We flew to Siem Reap on Wednesday on Bangkok Airways.  The flight was not very full.  The airport in Cambodia is new.  We purchased our visas upon arrival and passed through immigration and customs quickly.  The car that the airport sent was a little late, but the other drivers told us to wait as the plane had landed early.

Our hotel is located on a narrow dusty road about 2 blocks from the shopping area, restaurants and Siem Reap river.  TomO and I have rooms on one side of the road ($22/night each) and Ron's is across the road ($18/night).  The rooms are modest, a nice size, fan and A/C.  The bathroom is an open space with the shower coming out of the wall near the tankless waterheater.  You have to be careful not to get the toilet paper wet.

Dinner in Siem Reap

The hotel showed us various tours to take of the temple areas.  At first we thought we could get by with just a driver, but Ron suggested we'd get a more efficient and thorough experience with a guide (and he was right). 

The next day, a guide named Pallin showed up with a diesel Toyota van and driver.  Pallin was our guide for the next 2 days.

The main street near our hotel had been heavily damaged by flooding so it was dusty and very bumpy.  Further away, the roads improved.  There are many, many motor cycles.  The Tuk Tuk's here are different than in Bangkok.  The passenger area is hitched to and towed by the motor cycle.  In Bangkok, the two are merged together. 

Our guide took us to many temple areas.  Angkor Wat was the first.  It takes up a huge space ... including a huge moat and causeway.  The ruins are in good condition.  When they were found, they were cleaned up and any trees growing on them were removed.  There were "libraries" (symbolic), long hallways with bas relief depictions of mythological Hindu stories.

Angkor Wat

These object are Hindu Linga representing the male and female and Hindu gods.

We spent 2 days touring the temple sites ... and it was a bit of a whirl.  So many things stand out in my mind ... the carvings, elephants, huge faces, strangler figs, Nagas (multi-headed cobras) and so on.  There are way too many photos here, but they give you an idea of what we saw.

Most of the temples were built with Hindu gods represented.  Those temples tend to be more vertical with many images of the gods Shiva, Vishno and Brama.  Other temples were originally Buddhist and are more horizontal.  When Hindu temples were converted to Buddhist temples, the art work was left.  When Buddhist temples converted to Hinduism, the imagery was destroyed.

Nose to nose

Another temple of interest was Angkor Thom.  These temple structures have hundred year old trees growing on them and there has been a lot of damage.  In one area we saw where a banyan tree had died and a strangler fig had grown around and on top of the dead tree.  I heard someone refer to these ropey-trunked trees as "strangler figs".

We had to walk quite a ways on narrow boards over flood water to get to this temple

These boys dove so I could take their photos (20 Baht)

  Nagas head (cobra)

We are missing the Cambodian's water festival which will take place a couple of days after we leave.  When we walked to the river, we could see all of the preparations ... booths, boat teams practicing, etc.  There was a girls team, too.  We stopped and help them put their boat up on some props so they could repair a leak.

The default "official" currency here is the US dollar.  I don't think we every saw or heard prices quoted in the local currency (Riel).  There are a little more than 4,000 Riel to a dollar.  We began to get nervous about having enough dollars to pay our hotel bill and went to an ATM and found out that they dispense dollars only!!!

In Cambodia, the steering wheel on left and they drive on right (left and center, actually all over the road), like we do in the US

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Our Siem Reap guide was Mr. Prak Phallin (pronounced "Pollen").  Prak is his last name.  He has worked hard to learn English and to learn the history and details of the Angkor Wat area. I would recommend Phallin highly.

He can be contacted at:
Mr. Prak Phallin
(855) 12 72 60 25
E-Mail prak_phallin2006@yahoo.com

We stayed overnight in Bangkok for a night at a hotel near the airport and flew out the next day to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).  On the flight I sat next to a young Vietnamese Hip Hop dancer.  We talked and she wrote down several words which we were able to use during the next week:  Hello = Xin Chao, Thank you = Cam On, etc.

We were met by our Saigon guide, Thoa and taken to our hotel.  After a brief settling in, we set off to check out our part of town.  We were very near the Saigon Cathedral and main post office.

The hotel laundry!

Inside the cathedral

She took us around the next 2 days starting with lunch!  Fresh spring rolls.  "morning glory" fried with garlic is popular as well as Okra (which we hear referred to as "lady fingers"

Thoa took us to the tunnels which are located about 30km from Saigon.  These were used by the Viet Cong to fight the south.  The tunnels are now a big tourist attraction.  It was a little uncomfortable (for many reasons), but interesting.  Intelligence knew there were tunnels but they could not find them.  One dayIn 1965, an American officer was walking though the jungle and saw the floor move and thought tit was a snake.  It was someone coming out through a hidden trap door. 

 
Hidden trap door

We saw different kinds of traps, making weapons out of unexploded bombs and missiles, making sandals out of tires, hospital, kitchens, and so on.

  Boiled tapioca (like potato)

I went down in the tunnels.  To are to "walk" so I crawled.

Thoa and Ron ... at tunnel complex

Toured the Presidential Palace built by President Diem in early 1960s ... (now called Reunification Palace)

The names of the cities, military bases, airports and historical personalities bring back memories of the 1960's and 1970's.

Guide Fi

From Saigon we flew to Da Nang and were met by our guide there, Fi.  He drove us to the Hoi An area, along the central coast of Vietnam.  The views were disappointing as you mostly saw walls of existing or proposed resorts.  We rarely saw the ocean!

Hoi An is a UNESCO designated historical area.  Fi told us that over time, the waterways silted up here and Da Nang overtook Hoi An as a port and prospered.  This meant that the old town buildings were left alone and remain for tourists today.  We visited a museum, several Chinese temples, a merchants house, a the Tam Tam restaurant.

A highlight was the wooden, covered Japanese Bridge where we stopped for photos.

Hoi An was flooded from a storm and we could not walk all of the streets. 

We spent the night at the Palm Garden resort along the beautiful ocean.

The next day we drove through Da Nang to Hue, a city to the North.  Because the weather wasn't that good, we drove through a new tunnel instead of going over the mountain.

We boarded a dragon boat and cruised the Perfume River.  The river was high, but there was enough (barely) clearance to pass under the Eiffel-designed steel bridge.

At one temple, we saw the car driven by the first monk to burn himself in protest with the South Vietnam Government.

Novice monks (not completely shaved)

Hue was once the capital of Vietnam:  we toured the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City), the citadel and Emperor's tomb.

We arrived in Hanoi in the afternoon and were soon facing sun down, rush hour traffic and worse the construction on the main bridge.  It took hours to get to our hotel, the Melia Hanoi.  We got to stay around the hotel and unwind.

Rush hour traffic

The next day we took a city tour.  First stop was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and two of his house.  He lived simply, was unmarried (but had a girl friend).

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Presidential Palace

Uncle Ho's House.  His houses were simple structures.  The last one was made from beautiful teak wood.

"Buddha Tree" (strange root structures from the tree)

One Pillar Temple

John McCain capture memorial (pulled from West Lake

  University Temple.  This was the location of the first university in Hanoi (Vietnam?) built in the 11th century.  It is now a museum and temple.

The "Hanoi Hilton" is mostly torn down.  A Singapore company built a big office building on that site and a small part of the structure was left as a museum.

We were taken to the old section of Hanoi where different blocks sell many different types of goods ... retail and wholesale.  Clothing, religious Buddha paper items (for funerals), shoes, hardware, and so on.  On block consisted of shops selling birds.

The next morning we left the hotel for the 3 plus hour drive north and east to the coast at Halong Bay.  This area is famous for the limestone structures (reminiscent of Guilin, China)  We drove through the countryside where rice, corn, beans, eggplants, tomatoes are grown. 

We stopped at a huge workshop and show room that employed handicapped workers to make lacquer-ware, embroidery, carve, sew and so on.  We bought a coule of things and left before we got lost!

When we arrived at the departure point, there were a lot of people  our guide Thuan led us past them to a little tender which took us to our junk (No. 86).

a layer of egg shells before the lacquer.

Lacquer-ware

We thought we'd be the only passengers, but soon the tender arrived with more and our junk ended up being full (with 30 passengers).  We have 2 cabins:  one with twin beds and one with a double bed.

Ron on the tender

Tender driver

Soon after everyone was aboard, the set sail, slowly cruising away from shore.  We could see a beautiful suspension bridge to the north which replaced a ferry service.  Our junk has 3 sails, but they were not used that much.  Lunch was served.

Dining room Waiter

At our table

We were on our junk overnight.  On the first day, we sailed to a cave.  It was discovered 30 years ago when a fisherman was foraging for wood and found the entrance.  Now it is quite a tourist attraction and nicely done with a hung circular pathway of one-way traffic.  Our guide went with me and pointed out the "Buddha", dragon, turtle, etc. ... formations in the limestone.

The second stop was an island where you could swim, sunbathe on the beach or climb up 420 steps to a viewing gazebo.  I climbed to the top and took pictures of the sun setting.  Big black dragonflies swarmed in the foreground.

We passed by a floating village where people can live their whole lives on the water.  Little boats came by our junk selling groceries and dry goods.

Fishing village

Halong Bay

Banana boat (Please hold on to that baby!)

Deck on roof

On the deck

visit to limestone cave

This junk ran aground!

Sunset (dragon flies in foreground)

The next day after breakfast, we took turns in a little boat, going under a low arch into a bay.  We had to lean over and flatten out to keep our head from hitting the ceiling.

Boat ride through low opening

Boat ride through low opening

Boat ride through low opening

Our last Asian country that we visited was Laos when we flew into the old colonial town of Luang Prabang.  We took a taxi to our hotel which is a great location near the Mekong River in the old town area.

Our hotel in Luang Prabang: Villa Chitdara

Rene (a Dutch friend) and Ot (a Thai friend) flew into Luang Prabang shortly after we arrived.  The found a hotel not that far away and then came over to our hotel. 

Rene and Thai friend Ot

We set out to take pictures of the temples in the light just before sunset.

That evening we toured the night market.  The main street of Lunag Prabang is closed to traffic and many, many stalls are set up to sell local products:  weaving/fabrics, paper lanterns, bags, carvings, statues and so on.

Night Market

Rene bought a bottle of white lightning which contained a scorpion because his zodiac sign is scorpio.  He wanted the scorpion out of the bottle and the seller told him that if he came back the next night, she would give him a live or dead scorpion (his choice).  We went back and he got a dead scorpion.  (The second photo below is of a live scorpion ... about 5 inches long!)

Rene's Scorpion

Daytime Farmer's Market

On our last day in Luang Prabang, we hired a boat to take us on a tour of the Mekong River.  We went up stream, stopping at the location of 2 hilltop temples.  I walked up to the first only (it was hot and steep!!)  This temple was recently restored with help from the French.

Hilltop Temple, Stupas and Luang Prabang in the distance

From here I walked along the hill on a narrow path to the next temple which is still in use.  I met TomO, Rene and Ot there.  When we walked down to the bank of the Mekong, there was a bamboo bridge then went out onto sandbars in the river.

Bamboo Bridge

Our Tour Boat on the Mekong

Mekong Car Ferry

Thai Iced Coffee ... refreshing in the heat of the day.

Slow-paced Luang Prabang traffic

On our last evening in Luang Prabang, we ate at a restaurant along the river.  Later that night I came down with a horrible case of food poisoning.  (I felt better the next day and pretty much back to normal the day after.)

Restaurant where I got food poisoning

Banana Flower

Another stop on our Mekong River tour was to a village where they weave fabrics and make paper.  I bought some colorful lanterns, Rene bought a carved stone lantern and TomO bought some note cards where the paper was made from elephant dung.

November 15-19 Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand

This was our last stop before returning to San Francisco.  We flew from Luang Prabang to Bangkok with a 4 hour layover.  We took advantage of this time to take a surplus piect of luggage to the hotel where we would be staying the last day out.

We arrived in Phuket after dark.  A van was waiting for us and took us on the 45 minute drive to Patong Beach where the Deevana Resort is located.  This hotel consists of several different building spread over nicely planted grounds and around large pools.

Resort and 1 of the pools

Hotel rules prohibit smelly fruit

We took the hotel shuttle to mid-beach, about 10 minutes away.  It had rained and was wet as we walked back towards out hotel, checking out the terrain and getting our bearings.  Tailors come out of their shops to offer custom made shirts and suits.  When we talked to these guys, they turn out to be from Nepal and Myanmar??  We have been told the number of tourist is down.

The next day I walked directly to the beach with is about 3 blocks away and walked on the sand past many rows of beach lounges and umbrellas.  I walked back to the hotel and it was very hot.

Patong Beach

Elephant Riding

Breakfast server

Nearby Patong Disco/Cabaret

We took the hotel shuttle to Phuket Town which is 30-40 minutes away.  It was very hot but we had a map and started walking around town towards the waterfront, thinking it would be more interesting.  Before we got there, a taxi driver stopped and said there was nothing worth looking at in that direction.  TomO engaged him to return him to the hotel.  I stayed to walk the streets and see the sights.  Disappointing outing.

Phuket Town school

Phuket Town birds and birdcages

About the time I was to meet the shttle for the return to the hotel, I noticed clouds coming over and at the same time, rain slickers appeared, hanging at the fronts of the shops.  On the drive back to Patong Beach, the heavens let loose and we experienced several hours of hard rain.

Phuket Town weather forecaster