Wednesday, March 30, 2011
On the Road Again
Since I backed out of buying a house this time last year, I figured I would take advantage of not having a mortgage and do some more traveling. My cousin Robin is finishing her last semester of teaching in Hong Kong and I wanted to see her and the country one more time before she goes.
I’ll be spending the first week of my trip (which was planned around Robin’s spring break) traveling with her and her friend Karen to Vietnam and Cambodia. I will admit that when Robin suggested these two countries, they weren’t even on the radar screen of my list of places to visit. However, after planning for the past three months and reading the travel guides, I can’t wait to get there. When we visited China in 2008, we met a British couple who was spending the year traveling through South East Asia. They said that Vietnam was their favorite country and highly recommended that we try to visit if we could.
Our plan is to spend Saturday to Monday in Hanoi. We depart Hanoi early Monday morning for an overnight trip on a Chinese junk (sailing boat) on Halong Bay. The boat trip includes a visit to Sung Sot cave, kayaking to a fishing village, a cooking demonstration and squid fishing. Tuesday night, we return to Hanoi. Wednesday, we’ve scheduled a cooking class in Hanoi before we depart for Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Siem Reap is the closest “city” to the Angkor Archeological Park which is comprised of dozens of temple complexes built in the early 12th century. The temples are supposed to rival the great pyramids of Egypt. While in Siem Reap, we hope to take another cooking class, a pottery class and maybe even an elephant ride. After doing some reading on the temples, it sounds like we could easily spend a month exploring Angkor Wat and still not have enough time to truly appreciate all of the details. We depart Siem Reap on Sunday afternoon and after a short layover in Ho Chi Min City (unfortunately not long enough to venture out of the airport) we return to Hong Kong.
My knowledge of Southeast Asian history is very limited. Since, my grandfather was stationed in Europe during World War II, I’ve always been far more interested in that period of history than more contemporary periods like the Vietnam War. To get more of a feel for the events that transpired in Cambodia during the past 30 years, I’ve been reading Survival in the Killing Fields by Haing Ngor, who played the Cambodian translator Dith Pran in the film The Killing Fields. Ngor’s real life experiences are almost unbelievable. It blows my mind to think that such a large scale holocaust could have been carried out post World War II after the western world had fought so hard to stop a mad man like Hitler. Ngor’s story is heart-wrenching and really makes me appreciate all of the freedoms I have in my life. I hope to finish the book on the plane.
I’ve put some links to the hotels we’ll be staying at below. While we may be traveling to third-world countries, our travel agent somehow managed to book us in places that are more luxurious than any hotel I would book in the U.S. Check back often. I’m hoping to post something new every few days.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Arrived Safely
Greetings from Hong Kong!
The flight over went smoothly. We were only a 1/2 hour late getting in and it didn't take me very long to get through customs. Hong Kong has a wonderful airport express train (much nicer than Septa's airport line) that I took into Central where Robin met me and we caught a taxi back to her apartment in Stanley. I'm going to keep this short as we are leaving early tomorrow morning to catch our plane to Hanoi.
The flight over went smoothly. We were only a 1/2 hour late getting in and it didn't take me very long to get through customs. Hong Kong has a wonderful airport express train (much nicer than Septa's airport line) that I took into Central where Robin met me and we caught a taxi back to her apartment in Stanley. I'm going to keep this short as we are leaving early tomorrow morning to catch our plane to Hanoi.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Our First Day in Hanoi
Today we traveled to Hanoi. Everything was going smoothly. We all made it to the airport with time to spare, boarded the plane only to find out that the toilet system was not working. Personally, I thought that we could do without bathrooms for an hour and forty-five minute trip. However, they made us switch planes and we ended up leaving an hour and a half later. We flew Dragon Air, which served a full breakfast even on such a short flight. It actually put Continental to shame. Robin and I have decided that when I visit her in Japan, we will only be going places that we can take a train. We seem to have bad luck flying together. (You can read about our twelve-hour delays on our last trip together to China.)
From there, we went to dinner at Quan An Ngon, an open-air Vietnamese restaurant with a twenty page menu. Needless to say, it took us forever to make our decision. We finally decided to share a papaya salad, chicken skewers, noodles with beef and spring rolls. I obviously am not very skilled with chopsticks because as I was eating, the manager came over to our table to give me an impromptu lesson in how to properly use chopsticks.
We opted to do the “Visa on Arrival Option” rather than getting our visas through the consulates in our respective countries in advance. I think that it took us less than a half hour to get through customs. Our hotel arranged a car to take us on the forty-five minute drive to Hanoi. The road was very modern leading out of the hotel but was flanked by rice paddies on either side. We passed by several large warehouses/factories for businesses like Panasonic and Cannon.
Our hotel, the Movenpick is gorgeous. It’s a Swiss hotel chain so the rooms are very modern with a European feel. Our shower has a glass wall that looks out into the room. It’s a little strange to take a shower and be able to see the room through the blinds (although the people in the room can’t see in).
This afternoon we visited the Hoa Lo Prison, or the “Hanoi Hilton” as it was referred to by American POWs. The exhibits were a little odd as I felt that it really downplayed the torture carried out by the French when they used the prison for political prisoners. It was also interesting to see the way the American POW section was portrayed. There was a video on the Christmas air raids of 1972 which was clearly of the opinion that the Americans were wrong to carry out these attacks and even went so far as to say that American forces specifically targeted civilian hospitals and schools. The remainder of the galleries showed how well the POWs were treated in the prison after their capture. Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about history to know if these are accurate statements or purely propaganda.
From there, we went to dinner at Quan An Ngon, an open-air Vietnamese restaurant with a twenty page menu. Needless to say, it took us forever to make our decision. We finally decided to share a papaya salad, chicken skewers, noodles with beef and spring rolls. I obviously am not very skilled with chopsticks because as I was eating, the manager came over to our table to give me an impromptu lesson in how to properly use chopsticks.
After dinner it was off to the Hang Dao night market. We figured it wasn’t that far so we decided to walk from our hotel. Crossing the streets in Hanoi is quite an adventure. Traffic signals are merely a suggestion and traffic regularly just weaves in and out between each other at the intersections. Pedestrians are expected to cross in the midst of all this. We found that the trick is to just be confident and start walking; just so you keep a steady pace and don’t stop, the traffic can swerve around you. It’s the people who stop that run the risk of getting hit.
Tomorrow’s plan is to spend some time in the Old Quarter and the museums around the royal place. Tomorrow night, we’re hoping to see a water puppet show.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Uncle Ho's Neighborhood
One would have thought that I would have been so exhausted last night that I would have slept like a baby. Unfortunately, jet lag won out and I found myself up at 3:00 this morning. I managed to fall back to sleep just in time for the alarm to go off.
Breakfast is included as part of our hotel package. The buffet is amazing – western style breakfast like omelets, pancakes, French toast, potatoes, and bacon; traditional Asian dim-sum; meats and cheeses; fresh crêpes; a pastry bar with delicious pretzel croissants; and a huge selection of fresh fruit. I tried dragon fruit and passion fruit since we don’t normally see those fruits at home.
From there, we took a taxi to purchase tickets for our water puppet show tonight. This was the first place that wouldn’t accept our US dollars so we were forced to find an ATM machine. 10,000 VND is approximately 50 US cents. We meant to withdraw 800,000 VND but I think that we may have accidentally taken out 8 million VND. That’s probably the only time I will be able to withdraw 8 million anything from my bank account. There are too many zeros on the currency over here. It’s very confusing.
Next we took a taxi to Ho Chi Min’s mausoleum. We were hoping to get inside to see his embalmed body, but everything closes from 11:00-2:00 for lunch so we weren’t able to enter. Instead, we walked around the grounds looking at the outsides of the Ho Chi Min Museum and the presidential palace. Also located within these grounds was the One Pillar Pagoda, a replica of the original 1049 pagoda built on the same location.
The soldiers that police this area are very strict. If you get too close to an area you are not allowed to access, they quickly blow their whistles and order you away. Of course we did watch one small toddler boy take off across the plaza without any regard for the whistling solders, nor his yelling mother.
We set off on a walking tour from the mausoleum area to find the Chu Bac Church, Truc Bach Lake and West Lake. I feel very safe walking around Hanoi (although crossing the road still makes me a little nervous), but I can’t get over how dirty the city is. The pollution is terrible, and whenever we get back to the hotel I can still smell the odors of the street on my hair and clothes.
We walked between the banks of Truc Bach Lake and West Lake until we reached the Tran Quoc Pagoda, Vietnam’s oldest pagoda, which was built in the 6th century. I meant to read up on Buddhism before coming back to Asia but ran out of time. Many of the visitors to the pagodas light incense, say prayers, and leave offerings. I did learn today that Buddha statutes have long ears because they are a sign of long life.
From there, we set off to see the Temple of Literature, a Confucius temple and center of learning built in 1070. Much of the original temple was destroyed during the French war, so the back portion was a contemporary re-construction. The temple does still house the original 82 stone stelae mounted on tortoises, which record the results of the state examination held at the National Academy between 1442 and 1779.
Right now, we’re back at the hotel resting before we set out for dinner, a tour of the Old Quarter and the Water Puppet Show. Tomorrow morning we leave early for our over-night cruise at Ha Long Bay. I’m really looking forward to getting out of the city for a bit. I’ll try to post again tonight when we get home. After that, we’ll be out of contact until Tuesday night.
An Evening in the Old Quarter
Sunday night after our afternoon nap at the hotel, we set out to explore the Old Quarter. Our first stop was the Ngoc Son Pagoda and the Bridge of the Rising Sun in the center of Hoan Kiem Lake.
From there we walked north around the top of the lake to Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, (the Tonkin Free School Movement Square) named for the early 20th century communist movement, and stopped to buy pastries from a street vendor. They reminded me of donut holes although I suspect that they were made from rice flour rather than wheat flour.
Our tour of the Old Quarter didn’t go as far as I had hoped as many of the streets in the Old Quarter had lost power. When you look at the tangled mess of wires coming in and out of the transformer boxes on the electric poles, it’s amazing that the streets don’t lose power more often.
We stopped for dinner at the Garden Restaurant. Tonight’s selection – spring rolls, salad and the most delicious pork and eggplant prepared in a clay cooker.
After the puppet show, it was back to the markets. This time, we stumbled upon what we dubbed as “shoes street” – booths of shoes as far as the eye could see. What really impressed me was that each store had men out front actually repairing shoes. I don’t think that the quality of the shoes being repaired was any better than we would buy at Payless or Walmart. When my Payless shoes wear out, I simply trash them and buy a new pair. In Vietnam, I guess people can’t afford that “luxury.”
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Reflections on the Way to Halong Bay
Monday morning we were picked up at our hotel at 8:00 am to set out for Halong Bay. It was a 3½ hour van ride northeast of Hanoi through three different provinces of Vietnam. Traveling with our group were people from Germany, Switzerland, France and New Zealand. Many of them were taking 3-month “holidays” backpacking all over Asia.
The drive through the countryside was a nice way to get an overview of different Vietnamese life styles. Almost immediately after leaving Hanoi, we were driving through rice paddies. Even the center space in the on/off ramp to the highway was a rice paddy. I think that they’re at a point in the season where they’re just maintaining the fields. The planting is finished and it’s not yet time to harvest. From what I could see, the people who were working were using more traditional methods – simple hoes, not a lot of machinery, very labor intensive. It makes me wonder how they can sell rice so cheap in the supermarket when you think about how much man power goes into growing and harvesting the rice.
There were lots of things that stood out while we were on our drive. First, there are small cemeteries that pop up in the middle of rice paddies. It appears that they are above-ground burials. They are comprised of a brick or stone rectangle about three feet tall with a mound of dirt protruding from the top. I found it odd that people would bury their dead in the middle of the place where they were planting food. I don’t know enough about the way in which the human body decomposes to know if it could contaminate the food.
The drive through the countryside was a nice way to get an overview of different Vietnamese life styles. Almost immediately after leaving Hanoi, we were driving through rice paddies. Even the center space in the on/off ramp to the highway was a rice paddy. I think that they’re at a point in the season where they’re just maintaining the fields. The planting is finished and it’s not yet time to harvest. From what I could see, the people who were working were using more traditional methods – simple hoes, not a lot of machinery, very labor intensive. It makes me wonder how they can sell rice so cheap in the supermarket when you think about how much man power goes into growing and harvesting the rice.
At first, we were in what I would call an interstate. It was a toll road (sorry – no EZ Pass) but there were women on the side of the road selling baguette-style bread out of baskets. I’ve been surprised by how much bread we’ve seen being sold. I don’t remember that in China. It must be one of the few things the Vietnamese retained from their French colonial period.
There were lots of things that stood out while we were on our drive. First, there are small cemeteries that pop up in the middle of rice paddies. It appears that they are above-ground burials. They are comprised of a brick or stone rectangle about three feet tall with a mound of dirt protruding from the top. I found it odd that people would bury their dead in the middle of the place where they were planting food. I don’t know enough about the way in which the human body decomposes to know if it could contaminate the food.
We passed several sprawling factories, probably where they make much of the clothing that is imported into the US. They’re sort of in the middle of nowhere. Each one has an ATM machine out front. We also passed the Vietnam/Canada Vocational School. I’m not quite sure what goes on there but it was a huge complex.
The small “villages” also pop up in amongst the rice paddies much like the cemeteries. They remind me of the way Grassy Sound used to look driving into North Wildwood. They are completely surrounded by the water they use to flood the fields. One even had a water buffalo grazing in the back yard. There were chickens for sale on the side of the road and at one point I saw a man carrying a rather large, slaughtered pig on the back of his “moto”.
In other areas we passed through small towns with sidewalks and traffic lights. We hit a traffic jam in one town. It was just like sitting in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway. At the center of the traffic jam, Vietnamese police were attempting to direct traffic. I have decided that they are not any better at directing traffic than US cops.
Halfway through our trip, we stopped at a rest stop much like South of the Boarder on 95 but without the billboards telling you that you were getting close and no fire works for sale.
It’s hard for me to tell which buildings are under construction going up and which ones are being torn down. So many of the structures appear to be in some stage of completion. I’ve seen absolutely beautiful houses right next to vacant structures full of trash. In that respect, I guess it’s really not much different from the areas of Philadelphia that are undergoing gentrification.
I would be curious to know how heavily the areas we passed were bombed during the war. It really wasn’t that long ago that the war ended and a country this poor probably doesn’t have the capital to re-build as quickly as a country like the US.
We passed two areas of construction for which the signs on the fences surrounding the sites led me to believe that they were going to be the equivalent of US mixed-purpose, planned community.
As we got closer to Halong Bay, we passed a train – half passenger cars, high freight cars, and not moving very fast.
Another thing that struck me as odd when we were driving is the way in which “merchandise” stands are arranged. We drove through one area that must have had a dozen pineapple stands, one right after another. Each one was arranged the same way – four shelves of whole pineapples on the bottom, bags of cut pineapples hanging from the top. Another area we went through was the same thing except with bananas. Even in Hanoi at the markets on “shoe street,” each booth had the same exact display. It seems like it would be better business if they mixed things up a bit.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Halong Bay… A Three Hour Tour
After 3½ hours, we arrived in Halong City. I guess you could call it northern Vietnam’s version of a beach town. The first thing I noticed when I got off the bus was that the air was finally actually breathable. The pollution has been terrible in Hanoi.
I really didn’t know too much about this part of the trip going into it. I guess I just assumed that our boat would be waiting for us at a dock and we would just walk on board.
It turns out that you arrive at the “ferry terminal” where there are probably a hundred junks anchored in the harbor. The ferry terminal consists of a set of steep, narrow stone steps, which you climb down so that you can jump onto a dingy that takes you out to your actual boat. We had to then climb up out of the dingy and over the side of our boat.
When I told my dad we were doing this over-night trip on a boat, he suggested that I pack all of my clothes in Ziploc bags within my backpack so they wouldn’t get wet. I assured him that this was a large enough boat that I wouldn’t have to worry about that. I didn’t factor in all of this hopping on and off the dingy. Thankfully both I and my backpack stayed on board the boat at all times.
Our boat stayed in the harbor while we ate lunch, a seemingly endless parade of seafood dishes. The plates just kept coming and it was hard to tell what was an appetizer and what was a main course. We learned that when they brought out the plate of fruit, that meant the meal was finished.
Evidently in Halong bay, a government official needs to come on board the boat to “inspect” it with the captain before we can leave the harbor. The captain then goes back to the office with the officer and gets stamped papers to bring back to the boat. Our captain looked like he was about twelve years old.
After lunch we started our cruise of Halong Bay. Unfortunately, it was very foggy and a little on the cold side so we weren’t able to fully experience the splendor of the colors, but we could see the rock formations, especially as we got closer amongst them. The limestone-karst rock formations reminded me very much of the ones we saw in the Guilin/Yangshuo area of China that we visited in 2008. The water was a beautiful bluish-green color unlike anything I’ve seen at any of the other place to which I have traveled.
A Vietnamese fable says that the towering formations of Halong Bay were formed by the crash landing of a dragon sent by the prehistoric gods to protect the county from an invading army.
After cruising for about an hour, we anchored in amongst the mountains and boarded our dingy to explore the area.
A section of approximately 700 islands was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. We took our dingy to Hang Sung Sot, or “Surprise Cave,” which was discovered by the French in 1901. The cave was later used by the Viet Cong as a hideout during the war.
A section of approximately 700 islands was designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. We took our dingy to Hang Sung Sot, or “Surprise Cave,” which was discovered by the French in 1901. The cave was later used by the Viet Cong as a hideout during the war.
The cave has three chambers. After seeing the first two, which were interesting but not spectacular, I was beginning to think that this was more of a tourist trap than anything, like when we visited the butterfly cave in Yangshuo. But when we entered the third chamber, I was blown away. It was massive (hence why the French named it “Surprise Cave”). It had an almost otherworldly feel, like I would imagine walking on the moon or through a cave on an asteroid (think Star Wars) would feel. Definitely worth all of the steps.
From there we hopped back on our dingy. We had the choice of going kayaking or to another island where we could climb to the top of Dao Ti Top. Since it was very cold, we decided to forgo the kayaking and opted for the mountain instead.
I learned my lesson from my last trip to Asia where my quads were sore the entire trip from climbing so many steps (something we don’t have much of in New Jersey) and made sure that I was in better shape for this trip, so the climb to the top was a piece of cake. The view from the top was spectacular. We could see all around the rock formations and the various boats anchored amongst them.
Our dingy met us at the bottom of the mountain to take us back to the boat. Dien, our guide, taught us to make spring rolls the traditional Vietnamese way using rice paper. We each took a turn rolling one and the cook fried them up to be served with our dinner.
I’m finding that one of the most interesting parts of traveling is the people you meet along the way. Since there were only fourteen of us on the boat, we had lots of time to talk and get to know people. In our group, there was a woman from Switzerland who was doing a one month tour of Vietnam on her own, a young couple from Germany who had each recently finished university and were spending three months traveling all over Southeast Asia, a couple of young professionals from New Zealand who each had taken a month’s leave of absence from work to tour Vietnam and Cambodia, and two girls from New Zealand who were traveling for three months before moving to London. Both times I’ve been over here, I’ve met very few American travelers.
After dinner, Dien set up Karaoke. We weren’t much of a Karaoke bunch and convinced our crew to sing some of the Vietnamese songs for us. The final activity before bed was squid fishing, although I think that this may have been more of a tourist activity.
Our rooms on the boat were quite nice. We had private bathrooms (which were actually bigger than Robin’s bathroom in Hong Kong) with a hot shower. The beds were comfortable. All in all, it reminded me very much of Grammie’s house in North Wildwood. For the first time since I arrived over here, I was finally able to sleep soundly. That was until the siren and strobe light on our dingy started going off at 5:00 am.
By 6:16 I had given up on trying to fall back to sleep, so I sat up on the top deck of the boat until breakfast. After breakfast, we cruised back to the ferry terminal, had lunch at one of the Halong Bay hotel restaurants, and drove back to Hanoi.
We returned to the Movenpick ahead of schedule on Tuesday afternoon, so we decided to take a taxi to the banks of the Red River to see the Hanoi Opera House. The Opera House was built by the French in 1911. It was here in 1945 that the Viet Minh proclaimed the August Revolution from the balcony.
Across from the Opera House are several high-end stores – Gucci, Louis Viton – all the places that I don’t shop. We checked the travel guide to see what else was in the area and found that there was a street of “foreign language” (i.e., English) bookstores nearby. One of my biggest complaints about Hanoi is that it has been impossible to find an accurate map. I feel like we’ve spent half our time walking around lost as was the case when trying to find the bookstore. After walking around in circles for quite some time, an elderly gentleman stopped us to ask if we needed directions. His English was perfect. It turns out that the street for which we were looking was directly adjacent to the Opera House. On the map, it appeared to be a few blocks north.
While we were waiting for our dinner, we sat at an open-air bar that overlooked the square. I thought that traffic was crazy from street level. From an aerial view, it looked like carefully choreographed chaos. I think that the trick is no one drives very fast and people are actually willing to give and take. Basically everyone just doges one another.
The class started with a tour of the market. Our teacher, Li, told us that the markets in Hanoi are government regulated and of course taxed. To avoid the taxes, Hanoi has what are called “frog markets.” These are simply impromptu places where women bring their seasonal fruits and vegetables to sell. The location constantly changes to avoid the police, hence the name frog, because both the market and the patrons hop around from place to place. Li said that about once a week, the police come around and close down the frog market, but for the most part, the police look the other way because the prices are much cheaper and the police prefer to buy their food at the frog market as well.
Li then led us across the main road running into Hanoi to the official local market. There was no way we would have made it across without her. The market sold everything you could possible imagine – fresh fruits and vegetables, a half-dozen different types of eggs, warm baguettes, fresh meats, live fish and seafood that they cleaned on the spot, and fresh rice noodles. Li bought some ingredients that we would need for our dishes.
Before we started cooking, Li spent a half-hour talking with us about traditional Vietnamese cooking. In Vietnam, the majority of the cooking is done outside over a charcoal fire. Most houses don’t even have a stove inside. The woman cooks a full meal of multiple dishes for both lunch and dinner, so for breakfast she asks the family what they want and then goes out to buy it from a street vendor.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Our Final Days in Hanoi
We returned to the Movenpick ahead of schedule on Tuesday afternoon, so we decided to take a taxi to the banks of the Red River to see the Hanoi Opera House. The Opera House was built by the French in 1911. It was here in 1945 that the Viet Minh proclaimed the August Revolution from the balcony.
We spent a short amount of time walking around the gardens. Everything is so nice and green and the flowers are already in bloom – a nice contrast from the scenery when I left New Jersey.
Across from the Opera House are several high-end stores – Gucci, Louis Viton – all the places that I don’t shop. We checked the travel guide to see what else was in the area and found that there was a street of “foreign language” (i.e., English) bookstores nearby. One of my biggest complaints about Hanoi is that it has been impossible to find an accurate map. I feel like we’ve spent half our time walking around lost as was the case when trying to find the bookstore. After walking around in circles for quite some time, an elderly gentleman stopped us to ask if we needed directions. His English was perfect. It turns out that the street for which we were looking was directly adjacent to the Opera House. On the map, it appeared to be a few blocks north.
From the bookstore, we walked north along the east bank of Hoan Kiem Lake. We passed a park with a statue presumably of a prominent individual from the early communist movement. The kids were using this as a skateboard park. We wandered around some different areas of the Old Quarter, for once, not getting lost, and decided to eat dinner on the third floor of a restaurant overlooking the Tonkin Free Movement Square.
For dinner, we chose some local Hanoi dishes – caramelized pork and Cha Ca Hanoi, a soup-like broth with large chunks of banana fish. It was served in a pot cooking over an open flame (similar to hot pot). Once it came to a boil, we added vegetables and served the soup over noodles and peanuts.
For dinner, we chose some local Hanoi dishes – caramelized pork and Cha Ca Hanoi, a soup-like broth with large chunks of banana fish. It was served in a pot cooking over an open flame (similar to hot pot). Once it came to a boil, we added vegetables and served the soup over noodles and peanuts.
While we were waiting for our dinner, we sat at an open-air bar that overlooked the square. I thought that traffic was crazy from street level. From an aerial view, it looked like carefully choreographed chaos. I think that the trick is no one drives very fast and people are actually willing to give and take. Basically everyone just doges one another.
Wednesday morning we had scheduled a cooking class. Our taxi driver for this trip was the first personable driver we had encountered during our entire trip to Hanoi. He was eager to practice his English and when he heard that Karen was from the UK, he began telling us about his favorite football club, Manchester United.
The class started with a tour of the market. Our teacher, Li, told us that the markets in Hanoi are government regulated and of course taxed. To avoid the taxes, Hanoi has what are called “frog markets.” These are simply impromptu places where women bring their seasonal fruits and vegetables to sell. The location constantly changes to avoid the police, hence the name frog, because both the market and the patrons hop around from place to place. Li said that about once a week, the police come around and close down the frog market, but for the most part, the police look the other way because the prices are much cheaper and the police prefer to buy their food at the frog market as well.
Li then led us across the main road running into Hanoi to the official local market. There was no way we would have made it across without her. The market sold everything you could possible imagine – fresh fruits and vegetables, a half-dozen different types of eggs, warm baguettes, fresh meats, live fish and seafood that they cleaned on the spot, and fresh rice noodles. Li bought some ingredients that we would need for our dishes.
Before we started cooking, Li spent a half-hour talking with us about traditional Vietnamese cooking. In Vietnam, the majority of the cooking is done outside over a charcoal fire. Most houses don’t even have a stove inside. The woman cooks a full meal of multiple dishes for both lunch and dinner, so for breakfast she asks the family what they want and then goes out to buy it from a street vendor.
Our class focused on a street food menu. We made more spring rolls, this time with pork and prawns; two kinds of barbequed pork, one that was sliced thin and then marinated and the other a ground pork which we made into mini burgers; and a “dipping sauce” with vegetables which was more like a soup in which we put the barbequed pork. The soup was served over rice noodles. It made a nice meal. Since I now have a barbeque grill, I can try to make this meal at home.
There was a French couple taking the class with us who were traveling through Vietnam for a month. The woman was three months pregnant with her first child. I couldn’t even begin to image taking a trip like that three months pregnant.
After our cooking class it was time to bid farewell to Hanoi. The flight from Hanoi to Siem Reap, Cambodia was short, only an hour and twenty minutes, but we still had full dinner service and in-flight sit-coms, I guess because it was an international flight. I’m finding that Asian airlines are far more conscientious about hospitality than US airlines.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Our First Day in Cambodia
Just wanted to let you know that I'm back in Hong Kong. The second half of our trip got a little hectic and internet access was difficult. I'll try to catch up on our activities in Cambodia over the next few days.
Our hotel is amazing. It has a salt water swimming pool (the largest in Siem Reap according to the hotel brochure), a full spa, and several restaurants. Our room is huge. We each have our own full size bed rather than the roll away you get in most hotels. The staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. They all speak English to some degree - many of them very well.
Thursday morning we set out to start exploring the temples. The most popular mode of transportation in Cambodia is the tuk-tuk, a covered cart big enough to seat four people which is pulled by a motor bike. There were several tuk-tuks parked outside of our hotel so we hired a driver to take us out for the day.
I was amazed that we were allowed to wander freely around the temple. There were some areas that had newly constructed steps to make access easier for tourists and a few areas that were roped off as being unsafe, but for the most part, we could wander freely anywhere we wanted, climbing up narrow stair cases and through windows to get better views. We started out trying to follow the story cycle of the reliefs but soon became overwhelmed by the sheer size of the temple and started wandering around the maze of galleries until we reached the central tower.
The central tower is 183 feet tall and would have been accessible only to the king and his high priests. It is inside a small courtyard so the only way to view the tower is to look straight up.
Mau planned to take us to other temples in the afternoon so we started to make our way out of Angkor Wat. On our way, we passed a man fumbling to try to take a picture of himself using the time delay on his camera. Karen stopped to see if we could help him. He had just finished his mandatory three years of service in the Israeli military and was spending six months traveling through Southeast Asia before starting university. He was telling us about his experience crossing into Cambodia via bus. The boarder guards charged him twice as much for his visa as we paid for ours. I guess that there is corruption everywhere in the world.
Our next stop was Angkor Thom, the “Great City” built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The city would have supported a population of almost one million people at its height. The complex is spread over an area of 6.2 square miles and is surrounded by a 24 foot high wall, .62 miles long on each side and a 100 yard wide moat. The entire city is a representation of the Hindu universe. The royal entourage from the king down to the priests and generals lived within the city walls while the commoners lived in wooden houses outside of the enclosure.
The first temple in Angkor Thom is the Bayon. The most memorable thing about the Bayon is the enormous faces, 216 to be exact, on 54 Gothic style towers. The faces are either representations of a Hindu bodhisattva (someone who uses his wisdom to help others to enlightenment) or the king himself. No matter where you go in the Bayon, there is a face watching you. We decided to forego the bas reliefs on the lower levels and climb all the way to the top sanctuary.
Next stop - the Baphuon. Restoration began on this temple in the 1960s using a technique called anastylosis whereby the entire structure is disassembled and then rebuilt. Work stopped when the Khmer Rouge came into power and all of the plans and records were destroyed. As we walked down the causeway to the main temple, the pools on either side were filled with numbered stones. Work resumed in 1995, and while they have made significant progress, there is still quite a lot of work to be done. It was interesting to watch the workers at the site.
We took a short walk through the jungle to the site of the Royal Palace. The only thing that remains is the Phimeanaka, or “celestial palace.” Wooden stairs have been built over top of the original stone steps to aid tourists in climbing to the top. The wooden steps were like using the steps on a navy ship. I couldn’t even begin to imagine climbing the originals. Of course, we climbed all the way to the top (a growing trend in our temple tours).
From there, we walked along the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. The Terrace of the Elephants was originally used as a giant viewing stand for the king to inspect his troops as they marched into Angkor Thom. The terrace was named for cared elephants which for the life of me I wasn’t able to locate. I later found pictures of them on a postcard and thankfully we drove through Angkor Thom again later in the week so I was able to see them.
At 4:00 Mau picked us up to head out to Phnom Wat Bakheng to watch the sunset over Tonle Sap Lake. Wat Bakheng was the first temple-mountain constructed in the late 9th century. I was hoping to take an elephant ride up the hill, but we didn’t think that all three of us could fit on one elephant so we decided to walk up the jungle path instead. At the base of the hill, there was a group of musicians who were victims of landmine explosions playing traditional Khmer music.
The climb to the top of Wat Bakheng is unreal. The steps are so narrow that even the width of my foot wouldn’t completely fit on a step. The ascent is nearly straight up.
Watching the sunset from Wat Bakheng is like watching fireworks on the Fourth of July. People come out in droves, and once you stake your claim on a place from where to watch, you need to be ready to defend it or you’ll get jostled out of the way. The scene is almost comical - tripods everywhere, cameras pointed towards the lake frantically snapping pictures of the sun’s decent. Just as the sun was getting low enough in the sky that we would hopefully see some color, it hit the haze of the humidity and disappeared, so sunset was sort of a bust. It was still fun to climb to the top of the temple, although getting down was a challenge.
After sunset, Mau took us back to the hotel and then it was out to dinner at Sugar Palm, where we ordered coconut soup with chicken (you actually serve this over rice rather than eating it out of a bowl), a minced pork dip that you eat with raw vegetables, and steamed fish with ginger. I have decided that of all the different cuisines I have tried while traveling over here, Khmer cuisine is my favorite. They use a lot of coconut milk in their recipes so it has a nice sweet taste. By the time dinner was over, we were all practically falling asleep at the table, so it was straight back to the hotel for an “early” night.
Friday morning we wanted to try to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat, which meant that Mau picked us up at the hotel at 5 am. The travel guides have been very helpful except that they neglected to tell you that if you planned to watch the sunrise, you may want to pack a flashlight. Without one, you’ll be trying to navigate the causeway that crosses the moat and has no railings in the pitch dark, after which you’ll need to get through the entrance of the gate in the outer wall. Thankfully we were able to latch onto a tour group who had flashlights, so that gave us enough light to navigate.
In theory, we should have been able to stand in front of the pools outside of the main temple and watch the sunrise over the towers, reflecting the image of Angkor Wat into the pool. It was a similar scene to sunset at Wat Bakhery the night before - people lined up everywhere, cameras poised. But just as they started to bang the drums indicating sunrise, it started to rain, not enough to make us run for cover, but enough to ruin sunrise. Most of the people started to leave, but we decided to stick around.
Angkor Wat has a completely different feel in the early morning light, especially considering there was hardly anyone else there. It was very peaceful and almost eerie. It made me wonder if the temple was a peaceful sanctuary or a bustling hub when it was built.
We made it all the way to the rear entrance of the main temple complex when we started to hear thunder. We thought it would be best if we started making our way back to the tuk-tuk. We were half way down the causeway on our way to the main entrance when it started to pour - probably the hardest downpour in which I’ve ever been stuck.
By the time we made it to the tuk-tuk, we were completely drenched. Mau had put the canvas sides down on the cart and amazingly it stayed completely dry inside. He drove us all the way back to town in the rain.
It looked like the day was going to be a complete wash, so we decided to stay in town for the day. In the morning we took a class at the Khmer Ceramics Center. It was the first time I’ve ever thrown pottery on a kick-wheel. I usually take the easy way out and use an electric wheel. The instructors at the Center throw slightly differently than what I’m used to, but I tried to stick to their way. They do almost everything with their hands, whereas I am used to using tools at certain stages in the process. We left our pieces there to be fired and glazed and they promised to have them back to the hotel before we left on Sunday.
In the afternoon, we took a cooking class at the River Garden resort and restaurant. If I ever go back to Siem Reap, I would probably stay at this hotel. They are big on “responsible tourism” and offer many activities through the hotel such as visits to the local children’s hospitals and orphanage to interact with the kids and give them the opportunity to practice their English.
The restaurant area where the class was held is in an outdoor garden overlooking the pool. It was just the three of us in the class so it was very personal and hands on. Our chef had studied at the Sala Bai Cooking School, a tuition-free catering and hotel school that aims to take unemployed and undereducated young adults from the area and teach them a trade connected with the hotel industry. After eleven months of specialized training, all graduates are able to find a job to help them support their families.
We learned how to make Banana Flower Salad, Amok Fish (a Cambodian specialty), Sweet Potato with Sago and Coconut Milk for dessert, and Hibiscus Tea. Each of the dishes was absolutely delicious. I’m going to have to try to find a Cambodian restaurant in Philadelphia. I doubt that we have any in New Jersey.
After dinner we made our way to the Night Market, only about a fifteen minute walk from our hotel. What a difference from the streets and markets in Hanoi. First of all, you could cross the street without taking your life in your hands, the streets were actually clean so I wasn’t afraid to walk around in flip-flops, and the market was well lit and organized. There were actually some vendors selling local crafts, whereas much of what we saw in the markets in Hanoi appeared to be mass produced.
I tried very hard to buy from NGOs. While the items were slightly more expensive as you couldn’t bargain, I thought that there was a better chance that the items were actually handmade out of genuine materials. I also thought that it was more likely that the money was being better spent to provide things like education and healthcare for the people of Cambodia. I read something in one of the travel books that advised you not to buy from children on the streets because you were encouraging their families to keep them out of school so that they could make money to support the family.
Friday ended up not being a total wash, and it gave us time to rest up for another day of temple hopping on Saturday.
We decided to walk into town to Les Chantiers Ecoles, a trade school started by the French. The Ecoles teaches young adults ages 18-25, many of whom are deaf and/or mute, a trade. Students learn traditional Khmer folk art such as lacquer-ware, silk weaving, silversmithing, gold embossing, and wood and stone carving. Some of the works are special commission pieces for high-end hotels. Others, particularly the stone carvings, are used in the restoration work being completed on the Angkor temples. Much of the work is sold in fair trade stores around the world. All of the proceeds from sales go back into the school. When the students graduate, they either set up their own workshops or become teachers in small villages throughout Cambodia.
We made it to the airport and through customs with plenty of time to spare. Everyone boarded the plane and we were just getting ready to push back from the gate when they discovered problems with our plane, so we all had to disembark. No worries, we had a four hour layover in Ho Chi Minh City before our connecting flight left. But when the airline announced that they were handing out meal vouchers (to the only restaurant in the airport) we knew we were in trouble. We ended up missing our connecting flight. The airline put us up in a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City for the night and gave us breakfast the next morning. Rather than returning to Hong Kong on Sunday night, we didn’t get back to Robin’s apartment until 6 pm Monday night, so Robin and Karen ended up with an added day to their spring breaks.
I spent some time in the Hong Kong Maritime Museum located in the Murray House, which served as officers’ quarters for the British military. The building was originally located in Central, but in 1992 it was dismantled to make way for the Bank of China Tower and moved to Stanley, a rather impressive feat when you consider how far apart the two locations are.
The museum traces the history of Chinese maritime activities from ancient times to present. It also answered some questions I had regarding interaction between the east and west. When we were touring the temples of Angkor, the construction reminded me very much of the type of construction the Greeks and Romans used in building things such as the Parthenon and the Roman Forum and libraries. I was wondering if the architects of the Angkor temples would have seen these monuments first hand or have talked to others who may have. According to the exhibit in the Maritime Museum, sea trade between the Romans and the Chinese began during the rule of Cesar Augustus.
After that, I took a walk through the Stanley Ma Hang Park which just officially opened in January of this year. The cliff-side park overlooks Stanley Bay and includes a Butterfly Garden, a Heritage Corner, a Sea View Terrace, a Sea Breeze Patio, a Fitness Deck, a Bird Watching Corner, an Educational Trail, a Hill Top Plaza, and wind turbines. I spent quite a bit of time exploring all of the trails and admiring the breathtaking views. I even stumbled across the Pak Tai Temple.
One of the trails led down to the beach. I walked to the water’s edge and put my toes in. The water temperature wasn’t too bad, probably what you’d expect to find by the end of June in New Jersey.
Another trail brought me to the Kwun Yam Temple, which contains a large statue of the Chinese goddess of mercy facing the sea. People pray to the goddess for safe journeys.
The final stop on my tour of Stanley was Blake Pier, another Stanley transplant. The original pier, located in Central, was the designated landing point for royalty, governors, and other VIPs. The original pier was demolished in 1965, but the pavilion was preserved and moved to Stanley in 2006.
The easiest way to get to the Peak Tram from Stanley is to walk through Hong Kong Park. On my walk through the park, I stopped at some of the sights I had missed on my first trip, namely the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware and the Hong Kong Visual Arts Center.
The tea ware museum is located in the Flagstaff House, which was constructed between 1844 and 1846 and served as the office and residence of the Commander of the British Forces in Hong Kong until 1978. The museum is dedicated to the collection, study, and display of tea ware and contains vessels dating back to the 11th century BC.
The museum had a special exhibition, 2010 Tea Ware by Hong Kong Potters. I would venture to guess that there were over 100 tea sets selected for inclusion in the exhibit. I found the artists solutions for dealing with the tea pot form to be very inspirational. Some artists took a very traditional approach while others were rather abstract and innovative. However, from what I read in the exhibit notes, it appears that function is more important in eastern tea pot design than creativity. I picked up one brochure that talked in great detail about the proper relationship of the different parts of the tea pot (spout, handle, lid…) to one another. The judge’s comments were quite harsh - “Very few pieces succeeded in making a balance between beauty with the judging principle of ‘functionality and ergonomics’. I hope future participants of this competition would pay more attention to the correlation between tea ware and the user and spare some thoughts to coordinate creativity, design and functional requirements.”
I couldn’t have picked a more perfect day for going to the top of the Peak. Victoria’s Peak is 1811 feet above sea level. Peak tram service to the summit commenced on May 30, 1888. Prior to that, affluent individuals were carried to the top in sedan chairs. This time, when I went up to the sky terrace, I could actually see Victoria Harbor and the sky scrapers of Central rather than just looking at the signs indicating what I should be seeing.
Hong Kong Trail circles around the top of the Peak. I took a leisurely stroll taking time to admire the views of Pok Fu Lam Reservoir and the outlying islands. There are interpretive signs along the trail, providing information about the various flora and fauna to passersby. I found the Indian Rubber Tree fascinating. Its roots actually grow out of its limbs all the way to the ground.
The walk started at the Western Market, an Edwardian-style building constructed in 1906 which originally housed the waterfront Harbour Office. From there I walked down Wing Lok Street lined with specialty shops selling ginseng and birds’ nests - both of which are believed to be essential for longevity, energy, and fair complexion - to Des Voeux Road West, which was lined with store after store selling various varieties of exotic dried seafood. I didn’t know that many of the species even existed in the ocean, and for those that I did recognize, I had no clue that you could dry them and eat them later.
The tour continued on to Ko Shing Street, the wholesale center of Hong Kong’s thriving herbal medicine trade. The stores on Ko Shing Street were similar to those on Des Voeux Road - endless baskets overflowing with dried goods. This time, I saw baskets of dried bats, turtle shells, mushrooms, and countless things I couldn’t identify. I think I’ll stick to Western medicine.
Robin and I caught the ferry to Lamma Island, the third largest island in Hong Kong. Lamma is quite a contrast to the hectic city pace of Central. There are no vehicles allowed on the island and none of the buildings are taller than three stories. We hiked from the northern village of Yung Shue Wan (Banyan Tree Bay) to the eastern village of Sok Kwu Wan. The villages are small with local shops and restaurants. There are dozens of fishing boats anchored in the waters near each.
The hike between the two villages took us over some low-lying mountains. The ascent was very gradual and made for a nice walk. The views of the shipping lanes of the South China Sea and the neighboring islands of Cheung Chau and Lantau - as well as Lamma’s own beaches - were spectacular. In Sok Kwu Wan, we caught another ferry to Aberdeen back on Hong Kong Island.
Robin suggested that while we were in Aberdeen we should have dinner at Jumbo Floating Restaurant, which is moored in Aberdeen Harbor. Jumbo has a small boat at the ferry pier to shuttle guests to the restaurant, which, of course, specializes in seafood dishes. We were seated at a window from which we could see the many boats docked in the harbor as well as the bright lights of Aberdeen.
We arrived safely in Cambodia Wednesday night. From the minute we stepped off of the plane, I knew that I was going to like Siem Reap better than Hanoi. You disembark from the plane in Siem Reap the same way that you do in Bermuda, down air steps. The weather was finally warm. Entering the actual airport terminal reminded me of the Polynesian in Disney World.
We did the visa on arrival again which I think took all of twenty minutes. I guess with everything going digital, once they scan your passport they know everything about your background. The customs officers were actually friendly and helpful.
Our hotel arranged for transportation from the airport, only a twenty minute ride. I felt like I was driving along the Las Vegas strip. There are hotels and spas everywhere. They remind me of Mandalay Bay. Of course, there aren’t nearly as many flashing lights, noisy traffic, or droves of people. Our driver told us that in 1997, Airport Road was still an overgrown jungle. All of the development has taken place in the last 15 years. We even passed a Ford dealership, the first American dealership we’ve seen on this trip.
Our hotel is amazing. It has a salt water swimming pool (the largest in Siem Reap according to the hotel brochure), a full spa, and several restaurants. Our room is huge. We each have our own full size bed rather than the roll away you get in most hotels. The staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. They all speak English to some degree - many of them very well.
The main reason for coming to Siem Reap is to visit the temples of the Angkor Archeological Park, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, slightly northwest of Siem Reap. The Agkor Empire flourished between the 7th and 14th centuries stretching beyond what is now Cambodia into South Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Angkor was the imperial and spiritual capital of this vast empire. The empire collapsed in the 14th century and the jungle consumed most of the temples. They weren’t “re-discovered” until the mid 19th century by a French expedition. Since then various countries have collaborated with the Khmers to strip back the jungle and re-claim the temples. Unfortunately, much work was halted from 1973-1990 during the Khmer Rouge regime.
Thursday morning we set out to start exploring the temples. The most popular mode of transportation in Cambodia is the tuk-tuk, a covered cart big enough to seat four people which is pulled by a motor bike. There were several tuk-tuks parked outside of our hotel so we hired a driver to take us out for the day.
Riding in a tuk-tuk is reminiscent of riding on the Tram Car on the Wildwood boardwalk, sans the annoying recording. The ride was very pleasant, and even though it was already quite warm (I think it’s already in the upper 80s to low 90s here), the open air tuk-tuk is quite comfortable.
Our first stop was Angkor Wat, the greatest of the temples and the largest religious building in the world. I don’t think that my description or the pictures can even begin to convey how magnificent and awe-inspiring the temples are. We live in a society of sky scrapers and are bombarded with visual imagery. It’s hard to imagine the impression that the temples would have conveyed to the average peasant worker who was living in a thatched hut and likely did not have access to paintings or statues in his own house.
After seeing the temples, I can better understand the concept of a god-king. The top levels of the temples, which were only accessible to king and priests, are towering and imposing. The only way to enter is by climbing a set of steep, narrow steps. What better way for a king to keep control of his people than forced employment in a monumental public work project adorned with intricate carvings.
Mau, our tuk-tuk driver, dropped us off at the main entrance of Angkor Wat and waited for us outside while we went to explore.
Angkor Wat is surrounded by a 211-yard-wide moat which forms a rectangle measuring 0.9 miles by 0.8 miles. There is a sandstone causeway that crosses the moat and leads you into the west gate of the outer wall.
The causeway continues, flanked on either side by library structures and reflecting pools, to the central temple complex.
The central temple is also surrounded by another hall and a series of bas-relief galleries stretching approximately 888 yards around the temple. Each panel tells a different story - some from Hindu mythology, others celebrate military victories of the Khmer empire. Every inch of space is covered by intricate carvings. Some of the reliefs have pieces cut away. I presume that they were sold on the black market.
The causeway continues, flanked on either side by library structures and reflecting pools, to the central temple complex.
The central temple is also surrounded by another hall and a series of bas-relief galleries stretching approximately 888 yards around the temple. Each panel tells a different story - some from Hindu mythology, others celebrate military victories of the Khmer empire. Every inch of space is covered by intricate carvings. Some of the reliefs have pieces cut away. I presume that they were sold on the black market.
I was amazed that we were allowed to wander freely around the temple. There were some areas that had newly constructed steps to make access easier for tourists and a few areas that were roped off as being unsafe, but for the most part, we could wander freely anywhere we wanted, climbing up narrow stair cases and through windows to get better views. We started out trying to follow the story cycle of the reliefs but soon became overwhelmed by the sheer size of the temple and started wandering around the maze of galleries until we reached the central tower.
The central tower is 183 feet tall and would have been accessible only to the king and his high priests. It is inside a small courtyard so the only way to view the tower is to look straight up.
Mau planned to take us to other temples in the afternoon so we started to make our way out of Angkor Wat. On our way, we passed a man fumbling to try to take a picture of himself using the time delay on his camera. Karen stopped to see if we could help him. He had just finished his mandatory three years of service in the Israeli military and was spending six months traveling through Southeast Asia before starting university. He was telling us about his experience crossing into Cambodia via bus. The boarder guards charged him twice as much for his visa as we paid for ours. I guess that there is corruption everywhere in the world.
When you leave the temples, you are immediately bombarded by people trying to sell you things. Amazingly everything costs “one dollar.” The children will break your heart. Even when they are hounding you to buy their merchandise, they are sweet and polite. One little boy walked with us for quite awhile trying to sell us postcards - “ten for one dollar.” He proceeded to count them out for us. I think that he counted better than some American children his age.
Our next stop was Angkor Thom, the “Great City” built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The city would have supported a population of almost one million people at its height. The complex is spread over an area of 6.2 square miles and is surrounded by a 24 foot high wall, .62 miles long on each side and a 100 yard wide moat. The entire city is a representation of the Hindu universe. The royal entourage from the king down to the priests and generals lived within the city walls while the commoners lived in wooden houses outside of the enclosure.
The first temple in Angkor Thom is the Bayon. The most memorable thing about the Bayon is the enormous faces, 216 to be exact, on 54 Gothic style towers. The faces are either representations of a Hindu bodhisattva (someone who uses his wisdom to help others to enlightenment) or the king himself. No matter where you go in the Bayon, there is a face watching you. We decided to forego the bas reliefs on the lower levels and climb all the way to the top sanctuary.
Next stop - the Baphuon. Restoration began on this temple in the 1960s using a technique called anastylosis whereby the entire structure is disassembled and then rebuilt. Work stopped when the Khmer Rouge came into power and all of the plans and records were destroyed. As we walked down the causeway to the main temple, the pools on either side were filled with numbered stones. Work resumed in 1995, and while they have made significant progress, there is still quite a lot of work to be done. It was interesting to watch the workers at the site.
We took a short walk through the jungle to the site of the Royal Palace. The only thing that remains is the Phimeanaka, or “celestial palace.” Wooden stairs have been built over top of the original stone steps to aid tourists in climbing to the top. The wooden steps were like using the steps on a navy ship. I couldn’t even begin to imagine climbing the originals. Of course, we climbed all the way to the top (a growing trend in our temple tours).
From there, we walked along the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. The Terrace of the Elephants was originally used as a giant viewing stand for the king to inspect his troops as they marched into Angkor Thom. The terrace was named for cared elephants which for the life of me I wasn’t able to locate. I later found pictures of them on a postcard and thankfully we drove through Angkor Thom again later in the week so I was able to see them.
The original plan was to stay out until sunset, but by the time we finished at Angkor Thom we were exhausted. We asked Mau to take us back to the hotel. We found a grocery store right across the street from our hotel and we stopped in to pick up some much needed water and afternoon snacks.
At 4:00 Mau picked us up to head out to Phnom Wat Bakheng to watch the sunset over Tonle Sap Lake. Wat Bakheng was the first temple-mountain constructed in the late 9th century. I was hoping to take an elephant ride up the hill, but we didn’t think that all three of us could fit on one elephant so we decided to walk up the jungle path instead. At the base of the hill, there was a group of musicians who were victims of landmine explosions playing traditional Khmer music.
The climb to the top of Wat Bakheng is unreal. The steps are so narrow that even the width of my foot wouldn’t completely fit on a step. The ascent is nearly straight up.
Watching the sunset from Wat Bakheng is like watching fireworks on the Fourth of July. People come out in droves, and once you stake your claim on a place from where to watch, you need to be ready to defend it or you’ll get jostled out of the way. The scene is almost comical - tripods everywhere, cameras pointed towards the lake frantically snapping pictures of the sun’s decent. Just as the sun was getting low enough in the sky that we would hopefully see some color, it hit the haze of the humidity and disappeared, so sunset was sort of a bust. It was still fun to climb to the top of the temple, although getting down was a challenge.
After sunset, Mau took us back to the hotel and then it was out to dinner at Sugar Palm, where we ordered coconut soup with chicken (you actually serve this over rice rather than eating it out of a bowl), a minced pork dip that you eat with raw vegetables, and steamed fish with ginger. I have decided that of all the different cuisines I have tried while traveling over here, Khmer cuisine is my favorite. They use a lot of coconut milk in their recipes so it has a nice sweet taste. By the time dinner was over, we were all practically falling asleep at the table, so it was straight back to the hotel for an “early” night.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Friday morning we wanted to try to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat, which meant that Mau picked us up at the hotel at 5 am. The travel guides have been very helpful except that they neglected to tell you that if you planned to watch the sunrise, you may want to pack a flashlight. Without one, you’ll be trying to navigate the causeway that crosses the moat and has no railings in the pitch dark, after which you’ll need to get through the entrance of the gate in the outer wall. Thankfully we were able to latch onto a tour group who had flashlights, so that gave us enough light to navigate.
In theory, we should have been able to stand in front of the pools outside of the main temple and watch the sunrise over the towers, reflecting the image of Angkor Wat into the pool. It was a similar scene to sunset at Wat Bakhery the night before - people lined up everywhere, cameras poised. But just as they started to bang the drums indicating sunrise, it started to rain, not enough to make us run for cover, but enough to ruin sunrise. Most of the people started to leave, but we decided to stick around.
Angkor Wat has a completely different feel in the early morning light, especially considering there was hardly anyone else there. It was very peaceful and almost eerie. It made me wonder if the temple was a peaceful sanctuary or a bustling hub when it was built.
We made it all the way to the rear entrance of the main temple complex when we started to hear thunder. We thought it would be best if we started making our way back to the tuk-tuk. We were half way down the causeway on our way to the main entrance when it started to pour - probably the hardest downpour in which I’ve ever been stuck.
By the time we made it to the tuk-tuk, we were completely drenched. Mau had put the canvas sides down on the cart and amazingly it stayed completely dry inside. He drove us all the way back to town in the rain.
It looked like the day was going to be a complete wash, so we decided to stay in town for the day. In the morning we took a class at the Khmer Ceramics Center. It was the first time I’ve ever thrown pottery on a kick-wheel. I usually take the easy way out and use an electric wheel. The instructors at the Center throw slightly differently than what I’m used to, but I tried to stick to their way. They do almost everything with their hands, whereas I am used to using tools at certain stages in the process. We left our pieces there to be fired and glazed and they promised to have them back to the hotel before we left on Sunday.
In the afternoon, we took a cooking class at the River Garden resort and restaurant. If I ever go back to Siem Reap, I would probably stay at this hotel. They are big on “responsible tourism” and offer many activities through the hotel such as visits to the local children’s hospitals and orphanage to interact with the kids and give them the opportunity to practice their English.
The restaurant area where the class was held is in an outdoor garden overlooking the pool. It was just the three of us in the class so it was very personal and hands on. Our chef had studied at the Sala Bai Cooking School, a tuition-free catering and hotel school that aims to take unemployed and undereducated young adults from the area and teach them a trade connected with the hotel industry. After eleven months of specialized training, all graduates are able to find a job to help them support their families.
We learned how to make Banana Flower Salad, Amok Fish (a Cambodian specialty), Sweet Potato with Sago and Coconut Milk for dessert, and Hibiscus Tea. Each of the dishes was absolutely delicious. I’m going to have to try to find a Cambodian restaurant in Philadelphia. I doubt that we have any in New Jersey.
After dinner we made our way to the Night Market, only about a fifteen minute walk from our hotel. What a difference from the streets and markets in Hanoi. First of all, you could cross the street without taking your life in your hands, the streets were actually clean so I wasn’t afraid to walk around in flip-flops, and the market was well lit and organized. There were actually some vendors selling local crafts, whereas much of what we saw in the markets in Hanoi appeared to be mass produced.
I tried very hard to buy from NGOs. While the items were slightly more expensive as you couldn’t bargain, I thought that there was a better chance that the items were actually handmade out of genuine materials. I also thought that it was more likely that the money was being better spent to provide things like education and healthcare for the people of Cambodia. I read something in one of the travel books that advised you not to buy from children on the streets because you were encouraging their families to keep them out of school so that they could make money to support the family.
Friday ended up not being a total wash, and it gave us time to rest up for another day of temple hopping on Saturday.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Temples, Temples, and More Temples
Saturday morning we asked Mau to take us to Banteay Srei, the “Citadel of Women,” which is approximately 24 miles from Siem Reap, 30-40 minutes by tuk-tuk. The ride gave us the opportunity to see some of the Cambodian country side. Most of the houses are built in the traditional style, on raised stilts. Some were rather sophisticated but most were modest thatched houses with corrugated steel roofs. Many of the small “villages” through which we passed were built as part of a clean water project. There were signs in front of the houses indicating the name and nationality of the individuals who donated funds to support the construction of the house.
We passed through several rice paddies. These differed significantly from the ones we saw in Vietnam. They were much more sparse and not as neat and organized. These plants were also turning brown rather than the lush green fields we saw in Vietnam. I thought perhaps these fields were in a different stage in the planting/harvesting process. At the temple, they had an exhibit on rice production. I read that the type of rice they grow in Cambodia only takes 130 days from planting to harvest.
We saw several cows, water buffalo, and chickens, all of which were very thin. Some were so thin that you could see their rib cages - quite a contrast from American livestock which is injected with hormones to fatten them up.
As we drove through the different areas of the country side, the sounds of the bugs changed. I guess different species prefer different habitats. We passed a cell tower and a health center. One house in particular stood out. They had huge towers of speakers set up outside, like you would see at a rock concert, with music blaring. It was a Saturday so I guess that was the Cambodian equivalent of a block party.
Cambodia has a large population of monks who shave their heads and wear bright orange robes. The monks ride around on the backs of motorbikes driven by non-monks.
Before we left town, Mau stopped at a “gas station” to fill up with petrol for the long ride. A gas station in Cambodia consists of a woman on the side of the road who comes out with a glass bottled containing two liters of petrol which she pours into the tank using a funnel.
Mau dropped us off at the main entrance to Banteay Srei. Construction began on the temple in 967 and it is one of the few temples that was not commissioned by a king. It is built from a red stone that was different from what we had seen used at the other temples and is know for its intricate carvings. The temple itself is rather small and much of it is roped off so you need to admire the carvings from a distance. However, this temple is probably the most tourist friendly with interpretation centers, bathrooms, cafés, and a well organized market.
After we finished exploring the temple, we took a walk down the jungle path, through some small rice paddies to one of the interpretation centers, which taught us a little about the symbolism used in the carvings in Banteay Srei.
On the way back to the main temples from Banteay Srei, we passed the Cambodian Landmine Museum. We asked Mau to stop so that we could have some time to look around. The museum was established by Aki Ra. Aki was orphaned by the age of ten and went to fight for the Khmer Rouge. Later, he defected from the Khmer Rouge and joined Vietnamese forces who were liberating Cambodia. He has spent much of his adult life disarming landmines and bombs throughout the Cambodian countryside. Aki and his wife also established an orphanage and rehabilitation center for children who are victims of landmine attacks. They obtain prosthetic limbs for the children, educate them, and provide full scholarships to university.
From there, Mau drove us to Pre Rup. Pre Rup is very symmetrical, two concentric walls with a three-tiered pyramidal temple-mountain in the middle. It was likely used as a crematory. This was a temple where we could climb all the way to the top, so of course we did. From there, we could see the surrounding rice paddies. There were very few people at this temple, so we actually sat at the top and ate the peanut butter crackers we had brought with us for lunch.
Our next stop was Ta Prohm. Exploring this temple is kind of like being in an Indiana Jones movie. The jungle has literally grown into the temple with tree roots completely consuming whole walls. There was a conscious decision to leave this temple largely un-cleared so visitors could experience it the way that French explorers found all of the temples. Some scenes from the movie Tomb Raiderwere shot here. (Yet another movie I haven’t seen. Now that I visited the temple, I’ll have to put it on my list of movies to watch.)
Because it’s in ruins, the temple is like a maze. You’ll start down one corridor only to find that you must turn around because it’s blocked by a pile of stones or completely flooded with water. The colors in this temple are amazing - lots of greens and pinks. I’m not sure if this is a characteristic of the type of stone used to build Ta Prohm or residue from the trees that have grown within the temple.
Our final temple of the trip was Preah Khan, or “Sacred Sword,” which was consecrated in 1191. This temple is another maze of vaulted corridors. Preah Khan was originally a Buddhist temple. When the king who commissioned the temple died, his successor was a Hindu king. Therefore, all of the images of Buddha within the temple have been defaced and replaced by images of Shiva. After finishing Preah Khan, we asked Mau to take us back to the hotel. The quickest way to get there was through Angkor Thom, so I was able to see the elephant sculptures that I had missed the first time at the Terrace of the Elephants.
Just a block away from our hotel was a restaurant that put on a traditional Khmer dance performance during dinner, the Koulen II Restaurant. Dinner was this amazing buffet with every type of cuisine you could possibly imagine, including pizza and spaghetti with marinara sauce. I tried to stick to things that I couldn’t get at home and tried to choose Cambodian dishes whenever possible.
Traditional Khmer folk dance is called Apsara. The movements of the dancers are often times very slow and graceful, almost like someone doing yoga. Most of the dances seemed to communicate a narrative, either folklore or a glimpse of village life.
After dinner, it was back to the hotel to try to pack all of the souvenirs we accumulated along the trip into our luggage for Sunday’s trip back to Hong Kong.
We passed through several rice paddies. These differed significantly from the ones we saw in Vietnam. They were much more sparse and not as neat and organized. These plants were also turning brown rather than the lush green fields we saw in Vietnam. I thought perhaps these fields were in a different stage in the planting/harvesting process. At the temple, they had an exhibit on rice production. I read that the type of rice they grow in Cambodia only takes 130 days from planting to harvest.
We saw several cows, water buffalo, and chickens, all of which were very thin. Some were so thin that you could see their rib cages - quite a contrast from American livestock which is injected with hormones to fatten them up.
As we drove through the different areas of the country side, the sounds of the bugs changed. I guess different species prefer different habitats. We passed a cell tower and a health center. One house in particular stood out. They had huge towers of speakers set up outside, like you would see at a rock concert, with music blaring. It was a Saturday so I guess that was the Cambodian equivalent of a block party.
Cambodia has a large population of monks who shave their heads and wear bright orange robes. The monks ride around on the backs of motorbikes driven by non-monks.
Before we left town, Mau stopped at a “gas station” to fill up with petrol for the long ride. A gas station in Cambodia consists of a woman on the side of the road who comes out with a glass bottled containing two liters of petrol which she pours into the tank using a funnel.
Mau dropped us off at the main entrance to Banteay Srei. Construction began on the temple in 967 and it is one of the few temples that was not commissioned by a king. It is built from a red stone that was different from what we had seen used at the other temples and is know for its intricate carvings. The temple itself is rather small and much of it is roped off so you need to admire the carvings from a distance. However, this temple is probably the most tourist friendly with interpretation centers, bathrooms, cafés, and a well organized market.
After we finished exploring the temple, we took a walk down the jungle path, through some small rice paddies to one of the interpretation centers, which taught us a little about the symbolism used in the carvings in Banteay Srei.
On the way back to the main temples from Banteay Srei, we passed the Cambodian Landmine Museum. We asked Mau to stop so that we could have some time to look around. The museum was established by Aki Ra. Aki was orphaned by the age of ten and went to fight for the Khmer Rouge. Later, he defected from the Khmer Rouge and joined Vietnamese forces who were liberating Cambodia. He has spent much of his adult life disarming landmines and bombs throughout the Cambodian countryside. Aki and his wife also established an orphanage and rehabilitation center for children who are victims of landmine attacks. They obtain prosthetic limbs for the children, educate them, and provide full scholarships to university.
From there, Mau drove us to Pre Rup. Pre Rup is very symmetrical, two concentric walls with a three-tiered pyramidal temple-mountain in the middle. It was likely used as a crematory. This was a temple where we could climb all the way to the top, so of course we did. From there, we could see the surrounding rice paddies. There were very few people at this temple, so we actually sat at the top and ate the peanut butter crackers we had brought with us for lunch.
Our next stop was Ta Prohm. Exploring this temple is kind of like being in an Indiana Jones movie. The jungle has literally grown into the temple with tree roots completely consuming whole walls. There was a conscious decision to leave this temple largely un-cleared so visitors could experience it the way that French explorers found all of the temples. Some scenes from the movie Tomb Raiderwere shot here. (Yet another movie I haven’t seen. Now that I visited the temple, I’ll have to put it on my list of movies to watch.)
Because it’s in ruins, the temple is like a maze. You’ll start down one corridor only to find that you must turn around because it’s blocked by a pile of stones or completely flooded with water. The colors in this temple are amazing - lots of greens and pinks. I’m not sure if this is a characteristic of the type of stone used to build Ta Prohm or residue from the trees that have grown within the temple.
Our final temple of the trip was Preah Khan, or “Sacred Sword,” which was consecrated in 1191. This temple is another maze of vaulted corridors. Preah Khan was originally a Buddhist temple. When the king who commissioned the temple died, his successor was a Hindu king. Therefore, all of the images of Buddha within the temple have been defaced and replaced by images of Shiva. After finishing Preah Khan, we asked Mau to take us back to the hotel. The quickest way to get there was through Angkor Thom, so I was able to see the elephant sculptures that I had missed the first time at the Terrace of the Elephants.
Just a block away from our hotel was a restaurant that put on a traditional Khmer dance performance during dinner, the Koulen II Restaurant. Dinner was this amazing buffet with every type of cuisine you could possibly imagine, including pizza and spaghetti with marinara sauce. I tried to stick to things that I couldn’t get at home and tried to choose Cambodian dishes whenever possible.
Traditional Khmer folk dance is called Apsara. The movements of the dancers are often times very slow and graceful, almost like someone doing yoga. Most of the dances seemed to communicate a narrative, either folklore or a glimpse of village life.
After dinner, it was back to the hotel to try to pack all of the souvenirs we accumulated along the trip into our luggage for Sunday’s trip back to Hong Kong.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
A Farewell to Cambodia
Our trip back to Hong Kong was a two-part flight - Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City, a four hour layover, and then Ho Chi Minh to Hong Kong. We didn’t leave Siem Reap until the afternoon and since the airport was only fifteen minutes from our hotel, we had time to do some more sightseeing around town. But first, breakfast. The breakfast buffet at our hotel in Siem Reap wasn’t nearly as good as the one in Hanoi. However, Siem Reap served some of the best coffee I have ever had. The standard blend had a hint of chocolate favor.
We decided to walk into town to Les Chantiers Ecoles, a trade school started by the French. The Ecoles teaches young adults ages 18-25, many of whom are deaf and/or mute, a trade. Students learn traditional Khmer folk art such as lacquer-ware, silk weaving, silversmithing, gold embossing, and wood and stone carving. Some of the works are special commission pieces for high-end hotels. Others, particularly the stone carvings, are used in the restoration work being completed on the Angkor temples. Much of the work is sold in fair trade stores around the world. All of the proceeds from sales go back into the school. When the students graduate, they either set up their own workshops or become teachers in small villages throughout Cambodia.
We made it to the airport and through customs with plenty of time to spare. Everyone boarded the plane and we were just getting ready to push back from the gate when they discovered problems with our plane, so we all had to disembark. No worries, we had a four hour layover in Ho Chi Minh City before our connecting flight left. But when the airline announced that they were handing out meal vouchers (to the only restaurant in the airport) we knew we were in trouble. We ended up missing our connecting flight. The airline put us up in a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City for the night and gave us breakfast the next morning. Rather than returning to Hong Kong on Sunday night, we didn’t get back to Robin’s apartment until 6 pm Monday night, so Robin and Karen ended up with an added day to their spring breaks.
When Robin and I were planning this trip back in December, we were originally going to spend the last few days in HCMC. When we added the overnight to Halong Bay, we decided to strike HCMC from the itinerary. After driving around getting between the airport and the hotel, I’m glad we did. HCMC looked a lot like Hanoi, a maze of roads and tons of traffic and pollution.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Stanely Revisited
Tuesday was actually a relaxing day, although I suspect that my definition of relaxing doesn’t quite coincide with everyone else’s definition. When I traveled to Hong Kong in 2008, it rained for the better part of the trip. This time I couldn’t have possibly asked for nicer weather. The weather in Stanley was absolutely gorgeous - mid 70s, low humidity, abundant sunshine, and a nice sea breeze. I spent most of the day walking around the Stanley waterfront seeing some of the sights I missed on my first trip.
I spent some time in the Hong Kong Maritime Museum located in the Murray House, which served as officers’ quarters for the British military. The building was originally located in Central, but in 1992 it was dismantled to make way for the Bank of China Tower and moved to Stanley, a rather impressive feat when you consider how far apart the two locations are.
The museum traces the history of Chinese maritime activities from ancient times to present. It also answered some questions I had regarding interaction between the east and west. When we were touring the temples of Angkor, the construction reminded me very much of the type of construction the Greeks and Romans used in building things such as the Parthenon and the Roman Forum and libraries. I was wondering if the architects of the Angkor temples would have seen these monuments first hand or have talked to others who may have. According to the exhibit in the Maritime Museum, sea trade between the Romans and the Chinese began during the rule of Cesar Augustus.
The museum also had an interesting exhibit on the history of scuba diving which I didn’t realize could be traced all the way back to 500 BCE when there was record of the first snorkel dive. Then in 400 BCE, Aristotle records Alexander the Great in a prototype diving bell.
After that, I took a walk through the Stanley Ma Hang Park which just officially opened in January of this year. The cliff-side park overlooks Stanley Bay and includes a Butterfly Garden, a Heritage Corner, a Sea View Terrace, a Sea Breeze Patio, a Fitness Deck, a Bird Watching Corner, an Educational Trail, a Hill Top Plaza, and wind turbines. I spent quite a bit of time exploring all of the trails and admiring the breathtaking views. I even stumbled across the Pak Tai Temple.
One of the trails led down to the beach. I walked to the water’s edge and put my toes in. The water temperature wasn’t too bad, probably what you’d expect to find by the end of June in New Jersey.
Another trail brought me to the Kwun Yam Temple, which contains a large statue of the Chinese goddess of mercy facing the sea. People pray to the goddess for safe journeys.
The final stop on my tour of Stanley was Blake Pier, another Stanley transplant. The original pier, located in Central, was the designated landing point for royalty, governors, and other VIPs. The original pier was demolished in 1965, but the pavilion was preserved and moved to Stanley in 2006.
When Robin came home from school, we went out for dinner at Toby’s, a Chinese restaurant just around the corner from her apartment in Stanley Market.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
To the Top of the Peak... Take Two
The only major disappointment about my 2008 trip to Hong Kong was that the day we spent in Central was rainy and miserable. When we got to the top of Victoria’s Peak, it was so foggy that we couldn’t see a thing. One of my goals for this trip was to make it to the top of the Peak on a nice day, so Wednesday morning I caught the bus to Central. Public transportation in Hong Kong is very user-friendly. Robin helped me out in selecting the best bus routes to take and the stops at which to get off, but for the most part, I was on my own. Most of the MTR stations are massive. Many are larger than Penn Station in New York. When you get off the train, there is a map showing you each major tourist attraction near that stop as well as the exit number to use get above ground closest to it. Once you are at street level, there are signs directing you to your destination.
The easiest way to get to the Peak Tram from Stanley is to walk through Hong Kong Park. On my walk through the park, I stopped at some of the sights I had missed on my first trip, namely the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware and the Hong Kong Visual Arts Center.
The tea ware museum is located in the Flagstaff House, which was constructed between 1844 and 1846 and served as the office and residence of the Commander of the British Forces in Hong Kong until 1978. The museum is dedicated to the collection, study, and display of tea ware and contains vessels dating back to the 11th century BC.
The museum had a special exhibition, 2010 Tea Ware by Hong Kong Potters. I would venture to guess that there were over 100 tea sets selected for inclusion in the exhibit. I found the artists solutions for dealing with the tea pot form to be very inspirational. Some artists took a very traditional approach while others were rather abstract and innovative. However, from what I read in the exhibit notes, it appears that function is more important in eastern tea pot design than creativity. I picked up one brochure that talked in great detail about the proper relationship of the different parts of the tea pot (spout, handle, lid…) to one another. The judge’s comments were quite harsh - “Very few pieces succeeded in making a balance between beauty with the judging principle of ‘functionality and ergonomics’. I hope future participants of this competition would pay more attention to the correlation between tea ware and the user and spare some thoughts to coordinate creativity, design and functional requirements.”
I couldn’t have picked a more perfect day for going to the top of the Peak. Victoria’s Peak is 1811 feet above sea level. Peak tram service to the summit commenced on May 30, 1888. Prior to that, affluent individuals were carried to the top in sedan chairs. This time, when I went up to the sky terrace, I could actually see Victoria Harbor and the sky scrapers of Central rather than just looking at the signs indicating what I should be seeing.
Hong Kong Trail circles around the top of the Peak. I took a leisurely stroll taking time to admire the views of Pok Fu Lam Reservoir and the outlying islands. There are interpretive signs along the trail, providing information about the various flora and fauna to passersby. I found the Indian Rubber Tree fascinating. Its roots actually grow out of its limbs all the way to the ground.
I still had plenty of time before I needed to head to the ferry terminal to meet Robin, so I decided to start on one of the self-guided walking tours of Central put together by the Hong Kong Tourism Board. But before I started the tour, I stopped at one of the infinite number of bakeries to pick up pineapple buns to hold us over until dinner. The bakeries in Hong Kong are out of this world, filled with all sorts of sweet and savory treats. Many of the selections are like a filled roll. Everything is always fresh. Not quite sure how they manage to pull that one off. The bakeries became a staple for my lunch for the remained of the trip.
The walk started at the Western Market, an Edwardian-style building constructed in 1906 which originally housed the waterfront Harbour Office. From there I walked down Wing Lok Street lined with specialty shops selling ginseng and birds’ nests - both of which are believed to be essential for longevity, energy, and fair complexion - to Des Voeux Road West, which was lined with store after store selling various varieties of exotic dried seafood. I didn’t know that many of the species even existed in the ocean, and for those that I did recognize, I had no clue that you could dry them and eat them later.
The tour continued on to Ko Shing Street, the wholesale center of Hong Kong’s thriving herbal medicine trade. The stores on Ko Shing Street were similar to those on Des Voeux Road - endless baskets overflowing with dried goods. This time, I saw baskets of dried bats, turtle shells, mushrooms, and countless things I couldn’t identify. I think I’ll stick to Western medicine.
The mid portion of the walk took me down Hollywood Road and Lascar Road (Cat Street), which make up the heart of Hong Kong’s antiques district. Robin had taken us down these streets on my last visit, and it was getting close to the time I was supposed to meet her, so I made my way over to the ferry terminal.
Robin and I caught the ferry to Lamma Island, the third largest island in Hong Kong. Lamma is quite a contrast to the hectic city pace of Central. There are no vehicles allowed on the island and none of the buildings are taller than three stories. We hiked from the northern village of Yung Shue Wan (Banyan Tree Bay) to the eastern village of Sok Kwu Wan. The villages are small with local shops and restaurants. There are dozens of fishing boats anchored in the waters near each.
The hike between the two villages took us over some low-lying mountains. The ascent was very gradual and made for a nice walk. The views of the shipping lanes of the South China Sea and the neighboring islands of Cheung Chau and Lantau - as well as Lamma’s own beaches - were spectacular. In Sok Kwu Wan, we caught another ferry to Aberdeen back on Hong Kong Island.
Robin suggested that while we were in Aberdeen we should have dinner at Jumbo Floating Restaurant, which is moored in Aberdeen Harbor. Jumbo has a small boat at the ferry pier to shuttle guests to the restaurant, which, of course, specializes in seafood dishes. We were seated at a window from which we could see the many boats docked in the harbor as well as the bright lights of Aberdeen.
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