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| Photo Class |
Friday, October 31, 2008
Pictures from Perin's Photography Class
Last weekend I took an "impressionist" photography course. We learned some really neat techniques by using different lenses and various household products (vaseline, chapstick and hairspray). All of the pictures in the attached album are actual photos. None of the pictures have been altered on the computer. I hope you enjoy my artistic approach to photography!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Market Fatigue
In travelling through Europe, one is at first fascinated by all the cathedrals: the architecture, the stained glass windows, the art displayed in them and the religious art in the all the museums. But as one visits more and more of them, one becomes fatigued. Same thing happens in SE Asia while walking around. "Oh look, cheap deals on stuff," soon becomes, "I'm not buying anything from you. Please direct me to ice cream."
Which they don't have much of here:( A suitable replacement: fresh squeezed sugar cane juice (3 parts) and fresh squeezed orange juice (one part) over ice. And they fire up a generator to power the sugar cane crushing machine, so it has power tools involved with its creation. SO GOOD.
We are in Saigon now, and it is by far the most cosmopolitan of anywhere we've been on this trip. Crazy busy and dense like New York. Except take all the cars, sextuple the number, and add that many scooters and motorcycles. Remove road rules and prohibitions like "correct side of the road," driving against traffic or on the sidewalk. Everything is high rise here and there are far fewer merchants of touristy stuff. They sell exercise machines, have far more beauty salons, and child care, so that means they're much better off with more disposable income.
Went to the War Remnants Museum here this morning. It was very interesting to see the war from the Vietnamese point of view. The deformed fetuses from Agent Orange and the combat situations in that terrible mud were the worst. I met a guy who lost both arms from the elbows down, one eye, and one leg and bought some post cards from him. A ripoff, but it did buy some guilt away after just walking through that place.
My main question is: What's up with software stores and internet cafes having numerous fish for sale too? It's like you can't work with technology without also working with a large number of fish. Interesting, but not as interesting as finding out where the ice cream is. Let the search resume!
Which they don't have much of here:( A suitable replacement: fresh squeezed sugar cane juice (3 parts) and fresh squeezed orange juice (one part) over ice. And they fire up a generator to power the sugar cane crushing machine, so it has power tools involved with its creation. SO GOOD.
We are in Saigon now, and it is by far the most cosmopolitan of anywhere we've been on this trip. Crazy busy and dense like New York. Except take all the cars, sextuple the number, and add that many scooters and motorcycles. Remove road rules and prohibitions like "correct side of the road," driving against traffic or on the sidewalk. Everything is high rise here and there are far fewer merchants of touristy stuff. They sell exercise machines, have far more beauty salons, and child care, so that means they're much better off with more disposable income.
Went to the War Remnants Museum here this morning. It was very interesting to see the war from the Vietnamese point of view. The deformed fetuses from Agent Orange and the combat situations in that terrible mud were the worst. I met a guy who lost both arms from the elbows down, one eye, and one leg and bought some post cards from him. A ripoff, but it did buy some guilt away after just walking through that place.
My main question is: What's up with software stores and internet cafes having numerous fish for sale too? It's like you can't work with technology without also working with a large number of fish. Interesting, but not as interesting as finding out where the ice cream is. Let the search resume!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
In Phnom Penh now
The second day in Angkor was great too. We went back to Bayon, then visited Ta Prohm which has the most intricate stone carvings in the world. We saw some other great places too, but those were the best.
I've become a huge proponet of the Siesta. It's way too hot here to do anything between 10am and 3pm. We get up early, do stuff until lunch time, then head back to the room with AC for naps everyday. It's the only way to go.
We ended up taking a bus instead of the ferry to Phnom Penh, because even though they take the same amount of time, the bus is air conditioned and the ferry has no AC, is more expensive, and is overcrowded. Then we rode our bikes through Phnom Penh and found a place to stay on the waterfront. First thing we did when we arrived? Musuems, the royal palace? Nope - we went and shot machine guns, playing our part in the "ammunition reduction plan" in Cambodia. The M60 was very fun to shoot, but it jammed a lot and I wouldn't ever want to depend on it!
Went out for dinner and from our balcony, we watched the torrential rain pour and the thunder and lightning show. It was amazing.
Today, we went to the killing fields and S-21. The killing fields are the mass graves filled by the Khmer Rouge and that was definitely depressing. Afterwards, we went to the highschool converted by the Khmer Rouge to torture people to death. More people died in the Nazi Holocaust, but here all victims were tortured to death individually, each over the course of many days. And the torturers were all children between 10-14, trained to be exceptionally cruel.
Whooo! So we went back, took naps, and went to find some internet. We leave tomorrow morning for Ho Chi Minh city, so that will be good.
I've become a huge proponet of the Siesta. It's way too hot here to do anything between 10am and 3pm. We get up early, do stuff until lunch time, then head back to the room with AC for naps everyday. It's the only way to go.
We ended up taking a bus instead of the ferry to Phnom Penh, because even though they take the same amount of time, the bus is air conditioned and the ferry has no AC, is more expensive, and is overcrowded. Then we rode our bikes through Phnom Penh and found a place to stay on the waterfront. First thing we did when we arrived? Musuems, the royal palace? Nope - we went and shot machine guns, playing our part in the "ammunition reduction plan" in Cambodia. The M60 was very fun to shoot, but it jammed a lot and I wouldn't ever want to depend on it!
Went out for dinner and from our balcony, we watched the torrential rain pour and the thunder and lightning show. It was amazing.
Today, we went to the killing fields and S-21. The killing fields are the mass graves filled by the Khmer Rouge and that was definitely depressing. Afterwards, we went to the highschool converted by the Khmer Rouge to torture people to death. More people died in the Nazi Holocaust, but here all victims were tortured to death individually, each over the course of many days. And the torturers were all children between 10-14, trained to be exceptionally cruel.
Whooo! So we went back, took naps, and went to find some internet. We leave tomorrow morning for Ho Chi Minh city, so that will be good.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Techno Bum
While my post does not include any exciting Asian adventures, I thought I would share a quick note on what I am calling the "techno bum".
Today, as I headed across the city I saw a bum, clothed only in a ratty blanket. His hair amess, no shoes, no shirt and I'm hoping, though I didn't check, that he was wearing underwear. But the difference between him and other bums was that along with his impoverished garbs, lack of home and general "mentally insane nature" he was listening to a bright and shiny iPod.
Yes, you read that correctly, no clothes, no shoes, but he had his music!
Today, as I headed across the city I saw a bum, clothed only in a ratty blanket. His hair amess, no shoes, no shirt and I'm hoping, though I didn't check, that he was wearing underwear. But the difference between him and other bums was that along with his impoverished garbs, lack of home and general "mentally insane nature" he was listening to a bright and shiny iPod.
Yes, you read that correctly, no clothes, no shoes, but he had his music!
Angkor Wat is awesome
Yesterday we got up at 6am to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. Rode our bikes there and while morning isn't as hot as midday, it is much more humid. Our sunglasses were unable because of the thick mist constantly present on them. I've never been to the pyramids, but I think the Angkor complex could definitely be much more impressive.
Angkor means "capital"and wat means "temple." The name isn't very significant, but the wat is very impressive. The moat surrounding it is the largest in the world - something like 1.5km on each side and 1km wide. It is the largest religious building in the world. The intricate carvings and depictions of Buddhist and Hindu lore are pretty cool. My favorite? The Battle of Lanka where Rama along with his army of monkeys, battles 10-headed, 20-armed Ravana, seducer of Rama's wife. Ravana rides a monster-drawn chariot and has an army of giants. That bas relief is one of many, and is almost 500m long.
The Angkor complex is enormous and has hundreds of wats nearby. We planned to see some more, but by 9am the heat was getting oppressive. Rode back to the guesthouse, took showers, turned on the air conditioning and took naps. Went to lunch at the Butterfly Gardens - a do-gooder business that pays children for butterflies they capture so they can pay for school. At the same time, they train impoverished youths hospitality and cooking skills.
They wash all their vegetables in spring water so we got a Khmer salad - so delicious because we haven't eaten vegatables in a while, PLUS it had a fried hard boiled egg on top. Genius. We really loaded up on food there but the other thing that was super delicious there were cashews fried with minced onion, chili power and lime juice. I'm bringing that recipe home!
Went back to the AC to watch Cambodian MTV (every video has karaoke sing along words) and out again at sunset to see Bayon Wat which was also very impressive: 54 tours with 4 Buddha heads on each for a total of 216. The sunlight was a little low for pictures so we went out for pizza in town. Delicious! Went to bed early so we could get up at sunrise again.
Learned the whole history of the Cambodia and the Khmer people. I didn't really know anything about them before. Quick summary: the Khmer people ruled all of SE Asia from Vietnam to Thailand and Burma before the Mongol hordes drove those nations to attack Cambodia. They reached the height of their civilization in 13th century which was when many of the temples were built. They slowly lost power over the centuries from others attacking and taking land. Which leads us to French colonization, Cambodian independence, the fall of the pro-Western government when the US pulls out of Vietnam, the rise of the Khmer Rouge, years of civil war and Vietnam conquering Cambodia, then pulling out. And they been rebuilding as best they can ever since.
Also, nagas are the best. They are seven-headed serpents. If you're ever looking for a good gift for me.....
Angkor means "capital"and wat means "temple." The name isn't very significant, but the wat is very impressive. The moat surrounding it is the largest in the world - something like 1.5km on each side and 1km wide. It is the largest religious building in the world. The intricate carvings and depictions of Buddhist and Hindu lore are pretty cool. My favorite? The Battle of Lanka where Rama along with his army of monkeys, battles 10-headed, 20-armed Ravana, seducer of Rama's wife. Ravana rides a monster-drawn chariot and has an army of giants. That bas relief is one of many, and is almost 500m long.
The Angkor complex is enormous and has hundreds of wats nearby. We planned to see some more, but by 9am the heat was getting oppressive. Rode back to the guesthouse, took showers, turned on the air conditioning and took naps. Went to lunch at the Butterfly Gardens - a do-gooder business that pays children for butterflies they capture so they can pay for school. At the same time, they train impoverished youths hospitality and cooking skills.
They wash all their vegetables in spring water so we got a Khmer salad - so delicious because we haven't eaten vegatables in a while, PLUS it had a fried hard boiled egg on top. Genius. We really loaded up on food there but the other thing that was super delicious there were cashews fried with minced onion, chili power and lime juice. I'm bringing that recipe home!
Went back to the AC to watch Cambodian MTV (every video has karaoke sing along words) and out again at sunset to see Bayon Wat which was also very impressive: 54 tours with 4 Buddha heads on each for a total of 216. The sunlight was a little low for pictures so we went out for pizza in town. Delicious! Went to bed early so we could get up at sunrise again.
Learned the whole history of the Cambodia and the Khmer people. I didn't really know anything about them before. Quick summary: the Khmer people ruled all of SE Asia from Vietnam to Thailand and Burma before the Mongol hordes drove those nations to attack Cambodia. They reached the height of their civilization in 13th century which was when many of the temples were built. They slowly lost power over the centuries from others attacking and taking land. Which leads us to French colonization, Cambodian independence, the fall of the pro-Western government when the US pulls out of Vietnam, the rise of the Khmer Rouge, years of civil war and Vietnam conquering Cambodia, then pulling out. And they been rebuilding as best they can ever since.
Also, nagas are the best. They are seven-headed serpents. If you're ever looking for a good gift for me.....
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Hey, man, you don't talk to the Colonel. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in the classic sense.
We rode our bikes from Aranyaprathet to the border on some very nice paved roads. And then we got to the razor wire and mud roads. When you depart the Thai border, you're in a no man's land packed with casinos. Since gambling is illegal in Thailand, this is a hot tourist destination. Like a humid, muddy Vegas.
But there were several men from the Cambodian Cultural Affairs office who helped us fill out all of our paperwork and told us which lines to stand in for the fastest service and what to give to each station when clearing the Cambodian side. VERY helpful and friendly, so that was great. When we got to the Cambodian customs guy, he was very thorough and spoke some English. However, his English seemed to be limited to quotes from _Apocalypse Now_ and that was super creepy!
The road was unbelievably terrible beginning right away. It was a rocky dirt road covered in a super slick mud slime that smelled bad. Andrew's tires have some knobs to them, but mine are pretty much road tires only. With all my equipment on the back and unequal weight distribution, I was sliding all over the place and using all of my concentration not to get hit by any cars and more importantly, not to fall into that rancid mud.
Our tires kicked up a ton of mud and we were soon covered. But I didn't fall! After about a kilometer, it dried out and we were on a "regular" poorly maintained dirt road. We didn't stop to take any pictures because we were afraid we wouldn't be able to start pedaling again. And we didn't want to even step in that mud. Picture ops we missed: a hospital sign with a blue cross on it. Instead of the snake being coiled around the Staff of Asclepius, it was coiled around a martini glass. And a truck with rice sacks piled up 30ft high, and lots of people on top of that!
We went about 60 miles today in the heat and humidity today. It was very interesting to see the countryside, but we consumed prodigious quantities of water. Every time we stopped (once an hour) we were covered in sweat. I've never experienced anything like that before. When we were moving, the breeze was enough to keep us dryish. But when we stopped, we poured sweat. I don't think the pictures will do it justice.
Fortunately for us, almost 40miles of what we rode today was freshly paved. It made for much more pleasant riding and since the road was so wide, we could ride side-by-side.
We planned to ride half-way to Siemreab and then get a guest house for the night. We got there at about 5 just as it started to rain heavily (perfect timing!) and got a bite to eat from a little shack with flies all over everything. We picked the dish which contained the most peppers hoping it would kill anything living in there:) Time will tell.
We asked where to stay, and they said the closest place was 25km down the road. We asked if a taxi could take us, but they said there weren't any. So we ate an extra helping of rice, bought more water and decided to keep going before it got dark out. But then a taxi arrived and we negotiated to have him drive us all the way to Siemreab for $40 US. It was worth every penny:)
We skipped some terrible muddy sections of road, and missed the pouring rain. And we have the next two days to check out Angkor Wat (the eighth wonder of the world) before we catch the ferry to the Capital.
I ended up getting sunburned on my triceps (the only part of me not covered in mud) and on my back on one side through my tshirt:( We'll see how bad it is tomorrow.
Alright, I can barely keep typing. I'm off to bed!
But there were several men from the Cambodian Cultural Affairs office who helped us fill out all of our paperwork and told us which lines to stand in for the fastest service and what to give to each station when clearing the Cambodian side. VERY helpful and friendly, so that was great. When we got to the Cambodian customs guy, he was very thorough and spoke some English. However, his English seemed to be limited to quotes from _Apocalypse Now_ and that was super creepy!
The road was unbelievably terrible beginning right away. It was a rocky dirt road covered in a super slick mud slime that smelled bad. Andrew's tires have some knobs to them, but mine are pretty much road tires only. With all my equipment on the back and unequal weight distribution, I was sliding all over the place and using all of my concentration not to get hit by any cars and more importantly, not to fall into that rancid mud.
Our tires kicked up a ton of mud and we were soon covered. But I didn't fall! After about a kilometer, it dried out and we were on a "regular" poorly maintained dirt road. We didn't stop to take any pictures because we were afraid we wouldn't be able to start pedaling again. And we didn't want to even step in that mud. Picture ops we missed: a hospital sign with a blue cross on it. Instead of the snake being coiled around the Staff of Asclepius, it was coiled around a martini glass. And a truck with rice sacks piled up 30ft high, and lots of people on top of that!
We went about 60 miles today in the heat and humidity today. It was very interesting to see the countryside, but we consumed prodigious quantities of water. Every time we stopped (once an hour) we were covered in sweat. I've never experienced anything like that before. When we were moving, the breeze was enough to keep us dryish. But when we stopped, we poured sweat. I don't think the pictures will do it justice.
Fortunately for us, almost 40miles of what we rode today was freshly paved. It made for much more pleasant riding and since the road was so wide, we could ride side-by-side.
We planned to ride half-way to Siemreab and then get a guest house for the night. We got there at about 5 just as it started to rain heavily (perfect timing!) and got a bite to eat from a little shack with flies all over everything. We picked the dish which contained the most peppers hoping it would kill anything living in there:) Time will tell.
We asked where to stay, and they said the closest place was 25km down the road. We asked if a taxi could take us, but they said there weren't any. So we ate an extra helping of rice, bought more water and decided to keep going before it got dark out. But then a taxi arrived and we negotiated to have him drive us all the way to Siemreab for $40 US. It was worth every penny:)
We skipped some terrible muddy sections of road, and missed the pouring rain. And we have the next two days to check out Angkor Wat (the eighth wonder of the world) before we catch the ferry to the Capital.
I ended up getting sunburned on my triceps (the only part of me not covered in mud) and on my back on one side through my tshirt:( We'll see how bad it is tomorrow.
Alright, I can barely keep typing. I'm off to bed!
Third world travelling at its finest
So we made it back to the train station in Bangkok with no problem. We got fresh fruit breakfasts and another Thai massage to pass the time. Bought additional bungy cords and did another fitting at the tailor. All of our stuff and bikes were still there too!
The tourist-helper-ladies at the train station were very helpful. They got us in the correct line for tickets and showed us to weigh station for our cargo (bikes), then directed us to the platform we needed to be at. The last lady told us that we needed to be on the platform at least 30min early because that train was free for Thai citizens that day and it would be packed. It's really too bad we missed the early train!
The station policeman carrying a six-pack of beer with him while on patrol was great. We were reluctant to take his picture though. And the Buddhist monk who really wanted to see us ride our bikes on the packed platform was strange. I hope I suffer no karmic penalties for refusing him:)
Although we had to pay for our cargo, there was no cargo area and we had to carry our bikes on board with us. And when the train got there, we were no match for those wily little Thais. They ducked under us and pushed the little kids past us while they held onto our bikes and pulled to get in front of us. Alas, there was nowhere to sit when we got on, which meant that we couldn't see anything out of the windows either. And so our 5-hour train journey began.
We did meet a very nice girl from Brittany, France named Marie and she was a pleasure to talk to. She just finished law school in France and is traveling through Asia and then to New Zealand. We did get places to sit a little over three hours into the ride and that was most spectacular!
When we got off the train, we met another guy from London named Hittesh and we all went to a hotel together. Hittesh went to a wedding in Bahrain about seven months ago and decided not to go back to work. He's been traveling ever since.
We got some beers and ordered the fried snake heads appetizer, but they were all out of the heads! We got regular fried snakes, and they were just okay. The curry and french fries were delicious though.
We broke into the swimming pool after that and that was fun. It's probably better we couldn't see how clean the water was. And then we went to bed in the sweaty heat of the night. Both Andrew and I didn't sleep very well because of how loud the pouring rain was over the multiple fans we had set on high. Nobody in that town spoke much English, and all I could think about was how we were going to get our hands on some ponchos for the bike ride the next day. I decided I would draw a picture.
But everything always works out! It stopped raining around 7am and we were on the road by 10am - later than we had planned, but the weather was only hot and more humid than anything I've ever experienced in my life; it wasn't pouring rain!
The tourist-helper-ladies at the train station were very helpful. They got us in the correct line for tickets and showed us to weigh station for our cargo (bikes), then directed us to the platform we needed to be at. The last lady told us that we needed to be on the platform at least 30min early because that train was free for Thai citizens that day and it would be packed. It's really too bad we missed the early train!
The station policeman carrying a six-pack of beer with him while on patrol was great. We were reluctant to take his picture though. And the Buddhist monk who really wanted to see us ride our bikes on the packed platform was strange. I hope I suffer no karmic penalties for refusing him:)
Although we had to pay for our cargo, there was no cargo area and we had to carry our bikes on board with us. And when the train got there, we were no match for those wily little Thais. They ducked under us and pushed the little kids past us while they held onto our bikes and pulled to get in front of us. Alas, there was nowhere to sit when we got on, which meant that we couldn't see anything out of the windows either. And so our 5-hour train journey began.
We did meet a very nice girl from Brittany, France named Marie and she was a pleasure to talk to. She just finished law school in France and is traveling through Asia and then to New Zealand. We did get places to sit a little over three hours into the ride and that was most spectacular!
When we got off the train, we met another guy from London named Hittesh and we all went to a hotel together. Hittesh went to a wedding in Bahrain about seven months ago and decided not to go back to work. He's been traveling ever since.
We got some beers and ordered the fried snake heads appetizer, but they were all out of the heads! We got regular fried snakes, and they were just okay. The curry and french fries were delicious though.
We broke into the swimming pool after that and that was fun. It's probably better we couldn't see how clean the water was. And then we went to bed in the sweaty heat of the night. Both Andrew and I didn't sleep very well because of how loud the pouring rain was over the multiple fans we had set on high. Nobody in that town spoke much English, and all I could think about was how we were going to get our hands on some ponchos for the bike ride the next day. I decided I would draw a picture.
But everything always works out! It stopped raining around 7am and we were on the road by 10am - later than we had planned, but the weather was only hot and more humid than anything I've ever experienced in my life; it wasn't pouring rain!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Missed the train
Andrew and I have been pretty busy. Got some more fittings in at the tailor and took our bikes for a ride through the streets and alleys of Bangkok. It's much easier to ride a bike on the streets here because I think other drivers are always on the lookout for bikes, carts, scooters, etc. Don't worry - we wore our helmets!
We took a waterway tour of the city's canals, which was just okay. It was nice to see how people on the water live and some of the wats (buddhist temples). However, the boat driver kept pulling over next to other boats trying to sell us stuff. And then at each wat we got out to see, there was a 20 baht "landing fee." However, we had the boat all to ourselves and it was nice and breezy on the water. One lady tried to sell us a loaf of bread to feed the thousands of catfish(?) in the water. It was a total ripoff, but fortunately, the people in the boat in front of us were suckers and did it, so we got to the reap the benefits without forking over our cash. And by benefits, I mean we saw a bunch of fish breaking through the surface of the water trying to eat the breadcrumbs. Similar to feeding pigeons.
It is very hot and humid here, but not as overbearing as I thought it would be. Even the air from riding a bike was nice. I'm usually sweatiest standing around:) It's nice having Andrew's skillz here - after we put the bikes together he helped me get it really tuned in. Fixed the seat, handle bars, and gear shifters.
Got our visas back from the travel agent at 6pm last night, so we're covered there. After that we met up with a colleague of Perin (Deloitte US) who's travelling the world - Harley Young. Small world! We got a beer and wandered around the city for a while. We laughed a lot and that was fun.
So everyone we talked to said the train to the Cambodian border left at 6:30am in the morning. So we got up at 5, put most of our stuff in storage and took tuk-tuks over to the train station. Got there at 6:05 and it turns out we missed our train by 10 minutes. Stupid trains! Next train leaves at 1pm, so we have some time to write in the blog and check out anything with air conditioning. Aranyaprathet is the border town we're going to. We'll stay there tonight and cross the border tomorrow. The train station has a luggage storage area, put it's just a huge pile of bags with a piece of paper staples to each one. We ended up locking our bags and bikes together to a metal gate. Don't worry: there is a piece of paper stapled to one of our bags, so it's official.
We were planning to go back to the hotel to tell them we left something back in the room: our sleep. But we got to this Internet cafe first. Oh! And we found a Dunkin Donuts, so that was nice treat after the train ordeal.
Andrew and I got Thai massages too, and they were pretty cheap (about $8 for an hour). It was really nice and relaxing until she got me in a full nelson, put her knees in my lower back and rolled onto her back. I'm still a little sore from that! Harley said he doesn't like them because it's like wrestling a panda bear.
We're off to see if we can get some hammok time somewhere air conditioned. I don't even know if they have that, but it sounds like a sweet business opportunity!
We took a waterway tour of the city's canals, which was just okay. It was nice to see how people on the water live and some of the wats (buddhist temples). However, the boat driver kept pulling over next to other boats trying to sell us stuff. And then at each wat we got out to see, there was a 20 baht "landing fee." However, we had the boat all to ourselves and it was nice and breezy on the water. One lady tried to sell us a loaf of bread to feed the thousands of catfish(?) in the water. It was a total ripoff, but fortunately, the people in the boat in front of us were suckers and did it, so we got to the reap the benefits without forking over our cash. And by benefits, I mean we saw a bunch of fish breaking through the surface of the water trying to eat the breadcrumbs. Similar to feeding pigeons.
It is very hot and humid here, but not as overbearing as I thought it would be. Even the air from riding a bike was nice. I'm usually sweatiest standing around:) It's nice having Andrew's skillz here - after we put the bikes together he helped me get it really tuned in. Fixed the seat, handle bars, and gear shifters.
Got our visas back from the travel agent at 6pm last night, so we're covered there. After that we met up with a colleague of Perin (Deloitte US) who's travelling the world - Harley Young. Small world! We got a beer and wandered around the city for a while. We laughed a lot and that was fun.
So everyone we talked to said the train to the Cambodian border left at 6:30am in the morning. So we got up at 5, put most of our stuff in storage and took tuk-tuks over to the train station. Got there at 6:05 and it turns out we missed our train by 10 minutes. Stupid trains! Next train leaves at 1pm, so we have some time to write in the blog and check out anything with air conditioning. Aranyaprathet is the border town we're going to. We'll stay there tonight and cross the border tomorrow. The train station has a luggage storage area, put it's just a huge pile of bags with a piece of paper staples to each one. We ended up locking our bags and bikes together to a metal gate. Don't worry: there is a piece of paper stapled to one of our bags, so it's official.
We were planning to go back to the hotel to tell them we left something back in the room: our sleep. But we got to this Internet cafe first. Oh! And we found a Dunkin Donuts, so that was nice treat after the train ordeal.
Andrew and I got Thai massages too, and they were pretty cheap (about $8 for an hour). It was really nice and relaxing until she got me in a full nelson, put her knees in my lower back and rolled onto her back. I'm still a little sore from that! Harley said he doesn't like them because it's like wrestling a panda bear.
We're off to see if we can get some hammok time somewhere air conditioned. I don't even know if they have that, but it sounds like a sweet business opportunity!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
In Bangkok
Landed safely in Bangkok and I am highly impressed with the infrastructure here. The roads are perfect everywhere, the airport's brand new, the busses were obtained recently, the trains are all rather new, and the tuk tuk (pronounced took took) are in repair, clean and colorful. I expected more chaos, but it's a major metropolitan city. Everyone obeys the traffic lights (which are all in working condition) and everyone crosses at crosswalks. I guess I expected it to be a little more like Africa... Sure there are unlicensed businesses everywhere (which happen to be the best places to eat) but everything is pretty orderly.
The plan is to bike through Cambodia to Ho Chi Min city and fly back to Bangkok and then home. Andrew, my friend from way back is going with me. He has another couple of weeks after I leave to decide what he wants to do. Rock climbing in the south of Thailand, yoga in India, trek to Nepal, who knows.... But I'm excited for him!
Went down to Khao San Road and got ourselves a tailor that Andrew's been to many times over the years. Got myself some suits, shirts, pants, a blazer, and a winter coat. Got Perin some skirts, some blouses, a top, a winter coat too based on her measurements I had with me. Learned a lot about different silk products and am impressed by his past work - all quality materials and extra stitching everywhere.
Had a couple beers with lunch and started wheeling and dealing on purchasing stuff. Got some sunglasses and some fire-breathing monkys with flashing red eyes lighters. Had to work hard to get the price down to what we were looking for: $1 each. Tried doing some tshirt deals, but the vendors that have my favorite shirts only have large shirts. (XL is best for me). And I suppose I could buy promising to work out for hours every day and then they'd only be really tight on me, but that's not the requirements you want to make of yourself to buy a tshirt with some clever or ironic print on the front of it.
We did get some flattened squid fresh off the grill which we saw a lot of people eating. Not quite a squid jerky but close. Thoroughly unpleasant in the tastebud region of the tongue. We spit those out after a couple of chews and then got more beers to wash the taste out of our mouths. We ate some other mini octopi off a stick that were grilled and then dunked into asian hot sauce for us and those were declicious! It's nice being able to get two full serving of pad thai and two beers for a 2 dollars.
We set up our bikes and they should be good to go. We used compresses CO2 gas to pump the tires and that the way to go! We should have brought more for insurance. We did spend some time trying to find a place to buy more. No luck.
We have to go pick up our visas today, then arrange take the train closer to the Cambodian border tomorrow morning. I have a third and four fittings for my suits today and then a final fitting when we fly back here from Saigon on Sunday.
A friend of Perin and myself named Harley will be in Bangkok today so maybe we'll run into him. That would be pretty cool.
Off to a busy day!
The plan is to bike through Cambodia to Ho Chi Min city and fly back to Bangkok and then home. Andrew, my friend from way back is going with me. He has another couple of weeks after I leave to decide what he wants to do. Rock climbing in the south of Thailand, yoga in India, trek to Nepal, who knows.... But I'm excited for him!
Went down to Khao San Road and got ourselves a tailor that Andrew's been to many times over the years. Got myself some suits, shirts, pants, a blazer, and a winter coat. Got Perin some skirts, some blouses, a top, a winter coat too based on her measurements I had with me. Learned a lot about different silk products and am impressed by his past work - all quality materials and extra stitching everywhere.
Had a couple beers with lunch and started wheeling and dealing on purchasing stuff. Got some sunglasses and some fire-breathing monkys with flashing red eyes lighters. Had to work hard to get the price down to what we were looking for: $1 each. Tried doing some tshirt deals, but the vendors that have my favorite shirts only have large shirts. (XL is best for me). And I suppose I could buy promising to work out for hours every day and then they'd only be really tight on me, but that's not the requirements you want to make of yourself to buy a tshirt with some clever or ironic print on the front of it.
We did get some flattened squid fresh off the grill which we saw a lot of people eating. Not quite a squid jerky but close. Thoroughly unpleasant in the tastebud region of the tongue. We spit those out after a couple of chews and then got more beers to wash the taste out of our mouths. We ate some other mini octopi off a stick that were grilled and then dunked into asian hot sauce for us and those were declicious! It's nice being able to get two full serving of pad thai and two beers for a 2 dollars.
We set up our bikes and they should be good to go. We used compresses CO2 gas to pump the tires and that the way to go! We should have brought more for insurance. We did spend some time trying to find a place to buy more. No luck.
We have to go pick up our visas today, then arrange take the train closer to the Cambodian border tomorrow morning. I have a third and four fittings for my suits today and then a final fitting when we fly back here from Saigon on Sunday.
A friend of Perin and myself named Harley will be in Bangkok today so maybe we'll run into him. That would be pretty cool.
Off to a busy day!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Preparing for Asia
Next week I leave for a bicycling tour of South East Asia. I'm flying to Bangkok, Thailand, riding my bike through Cambodia to Saigon, Vietnam, and then coming home.It's very exciting, and I'm in decent shape, but my butt bones are in terrible condition. Okay, I'm already in Asia, but did a terrible job of completing this post before I left.
I traded the seat with flames on it for Perin's seat (which is way more confortable). Thank you Perin!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Just an update...
Its Saturday afternoon here and I thought I would finally put in a new update. Everyday I think "oh, I should add that to the blog" but of course as I get here, I can't remember anything.
So I will start with some fun family and friends updates. All our families are doing well. We have spoken with almost everyone over the past few weeks and its been nice to be back in touch. This past week was Bob's b-day, Alan & Ange's anniversary, Randy's b-day and Myra's b-day (which is technically tomorrow in the US and today in NZ) in chronological order. So it was a big family week to say the least. A big shout out of congrats and happy birthday to all. On other family news, Myra' and Erik got a super cute puppy a few weeks back and named her Paisley. And finally (but not least) on Oct 10th Josh and Barri celebrate their 10th anniversary WOW! Oh and I almost forgot, Josh got a new job and started a few weeks ago!!!
With regards to my friends, I finally got pictures of Sibel's growing belly, I found out Michelle is actually on normal schedule (going to bed early and rising soon after the sun comes up - OMG), Kimi and her boys are loving life in CA and Amy will be moving to Hawaii in Dec. DJ had a baby girl this week (CONGRATS) and Jon Poynter went skydiving today. I think thats all the exciting news I have heard recently. Though I highly encourage all to send me updates.
So now for a NZ update. Last weekend we went 4 wheel driving and I took some cool photos of Paul doing some extreme driving and I got growled at by some Sea Lions for getting to close (got a picture of that too). We also went for a great hike along a beautiful creek. We were going to head for a hike today, but the weather prevented us from doing much more than sitting on the couch surfing the internet and playing video games.
I learned a few new New Zealand phrases I thought I would share. The first is "starter for 10" this is the equivalent of "draft". You can use this when sending along a first draft of a document and say "here is a good starter for 10". It comes from a university quiz show were you were answering a question as a 'starter' for ten points. I also heard a story about a somewhat famous NZ boxer who went on wheel of fortune and asked for an "O" for awesome!
I think most people have heard my deer story at this point, but for those who haven't I will type up the revised version here. Basically I met our neighbors who have a beautiful stained glass window in their house. When I commented on how pretty it was they explained to me that it was new because their old window had just been broken by some boys who they figured were "just boys on a deer". Well it took us two days and a discussion with a local to learn that "boy on a deer" was really "boy on a dare" (just a pronunciation difference). Needless to say it was hysterically funny when we finally figured it out because we just couldn't figure out what a boy would be doing on a deer and why that would break a window!?
We also learned that W & H together make an "F" sound. So there is a town near here spelled Kaiwharawhara and its pronounced 'ki-fara-fara'.
We are planning a big vacation for when Marilee, Mark, Myra and Erik arrive. We will be touring the South Island and then Paul and I may head to Australia for week since I have another week of work off after they leave. Pretty much all of NZ has a forced shutdown over the holiday period. I of course keep calling it the winter break which confuses all the locals since Dec/Jan is our summer!
I went to a work function last night. It was an indoor go-karting grand prix. It was super fun and the first time any women have raced (this is an annual event). I joined the all women's team and I had the fastest lap of all my teammates, but unfortunately we came in dead last - oh well!
My mom asked me to post a brief update on work, so here it is... Pretty much all of my clients are in the public sector. In just the 4 weeks I have been working I have either had a project or responded to a proposal for the Department of Corrections, the Department of Labour, Housing NZ, the Internal Revenue Department, and the Ministry of Health. All of my work is pretty interesting and very busy. We are in a recession similar to the US, but on a much smaller scale. Fortunately, since most of our clients are government, they aren't as affected as the private sector and so business hasn't really slowed.
There are some major difference between the US and NZ practice but mostly around how we are reviewed. Its neat because there are only a handful of partners and 100 or so practitioners so its a totally different review process. Instead of 100's of random people in a room talking about someone hardly anyone knows and fighting for how well they did or not do, its incredibly personal. Utilization is important but not the end-all be all and what you do is lot more important than who you know (and everyone knows everybody).
I've also noticed that people are not nearly as particular about things like grammar, formatting and PowerPoints. This is not to say that deliverables aren't of the same quality just that feedback from partners and senior managers is more about content and less on whether or not your boxes are aligned. What a nice change! (no commenting on my terrible grammar in this post, this is fun and no one is paying me for this!) Deloitte NZ bases your utilization on a 32 hour work week, but in the same respect they assume that for every 10 hours you are at the client you probably only worked 8, so my work weeks are just as long!
Paul is doing well and getting ready for his big vacation in Asia. I'm not particularly psyched at being alone, but I can handle 12 days and I have a long weekend in there so it will be nice to relax.
Ok, I've probably caught most people up with enough boring stuff. As Marilee said, most blog posts are just stuff people could have posted in an email, but I hope/think this will reach more people than I could remember to email.
Miss you all!
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