  This was one epic event.  It started humbly enough with each of us - Lockie, Maeve, Meghan, and myself - choosing an item from the restaurant menu.  Then the adventure began.  We walked a block or two over to the old market where our guide/chef pointed out all the ingredients that we would be using in the creation of our dishes.  We didn't buy anything - all the items were pre-purchased and waiting for us at the restaurant - but we did see how it would be bought.  Next, we started the food prep.  This took almost two hours!  We cut, ground with a mortar and pestle and sliced all of the ingredients that would go into our dishes.  Once the cooking finally got started, we were tuckered.  Our task master chef insisted that we all work the mortar and pestle for what seemed like hours, until the ingredients were a fine paste and not a lumpy substance.  In pairs our group members - we were joined by three folks from England - entered the kitchen and cooked up our meals over the hot gas stovetop.

At long last, everyone's meals were done and ready to eat.  With 7 people at the small table and 2 dishes per person, the table was chockers.  Seeing as it was nearly 4:30 by the time we ate - 3.5 hours after the start of the class - we all eagerly tucked into our meals.  Dessert came in the form of a somewhat disappointing pumpkin custard treat (chosen by Maeve) that was tasty but unnecessary as we were all so wedged we could barely eat a spoon or two of it.  In the end, this epic experience was a lot of fun and, dollar for dollar (it cost $13/person), probably the best value outing we've had on this trip...and possibly in years!

As has been the custom in SR, we hit the pool for a relaxing swim before bed.  The temples were on tap for tomorrow.

- LH

Welcome to Siem Reap: Thursday, 3 January 2013

We were a bit worn out from yesterday's long travel experience and we didn't want to push the kids too hard so today was set aside for a bit of an explore in Siem Reap.

We hopped on a tuk tuk and rode it into the downtown area, home to the old market (pictured to the left) and Pub Street.

Of particular interest for us was finding a good place to eat and a cooking school.  As it turns out, we hit the exacta.  We wandered over to Artisans Angkor and found handmade silk garments and much more.  The silk comes from a silk farm just outside of town and the shop offered a free shuttle and tour.  We signed up for tomorrow's outing to the farm and wandered down the street.  While walking we had a menu thrust in our hand by an upbeat and persistent hostess who insisted she had the best food in town.  We sat down in an effort to test her claim.  Turns out she was bang on.  The lemon shakes for $1 were amazing and the fried squid with pepper - whole, green peppercorns on the vine! - was excellent.

With our bellies full we set off to find the Tigre de Papier Cooking Class and find it we did in the back of the Tigre de Papier restaurant (duh).  We signed up for the tomorrow's afternoon class and headed home to hit the pool at our home base, the Lotus Lodge on the edge of town.

Playing in the large pool provided a much needed respite from the hot (32 degrees or so) and humid conditions.  The two balls we'd bought in the market earlier in the day allowed us to play catch and a modified version of beach cricket.  Fun was had by all.

- LH

Overland to Cambodia: Wednesday, 2 January 2013

We were expecting some early mornings on this trip, namely to get great light for photos at Angkor.  Sadly, we caught this morning's sunrise at the bustling Mo Chit Bus Station, Thailand's largest inter-city bus terminal.

Meghan's reconnaissance the day before secured us 5 reasonably priced tickets on the government bus from Bangkok directly to the Thai-Cambodia border.  While I don't know exactly what the tickets cost - $5 or so per person - the bus had A/C and the ticket came with a cup of water and some wafer cookies as sustenance during the 4+ hour journey.  This certainly beat standing and starving on a 6 hour train journey.

The bus ride was uneventful, due in no small part to the kids being busy on their Nexus tablets.  When we arrived, we avoided the scammers at the bus stop who offered us Cambodian visas at inflated prices - $40 USD instead of the $20 at the border proper.  While the queues were long and plentiful - we had to line up to leave Thailand, to get our Cambodian visa, and to get our visas checked by Cambodia officials - we eventually made our way to Poipet.

After some haggling with several taxi drivers, we secured a ride in an air conditioned Lexus for the 2.5 hour journey into Siem Reap and our accommodation at the Lotus Lodge.

We finally arrived at our hotel in the afternoon with enough energy to order fruit shakes and a beer or two before lights out.

All in all, this was a long day but a relatively painless experience considering some of the horror stories we'd heard about this overland journey.  Many thanks to both the Thailand and Cambodia Lonely Planet guidebooks as well as many travel sites that do a very nice job of outlining the overland options when traveling this route.

- LH

You've Never Seen Such BIG Feet: The Hobbit in 3D IMAX on Tuesday, 1 January 2013

After yesterday's long day of travel, we figured it was best to take a relax.  We'd heard great things about Thai movie theaters - and the Siam Paragon in the heart of Bangkok, in particular - so that was our destination today.

While the film selection is limited - a lot of the North American new releases aren't in Thai cinemas - and the other movies that fill out the offerings are in Thai exclusively, The Hobbit seemed like our best choice.

There are a multitude of options at the Paragon.  You can buy a regular seat for 240 baht ($8), a privilege seat for 270 baht, or a pair of seats in the super-deluxe Bangkok Airways Theatre a whopping 1700 baht (around $55 Canadian at the time I'm writing this).  We opted for the privilege seats but, just as we were about to pay, I spotted the IMAX theatre from across the lobby.  We wandered over there and picked up 4 tickets priced at around 300 baht each - one for myself, Lockie, Maeve, and Gramps, snagged our huge 3D glasses, and made our way into the cinema just before the 11:30 am showtime.

What a treat this theatre was.  This was an excellent IMAX experience - the screen was huge, the sound was booming, and the theatre was nearly empty.  The highlight of the entire experience for me might have been the 5 or so minutes of 3D footage from the upcoming Star Trek sequel that was screened in advance of The Hobbit.  We saw an action-packed scene that featured...SPOILER ALERT...

Kirk and Bones running through a jungle of bright red plants with the strange looking locals in hot pursuit.  This scene was  intercut with one of Spock jumping down to the planet's erupting volcano in an effort to set off a cooling device that would interrupt the eruption and, thereby, save the planet.  I think this footage is exclusive to IMAX viewers and that made it a very pleasant surprise indeed.  To the right is a trailer of sorts for the footage we saw and the whole movie, of course:

I was so wrapped up in the new Trek footage that I nearly forgot to stand for the national anthem that's played before the start of every movie in Thailand.  Oops!  The music is accompanied by a series of images of the king doing good works.  Once the anthem ends, audience members sit and the film starts.

Meghan had indicated The Hobbit was bloated and dull but I found it to be fast-paced and exciting ove the course of its long running time (150 minutes or so, I reckon).  I did doze off a bit during the troll scene but it's not unusual for me to take a kip in a film of only 90 minutes or so.  I think we were buoyed by the fact that the image was so large, the sound so loud and the overall experience was so unique.

After the film, we headed home to meet Meghan who had made an epic journey to Mo Chit Bus Station north of Bangkok - and, as it turns our, north of the Mo Chit BTS station where we thought the bus station would be.  She had purchased our tickets for tomorrow's journey east to Thai border town of Aranyaprathet, the first leg of our overland adventure to Siam Reap, Cambodia.   More on that in the next post...

- LH

The Best Laid Plans & Thai Train Schedules: Monday, 31 January 2012

Today we'd decided to head to the northwest and visit the Bridge on the River Kwai on a special tourist train that runs on weekends and holidays.  Selected holidays, as it turns out.  But not the New Year's Eve (or New Year's Day, for that matter) holiday.

Thwarted in our chance to see the iconic bridge but still wanting to salvage our 5:00 am wake up call, we caught the 90 minute train to Ayutthaya, the one-time capital of the kingdom of Siam.  Our Thai is almost as bad as the English of most train station employees so we weren't exactly sure what sort of ticket we were buying but we jumped on the train leaving from platform 11 and off we went.  After a brief flirtation with comfort in the padded seat 2nd class section, we were shunted back to 3rd class.  By this time, of course, all of the bench seats were full and it was SRO.

After 90 minutes or so we reached our destination and, after an ice cream for the kids and an iced coffee for us, we took in a few sites - the ruins of an ancient temple, an elephant park, and a faux floating village (that fit the "not original" description shared with us by the ice cream shop owner).  We noted that the floating village seemed to be a holiday destination for many Thais as there were far more locals in the village than there were tourists.  All in all, the trip was underwhelming.

After a looooong tuk tuk ride back to the train station we boarded the 1:30 pm train for Bangkok, took the taxi home (turns out the taxis are more economical than the BTS [SkyTrain, the same model as we have in Vancouver, in fact]/bus combination.

While the city of Ayuttha wasn't all that interesting, the trip was not a total loss.  We did learn that we certainly DID NOT want to take the train to the Cambodian border and that we'd be well served to make our travel arrangements in advance and and in person.  This info would serve us well in the future, as it turned out.

- LH

Our Outing to Lumpini Park on Sunday, 30 January 2012

Eager to find some serenity in the craziness that is Bangkok, we jumped on the bus and BTS en route to Lumpini Park, a large green space in the more-or-less center of town.  It's not much to behold when up close - there's collection of well worn, old school gym equipment, a walking path that circumnavigates the park, groups of dilapidated benches when you need to take a break from your walking, and...monitor lizards.  This shot from dailytravelphoos.com show one of the creatures in Lumpini Park and a pedal boat like the one we were using in the background:

These big reptiles were the most interesting feature of Lumpini.  While we were making our way around the small lake in our pedal boat, numerous lizards made their way to the lake front to feed and then take a swim.  They weren't menacing at all as they didn't appear to be the least bit interested in all the humans snapping photos of them.

An hour or so was enough at Lumpini so we headed home in search of a meal.  We hit the jackpot as we decided to try the open-air restaurant down the street from our hotel.  We'd passed it several times and were a bit put off by it's distinctly "local" nature and the possibility that there would be no English on the menu.  We needn't have worried.  The staff were very friendly, the menu had English, the food was dirt cheap, and the meals were incredibly tasty.  We're not exactly sure what anything costs because at the end of the meal you're just presented with a number on a slip of note paper.  Divide it by 30 (30 Thai Baht is worth about 1 Canadian dollar) and that's the cost of the meal.  The mystery does lend itself nicely to the "how much will it be game" we also like to play while visiting the North Vancouver Transfer Station with load of rubbish.  Tonight's meal was a shockingly low 430 THB.  Needless to say, we were all high with our guesses.

- LH