Cambodia and Indonesia

Cooper's Perspective

Our time in Cambodia and Indonesia was absolutely amazing! Although I do think I like Indonesia better. I'd love to go back again, to both places.

Cambodia was very beautiful with Angkor Wat and all the other temples nearby. Angkor Wat was truly amazing with all the trees growing out of the rock and they were over 20 metres tall! Daddy told us that Tomb Raider was filmed there, so we wanted to see the movie. Later it was on TV so we got to watch it. When we were in Angkor Wat we got to stop and see about six other temples along the way. Two Tuk Tuk drivers named Sam and Sam drove us around in Tuk Tuks for the whole day for only about $10. They were funny and they told us a lot about the temples.

The bad part about Cambodia was me getting sick. We went to eat at a pizza place recommended by a guy we met at the hotel pool. We suspect it was from the ice in my pop because Katie, Daddy and I got sick but mum had somthing else to drink. That night I wasn't feeling so good and I couldn't fall asleep so I got up and went to the washroom. I threw up after a while so I woke Katie up and she went and got mum. I fell asleep after a few hours but the next day things weren't much better, in fact they were worse. We were going to have to cross the border to get back into Thailand, which is about 16 hours of travel. I carried a bag with me at all times just in case (which I'm glad I did).

In Indonesia we mostly stayed on the island of Bali. We stayed in Kuta with Daddy and when he went home we went to Sanur and then Ubud.When we got to Ubud I was very excited to go look around in the Monkey Forest. I didn't expect to see so many monkeys! Katie was a little freaked out from them all. Lots of the little ones were playing together and chasing each other around. Later we passed a monkey eating a yam and I must have gotten a bit to close because he hissed and tried to scratch me. Mum was the only one who had a picture taken with a monkey. It seemed a bit gross to have a monkey sitting on me.

We met a nice taxi driver, named Sande, who drove us to many nice places like the Elephant Cave, Pulu Reliefs, wood carving factories and even his house. My favourite place he took us was the Elephant Cave. It was probably the hottest day since we got there, and probably the hottest tempurature I've ever felt. There were 6 fountains, 3 in each pool, and in each pool was about a foot of water. There were fish in the water about a foot and a half tall so they had to swim sideways. The actual cave was really cool, actually hotter than outside, but I liked it. The cave was smaller than I expected. It was only about 200 feet cubed.

Another cool thing we saw were the Pulu reliefs. Mum says that when they were digging for a rice paddy they came across the carvings that were thousnands of years old. The cool thing was, the carvings were of the Thai peoples' every day lives. It showed people going and killing what looked like pigs and bringing them in on sticks. Katie's favourite was a guy on a horse with his hair wavy like it was blowing in the wind. There was even a rock that showed an elephant holding a guy with his trunk.

My second favourite time was when we went to Sande's house. It was a lot bigger than I expected and it had a huge open garage with no doors. He said lots of people don't have a place to park so they park on the streets making them hard to drive on. He made room for about 10 cars at once to park in and he charges them rent so he can make more money. He gave us pop to drink and mangosteen tea (mangosteens are an Indonesian fruit) and some fruit off of his tree. He introduced us to his wife and children and when we left he gave us two pottery plates as a gift. We gave him an incense burner and some incense. It was great to see how a family in Indonesia lives.

I hope I get to visit Bali and its black sand beaches, again one day!

Vietnam and Thailand

Katie's Perspective

My first thought of Asia when I got out of the airport was "Hot and humid!" It was like walking into a sauna. This heat managed to carry on throughout our stay in Asia, but it is way better than snowy, cold Alberta! Mom told you about our first stop, Bangkok, so I"ll tell you about beautiful Ha Long Bay, Vietnam and Phuket, Thailand. 

Ha Long Bay was one of my favorite places we have visited. The isalnds were so cool and looked like little, green baseballs floating on the water. We stayed overnight in a boat called a junk. We anchored near a cave that we had toured earlier in the day. The cave was huge and had been carved out of the Island by years of water hitting the roof and walls of the cave. Now though, the cave is not filled with water but you can see the scalloped celing where the waves wold have hit. It was huge and had stalagmites and stalactites that the tour guide said looked like monkeys and aligators. It was the biggest cave I've ever been in.

While on the Junk we stopped to go kayaking. Since we had sailed most of the day to get there we arrived at sunset. Mom and I shared a kayak while Dad and Cooper shared one. We paddled through the islands to get an amazing view of the pink and gold sunset; a beautiful day to remember. That night we had a delicious meal. On the Junk they never left us feeling hungry. We had 8 or 9 course meals and all of the plates were heaped to the top! There was a big party on our junk that night, and people from other boats heard the music and got rides over to join us. It was a special celebration and the crew shared their party food and their Vietnamese "wine" with us. Mom and dad said it tasted like moonshine. We weren't so interested in dancing or karaoke, so we fished for squid off the back of the boat. Dad caught one and it squirted black ink everywhere. 

The next day our junk dropped us off at the beach hotel. It was a small island that had a  few cottage style hotel rooms built right on the beach or, like ours, built on stilts over the water. That afternoon we went kayaking to an island that was just across from us. I found some neat shells and cool pieces of wood. when we came back the people who had been on the Junk with us started a game of volleyball. I sketched while Cooper, Dad and Mom played. I got some good pictures! That night we had a delicious seafood supper. One of the people on our boat had a birthday so we got cake. That night we had a huge bonfire right on the beach and listened to some good music (not Vietnamese music). 

Vietnam had beauiful countryside as well. Delicate rice paddies and beautiful people. I loved Vietnam but Thailand was tuff to beat! We went back, to Phuket this time, but Dad was in Canada so he missed out on the beaches there. While we were in Phuket we went on some island tours. We went snorkelling around Phi Phi Island. There were some tiny jellyfish that gave us mild stings but there were lots of pretty fish and coral and we even saw some parrot fish and a puffer fish. We stopped the boat in a calm, pretty bay to go swimming and we went to monkey beach to see the wild monkeys. Guides paddled us into some caves and one led us into the middle of the island where it opened up to a hidden opening where there were mangrove trees. It was a great surprise. We also went to James Bond Isalnd. A scene from "The Man wiith the Golden Gun" was filmed there.

Our next stop in Thailand was Koh Lanta. We found a restaurant that served teh best Tom Kah ever. We ate it three times. The lady who owned the hotel drove us to Long Beach every day. We sat in cabanas and drank green tea smoothies. The warer was so warm. There was no sea glass so we collected tiny shells from the beach. I bought a jingley anklet and bracelet there. The hotel had a really pretty grey and black striped cat that was so relaxed. It just flopped on the floor all day and let you pet it all you wanted. 

Asia was great. I hope I can find a good Tom Kah restaurant at home.

 

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Sue's Perspective

About a year before our trip, I downloaded Pinterest onto my iPad and started pinning places to visit around the world. Angkur Wat in Cambodia, Ha Long Bay and the nearby Caves in Vietnam, and a dozen place in Thailand, like the Reclining Buddha, were Pins that I googled and hoped to see. However, we needed to get a visa for Vietnam prior to entering the country. Most countries we visited either didn't require Canadians to have a visa, or you could get a 30 day visa upon entry, which simply meant an extra line to stand in when you arrived at the airport. For Vietnam, the embassy was in Bangkok, so we organised the visa through a travel agent to whom we entrusted our passports. The process takes several days, so we organized a day trip around Bangkok, and a three day tour of Kanchanaburi, which is north and a bit west of Bangkok, to fill our days while we waited for the visa to come through. We were in for some great surprises.

The floating market was a terrific surprise. We were driven by boat down a series of canals to the start of the floating market, where we needed to change to a smaller boat. On the way to this dock, Cooper spotted a strange creature swimming in the water. When the driver saw it he started yelling to nearby boats and was very excited. It was a Kimodo Dragon. Apparently, based on the driver's reaction, these giant lizards don't come around the villages that often, so this was an unexpected addition to the day. He was probably about 6 feet long and was flicking his tongue around as he swam along the edge of the canal.

After transferring boats we were told to keep our hands and elbows in the boat. We learned why quickly, as the über crowded canals were jammed with long narrow boats that slid along each other in a tight squeeze that left no room for fingers, wrists, or elbows. Originally, the floating market consisted of ladies paddling their boats up and down the canals, selling fruits, vegetables, meals that are cooked fresh on the boat, household items like handmade brushes and brooms, and many other products, to the locals and to the odd tourist. Over the years, however, it has become a major tourist attraction. We bought two meals from the ladies in the picture below, which they prepared for us, fresh, on their boat. Katie and I also bought two small elephant figurines. I'm so glad we were able to experience this unique shopping trip!

I'm ashamed to admit that we also went to a couple of animal shows during this day trip and during the Kanchanaburi trip. There were several locations with tigers, elephants and crocodiles. We went on two elephant rides. We said we wouldn't go on the second one, but due to communication problems I guess we didn't make this clear enough, and we ended up on the second ride. At the tiger zoo, Katie was able to feed a baby tiger (still huge... +100lbs) a bottle of milk. That was probably the only part of the animal shows that we enjoyed. The rest of it was so sad. Instead of being inspired by the beauty and majesty of these great animals, the antics that they were made to perform seemed degrading. I won't go on and on; I'll just say that if I had it to do over I wouldn't go to any of the animal shows.

Kanchanaburi has a great deal of historical significance regarding WWII. Do you remember the movie, "The Bridge on the River Kwai"? There were actually several bridges, and they were built in Burma and Kanchanaburi. The building of the bridges was engineered by the Japanese and the construction was carried out by POWs and enslaved civilians. The conditions they lived and worked in were inhuman, and many men died. The museum and the cemetery were worth the visit. We walked across one of the famous, re-built bridges, which was bombed by the allies despite the fact that the Japanese made the POWs stand on it and wave their arms in the hopes that they wouldn't bomb it. Sadly, the bridge was blown up, and any surviving POWs were swept down the river. (The movie tells the story of another bridge, in Burma, that William Holden helps blow up just as a train full of Japanese dignitaries crosses over it.) 

We stayed two nights in Kanchanaburi, staying on/in a floating hotel on the River Kwai. This sounds so lovely and romantic, doesn't it? Well... a picture is worth a thousand words. Check out the pictures below, that show our floating accomodations. Take special care to note that the toilet doesn't have a handle for flushing. We needed to scoop water out of the bucket provided, to help swoosh away the contents of the bowl. Also, you'll note that there's no door to the bathroom, just a shower curtain, and that thin blue towel on the end of the bed was the comforter. We nearly froze the first night (yes... we actualy stayed two nights!) On the up side... the meals, three breakfasts and two suppers, were surprisingly tastey.

The highlight of this trip, for all of us, was our hike up the Earwan Falls; absolutely beautiful. It was about 2.5km to the top, passing lovely falls as you go. Many people swim in the pools under the falls, and at one of the pools there were boulders you could slide down. Cooper and I tried it and it was awesome. A bit of a shock was when I stepped into a pool for the first time. Are you familiar with the tanks of fish they have in cities all over Asia where the fish nibble the dead skin off of your feet? Well, we found the wild version of these fish. I screamed so loud the birds and beasts were silent for a moment. I'm not usually a screamer, but I was NOT expecting to be pounced on by these huge fish (at least 4 inches long! : ) I was determined to get in that water (it was very hot out and we'd been hiking for about two hours). After a few more attempts and a couple of slightly less jarring screams, I managed to get in the whole way. (If you flailed a lot, the fish stayed away.) It was totally worth it; refreshing, beautiful, not so peaceful with all the flaling, but....

If you go to Thailand, I'd say that the River Kwai and the Earwan Falls shouldn't be missed. As unique as it was, the floating hotel could probably be happily replaced by a one or two star hotel. If you love elephants, there is a special elephant park in Chang Mai that rescues and recovers abused and neglected elephants. You can go for a week or more, helping with the feeding and bathing of the elephants. We tried to get in but they were booked, so book your stay well in advance. Here is the website: http://www.baanchangelephantpark.com/

Floating down the River Kwai on a bamboo raft.