Tuesday July 22nd – Siem Reap, Cambodia

Though we purchased a three day pass for Angkor Wat we decided to spend our final day in Cambodia exploring the city and surrounding areas.  Yes, we could have easily spent another week exploring temples, but we felt we had seen enough already and wanted to see what else we could find in and around Siem Reap.

We took our last bicycle journey into town and went to the Angkor Artisan Centre where they had a free shuttle bus that takes tourists out to their silkworm farm, about 16 kilometres outside of the city.  As we waited for the next shuttle we had a look around the facility and found dozens of local craftsmen doing intricate carvings on sandstone and wood.  They seemed to be carving mainly Buddha heads and elephants and as the workshop was wide open you could get up close to see how they were doing it and what sorts of tools they were using.  We learned that this institution had been part of one of the temple restorations and had carved a large number of sandstone blocks to be used where the original ones were either too damaged or could not be found.

The silkworm farm was simply amazing.  We were taken on a guided tour where we saw the process of silkmaking right from start to finish.  We saw the mulberry tree nursery which feeds the worms, then the worm eggs which were hatching, then the baby worms, then the mature worms, then the cocoons and the entire extraction, spinning and weaving process, which is all done the same way as it has been for centuries.  The final products were all on display and for sale at a gift shop at the end of the tour.  I was tempted by a dashing grey, shimmering silk suit, but since I’m not David Bowie or my brother Curtis, I decided not to purchase it and left in the same cruddy shorts and sweaty t-shirt.

In the afternoon we returned the bikes then explored some bookstores, more markets, had a snack and some drinks, then returned to the hotel for an afternoon swim.  As we had a super fast internet connection we made some Skype calls to the family back home.  After it had cooled down a bit, we tuk-tuk’d back into town for a final night in Siem Reap and on the way had a wonderful experience which really says it all about the Cambodian people.  It had started to rain heavily, but as the tuk-tuks are covered we were able to keep dry.  As we motored down the busy street, a motorcycle pulled up beside us, and on the motorcycle was a family of four, all drenched to the core, and all giving us these huge, joyful smiles.  This simple, genuine moment was so touching, as here were two happy families, from two different worlds, sharing a brief moment during a downpour.

In the past we’ve found that when you have a major tourist draw like Angkor Wat, the nearby city is more often than not an appalling place, existing primarily to rip off tourists.  But Siem Reap is truly the exception as it is a vibrant, authentic and exciting city and worth visiting in its own right.  I must admit, at first I wasn’t sure, but after spending a couple days here it has really grown on me.  I also learned that Cambodia is known as a real party place as they allow the bars to stay open as long as they want, while in some of the surrounding countries such as Laos and Thailand, the bars must close after a certain hour.  One of the other things I like about Seam Reap is there is nowhere near the level of “seediness” that we found in Chiang Mai.  This is one thing we are actually a little anxious about for our visit to southern Thailand as we’re expecting to find a whole lot of this and don’t want to traumatize the kids too much (though if they are not traumatized by now I think they should be okay!).

Saying all that, as you walk around Siem Reap you do notice a number of older, white gentlemen with young Cambodian friends.  During dinner we looked over to a nearby table to see a classic scene.  A sixty year old English man was sitting at a table with what looked like a nineteen year old Cambodian girl.  He was trying to look natural, making small talk to her as she ignored him completely and occupied herself by playing Candy Crush on her tablet.  It is quite a pathetic display and I’m sure those old perverts feel pretty ashamed, though obviously can’t help themselves.  I’m sure when their trip is over and they are broke and no longer a globetrotting super-stud they return to a depressing little bedroom in their mom’s house and spend most of their time alone.

After a terrific meal, where we had a lovely chat with a Malaysian family sitting beside us, we wandered around the buzzing streets and Magnus decided he just had to have another fish spa.  I convinced Stella to give it a try too but the whole thing was just too creepy for her, so she just sat beside her brother on the aquarium bench, and Ana and I looked on, enjoying a drink and soaking up the surroundings on our final night in Siem Reap.

Monday July 21st– Angkor Wat, Cambodia

For our second day at the temples we chose some of the less popular and less restored ones.  When Angkor was discovered (or really, “re-discovered”) in the 19^th century most of the temples were in ruins as they had been left to rot in the jungle for centuries.  Once the potential of the site was realized, the process of restoration began and has been ongoing and will continue indefinitely.  The restorations are funded by many international organizations and countries and are physically done by teams of locals and foreigners and take many years, or in some cases, decades.  One of the temples we visited was in quite poor condition, but because of that (additionally there were very few tourists at this one) it was one of the best sites and most enjoyable, because we really could imagine we were discovering it for the first time.  Because the ceilings had all caved in there were huge sandstone blocks, some of them with intricate carvings, scattered all over the site making it very raw and very real.

I must say I am reluctant to say too much about Angkor.  I am not usually short of words, but in this case, it is just such a remarkable place that nothing I could write would do justice to the sense of awe and wonder that hits you when exploring these inspiring places.  It is a place you could never prepare for and will never forget.

By the fifth or sixth temple, the sky was clear and the sun was raging so we decided to call it a day and were back at the hotel by 1pm for a nice backpacker lunch and swim at the pool.  I actually went for a workout at the hotel gym and found a Dutch variety show on television that had some of the worst singers I’ve heard for quite some time so it was not a long session.

At 5 pm I jumped on my bike and went to collect the laundry I had dropped off at a local place the day before.  For the first three weeks of the trip Ana insisted on hand washing all our clothes in the hotel sinks with shampoo, then hanging the sopping wet items all over the towel bars, shower wall, chairs, tables, doorknobs, balcony, televisions and any other above-ground object that had a corner.  It basically looked and felt like living in a goddamn gypsy caravan.  When the time came to leave the hotel, if the clothes weren’t dry, she would get the hotel iron and spend a few hours steam-drying everything while the rest of us watched tv or slept.  Or sometimes I would enjoy a beer or two on the balcony but I had to stand up because there was underwear hanging all over the chairs.

She claims that it’s because she doesn’t trust anybody else with our clothes, but I think she is just super cheap.  And there’s this Portuguese thing where the women don’t know how to relax so they spend all their free time cleaning stuff (clothes, shoes, floors, couches, the cat, etc) and when the cleaning is all done they pluck hairs out of their face while waiting for some more dirty clothes to appear.  The kids and I did what we could to make her clothes washing routine easier, for example only changing our shorts weekly, but after weeks of this ridiculous routine (“Kris, we need to get back to the room so I can transfer my moo-moo to the sunny side of the balcony”) I finally demanded that we take a load of dirty clothes to a local place so once I wrestled a few items out of her grasp I ran to a laundry, dumped them off, then returned to report that full laundering costs a dollar a kilo.

Well, the clothes came back perfectly clean, nicely folder and enriched with an enchanting scent of lemongrass or something like that.  She was thrilled with the results, and a whole bag only cost a few bucks so since then our life has been much easier and I’ve been able to actually sit on a balcony chair while enjoying a beer.

We took our final death-defying bike ride back into the centre and I found a nice streetside café to drink a couple beers while the rest of the gang wandered through the old market to look for bargains.  On the drink menu the first two items listed were Angkor beer and Anchor beer, both at a dollar a glass.  Now since these two words sound virtually the same, and Cambodians don’t generally speak English that well, I have no idea which one I got, but any beer you pay a buck a mug for is tops in my mind.

Stella got sick of shopping so came to join me while Magnus and Ana continued their wanderings in the market.  As we sat enjoying our cold drinks Stella spotted a bug vendor across the street so I walked over and bought a small bag of bugs.  We got three deep fried frogs, six deep fried crickets, and two big deep fried grasshoppers.  The vendor boy showed me how to pull the end bits of their back legs off (too crunchy to eat) then gave it to me and ordered me to eat it, which I did.  I know the idea of eating bugs sounds gross, but these bugs are deep fried, obviously for a very long time, because there is really no juice left in them and they taste quite like a dry, salty nut (with wings).

I brought the bag back to the table to proudly show off my purchase.  Though initially eager to try a cricket, upon closer inspection of the creature Stella’s resolve began to waver.  I showed her how to pull the back legs off then I ate one, and found it to be tastier than the grasshopper.  By this time Ana and Magnus had returned and Magnito eagerly grabbed a cricket, ripped it apart then asked me which part was better – the head or the ass.  I told him to eat the ass.  He did.

I handed Ana a cricket but, like Stella, her early indications that she might be up for it were shattered when she actually touched the bug and visualized popping it in her mouth, then it was a non-starter.  I ate the crunchy legs off one of the frogs, and those were actually the best of the lot as they were a bit meatier and tasted like fried chicken.  I urged Stella to try these, and she was able to muster up the courage to lick one of the legs, which was good enough to make it into her daily journal!  Later on in the night we discovered fried tarantulas, water bugs and cockroaches, but I took a pass on these, though we might have another go at it later in Thailand.  I’d really like Stella to eat a cricket.

Siem Reap truly explodes at nighttime.  As we wandered the streets we found multi-coloured neon signs (PUB STREET! NIGHT MARKET!), at least a hundred restaurants, thousands of locals and tourists having fun, live music, tuk-tuk drivers looking for business, streetside vendors selling everything from dried fish to Rolex watches, little kids running around and plenty of free agent dogs roaming the busy streets looking for action.  We chose a restaurant at random, sat down, ordered drinks, then simply watched the party unfolding around us.  Shortly after our food arrived, Magnus pointed up at the wall and said, “Look, two chee-chucks are getting ready to do battle!”  They were getting ready to do battle all right, of the male/female variety.  So together as a family we watch a frantic, speedy session of gecko sex, and as they were going at it, Ana noticed a gigantic toad at her feet similarly looking up to get a view of the action.  Now this is the kind of entertainment that is just not available in Canada!

After finishing our delicious meals we wandered back to one of the many fish spas as Magnus was eager to try it out.  So he jumped up on the tank, dangled his feet in, and let those hungry little fish go to work nibbling his feet and toes.  I don’t think they truly are able to eat the dead skin off your feet as the little fish don’t have any teeth so they are probably just sucking off whatever crud they encounter, which was surely plentiful on his feet as he’s been wearing this closed in loafers with bare feet every day, so now his shoes and feet smell so bad he has to wash his feet before he’s allowed to stay in the hotel room at the end of the day.

During the suicidal, frantic pedal back home, narrowly avoiding collisions several times, we saw a car smash right into a motorcycle knocking both guys off and nearly squashing one of them.  Fortunately, we made it back in one piece and returned to our room tired, sweaty and exhausted after one action packed day on the road.

Sunday July 20th – Angkor Wat, Cambodia

We woke up to an overcast day in Siem Reap, which was a blessing as we planned to spend the day exploring the temples of Angkor Wat.  We had a delicious buffet breakfast then I went outside and easily hired a tuk-tuk driver to drive us around for the day, at a cost of fifteen dollars.  We piled in the tuk-tuk and were soon put-put-putting down the road, along the way stopping for gas which was delivered from an old Coke bottle from a roadside vendor.  The entrance to the park is only a few kilometers outside of town so after a short ride we were at the gate and bought our three day tickets for $40 (kids under 12 get in for free) and continued along to the main road, which was full of fellow tuk-tukkers, people on bicycles, people walking, large and small tour busses, lots of motorcycles and even a troupe of monkeys wandering around the side of the road looking for handouts.

When we were back in Canada trying to decide where to go on our big trip, our initial plan was not Southeast Asia.  I picked up a travel book from the library and after Ana and I saw pictures of Angkor Wat, and all the other amazing sites in the region, our decision was made.  So we were both very excited to finally be here and on the verge of experiencing this exceptional site.

As this area was the home of over a million people which endured for several centuries, the geographical area is massive.  Fortunately most of the restored and most magnificent temples are within a comparably small area, in fact it is quite possible to explore by bicycle if you are willing to put in long days and are able to take the heat.

I think it is fair to say that it’s simply impossible to do justice to this incredible place with mere words and photos.  It is a place that has to be experienced in person and, for us, I think it was better that we did not do a lot of research beforehand and really did not have any expectations as this allowed us to be completely blown away.  For this first day we were able to explore about eight individual temples including the godly Angkor Wat which is huge, magnificent and otherworldly.  Of course, this is a very busy place so there was no moment when you could feel like Indiana Jones discovering a forgotten ruin for the first time, but if you timed your photos carefully you could get some stunning shots sans people!

Most of the guide books recommend starting your day with a dawn sunrise experience at one of the temples and continuing to dusk, but I seriously can’t imagine being able to put in that long of a day.  By 3pm we were all completely spent so we tuk-tukked back to an area called “Pub Street” in the central part of town and had a big lunch and some cold drinks.  We then wandered around the busy streets and found a place to rent bicycles – after our lovely biking experience in Luang Prabang this was our new preferred method of transport.  We found out immediately that there are only two rules for vehicular traffic in Cambodia:

1. Drive on the right (when it’s convenient)

2. Avoid death

The roads are chaotic and when you are on a bike with a kid balanced on the back, with no helmets and not knowing where you are going, you find yourself in an adrenaline fueled, eat or be eaten, heart pumping race for survival.  We did manage to get back to the hotel unscathed, but knew right away that bicycle transport here was not the way to go.

After a refreshing swim and a couple hours at the pool we returned to our room and had a backpacker supper (noodle soups, lunch leftovers, crackers) but supplemented with some freshly boiled corn I was able to buy from a street vendor at a big music festival that was happening just down from the hotel.  He was also selling fried crickets, but I had promised Magnus we were going to sample those together so I held off on bringing a bag of bugs back to the room.

Saturday, July 19th – Arrival in Cambodia

We arrived in Bangkok at 6 am to a confused, dirty, rough looking bus station and had to wind our way through narrow passageways past dozens of vendor stalls to get to the main terminal.  We bought tickets on a bus headed for Siem Reap, Cambodia, leaving soon, so bought some quick sandwiches at the 7-11 (yes, the legendary 7-11 has survived, and is prospering in SE Asia, thank-you) and awaited our bus.  The ticket agent gave us a sheet of directions for the journey.  It was to be a four hour trip to the border, then an hour to get through border control, then another three hours on a different bus to our final destination, which is the jump-off point to Angkor Wat – an archaeological marvel and one of the key reasons we decided to make the trip to this part of the world.

After an uneventful ride, and several unnecessary, lengthy stops, we reached the border five hours later and, after doing the paperwork and paying the fee for our Cambodian visas, were led by a guide through the border.  This border area was beyond nasty, and was on par with the worst border crossings I’ve seen in South America.  It was utter chaos – dusty, dirty, motorcycles zipping around everywhere, dodgy looking characters eyeing you up, armless beggars, loaded lorry trucks spewing diesel exhaust, desperate vendors, and many young hooligans wearing facemasks.  At one point we were following the guide across the street, through traffic, when Magnus was inches away from having his foot run over by a motorcycle – thankfully his mother’s scream got the attention of the suicidal rider.

We went through several checkpoints, having to wait at each one, then were loaded on a bus in the midst of a torrential downpour (good thing, that whole border area needed a good wash) and driven to a different bus station where we were instructed to wait.  After a while a different bus arrived and we were packed into it for the final leg of the journey.  We drove for an hour and a half then pulled into another roadside restaurant, then were unceremoniously instructed that this was our lunch stop and we wouldn’t be leaving for 30 minutes.  The restaurant was completely open on all sides and was being whipped by the wind and rain so everybody stood there for a few minutes wondering what to do.  I asked the driver how far the town was and he said it was 90 minutes away, so most people then ordered some food since skipping this unnecessary break and pushing on did not seem to be an option.  Obviously, the low price of the bus tickets is supplemented by these rest stops where the company surely gets a commission on whatever is purchased.

Finally, we were stuffed back into the bus and 45 minutes later we arrived in Siem Reap and were dropped off at an unspecified guest house to a legion of aggressive tuk-tuk drivers.  By now I was getting real grumpy, as it had been a 12 hour journey, and as I was bitching to Ana about this young English chain smoker on the bus, I realized that the kids hadn’t complained once all day and seemed very content with the whole trip.  Then I remembered one of my life maxims – you can’t control what happens to you, but you can control your reaction to it.  And I forced myself to quit being a whiner and brighten up.  This mood transition was helped when we reached our hotel – a wondrous four star affair where, upon arrival, they served us sweet lemongrass tea in bamboo cups and offered us little cold, rolled up towels to wipe the grime off our faces.  Ana looked so happy, in fact, you will never see Ana so happy as when she steps off a dirty tuk-tuk into a fancy hotel!  She is one classy bird.

After settling into our spacious, clean, beautiful room, the kids tried on the luxury bathrobes and I took a few Jedi photos, then they threw the free slippers at each other and around the room while we had a shower.  We then wandered out and found a Kymer BBQ restaurant and were treated to a must unusual and delicious meal.  They brought out a giant, metal cooking bowl heated by live hot coals, which had a raised cooking dome in the centre and a moat around it where they poured boiling chicken stock and dumped in a pile of fresh vegetables and uncooked noodles.  They delivered bowls containing six different types of raw meat (beef, chicken, crocodile, pork, fish, and shrimp) as well as side dishes of rice and dipping sauces.  We then used chopsticks to put the meat on the cooking dome where it sizzled away, then ate each piece as it was done cooking, and replaced it with another.  Soon, the moat of soup was done so we ladled it into bowls and it was delicious, especially with all the bits of meat that fallen in while cooking.

So after our 24 hour land journey, our bellies were full and we toasted our fortune at being here together, safe and sound, in a brand new country with so much to explore in the coming days.  Magnus was clearly not quite satisfied with day’s accomplishments, so when he got back to the hotel he ripped out a loose molar then, five minutes later, yanked out another one.  So it might be back to frog porridge for that boy for a while!

Friday July 18th – Chiang Mai and onwards through Thailand

Chiang Mai is a centre for many half day, full day and multi-day trips into the surrounding countryside for zip-lining, elephant trekking, hiking and so on.  But we just didn’t find anything that felt right, so instead we decided to explore the city a bit more then head to the gigantic mall to see a movie.  This time, we saw “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and it was awesome.  It is just hard to believe what those CGI guys can bring to life on the screen which, in tandem with an intriguing storyline, makes for quite a show.

After the movie we chose one of the dozens of interesting restaurants in the mall (the mall was large, fancy and modern, though not quite as “over-the-top” nor busy as the ones in Kuala Lumpur) and enjoyed a delicious dinner of Japanese food including the best sushi we’ve yet.

By 7pm we were at the bus station to catch our overnight ride to Bangkok.  Thankfully it was a double decker with fully reclining seats and an onboard toilet.  After settling in, the attendant came around and offered us snack boxes, drinks, blankets and pillows, and before long we were all fast asleep, in part due to the Dramamine pills we had all taken, just in case the road was windy and rough.  Strangely, we made a meal stop at two in the morning at a gigantic, roadside cafeteria, owned by the bus company.  The idea of eating at that strange hour kept us on the bus, but I felt compelled to go to have a look and found hundreds of people chowing down on noodle soup, rice curries, mystery meat and other unidentifiable food items.  I returned to the bus, dropped into my seat and was instantly asleep.

Thursday July 17th – Chiang Mai, Thailand

To tackle a new city, it is fun to simply wander and that is what we did.  The old city of Chiang Mai is a perfect square and bounded by a moat and the ruins of what used to be a giant wall, so it is not hard to imagine what this city may have looked like hundreds of years ago.  Now, it is a densely packed, vibrant, bustling, modern, and thoroughly touristic city, but with a small town feel as the guesthouses and hotels are located in a comparatively small area in and around the old city, outside of which appears to offer nothing much of interest.

With the help of a tourist map we explored the old city on foot, finding some remarkable temples, one of which featured a large pond and a resident population of catfish which you could feed.  A handful of snacks thrown at once in the pool produced a boiling, aggressive, slimy collection of large catfish mouths groping for the crunchy morsels of food.

We noticed the temperature was definitely more tolerable than what we were used to, but after a few hours of walking we were getting a little exhausted and, to be honest, weren’t really finding too much else of interest, so we had a light lunch then head back to the hotel for a lovely afternoon swim and nap on the loungers.

We had arranged to meet the friends we were with yesterday at the Muay Thai fights this evening at the stadium which was very close to our hotel, so after wandering around the night market (at least the rest of the fam jam wandered the market – I was smart and went for a five dollar foot, neck and shoulder massage instead….ha ha, fools!) we went to the stadium.

The ring was in the centre of a long series of small bars, some of which were identified clearly as Lady Boy bars, though there were indeed lady boys, prostitutes and all sorts of gender indeterminate people, many in the arms of balding foreign men, in all of the pubs.  Thankfully, it was still early in the evening so there was nothing really racy going on quite yet, but I was imagining things would heat up the further into the evening, which may prompt some difficult questions from the kiddies.

The ring had been surrounded by a feeble fence meant to block out the non-ticket holders from seeing the match, but surrounding the fence was our little group, all squatting on the floor looking under the shields, in true cheapo backpacker style.  Magnus and Stella decided to get a bit closer so they slipped through the fence with two of our new friends – English girls - and got comfortable seats to watch the fights, while Ana, me and the rest of the group enjoyed some cold Chang beers outside.  Before long, one of the ticket collectors invited us into the area so we all ducked under the fence, grabbed seats and stated cheering for the fighters.  The fights were great - very clean, no nastiness, and young and fit fighters.  One of the matches was between two girls, and it was probably the best of the lot as it went all five rounds and ended in a decision.  Magnus and Stella were enthralled with the matches, and were making predictions for each fight then cheering on their chosen warrior.  There were also chatting happily with their new friends and it reminded me just then that this is what traveling is all about – putting yourself (or finding yourself) in completely new and unexpected situations, enjoying them, rolling with the proverbial punches and really, truly, honestly living in the moment.

Wednesday, July 16th – Arrival in Chiang Mai, Thailand

The trip to Chiang Mai was supposed to take just over four hours but it somehow took closer to seven.  You never quite know what to expect when you book longer distance land transport, especially when you are crossing a border.  Our path went like this : Tuk-tuk to Lao immigration post.  Walk through immigration, clear customs.  Loaded into mini van.  Driven to Thailand immigration.  Walk through immigration, clear customs.  Loaded into different mini van.  Driven through the town to a backpacker guesthouse at the end of a dusty road.  Instructed by driver to grab baggage and walk through guesthouse to the other side.  Walk through guesthouse lugging backpacks, pass the pool, follow the fingerpointing of guesthouse staff, eventually find the way out and discover yet another mini-van.  Load into minvan, drive for hours, get dropped off in Chiang Mai at unknown guesthouse in the old city.  Get directions from guesthouse lady, walk an easy ten minutes to our lovely hotel.  Collapse on bed in air conditioned room for a few moments to catch breath.  Simple!

After freshening up, we went out to explore this brand new city in this brand new country.  Chiang Mai is the largest city in the north of Thailand and the centre for a lot of tourist activities such as elephant trekking, zip lining, cooking schools, meditation retreats, jungle trekking and so on.  The currency in Thailand is called the Baht and each of the bills has a portrait of the king who, if you use your imagination a little bit, looks very much like my father, so every time we pull out cash I almost feel like dad is here with us!

We head out for a big walk, and find that there is definitely a seedier element to this town than we are used to seeing in Laos.  There are many, many bars, and in those bars are some interesting characters – lady boys, prostitutes, old men holding hands with young girls, and other disturbing sights we’re not quite ready to explain to the kids yet….but we do because they are asking, at least in general terms.  We’ve never been much for sheltering our kids from life.  Throughout this trip they are going to see a few things that are maybe not too age-appropriate, at least by our squeaky-clean Canadian standards, but so be it.  They can handle it and so can we.

We ran into some backpackers we met on the slow boat and joined them for a couple drinks then wandered around the gigantic night market for a couple hours, which had a great mix of knock-off goods as well as handicrafts.

Stella had two great moments today.  When we were waiting in line at the border she looked up at the sign that “Foreign Passports”, thought a bit, then turned to us and said, “If you take the ‘P’ out of Passports, what do you get?”  Magnus seized the opportunity to blurt out, “Assports!”  When we were in Chiang Mai the kids convinced us to take them to McDonalds, and we did as there didn’t seem to be any of them in Laos and two weeks of noodles and rice were starting to wear them down.  So Ana and the kids at there, and later on I grabbed a local dish from a roadside vendor.  As I was eating with Stella beside me, she looked up and said, “Daddy, I feel bad about eating at McDonalds.”

“Why?  What’s wrong with that?” I asked her.

“I don’t want to be a tourist.  I want to be a good backpacker and eat local food,” she answered.

I told her she is the best little backpacker in the world and lots of good backpackers eat at McDonalds now and then for a little treat.  She is such a sweetheart.