my Saturdays of rowing

This fall (and into the winter) I took rowing classes with some of my friends and colleagues. In order to be able to take the boats out by ourselves, we had to take a beginner's course. So, for many Saturdays, we spent out afternoons on the river in Hong Kong, rowing and learning how to stay afloat. We never managed to tip over, but we saw others who did! It was more difficult than I expected it to be, but we had a good time trying something new and exploring another part of Hong Kong together. our team: Jenn, Sara, Kathie, myself, and Anna.

These boats were pretty hard to lift and dock. Luckily, as "gwilos" we had quite a few helpers.
strapped in and ready to row

Cambodia and Bangkok trip introduction

For the week of Chinese New Year, I took off for Cambodia with a few friends, mainly to see Angkor Wat (look it up on Wikipedia if you don't know what it is). I absolutely fell in love with Cambodia...it was definitely one of my favorite trips and is hard to fully put into words. I had a difficult time narrowing down the pictures to post, so you just get a bunch of them here (4 blog entries worth!) I wish we had more time there...I couldn't get enough of it. Cambodia is a developing country, but there were more tourists there than I expected (and more American tourists than I typically see...usually the white faces are European or Australian). Yes, we were faced with a lot of poverty, but it's a country full of hope with a bright future, if the government can remain stable. More on this trip than others, I felt like I had more of a genuine and authentic experience of a country. The weather, the scenery, and the food were all fantastic. Oh, and on a side note: Cambodians use American money (everywhere, not just the tourist places) and the ONLY Western business I saw was the Dairy Queen at the airport.

Angkor Wat and the Temples of Angkor

Angkor Wat is the world's largest religious building, built by the Khmer empire around 1100. It was amazing, impressive, mouth-dropping, etc, etc. Truly, it was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. Around Angkor Wat, there are dozens of temples and buildings, which are now in a state of semi-ruin. As Cambodia is fairly new to tourism, these temples are seen "as is"...not many signs or restoration. As we went from place to place, we continued to encounter new temples and buildings built over several acres of land, centuries old. Hopefully, these pictures give some perspective, although it's always hard to put into words or pictures something as massive as this.

At one time, Cambodia was an incredibly powerful nation in SE Asia, ruling over parts of Vietnam and Thailand. Throughout it's history, there has been so much war and bloodshed, with the more recent Khmer Rouge insurgent group killing 3 million Cambodians from 1975-1979. In fact, just this week, the UN is finally holding a trial for some of the last remaining Khmer Rouge leaders. This country is now in a state of hope, as it opens itself up to the rest of the world and is working on slowly rebuilding it's infrastructure. The temples and buildings are a testament to the empire that it once was. Here I am, outside of Angkor Wat, ready to tour.

stopping by the South Gate of Angkor Thom
This incredibly detailed engraving was on every pillar in Angkor Wat...it's Hindu, which is a variation on the Buddhist temples I've seen in Asia.
an arial view of Angkor Wat
We took this hot air balloon ride (on a fixed line) overlooking Angkor Wat and the surrounding areas...we debated on the 15$ pricetag, until we compared that to how much something like this would cost in the States!
leaving Angkor Thom (a group of palaces, temples, pools, and various religious buildings)

inside Angkor Wat

biking up to Angkor Thom
backside of Angkor Wat
posing on the elephant trunk...me, Christine, and Sara

Bayon temple...notice the faces on the tops of the towers

Sara took this artistic shot of me overlooking the gardens at Angkor Wat
At Ta Prohm: at this place, the jungle seemed to be overtaking the temple. It's also where a scene from Tomb Raider was filmed, making it semi-famous (although I'm glad to not have seen that movie.)
series of stone guards outside of Angkor Thom

This young Cambodian girl walked up behind us at Angkor Wat, gently grabbed my hand, and then motioned for us to take a picture with her. I'm fairly certain that she's not used to seeing white people, let alone blond haired people. (I get my picture taken by other tourists and local people in most places I visit, and Cambodia was no exception).
overtaking tree at Ta Prohm



the eerie faces of Bayon temple...looking out in every direction

In and around Siem Reap

Here we are, fresh and ready to tour. From left to right: Caroline, Christine, Sara, and me
We rented this tuk-tuk driver for 2 days (about 10$US per day). A tuk-tuk is like a rickshaw, pulled by a motorbike.
There were plenty of monkeys on the sides of the road. These guys were climbing all over this tour bus, playing with their reflections in the mirror.
monks walking along the side of the road, a fairly common sight
orphanage on the side of the road, selling art. there was a small classroom near the front, as well
stopping for the traffic of elephants
Sara and I getting ready to bike for the day.

We rented bikes for $1/day to bike to Angkor Wat from Siem Reap and around the area to Angkor Thom. It was beautiful weather and a great way to more fully experience Cambodia. This was one of the highlights of the trip, in my opinion. We ended up biking for about 30-some kilometers.

Here's a home we passed as we biked along the road. These guys are "cheers-ing" me with their drinks. Cambodian people were incredibly friendly and helpful during our whole trip.
Cambodian village, and side street, as seen from our bikes.
many houses on stilts.

We went during the dry season, but the rainy summer months require preparation and flood parts of the land.

a boy flying a kite in the morning

In general, the pace of life is much, much slower and relaxed than I'm used to...seeing children playing and people resting in hammocks helped me slow down a bit and enjoy this trip even more.

Here's our last Cambodian meal at the "Dead Fish" hostel and restaurant. It was a very trendy place with floor/pillow seating on different levels of an old barn. The entertainment for the night was a singer/songwriter from Australia followed by a traditional dance. I was struck by how trendy some of the spots around Siem Reap were...tourism is fairly new here, and it was interesting to see it begin to flourish.




beautiful children
behind a row of restaurants (outside of Angkor Wat)
This woman was selling food from her bike near Angkor Wat.

It's really quite incredible to see how people use their bikes here...they can be and are used to transport almost anything!

Floating Village

On our last morning in Siem Reap, we hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us away from town, out into the country, and to tour the Floating Villages of Chong Kneas. The Cambodian government has a fixed price on this tour, and we were led to a boat with a driver and English speaking guide. This fishing village is a mix of Vietnamese and Cambodian people, and is a mobile village of about 3,000 people. During the low season, they live on Tonle Sap lake, but during the rainy season, they move their village up to the mountain. Everything is done on this village...living, fishing, going to school, going to church, and going to stores or restaurants. From what I can gather, this is a middle class Cambodian community, as the fishermen have a steady income. Most homes were quite clean and many had ammenities like TV's and antennas.

Here's the floating school. The adjacent building was a floating building with just a basketball court and soccer "field".
This woman has a floating store...selling groceries and necessities out of her boat.

Here are some schoolchildren paddling themselves home after a morning of school.



floating church: there was one Muslim church and one Christian church, and all of the boats dock along the side every Sunday

last leg: Bangkok

For the last leg of our trip, we had a 24 hour layover in Bangkok. I had been there last year for Easter break, so we had our plans already made. We shopped at the night market (massive stalls of trendy shops, souveniers, and everything inbetween), got a massage (5$ for 45 minutes!) and had some delicious Thai food. The next morning, Sara and I took off via the Skytrain for a tour of the Jim Thompson house. He was a promoter of the Thai arts and really launched the Thai silk trade industry with the rest of the world. Thai art
Here is his house, or rather, 6 houses of different Thai architecture. This one is make of teakwood and the floor was built without nails, only wooden pegs.
flowers and garden
A typical Bangkok street vendor/restaurant. You really can't look in any direction in Bangkok without seeing something like this.
A typical Bangkok neighborhood...a combination of temples (to the right), high rises, old shacks, and new buildings. The only thing missing is the horrendous traffic!