Siem Reap to Sihanoukville

Donovan Writes:

We enjoyed Siem Reap so much we decided to stay an extra day. We visited a few more temples, one still overgrown with trees and another on top of a mountain (maybe more comparable to Cat Mountain). We spent the afternoon at the pool. The heat is pretty intense, it's obvious why it is the low tourist season. Just means we have to take everything a little slower, which is easy to do here.

Monday morning we left for a 10 hour bus ride to Sihanoukville. Overall, the trip went fine, but I definitely would avoid sitting in the front of the bus again. Seeing how close the bus driver comes to everything on the road was a little stressful. Also, it was a rare occasion that 20 seconds would pass by without him honking the horn. When we finally arrived, I was honestly surprised we hadn't killed anyone the entire trip. We did come within about 2 inches of hitting a cow though. We're now looking for a boat to take us to Vietnam.

I can't totally complain about the driving here in Cambodia. I think in some aspects, they have better system than we do. For instance, although there is traffic in Cambodia it is never stop-and-go. The reason being: there are no stoplights or even stop signs, never a reason to stop. We did see a couple stoplights on our way through Phnom Penh, but no one (including the bus driver) paid any attention to them. By avoiding ever having to stop, it really helps with the pace of traffic. Even making a left turn is easy, you just start driving down the left side of the road until you see a break in traffic big enough to get over to the right side.

When we arrived in Sihanoukville it was dark, so we just let the tuktuk driver take us to the hotel that he recommended (or got a kickback from). It wasn't the nicest place we'd seen but it had cold A/C and hot water, and being on the beach for $10 a night was hard to refuse. We had a pretty good meal at the hotel restaurant, although the 1996 bottle of Bordeaux we found collecting dust on their shelf for $17 was the highlight.

There is an obvious excess supply of restaurants and eateries here. With the exception of dinners on Pub street, we usually end up being the only customers in many of the places we eat. Works out great for us, we've always had fantastic food and great service. Hey Bill - The $1 draft beers are usually Angkor Beer and sometimes Tiger. Not the best beer in the world, but sure is worth the $1 (or $0.50 - $0.75 at happy hour). Johnny Walker is usually $2, so I haven't splurged for that yet. I did try some Mekong Whisky. It wasn't bad, but a little too sweet for me.

Internet here in Cambodia is super slow, more pictures to come when we get to Vietnam.

Floating Villiages

Jessica writes:
On Saturday, we spent another several hours with Ponheary on a boat trip to the floating villages on Tonle Sap lake in Siem Reap. Even though we expected a certain amount of poverty, the setting shocked us. For generations, these families have lived in floating villages, each year floating closer to the mountains during the rainy season.

Pollution from trash and motor boats has continues to diminish the number of types of fish. The trees surrounding the villages are where the fish lay their eggs during the dry season. In order to make money, the Cambodians here take the baby fish and sell them to the Vietnamese - thus again disrupting the life cycle of the fish and limiting their food supply. Suppoesdly over the past 30 years, they've lost a couple hundred species.

The small shacks they live in are made of any materials they can come up with. While the creativity and resourcefulness is apparent in some, the sight is still staggering. Children come up in boats and ask you for $1 to take a picture of them. The number of kids begging was unbelievable. Some parents even give their children snakes to attract tourists to them. We fell for the cute little girl on the left before we learned the economics behind it. The sad reality is that if tourists continue to pay them, they will continue to beg, decreasing the probability that they will actually end up working for a living. According to Ponheary, it used to be much worse, however tour companies are attempting to educate tourists and this had actually made a postitive impact.

Some tourists who previously visited the Floating Villages have decided to go a step further. A floating school was paid for by the Vietnamese, a new school house with a playground was donated by some Japanese tourists and Korean tour boats can be seen all over the place. I can't recall who paid for the floating basketball court.

Along the road leading to the village, makeshift huts are lined up along the road. Most are on stilts and look rather precarious. Children and adults cross planks no more than 2 feet wide to get into their homes. If someone were to fall, the drop might be more than 20 feet. Scary!!

We didn't stop along the road to the floating village. I'm not sure that I could bear it. The poverty was very upsetting. Honestly, I didn't realize what an affect it had on me. The naked children everywhere continue to run around with smiles on their faces. If only they knew that life could be different. The knowledge and hard work that it would take to get them there would inevitably destroy their innocent happiness. Worth it though. Definitely worth it. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the cycle is anywhere even close to ending.

And Dad, yes, of course I cried.

(We filmed a short video of the road to the villages and will upload it later because it's a HUGE file).

(more photos)

Angkor Wat and the Escalators

Jessica writes: First, a little background...a friend from Austin, Lori Carlson, is the founder and president of the a non-profit called the Ponheary Ly Foundation. The organization's primary purpose is to provide many impoverished children in Cambodia's poorest rural villages the opportunity to get an education. While the primary school (1st - 6th grades) is free, they cannot afford uniforms, shoes, supplies, etc.

One thing we decided to do during our stay in Siem Reap was to visit the Knar primary school - one the 5 schools supported by the Ponheary Ly foundation. With Lori's help, we were able to set up a field trip for 20 students to go on a tour of Angkor Wat, to Siem Reap for lunch and then to the Supermarket (which is more like a 3 story mini-mall with a small place to buy food - locals get almost all their food at the open-air markets).

It was our good fortune that the tour guide available was Ponheary herself. What a remarkable woman! Ponheary picked us up at 7:30 am for a short tour of the Banteay Srei temple - deemed the "Citadel of Women" because of the beautiful intricate details and short doorways, and dedicated to the Buddist God Shiva. After that, we headed to the Knar school.

The school itself has gone through major changes since the late 1990s due in most part to the help of generous tourists and the foundation. The large school yard is in rough shape as are the sparse classrooms. Ponheary gave us a tour of the classrooms, introduced us to the teachers and principal and described the surrounding villages. The harsh realities these children face, compared with our seemingly rich Western upbringing, evoke so many different emotions. Standing their in the school yard, with kids running up to us and just staring and smiling. Concern, interest, the realization that they don't know any different, pity, sadness. Still, a sense of pride and hope reigned.

We then headed to Angkor Wat. Built from 1112 to 1152 by King Suryavarman II, the temple is an enormous architectural accomplishment. Originally surrounded by a moat and built on sand with drainage systems far ahead of their time. But even more moving was the children's desire to learn and be educated. They have been here to see the 8th Ancient Wonder of the World. It's built by their ancestors and is only 12 km from their house, but their poverty has kept them away. For the better part of an hour, we walked around, watched them take it all in and stopped sporadically as their took our hands and lead us to a spot where they wanted us to take a picture with them.

After leaving the temple, we headed to the Khmer Kitchen in Siem Reap for lunch. Again, most students had never been to town, never eaten at a restaurant, never tried curry or authentic Khmer dishes (food created by their Cambodian neighbors). Donovan couldn't keep up! They each ate about 4 servings each! Some trying different things others more reluctant and just eating sticky rice.

We then headed to the Supermarket - we gave each student with $1 to spend. As we entered the supermarket and headed for the escalator, there was an immediate traffic jam. It hadn't occurred to us that not one of them had ever seen an escalator. They had no idea what it was, and were frightened by it. While we couldn't help, but laugh - their amazement was just comical. They loved it! We spent a good part of the next three hours going up and down and holding the hands of those who were frightened. At the top of the escalator, the kids discovered a photo booth. You could pick any background and do 4 poses and get 4 pictures. The temples were thrown out the door as each child wanted their own picture made. Their curiosity and creativity was very interesting. They waited patiently for their turn and watched each other find different poses and backgrounds, laughing as the tech running the stand edited each image.

Upon returning to the bus, Donovan and I were honored as each child came up to us and gave us one of their pictures for us to remember them by. As we drove back by the temples, towards the school, different children got up and sang songs. Each of the songs they sang was written by the teacher that accompanied us on the trip. At the end of the day, they thanked us profusely and we left them at the edge of the school to start their half a mile walk back home to their parents. We watched as they continued to wave until we were out of site.

A very moving and powerful experience - one we hope that will leave them with the knowledge that they can make different life for themselves.

Donovan writes: On the way back, we discussed Siem Reap with Ponheary. The city of 800,000+ is experiencing an interesting stage of growth and change. Tourism for the city and Ankor Wat has exploded. It is obvious the locals realize the potential to capitalize on it, but they don't have access to financing or even the education that would help them. For example, the real estate prices within the downtown area has skyrocketed. Some locals have sold their land to foreigners and moved farther away from the city. Because of the lack of education, Ponheary said that most of them end up buying cars and other goods rather than investing the money or starting a business. Currently, prime real estate in town is about $1,000/sq meter. She suggested that the lack of ambition of the Cambodians is another important symptom of the problem. This is one of the main reasons she said she likes to take the students on these field trips to see 1) the amazing temples that their ancestors built; and 2) to show them some of the features of the city and how they could achieve a better life. The excitement of the trip is also an opportunity for the kids spread the word of the benefits of attending school. Over the past three years since the Ponheary Ly Foundation has gotten involved in the schools, attendance for the Knar School has grown from 200 to 417 students.

We finished off the night with another great meal, this time on Pub street lined with bars and restaurants. Over Khmer green curry fish and pad thai, we watched as an organization built a catwalk and produced a fashion show right along the main street. A far cry from the experiences earlier in the day. We couldn't really see much of what the models were wearing (the tourists lining the catwalk were much taller than the models), but the people watching was still enjoyable. As the night continued, the street filled up with tourists and a few locals, an environment not far from 6th Street in Austin. The differences were evident as we watched a barefooted 7-year old walk her half-naked 18-month old brother down the street in front of a group of Japanese tourists.

(more photos)

Singapore to Cambodia

Donovan Writes:
After arriving back in Singapore, we met up with our friends and did a little shopping and eating, traditional Singapore activities. Another incredible spread of many different kinds of Asian cuisine. The only think I don't think either of us liked was the preserved duck eggs. Gerald mentioned they had been featured on FearFactor. The meal also included a unique dessert consisting of flavored ice, fruit, and beans. We both enjoyed it.

Following dinner, we headed out to an Sentosa Island. Its a developing resort island directly adjacent to Singapore. You can get there by rail, car, boat, or gondola. I believe there's a water park there too, but we just visited the bars. Cafe del Mar, modeled after a bar in Macao, was situated right on the beach with two stories of seating, a pool, and huts in the sand. Not a good night to close down the place since we had a 6:00 am flight the following morning.

It was funny that we had to leave Iggy's house for the airport at the same hour (3:30 am) that we had arrived several days earlier. Iggy, being the great host that he is, drove us to the airport, although Manchester United was playing at 2:45 am. Don't know how he only seems to sleep 3-4 hours a night.

Cambodia:
It was nice to arrive in the morning and have the rest of the day to explore the city. The hotel we are staying in is a far cry from the way a typical Cambodian would live, but it seems that hotels and resorts are popping up all over the area. It's interesting to see a new 5-star hotel a block away from small shacks where many families live. Although the tourism does bring money to the area, all of the high-dollar hotels are foreign-owned, meaning most of the profits leave the country. The proliferation of tourism here did make things a little easier on us. The pharmacy had everything we needed, and Jess was able to replace her prescription glasses (left at Iggy's house) for 32 bucks while we both got a well needed massage.

Although I thought I had actually seen what it might be like in hell, Jess seemed to really enjoy the open-air market. A steaming hot, congested, area that smelled of fish really wasn't what I would consider "open-air", but I have to admit they did have many interesting goods for prices hard to believe. I did enjoy almost stepping on a squirming fish that jumped out of its tub on our way out of the market.

One of the most interesting things to do here is sitting on one of the many street-side restaurants or bars, drinking dollar beers and watching what locals can cram on top of the hundreds of motorbikes passing by. The highlights were a guy and a pig, two guys and a 16-foot ladder, two guys and a 4 ft by 8 ft sheet of glass, two guys and a tire, and a family of five.

Silk - 2 for 1 drinks

Jess writes (about Monday night):

Silk is the name of nightclub in the Bintan Lagoon resort. It was empty except for about 6 staff members and 3 girls at the bar (wrongly deemed groupies, as they turned out to be part of the band). The cover band with no audience, but us. They weren't actually all that bad...comical really...as they belted out hotel california as "coo wind in my head." Even better, they gave us one piece of paper in which we could request a song to be played. Since they obviously know it was coming from the couch with the porn fringe around it (see image on left), we refrained from picking a song that could appear as bad asian karaoke and went with no woman, no cry. The put us in our place when they broke out the bongos. haha. After that lead singer parted the porn fringe to try and convince us to come sing with them. After a long pause Donovan told her that was a no go. Instead she handed us a book of song request forms. Four Non-Blondes...some Dire Straits...then another couple came in and requested From this Moment On. We were laughing too hard to stay, besides, it kind of felt like we were on a cruise ship anyway.

Singapore and Bintan

Donovan Writes:
Fortunately we have easy access to a computer here, so updating this blog is easy. Probably won't experience this in Cambodia or Vietnam.

Yesterday morning we spent some time planning the next leg of our trip (we've got to do it sometime, right?). Bought two tickets to Siem Reap, Cambodia for next Thursday. Since it was much cheaper to fly on that day, we moved up our reservations in Bintan, Indonesia for Monday and Tuesday night so that we would be back in Singapore in time to catch the early morning flight to Siem Reap. Heading to Vietnam after Cambodia, but we'll plan that adventure another day.

Went to breakfast this morning with Iggy and Weylin at the Gismo Hawker. Tried various food from the many stands. The roast duck and cakes with curry sauce were the highlights of this meal. Also enjoyed the shrimp dumpling soup. Although the food is really cheap here in Singapore, the cost of living isn't. Driving a car here is a luxury, and housing is very expensive. Luckily, they have a fantastic continuously-expanding public transportation system that the population utlizes.

After brunch, Iggy dropped us off to explore the city. We started in Little India, visiting various temples and shops, and then headed to a middle eastern neighborhood. I, of course, followed Jess around as she shopped. I was very tolerant. Hopped on the subway f0r a visit to Chinatown, stopping occasionally for a drink or a snack. Singapore is super humid and hot this time of year (or maybe it is like this year round). Better to get used to this weather sooner than later.

This country is entirely about food. Every street corner has a restaurant, and each one always has folks enjoying some type of delicious snack. Between the hawkers, street vendors, and food courts there must be thousands of venues within the downtown area alone. You don't see any bars and luckily the Starbucks are few and far between. I don't understand how everyone here isn't overweight.

After dark, we headed to the Night Safari. This was a zoo for nocturnal animals. We saw some interesting creatures on the tram tour, but as jet lag was still effecting us as we both were falling asleep at the end. It was an early night after that.

Iggy's dad claims there are monkeys who move daily between the forest and the jungle near their house. He says they knock over the trash cans and get into the garbage. He said he puts bricks in the trashcan to keep them upright. I'll believe it when I see them. I've got the camera ready.

Monday:
This morning, we packed up our stuff and Iggy took us to the ferry to Bintan. The resort is beautiful and should be a pleasant break; a good time to plan the rest of the trip. Being here on a weekday in the off season means we have the place to ourselves. I'm really starting to chill out and get into the traveling mode.

Of course, the first thing I see is the ATV tours of the island so Jess wasn't surprised when I suggested we set one up. Although the ATV's engine lacked some horsepower, I was still able to rip the chain off and render mine useless within the first part of the trip. Luckily, the guide's ATV also failed, so we hung out in the jungle, eating wild berries and watching the monkies until our replacements arrived. The private tour continued, and because the guide felt bad for the delay, he led us on an extended ride that ended on the beach. (see video of donuts on the sand).

Back to reality, it's time to start planning the rest of the trip...

Orchard Road

Jessica writes:

We started yesterday with an unbelievable brunch at a beautiful local restaurant in Dempsey with Weylin and Iggy. Their love for great food and cooking can be viewed on Weylin's blog. Could we have asked for better companions?

Our full stomachs were then ready for a walk through the Singapore Botanical Gardens (and National Orchid Garden). Originally est in 1822, closed in 1829 and reopened 30 years later - the park and gardens are highly impressive. Some parts are manicured, some still jungle with walking trails and picnic spots everywhere. Singapore as a whole is a very clean city. We are amazed at how well planned the city is - most US cities pale in comparison. The city layout, green spaces, traffic flow and public transport...a wide range of different ethnicities and 4 religions all peacefully living and working together in the same country. Imagine that?

On a different note, a Honda Civic can cost upwards of S$100,000 and that doesn't include the permit that you need to drive it which can cost up over S$17,000 if you're lucky. Needless to say, that the permit only lasts for 10 years and then many times you are forced to sell the car parts. And that's a low end car. A Porsche Boxster costs S$212,000+ and the permit may be up to half a mil. Imagine wrecking that car...

Later on...massage, shopping in and around Orchard Road (Donovan was SO excited!), big time nap...then off to another fantastic meal on the East Coast with Iggy, Weylin, Nicole and Gerald (another ex-Purdue swimmer and his gf). Fresh crab on the water served up two different ways, bamboo clams, shrimp with ugly eyes. Rough life, eh?

A boat ride in Clarke Quay...a nighttime owl's view of the city...a Manchester United draw...and back to bed. The jet lag is killer...

A few more photos

Signing off
Jess

Leaving Austin

Donovan Writes:

I finished the MBA program, Kim and Elliot have settled into our house in Hyde Park, my car is sold, and our bags were packed. It was close, but everything fell into place by the afternoon before we were to leave.

We flew from Austin to LAX to Tokoyo to Singapore. All the flights were slightly delayed, but we made it to Singapore without any problems. We're both really glad we chose Singapore Airlines for the flights from LAX to Singapore. There was plenty of room to stretch out, over 100 on-demand movies, TV shows and video games. If I was playing with real money in video poker, I'd be up 50 grand. I also was impressed by the food. Anytime I have smoked salmon and a bottomless glass of wine I'm happy. Cute flight attendants and periodic hot towels didn't hurt either.

We arrived at about 2:00 am in Singapore, and Iggy and his girlfriend Weylin were there waiting for us. From the airport, we headed to a "hawker centre" - outdoor food market - where Iggy proceeded to wander around and pick various plates for us to try. One of the dishes, carrot cake, wasn't what you might expect, but this Malaysian/Indian dish was fantastic. After the late-nite meal, we head back through the thunderstorm to Iggy's place. Settled in, took a well needed shower, and headed to bed at about 4:30.

Today, it is on to exploring Singapore...