TravelStream™ news feed for member shaneandsarah on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/shaneandsarah en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:36:11 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225490400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225490400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225490400/tpod.html Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:36:11 -0500 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Fleet, England, United Kingdom

We're home and boy is it cold.Some reflections on Cambodia:It's a pretty country.The people are very friendly and cheerful.It has a varied history (both great and dire).It will be a sucessful tourist venue - go soon before it ruins itself in the process.We were both pleasantly surprised by Cambodia.And Sarah really liked the tuktuks.And some thoughts on the whole thing:It rains in SE Asia, quite a lot.It can also be very hot and very, very humid.The traffic is interesting (in a death at any second, from any direction type of way).China has a lot of people - more than you can count, even using both hands.The food was very good (though Sarah doesn't want to see a pineapple for months and Shane never wants to see a fried tarantula - or a bucket of them - again).It is a distinctly different culture to anywhere else we've been and each country has a slightly different version.It was perhaps less intimidating / scary / culture shocking than we might have expected.Seeing people ask (in sign language) to have their kids photographed with Sarah, only to have them run away screaming is a memory that will stay with me for years.Again we were lucky - no illness, no crime etc. Apart from crossing the roads we didn't feel threatened / in danger throughout the trip.Oh how the bean counter cheered - we came in under budget and every Dollar / Yuan / Dong etc was accounted for.That's all folks!Shane and Sarah
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225418400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225418400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225418400/tpod.html Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:22:32 -0500 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Fleet, England, United Kingdom

Our final day and a long one.Just for a change it's raining in SE Asia (or more specifically the part of SE Asia that we're in).We re-arrange all our luggage for one final time and check out of the hotel. Then it's off to the Foreign Correspondents Club (not as glamorous as it sounds) for a long lunch and coffee.Then we start the 20 hour journey that will end when we return home.A short flight takes us to Bangkok where there's 4 hours to kill before a 0010 departure to Heathrow. 13 hours later (or 6 hours later once our clocks have been adjusted) and we're home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225249200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225249200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225249200/tpod.html Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:06:46 -0400 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Siem Reap, Cambodia

A truly disgusting alarm call gets us up and on the road heading for Angkor Wat. We, and hundreds more, are there whilst it's still dark, awaiting the sunrise. The sun did indeed rise, sadly it was hidden behind clouds as it did so.So it's back to the hotel for breakfast and an hour spent trying not to fall asleep again.For the mornings tour we heading off to Angkor Thom. This is one of the larger complexes - around 12 square kilometres. Angkor Thom was built around the end of the 12th century and the start of the 13th century and was the last complex to be built at Angkor.We saw:The elephant terrace - so called because it has elephants carved into its length.The leper king terrace - nothing to do with lepers (blame the French for the dumb name).The site of the royal palace - this was mostly a wooden building, so little of it has survived.Baphoun temple - currently under repair.Bayon temple - a Buddhist temple known for its towers with faces of Buddhist facing to the 4 points of the compass.Most of today was sunny, really hot and very, very humid - we're struggling to think of a time when either of us has sweated so much.The afternoon was spent having a nice, gentle massage and then doing some shopping - we had to buy a new suitcase in order to carry all the stuff Sarah's bought. Sarah has continued her method of haggling that involves no coherent language, just a calculator.Then it was a quiet dinner for just the two of us as we couldn't face another local dance show (either that or everyone else has had enough of us and didn't want to eat with us).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225159200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225159200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225159200/tpod.html Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:47:28 -0400 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Temples, temples, temples.Today we visited 7 temples in the Angkor complex. These ranged from the 9th century to the 13th century.The Angkor sites were all built by the kings of the Angkor empire and are spread over hundreds of square miles. Some kings were Hindu whilst others were Buddhist, so the temples are a mix of Hindu and Buddhist,The temples we visited were:LoleiBakongPreah KoEast MebonPreah KhanBanteay SreyPre RupThe first three temples are the earliest (circa 9th century) so give an example of how the design evolved. The others are small complexes that are of note.The intention was to end the day at Pre Rup to watch the sun set. Just as we got comfortable at the top of the temple, the heavens opened and sun set was cancelled.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225333800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225333800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225333800/tpod.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 04:32:18 -0400 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Today started badly, it was raining hard.And today is the day we go to the best known, most impressive parts of the Angkor complex.First stop is Ta Prohm. This is one of the iconic sites - a temple overgrown by trees (it also features in the film Tomb Raider).Then it's off to Ta Keo, Banteay Kdei (originally Buddhist then Hindu) and Prasat Kravan (10th century Hindu with some ornate carvings).The final stop for our tour today is Angkor Wat. This is a 12th century city that is rather large and is the iconic image of the Angkor complex. The temple itself is approximately 1.5km square and is topped by 5 towers. Around the edges of the lower floor are a series of walkways. The inner wall of each walkway is covered with a bas relief that tells a story from the Hindu The last part of this afternoon involved another massage. Then it was off to a restaurant for our final group dinner followed by drinks in the hotel bar.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225076400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225076400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1225076400/tpod.html Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:54:21 -0400 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Today was a bright, sunny and warm day with a brief torrential shower late afternoon. Unfortunately, we spent the 6 hours after breakfast in the bus travelling from Phnom Phen to our final destination Siem Reap.The first break was in the town of Skun. Skun is, erm, famous (I can think of no better word) for its local delicacy - fried tarantulas. Once you spot them you realise that there are buckets and buckets of them and a few live ones for photo opportunities.Once in Siem Reap we had a boat trip on the Tonle Sap lake (the largest in SE Asia) to see a floating village. This is slightly larger than the other floating villages we've seen - this one has around 25,000 people. Many of the larger houses have televisions and sound systems. The village has schools, a church, shops, a medical centre, restaurants, pool rooms and even a floating basketball court.After an excellent dinner we took a tuktuk to the night market for a wander around and some shopping.Siem Reap is there for tourists as it is the gateway to the Angkor complexeds. These are a mixture of cities (Angkor means city) and temples. Generally, they are all referred to as temples, this is probably because only the defensive walls and temples were made of stone, the buildings were made of wood so haven't survived. To compound the issue, the whole site is often described as Angkor Wat, Angkor Wat is a city with several temples, of which, one particular temple is the iconic image of the whole place - it's all quite confusing.Over the next three days we will be visiting a number of the sites culminating in Angkor Wat.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224986400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224986400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224986400/tpod.html Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:39:44 -0400 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

A day with extremes and emotions.First stop is the Imperial Palace. This is of similar design to the royal palace in Bangkok, with a bit of Chinese influence. There is one slight oddity - a building "donated" to the King by Napoleon.Then the mood changes dramatically. A short journey out of the city takes us to the Killing Fields.The site is actually just one of 343 known Killing Fields and is not one of the biggest.It is a grassy area with lots of trees, seemingly typical of the countryside in this part of Cambodia. It all seems normal except for a series of large indentations in the ground. It is only when you read the sign that asks "Please do not walk through the mass graves" that you realise what they are. And there are a lot of them.The only building in the site is the memorial. This is in the design of a traditional Buddhist building. Inside it houses a large case with a single exhibit - the skulls and bones dug up from the graves at this site. The case is about 2 metres square and has layer upon layer stretching upwards.The reality of the site is brought home by our guide. On the bus to the site he tells us the history of Cambodia, from its' time as a French colony, through independence to the rule of the Khmer Rouge and the background of Pol Pot. As we walk around the Killing Fields he tells us about the site (how people were killed) and the story of his family - their forced evacuation from Phnom Phen, their time as farmers (all Cambodians were required to be farmers and forgo anything resembling civilisation) and how, one night, the Khmer Rouge soldiers came to take away his father (a Police captain and educated man, both capital crimes as far as Pol Pot was concerned).From there it's off to a former high school. This place was converted by the Khmer Rouge into Security Centre 21 (the notorious "S-21"). This means that "enemies" of the Khmer Rouge were taken there for interrogation and torture. From S-21 most prisoners (those that had not died during imprisonment or torture) were then shipped out to the Killing Fields. Of the thousands of people "processed" by the centre, only 7 survived. The place has been preserved and is now the Genocide museum.I'm not going to write anything more about this - you can see more at their web site (www.bigpond.com.kh/users/dccam.genocide).After a sober lunch (quiet, rather than alcohol free), it's off to Wat Phnom. This is another pagoda (Buddhist temple complex) that sits on a man made hill. The story goes that the city is named for this place - Phnom means hill and Phen is the name of the women who provided the funds for the temple. The temple is different from all the others we've seen - it has "neon" Buddhas, think Buddha goes Vegas.Next up is the national museum. We did this in our traditional style, a museum that takes more than 20 minutes is a rarity.Then it was off to a coffee shop for drinks and cake, before engaging in one of the few death defying adrenaline sports not invented by the Kiwi's - rush hour trip on a tuktuk. Death for a Dollar a person...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224813600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224813600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224813600/tpod.html Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:02:38 -0400 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Curiously, everyone was up early this morning.After breakfast, it was back on the boat to explore some more of this part of the Mekong delta.First stop was a visit to a local industry - a brick factory. In the 5 weeks that we've been away this has to be the first time we've been to a local industry where no one has tried to sell you produce as part of the tour. This is probably a good thing as Sarah's luggage is already full with junk.Next stop was a walk through a village and then it was back on the boat and on to a market in the main town. This resulted in many people losing their appetite - on sale were such things as fresh fish (so fresh it still moves), live ducks and geese (just sitting there in baskets), rats (for eating) and live snakes (again for eating). Vietnam is not short of food, it's just that some of it is less appealing.Then it's back on the bus and back to the chaos of Ho Chi Minh city.Tonight is our last group dinner as tomorrow we leave Vietnam for Cambodia and not everyone is doing that part of the trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224727200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224727200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224727200/tpod.html Sun, 26 Oct 2008 03:52:23 -0400 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

oday we're off to the Mekong Delta with the prospect of a night in local accommodation.After a couple of hours drive (and a good lunch), we de-camp from the bus into a boat that is going to take us around this part of the Mekong.A leisurely cruise on the river then follows. First up is a floating market where we barter for some fresh fruit - pineapples, water melon and the like.Then we head off to a little side canal where we transfer to small row boats, the idea being that we are rowed gently up the river to our accommodation. After 5 minutes it starts to rain, this is nice as it takes the edge off the humidity. It then really starts to rain, still cooling. It then pours down and we abandon the row boats as fast as the Americans abandoned South Vietnam and return to the covered main boat.Tonight's accommodation is described as "a home stay", we're staying in a place that is typical of local villages - so minimal features, no air-con, windows but no glass, mosquito nets and shared bathroom facilities (with no covered walkway to get to them).Thankfully, after making its point, the storm disappeared elsewhere.After a brief show of local music, dinner was served. There being little to do here in the evenings we sat round and Chung (our tour leader) played guitar and we had a sing-along. This is actually worse than it sounds - several of our party are from deepest, darkest Yorkshire so the first song was "On Ilkely Moor bar tat". We braved it out until "Imagine" and then ran fast.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224900000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224900000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shaneandsarah/2/1224900000/tpod.html Sun, 26 Oct 2008 03:07:39 -0400 South East Asia - Autumn 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Today we have once last activity in Vietnam and then we leave the country and go to the final country on our tour - Cambodia.Our final activity in Vietnam was a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels. Cu Chi is an area of jungle / rubber tree plantations, it is in the Mekong Delta and is an hours drive from Saigon. The Viet Cong dug miles and miles of tunnels right in the heart of Southern Vietnam and next to a series of US bases. The tunnels include a series of bunkers (sleeping quarters, kitchens, medical facilities etc), often had 3 levels (the deepest being 10 meters of more underground) and were capable of housing 16,000 people.The site has preserved a part of the tunnels and the bunkers. Some of the tunnels have been enlarged (the Vietnamese are quite small and most visitors would get stuck otherwise) and you are able to enter the tunnels. They have added a few lights, but they are still narrow, low, dark, hot, humid and like an ongoing grave (I'm trying to make the claustrophobes amongst you sweat). Some thoughts on Vietnam:It rains there. A lot. Really a lot. And it floods. A lot. And often. And it rains. A lot.It's very, very green and they are able to grow lots of food (could it be something to do with the rain?).The people are friendly.It is discretely religious - there are lots of small temples and shrines to various main stream religions and lots of local deities.The traffic is mad, dangerous and scary.The food is very good and cheap.Oh, and it rains. A lot.Then it's a painful process crossing the border into Cambodia, just the usual bureaucracy.Cambodia should be interesting as it has a reputation - it is post lawlessness, very poor, extremely corrupt and is full of unexploded ordnance (bombs, mines etc). It also has a tough recent history - carpet bombed by the US during the Vietnam war, invaded by Vietnam and then there is a bloke called Pol Pot. On the positive side it offers one of the worlds greatest archaeological sites - Angkar Wat.From the border, it's a long drive to Phnom Phen (the capital, home to 2.5m of the 4m Cambodians).First impressions of Cambodia:It seems prettier than Vietnam, to leave Vietnam we travelled through jungle, then there was the border and then onto an alluvial plain.It is very green with lots of rice fields.The houses are different, they are typically on stilts, seem quite clean and are set back from the road.It is poorer than Vietnam and has more people living on the streets and a lot more beggars.There are lots of cows around, walking along / across the roads, chewing the scenery etc.It feels more similar to Thailand than Vietnam. The people are friendly, very polite and there are lots more Buddhist temples.The people seem darker skinned than the Vietnamese - they are Khmer, rather than Viet..Phnom Phen is another French designed and built city and is calmer and quieter than anywhere in Vietnam. There are more cars, lots of motorbike tuk tuks and a large number of scooters and bikes. Most noticeably, they use their horns a lot less.It is cooler and less humid than Vietnam.
]]>