Cambodi-odi-odi-o! Part 1 - Siem Reap/Angkor Wat

Part 1 Photos

Part 2 Photos

‘I’d like to purchase a visa please.’

‘It’s $30.’

‘But is says on the sign that it’s $20?’

‘You pay $30.’

‘I won’t pay $30.’

‘You wait then!’

And with that, the border official stood up and promptly walked out of his booth, purchased some snacks from a vendor and sat down on a bench in the waiting area looking annoyingly smug.

‘Uh, ok.’

Cait and I had arrived in Poipet after taking a local bus from Bangkok to Aranya Prathet, where we caught a tuk tuk with 2 Canadians we met there – Carolyn and Phetmany. As soon as we arrived, we were ‘greeted’ by touts ‘encouraging’ us to buy visas from them. We had been advised by good ol’ Lonely (Lonely Planet Guidebook) not to purchase ANYTHING from them, nor were we to trust that the border guards wouldn’t try to nick a few extra dollars for themselves.

So it was an American, 3 Canadians and 6 Chinese (who had preceded us in the line-up) against the Cambodians! We decided to unite and refuse to line the pockets of corruption – it wasn’t the money, it was the PRINCIPLE damn it! People want to come and spend their money in your country and this is how we are greeted, by getting screwed over at the border? So we threw on some more bug spray and sunscreen, popped a malaria pill and decided to stick it out until they gave in and let us purchase the visa for the REAL price.

Meanwhile, a tout was trying to negotiate with Phetmany (her family is from Laos so she speaks and understands some Cambodian) to purchase a visa from him in which we would only pay a few dollars more than the actual price, as opposed to $30. We knew he was in cahoots with the border officials and all of us were pretty adamant that we would not pay more than $20...but that was at hour 1. When we started to approach the end of hour 2, negotiating started to look more favourable as we still had a 4 hour journey to Siem Reap ahead of us, were filthy with dust and sweat...and even worse, hungry! Not to mention that Poipet is just not a nice place to spend an afternoon. It is stifling hot, polluted and loud. Being there feels like a scene out of a movie that you wouldn’t want to star in. These are the moments that I absorb as part of the cultural experience, but make me appreciate my home so much more.

So we reluctantly each paid $3 more than we should have and carried on through to the border crossing. But the fun wasn’t over yet! We still had to contend with the ‘taxi drivers’. At one time, the 4 of us were surrounded by 8 of them all fighting to get our attention and take their taxi. I would define these taxis as cars with no meters and no signage, looking like they have been used in one too many stunt scenes. He opened up the trunk for us to stuff our backpacks in and there was a big tank o’ ‘who knows what’. I presume it was fuel...this did not help alleviate any concerns for our safety on the road ahead.

The road to Siem Reap was unpaved the majority of the way. It was hopeful to see the construction workers putting down cement for future travellers as the state it was in was shall we say a bit haphazard. The taxi driver honked his horn continuously whilst cows, kids, cars, trucks, bikes and chickens fought for space on the road amidst the dust and potholes. At one point, the driver slammed hard on the brakes and everyone in the car braced themselves for a head on collision with a cow. Luckily, both driver and cow were both experienced in this regard and quick enough to avoid impact!

We arrived in Siem Reap at sundown where we got to see a splendiferous orange moon overhead! It looked like the harvest moons we get ‘back home’ but an even more brilliant orange. There is a ban on cars at night in the area of the city we were going to, so we transported ourselves the rest of the way via tuk tuk. Of course the tuk tuk drivers took us to their guesthouse of choice so they could collect their commission. Surprisingly, we actually liked the place and ended up negotiating a decent price. We EVEN had a TV w/ cable - what a treat this was. Cait and I stayed up late our first night watching Pet Cemetery!

We tried to see both the sunset and sunrise at Angkor Wat but it was overcast on both attempts! In the end, it actually worked in our favour as it wasn’t as stifling hot during the day! Angkor (meaning Holy City in Sanskrit) is just a few km outside of Siem Reap. It was built in the 12th century mostly under the rule of Suryavarman II. It is a culmination of 5 towers surrounding a central tower which symbolizes Mount Meru. Most of the wall space is covered with carvings of Hindu mythology but somewhere around the 14th century, Buddhism replaced Hinduism as the religion of the Angkor Kingdom will be apparent in my photos.

By noon, we were done with the heat, the insistent vendors and lack of sleep. We went back to Siem Reap for some good eats and chilling at a coffee house with Carolyn and Phetmany. The night before we left for Phnom Pehn, the four of us went to see a documentary about the Pol Pot regime and the genocide that took place between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia. This was the beginning of a heart wrenching historical journey that Cait and I embarked on in Phnom Penh (more on this in my next instalment).

I don’t want this to get too long so I will save the rest of Cambodia for next time. Our visit to the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum was extremely worthwhile and educational, albeit traumatizing but left me with many questions that perhaps I will have some answers to before I write my next instalment.

Thanks for everyone’s emails and photo comments – means mucho to me!

Pai Eating Sharks!

To view photos from Pai, click here.

I rolled into Pai from Chiang Mai on March 10th, after a 3 hour voyage by mini-bus involving hair pin turns, squealing tires and dazzling, precipitous scenery. I stayed about 3 km from town at the Sun Huts, highly recommended by my previous guesthouse in Chiang Mai. I was extremely excited that there was not only toilet paper in the bathroom but a bed with a REAL mattress even! That’s what you get when you pay the big bucks in northern Thailand (350 Baht or $11/night). A little too rich for my blood, so I later moved to Pravee’s House with Ada and Cait for a more economical 200 Baht a night. It was a safe and clean little place (this is all I ask for in Asia!) where I learned to co-habitate with several fly/mosquito hybrids living in my bathroom!

Pai is a small town of only 3000 consisting of mainly Internet cafes, sleepy restaurants and many, many choices for a Thai massage! It was nice to keep bumping into the same people over and over again. Every night the Thai ‘house band’, stationed in a bar in the nucleus of the town, played covers by The Eagles and Cat Stevens. With their straggly, long hair, faded bell bottoms and rock and roll t-shirts, they looked like they walked right out of the 70’s. Of course the image would not be complete without lit cigarettes and cocktails within easy reach.

Cait decided she wanted to take a 3 day Reiki course which left Ada and I wondering what we should do to keep ourselves busy. We decided to partake in a yoga class at a swimming pool called Fluid. The class took place in an open air beach hut, so every time I came up from a down dog, I caught a glimpse of the mountain peaks poking up at the sky or someone swimming laps in the pool nearby. It was there that we just happened to meet an instructor from Seattle, Tammy, who was free to lead us in some private yoga classes!

We coined our endeavour ‘Ada and Tracey’s Wellness Retreat’, which consisted of yoga at 10 am and 4 pm every day, one Reiki session with Cait’s Reiki teacher, Libby, Thai massage, swimming and not eating any sugar or wheat (this was not an easy feat what with the banana pancakes and coconut shakes beckoning us at every turn). The education I received from Tammy during our retreat was invaluable. She made sure that every vertebra was where it was supposed to be and not only gave us a great physical workout but challenged our minds and helped to enliven our spirits. The Reiki session I had was downright trippy. I saw beautiful, radiating colours and felt a weight literally lifting out of my right leg. Then there were the massages – oh the massages! I was stretched, cracked and tenderized in all the right places. They had me in positions I didn’t think were possible and I always left there feeling like I could fly! All for just 150 baht ($5) a session!

 

After all the yoga, wellness and goodness, we decided to move ahead with our journeys...Cait was heading towards Bangkok to deal with the red tape she needed to for teaching in Thailand and Ada and I took a minibus to Chiang Mai to catch our flights to Phuket and Bangkok respectively. I must say that Bangkok was a better experience the 2nd time around as I knew what to expect and had the company of Cait! We walked the streets searching for cheap food and drink, pissed off tuk tuk drivers, tried not to get ripped off and somewhere along the line, planned a border crossing to Cambodia!

Our last night in Bangkok, on the way to a movie in Siam Square, I was disgusted to see 2 restaurants that exclusively served shark fin soup. They had prominently displayed the dried shark fins in the windows of the restaurants to draw people in and by the looks of the interior, it was actually working.

Shark fins are obtained by a process called ‘finning’ - fishing the shark out of the sea, cutting all 4 of its fins off and throwing the rest of the shark, still alive, back into the ocean. Without its fins, the shark is unable to move, sinks to the ocean floor and either bleeds to death, suffocates from lack of oxygen (gained only by swimming) or is eventually eaten, defenceless, by other predators.

Shark fin is considered a delicacy in mostly Asian countries. With the recent trade and industry advances in China, the biggest consumer of shark fins, there is even more of a demand for this expensive, flavourless ‘delicacy’ that really only provides a gelatinous consistency for the soup. It is thought to give the consumer some sort of vital health but on the contrary, high levels of mercury have been found in shark fins, rendering them toxic to ingest.

Finning has contributed greatly to decreasing shark populations from 50% to 90% in some areas of the world over the past 50 years. It is estimated that 10-100 million sharks are slaughtered each year but a solid number cannot be obtained since so much of this fishing (long line) is done illegally in protected areas and may also be tied to organized crime.

People just don’t have the same sympathy for sharks as they do other fish that are not perceived as threatening. Steven Spielberg has not helped their case by churning out the blockbusting Jaws Quadrilogy - bloodthirsty shark with a taste for human beings. I don’t know about you, but I can’t so much as dip a toe in the ocean without thinking a fierce shark awaits close by to have a nibble. The whales definitely have a leg up, or shall I say ‘fin’, on sharks. ‘Free Jaws’ just does not have the same ring to it as ‘Free Willy’.

Canadian photojournalist, Rob Stewart, released a documentary about this very topic called Sharkwater. Check out the trailer for it here: http://www.sharkwater.com/. You can also watch Rob Stewart talking about the movie on The Hour here: http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1464.

I believe this is a very important and worthy topic that we should all be educated on but I didn’t plan on this blog turning into a ‘Save the Sharks’ campaign, so I promise the next instalment will entertain with corruption, drama and intrigue, namely ‘Cambodia’!

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

- St. Francis of Assisi

From beasts we scorn as soulless, in forest, field and den, the cry goes up to witness, the soullessness of men.

- M. Frida Hartley

Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Animals don't vote.

- Paul Harvey

Chiang Mai

View Chiang Mai Photos Part 1 here.

View Chiang Mai Photos Part 2 here.

So I have been a little lax on the blog postings due to leaving my laptop in Bangkok while in N. Thailand. I opted for that as I didn’t want to have to worry about it at the guesthouses while out trekking around. Theoretically, this was probably a good idea but when the wheels of the plane left the Bangkok tarmac, I felt like I was leaving my first born behind! We have since been happily reunited and I now feel whole again.

It was a huge relief to leave Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I really wanted to GET ‘somewhere’ after being in Bangkok for 5 days (which were 5 too many). I had lost my bank card and had to stay to work out the details of getting it sent to me (not an easy task) and also had to sort out my Vietnam visa, prior to entering the country. 

I stayed at The Libra House on Moon Muang Road, Soi 9. This is where a large portion of the guesthouses are and the Libra House came highly recommended both by friends who had stayed there and my trusty online, SE Asia bible, www.travelfish.org.

I inquired about treks and was told that there was one leaving in the morning for 2 days that included a waterfall, hot springs, elephant riding, bamboo rafting and a 3 hour mountain hike. I was quite ready to have some kind of plan after wandering aimlessly around Bangkok the last few days, so I signed myself up!

The next morning, myself, a couple from France, a guy from Japan, 2 fellow Canadians from Saskatchewan, Levi from London, and Cait and Ada, from New York, set off on our voyage. We all piled into the back of a pick-up that had 2 benches parallel to one another (called a sawngthaew). I felt a little like a soldier en route to the battlefields! Was actually a lot of fun and great for seeing the country side.

We drove north of Chiang Mai first to a spectacular waterfall, where I stood directly underneath; a most refreshing way to start the day. Then came the hot springs - nice but would be much more satisfying in a colder climate me thinks. After lunch, we went trekking up a mountain and visited a couple of hill tribes along the way. Most areas consisted of a shack or two with colourful clothes drying on the line complete with pigs, chickens, roosters, water buffalo and oxen basking in the shade nearby. 

The last part of the trek was the most gruelling physically – an extremely vertical hike to our overnight destination atop the mountain. We arrived exhausted, dirty, sweaty and hungry! So most of us had a dip in the river before being served a traditional Thai meal by the hill tribe we were staying with – noodles, lemongrass, chicken and I even got my very own tofu dish – scrumptious!

We sat by the campfire before retiring to our sleeping quarters - a large hut with thin pieces of foam laid out beside each other. It was a chilly and uncomfortable sleep but well worth it for the experience. 

After breakfast, we went for our elephant rides. I had mixed feelings about this of course but the elephants SEEMED to be well taken care of. Ada and I rode one together and neither of us particularly liked the guide we had. He sat on top of the elephant’s head and steered him down the path with a series of menacing grunts, shifting his body weight and kicking his heels. To me, he was just exhibiting symptoms of ‘small man syndrome’. I cannot relate to people who cannot relate to or feel for animals. 

He pulled out a large tool that had a thick blade shaped like a hook at the end. This made us rather nervous and fully prepared ourselves to kick his ass if he hurt the elephant in any way. We saw him use it later to hook in behind the elephant’s ear to steer it to the ledge where we were dropped off and keep his head facing forward. It wasn’t done forcefully or maliciously but seemed like an unnecessarily frightening tool to have to utilize.

When we got off our elephant, one of the guides hit the elephant beside us on the top of the head with a bamboo stick. I yelled out, ‘Noooooooo!!’. The guide didn’t even look at me, so I made a point of petting the elephant on the head in a comforting gesture while glaring at his abuser, who continued to completely ignore me. 

The next day, I made a point of going to a restaurant called Tuskers who is owned by a guy from London who had gone on an elephant trek in Chiang Mai and didn’t like how the elephants were treated. He moved there to open Tuskers, where he donates a part of the proceeds to elephant conservation. He said the guides should never have to hit the elephants. Dow, the owner of our guesthouse said that when the elephants aren’t doing the treks, they are left to roam free in the jungle. I also asked the guide that took us on the trek and he said the same thing. That’s a really nice story and I really wanted to believe them but they also knew what I wanted to hear. Elephants are profoundly social animals with strong family bonds so I could take some comfort in the fact that there were a good bunch of them together and none of them had to go at this alone.

After elephant riding, we slowly drifted down the river on bamboo rafts past hill tribe villages, fishermen and children playing in the water. Many photo ops were to be had, but I put my camera in a water resistant bag as I have been known to fall, sometimes for no reason, and I wasn’t going to take any chances!

We arrived at yet another ‘hill tribe’. Use the term ‘hill tribe’ loosely because it is totally set up for tourism and doesn’t really have that tribal feel one would hope for when seeking culture. 

I bought some bracelets from the ladies and felt a real bond with one of them. I don’t think either of us understood much of what the other said but when I left I squeezed her hand like I would a grandmother’s and she bid farewell with a warm smile. 

 We then got into the back of another sawngthaew and headed to Chiang Mai. It was great to take pictures out the back where elephants were strolling down the side of the road and locals cruising behind us on motorbikes. 

All in all Chiang Mai was much more pleasant and laid back than Bangkok. That’s not to say that it wasn’t polluted or congested with traffic but I felt like I could breathe a little easier there. I decided the next stop would be Pai! A small town with a population of 3000 filled with travelers, hippies, musicians, artists and new age bohemians. I knew this would be my kind of place and convinced Ada and Cait that they would love it too. 

Stay tuned for more on Pai..coming soon!

Bangkok

View Bangkok Photos here!

Hi all! I am now in Bangkok! I would like to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this diabolical city but that would be me lying. It’s not awful, but it is definitely not a place I will come back to often if I can help it. I had such a dizzying, wonderful time in Hawaii that getting here was a bit of a shock to the system. Landing in Honolulu with the smell of plumeria and white ginger flowers wafting through the airport is a far cry from landing in Bangkok and being bombarded by the heat, pollution and aggressive taxi drivers.

My time in Hawaii consisted of surfing in Maui and the North Shore, swimming underneath waterfalls and floating the days away in the Pacific Ocean. Staying with my Dad was an extra special bonus before embarking on this trip alone. It was nice to have the comfort of family around knowing that soon enough I would be out on my own, far away from the nest and any familiar territory.

I arrived here early Sunday morning and had opted not to stay at the usual backpacker area on Khao San Road and decided to stay in the district of Din Daeng (which I now use as a bit of a swear word in my head – ‘Din Daeng that’s cheap! Din Daeng! What is that nasty smell?). Turns out Din Deang was dang dull. So I decided to move to the Sukhumvit area, which looks about the same as Din Daeng, just bigger buildings. The same pollution, massage parlours, hair salons, street vendors and thick traffic exists everywhere I go. The smell here is a mixture of exhaust fumes, rotting garbage, street food, hot cement, a touch of eau de sewer and I am sure the dog poo also contributes to this nasty little concoction of acridness..

There are a lot of things I have seen that have made my heart ache: little kids sitting on the sidewalk begging for change, a baby elephant being lead through the busy streets as an attraction for money, a man with no legs dragging himself along the sidewalk, cats making the most horrifying noises and dogs trying to navigate their way through heavy traffic on their roads to nowhere.

 I hate to knock a place entirely though. There are SOME good things about Bangkok. The multiculturalism here is mind boggling. I thought London and New York were melting pots, this place has it all! Walking down the street is a downright cacophony of languages competing with each other over the traffic noise. In fact, the coffee shop I sit in right now has 7 other people here and not ONE of us is the same ethnicity. This, I like. I learned the proper way to say ‘thank you’ in Thai today from my barista and he seemed quite pleased at my efforts to learn. I feel such sympathy for the people trying to make a living here. The average pay/day is about $4, so it is no wonder one gets accosted at every turn to purchase something.

I am now staying at Suk 11, a fancy dancy cozy little guesthouse with a/c and hot water even! I feel good there. Alas, I must venture on! My next stop is Chiang Mai. This is where I will meditate, do some jungle treks and perhaps a home stay with one of the hill tribes. Their is also the hippy town of Pai and Mae Hong Son where I can go zip trekking like Jane through the jungle – oh-a-oh-a-ohhhhhh!

After that, it’s Laos and Vietnam...I will keep you posted...until then, laa kawn!

Hawaii

See photos from Hawaii Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

It hit me on the plane from Vancouver to Hawai’i - I am job-less, car-less, Blackberry-less and....cat-less! When reality sets in, one starts to question what brought them to that reality in the first place? I needed reassurance. At the last minute, I picked up this month’s issue of Surfer Magazine before boarding the plane to Hawaii. I read the following wise words that have resonated with me ever since. This quote encompasses the very reason why I am embarking on this little adventure.

‘Aloha is the breath of life, the energy of life. I think we all have X amount given to us, and the only question is: how did you expend it? Surfer terms are so applicable: did you drop in to be seen or did you sit deep and take your wave? The tube of life and the tube of the wave, same thing: it’s risky. And yet, for the guy who gets there and experiences it, it’s the highest. ‘

- Kahu Billy Mitchell

Like most visitors to Hawai’i, I assumed ‘aloha’ just meant ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’ and ‘welcome’...so, I was surprised to learn that there is much more to it than that; it is a way of life, a part of the Hawaiian people’s lifestyle and culture; a religion, even. Someone told me that in ancient times, Hawaiians used to greet each other by touching each other’s foreheads and breathing into one another’s mouths to symbolize and remember the importance of breath and that they are all connected, living aloha. This means extending warmth and kindness to others without return for us to exist in harmony. When explorers arrived from other countries and did not greet Hawaiians with this intimate ‘handshake’, they were deemed ‘haole’. The term, Haole, (pronounced ‘howly’) translated means ‘ha’, as in ‘breath’ and 'ole' meaning 'without’. Tourists to Hawai’i who do not respect the meaning of ‘aloha’, can expect to receive this title, which can also mean ‘dead’, ‘soulless’ and ‘unwelcome’.

Since my announcement that I would be quitting my very comfortable and secure job and leaving my life in Vancouver to pursue an adventure on the other side of the world, I have barely had a moment to stop and think about how exciting all this is and how lucky I am to be able to do this.....let alone, just breath.

On February 19th, the day I left Vancouver, I went to pick up my malaria pills and observed the people around me going to work, shopping, minding their business and perhaps just having an ordinary day. For a moment, I panicked. Maybe I too wanted this to be just another ordinary day - no plane to catch, no important documents to scan, no visas to apply for or itinerary to plan...no stress. But then I reminded myself, isn’t that exactly WHY I wanted to leave in the first place? Do I not have the rest of my life to be ‘normal’, ‘comfortable’ and ‘secure’? Every day was starting to feel like the same day. I was Bill Murray in Groundhog Day...playing a much less exciting character..a B movie release. I was getting a little too comfortable with rolling out of bed, putting on my slippers and going to work...in my living room. All day I sat in front of my laptop, eating and drinking coffee. All night, I sat in front of my laptop, eating and drinking tea. All the while, my neck, back and wrist were screaming at me to make a change already! I was always finding excuses not to attend a yoga class or a social event because I was too busy with my ‘Tracey To Do List’. I am/was always SO pre-occupied....my mind always reeling. I don’t remember being this way pre-Vancouver. Is it because my passion for photography had grown exponentially after moving to a city where I barely knew another living soul? Did I occupy myself at all times so I didn’t have to feel how alone I really was? One thing is for certain, I don’t remember the last time I was bored or wondered what I could do to keep myself busy.

Photography is one of those passions that you just want to keep learning about. The more you shoot, the more questions you have about the ever changing technology, lighting, lenses, editing software and on and on. Not only that, but if one wants to make a career out of being a photographer, one must also market themselves, which is what I hope I will now have time to do.A reoccurring issue that has come up in the last year or so is the fact that I don’t really breathe. My shiatsu practitioner said that I hold my breath, even when I speak. My massage therapist started working on my diaphragm because she felt it was tighter than normal. I even had a psychic tell me that the root of all my health problems could be rectified, if I would just ‘breathe’. I discounted all of this of course. How could I not be breathing? Is this not an automatic process for everyone? And, if in fact I didn’t breathe, would I be here to write about it? Finally, I started reading about how women are naturally shallow breathers which may correlate with having heart attacks early in life. SO, I started to go to yoga on a regular basis to FORCE myself to breathe as I had caught myself on several occasions sitting at my desk, a zombie, barely moving oxygen in or out.

There is a theory that people who don’t breathe are trying to cut off the emotions they feel in their gut so that they don’'t have to deal with them in their head. Sometimes emotions are hard to deal with and if there is a way to not have to feel the bad ones, then by all means, why wouldn’t one try to cut them off? That seems like a good short term plan but then where do these emotions go if they are not felt or dealt with and what are the consequences? I don’t plan to find out.

So this brings me back to ‘aloha’. The past 2 plus years of my life, I have been literally feeling like a bit of a ‘haole', if you will...coming up short on breath and connecting with nature and community. I'm ready to start breathing, riding that tube of life and living ‘aloha’!

'With an attitude of Aloha we can gain from the wisdom of the wind and the wisdom of the water and the wisdom of the soil and the wisdom of the trees and learn from the truths and revelations presented by the non-human community.'

- Curby Rule