Sunrise at Angkor Wat

I've always been a sucker for a sunrise, but would be silly of anyone to come all the way to Cambodia and miss this sight.

Recommendations on logistics:

1. Get the pass the day before. You can buy a one-day pas for $20 or a three-day pass for $40. We did the three day which allowed us to do temple touring and sunrise on separate days. 

2. No need for a tour if this is your second day visiting the temples. We did the tour the day before we did sunrise so we asked where to find the best spot. 

3. The spot we were recommended is outside the main gates before you cross the moat. You're not tight up on the iconic five towers, but the moat makes a nice reflecting pool for the picture. When you're looking across the causeway facing the temple, turn right and walk until you're satisfied with your view of the temples. 

4. Leave early if you want to go inside the gates. We left our hotel at 5a because we wanted a good spot. Since we were outside the gates we could have easily left at 530 and still had a great seat, but from 5 on there were literally hundreds of people pouring inside the gates. No gracias. 

5. Tell your tuk tuk driver to wait and pay him afterward. Sweet Kevin made the mistake (on a different outing) of paying the driver after he dropped us off for a show and he didn't come back for the pick up. If you don't know how long you'll be, the driver will either wait or you can just send him on and grab another later. You'll never be for want of a tuk tuk in Siem Reap. 

Now for pictures. It was a cloudy morning so my photos aren't Nat Geo worthy, but it was a lovely experience all the same. 

❤️

Angkor National Museum and Phare Circus

After a very pastry-heavy breakfast (French influences, you know? We did it for culture.) and some successful scarf bargaining, Kev and I took in another round of Siem Reap classics.

First up: the Angkor National Museum. 

Pro tip: do the museum BEFORE the temples. It does a nice job explaining the history and significance so you can take in the temples effectively. 

It's especially valuable because there are a bazillion people at the temples and approx no one at the museum, so you can spend time learning, exploring and appreciating without being jostled around. 

Much of the collection is straight from the temples but has been better preserved. The intricacy of the stone work is incredibly impressive, which is harder to see at the temples. 

The first exhibit it a hall of a thousand Buddhas. The collection is gorgeous and allows you to see the progression of the representation through many centuries. 

Pictures are strictly prohibited, so here is someone else's I stole from the Internet. 

Since I grew up as a regular at the world's largest children's museum (shout out to Indy!) I had a lot of ideas on how they could make the exhibits more interactive, more exciting, easier to digest, etc. 

For example, they had a cool wall of pictures of traditional garb through the ages. But it would have been even cooler if they also had a life-sized apsara dancer with different outfit pictures you could hang on her, plus a face cut-out so you could take pictures. Kevin approximated as best he could. 

All in all it was an interesting and informative experience that was worth the $12. If I had it to do over again, I'd do it the day before the temples. 

That evening, we went to Phare Circus which was inspirational on many levels. http://pharecircus.org/

Phare is a school for Cambodian street children to come (for free) to learn dance, acting, acrobatics, music, visual arts, cooking and hospitality to help break the cycle of poverty. 

They perform every night in Siem Reap and some even travel internationally - right now there's a group touring in France. 

You guys, they knocked my socks off. 

It wasn't just crazy physical acts (though there was plenty of that) - they told a beautiful story which translated without language. 

The kids even provided the soundtrack real-time, including sound effects timed with the performers. You can see them in the background below. 

Everything from the dinner we at beforehand to the performance to gift shop was run by these kids. It was professional, personal and passionate. A impactful experience not to be missed. 

Angkor Temples

Cambodia day 1! Kev and I did a one-day bike tour with Grasshopper today that took us around all three major temples.

Our guide Sambo is Cambodian and super knowledgeable about the temples. Here he is hand-drawing us a map of our route for the day. We did Bayon > Ta Phrom > Angkor Wat. 

We rode along the Siem Reap river and saw a family of water buffalo as they were climbing on shore. We were more impressed with them than they with us. 

The early morning light was delicious at Bayon. We got a couple rare shots without anyone else since we were heading opposite the normal flow. 

There are hundreds of temples in the area, though many of them are piles of sandstone rubble, begging to be climbed. This sign and I were staunch adversaries. I was yelled at more than once by the temple guards to stop acting like one of the monkeys. 

Ta Phrom was for sure my favorite of the big three. It was abandoned several hundred years ago and the trees manifested that destiny in a serious way. 

You might recognize this tree/temple from tomb raider. I did not see the movie so I only recognize it as awesome. The trees are mostly strangler figs and a species I've never heard of called Spunt. I couldn't get over how big the roots are. See human for scale. 

After I took this picture, six other people lined up behind me to take one too. #trendsetter

The last stop in the blazing afternoon sun was Angkor. It is a staggering structure - I can only imagine how the original re-discoverers felt when they happened upon it in the middle of the jungle. 

The temples are hundreds of years old and Cambodia has a habit of changing both kings and dominating deities. As the temples changed hands, they would also change the hands of the carvings from the Buddhist prayer position (often hands in lap in meditation) to the Hindu prayer position (palms together at chest). There's all kinds of evidence of hand-changing on the statutes and carvings throughout the temples. Sometimes they just cut them off entirely. 

I'd also recommend doing some reading on the history before touring. Makes the impact more meaningful, especially if you go without a guide. 

A note on the crowds: the path to Angkor is VERY well-beaten. Here is a two-photo study to illustrate. The first is the picture I took to remember how the temple made me feel. 

The second is what was actually going on around me. 

There were 5M visitors to the temples last year and they're expecting that number to grow to 8M by 2020. If you're considering a visit, come sooner rather than later as it can take some mental focus to not allow the drone of the crowd to drown out the gorgeousness around you. It's absolutely worth the trip. 

A Bit of Sightseeing in Saigon

For our last morning in Saigon, America's (Vietnam's) sweetheart Nguyen met up with us for breakfast and then tour-guided us around his city.

We had no specific goals, but based on experience, we would follow Nguyen wherever he goes and be super glad we did it. First example: Notre Dame cathedral, Vietnam edition. 

Nguyen is Catholic, but they don't get the day off so he said it's a pretty low-key celebration for Vietnamese Christians. 

After that he took us on what appeared to be a trespassing excursion where we climbed up the fire escape of a seemingly abandoned building. We ended up at the site where this photo was taken:

This is from the fall of Saigon in 1975 when the North Vietnamese army finally took over the city and they had to evacuate all American civilians and many South Vietnamese. Was a cool thing to stand on a piece of history, and interesting to see it reclaimed as just a normal building in the city. 

Now it's full of run-down apartments and a very chic coffee shop with fashionable youth having photo shoots. Present company included. 

 

Afterward we went in search of food (obv) and got some good propoganda shots along the way. This guy's my favorite. 

May we all love job and country as much as he. His enthusiasm inspired us to recreate our own. 

Nguyen said this sign, roughly translated, means "the communist party is great." Points for succinctness. 

After that we spent 3 hours of unadulterated luxury at the Cat Moc Spa (strong recommend - its lux by American standards) and prepared for our food tour. 

Not recommended: saying goodbye to Nguyen twice. He was a great guide and now a great friend. We'll miss him!

Things on Motorbikes: Vietnam Edition

There are 15M people in Saigon, and 18M motorbikes. It appears to be the primary mode of transportation for humans and all of their belongings. 

Scooters flow through the city streets like water in a river - if you try to wait for them to pass, you'll never cross . The key is to avoid the buses and trucks, then walk confidently at a consistent pace and let the motorbikes figure it out themselves. #trust

Here are several examples of things I snapped while they scooted by:

Several dozen chicken coops:

Baskets and baskets of ducks:

An entire family:

Me!

Scarier than taking a cab, less scary than crossing the street. A great way to see the city!

Traveler Report: Anna

Six days flew by like lightning and Anna is in the cab on her way back to the States. 

I couldn't ask for a more adventurous, more collaborative, or hungrier travel partner than Anna. Her good attitude and good jokes make stressful situations so easy to handle you hardly even notice them. 

I will miss her genuine curiousity for what's around us and her sound reminders to take pictures. It's because of her that this blog even exists and if ever remember to take another food picture, it will be done in her honor. 

Safe travels, Anna!

Canyoning

Canyoning in Da Lat was like being a widget in a factory, but the stuff you do is a lot of fun. 

Pro tip: in all discernible ways, it appears every tour company runs the exact same tour. Just pick one. 

We went with Passion Tours Da Lat. Very few employees appeared to be following the "ROCK YOUR PASSION" tag line, but most were diligent factory workers. 

Every white person in the region was at this location. Here are nine of them. Two of them are us. 

We did several activities in the 5.5h experience. First we spent 5-7 minutes on safety and skills training. Then, as newly deputized experts, we put our lives at risk in the following ways:

Rappelling off waterfalls

Sliding down rock canyons

Jumping off a 33ft cliff

Here is our safety equipment. Mine is for an obese person. Anna's is for a child. 

The first event was rapelling down a regular old cliff face. Several people were quite bad at it. We all moved on as though they were not.

Next we did the rock slide where we plunged down some rapids with our spinal cords taking the lead.  

Other people went down in different configurations. Anna and I were told to do this because "Boys and girls do sexy time. You both girls." No further explanation was offered or needed for me to up my monthly contribution to the HRC. 

Next we took on a 25-meter waterfall. Piece of cake for some of us. See below for action shots/proof.

One person in the group (who shall remain nameless because we don't know her name) chose not to hold on to her rope at all, taking instead the "dangle and smoosh" approach all the way down the waterfall. It was equal parts sad and scary and frankly quite hilarious. 

Then it was my turn to do something stupid by ignoring my 2-week old Lasik surgery and jumping off an 11-meter cliff. 

We did a another waterfall and some hiking and an altogether unnecessary number of group photos, then called it a day. Anna and I mostly squished to the side so we could crop out the rest of the group and remember only friendship and the beautiful scenery. Here is a successful example. 

We had a great time!

Cu Chi Tunnels

I had a wide range of emotions regarding this experience. Most prominent were shock, sadness, panic, awe, and shame.

We crawled through the tunnels where Viet Kong soliders spent MONTHS of their lives during the war. We didn't take many pictures due to hating being there, but I hope these can illustrate how small they are. 

They were three levels deep. The first level you could crouch to get through. The second I had to crawl. The third wasn't an option but they said it was even smaller.  

Seeing the tunnels, the engineering, the details they had to construct and consider was so interesting in the most heartbreaking of ways.  I have a deeper knowledge of the music of the 70s inspired by the war than I do of the war itself, but now I have a better understanding of where it came from. 

These tunnels are a terrible place created due to terrible circumstances. If you ever need fodder for anti-war sentiments, look no further than the Cu Chi tunnels of Vietnam. I hated them and I'm very glad I went. 

You Nguyen Some, You Lose Some

We just wrapped up our last day of cycling and we're super wishing it lasted three more days (morepleasethankyou, ya know?).

Hot shout out to Nguyen for giving us a bonus 10k today after getting sick of hearing us beg for more. 

It was a route he's never done before and we got turned around more than once. He said he wouldn't do it again. Anna and I would. 

It had more little towns than the rest of the delta, was fun to see all the people. 

Anna even got a marriage proposal at an emergency water stop, which is always a nice touch. 

Her (great) answer was "maybe next year." Let that we a warning to you, Jeff. People are waiting in line for this cycle lady. 

We're sad it's over, but very happy we still have a well-earned lunch ahead of us. 

Until next time, MKD!

Homestay in the Mekong Delta

Last night we stayed in the beautiful and peaceful home of a family who lives on an island in the middle of the Mekong River. 

We took a rickety old boat there. Anna and Nyugen broke up on the way but looked good while doing it. 

The home had a beautiful garden full of lotus plants and fruit trees. 

The family did not speak much English, so it would have been difficult to navigate without Nyugen, but they were very sweet and gracious people who cooked us too much food. And they let us help!

Check this oven set up. Very traditional Vietnamese, according to Nyugen. His family home has the same deal. It was cool watching them adjust the temp by moving burning sticks from one side to the other. 

Anna did a lot of cooking and a lot of looking beautiful near food. Both are her strong suits. 

By special request, they made us Vietnamese pancakes. By not request, they made us nine other dishes. 

Thanks to her lovely upbringing, Anna does NOT LIKE wasting food (big thumbs up to John Green). This is a general rule, but applies double to Asian food. Like a brave soldier, she fought through the pain. 

We slept a in a big hall of bed opportunities, but it was just the three of us. After 70k that day we were safely tucked in our mosquito nets by approx 8pm. #partyanimals

The family also had between zero and several dogs. This one, for example, "does not belong to them" but never leaves the old lady's side. Below you will find Anna not obeying doctors orders to NOT PET STRAY DOGS IF YOU DID NOT GET THE RABIES SHOTS.

It was a lovely time and every bit as peaceful as I hoped it would be. Here's a picture of the sweet old lady as we were leaving. She was born in this house. 

Insider secret: the old lady was gently cupping Anna's butt as this picture was being taken. Based on facial expression, Anna enjoyed it more than she did.