We awoke to a bus to be an hour late. This was no problem as we simply read our books until its arrival. Upon boarding we were immediately asked to fill in some paper work. After the paper work was filled, we were asked to relinquish our passports to a shady man in a hat. When asked why, he simply said "Heh heh heh heh, do not worry." And then we were off. Driving through Vietnam was mostly just slightly urbanized areas and mopeds and was unremarkable. The bus was moving around 45 km an hour on average because of the mopeds. It took 4 hours to get to the border. The shady man in the hat had since then disappeared. Another man entered the bus and retrieved the passports of a few passengers who had yet to relinquish them, and ushered us into a small room that was the Vietnamese border. Here we stood in a hot mass of people idly standing as the border guards worked behind the desks. No one moved through on their own. All 100ish people in the room had no passports and were just hoping that the people they relinquished their passports too would soon direct them. After 30 minutes, we saw our first ray of hope. Names are called by bus and the entire bus is called at once. Another 15 minute wait saw us walking past the guards with our passports thankfully in our hands. We then made our way to the bus again to be driven to the Cambodia side. Here things were different. Passports and visas in hand, we simply walked up to the passport control like in an airport, took fingerprints on a digital scanner, and made our way through no problem. And back on the bus we climbed.
The Cambodia side was all rice paddies and bulls.
After about an hour we stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant with nothing nearby. Here we learned the exchange rate of 1 dollar to 4000 riel. Basically they use US dollars in Cambodia, and people use the riel as change. ATM's give you US dollars exclusively however. At the lunch place we had some fried noodles and I had an incredibly over sweetened coffee with condensed milk. The stop was about 30 minutes long, allowing the busmen to transfer what turned out to be about 10 huge bags from the back of the bus. Somewhere along the ride we learned they were bags with about 500-1000 pink Lacoste polos. These bags were taken, along with our stuff, onto another bus, where we soon boarded. From then on, the bus ride was all rice paddies and bulls. There were also some houses on stilts. And at one point the bus rode on a ferry to cross a river. Eventually, about 6 hours later, we arrived at Phenom Penh. Here we dismounted the bus, bought some water and nuts, and hopped on a bus bound for Siem Riep. Phenom Penh itself was very nice and large, but we didn't see much of it before we were off to Siem Riep.
This bus ride was different. The bus was more comfortable, but people brought food on the bus. By food I mean garlic fried chicken feet and durians. Which means the smell was terrible. The sun also quickly set and there were no street lights. So for 5 hours our bus traveled on pitch black, mostly paved roads. It was a pretty scary ride in general. We did stop once, but only got off to stretch our legs. Finally, however, we arrived at Siem Riep. It was a cute little town, dimly lit and with no buildings over 3 stories. It was a ghost town. There was no one on the street at all. This was very unnerving. It was only 12 but everything, even bars, were closed for the night. There were no cars or mopeds, and only 1 or 2 pedestrians on the 10 minute walk to our hostel. We later found out it was Cambodian New Years, which is why no one was in site. Our Hostel looked nice. It was big on the inside. The front desk was disorganized however, and stuffed us in a room for the night, to deal with us tomorrow. We filled a 6 person room, where the other people were out still. This did not bode well, but we were very tired and immediately showered and went to bed. Here I came face to face with my first bed bug. I killed it in a burst of red blood, no doubt belonging to the last sleeper, and quickly checked the bed for more. I then put on my swimsuit and spare shirt and slept above the sheets.
We were awoken that night by 2 drunk Australian men and 2 drunk american girls being exceptionally loud and turning the lights on. Then in the morning, we were woken by an alarm, twice. The owner of the alarm did not wake. He missed his flight the next morning, and announced this by yelling and storming out of the room while leaving the lights on. 2 hours later me and Shreyas awoke and went downstairs. Here we payed and booked a tuk-tuk to take us around Angkor. First we got breakfast, which was the best American breakfast I have had in Asia. We learned that the food here is 2-5 USD, making it the most expensive country so far.
After breakfast we got our 40 USD to pay for 2 day passes to Angkor.
From this point on I will describe our 2 full days in Angkor because they are the same.
For two days we crawled in the hottest sun we have experienced. It was incredibly dry and dusty and left us with head aches and dry sun. We did in 2 days what other travellers do in twice as long. We saw, crawled all over, ascended, analyzed, gazed at, and surmounted in all about 10 temples I believe. These were all huge and old and all unique. For convenience sake I will put them in 3 categories: there were flat ones that included a temple with trees growing in the walls everywhere, and one with doors that got progressively smaller so you had to duck your head before the king's ashes, there were temples that were built tall and like the wats in bangkok, these included Angkor Wat and our favorite Bayo, which were fun to crawl around and see all the intricate carvings everywhere, and finally there were the ones of almost all hematite, which were build tall but had no shade and were really hot but lots of fun to explore because no one else was there. Angkor Wat wasn't even our favorite. It was too overrun by tourists. It had the best preserved carvings, but our favorites were the untouched ones that you could simply crawl all over and explore to your hearts content. There will be pictures on facebook sometime, but it will take too long to explain all the temples in detail. Just know they are beautiful and large and old. 2 of them are almost all a rusty stone that I assume has Hematite, and the others were a mix of that and sandstone. They were all impressive in their own ways.
We ate lunch once, and had ginger beef, one of the few actual cambodian dishes. It was shaved ginger and beef fried over rice. It was good.
Besides that we had lots of water and 2 coconuts for a dollar.
There were lots of venders here, especially children. They all spoke in the same comic way we soon imitated and conversed back to them. They were nice and talked to us.
Both days we did this for about 8-10 hours until sun-down when they kick you out. After we went to the Hostel and Shreyas napped while I rehydrated. Then we would go down in time for happy hour and have food. We had both nights beef lak lak - ginger beef without the ginger apparently, and then a delicious burger with homemade patties. We also enjoyed Anchor on draught for 50 cents each, they were quite refreshing and a decent cheap lager. Other beers we tried in these days were Angkor (very different from Anchor) which was like a lesser version of Tiger, Black Panther which was an 8% extra stout that was pretty unexceptionally like Guinness extra stout, Cambodia which was another cheap lager and my least favorite of the light lagers, and finally a random beer no one local or foreign had heard of that came in a camo-can, it was supposed to be a full flavored wheat beer, but tasted like a cheap lager with some wheat dryness.
Both nights we were awoken by the same people. We soon came to realize that the Hostel was pretty much just for muscled Australian men and American woman who would stay at the pool and bar all night then sleep during the day and not go see Angkor at all.
I was not bit by a bed bug while I was there.
On the last day, we had a half day. Thus we used it to go see the National Museum. Which turned out to be one of my favorite Museums ever, because all it did was teach me about Hinduism, which is comically interesting. They had statues of Hindu gods from the temples, and some of the Buddhist ones too and simply explained them in detail. We spent 3 or so hours there, then made our way back and got a tuk-tuk to the airport. The airport was really nice and small. Here we tried some palm wine at the duty free store. It tasted like slightly rotting plums and dried out our tongues and throats for hours. The bathrooms at the airport were cleaner than any in Singapore. There were 4 "gates", which were just waiting areas, because when a plane arrived you just walked outside and up some stairs into the plane. On the plane we met a really nice guy living in Singapore for about the same times as us, though he will be here for 2 years. We talked to him all 4 hours until we got home.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Gabe's Post - Vietnam
A week ago and some hours ago, I was in Vietnam. Shreyas and I left Singapore around 7 and landed in Vietnam around 9 local time. After a 20 minute visa obtaining process using our already pre-applied for visa-on-arrival information, we gained entry into Vietnam. The very first thing we noticed was a balcony of eerily gazing people watching the arrivals intently. We, however, ignored this and made way to exchange our money. The exchange rate there was about 10% better then anything we could get in Singapore, and we also got set up with a taxi into town. This was good, because I have never been more momentarily confused in my life. We exited the airport lobby and came face to face with a mob of hundreds of teenage girls with cameras yelling giddily with excitement and expectation upon the exit of every person. There were security guards lazily eyeing us and also making a path through the mob for us. After some question we learned a famous Korean singer was disembarking shortly after us. Besides the mob, the night was uneventful. We took the 20 minute taxi ride which dropped us off on one of the main tourist streets at the mouth of a tiny alleyway. About 50 meters in this alleyway sat our hostel, a very clean and nice hostel with a quiet and nice clientele. Here, we decided to sleep and wake up earl, but only after going out and getting a drink. We wound our way all the way through the alley and exited on the other touristy main street that contained all the bars. We were quite hungry and so decided to get some street food. To our surprise, we found a stand that sold 75 cent baguette sandwiches with pate, butter, dried meats, and vegetables. They were absolutely delicious and we had one every day while we were there. We then sat down and had some drinks. We tried 333 and Saigon, some of the local beers (which were inevitably cheap light lagers). After this, we made our way home and slept.
Early in the morning, we awoke to a free breakfast of baguette with the laughing cow cheese and vegetables and some delicious coffee. We then walked outside to a Japanese Festival of sorts and got to try Sapporo on draft for free, which is significantly tastier then in a can and when paid for. We then made the tourist circuit. We saw the Ben Thanh market, which was just an echo of Bangkok's weekend market. The People Committee Hall, which was just a nice looking building. Then, we made it to a very overly nice part of town, with ridiculously expensive cars and everything, and saw the opera house, which was also very big and nice. We then made a left and saw the Cathedral Notre Dame, which was relatively unexciting but nice. There was a wedding occurring so we could not go in. Instead we went into the main Post Office Building, which was converted into a tourist attraction of sorts and had nice architecture and some interesting statues of war relating things outside. Shortly after we made it past the Independence Palace, which was very large and pretty, but also sunny and expensive so we didn't go inside. Instead we opted to go to the War Remnants Museum, which had some nice preserved tanks, helicopters, guns, boats, and planes outside. On the inside, however, was just something similar to our History Day project (aptly titled the Rape of Nanking), and was ghastly images of torture. When lunch closing time was called, we decided not to wait the two hours to return.
We decided it was lunch time. Being quite hungry, me and Shreyas determined that one of the first places we saw looked very good, and it was. To drink, Shreyas was afraid of water and ice so got something canned. I was beign adventurous, so asked the waiter what something I didn't recognize was and was told it is very hard for foreigners to drink....so I ordered it (turned out it was just barley drink with malted barley in it).Shreyas ordered some sort of tuna soupy noodle that was both fishy and very tasty. I accidently ordered a plate of shellfish. As in two handfuls of tiny unshelled mussel like shellfish. It came with 3 large sesame crispy flat breads that I used to scoop the mussels. It was all very delicious and about 4 dollars.
After lunch we walked pretty far from the tourist circuit (we exhausted our touristy things to do). We ended up very thirsty in a place where no one spoke English and decided to walk into a Super Market. It was very large and people took pictures of us drinking free samples of Nescafe super-black, which was an Indonesian style instant coffee (just ground coffee beans in water). Here we got yakult to hopefully stave off horrible stomach illnesses from our accidental lunch of seafood. Shortly thereafter, we made it to one of the larger pagodas on our map and took pictures of it and admired it. It was very pagoda-y. We then decided it was ok to head back, and head back we did, with a brief stop to get 20 cent coffee at a local coffee sit down places. We almost made it home before we found fresh beer. This is beer that is not completely fermented yet and is known locally as Bia Hoi. The beer was delicious and incredibly malty and smooth and enjoyable. We only had one though because we were quite tired. After finally getting to the hostel, Shreyas took a siesta while I read and emailed.
After naps were had, we went out and decided to see the riverside. It was much dirtier then the other side we saw, and very underdeveloped. After some searching there, we decided to head back and ended up on the same touristy street we were before. However, we found a bar with locals and had some 20 cent Bia Hoi of lesser quality then the one before, and talked to locals. My local told me about how the South hated the North and the communist government, and how everything in the North is pretty much just terrible and the cities are evil. He also said the Siam is pretty evil and that all the girls in the area were probably prostitutes. He was lots of fun and we talked for 2 beers. We then got more sandwiches, another beer, and were offered lots of cigarettes and even random drugs pretty openly. After that we were tired so went home and slept.
Our second day was dedicated to the Cu Chi tunnels. Its that tunnel system you saw on the History Channel, where the communist in the South hid just outside Siam. The ride there was pretty long and uneventful. Our tour guide was named Manana and told us about how the new generation is taught in the government schools to hate the French, Japanese, and Americans for the most recent wars, but culturally they are taught that Vietnam has had too many wars and it is best to move on. At the tunnels we saw a Vietnam War Propaganda Film from the Cu Chi tunnel resident side which was interesting. We then saw a series of fox holes and spider holes (holes without tunnels connecting and holes with tunnels). We even got to crawl through a tunnel for 100 meters, which was both interesting and difficult. After seeing the tunnels for a few hours, we got some free steamed manjioca, which the tunnel residents ate when they lacked rice. We then made it back and then walked out for dinner-lunch. We walked away from the touristy section and found a very nice pho restaurant with little English. There we both had everything pho which was delicious. It had the pho beef broth, a ton of flat noodles, bean sprouts and carrots, meat balls, meat strips, meat slices, fish, cow stomach, and something I could not identify. The entire time the restaurant workers and us were watching the movie 127 Hours, the one about the guy who gets his arm caught by a boulder and has to cut it off. We never saw the end tho, instead getting some more of the good Bia Hoi and napping.
After, we walked out again and decided to explore the Japanese fest. There we tried some schwarzbeer, which was just German for Guinness, and some food. We then walked back to the market to see if anything was open. There we had some of the most delicious jackfruit ever, some colorful rice that was both sickly sweet and overly salty. We found no souvenirs so decided to just go back and have one last drink in Vietnam. There I tried some Banana wine, which tasted like watered whiskey with banana flavor in it somewhere. Besides that, all we did was get one last sandwich then sleep in preparation for an early rise to bus to Cambodia.
P.S. Siam alone has 10 million people, who own in total 5 million mopeds. You can not escape the sound of two stroke engines. And the roads don't usually have lights, its just go when you can. This rule applies to pedestrians as well as all the mopeds and the occasional car.
Early in the morning, we awoke to a free breakfast of baguette with the laughing cow cheese and vegetables and some delicious coffee. We then walked outside to a Japanese Festival of sorts and got to try Sapporo on draft for free, which is significantly tastier then in a can and when paid for. We then made the tourist circuit. We saw the Ben Thanh market, which was just an echo of Bangkok's weekend market. The People Committee Hall, which was just a nice looking building. Then, we made it to a very overly nice part of town, with ridiculously expensive cars and everything, and saw the opera house, which was also very big and nice. We then made a left and saw the Cathedral Notre Dame, which was relatively unexciting but nice. There was a wedding occurring so we could not go in. Instead we went into the main Post Office Building, which was converted into a tourist attraction of sorts and had nice architecture and some interesting statues of war relating things outside. Shortly after we made it past the Independence Palace, which was very large and pretty, but also sunny and expensive so we didn't go inside. Instead we opted to go to the War Remnants Museum, which had some nice preserved tanks, helicopters, guns, boats, and planes outside. On the inside, however, was just something similar to our History Day project (aptly titled the Rape of Nanking), and was ghastly images of torture. When lunch closing time was called, we decided not to wait the two hours to return.
We decided it was lunch time. Being quite hungry, me and Shreyas determined that one of the first places we saw looked very good, and it was. To drink, Shreyas was afraid of water and ice so got something canned. I was beign adventurous, so asked the waiter what something I didn't recognize was and was told it is very hard for foreigners to drink....so I ordered it (turned out it was just barley drink with malted barley in it).Shreyas ordered some sort of tuna soupy noodle that was both fishy and very tasty. I accidently ordered a plate of shellfish. As in two handfuls of tiny unshelled mussel like shellfish. It came with 3 large sesame crispy flat breads that I used to scoop the mussels. It was all very delicious and about 4 dollars.
After lunch we walked pretty far from the tourist circuit (we exhausted our touristy things to do). We ended up very thirsty in a place where no one spoke English and decided to walk into a Super Market. It was very large and people took pictures of us drinking free samples of Nescafe super-black, which was an Indonesian style instant coffee (just ground coffee beans in water). Here we got yakult to hopefully stave off horrible stomach illnesses from our accidental lunch of seafood. Shortly thereafter, we made it to one of the larger pagodas on our map and took pictures of it and admired it. It was very pagoda-y. We then decided it was ok to head back, and head back we did, with a brief stop to get 20 cent coffee at a local coffee sit down places. We almost made it home before we found fresh beer. This is beer that is not completely fermented yet and is known locally as Bia Hoi. The beer was delicious and incredibly malty and smooth and enjoyable. We only had one though because we were quite tired. After finally getting to the hostel, Shreyas took a siesta while I read and emailed.
After naps were had, we went out and decided to see the riverside. It was much dirtier then the other side we saw, and very underdeveloped. After some searching there, we decided to head back and ended up on the same touristy street we were before. However, we found a bar with locals and had some 20 cent Bia Hoi of lesser quality then the one before, and talked to locals. My local told me about how the South hated the North and the communist government, and how everything in the North is pretty much just terrible and the cities are evil. He also said the Siam is pretty evil and that all the girls in the area were probably prostitutes. He was lots of fun and we talked for 2 beers. We then got more sandwiches, another beer, and were offered lots of cigarettes and even random drugs pretty openly. After that we were tired so went home and slept.
Our second day was dedicated to the Cu Chi tunnels. Its that tunnel system you saw on the History Channel, where the communist in the South hid just outside Siam. The ride there was pretty long and uneventful. Our tour guide was named Manana and told us about how the new generation is taught in the government schools to hate the French, Japanese, and Americans for the most recent wars, but culturally they are taught that Vietnam has had too many wars and it is best to move on. At the tunnels we saw a Vietnam War Propaganda Film from the Cu Chi tunnel resident side which was interesting. We then saw a series of fox holes and spider holes (holes without tunnels connecting and holes with tunnels). We even got to crawl through a tunnel for 100 meters, which was both interesting and difficult. After seeing the tunnels for a few hours, we got some free steamed manjioca, which the tunnel residents ate when they lacked rice. We then made it back and then walked out for dinner-lunch. We walked away from the touristy section and found a very nice pho restaurant with little English. There we both had everything pho which was delicious. It had the pho beef broth, a ton of flat noodles, bean sprouts and carrots, meat balls, meat strips, meat slices, fish, cow stomach, and something I could not identify. The entire time the restaurant workers and us were watching the movie 127 Hours, the one about the guy who gets his arm caught by a boulder and has to cut it off. We never saw the end tho, instead getting some more of the good Bia Hoi and napping.
After, we walked out again and decided to explore the Japanese fest. There we tried some schwarzbeer, which was just German for Guinness, and some food. We then walked back to the market to see if anything was open. There we had some of the most delicious jackfruit ever, some colorful rice that was both sickly sweet and overly salty. We found no souvenirs so decided to just go back and have one last drink in Vietnam. There I tried some Banana wine, which tasted like watered whiskey with banana flavor in it somewhere. Besides that, all we did was get one last sandwich then sleep in preparation for an early rise to bus to Cambodia.
P.S. Siam alone has 10 million people, who own in total 5 million mopeds. You can not escape the sound of two stroke engines. And the roads don't usually have lights, its just go when you can. This rule applies to pedestrians as well as all the mopeds and the occasional car.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Twenty Countries!
So, I will post more about this past weekend's trip soon, but I thought it was necessary to point out that I've officially been to TWENTY countries!
Here they are:
Here they are:
US (duh)
Mexico
Bahamas
Chile
Brazil
Spain
Ireland
United Kingdom
France
Belgium
Netherlands/Holland
Switzerland
Germany
Italy
Israel
Singapore
Malaysia
Indonesia
Philippines
Thailand
Next to come: Macau, Hong Kong and China! And maybe Turkey if I'm brave enough to leave the airport during my 6 hour layover....
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Beachy Weekend
Sorry for the delay in getting this post up. It's been a busy week with lots of work for both of us. I'm also dealing with a sinus infection, which is fun.
Anyways, the beach weekend...
First I should tell you about Friday night. Shreyas let us know that there was a beer fest on campus at the staff lounge, the bar on campus. Gabe and I headed over and had some fun tasting different beers. I think Gabe enjoyed it a bit more than I did, but it was still fun. Shreyas showed up later and I let them have their fun so I could pack and sleep.
We booked a nice weekend in Bintan, Indonesia. It's just an hour by ferry. We scheduled the first ferry of the day, at 8AM. That meant we had to be there at 7, and the ferry station is an hour away by MRT, so we got up at 5 or so and took the train across the city. I slept the whole ferry ride. Upon arrival, we were filed into a cute little building and got our visas-on-arrival. Then we went to a nice bus and took a short ride to Nirwana Gardens, which is where our hotel was.
The beach was gorgeous. We checked in and changed into our bathing suits before going out to the beach. The water was cool and clear and wonderful.
The weekend was relaxing and we pretty much just walked around and didn't do much. After relaxing for a bit on the sand, we went for lunch, where I had a very seafoody fried rice and Gabe had delicious fried noodles. After walking around a bit more, we went for a couples massage that was included with our trip package... It was the most interesting experience I think I've had in a long time. I learned that every square inch of my body is ticklish and not to have another full-body massage.
Dinner was on the other end of the area (it's sortof like Hilton Head, with different large neighborhoods) - Thai food that was quite tasty. Gabe had a yellow curry that we ended up sharing and then we also had Thai spring rolls. Then we walked around looking for dessert. We stopped in every restaurant... About six. The ones we found ended up being out of stock that night, so I ended up with an ice cream bar from a quick mart, but it was still yummy. The whole afternoon, there was a storm building. By the time we got back, it was starting to drizzle and the lightning was gorgeous.
The next day we had a wonderful, delicious breakfast. Pastries, eggs, beef bacon (still strange), yogurt, breads, cereals, everything. We haven't had "real" American breakfast in a long time. It was amazing sitting there, eating yummy food and watching the storm on the beach. The day was overcast, but we still headed to the beach and explored a bit. For lunch, I had a light chicken soup and then we walked around some more.
In all of our walking around, we came across a "mini zoo" which had birds, snakes, crocodiles, and very cute little deer. It was cool to see them, though it was a true "mini" zoo, with only ten or so cages. All the animals were rescued from illegal breeders and owners, and they seemed to be well taken care of. It was nice.
Our ferry back was the last of the day, so we grabbed dinner - sharing a plate of nachos and a chocolate dessert - and then took the bus back to the ferry. Apparently the ferry plays Tom and Jerry the whole way, which was interesting. The train ride back was uninteresting, and we pretty much fell asleep when we got back.
This week has been busy, but we're planning to go to Manila next weekend. My photos are on facebook.
Goodnight-lah.
Anyways, the beach weekend...
First I should tell you about Friday night. Shreyas let us know that there was a beer fest on campus at the staff lounge, the bar on campus. Gabe and I headed over and had some fun tasting different beers. I think Gabe enjoyed it a bit more than I did, but it was still fun. Shreyas showed up later and I let them have their fun so I could pack and sleep.
We booked a nice weekend in Bintan, Indonesia. It's just an hour by ferry. We scheduled the first ferry of the day, at 8AM. That meant we had to be there at 7, and the ferry station is an hour away by MRT, so we got up at 5 or so and took the train across the city. I slept the whole ferry ride. Upon arrival, we were filed into a cute little building and got our visas-on-arrival. Then we went to a nice bus and took a short ride to Nirwana Gardens, which is where our hotel was.
The beach was gorgeous. We checked in and changed into our bathing suits before going out to the beach. The water was cool and clear and wonderful.
The weekend was relaxing and we pretty much just walked around and didn't do much. After relaxing for a bit on the sand, we went for lunch, where I had a very seafoody fried rice and Gabe had delicious fried noodles. After walking around a bit more, we went for a couples massage that was included with our trip package... It was the most interesting experience I think I've had in a long time. I learned that every square inch of my body is ticklish and not to have another full-body massage.
Dinner was on the other end of the area (it's sortof like Hilton Head, with different large neighborhoods) - Thai food that was quite tasty. Gabe had a yellow curry that we ended up sharing and then we also had Thai spring rolls. Then we walked around looking for dessert. We stopped in every restaurant... About six. The ones we found ended up being out of stock that night, so I ended up with an ice cream bar from a quick mart, but it was still yummy. The whole afternoon, there was a storm building. By the time we got back, it was starting to drizzle and the lightning was gorgeous.
The next day we had a wonderful, delicious breakfast. Pastries, eggs, beef bacon (still strange), yogurt, breads, cereals, everything. We haven't had "real" American breakfast in a long time. It was amazing sitting there, eating yummy food and watching the storm on the beach. The day was overcast, but we still headed to the beach and explored a bit. For lunch, I had a light chicken soup and then we walked around some more.
In all of our walking around, we came across a "mini zoo" which had birds, snakes, crocodiles, and very cute little deer. It was cool to see them, though it was a true "mini" zoo, with only ten or so cages. All the animals were rescued from illegal breeders and owners, and they seemed to be well taken care of. It was nice.
Our ferry back was the last of the day, so we grabbed dinner - sharing a plate of nachos and a chocolate dessert - and then took the bus back to the ferry. Apparently the ferry plays Tom and Jerry the whole way, which was interesting. The train ride back was uninteresting, and we pretty much fell asleep when we got back.
This week has been busy, but we're planning to go to Manila next weekend. My photos are on facebook.
Goodnight-lah.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Gabe's Post - The Fair
There was a fair. And by fair I mean a series of movable stands of mostly food and some games that happened to stop by in our neighborhood recently. By recently I mean last week. It was full of wonders and fun. We had multiple visits there, mostly for dinner, over the 4 days it was up.
Michelle had, on the first day, a chicken kabab (the gyro kind); twas good. I had a Ramley burger, I got the most expensive one, a king special. It was, two burger patties, cut in half, filled with spices (sugar, salt, nutmeggy stuff, chili powder, some more unidentifiable spices). Then, she would crack an egg and make an omelet like apparatus and proceed to encase the two burger patties with a slice of cheese in the omelet. This was then placed on a fluffy toasted hamburger bun and coated in black pepper sauce and mayo. It was large and delicious and an interesting experience.
Michelle also got some cotton candy.
On the second day, we went and Michelle got another kabab. I didn't want any more fair food so I got some fried tapioca cakes, which were green and like sticky rice cakes.
On the third day, we went and Michelle got another kabab. I got a rhoti john; which is exactly what it sounds like (a ramley burger without the burger but twice the size on french bread). After dinner, I bought some fresh Mochi (or I think it was) which we have in the states not uncommonly. Its those gooey red bean filled things that come in the box of six for 1.35 at the Asian store. It was kind of like that but hot, not as gooey and it was filled with crushed peanuts. They were good.
Sorry for the short message, but its been a long week since then.
PS. somewhere in there I also had fried banana's and some sort of tuber.
<3 goodnight-lah
Monday, March 12, 2012
Weekend Recap
This weekend was fun.
Gabe didn't have classes on Friday, so we did laundry and then went to the Singapore Discovery Center, which is basically a science museum. It was a lot of fun and really interesting. There were a lot of school groups there, but it was still nice and big and had a lot of cool exhibits. Before seeing the museum, we went to the attached Imax and saw an awesome show about caves. The "Imax experience" was cool because it felt like you were actually in the caves.
The museum had a hall of optical illusions, an exhibit on the human body with a lot of interactive stuff, virus hall, earthquakes, natural disasters, weather, electricity, math, marine, computers.... It was interesting and Gabe and I had a lot of fun. We might go back if we have time.
So that was Friday. Saturday, we got up and went over to Little India for lunch. We went back to our favorite restaurant and had dosais, then sat at Mustafas and walked around. Shreyas wanted to meet us for dinner, so we walked from Little India to Orchard Road (about three hours). We hadn't walked that way before, so we saw a lot of interesting things. One of the coolest was the School of the Arts, which had Magnet-esque people sitting on the steps outside and was just an incredible building. The building next door was the Cathay - a mall with a whole bunch of art and music. They had a live band when we walked by, and they'll have the Hunger Games on March 22 - a day before the US... Not to mention the fact that we're twelve hours ahead, haha.
Orchard Road was fun. It was super busy, but Gabe and I got to people watch for a while. It was definitely an amalgamation of tourists, locals, and interesting people. We got schwarmas and beer with Shreyas (delicious) and then headed home.
Sunday was a relaxing day of homework in the sun... And I got sunburned, again. I was only outside for 30 minutes, but my entire back is now bright red. Yesterday night it rained heavily, and this morning I went outside and thought it was 'chilly'.... It was only 25 degrees! (Celsius) For those who work in Fahrenheit, that's only 77! That's what we set our air conditioner on. Clearly, I have lost touch with what normal temperatures are/should be...
Anyways, it's off to class for me.
Goodnight-lah.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Three Days in Melacca
Wow. Busy, busy, busy.
So, we got back late Wednesday night and slept in Thursday. We decided to sleep in and just relax for a day before going on our next adventure... This time to Melaka, Malaysia. It's a historic world heritage site, and a "sleepy hollow" of a town (according to their own museums, of which they have hundreds). It's also a name that can be spelled a hundred different ways, and even in the city, we saw it spelled at least five or six ways. (Melaka, Melacca, Melacka, Mellaka, Mallacca, Malaka....)
We got up early Friday morning and headed down to the bus station. We were pretty much on time and had to wait a few minutes for the bus, but then we got on and I promptly fell asleep. According to Gabe, it was nothing but coconut and banana plantations the whole way anyways. Four hours and two customs stops later (Singapore going out and Malaysia coming in), we were in Melaka. We arrived just after noon, and got a little lost in the bus depot. After getting some delicious caramel popcorn, we asked and made it onto a bus headed for Dutch Square and Chinatown. This is the center of the "touristy" part of town, and where our hostel was.
We checked in at our hostel, which had a couple non-Asians chilling in the restaurant part. The guy was nice and gave us our key and showed us to our room, which was across the street and down the block in a special "guesthouse" that had a TV and pool table along with the rooms. Our bed was nice and covered in insect netting. The overhead fan was the only cooling source other than the two windows, and the bed came with no blankets or top sheets.
After dropping off our stuff, we went and got money and walked around a bit. We were quite literally in the middle of everything. We stopped in Dutch Square (the red buildings if you look at the pictures) and got a variety of fried foods - sweet potato, banana, cinnamon bun thing, curry puff and a sweet and spicy bbq something or other. They were all delicious. We then started walking around and saw Little India (one/two blocks) and then saw the Dutch Graveyard, which really should have been called the British Graveyard since there were thirty something British and only five or so Dutch, but, whatevs. Then we saw the Sultan's Palace, which was a museum of the history of Melacka.
Melaka used to be the most prosperous port in Malaysia. The Portuguese started out there, and everything was ducky. Then the Dutch came in and took over, building buildings and running things pretty well. Then the British came, and they kindof messed everything up and turned in into the "sleepy hollow" it calls itself. There must be a hundred museums (no exaggeration) and it seems like a really cute little tourist town.
Anyways, we saw the Sultan's palace, then a fort right next to it, then St. Paul's cathedral, which was next to that, and then we walked down some steps and saw the street of literally 12 museums all lined up next to each other, and then walked over and saw the maritime museum, which was built in a model of a Portuguese galleon ship, and then we saw the little museum next to that and learned about fishies and meteors (no, I don't know why they had astronomy in a maritime museum) and then we walked back along the river to Dutch Square. Once there, we checked out the little vendors there and then saw the Stadthuys, which was a really old Dutch building that now houses a comprehensive history of the area. It was interesting, but we were all museumed-out, so we headed back out in search of something else to do.
All of this took about four hours... And we had seen nearly all of Malaka. The only big thing left to see was the Jonker Walk Night Market. Apparently this was the big market street back when Melaka was a port, but now it sold all the usual Asian street market goods - jewelry, hair accessories, purses, clothing, odds and ends, and delicious street food. We ate things off of sticks for the most part - Taiwan sausages, potato twirls (every night, baby), chicken satay, waffle hot dogs, and some other small stuff. We also had a variety of drinks... Honey lime juice, sea coconut juice, sugar cane juice, herbal tea with honey, yam bubble tea, and fresh fruit juices. Gabe even got the local dessert - a treat called chendol, which is shaved ice, coconut milk, molasses, and salty green grass jelly. I let him enjoy it.
The streets were crowded and there seemed to be a very high percentage of non-Asian tourists. We walked around for a good long while, watched some karaoke on a permanent stage, did some people watching and found a chocolate store (more on that in a minute). The night was warm, but comfortable and we enjoyed it.
We headed back to the hostel and Gabe took a cold shower... There was no hot water in the hostel. Then we went to bed and slept in a tiny bit the next morning. When we got up, we walked down and over to Dutch Square, stopping for breakfast at a place on the river (I should mention the river was all of a one minute walk away, and there were two bridges, each about five minutes in either direction). We had a full Dutch breakfast, which we split. Two eggs, a hashbrown, two chicken hotdogs, a slab of beef bacon, baked beans, and fresh toast. Gabe had delicious coffee and I had some super sweet fresh squeezed orange juice. It was nice on the water and we watched the tour boats pass every 5 minutes or so. There was even a gila monster/monitor/some-giant-lizard-looking-reptile swimming by.
After breakfast, we walked down the river all the way to the sea, and then turned and walked along the coast. It was about an hour walk, but it was interesting. We saw some mudskippers playing and eventually got over towards St. John's Fort. It was built about a mile and a half from the center of town and gave a great view of the town. We walked down the hill and found a little food stall randomly on the side of the road. Gabe got some more chendol (he said it was the best at this particular place) and we enjoyed watching the cars and the animals.
An old guy (he said he was 90... "I fought against the Japanese!") came over and started talking to us while Gabe enjoyed his chendol. Everyone was SUPER nice. Even after Bangkok, the friendliness of the Malaysians was incredible. We were sitting at a bus stop a little bit away from this eatery, watching some chickens (there were random chickens on the side of the road... two of them cocks who kept flapping and mock-fighting with each other), and people would ride by or walk by and say hi and ask where we were from and how we were. It was really cool.
Nearby was the Portuguese Settlement, which was unimpressive mostly because it was residential and empty. We did get to stop and Gabe got some of his fried bananas, from a guy who spoke Portuguese, no less! The man was really nice and gave us directions to more food and a bus stop. We stopped at a 7-11 to get some drinks before catching a bus back to the center of town. (By the way, there are THOUSANDS of 7-11's here in Asia. There were six within a 10 minute walk from our hotel in Bangkok.)
We were dropped off close to Jonker Walk, so we decided to go back to the chocolate shop. They had a "crash course" in chocolatiering (making chocolate).... so we made some chocolate! They took a whole bunch of photos and are supposed to be sending them to me, but they haven't arrived yet. We each made 24 filled chocolates - mine milk and Gabe's dark. The fillings are: orange (delicious), strawberry (delicious), cheesy caramel (undecided, but I think it's cream cheese...) and passion fruit (I'll save those for Gabe's dad... If I can figure it out without having to taste it). It was a lot of fun, and making chocolate is a lot harder than it looks!
We then went back to the hostel for a bit and watched TV. It was so nice to just sit and relax. I haven't seen a real TV that I can control since Christmas. Then it was bedtime since we had to get up early to come back. We arrived in time to catch a bus an hour earlier than ours was scheduled, so we grabbed a quick breakfast at the bus depot and headed home. We got in at about 2 and both took showers and relaxed for a bit. After walking around in the sun for two days in Malacca, I was burned to a crisp...
Uncle Ralph is/will be back in the States, so we went out to dinner with him last night before he left. (Stupid time differences... I'm not sure whether he's back yet or not, but he left this morning our time...) We went to Brewerks and I had a delicious salad and burger, two things I was craving. We also shared a pitcher of beer (not bad) and some nachos (definitely had Singaporean influence...). It was a fun night and really enjoyed both our trip and dinner.
This morning was school, and we both missed the rain, and I learned that it rained EVERY DAY while we were on break... Gabe and I didn't see any while we were traveling.
It was a fun week, but we only have six more weeks of school, then three weeks of exams, two weeks or so of more traveling, and then we may be coming home. Time is flying, and I miss home, but I don't want to miss out on anything here.
Anyways, time for dinner.
Goodnight-lah.
So, we got back late Wednesday night and slept in Thursday. We decided to sleep in and just relax for a day before going on our next adventure... This time to Melaka, Malaysia. It's a historic world heritage site, and a "sleepy hollow" of a town (according to their own museums, of which they have hundreds). It's also a name that can be spelled a hundred different ways, and even in the city, we saw it spelled at least five or six ways. (Melaka, Melacca, Melacka, Mellaka, Mallacca, Malaka....)
We got up early Friday morning and headed down to the bus station. We were pretty much on time and had to wait a few minutes for the bus, but then we got on and I promptly fell asleep. According to Gabe, it was nothing but coconut and banana plantations the whole way anyways. Four hours and two customs stops later (Singapore going out and Malaysia coming in), we were in Melaka. We arrived just after noon, and got a little lost in the bus depot. After getting some delicious caramel popcorn, we asked and made it onto a bus headed for Dutch Square and Chinatown. This is the center of the "touristy" part of town, and where our hostel was.
We checked in at our hostel, which had a couple non-Asians chilling in the restaurant part. The guy was nice and gave us our key and showed us to our room, which was across the street and down the block in a special "guesthouse" that had a TV and pool table along with the rooms. Our bed was nice and covered in insect netting. The overhead fan was the only cooling source other than the two windows, and the bed came with no blankets or top sheets.
After dropping off our stuff, we went and got money and walked around a bit. We were quite literally in the middle of everything. We stopped in Dutch Square (the red buildings if you look at the pictures) and got a variety of fried foods - sweet potato, banana, cinnamon bun thing, curry puff and a sweet and spicy bbq something or other. They were all delicious. We then started walking around and saw Little India (one/two blocks) and then saw the Dutch Graveyard, which really should have been called the British Graveyard since there were thirty something British and only five or so Dutch, but, whatevs. Then we saw the Sultan's Palace, which was a museum of the history of Melacka.
Melaka used to be the most prosperous port in Malaysia. The Portuguese started out there, and everything was ducky. Then the Dutch came in and took over, building buildings and running things pretty well. Then the British came, and they kindof messed everything up and turned in into the "sleepy hollow" it calls itself. There must be a hundred museums (no exaggeration) and it seems like a really cute little tourist town.
Anyways, we saw the Sultan's palace, then a fort right next to it, then St. Paul's cathedral, which was next to that, and then we walked down some steps and saw the street of literally 12 museums all lined up next to each other, and then walked over and saw the maritime museum, which was built in a model of a Portuguese galleon ship, and then we saw the little museum next to that and learned about fishies and meteors (no, I don't know why they had astronomy in a maritime museum) and then we walked back along the river to Dutch Square. Once there, we checked out the little vendors there and then saw the Stadthuys, which was a really old Dutch building that now houses a comprehensive history of the area. It was interesting, but we were all museumed-out, so we headed back out in search of something else to do.
All of this took about four hours... And we had seen nearly all of Malaka. The only big thing left to see was the Jonker Walk Night Market. Apparently this was the big market street back when Melaka was a port, but now it sold all the usual Asian street market goods - jewelry, hair accessories, purses, clothing, odds and ends, and delicious street food. We ate things off of sticks for the most part - Taiwan sausages, potato twirls (every night, baby), chicken satay, waffle hot dogs, and some other small stuff. We also had a variety of drinks... Honey lime juice, sea coconut juice, sugar cane juice, herbal tea with honey, yam bubble tea, and fresh fruit juices. Gabe even got the local dessert - a treat called chendol, which is shaved ice, coconut milk, molasses, and salty green grass jelly. I let him enjoy it.
The streets were crowded and there seemed to be a very high percentage of non-Asian tourists. We walked around for a good long while, watched some karaoke on a permanent stage, did some people watching and found a chocolate store (more on that in a minute). The night was warm, but comfortable and we enjoyed it.
We headed back to the hostel and Gabe took a cold shower... There was no hot water in the hostel. Then we went to bed and slept in a tiny bit the next morning. When we got up, we walked down and over to Dutch Square, stopping for breakfast at a place on the river (I should mention the river was all of a one minute walk away, and there were two bridges, each about five minutes in either direction). We had a full Dutch breakfast, which we split. Two eggs, a hashbrown, two chicken hotdogs, a slab of beef bacon, baked beans, and fresh toast. Gabe had delicious coffee and I had some super sweet fresh squeezed orange juice. It was nice on the water and we watched the tour boats pass every 5 minutes or so. There was even a gila monster/monitor/some-giant-lizard-looking-reptile swimming by.
After breakfast, we walked down the river all the way to the sea, and then turned and walked along the coast. It was about an hour walk, but it was interesting. We saw some mudskippers playing and eventually got over towards St. John's Fort. It was built about a mile and a half from the center of town and gave a great view of the town. We walked down the hill and found a little food stall randomly on the side of the road. Gabe got some more chendol (he said it was the best at this particular place) and we enjoyed watching the cars and the animals.
An old guy (he said he was 90... "I fought against the Japanese!") came over and started talking to us while Gabe enjoyed his chendol. Everyone was SUPER nice. Even after Bangkok, the friendliness of the Malaysians was incredible. We were sitting at a bus stop a little bit away from this eatery, watching some chickens (there were random chickens on the side of the road... two of them cocks who kept flapping and mock-fighting with each other), and people would ride by or walk by and say hi and ask where we were from and how we were. It was really cool.
Nearby was the Portuguese Settlement, which was unimpressive mostly because it was residential and empty. We did get to stop and Gabe got some of his fried bananas, from a guy who spoke Portuguese, no less! The man was really nice and gave us directions to more food and a bus stop. We stopped at a 7-11 to get some drinks before catching a bus back to the center of town. (By the way, there are THOUSANDS of 7-11's here in Asia. There were six within a 10 minute walk from our hotel in Bangkok.)
We were dropped off close to Jonker Walk, so we decided to go back to the chocolate shop. They had a "crash course" in chocolatiering (making chocolate).... so we made some chocolate! They took a whole bunch of photos and are supposed to be sending them to me, but they haven't arrived yet. We each made 24 filled chocolates - mine milk and Gabe's dark. The fillings are: orange (delicious), strawberry (delicious), cheesy caramel (undecided, but I think it's cream cheese...) and passion fruit (I'll save those for Gabe's dad... If I can figure it out without having to taste it). It was a lot of fun, and making chocolate is a lot harder than it looks!
We then went back to the hostel for a bit and watched TV. It was so nice to just sit and relax. I haven't seen a real TV that I can control since Christmas. Then it was bedtime since we had to get up early to come back. We arrived in time to catch a bus an hour earlier than ours was scheduled, so we grabbed a quick breakfast at the bus depot and headed home. We got in at about 2 and both took showers and relaxed for a bit. After walking around in the sun for two days in Malacca, I was burned to a crisp...
Uncle Ralph is/will be back in the States, so we went out to dinner with him last night before he left. (Stupid time differences... I'm not sure whether he's back yet or not, but he left this morning our time...) We went to Brewerks and I had a delicious salad and burger, two things I was craving. We also shared a pitcher of beer (not bad) and some nachos (definitely had Singaporean influence...). It was a fun night and really enjoyed both our trip and dinner.
This morning was school, and we both missed the rain, and I learned that it rained EVERY DAY while we were on break... Gabe and I didn't see any while we were traveling.
It was a fun week, but we only have six more weeks of school, then three weeks of exams, two weeks or so of more traveling, and then we may be coming home. Time is flying, and I miss home, but I don't want to miss out on anything here.
Anyways, time for dinner.
Goodnight-lah.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Gabe's Post - Bangkok, the final day.
Bangkok, well not really. We left Bangkok on a bus and about 100km later we arrive in a small village which seems to survive only to run a floating market. Our tour guide is a long haired thai man who made sure we knew everything that was going to happen and when to everyone in our group at any point in time at every time he could tell us. But that is besides the point. The point is, we arrived at this river and got in one of those long boats with car engines attached to sticks propelling them and shot down a little canal. It was an intense ride, lots of splashing and bumping, but no water actually got on us.
The canal brought us through a few houses, mostly wooden shacks on stilts by the side of the river. Eventually, after about 20 minutes of navigating a few canals, we were brought to what looked like a big floating market. Turns out this was the floating market. It used to used mostly to sell fruit and food, but has since then been converted to sell souvenirs and some of the stuff you find on the streets of Bangkok. We payed 150 baht to ride in a small boat, which took along a canal, across several stalls containing goods. This made bargaining difficult, because if you showed any interest at all, the paddle man took you to the stand and waited there until the transaction was complete, or the shop owner waved him on. I bought a pyramid hat thing for Michelle, and she made a few purchases herself, but mostly we just enjoyed the ride and the shade the stands gave us. The ride was about 25-30 minutes, and brought as back to the walking market right next to the floating market. Here me and Michelle wandered until our pick up time. We made a few more purchases, one of which was some sort of flat dried fruit which has yet to be identified (though it tasted just like dates).
Then our guide whisked us away and we made a stop at a furniture store, which had lots of really cool wood works and some people making more. 20 minutes here, then we made our way back to Bangkok. It was a nice ride, we saw a bunch of temples on the way, a few royal things here and there. We came to a stop in another gem shop, it was a quick stop and soon we were on our way back to the hotel. There we checked out and put our luggage in storage, and made a quick walk on the street. I bought some fried locusts, which tasted like popcorn, a beer, and a red bull (not in that order). Michelle got some more chicken sticks and some orange soda. I then bought some more thai tea and accidentally some chicken livers, thinking it was chicken hearts. Basically we spent the extra 100 baht I had in my wallet (that was all 3 dollars). This took place for about an2 hours, until our airport transfer arrived and we loaded up and started to exit Bangkok. I am told (i fell asleep instantly) the ride was uneventful. The airport was cool and had lots of nice stuff and we even got these free little bracelet things.
Hour flight left 10 minutes late, which turned out to be important because when we landed we missed the last train by 7 minutes and had to take a taxi all the way back. We then immediately showered and fell into a very long sleep, until almost 12.
Goodnight-lah <3
The canal brought us through a few houses, mostly wooden shacks on stilts by the side of the river. Eventually, after about 20 minutes of navigating a few canals, we were brought to what looked like a big floating market. Turns out this was the floating market. It used to used mostly to sell fruit and food, but has since then been converted to sell souvenirs and some of the stuff you find on the streets of Bangkok. We payed 150 baht to ride in a small boat, which took along a canal, across several stalls containing goods. This made bargaining difficult, because if you showed any interest at all, the paddle man took you to the stand and waited there until the transaction was complete, or the shop owner waved him on. I bought a pyramid hat thing for Michelle, and she made a few purchases herself, but mostly we just enjoyed the ride and the shade the stands gave us. The ride was about 25-30 minutes, and brought as back to the walking market right next to the floating market. Here me and Michelle wandered until our pick up time. We made a few more purchases, one of which was some sort of flat dried fruit which has yet to be identified (though it tasted just like dates).
Then our guide whisked us away and we made a stop at a furniture store, which had lots of really cool wood works and some people making more. 20 minutes here, then we made our way back to Bangkok. It was a nice ride, we saw a bunch of temples on the way, a few royal things here and there. We came to a stop in another gem shop, it was a quick stop and soon we were on our way back to the hotel. There we checked out and put our luggage in storage, and made a quick walk on the street. I bought some fried locusts, which tasted like popcorn, a beer, and a red bull (not in that order). Michelle got some more chicken sticks and some orange soda. I then bought some more thai tea and accidentally some chicken livers, thinking it was chicken hearts. Basically we spent the extra 100 baht I had in my wallet (that was all 3 dollars). This took place for about an2 hours, until our airport transfer arrived and we loaded up and started to exit Bangkok. I am told (i fell asleep instantly) the ride was uneventful. The airport was cool and had lots of nice stuff and we even got these free little bracelet things.
Hour flight left 10 minutes late, which turned out to be important because when we landed we missed the last train by 7 minutes and had to take a taxi all the way back. We then immediately showered and fell into a very long sleep, until almost 12.
Goodnight-lah <3
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