Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Next Stop
I am planning on staying in Battambang for another day or two, then heading south to Pursat!
Different Experience
This experience is much different than the one I had in Nepal. In Nepal I was mostly stationed in one place and I was there for a very long time: 5 months. Here I am really experiencing the backpacking scene more. I don't stay in a place for more than 3 or 4 days. I arrive, try to get the feel for the place, try to do some fun things in the place, and then depart. I am packing much more things in each day because I want to see everything but have a much more limited time! There are goods and bads to this type of travel.
Pros:
-It is fun (for me at least) to constantly be on the move. Everything is always new. You are constantly putting yourself in new situations and trying new things.
-Adventures galore! Since I am only in a place for a few days I pack as much stuff as I can in those days! This makes for day after day of adventure! Days of rest are no-nos for me, waste of time! So, I can count on an adventure every waking minute!
-Get to meet lots more of the backpacker types. I have met alot of really cool people who are doing travels all around SE Asia and all around the world.
Cons:
-Every day is so filled with adventures, at times can be overload!! (Which is not necessarily a con.)
-I was in Nepal for soooo long, I really got to know the place very very well. Here, I do not get to know the places so well, since I am trying to see the whole country. I sort of get a general feeling for a place, and then am off to the next place again!
Anyway, there are pros and cons of both types of travel. All in all though, I am having a great time and LOVE Cambodia!
Pros:
-It is fun (for me at least) to constantly be on the move. Everything is always new. You are constantly putting yourself in new situations and trying new things.
-Adventures galore! Since I am only in a place for a few days I pack as much stuff as I can in those days! This makes for day after day of adventure! Days of rest are no-nos for me, waste of time! So, I can count on an adventure every waking minute!
-Get to meet lots more of the backpacker types. I have met alot of really cool people who are doing travels all around SE Asia and all around the world.
Cons:
-Every day is so filled with adventures, at times can be overload!! (Which is not necessarily a con.)
-I was in Nepal for soooo long, I really got to know the place very very well. Here, I do not get to know the places so well, since I am trying to see the whole country. I sort of get a general feeling for a place, and then am off to the next place again!
Anyway, there are pros and cons of both types of travel. All in all though, I am having a great time and LOVE Cambodia!
Markets
The markets here are phenomenal! They are one of my top favorite things to see. I could spend all day wandering around the tiny lanes, navigating through bowls of still moving fish, piles of pomello, and hunks of meat! The market places are the best place to really observe the people and get a feel for life. The morning time is one of the best times because women are out doing the day's shopping, people are eating their morning meals at the food stalls, people congregate for a morning coffee and to talk on the sidewalk, and many of the food sellers set out their stuff.
The markets here are similar to Singapore's markets as all the sellers come together in one area and sell their things. In Nepal, the street vendors would simply set up their shops wherever they felt on the street, and there was not one central area. The markets are similar to Nepal in that there is so much chaos! People set up their area on the street and on the ground.
Things to be seen at the market:
-The people! This is probably the best place to people watch in the whole city. So much life! Such a good slice of humanity! A good place to watch people go about their daily lives. Eating, talking, cooking, preparing foods. I love to watch the people at the markets. The way they eat, the way they select their fruits and vegetables, and barter with the sales people.
-Baguettes! The French seem to have left a legacy of nice architecture and amazing fresh baguettes. Every morning you can buy a baguette for 1,000 riel or less and it is fresh baked! Women carry around woven trays of fresh bread through the market lanes.
-Fruits. So many great exotic fruits!
-Fish: Most of the time still moving. So you can really ensure you are getting the freshest ones.
-Meal stalls: In the markets you can also get a full meal. I have vowed off restaurants so have been eating all my meals at different food stalls. This is just so fun. This morning I had a breakfast of Cambodian noodle soup, sort of like vietnamese pho, but with different broth. If you eat at these stalls you have to endure everyone staring at you because I don't think many foreigners eat here, but it is definetally worth it for the great food.
-Meats: I can't even begin trying to figure out all the sorts of meats and animal parts they have at the markets here. But I'll try: dried squids, dried fish, snakes, hearts, legs, whole chickens, chicken feat, chicken heads, intestines, fish off all sorts, eels, and a million other things. Oh, this morning I saw a woman with a stall of frogs which she was skinning!
-Besides just fresh food they have alot of other things at the markets. Some of the other things they have are: drink places, jewellry stalls, gold, gems, good melting stalls, waffle makers, kitchen stuff and dishes, clothing, shoes, hats, souvenirs, hair salons, and so much more! I love the markets so much! They are one of the best things about Cambodia!
Concerning food: One thing I really like about SE Asia is how much people enjoy their food. Food seems like a much more special thing that in the states where every thign is connected to the dirty word: "calorie." Oh my gosh, that has 500 calories, I can't eat it!! There is nothing like that here. People take pride in their food and thoroughly enjoy eating. Food is something fun and something worth experimenting with here. At home, it seems people try to avoid food more than really enjoy it. Another fun thing: the preparation of your food at food stalls. People actually spend a good amount of time preparing food specially for you. This makes eating it much more special than at a restaurant where you don't get to watch them cook it. I really enjoy watching the people at the food stalls make my food with care. And I enjoy the food so much more! I think the peoples of SE Asia have something to teach the west about food! Enjoy your food! Eat good food! Don't be so worried about calories and being skinny! Take care in making your food and use good, fresh ingredients and nice spices! Savor every bite of your meal, don't scarf it down! Enjoy watching the person make it for you with care! Eating is fun!
The markets here are similar to Singapore's markets as all the sellers come together in one area and sell their things. In Nepal, the street vendors would simply set up their shops wherever they felt on the street, and there was not one central area. The markets are similar to Nepal in that there is so much chaos! People set up their area on the street and on the ground.
Things to be seen at the market:
-The people! This is probably the best place to people watch in the whole city. So much life! Such a good slice of humanity! A good place to watch people go about their daily lives. Eating, talking, cooking, preparing foods. I love to watch the people at the markets. The way they eat, the way they select their fruits and vegetables, and barter with the sales people.
-Baguettes! The French seem to have left a legacy of nice architecture and amazing fresh baguettes. Every morning you can buy a baguette for 1,000 riel or less and it is fresh baked! Women carry around woven trays of fresh bread through the market lanes.
-Fruits. So many great exotic fruits!
-Fish: Most of the time still moving. So you can really ensure you are getting the freshest ones.
-Meal stalls: In the markets you can also get a full meal. I have vowed off restaurants so have been eating all my meals at different food stalls. This is just so fun. This morning I had a breakfast of Cambodian noodle soup, sort of like vietnamese pho, but with different broth. If you eat at these stalls you have to endure everyone staring at you because I don't think many foreigners eat here, but it is definetally worth it for the great food.
-Meats: I can't even begin trying to figure out all the sorts of meats and animal parts they have at the markets here. But I'll try: dried squids, dried fish, snakes, hearts, legs, whole chickens, chicken feat, chicken heads, intestines, fish off all sorts, eels, and a million other things. Oh, this morning I saw a woman with a stall of frogs which she was skinning!
-Besides just fresh food they have alot of other things at the markets. Some of the other things they have are: drink places, jewellry stalls, gold, gems, good melting stalls, waffle makers, kitchen stuff and dishes, clothing, shoes, hats, souvenirs, hair salons, and so much more! I love the markets so much! They are one of the best things about Cambodia!
Concerning food: One thing I really like about SE Asia is how much people enjoy their food. Food seems like a much more special thing that in the states where every thign is connected to the dirty word: "calorie." Oh my gosh, that has 500 calories, I can't eat it!! There is nothing like that here. People take pride in their food and thoroughly enjoy eating. Food is something fun and something worth experimenting with here. At home, it seems people try to avoid food more than really enjoy it. Another fun thing: the preparation of your food at food stalls. People actually spend a good amount of time preparing food specially for you. This makes eating it much more special than at a restaurant where you don't get to watch them cook it. I really enjoy watching the people at the food stalls make my food with care. And I enjoy the food so much more! I think the peoples of SE Asia have something to teach the west about food! Enjoy your food! Eat good food! Don't be so worried about calories and being skinny! Take care in making your food and use good, fresh ingredients and nice spices! Savor every bite of your meal, don't scarf it down! Enjoy watching the person make it for you with care! Eating is fun!
History Lessons
I am starting to learn alot about the recent history of Cambodia. I am currently reading a book called "First They Killed My Father" written by a woman who was a child in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. The book is absolutely heart breaking. When riding through the countryside or walking around I try to think of what this country was like 20 or 25 years ago in the clutches of war and genocide. It is strange to image, and very very sad. This country is so wonderful, I just can't believe it happened so recently. When I was riding in the country, I thought about the hundreds of thousands of people who had probably marched down these roads to their death or to be tortured and overworked and starved in labor camps.
One thing I have noticed is that there are not very many old people in this country, and there are alot of really young people. I wonder if this has some connection to the war. I think it probably does. I have hardly seen any people over the age of 50. Most people seem to be between 20 and 30, and there are alot of children. My guess is that alot of the people who would be older at this point may not have survived the days of the Khmer Rouge.
One thing I have noticed is that there are not very many old people in this country, and there are alot of really young people. I wonder if this has some connection to the war. I think it probably does. I have hardly seen any people over the age of 50. Most people seem to be between 20 and 30, and there are alot of children. My guess is that alot of the people who would be older at this point may not have survived the days of the Khmer Rouge.
When in Cambodia... Eat Crickets!!
Food. I think trying out the local foods is one of the best ways to really immerse yourself in the culture of a place, really understand the people, and to better get a feel for a place. Food, I have noticed, especially in SE Asia seems to be the heart of a culture. It reflects many things about the people. For example Nepal, the food was very basic: dal bhat (lentils and rice) and sometimes curry. Food in Cambodia is adventurous, exotic, fun! I am having a ball trying all sorts of local foods at the markets and food stalls. Trying local foods and eating the way the locals do is essential for a real Cambodian experience. I have vowed off restaurants because there is just so much good food at the stalls, vendors and markets!
Well, I had heard rumors of fried tarantulas being a Cambodian delicacy. I decided I needed to try some. It is my mission to try as many local things as I can in every country I go to, no matter how weird or strange they seem. It just adds to the fun of everything and the overall experience. So, I told my moto driver yesterday that if he saw a stall with fried tarantula to stop and we could test some. Coming back from the day I spotted an interesting looking food stall on the side of the street and asked him to stop. And man-oh-man, you could say this stall was intersting. I started by inspecting what was in all the bowls. Here are the things this stall sold:
-Fried crickets
-Fried prawns
-Fried maggots
-Fried grubs
-Fried (HUGE) cockroaches
-Fried frogs (whole, 4 on a skewer)
-Fried storks
-Fried bats
-Fried black beetles
-Fried snakes (3 different varieties of snakes. all were curled up and tied together with string)
-Fried miscellaneous large bug that I could not identify
-Fried sparrows (whole, head, beak, wings, feet and all.)
Wow. As you can see the Cambodians seem to like their bugs, birds and snakes fried. They unfortunately did not have fried tarantula or other variety of spider. The woman who ran the stall said it was not spider season. Oh well. All these bugs were giving me the shivers as it was. I decided to try a cricket to start out with. These aren't your typical cricket. These crickets are massive!! My moto driver showed me how to eat a dricket. You peel off the wings and the big lets, then pop off the head and eat the whole thing. The stall owner watched me through the whole process, chuckling. After I felt I had sufficently peeled off all the wings and legs, I threw it in my mouth. Hmmm.... Not bad!! It tasted a bit chickenish. Very crunchy and salty. Pretty good actually! I was not sure what to try next. Though the 5 inch long fried roaches looked inviting, I decided to leave those for another day. My driver bought us each a fried sparrow. He showed me how to eat this, ripping off the legs and sucking off the meat. the pull off the wings and eat the innards. Then the head. Beak if you wish. The sparrow was alright. Not much meat on the little thing, and a bit strange to eat. The bones are so fine as well, and I got a few baby sparrow bones stuck in my teeth. The crickets and sparrows were acutally pretty good! I'm leaving cockroach and grubs for another day. And I'm still in search of a tarantula.
Well, I had heard rumors of fried tarantulas being a Cambodian delicacy. I decided I needed to try some. It is my mission to try as many local things as I can in every country I go to, no matter how weird or strange they seem. It just adds to the fun of everything and the overall experience. So, I told my moto driver yesterday that if he saw a stall with fried tarantula to stop and we could test some. Coming back from the day I spotted an interesting looking food stall on the side of the street and asked him to stop. And man-oh-man, you could say this stall was intersting. I started by inspecting what was in all the bowls. Here are the things this stall sold:
-Fried crickets
-Fried prawns
-Fried maggots
-Fried grubs
-Fried (HUGE) cockroaches
-Fried frogs (whole, 4 on a skewer)
-Fried storks
-Fried bats
-Fried black beetles
-Fried snakes (3 different varieties of snakes. all were curled up and tied together with string)
-Fried miscellaneous large bug that I could not identify
-Fried sparrows (whole, head, beak, wings, feet and all.)
Wow. As you can see the Cambodians seem to like their bugs, birds and snakes fried. They unfortunately did not have fried tarantula or other variety of spider. The woman who ran the stall said it was not spider season. Oh well. All these bugs were giving me the shivers as it was. I decided to try a cricket to start out with. These aren't your typical cricket. These crickets are massive!! My moto driver showed me how to eat a dricket. You peel off the wings and the big lets, then pop off the head and eat the whole thing. The stall owner watched me through the whole process, chuckling. After I felt I had sufficently peeled off all the wings and legs, I threw it in my mouth. Hmmm.... Not bad!! It tasted a bit chickenish. Very crunchy and salty. Pretty good actually! I was not sure what to try next. Though the 5 inch long fried roaches looked inviting, I decided to leave those for another day. My driver bought us each a fried sparrow. He showed me how to eat this, ripping off the legs and sucking off the meat. the pull off the wings and eat the innards. Then the head. Beak if you wish. The sparrow was alright. Not much meat on the little thing, and a bit strange to eat. The bones are so fine as well, and I got a few baby sparrow bones stuck in my teeth. The crickets and sparrows were acutally pretty good! I'm leaving cockroach and grubs for another day. And I'm still in search of a tarantula.
Sua S'dei From Battambang
I've figured out to say hello in Khmer, it is "Sua S'dei". Having a fabulous time in Battambang! It is much different than Siem Reap. Siem Reap is much more of a "destination" travel location. Battambang is less aimed at tourism, and more just straight up Cambodian. Battambang is the second largest city in Cambodia with a population of 140,000 people. It is set on the Stung Sangker (Sangker River). Although the town is a bit crumbly, the architecture of many of the buildings is beautiful French colonial style.
Yesterday's adventures: I met another traveller named Robert who has been travelling for 4 years straight all over the world. Probably about 4 decades older than me. He is from California and all the sudden decided he wanted to sell everything and get away from it all. A nice guy, although a bit of a contradictory person in some ways. Has been following the path of Buddhism for some years now and trying to become enlightened I think. Although he made it very clear that he sold his collection of 800 bottles of wine, according to him some of the best in the world, for $16,000. Anyway, makes for an interesting travel partner. We decided to team up for an adventure around Battambang. Went to the (awesome!!) market in the morning and got food for a day in the country including pomello, dragonfruit, pineapple, grapes, diferent sorts of Cambodia pickles and kimchi stuff, baguettes, sticky rice with coconut and black beans wrapped in banana leaves, and another sticky rice dessert. We packed our food and hired 2 moto drivers for the day's adventures. Our first stop was to be Wat Banan, a temple ruin set on the top of a hill about 40 km from the city. The temple was fairly unspectacular, but the drive out to the temple was phenomenal!! Battambang is a good place to explore surrounding countryside. So beautiful! It didn't take long for us to get out of the city, bouncing along on pot holed mud roads. The Cambodian countryside:
-Many of the traditional style houses are set on stilts. I asked my moto driver about this, and he said it is because of flood waters, also so that families have a extra space under their house. Many families I saw had kitchens, small stores, benches, and hammocks set up under their houses. It seems sort of like a yard in the US, and the Nepali version of the roof top: your own little personal space.
-Lots of kids running around!! The Cambodian kids are so wonderful! Not to say that all kids aren't wonderful, but it is nice that they are just friendly and do not ask for money and pens and candy automatically.
-One thing I noticed was that there are lots of almost frighteningly thin children running around, and alot of protruding bellies, the sign of malnutrition. I am not sure if there is not enough food or what, or if they are just naturally thin. I think they are naturally thin, and they work incredibly hard doing all sorts of manual labor, and there may not be quite enough good nutritious food like protein and such. I have noticed a higher amount of alarmingly thin children here than I did in Nepal. There may be more malnutrition here, another possibility is that I may just notice it more here because it is hotter and more humid, therefore the children wear less clothes, no shirts, or no clothes at all.
-Monks. On the ride to the temple I saw lots of young monks clad in bright orange!! The bright orange seems to suit the Cambodian monks. I am used to monks wearing deep red, as they did in my monastery and all over Nepal. When ever I saw the monks they were standing infront of a hut, in a row of three holding bowls. I asked my moto driver what they were doing, and he said they were recieving alms. They walk around with bowls and the people of the villages come out and give them scoops of rice or other food in their bowls. So the monks are pretty much supported by the community, since they do not work.
-Petrol stations. I love these! They are not so much stations as metal racks with 10 to 20 empty whiskey bottles filled with petrol. We stopped for refueling one time at one of these stations. The lady who owned the "station" brought us a liter of petrol in the whiskey bottle and filled the tank through a rusty funnel.
-Food stalls. In the country side people set up tables with all sorts of Cambodian food on them. I am not quite sure what any of it is, but it all looks good!!
-Hammocks. This is one thing I really love, the number of people who are swinging about in hammocks. You will see these all over the place!! Hanging under stilted houses, between palm trees, in the middle of someone's tiny store.
-Tropical. Cambodia is a very tropical place. All sorts of tropical palm trees, mango trees, pineapple bush things, dragonfruit trees, etc... It is very lush and green. The first few days I was here in Cambodia I kept feeling like this place was environmentally more like what I have seen of the country in Mexico than Nepal. It is much more flat than I am used to. The environment is similar to the lowland tropical parts of Nepal, like around Pokhara. So it is similar in a way. It is as if someone took a hot iron and flattened the tropical part of Nepal.
-On the way to Wat Banan temple my moto driver stopped to show me a garmet "factory" in the countryside. Actually, it is a few wooden looms under a stilted house. The women there make scarves. I explored around the house, and climbed the steep steps to look inside. There was one big room. My moto driver told me that Cambodian houses have only one room, and everybody sleeps together in the room. I was watching one woman make a scarf on the loom, pumping the wooden pedals and shooting this thing with string on it from side to side. Wow!! Really cool. Then the ladies decided it would be fun to teach me how to do it. So they sat me down on one of the looms, and showed me how to pump the pedals, and shoot the wooden thing with the string across. It is all much harder than it looks. One of the Cambodian ladies stood behind me with her hand on mine to show me the moves, while I pumped and pulled at the loom, shooting the bobbin (is that the word?) across at all the wrong times. I of course failed miserably at weaving and the wooden thing was flying all over the place and getting stuck in the other strings.
Anyway, Wat Banan, as I said was not alright. After Angkor Wat, it wasn't as interesting. But still, there are nice views of the Cambodian countryside from the top. I was off taking a picture of this huge pond covered with flowers, and a huge snake slithered by!! It gave me quite a fright!
After the temple we had our picnic of food.
Next stop the bamboo train! More scenic driving through the countryside. The bamboo train is this platform about 5 feet by 8 feet made of bamboo poles. At the back of the platform is a small motor, which I think comes from a motorbike. The bamboo train is set up on the train tracks and shuttles locals around short distances up and down the tracks. I was not going to ride it, just because I didn't feel like paying the tourist price, but I worked a deal with the "conductor" to let me pay the local price so I ran and hopped on just as it was chugging away! So there were about 8 of us sitting on this bamboo platform rolling down the bumpy train tracks through intensely green rice fields and gorgeous countryside. It was very bumpy, but made up for the bumpyness in fun. Quite an adventure! The ride one way is about 20 minutes. I was wondering what we would do if the real train actually came chugging toward us down the tracks. I made my escape plan to roll off, just incase. At the end of one way, the bamboo train is disassembled and taken of the tracks and turned around to go back. On the way back I was riding with 2 locals who had pilled the bamboo platform with bales of hay and coconuts. After about 10 minutes... traffic jam! Another bamboo train was coming the other way!! What to do... Since there were only 3 of us on our bamboo train we were the ones who had to disassemble. So we all hopped off, unloaded the bales of hay and coconuts, took our platform and wheels off the tracks and let the other train pass. After it and another train had passed, we reassembled and got back on. I highly recommend the bamboo train. It is another good way to see the countryside.
Yesterday's adventures: I met another traveller named Robert who has been travelling for 4 years straight all over the world. Probably about 4 decades older than me. He is from California and all the sudden decided he wanted to sell everything and get away from it all. A nice guy, although a bit of a contradictory person in some ways. Has been following the path of Buddhism for some years now and trying to become enlightened I think. Although he made it very clear that he sold his collection of 800 bottles of wine, according to him some of the best in the world, for $16,000. Anyway, makes for an interesting travel partner. We decided to team up for an adventure around Battambang. Went to the (awesome!!) market in the morning and got food for a day in the country including pomello, dragonfruit, pineapple, grapes, diferent sorts of Cambodia pickles and kimchi stuff, baguettes, sticky rice with coconut and black beans wrapped in banana leaves, and another sticky rice dessert. We packed our food and hired 2 moto drivers for the day's adventures. Our first stop was to be Wat Banan, a temple ruin set on the top of a hill about 40 km from the city. The temple was fairly unspectacular, but the drive out to the temple was phenomenal!! Battambang is a good place to explore surrounding countryside. So beautiful! It didn't take long for us to get out of the city, bouncing along on pot holed mud roads. The Cambodian countryside:
-Many of the traditional style houses are set on stilts. I asked my moto driver about this, and he said it is because of flood waters, also so that families have a extra space under their house. Many families I saw had kitchens, small stores, benches, and hammocks set up under their houses. It seems sort of like a yard in the US, and the Nepali version of the roof top: your own little personal space.
-Lots of kids running around!! The Cambodian kids are so wonderful! Not to say that all kids aren't wonderful, but it is nice that they are just friendly and do not ask for money and pens and candy automatically.
-One thing I noticed was that there are lots of almost frighteningly thin children running around, and alot of protruding bellies, the sign of malnutrition. I am not sure if there is not enough food or what, or if they are just naturally thin. I think they are naturally thin, and they work incredibly hard doing all sorts of manual labor, and there may not be quite enough good nutritious food like protein and such. I have noticed a higher amount of alarmingly thin children here than I did in Nepal. There may be more malnutrition here, another possibility is that I may just notice it more here because it is hotter and more humid, therefore the children wear less clothes, no shirts, or no clothes at all.
-Monks. On the ride to the temple I saw lots of young monks clad in bright orange!! The bright orange seems to suit the Cambodian monks. I am used to monks wearing deep red, as they did in my monastery and all over Nepal. When ever I saw the monks they were standing infront of a hut, in a row of three holding bowls. I asked my moto driver what they were doing, and he said they were recieving alms. They walk around with bowls and the people of the villages come out and give them scoops of rice or other food in their bowls. So the monks are pretty much supported by the community, since they do not work.
-Petrol stations. I love these! They are not so much stations as metal racks with 10 to 20 empty whiskey bottles filled with petrol. We stopped for refueling one time at one of these stations. The lady who owned the "station" brought us a liter of petrol in the whiskey bottle and filled the tank through a rusty funnel.
-Food stalls. In the country side people set up tables with all sorts of Cambodian food on them. I am not quite sure what any of it is, but it all looks good!!
-Hammocks. This is one thing I really love, the number of people who are swinging about in hammocks. You will see these all over the place!! Hanging under stilted houses, between palm trees, in the middle of someone's tiny store.
-Tropical. Cambodia is a very tropical place. All sorts of tropical palm trees, mango trees, pineapple bush things, dragonfruit trees, etc... It is very lush and green. The first few days I was here in Cambodia I kept feeling like this place was environmentally more like what I have seen of the country in Mexico than Nepal. It is much more flat than I am used to. The environment is similar to the lowland tropical parts of Nepal, like around Pokhara. So it is similar in a way. It is as if someone took a hot iron and flattened the tropical part of Nepal.
-On the way to Wat Banan temple my moto driver stopped to show me a garmet "factory" in the countryside. Actually, it is a few wooden looms under a stilted house. The women there make scarves. I explored around the house, and climbed the steep steps to look inside. There was one big room. My moto driver told me that Cambodian houses have only one room, and everybody sleeps together in the room. I was watching one woman make a scarf on the loom, pumping the wooden pedals and shooting this thing with string on it from side to side. Wow!! Really cool. Then the ladies decided it would be fun to teach me how to do it. So they sat me down on one of the looms, and showed me how to pump the pedals, and shoot the wooden thing with the string across. It is all much harder than it looks. One of the Cambodian ladies stood behind me with her hand on mine to show me the moves, while I pumped and pulled at the loom, shooting the bobbin (is that the word?) across at all the wrong times. I of course failed miserably at weaving and the wooden thing was flying all over the place and getting stuck in the other strings.
Anyway, Wat Banan, as I said was not alright. After Angkor Wat, it wasn't as interesting. But still, there are nice views of the Cambodian countryside from the top. I was off taking a picture of this huge pond covered with flowers, and a huge snake slithered by!! It gave me quite a fright!
After the temple we had our picnic of food.
Next stop the bamboo train! More scenic driving through the countryside. The bamboo train is this platform about 5 feet by 8 feet made of bamboo poles. At the back of the platform is a small motor, which I think comes from a motorbike. The bamboo train is set up on the train tracks and shuttles locals around short distances up and down the tracks. I was not going to ride it, just because I didn't feel like paying the tourist price, but I worked a deal with the "conductor" to let me pay the local price so I ran and hopped on just as it was chugging away! So there were about 8 of us sitting on this bamboo platform rolling down the bumpy train tracks through intensely green rice fields and gorgeous countryside. It was very bumpy, but made up for the bumpyness in fun. Quite an adventure! The ride one way is about 20 minutes. I was wondering what we would do if the real train actually came chugging toward us down the tracks. I made my escape plan to roll off, just incase. At the end of one way, the bamboo train is disassembled and taken of the tracks and turned around to go back. On the way back I was riding with 2 locals who had pilled the bamboo platform with bales of hay and coconuts. After about 10 minutes... traffic jam! Another bamboo train was coming the other way!! What to do... Since there were only 3 of us on our bamboo train we were the ones who had to disassemble. So we all hopped off, unloaded the bales of hay and coconuts, took our platform and wheels off the tracks and let the other train pass. After it and another train had passed, we reassembled and got back on. I highly recommend the bamboo train. It is another good way to see the countryside.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Battambang, etc..
The last 3 days I have spent exploring the temples of Angkor. I also visited the Land Mines museum outside of Siem Reap. This is a depressing place, but also very informative and uplifting in the way that the man who runs the museum is working very hard to remove many lind mines himself with his bare hands. He estimates to have removed 50,000 land mines himself. Landmines, I feel, are ridiculous and so stupid. Arg. It is infuriating. There was a treaty signed called the Ottowa Treaty to Ban Landmines (something like that) and 151 countries signed! Hooray!! Unfortunately there are 22 or so countries that have not signed, including China, India, Russia, and the US!!! Damn US!! Just sign the damn treaty!! Apparently, the US says they will sign it only if they have a "Korean exception" because they say that landmines are necessary for stopping an attack on South Korea by North Korea. Well, that is just so stupid because obviously land mines don't really work to kill who you want. They seem to usually kill young children or farmers, or just blow their limbs off. Well, being here I see quite a few people with no legs, no arms or other injuries that are probably from land mines. There are estimated to be 6 million mines still in Cambodia only, and they area active 150 years after you plant them! It seems like a major slap in the face to all those limbless people that the US refuses to sign this treaty. Shame on the US for this!!! In my opinion!!!
Anyway, there is not a whole lot else to do in Siem Reap besides the temples. It is a wonderful little town though, and I could probably waste weeks eating my way through Siem Reap and lazing about the coffee stalls, markets, and villages. But I have a country to see!! So, off to Battambang! It looked like a good next stop on my backpack trip through Cambodia. I decided boat was the way to go, and was I right!! I actually just arrived in Battambang a few hours ago. I got the "fast boat" from Siem Reap, which I think they call fast only because it goes faster than the hand paddled wood canoes, because the thing sure ain't fast. But it IS fantastic. It sort of was this little sputtering dingy thing. It left Siem Reap at 7 AM. I decided the roof was the best seat in the house, so requested to sit up there. This boat ride is really such a good way to see the Cambodia country side. The whole trip is about 7 hours. It was a nice overcast day today, so not too hot, and with my new $1 Cambodian straw sunhat I was ready!! We ended up with quite the crowd on the roof. It passes by these floating villages that are either houses that are actually floating on Tonle Sap lake, or houses that are on high stilts. It is a beautiful sight. It made me want to live like that for a few months and see what it is like. Some actually have literal house boats which are oversized canoes with motors, and have thatched walls and a tin corrugated roof. From the inside of these boat shacks came cooking smoke from breakfast. There are quite a few village colonies along the way to Battambang. One of my favorite things about traveling is to see how other people live. I like to see what the day to day lives of different kinds of people are like. This is a really good window into life on the water. Some floating huts even had a floating wooden cage full of fat pigs, and I saw a few floating houses with pet dogs!! Anyway, I highly recommend this boat trip to anyone traveling from Siem Reap to Battambang.
Battambang: Just got here! It is the second biggest city in Cambodia, and that is all I know about it! So far I have walked around a bit through the market, and thats about it. And now, off to EXPLORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cambodia ROCKS!
Anyway, there is not a whole lot else to do in Siem Reap besides the temples. It is a wonderful little town though, and I could probably waste weeks eating my way through Siem Reap and lazing about the coffee stalls, markets, and villages. But I have a country to see!! So, off to Battambang! It looked like a good next stop on my backpack trip through Cambodia. I decided boat was the way to go, and was I right!! I actually just arrived in Battambang a few hours ago. I got the "fast boat" from Siem Reap, which I think they call fast only because it goes faster than the hand paddled wood canoes, because the thing sure ain't fast. But it IS fantastic. It sort of was this little sputtering dingy thing. It left Siem Reap at 7 AM. I decided the roof was the best seat in the house, so requested to sit up there. This boat ride is really such a good way to see the Cambodia country side. The whole trip is about 7 hours. It was a nice overcast day today, so not too hot, and with my new $1 Cambodian straw sunhat I was ready!! We ended up with quite the crowd on the roof. It passes by these floating villages that are either houses that are actually floating on Tonle Sap lake, or houses that are on high stilts. It is a beautiful sight. It made me want to live like that for a few months and see what it is like. Some actually have literal house boats which are oversized canoes with motors, and have thatched walls and a tin corrugated roof. From the inside of these boat shacks came cooking smoke from breakfast. There are quite a few village colonies along the way to Battambang. One of my favorite things about traveling is to see how other people live. I like to see what the day to day lives of different kinds of people are like. This is a really good window into life on the water. Some floating huts even had a floating wooden cage full of fat pigs, and I saw a few floating houses with pet dogs!! Anyway, I highly recommend this boat trip to anyone traveling from Siem Reap to Battambang.
Battambang: Just got here! It is the second biggest city in Cambodia, and that is all I know about it! So far I have walked around a bit through the market, and thats about it. And now, off to EXPLORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cambodia ROCKS!
Exploring Angkor
Greetings from Cambodia!
I ended up getting the 3 day pass to the Angkor complex, I keep having to remind myself that I don't have unlimited time as I seem to have had in Nepal. Three days ended up being a good amount of time to see most of the larger temple ruins, some of the smaller ones, and the ones I really liked twice.
All I have to say about Angkor is WOW. This is probably one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. Simply spectacular! I could not believe what I was seeing! So amazing! I cán't even put into words. The first day I hired a tuk-tuk, which is a moto with a carriage one the back that pulls you around. It is definetaly the way to go in style.
The places I went on the first day of exploration were:
-Angkor Wat (the biggest and most famous of the temples)
-Bayon
-Baphuon
-Phimeanakas
-Terrace of Elephants
-Terrace of the Leper King
-North Kleang
-South Kleang
-Prasat Suor Prat
-Banteay Kdei
Angkor Wat: so awesome I can't even believe it. It feels like it is something you only would see in the movies or on a postcard, or on the travel channel so it was strange to actually be there myself! It is really breathtaking! The downside to Angkor Wat: it is SO touristed. Thousands of tourists are teeming all over the place!!
Bayon: Bayon was one of my favorites. This is the temples with the 216 huge stone faces looming out from above, smiling sort of mischeviously. Driving up to the place you can't see the faces at all so it looks rather plain. But when you get closer you start to see the features of the faces emerge and stare at you. It is sort of creepy!! This was a great place though.
Banteay Kdei: This, although not as famous as most of the others was one of my favorites, probably my favorite. It was the last stop on the tuk tuk tour of day 1. The time was about dusk, the sun casting a warm golden glow, slowly changing to blue. Banteay Kdei is a huge complex, crumbling, mossy, intricate and ornate. It was a Buddhist monastery in the 12the century. I had the whole massive place to myself to explore! NO one there, just me and the geckos scurrying about. I was staring at the ruins from a peaceful spot. The cicadas shrieked in the cooling dusk air. A light breeze. And suddenly I just had the stranges feeling. I started thinking about the monks, and the kings, and the servants, cooks, attendants and other thousands of people who lived here centuries ago. Their lives long gone, all that remains are these crumbling stone walls covered in moss. I wonder if they ever thought I would be there, thinking about them? I started to wonder what our world will be like centuries from now. Will people be standing in our rotting homes, snapping photos of our kitchens, cars, and bedrooms. "Wow, I can't believe people used to live like this! Amazing!" they will say to one another as they snap family photos next to fenced off areas saying "Danger zone! Do not enter!""
The thing that makes these ruins so fantastic are the small details. The amazing bas-reliefs carved on the walls, other intricate carvings of apsaras literally thousands covering the walls. The ceilings, the way the stones are laid together, the door frames, the lingas, the moss that is slowly covering everything with a bright green carpet. These tiny details make the place awesome. I always tried to image the people who actually did the carvings. Who built these temples? How much did it cost? Who designed them? What were the people like who lived in the temples? What did they wear? What did the royalty wear? What did they eat? While I am very interested in the history of the place, I was much more interested to think about what day to day life was like for the people who used to live there.
The second day of touring I rented a bicycle and rode into the complex. This is a great way to get around, but it should be noted that the complex is 10 km away from the town area of Siem Reap. Also, it should be noted that taking the "Grand Tour" on a rusty no-geared bicycle in the scorching heat may also not be the best idea, let me tell you from personal experience. The grand tour is 26 km, add the 10 km both ways to and from town, and maybe 10 km should be factored in for the time you get lost. This bike ride ended up being 50+ km. Exhausting. After the bike ride I laid in bed for 14 hours and recovered. The roads are all flat which is nice since you are spared any uphill pedaling, but also this means you don't get to enjoy any cruises downhill.
I ended up getting the 3 day pass to the Angkor complex, I keep having to remind myself that I don't have unlimited time as I seem to have had in Nepal. Three days ended up being a good amount of time to see most of the larger temple ruins, some of the smaller ones, and the ones I really liked twice.
All I have to say about Angkor is WOW. This is probably one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. Simply spectacular! I could not believe what I was seeing! So amazing! I cán't even put into words. The first day I hired a tuk-tuk, which is a moto with a carriage one the back that pulls you around. It is definetaly the way to go in style.
The places I went on the first day of exploration were:
-Angkor Wat (the biggest and most famous of the temples)
-Bayon
-Baphuon
-Phimeanakas
-Terrace of Elephants
-Terrace of the Leper King
-North Kleang
-South Kleang
-Prasat Suor Prat
-Banteay Kdei
Angkor Wat: so awesome I can't even believe it. It feels like it is something you only would see in the movies or on a postcard, or on the travel channel so it was strange to actually be there myself! It is really breathtaking! The downside to Angkor Wat: it is SO touristed. Thousands of tourists are teeming all over the place!!
Bayon: Bayon was one of my favorites. This is the temples with the 216 huge stone faces looming out from above, smiling sort of mischeviously. Driving up to the place you can't see the faces at all so it looks rather plain. But when you get closer you start to see the features of the faces emerge and stare at you. It is sort of creepy!! This was a great place though.
Banteay Kdei: This, although not as famous as most of the others was one of my favorites, probably my favorite. It was the last stop on the tuk tuk tour of day 1. The time was about dusk, the sun casting a warm golden glow, slowly changing to blue. Banteay Kdei is a huge complex, crumbling, mossy, intricate and ornate. It was a Buddhist monastery in the 12the century. I had the whole massive place to myself to explore! NO one there, just me and the geckos scurrying about. I was staring at the ruins from a peaceful spot. The cicadas shrieked in the cooling dusk air. A light breeze. And suddenly I just had the stranges feeling. I started thinking about the monks, and the kings, and the servants, cooks, attendants and other thousands of people who lived here centuries ago. Their lives long gone, all that remains are these crumbling stone walls covered in moss. I wonder if they ever thought I would be there, thinking about them? I started to wonder what our world will be like centuries from now. Will people be standing in our rotting homes, snapping photos of our kitchens, cars, and bedrooms. "Wow, I can't believe people used to live like this! Amazing!" they will say to one another as they snap family photos next to fenced off areas saying "Danger zone! Do not enter!""
The thing that makes these ruins so fantastic are the small details. The amazing bas-reliefs carved on the walls, other intricate carvings of apsaras literally thousands covering the walls. The ceilings, the way the stones are laid together, the door frames, the lingas, the moss that is slowly covering everything with a bright green carpet. These tiny details make the place awesome. I always tried to image the people who actually did the carvings. Who built these temples? How much did it cost? Who designed them? What were the people like who lived in the temples? What did they wear? What did the royalty wear? What did they eat? While I am very interested in the history of the place, I was much more interested to think about what day to day life was like for the people who used to live there.
The second day of touring I rented a bicycle and rode into the complex. This is a great way to get around, but it should be noted that the complex is 10 km away from the town area of Siem Reap. Also, it should be noted that taking the "Grand Tour" on a rusty no-geared bicycle in the scorching heat may also not be the best idea, let me tell you from personal experience. The grand tour is 26 km, add the 10 km both ways to and from town, and maybe 10 km should be factored in for the time you get lost. This bike ride ended up being 50+ km. Exhausting. After the bike ride I laid in bed for 14 hours and recovered. The roads are all flat which is nice since you are spared any uphill pedaling, but also this means you don't get to enjoy any cruises downhill.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Hilarity
This conversation was my first real exchange with a Cambodia. I was sitting at a sidewalk cafe, writing in my journal when a young boy, maybe 11 or 12, came up to try to sell me some post cards. His demeanor was very serious no nonsense. The following hilarious conversation ensued (is that a word, it sounded good there.):
Boy: "Where are you from?"
Me: Ü.S.A."
"I know your capital, Washington D.C. I know 50 states, all capitals. What your state?"
"Oregon."
"Ï know your capital. Salem."
"Yep."
"I know your president. George W. Bush. Nobdy like him."
"Haha."
"You wanna buy my post card? Very nice post card."
"No thanks."
"Why not? You buy post card, send to your boyfriend."
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"You know why you don't have boyfriend?"
"Why?"
"Because you no buy my postcard. You buy my postcard, you get very beautiful boyfriend."
I laughed very hard at this. He deemed me a lost cause, and trudged off the an approaching pair of tourists to sell them his postcards.
Boy: "Where are you from?"
Me: Ü.S.A."
"I know your capital, Washington D.C. I know 50 states, all capitals. What your state?"
"Oregon."
"Ï know your capital. Salem."
"Yep."
"I know your president. George W. Bush. Nobdy like him."
"Haha."
"You wanna buy my post card? Very nice post card."
"No thanks."
"Why not? You buy post card, send to your boyfriend."
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"You know why you don't have boyfriend?"
"Why?"
"Because you no buy my postcard. You buy my postcard, you get very beautiful boyfriend."
I laughed very hard at this. He deemed me a lost cause, and trudged off the an approaching pair of tourists to sell them his postcards.
Greetings from Cambodia!!
Hello, Leah Olson here, reporting from Siem Reap, Cambodia!
Yes, I am actually in Cambodia right now, this is so exciting. I got here this morning after waking up at 4 AM, leaving Singapore at 6AM, and arriving in Siem Reap at 7:15 AM local time.
A few weeks ago I decided to continue this journey in Cambodia, and after to Vietnam. So here I am. I am having a fantastic time and am in love with this place already and have not even been here for 12 hours. Haha. I arrive in Cambodia with a much different feel and attitude than I did arriving in Kathmandu. I remember my arrival in KTM. I was scared, nervous, ridiculously excited, the complete unknown was waiting for me. I arrive here feeling leaps and bounds different than I did then, about 5 months ago. I arrived feeling confident, excited still, but more calm, ready to take on this country. I feel much more confident in taking on what ever happens. I know this country is still completely unknown, but the street smarts I picked up in Nepal have made me feel like much more of a seasoned traveller, which I guess I am. I was not scared or nervous one tiny bit coming out of the airport. I was just ready. Ready to get to know a new culture, a new people, new food, new customs. The unknown still awaits, but I sort of known what the unknown will be: For example I will need to get used to a new money, new customs for eating, new foods, new prices, new rules for bargaining, new transportation methods, new attitudes from the people, new travelers, a new set of locals... All new, but my time in Nepal has equiped me to handle this very well. I, of course, will probably never have that almost ridiculously heart pumping excitement I had when stepping out of the Kathmandu airport. But the trade off is a great deal of confidence in new countries, an oppeness. Also, things from Nepal I have recognized here in Siem Reap and feel more familiar with them. This is still Asia, but a different region.
Well... the first thing I noticed was the airport. A very nice airport! Fast, efficient (not compared to Singapore but compared to KTM), clean. I got my visa very quickly, went through customs/immigration quickly. I emerged from the airport ready to take on the world... or just Cambodia. I had the choice to take a taxi or a moto (motorbike, what the Nepalis call "scooties," actually more like a scooter than a motorcycle). I of course chose the moto. Taking a taxi would just not be as fun. So my moto driver balanced my bag infront of him, and I got on the back (no helmets, obviously) and we jetted off to town! I told him to take me to a place called "Popular Guesthouse" which was the first one on the list of budget guesthouses in the Lonely Planet. So we drove for about 20 minutes and he dropped me off. I got the cheapest room at $3 per night. It is a nice room, reminded me of many of the guesthouse in Nepal, only, this one has a fan! Glorious! And a nice squishy mattress. It was around 9 AM by this time and I has starving. I had had nothing for breakfast except a quick cup of coffee at the airport, so I went down to the restaurant and ordered scrambled eggs with bread, and a banna coffee milkshake to celebrate my first Siem Reapian meal. The whole meal was great. The bread turned out to be this nice big baguette, perfectly crispy on the outside, and warm and chewy on the inside.
After breakfast, of course, it was time for exploration. My missions of the day were to figure out how to say hello in the language, and to figure out a big about how much things should be (difficult when you are unfamiliar with new money and people tend to inflate the prices when you walk up.) I walked all around, along the river, through a hutment colony along the river where a woman (or was it a man?) followed me for a while, into the district of Psar Chaa, all around town. After a while I got tired (and sore) because I am nursing a horrid sunburn I recieved yesterday in Singapore. (Note to self: Wear more sunscreen in the tropics. Note to self #2: Clouds do not mean the sun is not behind them... Ouch... Note to self #3: Resembling the color of the claypot prawns I had for dinner last night is NOT good.) Anyway, I stopped at a restaurant for a drink.
There are many differences here to Kathmandu, and Nepal. Maybe I shouldn't be comparing, but KTM and Nepal is all I know of undeveloped countries. I probably shouldn't compare Siem reap and Kathmandu, I think Phenom Penh would probably be more appropriate to compare to Kathmandu, but oh well.
Observations:
-Preffered mode of transport for locals: Moto and bicycle
-Roads seemed to be generally pretty smoothlypaved, and quite wide compared to the tiny alleys of Kathmandu.
-The "petrol stations" are little shelves set up by people along the side of the road with bottles that used to have whiskey, Sprite or Coke in them, now full of petrol! At first, I couldn't figure out what these were, but I soon figured out they were petrol. You can stop along the side of the road and fill up your moto with a liter of petrol through a funnel the stalls have on hand.
-There doesn't seem to be too many loose animals on the roads. I have seen a few large cows off in the grass, but they are not on the road. I also saw some what I think were baby turkeys pecking about in a trash pile. Also a dog here and there, but nothing like KTM.
-The place seems relatively clean and pollution free. Nice!!
-The place seems much more... developed? At least sort of, compared to KTM. Actually I mean, more... aesthetically pleasing? I don't know what I mean, but I'll think about it and report later.
-There are not so many beggars and street children.
-The level of hassles are exponentially less than in KTM. All I have encountered so far is: "Lady, you want a moto ride?"or "Lady, you want tuk tuk?" But I kindly say no, and they seem to realize that no means no. Then again, this is probably one thing I should not compare KTM with Siem Reap. Siem Reap feels a bit more like Pokhara, Nepal than Kathmandu.
-The tourists are different here. Less hippies. Less dreadlocks. Less unshaved body parts. More... chic (?) tourists, I guess you could say.
-More street food! Yay! I can't wait to test it all out. So far I have tried grilled squished bananas. They are baby bananas on a skewer, grilled, and then squished flat. Yum!!! They seem to run about 500 riel for a skewer of 4 bananas.
-Psar Chaa, which I think is the tourist district is much more laid back than the tourist district of Kathmandu called Thamel. Much less activity.
-Sidewalks! ahhh this is so nice! Alot of the restaurants have outdoor seating on the sidewalks which makes for good people watching. Nice!
-I went to an awesome market called the Old Market in Psar Chaa. This is really a cool market! I love going to these sorts of vegetable, fruit, and meat markets in Asia. They are just pulsing with life, smells, sounds, people. Fantastic. I can't wait to go back and try to figure out what some of the strange potiony things are, and what all the hanging meat parts are.
-I hired a tuk-tuk to take me on a mini sightseeing tour of Siem Reap. We became friends and I decided to hire him tomorrow to take me on my first day to see the Angkor temples. He took me all around town on his tuk tuk, which is a carriage thing pulled by a moto. Very comfortable! Very different than the Nepali rickshaws, haha. Both good in their own unique way. Anyway, I got a good feel for the town. We stopped and I bought us each a skewer of grilled squished bananas.
-One thing I have noticed: there seems to be more of a gap here between rich and poor than in Kathmandu. There seem to be an abundance of Realllllllllly nice hotels here, and then right near are little tin shanty town things. Interesting.
Well anyway, there are some first day impressions. All in all, I LOVE THIS PLACE!! Siem Reap is awesome! I am having a great time exploring, and basking in the glory of being a bit more travel smart than my first day in KTM. It makes the whole thing a lot more rewarding, a lot faster, because I am more familiar with this sort of place. It is great! Wonderful people! Extremely friendly! Beautiful place, and I havn't even been to Angkor Wat yet! Also, good food! Yum, I can't wait to try some Khmer food for dinner.
Tomorrow I am going to the Angkor temples with my tuk tuk driver at 10 am. I think I will get a 1 week pass for the temples so I can thoroughly explore the compound of tuk tuk, moto, bike and foot. I will report more later!!!
Signing off, from Siem Reap.
Yes, I am actually in Cambodia right now, this is so exciting. I got here this morning after waking up at 4 AM, leaving Singapore at 6AM, and arriving in Siem Reap at 7:15 AM local time.
A few weeks ago I decided to continue this journey in Cambodia, and after to Vietnam. So here I am. I am having a fantastic time and am in love with this place already and have not even been here for 12 hours. Haha. I arrive in Cambodia with a much different feel and attitude than I did arriving in Kathmandu. I remember my arrival in KTM. I was scared, nervous, ridiculously excited, the complete unknown was waiting for me. I arrive here feeling leaps and bounds different than I did then, about 5 months ago. I arrived feeling confident, excited still, but more calm, ready to take on this country. I feel much more confident in taking on what ever happens. I know this country is still completely unknown, but the street smarts I picked up in Nepal have made me feel like much more of a seasoned traveller, which I guess I am. I was not scared or nervous one tiny bit coming out of the airport. I was just ready. Ready to get to know a new culture, a new people, new food, new customs. The unknown still awaits, but I sort of known what the unknown will be: For example I will need to get used to a new money, new customs for eating, new foods, new prices, new rules for bargaining, new transportation methods, new attitudes from the people, new travelers, a new set of locals... All new, but my time in Nepal has equiped me to handle this very well. I, of course, will probably never have that almost ridiculously heart pumping excitement I had when stepping out of the Kathmandu airport. But the trade off is a great deal of confidence in new countries, an oppeness. Also, things from Nepal I have recognized here in Siem Reap and feel more familiar with them. This is still Asia, but a different region.
Well... the first thing I noticed was the airport. A very nice airport! Fast, efficient (not compared to Singapore but compared to KTM), clean. I got my visa very quickly, went through customs/immigration quickly. I emerged from the airport ready to take on the world... or just Cambodia. I had the choice to take a taxi or a moto (motorbike, what the Nepalis call "scooties," actually more like a scooter than a motorcycle). I of course chose the moto. Taking a taxi would just not be as fun. So my moto driver balanced my bag infront of him, and I got on the back (no helmets, obviously) and we jetted off to town! I told him to take me to a place called "Popular Guesthouse" which was the first one on the list of budget guesthouses in the Lonely Planet. So we drove for about 20 minutes and he dropped me off. I got the cheapest room at $3 per night. It is a nice room, reminded me of many of the guesthouse in Nepal, only, this one has a fan! Glorious! And a nice squishy mattress. It was around 9 AM by this time and I has starving. I had had nothing for breakfast except a quick cup of coffee at the airport, so I went down to the restaurant and ordered scrambled eggs with bread, and a banna coffee milkshake to celebrate my first Siem Reapian meal. The whole meal was great. The bread turned out to be this nice big baguette, perfectly crispy on the outside, and warm and chewy on the inside.
After breakfast, of course, it was time for exploration. My missions of the day were to figure out how to say hello in the language, and to figure out a big about how much things should be (difficult when you are unfamiliar with new money and people tend to inflate the prices when you walk up.) I walked all around, along the river, through a hutment colony along the river where a woman (or was it a man?) followed me for a while, into the district of Psar Chaa, all around town. After a while I got tired (and sore) because I am nursing a horrid sunburn I recieved yesterday in Singapore. (Note to self: Wear more sunscreen in the tropics. Note to self #2: Clouds do not mean the sun is not behind them... Ouch... Note to self #3: Resembling the color of the claypot prawns I had for dinner last night is NOT good.) Anyway, I stopped at a restaurant for a drink.
There are many differences here to Kathmandu, and Nepal. Maybe I shouldn't be comparing, but KTM and Nepal is all I know of undeveloped countries. I probably shouldn't compare Siem reap and Kathmandu, I think Phenom Penh would probably be more appropriate to compare to Kathmandu, but oh well.
Observations:
-Preffered mode of transport for locals: Moto and bicycle
-Roads seemed to be generally pretty smoothlypaved, and quite wide compared to the tiny alleys of Kathmandu.
-The "petrol stations" are little shelves set up by people along the side of the road with bottles that used to have whiskey, Sprite or Coke in them, now full of petrol! At first, I couldn't figure out what these were, but I soon figured out they were petrol. You can stop along the side of the road and fill up your moto with a liter of petrol through a funnel the stalls have on hand.
-There doesn't seem to be too many loose animals on the roads. I have seen a few large cows off in the grass, but they are not on the road. I also saw some what I think were baby turkeys pecking about in a trash pile. Also a dog here and there, but nothing like KTM.
-The place seems relatively clean and pollution free. Nice!!
-The place seems much more... developed? At least sort of, compared to KTM. Actually I mean, more... aesthetically pleasing? I don't know what I mean, but I'll think about it and report later.
-There are not so many beggars and street children.
-The level of hassles are exponentially less than in KTM. All I have encountered so far is: "Lady, you want a moto ride?"or "Lady, you want tuk tuk?" But I kindly say no, and they seem to realize that no means no. Then again, this is probably one thing I should not compare KTM with Siem Reap. Siem Reap feels a bit more like Pokhara, Nepal than Kathmandu.
-The tourists are different here. Less hippies. Less dreadlocks. Less unshaved body parts. More... chic (?) tourists, I guess you could say.
-More street food! Yay! I can't wait to test it all out. So far I have tried grilled squished bananas. They are baby bananas on a skewer, grilled, and then squished flat. Yum!!! They seem to run about 500 riel for a skewer of 4 bananas.
-Psar Chaa, which I think is the tourist district is much more laid back than the tourist district of Kathmandu called Thamel. Much less activity.
-Sidewalks! ahhh this is so nice! Alot of the restaurants have outdoor seating on the sidewalks which makes for good people watching. Nice!
-I went to an awesome market called the Old Market in Psar Chaa. This is really a cool market! I love going to these sorts of vegetable, fruit, and meat markets in Asia. They are just pulsing with life, smells, sounds, people. Fantastic. I can't wait to go back and try to figure out what some of the strange potiony things are, and what all the hanging meat parts are.
-I hired a tuk-tuk to take me on a mini sightseeing tour of Siem Reap. We became friends and I decided to hire him tomorrow to take me on my first day to see the Angkor temples. He took me all around town on his tuk tuk, which is a carriage thing pulled by a moto. Very comfortable! Very different than the Nepali rickshaws, haha. Both good in their own unique way. Anyway, I got a good feel for the town. We stopped and I bought us each a skewer of grilled squished bananas.
-One thing I have noticed: there seems to be more of a gap here between rich and poor than in Kathmandu. There seem to be an abundance of Realllllllllly nice hotels here, and then right near are little tin shanty town things. Interesting.
Well anyway, there are some first day impressions. All in all, I LOVE THIS PLACE!! Siem Reap is awesome! I am having a great time exploring, and basking in the glory of being a bit more travel smart than my first day in KTM. It makes the whole thing a lot more rewarding, a lot faster, because I am more familiar with this sort of place. It is great! Wonderful people! Extremely friendly! Beautiful place, and I havn't even been to Angkor Wat yet! Also, good food! Yum, I can't wait to try some Khmer food for dinner.
Tomorrow I am going to the Angkor temples with my tuk tuk driver at 10 am. I think I will get a 1 week pass for the temples so I can thoroughly explore the compound of tuk tuk, moto, bike and foot. I will report more later!!!
Signing off, from Siem Reap.
Negligence, etc...
Hello!
I am very sorry for having sorely neglected my blog for the last month. I have been 1) busy, 2)lazy, and 3) not in the mood to write. But now I am ready and raring to go.
Updates:
I spent my last few days in Nepal doing all sorts of fun things. I went on a river rafting adventure on the Upper Seti river with my friends Ashton and Bijay. We had a whole expedition to ourselves!! Well, we set off, and WOW. I was expecting more of a float, but these were some MAJOR rapids. Really major rapids. I was pretty sure I would die a few times, but I didn't. We had one main raft and a kayaker paddled near by us incase any of us fell out. Well about 20 minutes into the expedition the safety kayaker flipped, hit a rock under water, and dislocated his elbow!! Needless to say, no more safety kayaker for the rest of the expedition. They told us: Ïts okay, just don't fall out."Ok.... Well the whole rafting trip was amazing! Awesome! I recommend everyone who is in Nepal to go on a rafting adventure. Well worth it.
I also spent my last full day in Nepal (I was in the city of Pokhara) paragliding! I thought this would be a good one to add to my list of extreme sports. I was not too nervous on the drive up to the jump off point at a place called Sarangkot. I figured, this can't be any worse than jumping off of a bridge 166 meters above a raging river, as was the bungee jump. Well, we got to the top, strapped into our harnesses (I jumped tandem, aka with a professional strapped to my back because you can't go alone unless you are trained) and he all the sudden said "Run!!!" So I ran and the next thing I knew I was running off a cliff with the city of Pokhara in tiny dots below me! Wow!! It was awesome!! It felt much more safe than the bungee jump which I think it is. My guide who was strapped to me followed the hawks that were flying about in the thermals. We spent most of the time stalking hawks and eagles and such and gliding over phewa lake. He did a few crazy tricks, spins, twists, and such. (Note to self: Do not ever again eat a big breakfast before doing extreme sports...) After about 30 minutes of flying we landed. Success!! It was great... Over the bungee jump and the paraglide, I would chose the bungee if you can only do one. But if you can do two, I recommend them both. You really get to feel like what it would be to be a bird.
Good bye Nepal! Namaste! I will miss you, but I will be back!
After Nepal, I jetted off to Singapore! I arrived around 11 oçlock pm... It was quite strange. I felt very weird in the airport while I was there. I was sort of giddy, and felt like laughing at everything I saw. It went something like this: "WOW!!! How in the world do they keep this place so shiny! What the heck??? Marble! Shiny marble floors!!!!! Water falls/fountain thing!! Wow! Where are the cows? Hmmm... Wow, everyone looks so clean? Do they take a shower everyday or something? What is on those lady's faces? Oh.. must be makeup. Where is all the trash?? The masses of trash, no where to be found... Could it actually be in the garbage can? NO!?!?!? Amazing! Where are the glue huffing children? Wow, all these kids look so... nice. What sort of contraptions are those ladies wearing on their feet?? Looks like some kind of weapon. Oh! High heels!! Wow, amazing!! Hmmm... those cars out there must be for the very rich elite... Wait a second... You are telling me those are the TAXIS??? For everyone?? For ME?? You can't be serious. They look like Benz's! Some ARE BENZ's!! HOLY GOd!! "
And then... I got in the taxi! And WOW, airconditioned! Seatbelts! I had forgotten those exist. And then the driver did something and I was very confused. A strange noise came from his seat. I looked over... What??? What was that? OHHHHH!!!! He had just put his window up with an AUTOMATIC BUTTON! Haha, I could not help but giggle. The whole thing was just the most entertaining thing ever. I felt totally strange, not in a bad way though. I did see one woman who was waiting in the taxi line wearing a sari and with a tika on her forehead, and I didn't feel totally displaced. Well, I stared in awe the whole taxi ride to Aunt Sandy and Uncle Vic's. The buildings were just so unimaginably big! So shiny! It's really quite astonishing!!! I kept looking for stray cows on the highway, but alas, I did not see one single farm animal on the loose anywhere! I didn't even see any emaciated dogs!! Not even one chicken!! It was just amazing! I had a fantastic taxi ride, and I think the taxi driver thought I was brought up in some foreign land and had never seen civilization before. I asked him how they kept this place so clean, and he just stared quizzically at me in the rear view mirror. The whole experience was so strange and really quite fun too!! The fun wasn't over, let me tell you. I arrived at Aunt Sandy and Uncle Vic's around midnight. I came in and wow!! Amazing!! A real house (apartment!) Wow! I was really amazed. I went for a drink of water! Oh my, cold water! And, miracle of miracles, there was ice cubes!! I drank my luxurious water and went to the bedroom. I went to the bathroom, and oh my gosh, there was not a single fly, bug, dirty anything, "missed"spot (where people go to the bathroom and miss, the toilet was not a hole in the ground, and the best part: there was TOILET PAPER!!! Ahhh... I thought, now this is some luxury. I basked in the glory of a roll of toilet paper, fluffy towels (I neglected to wash my towel during my 5 months in Nepal, so it subsequently turned into a mildewy rag scrap), soap, light, clean!! And then I went to bed on the most luxurious mattress, it actually had springs!!! And was not rock hard!! And had sheets!! Clean ones at that! And, luxury of all luxury, 3 pillows!! Ahh... I went to bed with a huge smile on my face laying on my pillows. I have spent the majority of the last 5 months using rolled up t-shirts as a pillow. Anyway, you could say I was a bit culture shocked. In a good way I think. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with no pillows, mildewy rags as a towel, no TP, no soap, no ice cubes. It was actually fabulous, the most fabulous experience in my life, but when I got back to having those things I was absolutely fascinated and loving it!! Things that I never thought of as luxury were just as luxurious to me as a spa week at the Hilton VIP Hotel would have been, only better. Before, I never thought of how nice ice cubes are, or toilet paper, or shiny things, or clean streets, but now I appreciate them all SOOOO much!!!!!!
I spent the last 10 days having a marvelous time in Singapore, which I love. It is a fantastic place... I spent alot of time wandering around the city, which was probably extra fascinating because I havn't seen a city like that in a while. Riding the MRT, and the buses (AC!!! whoa!), trying all different types of hawker center food, checking out NUS, playing with the Eli and Satchel, relaxing, recharging, and enjoying just hanging out.
One major highlight, although it's hard to say just one major highlight, because the entire trip was a highlight. Anyway, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Vic took me to high tea at the Fullerton Hotel one afternoon. It was so fun!! While at high tea, I decided I wouldn't mind too much being a queen, or just someone who has high tea alot. Well, I felt quite regal and royal. Probably the most queenly I've ever felt. Well, the Fullerton itself is quite an amazing place. Anyway, we all got to order a tea, I got one called Älfonso"which is black tea infused with mangos. Yum!! Then they bring you out a three tiered tray with all sorts of good stuff on there. The top tier was finger sandwiches of all sorts, the middle was scones and muffins, and the bottom tier was full of delectable desserts. After you finish they bring a silver tray and refill any of the things you want. Yum!!! Sooooo good! I thoroughly stuffed myself with clotted cream cover scones, cucumber sandwiches, and creme brulee.
After 10 wonderful days of recharging in Singapore I departed, which was this morning... And now, I am writing this from CAMBODIA!!!
I am very sorry for having sorely neglected my blog for the last month. I have been 1) busy, 2)lazy, and 3) not in the mood to write. But now I am ready and raring to go.
Updates:
I spent my last few days in Nepal doing all sorts of fun things. I went on a river rafting adventure on the Upper Seti river with my friends Ashton and Bijay. We had a whole expedition to ourselves!! Well, we set off, and WOW. I was expecting more of a float, but these were some MAJOR rapids. Really major rapids. I was pretty sure I would die a few times, but I didn't. We had one main raft and a kayaker paddled near by us incase any of us fell out. Well about 20 minutes into the expedition the safety kayaker flipped, hit a rock under water, and dislocated his elbow!! Needless to say, no more safety kayaker for the rest of the expedition. They told us: Ïts okay, just don't fall out."Ok.... Well the whole rafting trip was amazing! Awesome! I recommend everyone who is in Nepal to go on a rafting adventure. Well worth it.
I also spent my last full day in Nepal (I was in the city of Pokhara) paragliding! I thought this would be a good one to add to my list of extreme sports. I was not too nervous on the drive up to the jump off point at a place called Sarangkot. I figured, this can't be any worse than jumping off of a bridge 166 meters above a raging river, as was the bungee jump. Well, we got to the top, strapped into our harnesses (I jumped tandem, aka with a professional strapped to my back because you can't go alone unless you are trained) and he all the sudden said "Run!!!" So I ran and the next thing I knew I was running off a cliff with the city of Pokhara in tiny dots below me! Wow!! It was awesome!! It felt much more safe than the bungee jump which I think it is. My guide who was strapped to me followed the hawks that were flying about in the thermals. We spent most of the time stalking hawks and eagles and such and gliding over phewa lake. He did a few crazy tricks, spins, twists, and such. (Note to self: Do not ever again eat a big breakfast before doing extreme sports...) After about 30 minutes of flying we landed. Success!! It was great... Over the bungee jump and the paraglide, I would chose the bungee if you can only do one. But if you can do two, I recommend them both. You really get to feel like what it would be to be a bird.
Good bye Nepal! Namaste! I will miss you, but I will be back!
After Nepal, I jetted off to Singapore! I arrived around 11 oçlock pm... It was quite strange. I felt very weird in the airport while I was there. I was sort of giddy, and felt like laughing at everything I saw. It went something like this: "WOW!!! How in the world do they keep this place so shiny! What the heck??? Marble! Shiny marble floors!!!!! Water falls/fountain thing!! Wow! Where are the cows? Hmmm... Wow, everyone looks so clean? Do they take a shower everyday or something? What is on those lady's faces? Oh.. must be makeup. Where is all the trash?? The masses of trash, no where to be found... Could it actually be in the garbage can? NO!?!?!? Amazing! Where are the glue huffing children? Wow, all these kids look so... nice. What sort of contraptions are those ladies wearing on their feet?? Looks like some kind of weapon. Oh! High heels!! Wow, amazing!! Hmmm... those cars out there must be for the very rich elite... Wait a second... You are telling me those are the TAXIS??? For everyone?? For ME?? You can't be serious. They look like Benz's! Some ARE BENZ's!! HOLY GOd!! "
And then... I got in the taxi! And WOW, airconditioned! Seatbelts! I had forgotten those exist. And then the driver did something and I was very confused. A strange noise came from his seat. I looked over... What??? What was that? OHHHHH!!!! He had just put his window up with an AUTOMATIC BUTTON! Haha, I could not help but giggle. The whole thing was just the most entertaining thing ever. I felt totally strange, not in a bad way though. I did see one woman who was waiting in the taxi line wearing a sari and with a tika on her forehead, and I didn't feel totally displaced. Well, I stared in awe the whole taxi ride to Aunt Sandy and Uncle Vic's. The buildings were just so unimaginably big! So shiny! It's really quite astonishing!!! I kept looking for stray cows on the highway, but alas, I did not see one single farm animal on the loose anywhere! I didn't even see any emaciated dogs!! Not even one chicken!! It was just amazing! I had a fantastic taxi ride, and I think the taxi driver thought I was brought up in some foreign land and had never seen civilization before. I asked him how they kept this place so clean, and he just stared quizzically at me in the rear view mirror. The whole experience was so strange and really quite fun too!! The fun wasn't over, let me tell you. I arrived at Aunt Sandy and Uncle Vic's around midnight. I came in and wow!! Amazing!! A real house (apartment!) Wow! I was really amazed. I went for a drink of water! Oh my, cold water! And, miracle of miracles, there was ice cubes!! I drank my luxurious water and went to the bedroom. I went to the bathroom, and oh my gosh, there was not a single fly, bug, dirty anything, "missed"spot (where people go to the bathroom and miss, the toilet was not a hole in the ground, and the best part: there was TOILET PAPER!!! Ahhh... I thought, now this is some luxury. I basked in the glory of a roll of toilet paper, fluffy towels (I neglected to wash my towel during my 5 months in Nepal, so it subsequently turned into a mildewy rag scrap), soap, light, clean!! And then I went to bed on the most luxurious mattress, it actually had springs!!! And was not rock hard!! And had sheets!! Clean ones at that! And, luxury of all luxury, 3 pillows!! Ahh... I went to bed with a huge smile on my face laying on my pillows. I have spent the majority of the last 5 months using rolled up t-shirts as a pillow. Anyway, you could say I was a bit culture shocked. In a good way I think. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with no pillows, mildewy rags as a towel, no TP, no soap, no ice cubes. It was actually fabulous, the most fabulous experience in my life, but when I got back to having those things I was absolutely fascinated and loving it!! Things that I never thought of as luxury were just as luxurious to me as a spa week at the Hilton VIP Hotel would have been, only better. Before, I never thought of how nice ice cubes are, or toilet paper, or shiny things, or clean streets, but now I appreciate them all SOOOO much!!!!!!
I spent the last 10 days having a marvelous time in Singapore, which I love. It is a fantastic place... I spent alot of time wandering around the city, which was probably extra fascinating because I havn't seen a city like that in a while. Riding the MRT, and the buses (AC!!! whoa!), trying all different types of hawker center food, checking out NUS, playing with the Eli and Satchel, relaxing, recharging, and enjoying just hanging out.
One major highlight, although it's hard to say just one major highlight, because the entire trip was a highlight. Anyway, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Vic took me to high tea at the Fullerton Hotel one afternoon. It was so fun!! While at high tea, I decided I wouldn't mind too much being a queen, or just someone who has high tea alot. Well, I felt quite regal and royal. Probably the most queenly I've ever felt. Well, the Fullerton itself is quite an amazing place. Anyway, we all got to order a tea, I got one called Älfonso"which is black tea infused with mangos. Yum!! Then they bring you out a three tiered tray with all sorts of good stuff on there. The top tier was finger sandwiches of all sorts, the middle was scones and muffins, and the bottom tier was full of delectable desserts. After you finish they bring a silver tray and refill any of the things you want. Yum!!! Sooooo good! I thoroughly stuffed myself with clotted cream cover scones, cucumber sandwiches, and creme brulee.
After 10 wonderful days of recharging in Singapore I departed, which was this morning... And now, I am writing this from CAMBODIA!!!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
More Veg Peddlers
This man is doing big business. This guy's vegetable area is bigger than most peddlers on the street. And he is selling a larger variety than most as well. It is much more usual to see someone selling two or three types of produce. He is obviously busy. 
Sita and Pashupati Katal: I interviewed them about their business because they actually operate from a rented space rather than right on the sidewalk. They pay 4,000 rupees rent per month, but this allows them more space for more vegetables. Also, they don't have to worry about the municipality kicking them off the sidewalk. Sita is 40 and Pashupati is 70. They have 3 children which they send to school with the profits of their vegetable business.
Yum! All the colors! So bright! One nice thing about the vegetable peddlers. Although they take up alot of room on the street, their wares are so bright! They really brighten up this place which would probably be completely dismal without them.
Sita and Pashupati Katal: I interviewed them about their business because they actually operate from a rented space rather than right on the sidewalk. They pay 4,000 rupees rent per month, but this allows them more space for more vegetables. Also, they don't have to worry about the municipality kicking them off the sidewalk. Sita is 40 and Pashupati is 70. They have 3 children which they send to school with the profits of their vegetable business. 
Yum! All the colors! So bright! One nice thing about the vegetable peddlers. Although they take up alot of room on the street, their wares are so bright! They really brighten up this place which would probably be completely dismal without them. 
A Long Way Gone
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
This book is Ishmael Beah's memoir of his childhood days as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. It is a really good, and sad book. I think his journey is quite amazing. I can absolutely not imagine having to do the things he did when he was only 13 years old. He says in the book that he has killed so many people that he can't even remember how many. Many of the young boys were and are taken into the army of the RUF and fight at incredibly young ages, even younger than Beah, maybe 10 or 11. Then they are trained and given guns, and alot of drugs, and they go and kill so many people! Anyway, an amazing story. But what seems to be most amazing about his story is the manner in which he managed to move on. He was eventually saved from fighting by UNICEF, and then rehabilitated. Then he went to New York and went to Oberlin College. He is still young, I think in his late 20's. Well he is now an activist against child soldiers and I think works with the UN. A really good book!
This book is Ishmael Beah's memoir of his childhood days as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. It is a really good, and sad book. I think his journey is quite amazing. I can absolutely not imagine having to do the things he did when he was only 13 years old. He says in the book that he has killed so many people that he can't even remember how many. Many of the young boys were and are taken into the army of the RUF and fight at incredibly young ages, even younger than Beah, maybe 10 or 11. Then they are trained and given guns, and alot of drugs, and they go and kill so many people! Anyway, an amazing story. But what seems to be most amazing about his story is the manner in which he managed to move on. He was eventually saved from fighting by UNICEF, and then rehabilitated. Then he went to New York and went to Oberlin College. He is still young, I think in his late 20's. Well he is now an activist against child soldiers and I think works with the UN. A really good book!
Rammaya Tamang: Vegetable Peddler
I am currently writing an article about the vegetable peddlers of Kathmandu. This is Rammaya Tamang, just about the nicest vegetable peddler I have ever met. I interviewed her about her daily life as a vegetable peddler (with the help of my Nepali friend who translated.) She was so excited about being interviewed that she took us out for milk chiya (sweet milk tea) after I was done interviewing her. During tea she spoke non-stop and stroked my hands, face, and hair as though I were her cat or something. Anyway, she is 65 years old and has been working as a veg peddler for 40 years! She makes 300-500 rupees per day (5-8 dollars US.) She works illegally on the sidewalk, as do most vegetable peddlers in this city. She specialized in three vegetables: (from left) green beans, tomatoes, and scuss. Tuesday, October 2, 2007
SW Connection
Hello Everybody!
This month I have an newspaper article in the SW Connection in Portland, about my travels in Nepal so far! So if you are in Portland, please check it out!
Namaste!
This month I have an newspaper article in the SW Connection in Portland, about my travels in Nepal so far! So if you are in Portland, please check it out!
Namaste!
Books
Lets see here... I can't remember the last book I updated...
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold:
I liked this book. It is a fast read. Good characters. Something very sad, but very happy about it at the same time. It is told from the point of view of a young girl who was murdered and she is watching all her loved ones from heaven.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins:
Still in the process of reading this one. I am still deciding what I think about it, and will report more when I finish.
Curtain by Agatha Christie:
A good old detective story. I good crime story, but I didn't like the end all that much. I think I need to read some other Agatha Christie books.
Karka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami:
Wow! Awesome book! I have never read and Japanese literature before, and now am interested to read alot more, and also to read alot more Murakami. This was the strangest book, but it made sense so much! Follows the paths of two people, a young boy named Kafka who runs away from home and an old man named Nakata who can talk to cats, and how their lives sort of intersect. The book was intersting because it was so open and frank and forward, and this is sort of the opposite of what I think about Japanese culture in general. Maybe since the Japanese are sort of conservative and closed (? maybe not the right word) their inner emotions, feelings, ideas come out in their art and literature. Anyway, I can't wait to read more. A+! I highly recommend this book.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts:
I am still in the process of reading this book, actually should be done with it today, I hope. It is a massive thing, almost 1,000 pages, most of it, in my opinion not needed. I was really excited for this book because a great deal of travellers have recommended it to me. "10 out of 10!" some one told me, "The best book I have ever read" someone else said... Well, I completely disagree with them. I have been sorely disappointed with it. It has some entertainment value: shallow love stories, fighting scenes (that drag on WAY too long), living in a slum. This book supposedly is based on Roberts life: he was sentenced to jail for 20 years in Australia for armed robbery, heroin, etc.. then broke out of jail and went to Bombay where he does all this crazy stuff. Well, it's curious because the back of the book says "Literary Fiction." Maybe he stretched the truth a little too much to call it an autobiography. Anyway, I don't like the characters, they are shallow and bland, and underdeveloped. The narrator is egotistical, and I don't really like him at all. This book should have been half the size, maybe 400 or 500 pages, then maybe it would have been good. I suppose it is good if you want an adventure story... I was thinking it would be better as a movie, only to find out it actually is soon to be made into a major motion picture, starring Johnny Depp as the main character, Lin... Anyway, I am pretty excited for this book to be over with.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold:
I liked this book. It is a fast read. Good characters. Something very sad, but very happy about it at the same time. It is told from the point of view of a young girl who was murdered and she is watching all her loved ones from heaven.
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins:
Still in the process of reading this one. I am still deciding what I think about it, and will report more when I finish.
Curtain by Agatha Christie:
A good old detective story. I good crime story, but I didn't like the end all that much. I think I need to read some other Agatha Christie books.
Karka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami:
Wow! Awesome book! I have never read and Japanese literature before, and now am interested to read alot more, and also to read alot more Murakami. This was the strangest book, but it made sense so much! Follows the paths of two people, a young boy named Kafka who runs away from home and an old man named Nakata who can talk to cats, and how their lives sort of intersect. The book was intersting because it was so open and frank and forward, and this is sort of the opposite of what I think about Japanese culture in general. Maybe since the Japanese are sort of conservative and closed (? maybe not the right word) their inner emotions, feelings, ideas come out in their art and literature. Anyway, I can't wait to read more. A+! I highly recommend this book.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts:
I am still in the process of reading this book, actually should be done with it today, I hope. It is a massive thing, almost 1,000 pages, most of it, in my opinion not needed. I was really excited for this book because a great deal of travellers have recommended it to me. "10 out of 10!" some one told me, "The best book I have ever read" someone else said... Well, I completely disagree with them. I have been sorely disappointed with it. It has some entertainment value: shallow love stories, fighting scenes (that drag on WAY too long), living in a slum. This book supposedly is based on Roberts life: he was sentenced to jail for 20 years in Australia for armed robbery, heroin, etc.. then broke out of jail and went to Bombay where he does all this crazy stuff. Well, it's curious because the back of the book says "Literary Fiction." Maybe he stretched the truth a little too much to call it an autobiography. Anyway, I don't like the characters, they are shallow and bland, and underdeveloped. The narrator is egotistical, and I don't really like him at all. This book should have been half the size, maybe 400 or 500 pages, then maybe it would have been good. I suppose it is good if you want an adventure story... I was thinking it would be better as a movie, only to find out it actually is soon to be made into a major motion picture, starring Johnny Depp as the main character, Lin... Anyway, I am pretty excited for this book to be over with.
The Most Un-Vegetarian Meal...Ever
I was out to eat at a local Newari restaurant with one of my Nepali friends. It is a tiny hole in the wall place, some where you would not likely find in any Lonely Planet or other tourist guide book. He took the menu and ordered an assorment of things that I could not pronounce, although I tried, and failed miserably, resulting in hilarious laughter from the server. I decided I did not want to know what was being served until it was on a plate in front of me. So I waited in excited anticipation until 6 dishes of Newari food were placed in front of me. To start with we had chatamari, peanut sandeko, aloo kawad, and bara which seemed ordinary enough. Chatamari is sort of like a Nepali pizza, consisting of a base dough pancake, egg, vegetables, and meat. Peanut sandeko is a snack of spicey peanuts with chilis, onions, and tomatoes mixed in. Aloo kawad is potatoes in a spicey curry like gravy. Bara is a wheat pancake with vegetable inside. Then came the rest: fried buffalo tounge, fried buffalo brains, and sapumhicha. I of course know what tounge and brains are, but had no idea what sapumhicha was, and couldn't decipher it from the looks of it on the plate. It looked like some strange sea urchin or anemone or something. I decided to try it first before finding out what it was. You pick up a small pouch like thing, tied at one end with string, grab the end tied with string, and rip the pouch stuffed with... something, and chew it all. When I finally ripped the pouch a delicious squelch of oily yellowey stuff came gushing into my mouth. It turns out that sapumhicha is buffalo stomach lining stuffed with bone marrow and then fried. Interesting... but I must say, quite tasty! The tounge tasted like beef jerky and the brains were really sort and tender. But while I was eating slices of brain with a dainty little silver fork, I started to think about what the buffalo thought about during it's life, and I was sort of eating it's thoughts... Anyway, it was all a really tasty meal! One thing is for sure, the Newari's don't waste any part of an animal that they kill. It was probably the most un-vegetarian meal I have ever had.
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