We made it back to the USofA from India without any hangups, at all. We asked for free upgrades (not expecting much) and sweet-talked our ways into business class from Delhi to Doha, Qatar. From Doha to NYC, we sat in poor man’s first class, which was quite spacious in a Boeing 777. After we arrived from India, New York City was the cleanest, freshest, most welcome sight for our sore eyes noses. We spent time with Jerry and Caitlin, laughing and decompressing from the trip. After a quick stop through DC, we were glad to be arriving back in Rochester.
Before we unpacked, before we’d reactivated our cell phones and before we’d had a chance to even leave the house, Mary and I bought a puppy dog. Her name is Chitchen and she’s the cutest, sweetest, little creature that’s ever existed! She’s 9 weeks old and was born on the first anniversary of our engagement: 22 Feb. 2009. She’s a pure-bred beagle, is mostly black with white feet and tail. On her face and huge droopy ears, she’s got some brown colors mixed in. Her name is pronounced like a combination of ‘Chicken’ and ‘Kitchen’… it’s totally unrelated to the Mayan Pyramids found in Mexico. Here’s some pictures from her first day as the newest, littlest and (arguably) cutest addition to our family:
We’ve decided that the gas tanks are empty and that it’s time to head back to the good ole USandA. We’ve been discussing our impending departure with a longing for the comforts of home. There’s no big reason to come home now, but lots of little ideas that have added up to one solution: fly home tomorrow. We changed our tickets, made arrangements to get back to Delhi and have sorted out the plans to get back. We’re both really glad to be going home on our own terms and are done with traveling (for a little while).
India has been a great experience and is a massive, diverse and intense country. We feel like we’ve been here a month already and have barely scratched the surface of what India has to offer. Lots more stories about our experiences here over the coming days… now it’s time to pack the bags. In the meantime, here’s our flight information for Saturday 4/18/2009:
We’ve cranked right through the small country of Cambodia en route between Saigon and Bangkok. As I’m writing, we’re in a minibus hauling west across the flats near the Thai/Combodian border. Last week, we bussed from Saigon to Phnom Pehn, stopping to pick up our $20 visas-upon-arrival. We emerged from Cambodian Customs and realized that our bus was gone, along with our fellow travelers, who’d each paid a $4 “Please don’t leave me behind” fee. A few kilometers on a motorbike only cost us $2 and we caught the bus with time to grab a bite to eat.
Our arrival in Phnom Pehn was starkly different than our days in Vietnam. First, we needed Riels (Cambodia’s official currency) and went to an ATM that could only dispense US dollars (the unofficial and solely used currency). Like in Panama and Ecuador last year, it can be a bit strange to get USD after converting all transactions back to dollars for 7 weeks. I find myself much more frugal in foreign currencies than in actual dollars. We grabbed a tuk-tuk over to the OKAY Guesthouse, set up shop in a nice room, ate and hooked up a tour through the bossman at OKAY.
Next morning, we were off to the S-21 prison where the ‘Pol Pot Clique’ tortured and killed Cambodians, by the thousands. From 1975 till 1979, communist rebels forced citizens out of the cities to work on collective, communal farms. On top of rampant starvation and malnutrition, religion, money and schools were abolished which seemed to have doomed any chance for even fundamental person freedoms. Pol Pot’s cohorts converted a school in downtown Phnom Pehn into a torture center where political dissenters, foreigners and anyone with an education were detained for 2-4 months, questioned and murdered. We saw the 10AM showing of the museum’s documentary describing the separations of all men and women during the years when the Khmer Rouge outlawed marriage.
That afternoon, we visited the International Genocide Memorial (also known as the Killing Fields). Prisoners weren’t typically executed onsite at the S-21 prison. Rather, they were loaded onto Ox carts at night, driven out of town, slaughtered and thrown into mass graves. In an trench maybe 15 foot square, the bodies of approximately 450 people had been excavated. Possibly hundreds of such trenches stretch all around the grounds of the memorial. A much larger section of the memorial remains unexcavated as its underneath a small lake, making it logistics more difficult. After long debate, excavated skulls and other remains were placed in a large tower, 20 levels high and standing maybe 125 feet above where genocide took place. Thousands and thousands of human skulls eerily stand watch over the killing fields as a constant reminder to future generations of crimes committed by men against all of mankind.
After an awakening, but depressing day in Phnom Pehn, we bussed up to Siem Reap, which is only a few kilometers south of Angkor Wat. It was in Siem Reap that we managed to meet up with Dave the Nomad, fellow traveler and my friend from college. Dave left home in August and has been in Europe, the Middle East, India and Asia, prior to our meet-up. We grabbed some beers, shared stories and talked shop about India. The next morning, we set out early for the temples to check out Preah Kahn, Bantay Prei, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, Pre Rup and Banteay Kdei. For $10-12, you can rent a tuk-tuk for the day and drive out to see oodles of ancient temples. They’re huge (might be hundreds) and most are spread miles apart. Angkor Wat, the largest and most expansive temple, is over a thousand years old and is the largest religious building in the world.
On Mary’s birthday, we woke up before 5AM to grab a tuk-tuk out to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. The greatest part about getting up for sunrise is having the temple practically to yourself for a few hours while everyone is asleep back in town. We visited some of the more central temples, including the famous ones from the Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider movies. The intricately detailed stone carving intensifies the awesomeness of the temples’ ancient architecture. Several temples are complete with huge moats that make European castles look like beachside child’s’ play. Mary had some delicious birthday curry, a massage and tasty brews to cap off her special day in Cambodia.
On our final day visiting the temples, we shared some Tuk-tuks with a merry band of travelers from the US, Holland and Finland. We headed WAY out of town to see the womanmade temple, consisting of miniature buildings with extremely detailed sandstone carvings. Afterwards, we went on a hike through the River of 1000 Lingas, where Angkorian people carved Lingas (sacred altars) into the stream bed. As a bonus, we could splash around a waterfall for some much needed cool down.
After the ride back to town, we turned our attention towards India and managed to change our tickets from Bangkok to Delhi instead of our original plans for Mumbai (Bombay). We’ve given serious consideration to the weather forecast while planning our itinerary and will spend the next 5 weeks dodging 105 degree days, as much as possible. We’ll fly into Delhi and work on getting train tickets to Agra, Varanassi, Darjeeling, back to Delhi and then up north to Rishekesh. Because we’re starting later than we’d planned, we’ll have to skip much of southern India and decided that Mumbai no longer made sense as an entry point. Tonight, we’re staying near the Bangkok airport and will hop a flight from BKK to Delhi on Jet Airways.
This officially makes tonight our last night in Bangkok.
While we were in Hanoi, we stayed just north of the old French Quarter near St. Joseph’s Cathedral. In the neighborhood, there are many hotel options for all price ranges, yet we were very hard pressed to find a decently priced meal in Hanoi. Vietnamese food seems to be focussed on fish and sea life of all varieties, but good, cheap food is extremely hard to come by unless you’re craving noodles in beef broth — Pho — 3xDay. In contrast, we were tripping over great food all over Thailand and especially Laos.
I’ve been able to upload several items of note. First, we recorded a video of our experience arriving to Cat Ba Island without the use of a tour company, here:
Next, while visiting the “Hanoi Hilton”, Mary snapped my picture standing next to John McCain’s flight suit from when he was imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam’s infamous POW prison, here:
Finally, on our way out of town, we swung by the Hanoi Water Puppet theater for an afternoon show of tradition song, music and water puppetry. The art form was impressive and not just in the “I’ve been going strong for 10 centuries” sortof way. I was impressed by the puppets’ speed and the dexterity of the puppeteers given that they were sloshing through water several feet deep.
This morning, we arrived in Sapa (AKA Sa Pa or Cha Pa) on the overnight ’soft’ sleeper train from Hanoi. After we boarded the train, the car started to fill with smoke — not from some emergency or a small fire, no. The smoke plumed out of the 2 cabins next to ours FOR hours. We cranked the window down in the hall to relieve our burning eyes. Upon request of the conductors, the dozen chain smokers sealed themselves in their cabins long enough for us to get ready for bed. My last train memory was watching the smoke billow through our door frame and over the internationally vivid no-smoking sign.
We toured the town and have set-up a 3 day, 2 night trek up to the “Roof of Indochina”. Fansipan (or as I’ve been mispronouncing as Fancy-pants) rises to 3143 meters and we’ll hike most of the way up tomorrow with the remainder on Saturday. Sunday will be all downhill as we trot back into town after becoming “vanquishers of the mountain” (straight from the Vietnamese tourist posters). So, no contact for the next 4 days while we’re trekking.
On Monday night, we’ll take the overnight train back to Hanoi, sitesee a bit more and catch a flight to Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon) at 1:30 PM, Tuesday.
We’re taking a bit of a day off today after three awesome, fun-filled days spent rock climbing. The combination of a fantastic crew (3 Brits and 3 ‘Mericans), top notch guides and good walls made it a great time for all. We signed up for the three day course in Luang Prubang through Green Discovery and arrived in Vang Vieng to find that 4 others had joined up, too. We started on Sunday morning at 9ish, gathered shoes and harnesses from the shop and rode out the the river. The beginner climbing walls were just off the river not far from the “Last Bar Last Swing” restaurant, which also served us lunch and stocked cold Beerlao for post-climb celebrations. Our guides, Hoi and Gau, taught knots, top roping and basic climbing techniques before lunch. Afterwards, we practiced belays and were able to have three teams climbing/belaying at once. We rounded out the day with a blindfolded climb which improved everyones’ confidence and general team trust.
Mary climbing blindfolded with Patrick on belay
On Monday and Tuesday we learned about lead climbing and were able to practice to our hearts’ content. Lead climbing differs from top-roping in that there is no rope above you to stop a fall. Rather, the rope is below you on a lead climb and requires clipping into successive bolts that have been drilled into the rock face. This technique was a real breakthrough from any of our prior experiences and was also a tad scarier in practice. My fear was focussed on the part where you untie yourself from the safety of the rope in order to loop it through the top ring prior to descending.
Mary is lead climbing up through this crevassed wall.
After some practice, I really enjoyed the lead climbing and Hoi (our trusty guide) kept pushing me to try more and more technical climbs. Mary and I are very excited to keep learning more about the sport and REALLY enjoyed climbing outdoors for 3 days in a row. We both have improved our techniques and our bodies need a rest after getting all banged up against the Laos limestone.
I want to be a rock-climber, if only for all the cool gear!
Coincidentally, we finished our course on St. Patrick’s Day and went out for a double celebration with everyone. Corned Beef and Cabbage seemed very challenging to find last night, so I ordered green curry with chicken, instead. In addition to my green shirt, I thought the green curry might lend a festive air to the day.
My best attempt at dinner befitting a St. Patty’s Day in Laos
We stepped off the slow boat onto to dry land last night in Luang Prubang, Loas. We left Huay Xai at about noon on Saturday, sped downstream for 6 hours, 20 minutes and spent the night ashore in Pak Beng. We woke up to a snappy breakfast and grabbed our pre-ordered bag-o-sammies on the way back down to the boat. The 9AM boat pulled out promptly at 10 and floated downstream for 8 hours, 25 minutes of additional Me Kong glory. All told the trip took just under 15 hours, which is considerably shorter than the 18 hour prediction from the guy selling ‘upgrades’ for the direct mini-van — shocking.
"Two tickets on the slow boat please!"
The boat ride was interesting — the crowd was a bit much, but the scenery made it spectacular voyage. Starting from Huay Xai, the sand dunes turn into hills, which grew upwards into limestone rock faces. Making the trip even more breathtaking, the boulders and rock-outcroppings along the shores and mid-stream required occasionally intricate slaloming. The river rapids were not overly intense for a rubber boat, but seemed just wild enough for our over sized canoe. I’ll attempt to describe our craft: two sets of benches go down either side of the boat and are separated by an aisle way wide enough for two people to lay down, shoulder to shoulder. In the front is the windshield and navigations with about 20 feet of flat room for lounging. Next is room for ~100 people to sit on the benches, followed by the snack bar, engine, family’s living quarters and bathroom. All told, the boat was maybe 200 feet long and maybe 15 feet wide. The engine looked like a v12 diesel that had been pulled out of a tractor trailer and hooked up to the long tailed prop.
There was no reverse.
While docked, the boat would point up stream and then swing around slowly with the help of some long bamboo poles. The crew appeared well trained — to the point that we’d suspected they’d never spent more than a day off the Me Kong.
We returned to Chiang Mai after spending Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning at the International Meditation Center just outside of town. What an incredible experience! The retreat was led by several student monks who study at Chiang Mai University (CMU) together with a master of meditation monk, who seems to be ranking monk on all things Buddhist. In addition to meditation, the center has a good size dining hall (large enough for maybe 150 people), double occupancy, single sex dorm rooms complete with fan and private baths. The whole compound is a smooth operation and the grounds are immaculately maintained. The all-vegetarian meals are prepared by a small staff of former Burmese refugees who are staying at the center during the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
There were 36 beginners at the retreat and we were all required to wear white during our stay (a tradition passed down from the Buddha). We learned about several schools/techniques and were able to practice sitting, lying down and walking meditation. Each style seemed challenging at first, but we both started to catch the hang of them - with some practice and more training. Interestingly, several techniques are similar to yoga, what with the concentration on breathing, staying focussed and being relaxed, keeping your posture straight and visualizing on any pains that arise. Then, there were lots of things that were pretty unique, like the no talking bit. Yeah, we had total silence throughout the experience — unless you were one of the 6 chicks from the UK to whom the rules seemed to not apply. Regardless, I found it very interesting how little you really NEED to say to people in order for them to know what you’re thinking. Further, total silence can do wonders to shut out alot of the background thoughts and focus your mind on the task at hand — very cool to try sometime.
Here’s our class of rookies with the master (center), flanked by his students:
Mary is down in the bottom left and I’m two rows behind her on my tiptoes.
We got a beginners lecture on Buddhism, the teachings of the Buddha and some insight into the monks’ customs and traditions. Towards the end of the retreat, we broke into small group sessions and had the opportunity to ask whatever we wanted about meditation practice, the lives of the monks or even about haircuts and robe colors. It was a great experience and we’d highly recommend MonkChat, if you ever find yourself in Chiang Mai.
Up next, we’ll head into Laos tomorrow, making it only the second land-based border crossing of the trip (first being from Ecuador to Peru way back in October). All the other crossings have been at airports, but it feels like no big deal at all. We could see the lights on in Laos from our hotel in Chiang Khong. So tomorrow, we’ll load into the ferry, hit the customs and immigrations on both banks before jumping on the slow boat towards Luang Prubang. The slow boat is exactly what it sounds like — a lazy cruise down the Mae Kong river for 2 days. We should arrive in Luang Prubang at around 6PM on Sunday evening, where we plan to explore for a few days before bussing on towards Vang Vieng.
We’re on the bus on our way out of Pai (pronounced Pie), en route to return to Chiang Mai. The little hippy town was great for many reasons – not the least of which being a break from the Thai heat/humidity. Pai is about a 3 hours ride northwest of Chiang Mai and is higher up into the mountains, thereby cooler. We took a private mini-bus and thought we would arrive in style. Instead, the hair-pin mountain roads left us both a bit wracked, bounced and turned. In contrast, today’s bus seems much cooler and has half the people, allowing us to spread out a bit.
Pai is spectacular in every sense. We seemed to have arrived at just the right time of year – cool at night (maybe 65 degrees F) and just crowded enough for some nightlife. We read that Pai was good for hanging out next to the river, elephant trekking and some free hikes to nearby waterfalls. This is exactly what we did: on day one, we scouted the town for the good eats and stopped into The Witching Well for great sammies. Day two, we walked out of town up into the hills in seek of a waterfall (slash) old-style swimmin’ hole. However, yesterday was the most incredible of our adventures in Pai, possibly in all of Thailand.
We set out on the day with some coffee and bagels before Mary took a 2.5 hour yoga class (including plenty of meditation, too). After lunch, we headed over to Thom’s Elephant Camp to ride and play with the elephants. Pompaem was our gentle beast who carried us down to the river. Bath time!!! The elephants loved playing in the river and we learned several new things about these ancient creatures: First, a long trunk is very useful for many things, including use as a super long snorkel, dine-and-dash grass-grabber and fire hose. Results of our water fight with Pompaem and her buddy Tut Dao — Humans: 0, Elephants: 1. After bath time, we continued downstream and returned to Thom’s to snack on the entirety of several banana trees. Thom’s shoots video of your ride (with pictures, too) and offers to sell you a DVD for $17… of course, you HAVE to buy it and hope that it comes out well. Regardless of the price tag, how many videos do you have of an elephant dumping you off its back into a river? We know own one. After the elephant ride and snack time, we soaked up the sunset in Thom’s hot tubs. To recover from our magical experience, we applied a few Singha beers and some cakes from a bakery in town… should we have held out for Pie in Pai?
This afternoon, we’re headed to a Buddhist Meditation Retreat on the campus of Chiang Mai University where we’ll learn about the religion and chat with student/novice monks. I’m not sure if the camera will be allowed in, but we are very excited about getting new, all white suits for the retreat and the possibility of breaking it down with some real life Thais. Send us your questions about Buddhism and we’ll try to send back any answers that we find.
We left Ranong yesterday afternoon to catch Train #86 in Chumphon, which arrived safely in Bangkok main train terminal at around 6:30 AM, this morning. Per recommendations from Austin friends, Lili and Aaron, we scored 2 berth seats in the Air-Con, Second Class cabin. The beds were extremely comfortable and we were excited with how nice the experience went. When we were able to calm down, we both slept really soundly — Mary on the bottom (read: darker/roomier) bunk and me up topside. We both really look forward to tomorrow’s longer adventures on the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai!
Also, I’ve added a Google Map of our Geo Feed, which is a mash-up of Yahoo’s Fire Eagle, BlogLoc.com and a service called GeoUpdater. Check out the pinpoints of where we’ve been thus far on the journey.
The time has come — Patrick and I are shoving off once again, this time for South East Asia and India. We are very thankful that Patrick has been able to totally recover from his pesky organ episode, and that our family and friends have been there for us in this unforeseen extended stay in Rochester.
In realizing it’s time to go, a most important question has popped up — what the heck time is it there? Our flight leaves from JFK to Hongkong on Thursday at 1:30 pm, and after switching planes in Hong Kong, we’ll arrive in Bangkok at 11:55 pm on Friday night. So how many hours will we be traveling for?
After consulting wikipedia’s world time zone map, we have learned that Bangkok (and the rest of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) are all 12 hours ahead of our time here in New York. So, with some math, we figured out that when we arrive into Bangkok at 11:55 pm on Friday night, it will only be 11:55 am on Friday morning back home on the East Coast. So a mere 24 hours of travel to get there, nothing we haven’t done before.
Then, to look ahead to April 9 when we fly into India, it looks like we will be just 10.5 hours ahead of the time here at home. I’ve never heard of time zones changing on the half hour, so we will have to see that with our own eyes.
So it’s time to go, and good to know what time it is.
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