Siem Reap and the Ankor Temples

The Ankor Temples were one of the things on the trip that we had been most looking forward to. Of course, with all of that anticipation we began to worry as the reality approached that we would be diappointed. Luckily that was not the case: The Ankor Temples are amazing.

We arrived in Siem Reap via bus from Phnom Penh and got to our hotel, Auberge Mont-Royal with no problems. The hotel is lovely, a renovated colonial French villa with a nice swimming pool, and Siem Reap a pretty town so the omens were good. We tried to share our excitement about the days ahead with the kids, but they didn't buy it. After months of visiting temples the allure has somewhat dimmed for them so we had to resort to the age-old trick of bribery. Things like "we'll make sure we're home in time to swim every afternoon" or "you can have more than your alloted 1 Fanta a day if you behave" were trotted out frequently but there was a fair bit of complaining in anticipation of the days ahead instead of the excitement we'd hoped for.

For the first day we decided to hire a guide to make sure we got a good overview of Ankor. It's hard to imagine before you get there how much there is to see. I'd read and reread a number of guidebooks and still couldn't get my mind around the descriptions of the 35+ temple complexes scattered around the arera. Our guide was very nice (although he was missing his two front teeth which he told the kids he'd lost because he'd eaten too much candy and not brushed his teeth as a child) and he took us on the 1 day highlight tour. From the first minute the temples came into view it was apparent how magnificent it all is. We started with one of the famous gates of Ankor Thom, went on to the Bayon (our favorite by far), visited the Elephant Terrace and Leper's Terrace, and then spent the afternoon at Ankor Wat itself. It was an extraordinary day. By the time we got home at around 5 we were a bit shell-shocked (and VERY hot) so we had a quiet evening.

The next two days of temple touring we went on our own with a Tuk-Tuk to Sam and Jack's delight. They love Tuk-Tuks. We had a great driver who was wonderful with the kids (he even started letting Jack stay with him in the Tuk-Tuk for some of the temples) and we just drove from temple to temple to temple in amazement. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have come upon all of this in the late 1800's when it had been completely forgotten and taken over by jungle. They must have thought they were dreaming. (It is espeically hard to imagine because for other than an hour or two in the early early morning the temples are swarming with visitors.) Some of the temples have been left less restored to give you a sense of what it might have been like, but as the jungle has been cut back you don't "discover" them quite the same way. Hopefully some of the 1000 pictures that Philip took (!) of the temples will yield enough good ones to try to share a little bit of the magic of Ankor.

Out last day of temple touring was Christmas Eve so we got back a bit early, had a long swim and then went to the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Siem Reap for dinner. While it was certainly not a traditional Christmas Eve it was awfully nice. We sat in leather club chairs on a lawn overlooking a river surrounded by Christmas lights and a tree while a large screen tv played "Home Alone." And, to top it off Santa Claus came around to give the kids candy and little presents. Goodness knows what the Cambodians made of it all but we had a great time.

As we had promised the kids that there would be no temples on Christmas Day we spent the day opening stockings from Santa, exchanging small gifts, and swimming. Dinner was at a lovely French bistro (where Philip enjoyed his first steak in months) and we went to bed early. All in all a great success.

Phnom Penh

Instead of taking the bus to from Saigon to Phnom Penh we decided to go via boat through the Mekong Delta. We loved our trip on the Mekong from Thailand to Laos and didn't want to miss the opportunity to spend time on the Mekong. Alas, it wasn't quite the same kind of trip. This was more of a tour involving lots of visits to "factories", lots of changing boats, and some legs on buses. While there were some very enjoyable parts to the trip - including one night at a safari-like B&B and one night aboard a boat, both with very interesting fellow travelers -- overall it was a bit disappointing. There were a few nice long stretches of just going on the river, but overall there was too much "touring" and too little boat. Also, lugging our excessive baggage on and off boats, on tiny little gangplanks, was no treat!

We finally arrived in Phnom Penh in the evening, checked in to our hotel and headed out to find something to eat. We walked around for about 30 minutes and not only couldn't find a restaurant but couldn't really find one thing to like about Phnom Penh. It was hot, dirty, not pretty and the best thing we could find for dinner was "Lucky Burger" - a copy of an American fast-food place. It wasn't a great start. But, in the end the food was better than most American fast food places, it was cheap and the kids LOVED their chicken nuggets. Not so bad, after all.

We spent the next two days exploring the center of Phnom Penh, including the National Museum, the palace, the Silver Pagoda, and many of the old French colonial neighborhoods. We also discovered Philip's spiritual home at the Foreign Correspondent's Club bar....I think that I will need to keep a close eye on him from now on because I worry he's going to grab a camera and a notebook and head to a war zone. Something about the ambiance, the bar, the leather chairs, the people, and the ceiling fans spoke to his soul!

We also visited a memorial site for one of the Pol Pot regime's Killing Fields. It was heartbreaking. It was one of many places where Cambodians were sent to be killed - and the victims included men, women and children. A very beautiful stupa has been built there to commemorate the people who were killed. Inside the stupa there is a glass tower containing the skulls of over 8000 people who were found when they opened the mass graves. It sounds gruesome, but somehow it is exactly right. Both Philip and I cried and cried. Philip also went to the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh to learn more about the tragedies of that time, but the kids and I didn't join him. They have learned a lot about wars and tragedy on this trip and we decided that the museum was too much specific information for them.

We only had 2 days in Phnom Penh and as we left for Siem Reap and Ankor Wat we wished that we had 2 more. It is a grand old city, despite the decay and war wounds, and hope we will find a way to come back.

Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh)

We planned to take an overnight train from Danang (the closest station to Hoi An) to Saigon but were defeated every which way. The first hurdle was that we couldn't get a sleeper cabin on any of the overnight trains - a problem when it's a 16-hour trip - so we decided to take the day train, but in a sleeper private cabin. The day before we were due to leave it became apparent that the hotel had booked us 2 seats in 2 different cabins. The idea of sharing cabins with people and trying to figure out how to separate ourselves and our luggage was too daunting so we ended up flying. Although we were sorry to miss seeing more of the south-central part of the country, I think a 1 hour flight was probably the better deal. And, in the end, it didn't cost very much more.
We didn't know what to expect in Saigon. We really haven't met anyone who likes it very much and the day before we left a jolly French-Canadian pronounced it an inferno. Not very promising. For the first few hours we were a bit disappointed and feared that the advance reports might be true...it was very hot and not very pretty. However, as we ventured closer to the old colonial district it improved immensely. We enjoyed walking around the wide boulevards (decorated to the hilt with Santas, trees, reindeers and elves) and having drinks in the famous -- or perhaps infamous -- Vietnam era hotels. One night we had a drink at the Rex, where the US military gave a daily briefing and journalists watched the war from the roof. On our other nights we went to the Continental, made famous in Graham Greene's novel "The Quiet American" and the Caravelle which served as the base for two of the networks. Philip definitely enjoyed soaking up all of the history and ambience.
The other terrific thing that we did while in Saigon was to go to the tunnels. It was amazing to learn about how the Vietcong used the tunnels, see all of the different kinds of rooms existed underground (e.g., kitchens, hospitals, meeting rooms, resting rooms), and then climb through a small bit of one. I only lasted for half of the tourist-widened tunnel experience as both Jack and I felt quite clastrophobic and hated the darkness. Sam and Philip made it the full distance. I don't know how people could live under there, travel for miles in these tiny dark spaces and survive. After this experience it was even clearer why an invading military couldn't win - it was a completely different kind of war. The other interesting thing there were demonstrations of all of the different kinds of ground traps used by the VC (Jack is haunted a bit by them) and the firing range where tourists can fire any kind of weapon they want -- AK 47s included. Luckily Jack hated the noise and wanted nothing to do with it.
Overall we really liked Saigon, perhaps not as much as Hanoi, but enough to have enjoyed the 4 days we spent there. Perhaps the fact that we live in such a big city has made it easier for us to enjoy all of the Asian cities we've visited. We'll see if it holds true for Phnom Penh!

Hoi An

(pictures to come at next wifi spot)
We're a bit behind in the blog, but hopefully in the next few days I'll catch up! Hoi An was a very easy and pretty place to spend 5 days. We took the train from Hue to Danag (in "soft seat class" for $4/each) and the hotel picked us up in Danag to bring us to Hoi An, about a 45 minute ride. There is no greater joy to the traveling family with too many heavy bags than to arrive someplace and see a sign with your name on it waiting for you at the station. The hassle factor of trying to find taxis, negotiating prices, making sure you're taken to the place you've asked is very high.
We stayed at the Long Life Hotel which came highly recommended on Tripadvisor.com, our bible for hotels when we travel. It is a well located, reasonable, has good-sized rooms and a pool - what more could you ask for?
Hoi An is another World Heritage sight and there are lots of rules and regulations about what can be built in the old part of town, and it is really lovely. Of course, it's not undiscovered by any stretch of the imagination but it's still a very nice place to walk around . There are old shophouses, meeting halls, narrow streets and no buildings higher than 2-3 stories. When we first arrived it had been raining quite a bit and the street closest to the river was completely flooded. The kids loved seeing boats on what was clearly a street, and of course Jack took every opportunity to encourage us to do some wading. We went as far as up to our knees, but to his dismay balked at going waist high. In one of the shophouses we visited the water levels for the past 50 years were marked and 2007 was the highest recorded. In November the water was over 10 feet high in the old part of the city.

We ate two of the best meals that we've had on the entire trip in Hoi An, one at a place called Mango Rooms (owned by a Vietnamese guy who grew up in Texas and then returned home after training as a chef all over the world) and one at a restaurant called Mourning Glory. And while those two were truly delicious, overall the quality of the food everywhere in Hoi An was terrific. The only difficulty was that while eating dinner at a very charming French bistro/patisserie one night a rat ran right near Philip's foot. Of course common sense would tell you that in an old town, next to the river that has been flooding there must be lots of rats, seeing one is still shocking. Philip basically couldn't eat another bite and got up and waited for us outside while the kids finished eating. Sam chastised him for being so mean to rats, just another animal in her words, but I think the real reason was that she had no intention of leaving her lemon tart unfinished.

We did some sidetrips from Hoi An, all of which were interesting. We visited My Son, refered to as a mini Ankor Wat, and it was really beautiful. While we were there it rained and was a bit foggy which added to the mystique of this temple in the middle of the jungle. One of the marvels of the temple was that it was build with bricks but scientists have not been able to figure out what held them together as there is no mortar (is that the right word?) between the bricks. Unfortunately many of the temples were bombed during the war so there isn't so much left, but what's there is really worth a visit.

We also went to two very differnt Vietnam War-era sights, China Beach and My Lai. My Lai was devestating. There is a small museum that tells the story of the massacure with quite a few pictures. You can also walk around the land that was the village, with many of the foundations of the houses outlined and the name of the family members for each of those houses who were killed listed. There is one house that had been recreated to look as it did at the time of the massacure and outside was a women I recognized as a survivor of the massacure sitting on a bench. She was all smiles and beckoned the kids to come over and sit next to her. While I don't think she had any way of knowing that we were Americans, if I were her I certainly wouldn't want anything to do with any Westerner again ever. Again, the Vietnamese determination and desire to look forward amazed us.

China Beach was a much easier few hours - it's now just a beach and there is nothing there of the R&R facility for the US Army that existed during the war. It's is a lovely beach and the kids had a wonderful time kicking at the waves and playing in the sand. (The taxi driver wasn't all that excited about taking them back to town as they had first played in the water and then in the sand, so they were a sandy mess!).

Next stop, Saigon.

Hue

(Pictures to come at next wifi spot!)
We took the overnight train from Hanoi to Hue, and while it was fine it wasn't the luxurious wood-paneled cabin we'd enjoyed to Sapa. When we arrived in Hue I realized that I didn't have the name of the hotel where we were staying so Philip had to go looking for an internet cafe to look up the confirming email. Sam and I and ALL of our bags sat on the sidewalk with a little crowd of cab drivers and travel cafe owners around us asking questions and trying to figure out what they might be able to sell us. They were very friendly, and not at all threatening, but we were glad when Philip and Jack returned. Luckily it didn't take too long and we were off the the Orchard Hotel.

We visited the Imperial Palace, which is modeled on the Forbidden City in China, and it was really interesting. The room where the King received people is absolutely beautiful with red walls with gold drawings over them. You can imagine how spectacular an impression it would have made on visitors in its heyday. We also visited some of the Imperial Tombs on a boat tour and really enjoyed it. In some ways the places that they decided to spend eternity were more spectacular than where they spent their lives. Each of Kings built his own tomb complex and some of them used the grounds as "country homes" during their life times. We learned impressive facts about how many wives/concubines they had (one had over 500), how many children (over 150 in one case) and how much they raised taxes to pay for their resting places (30% for one of the more modern guys). What was most interesting is how different each of the tombs was - while there was a pattern to the kinds of buildings there were and how they were arranged, the look and feel of each was very different.

While Philip and I enjoyed the tombs themselves, Jack experienced one of the highlights of his trip so far - a motorbike ride. The only way to get to two of the tombs from the river was via a 5 minute motorbike ride so we decided to just do it. Jack sat in the front, driver in the middle and Philip on the back of one and Sam and I sat behind the driver on the other. I worry that this experience will lead to a life-long love of motorbikes......and, of course, there were no helmuts. Luckily we were on little dirt lanes so we convinced ourselves it wasn't so bad, but we've had long conversations about how we won't be doing this at home! Sam enjoyed it, too, but she was a bit nervous we would fall off.

I suspect that Hue is beautiful in the spring and summer. There are tree-lined streets and flower beds everywhere, but in December nothing is in bloom. Add grey skies and frequent rain and we didn't get to see much of that beauty. Hopefully next time we'll time our visit better!

Halong Bay and Sapa

While in Hanoi we took two side-trips, one to Halong Bay and one to Sapa. After much debate and discussion we decided to book the trips through our hotel - we'd read lots of conflicting stories about the importance of the company you book your trip through. In the end, the convenience of being able to leave our luggage at the hotel between trips was the deciding factor, we have way too much luggage to enjoy shlepping it around. We absolutely made the right decision because once on these adventures it became quite clear that there was almost no difference between them.

The trip to Halong Bay was great. A minibus picked us up at the hotel and we drove for 3.5 hours to Halong Bay. Although we knew it was a popular tourist destination, we had no idea how popular. It seemed like there were thousands of tourists swarming the marina (if that's what you call it) and hundreds of boats that were impossible to tell apart. Our rather efficient (Philip thought officious) guide herded us to our boat and we were off. We were very pleasantly surprised by both the attractiveness of the boat, our cabins, and the amazing seafood spread that they put out for lunch. There were 12 other passengers with us, a party of 5 young Thais, an English/Japanese couple, a German couple, 2 Russian women and an American women from Aspen. In the end, everyone but the Russians was very nice and we enjoyed getting to know them. The Thai group even taught the kids how to play a card game and then let them play for over an hour. Philip and I enjoyed sitting on the top of the boat on deck chairs and just looking out at the glorious scenery. We also visited a beautiful cave (with one of the caverns known as the "amazing cave" because of a very large rock that jutted out and resembled a part of the male body) and did some sea kayaking. The location for the sea kayaking was a bit odd as lots of large boats were also in the area and they didn't seem to think they should stop for kayaks. It completely worried Sam and made her nervous when we went away from the shore. After the fabulous lunch we were quite excited for dinner. The American woman, Wendy, bought a nice bottle or red wine and asked us to share it with her so we thought that we were all set. Alas, dinner was basically chicken nuggets and french fries. And to make matters worse, they didn't have ketchup so the only meal in Vietnam that Jack might have enjoyed was a bust. We had a good night's sleep and then cruised around in the morning until we got back. All in all a lovely 2 days, and quite a bargain for $54/person - half-price for the kids!

The second trip was to Sapa in the far north of Vietnam, the train station in Lao Cai is only 5kms from the Chinese border. We took an overnight train to get there, in the nicest cabin we've had so far, and arrived at about 5:30am. We were taken to our hotel, had a quick shower and breakfast and went on our first hike, a 5-6km affair. The scenery is very beautiful in Sapa with steep hills/mountains and dramatic valleys. We hiked down to a Black Hmong village and to a waterfall. It was here that some of our mixed feelings about Sapa began. Visiting the Hilltribe villages is very interesting because they lead such a different life. They are primarily subsistence farmers who use very traditional methods, and they live in houses with no indoor plumbing, often no electricity and no heat. The catch is that the women and children supplement the families' incomes by selling handicrafts to the visiting tourists. It is very clear that the only reason that you are "welcome" to come visit their villages is so that you can buy things from them. Both Philip and I weren't really comfortable with the whole thing. It is unclear whether all of the "traditional" living and dress is authentic or purely because it supports tourism.

After a pretty dreadful dinner, we spent the night in a hotel and got up early the next morning to begin our 2-day trek. The first day we walked 12kms, about 9 of which was on a paved road and 3kms on a trail. It was quite easy walking, we had lots of stops and a very nice lunch. All in all quite a good day - and the kids didn't complain too much. We stopped for the night in a Zay village (one of the hilltribes) and stayed with a very nice family. While I will confess that I prefer having indoor bathrooms, showers, and a private room, it was a very interesting experience. We watched them cook our dinner over the fire - about 6-7 different things - and slept in a loft under mosquito nets. After a long day of walking we'd hoped to have a good night's sleep but neither Philip nor I were able to sleep through all the animal noises. There were roosters, geese, dogs, cats and goodness knows what else! It is certainly a myth that the countryside is quieter than the city....

We had a nice breakfast of crepes and started on the second leg of our journey. I think we only walked about 9kms, but it was much tougher walking. We walked up and down hills, along rice terraces, and through fields. It was amazingly beautiful - and quite hard work. The kids had a great time scampering around looking at all of the pigs, water buffalo (which they petted, turns out they are very docile creatures) and chickens and figuring out how to get up the trails. Sam in particular was enthusiastic and cheerful the whole way. Jack did have to be distracted a few different times with long conversations about Star Wars, football, and sword-fighting movies. We finally made it back and took the night train back to Hanoi. All in all, a very interesting 3 days but one we would hesitate to recommend to others.

Thanksgiving in Hanoi

(picture of us in front of the "Hanoi Hilton")

We arrived in Hanoi on Thanksgiving Day.....and the irony of spending the most of American of holidays here was not lost on us. After the sleepy tempo of Laos, Hanoi is like a bucket of cold water on your face. Hanoi is the busiest, bustliest, most engergetic place we've ever been. It took Sam 2-3 days to stop being nervous every time we got the corner, as crossing the street in Hanoi is an adventure. There are thousands of motorcycles and bicycles going in every direction and you have to boldly walk into the street and weave your way across. Even red lights don't seem to stop the stream of motorcycles.
A few days before we arrived we got an email from our intended hotel saying that they could no longer accomodate us. Not being able to face arriving here with no specific place to go we quickly logged on the TripAdvisor and found the Hanoi Lucky Hotel, it has certainly been lucky for us. The location, near St. Joseph's Cathedral, is fantastic. It seems to us taht we're staying in the "Soho" of Hanoi with good restaurants and chic boutiques everywhere. The man who seems to own the hotel couldn't be nicer and he works so hard to be helpful to us - booking tours, booking train trips, holding our luggage, etc. It has been a real pleasure to stay here and we would certainly come back.
We visited the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" the day after Thanksgiving and it was fascinating. For Americans it is such an iconic place, but for the Vietnamese the story that is important is that of the time the prison was run by the French and Vietnamese revolutionaries lived in terrible conditions. The US period twas covered in a small 2-room exhibit. There were pictures of John McCain's visit to the museum in the 90's and they had the flight suit he was wearing when got captured. You leave with a very clear idea of how terrible the conditions were for the Vietnamese revolutionaries, but not much idea of what it would have been like to by an American POW.

It's been quite interesting to note how little the Vietnamese seem to resent Americans -- in fact they seem delighted when we say we're from New York. They do sell some North Vietnamese propoganda items here (which Philip keeps trying to buy) and some of them are anti-American in sentiment, but I think the intended buyers are Westerners not Vietnamese. The Vietnamese that we've encountered have been friendly and welcoming to us.

We ended up back in Hanoi at 5am one morning (after a trip to Sapa) and couldn't check back into our room at the hotel until 9am, so we wandered the streets and ended up at Hoan Kiem Lake. It was amazing to see Vietnamese people of all ages enjoying their morning exercise rituals. There were hundreds of people walking, large groups of people participating in Tai Chi and more western-style Aerobics, people playing badminton on the sidewalk and entire weight set-ups with lots of lifting going on. Our favorite thing that we saw was a group of older women who formed a circle and started giving each other backrubs at the end of their Tai Chi session. I think it would do us some good to ingrain some of the Vietnamese habits on exercise into us!

We've spent the rest of our days here wandering around the streets, visiting the sights (French Quarter, the Opera, Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, parks, etc), going to see the Water Puppets, buying $1 DVDs, eating croissant, and generally just enjoying ourselves. We have really fallen in love with Hanoi and look forward to coming back.