May 13-17, 2016 Bangkok

Bangkok is a huge metropolitan city, where you can do or buy pretty much anything. We only visited the more tame, family side of Bangkok.

We visited the Taling Chan floating market, but were somewhat disappointed as the main eating area was the floating part, with a few vendors surrounding it in boats making food. You could take an overpriced tour of the canal, but the kids said they have been on enough boats, so they weren't interested.

At the kids request, we only visited 1 temple, Wat Pho, housing a massive reclining Buddha and the largest collection of (smaller) Buddha images in Thailand.

Restored and unrestored Buddha statues

 These nymphs show poses for relaxation

As the heat kept hovering around 38C, we went to a water and amusement park. Siam Park City, or should we say Wally World Asia, was definitely dated, but very fun.

There was a wave pool, with a very small wave, but the water slides were plenty dangerous. We decided they probably wouldn't be allowed in America. On the rainbow colored straight slide you get going so fast, get airborne on center part, and then land in 1.5 feet of water. Gary decided it was the scariest thing in the park. The circular slide tries to rip your bathing suit off, so I was impressed with that one.

The dry rides were the ones the kids loved the most. They liked the scariest rides the best, the Boomerang, Vortex and Giant Drop. They did get me to go on all of those, but only once. They managed to convince Gary to go on the Giant Drop many times even though he said never again after the first ride. That one was terrifying. The seat climbs up a tall tower, then free falls for many seconds (seems like eternity), before you are back on safe ground.

I love the campness of the traditional Thai deity with the Siam Park mascots

Of course no trip to Bangkok would be complete without a day shopping in the massive malls. Gigi and I had a great time looking at all the unique fashion, we only bought a few things. Gary and Axel went bowling at the MBK mall.

Check out rush hour traffic leaving the malls.

The biggest adventure of the day was taking the canal boat to and from our hotel to the malls. In the morning he wasn't going quite as fast, but by rush hour the driver pushed the boat to go as fast as it could. The canal isn't very wide, and narrows radically under some of the bridges, just big enough to let 1 boat through, but we still went full speed through. Boats going the other direction were going just as fast, so there were huge wakes. Just before one low bridge the driver had to jam the boat into reverse as we were at the crest of a wave and would have hit the bridge. Pulling into the dock it was full reverse, jump off instantly, and the boat was gone.

The last day we spent trying to find a clinic or hospital to get Axel's next rabies shot. Silly monkey, or is that silly boy? Ended up taking a ferry to one of the very nice private hospitals. Then explored the beauty of the flower market.

Tonight we are off to Rome. The kids can't wait to eat pizza and pasta, and not have odd ingredients in their meals. They have done great, trying lots of different food, but I think they are ready for a change.

Cheers,

Julie

As we have traveled around Thailand and Cambodia, the thing that turns me off from these countries much more than the sweltering heat, is the garbage everywhere. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that their water is not potable, so everyone drinks from one use plastics water bottles. There is also a culture of putting everything you buy in 1 to 2 plastic bags even if it already comes in a bag. If you order a drink, first it is put in a plastic cup with a lid, then it is put in a plastic bag. I bought some dumplings, they were put in a small bag, then that bag was put in a larger bag with handles, which gets thrown away almost instantly. So wasteful!

There is rubbish lying around people's houses and no one makes an effort to clean it up. Especially sad, I have seen people throw garbage on the ground at temples and historical sites.

It seems like there is a need to educate the people about putting trash in appropriate places, and teach about using less packaging. But the biggest challenge would be to get the government to collect and manage the trash properly, and repair the water system so people receive potable water in their homes.

And of course the air pollution is atrocious. Even out at the Surin Islands the sunset was beautiful due to all the pollution.

Piles of garbage ready to float down the river during the next rain

Look hard and you can see downtown through all that haze

May 8-12, 2016 Angkor Wat, Cambodia

I really never thought that I would visit Cambodia, but I must admit the temples around Angkor Wat are spectacular. We took a minivan from Ayathaya to near the Cambodian border where we got on a bus that took us to the border, then picked us up on the other side. Crossing the Cambodian border was an adventure. Our guide told us the steps we needed to take, but once off the bus it was really difficult to find each of the official buildings, and every step someone is offering to sell you assistance with your paperwork. First you must clear out of Thailand, then get a Cambodian visa, then get stamped into Cambodia. All steps in different buildings that are not connected and no signs between them. Plus there are people everywhere, tuktuks, heavily laden hand drawn carts, street vendor carts, motorcycles, cars, trucks, all going as fast as they can and having to switch to driving on the other side of the road when they can. In Thailand they drive on the left side and in Cambodia they drive on the right. Summing up the border crossing, Chaos!

We were challenged finding a hotel, first we started in a nice hotel, but the music from the disco across the street kept getting louder and louder, and then the door lock broke. So we left there and moved into a room at a backpackers resort. We felt a little out of place as all the other guests were in their 20s, but we liked the pool, slack line, pool table, drink specials, and cheap price, so we stayed. Axel made friends with the 20 year old guys, and the last night some 40 year olds showed up and Gary partied hard with them.

Of course the main reason for coming to Cambodia was to see the temples of Angkor. Angkor Wat is still the largest religious monument in the world. At the peak of the Khmer Empire, Angkor was the most populated city in the world, some estimates are as high as one million people. The numerous temples in the region were built from approximately 800-1250 AD. Although you normally only hear about Angkor Wat there are over 40 temples in the area, and we visited about 12 of them. Each temple is impressive in its own way, some due to the complexity of construction, some the decorations adoring it, some due to location, some because of the huge moat dug by hand around it, and some due to all of the above.

We spent 3 days touring the temples. We hired a tuktuk and Jake, our driver, was also a good tour guide. On the first day he brought us to some of the older, less known temples, but still impressive. The temples were all built as places of worship, initially as Hindu temples, then later to worship Buddha. Some temples were converted to worship Buddha, but the Hindu artwork left in place.

Gate into Angkor Thom

The trees have started to grow all over the temples.

Angkor Wat from above

To see Angkor Wat in all its splendor, you are advised to watch the sun rise over the temple. So one our second day we woke up at 4:00 am to get there by 5:00 am. The view is impressive, but the toll it took on us might not be worth it. Although the best part of going so early is that you get there before the midday heat gets too intense, by midday the temperature soared to about 40 C (105 F).

The size of Angkor Wat and the intricacy of the bas-relief carvings are by far the most impressive part of this temple. The bas-relief carvings cover the walls of the outer gallery and stretch for almost half a mile. The central pyramid, the tallest temple, was built to represent Mount Meru. This is where Axel was attacked and bite by a monkey, resulting in us having to make a visit to a Cambodian hospital. The facility was exceptionally clean and modern, and the doctor quite helpful. Axel needed a rabies vaccination and will need 4 more over the next month, so we will get to visit many hospitals in many countries.

The monkey that attacked Axel

The third day we toured Angkor Thom, the massive walled city that was the capital from the late 12th century until the 17th century. The most impressive temple is Bayon, it had about 50 towers each with massive heads carved on all sides. The heads represent the king and other important people, not the Buddha. This temple underwent many additions from succeeding kings, thus making it very maze-like inside.

  

The temple heads at Bayon

The town of Siem Reap is very touristy, but we really liked the cocktail carts in the night market. Gary and the kids even tried fried scorpion.

Cheers,

Julie