Journey to Peace Village

Today we had some fantastic adventures in Kep. Kep is a small town in Southwestern Cambodia. It's mainly famous for delicious crab and Tracy and I had a great meal at a seafood restaurant. The beach is nice, although not "white sands."

Kep was a colonial town during the French Occupation and still has the ruins of many French villas. We explored one of these overlooking the beach and found two little boys with animal traps. They are among the poor people who live on or near the old estates. In the ruins of splendor wilderness encroaches and life goes on.

Labels: Cambodia, culture and society, tourism

This week Tracy and I made our way into the Kingdom of Cambodia. The first couple days have been an adventure. First we were hassled at the border crossing at Had Lek. The procedure is--you give the authorities a passport and a small wallet sized photo. You fill out a form. The border guards stamp twice to confirm identity and payment of the 1100 baht visa fee. Well they pulled us aside. I thought they would complain about mine because I have all those visa renewals in Vietnam. But they had a problem with Tracy's: one of the guards had forgotten to stamp it paid. The tuk tuk driver was going to take it back for 20 baht, but Tracy didn't want to part with passport and was afraid to get on the motobike. So I ended up going and we got it cleared up without having to resort to any serious bribery.

The first night we stayed in Koh Krong. This is a border town with the reputation as kind of a "Wild West(ern Cambodia)"place. It's well deserved. There were a lot of dicey looking westerners in one of the restaruants and one of the locals offered us some marijuana. Proably a scam for a shakedown by the cops or a robbery. There were flyers for bars offering "Babes, Booze and Billiards." At the restaurant, we were seated next to a jaundiced German who alternated between belching, a hacking cough and bellowing for service from the waitress. The streets were totally unlit. Except to go to check emails, we stayed in the room and watched "The Legend of Curly's Gold"(City Slickers 2).

Then it was off to the main city on the south coast, Sianhoukville. The journey was surprisingly smooth, the highway system has been created by the Thai army in recent years. Last year, four bridges were completed, allowing uninteruppted travel between the two cities. (Before one had to use ferries four times to complete the journey to Sianhoukville. The drawback, we had to sit behind the stairs to the bathroom, which was decorated with a sign reading "Piss Only Please." It stank and we were relieved to get to Sianhoukville.

This city has a reputation as an up and coming Margaritaville, appealing mainly to backpackers and middle aged men looking for the illusion of virility. But one of the guests in Trat said that there was more to it than that, and I really wanted to have a little beach time on this vacation. So we booked a room at the seaview hotel. It was a very nice hotel, only yards from the beach, but it no longer had a seaview because a building was going up directly in front of it. Sianhoukhville is experiencing runaway growth as a cheaper alternative to the beaches of Thailand.

The beach was very crowded and there were a lot of shady types. As my friend and supervisor, Eliza said, it's a good place to go for body piercing and tattoos. This being said, the water was nice and we had a fabulous meal at the restaurant in the evening. The hotel is run by a very nice British family and their chef is French with 30 years experience in gourmet cooking.

So Cambodia is gradually improving. For even more stories go to Tracy's new blog at:

http://travelingtrue.blogspot.com

Labels: Cambodia, tourism

I started my vacation with a surprise and then a peaceful getaway. The surprise was that I met my homestay family, the Trieus, on the plane to Bangkok! They were on the way to visit their son, Ha, who works for the Red Cross in Bangkok. It was fantastic to see them again and I got to practice some more Vietnamese! Ha droveme with his parents from the airport and I saw his place, a fantastic apartment on the 31st floor in downtown Bangkok! The views were spectacular.

I followed this with a mini shopping spree in downtown Bangkok. The highlight--I bought the game "Clue" from a Toys R Us in Siam Square. I'll play it with Chien and Thu, and maybe for larger groups if I can figure out how to adapt it to the classroom.

The next day it was off to meet Tracy in Trat! I was so excited to see her again. I fell in love with Trat as I was hopping a bus back from Koh Chang last year, now that I spent another two days there--I absolutely think it's great. Trat is a small port city near the Cambodian border. Normally, it's just a jumping off point for the islands of Koh Chang. But Trat on it's own has a lot to offer.

We stayed at a great and cheap little guesthouse called "The Orchid." It has a beautiful garden in the back with many flowers and is run by a woman named Jun. There are a lot of beautiful temples in the area and many charming cafes. It's just a great relaxing city.

Next stop: Cambodia

Labels: Thai culture, Thailand, tourism

Last week I took a journey to Perfume Pagoda, one of the most famous Buddhist shrines in Northern Viet Nam.
It's located about two hours outside of Ha Noi by bus. When our group left the bus we piled onto a small rowboat for a half hour journey down the Nest River. Arriving at dockside is only the bigging of the trip to Perfume Pagoda.
At dockside there are many different shops, where you can buy offerings for the shrine and memorials for your loved ones. There are also many food shops. The most interesting were stalls where you can buy freshly baked breads shaped like crabs, fish and various other animals.
From there it is a climb up a mountain. And I mean climb! You start out making your way up a shallow incline on a path paved with loose stones worn smooth from the feet of many before you. This is a treacherous walk of several hundred yards.
After that, it's a series of endless, rough hewn steps cut into the mountain, interspersed with breaks of relatively level ground. The trek takes about an hour to an hour and a half. By the end I was drenched by sweat and huffing and puffing. Vietnamese people shook my hand congratulating me on my stamina.
But I was still not there. Next is a descent into a cave at the top of the mountain. The cave is accessible only by a series of wet steps, once again made of rough hewn rock cut into the mountain. There is a rope to hang onto, but sometimes it dips to low for a relatively "tall" Westerner like me to reach.
Finally I arrived. The grotto is beautiful, with an eerie light bouncing off the stalagtites and several Buddhist shrines blazing in golds and reds. It's called Perfume Pagoda because in the last century it was rife with incense burning. The incense is banned now, but many people leave offerings of food in hopes for achieving spiritual or temporal goals. As our guide, Cuong, explained, Perfume Pagoda is the place to go to request good luck in life, finding a suitable partner for marriage, success in a career, or any other need you have in life.
The whole process of strenous climbing and descent can't help but remind one of the hard work we need to put into life and the times we must "descend" to gain a new birth or go to the next stage of our lives.
For me, the most impressive sight was being in the grotto and then looking back out at the light streaming in. It was like walking into a rebirth. Which is what I hope for, a rebirth in career, a rebirth in creativity, a new song to fill my heart!
For more information on the pagoda:
http://www.vietscape.com/travel/chuahuong/

Labels: religion and culture, tourism, Viet Nam

It felt terrific to step off the plane in Sai Gon. I've returned to Viet Nam. And what better way to kick off an introduction to this beautiful country than to give you a little taste of the Mekong river. The Mekong River is the 12th largest river in the world and is the agricultural and commercial heartland of Vietnam. Over 60 million people depend on the Mekong for their livelihood and their food. These include not only Vietnamese, but people in the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos.

To watch the video, copy and paste the address below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaG1ozVWoXs

Labels: Mekong, tourism, Viet Nam

Sunday I had a fantastic experience touring Bangkok by river. River boats are used extensively for both tours and for everyday transportation. I even found myself in a "boatjam" hull to hull with a half dozen boats waiting to go through the many locks set up to control traffic on the waterway.

Still, it's a relaxing way to see the city. Many temples were built along the riverbank, and the Grand Palace, which was the former home of Thailand's king, is also accessible via boat. Many businesses such as restaurants and coffeeshops are set up with docks to lure the hungry tourist. And there are many homes built along the riverbank, everything from modern looking ranch style to dilapidated shacks made of corrugated metal.

The river itself is nothing to brag about. It is heavily polluted. But the sights along the banks make it a treat!

Labels: Bangkok, culture and society, Thailand, tourism

I'm getting ready to graduate from my TEFL program here in Phuket. The program was pretty intensive and I feel proud of getting through it! I've worked with a lot of great students and found myself really enjoying teaching! The culture in Thailand is unique, but there are a few things to remind one of home, such as the holstein cow in front of a local restaurant!

So here are a few selected scenes of life here.

Labels: Phuket, Thailand, tourism

I finally was able to go to the beach on Saturday. Beaches are the heart of Phuket's tourist industry with sparkling white sand and crystal blue waters. The beach we went to is called Ni Harn is considered one of the quieter ones on the island.

About 11 a.m. in the morning, Tracy, Rudo and I piled into a tuk tuk which is a sort of small truck adapted with seats. It is a less expensive way to get around town for tourists. It took a good forty minutes to get to Ni Harn beach.

Once there one finds a series of seaside restaurants offering everything from Mexican cuisine to traditional Thai favorites. On the beach there are a variety of languages being spoken, English, German and Italian being the top three.

I had borrowed snorkeling equipment from my classmate, Gene. Soon I was in the water trying it out. I found the flippers too cumbersome on both land and sea, but I soon learned how to snorkel and spent about an hour in the water. Snorkeling give you a peaceful feeling as you are very aware of the cycles of breathing and feel immersed in gentle waves. The patterns of the sand below and the sudden appearance of rocks as black landmarks makes one both alert and fluent in the language of harmony at the same time. It was a fantastic experience that not too long ago, I never would have imagined I could do!

Labels: beaches, snorkeling, Thailand, tourism