A White (Sand) Christmas

It is hard to say no to a legless man. Even after a day of adroitly evading the cutest and most persistent saleschildren, the book peddler confined to his wheeled cart wormed his way through our defenses. With the dubious distinction as the world's most landmined country, Cambodia is teeming with unfortunate victims missing various limbs. Sadly this delayed curse from the disastrous Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970s is still killing and maiming innocents to this day. Sitting face to face with one of these, a father of five, made it hard to savor the 50-cent tap beers and look the other way. So we did what he asked and bought a book, which taught us more about the devastating reign of Pol Pot and the ruthless genocide that happened during our lifetimes. This was all a bit heavy for "holiday," but necessary context to better grasp what we observed.




Thankfully, there is much more to Cambodia than its turbulent recent past. We were drawn here by the same forces that pull in tourists from around the world, the astounding ruins of the Khmer Empire, most notably the Angkor complex. Covering a vast swath of jungle, over 700 Hindu and Buddhist temples testify to the power and sophistication of this great civilization that peaked in 12th century.


We quickly found that the only way to avoid being accosted by touts hawking tuk-tuks was to be in a tuk-tuk. Luckily, they are used for legitimate transport here, so we hired a driver and English-speaking guide for the day and set off to explore the sprawling Khmer ruins. In pursuit of a postcard-perfect photo (for you, of course), we set out before dawn, hoping to catch sunrise over the famous towers of Angkor Wat. The low ceiling of clouds did not cooperate with this goal, but we still experienced the magic of watching the eerie stone temple slowly emerge from the shadows in the growing light. We spent a full day wat-hopping in the steamy jungle, while our excellent guide enlightened us with historical context and divined the meaning of the elaborate stone carvings and rampant symbolism. Highlights include the towering stone faces of Angkor Thom with their subtle smiles and the spooky remnants of Ta Prohm, which appears to be losing its battle with the encroaching rainforest.

Much like the people we met in Laos, the Khmer (as the Cambodians call themselves) were friendly and genuine. They are also ingeniously efficient with their transportation, to the extent that seeing a family of five on a single moped or a wife gingerly loaded in the trunk of a car became routine. Even the local animals made us feel welcome, especially the hungry fish who gladly gave us pedicures with their mouths. Though it did not make the brochure, our hotel room came equipped with a few friendly geckos, who did their best to keep the malarial mosquitoes under control. Our only regret is that we did not have more time to spend outside of the tourist haven of Siem Reap. However, it is never too early to start adding ideas to the list for our next trip...

After nearly a month of staccato sight-seeing throughout SE Asia, we spent the final week of 2009 plopped securely on the beach. Once more, we braved the baffling she-males and cunning conmen to spend time on the enchanting beaches of Southern Thailand. The Thais were quick to point out that the animosity is mutual, as the omnipotent immigration officer awarded Ben a verbal lashing and a souvenir handwritten note in Thai that says something to the effect of "This one is naughty." Why? The officer did not like the way Ben handed over his passport. Guh.

Thankfully, the beaches delivered on our dreams of sun, sand, and chillaxing. We spent a highly unorthodox Christmas soaking up rays on the island of Koh Samui. Thanks to the Thai-made SPF 20 sun block, which actually seemed to magnify the UV rays, we can easily say we received our deepest Christmas Day sunburn to date. Our first Christmas away from home did not feel strange until we watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and talked to our families via Skype. Seeing the snow-covered yard, the decked out tree, and the anxious kiddies through the PC made us more than a little wistful for home. However, picking out fresh seafood on the beach, while candlelit floating lanterns rose skyward on all sides, made for a memorable dinner that night. It was a potent reminder of how lucky we are to get to try something new this year.

We spent our last few days in Asia on the tiny island of Koh Tao. The visit was punctuated by a two-tank SCUBA dive excursion that ranks as arguably the best dive we have ever done. Dropping into the water and setting aside the jitters of relatively inexperienced divers, we noticed that the visibility was quite poor. Thankfully the plankton responsible for this also makes great fish food. As we descended further, the sunlight -loving plankton receded, affording us views of endless schools of fish. Giant grouper and silver-sided barracuda were in abundance and we spent much of the dive flailing underwater to point things out to each other. At a few points along our circumnavigation of the columnar reef, up to four 6-foot sharks glided silently into view like toothy torpedoes. It was an outstanding way to finish our Asian adventures and a banner year of travel. Stay tuned for our next post, which vaults us into a new year...and onto a new continent!

Bump in the Road

* Spoiler Alert! Plot Spoilers Ahead *

Due to the time it takes to write, collect photos, and find internet access for making posts, the blog is usually a few weeks behind reality.  If you enjoy reading chronologically, just skip this post.  If you can stand a break from the straight timeline, jump in our time machine and read on for the closest to "real-time" blogging we have done to date.

Bob Dylan said "When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose."  So we've got that going for us....which is nice.  A couple days ago, our rental van was broken into near Brisbane, Australia.  It was parked in a busy parking lot in broad daylight, but that did not stop the crooks from prying the lock off of the door.  Sadly, we were parted with most of our belongings, including the PC we used to make our blog entries.  Therefore, we expect an even slower posting cadence than you are accustomed to while we try to rebuild.

Thankfully, we are safe and have each other.  The experience has left us shaken, but we will recover and the Odyssey will go on.  The senseless nature of the theft is nearly laughable, as we had very little that has any value to anyone but us.  Anyone who has had the distinct pleasure of living with Ben knows that his dirty socks (which were stolen) will not be hot sellers.  We can shrug off the loss of the "stuff", but the loss of our photos and journal will likely pain us for a very long time.

At any rate, thanks for your patience on upcoming posts.  Having this digital record of our adventures just skyrocketed in importance!

Same Same...But Different

The best part about Southeast Asian trains is the bathroom.  There is simple honesty in the hole cut in the floor, which allows you to watch the railroad ties whip by as you relieve yourself.  There is no pretense that excrement will be collected or treated - it is quite clear where it will end up.

After a string of urban haunts, we were ready to escape the bustle of Bangkok.  We rode the rails north to the former capital of Siam, Ayutthaya.  In its day, the city was a powerhouse, boasting one million residents in 1685 (about double London's population at the time).  This all ended when the Burmese sacked the capital in 1767.  We spent a day exploring the eerie remains, including many striking wats (temples) and crumbling Buddha statues.  At dusk, local monks in their striking orange robes wandered the grounds with us, politely declining the Christmas cookies we offered.  At dinner on the Pasak River, mammoth bats fanned out like flying puppies for a night of hunting under a full moon.

An overnight train spirited us north to Chiang Mai, where we took the much ballyhooed trek to visit the hill tribe people.  Though purported to educate us on the tribe's customs and way of life, there was precious little of this provided by our guide.  Instead of glimpses into the lives of villagers untouched by the modern world, as advertised, our only contact with the locals was when they were peddling trinkets or beer.  The highlight of the experience was watching our guide catch the frogs and rats that served as his dinner.  We also rode elephants and braved a river atop a bamboo raft.  Even these unique experiences were oversold and underdelivered.  Thailand was a vexing place.

 

Matters improved markedly when we crossed the border into Laos, thus the title of this post (citing a ubiquitous local saying).  Tourism is much less developed here, leaving more natural, untarnished beauty and a population intrigued by and genuinely friendly towards foreigners.  Plus, our initial trip to the ATM delivered delightful news...for the first time, we were millionaires.  And boom goes the dynamite.  With ~8000 kip (the local currency) equivalent to one US dollar, it only takes about $125 for an account to hit seven digits, but the ATM receipt with our balance still became a treasured souvenir.

We spent our first two days on an appropriately named "slow boat" cruising the Mekong River.  The river has long been the country's primary transportation corridor, with roads coming slowly through the jungle-covered mountains.  The leisurely pace allowed us to observe riverside agriculture, local fishermen working their nets, and tiny thatch villages connected to the rest of the world solely by the river.  Long periods of silence and calm but for the droning engine were punctuated by frantic stops that found our vessel thronged by sales-children hawking everything from drinks to scarves to freshly snared mammals and fish-on-a-stick.

 

 

Our boat trip terminated in the amazing, temple-bedecked town of Louang Prabang.  There we had a few days exploring the well-preserved wats, indulging in the tasty restaurants, and appreciating the relaxed nature of the residents.  One highlight was walking through the local open-air market, filled with exotic fruits, live fish and toads, extremely dead fish being filleted on the roadside, detached cow legs, maggots, etc.  It was stomach-churning, but rewarding to see "real life" after the contrived sights of Thailand.  Our other high point came at sunset when we serendipitously found ourselves outside of Wat Nang as the monks did their nightly prayers.  The rise and fall of the chorus of holy voices pouring out mantras as the last sun rays glinted off the golden roof was nothing short of magical.

A winding 8-hour minibus ride through bandit country delivered us to our next stop, the town of Vang Vieng.  Here we took a full-day excursion into the amazing jungle-covered, round-topped mountains that fill the surrounding countryside.  First, we paddled inner tubes into a frigid stream flowing from a cave's gaping maw.  With giant battery packs slung around our necks to power the ancient headlamps we wore, we stowed the tubes and set off on foot (and knees) to explore the cave.  For about an hour, we walked, crawled, and shinnied through the stalactite-filled cavern.  Along the way, we spotted albino cave crickets, a mega millipede, and a spider the size of a dinner plate.  At one point we stopped and quenched our lamps to enjoy true darkness where we could see absolutely nothing.

After BBQ lunch, we set off on a quiet kayak paddle down a peaceful river.  Vang Vieng is a tubing haven for intrepid backpackers and our river experience changed dramatically as we hit the tubing headwaters.  All of the sudden the banks were covered by bars filled with writhing, bathing suit clad kids getting all kinds of wasted.  With little in the way of liability laws, each bar has a towering rope swing, zip line, or water slide into the river.  Bodies were flying in all directions as the bass thumped and free shots of whiskey went down.

Carolyn hit the high rope swing to show the youngsters that old coots still know how to have fun.  We highly enjoyed watching the novice zip-liners ride to the stopper device at the end of the line and get thrown head over heels.  After paddling back to town, we treated ourselves to our first massages of the trip, shelling out $4 each on hour-long rubdowns.




Our last destination in Laos was the capital city of Vientiene.  Our masterstroke here was devising a way to attend a portion of the 25th annual South East Asian Games in progress in the city.  A veritable SE Asian Olympics, these were on TV everywhere in Laos during our stay and we wanted a piece of the action.  Our foremost goal was to watch a sport we had never seen before, so we sought out the soccer/volleyball hybrid called Sepak Takraw.  It took lots of stops to ask the locals, but after a few tuk tuk rides we found the stadium.  The seating area was packed and sweltering, but we got to see incredible over-the-net bicycle kicking action in both the women's and men's 3-person finals.  For the men's game, we sat on the floor three people away from the court.  This gave us great views of the action and we even caught a "foul ball" at one point.  It was unique to see athletes so specialized and skilled at a sport that doesn't even exist in the U.S.





Thanks for your patience as we struggled to find the internet bandwidth to make this post.  The last few weeks hold many more tales and we will share them as soon as we are practically able.

P.S.  Jason - we hope you liked all the video, which was provided per your repeated requests!