Jianshui is cute Days 19-21 of our southeast Asia odyssey

Lonely Planet China says that whatever amount of time you've planned to spend in Yunnan province, double it. We thought we were giving ourselves lots of days, but we still should have doubled them, if nothing else because of the schlepping and bus journeys and whatnot involved in getting from Kunming to outlying places. Although we barely made a dent in all there is to see and do in Yunnan, at least we got a glimpse to whet our appetite for future China travels.

On Thursday we took the bus a couple of hours south of Kunming to Jianshui, a little town with cute streets, old architecture, cobblestones, a huge Confucian temple (my boy Confucius! I've learned a bit about him during this Asia stint), a cool city gate with a tea house on the second floor, and loads of street side barbecue, including grilled tofu and goat cheese everywhere.  Let me just say right now that I adore the goat cheese and would double my time in Yunnan for the sole purpose of doubling the amount of grilled goat cheese I could eat.

As usual, we couldn't speak a lick of Mandarin despite our gallant efforts and phrasebook. The tones are just beyond me but I am determined to master these tonal Chinese languages, I'm telling you. Anyway, despite our lack of skill we procured a lovely hotel room (with a bathroom door, thank you very much), and all I wanted to do was sit in our cute courtyard and drink tea and other refreshing beverages, but we had walking around to do, so we did some of that, too.

The Confucian temple and the Zhu family garden were the highlights of the sights, both of which had lots of wandering around with buildings and water upon which to gaze, in their separate ways. As was typical of our China trip, there was rain at some point to plague us, but not all day, thankfully.

All in all, I recommend a jaunt to Jianshui next time you are in Kunming. Message me privately if you would like to be forewarned about the horrible rest stop bathrooms your bus will stop at along the way. 

But I hate spring! Days 17-19 of our southeast Asian odyssey

They call Kunming, China the city of eternal spring.  I'm sure you can all guess what I think about that.  Actually, though, Kunming was OK, if not particularly warm. It's kind of off in the southwest of China, and we headed there after finishing our Habitat project and travels in Cambodia. We stayed at the Kunming Cloudland Hostel, which I would highly recommend for location, common area, food, bar, and so on - but NOT if you are planning to stay in a private double room with someone else (you know - it being a DOUBLE room and all)! Because the private bathroom in said room? Has no door. Just a curtain. No thanks, Cloudland. Here's the thing: I could actually blog on and on about the many varied bathroom facility issues of our China trip but I won't because I am not interested in reading about bathrooms on other people's blogs, and I am going to blog unto others as I would have them blog unto me.

So, Kunming. The city is really under construction right now. It kind of reminded me of Phoenix, only more springlike, and more tall buildings. In Kunming, I really started realizing how when you're riding in a car on a freeway, driving around a random Chinese city, it's much more like being in a random new place in the U.S. than being in a random new place anywhere else in Asia - it's just a big country/spread out thing.  Until you see a written sign, you could so be on a road trip in the U.S. pulling into a new place in a state you've never been, but where the streetlights and overpasses and whatnot are never really that different.

High/lowlights of Kunming included:

*The big park - Green Lake Park. As the name implies, it's green and it has a lake. Lots of strolling, pedestrians, musicians, recreation, activity, little bridges, pavilions, birds, people watching. This was not far from where we stayed, and I'm really glad we checked it out one afternoon.

*The Lonely Planet China Yunnan Province chapter needs some serious updating. We had the hardest time finding recommended restaurants and bars, and it could use more maps, too.

*Interesting travelers pass through there, some of them headed to Tibet. I want to be a traveler headed to Tibet next time I'm in Kunming.

*Walking the market between the two old pagodas was pretty visually cool.

From Kunming, we were hoping to do a bunch of exploring around Yunnan Province, but ended up not doing our first choice (the Yuanyang rice terraces) and so the next day we headed south to the small but architecturally cute Jianshui instead. At least the Cloudland Hostel was cool enough to keep our bags for a couple days so we could hop the bus with just backpacks. Although our two-month Southeast Asia and southern-eastern Asia odyssey is an awesome undertaking, the worst thing about traveling for two months to three countries with extremely different climates (winter vs. tropics) and extremely different work projects (Habitat/construction vs. CELTA course business casual, plus walking shoes AND beach shoes) is that we had to bring a lot of different clothes just to cover all the minimum requirements for dressing in each place. And I'm really sick of dragging around my beloved big orange heavy bag.

Angkorage Days 15-16 of our Southeast Asia Odyssey

After our fine feathered Habitat friends flew away to their various homes and/or next destinations (mostly Thailand, and a few Korea layovers), Brian and I still had time in Siem Reap. There was an official group visit to Angkor Wat and a few other temples on Saturday, and then on Sunday and Monday, Brian and I rented bikes for two glorious days of riding around seeing even more Angkor stuff. I LOVED THIS.

Granted, I like bicycling anyway, but Angkor is perfect for it! It's just a few minutes from where we were staying in Siem Reap, and the roads are flat, and paved. It's too much to see multiple temples walking, so without a tour bus, guide, or paying for an all-day tuk-tuk, biking is the way to go! Tattoo this on your brain now, just in case you ever end up in Cambodia: if you go to Siem Reap, bike Angkor!

Even though we were incredibly sad to leave Siem Reap and Cambodia, we were happy to have had such a glorious time there and to thoroughly enjoy our Angkor days -- and, I might add, to get some wonderful exercise amid all the food we ate during our two weeks + in Cambodia.

Maybe one day I will even post some pictures...

Habitat Awesomeness in Siem Reap Days 8-14 of our Southeast Asian Odyssey

What an amazing Habitat for Humanity project! Brian and I joined a team led by Carla and Surayyah, two fantastic Global Village trip leaders who did a lot to facilitate a great trip, group bonding, hard work, flexibility, interesting cultural experiences...it was all kinds of fabulous.

Our 20 or so fellow team members made up one of the greatest Habitat groups or any hard-working team I've ever joined! The volunteers were "the usual" in some ways for a Habitat trip, as I have started to notice certain recurring character types on my Habitat builds: the thirtysomething professional single woman, the married/partnered couple with previous building experience back home, the bubbly one who is friendly to everyone, the single Canadian guy, the middle aged or slightly older hilarious man with interesting world experiences, etc. On my previous Habitat trips, I have been part of 12-member teams, but this group was bigger (22, I think?), so there was definitely variety. Everyone really worked and played well together. 

Our local Siem Reap Habitat affiliate people were great, too. The rep who worked with us was helpful and on the ball, and the two translators were nice and fun and friendly. As I mentioned, we were split into two basic groups, wood house and brick house, for the week, but we were walking distance from the other work site in the village. At the end of the week we also had a chance to visit the temple and the school in the village, and we pitched in together and bought a swingset to donate to the school. That was a highlight of the trip. The kids are just awesome. Seriously, like every Cambodian kid we encountered was awesome.

That includes, by the way, the kids for whom you feel pity and on whose behalf you feel anger: the ones who are hawking books, postcards, scarves, and whatever else can be sold on the streets, beaches, temple entrance steps, etc. It's one thing to feel sorry for them and buy something because they are charming, but working on the streets keeps them out of school and while it may seem like a necessary quick fix (i.e., they have no money/food) it is actually worse for the long run if they don't get educated (i.e., child sex trafficking is the all-too-common fate in Cambodia). So, don't buy from the kids in Cambodia, even when they count to ten for you in ten different languages or surprise you with their wit.

There are a bazillion NGO people helping out there, and we had up close encounters with two: the Land Mine Museum, and Green Star restaurant. We dined one night as a team at Green Star, where the profits go to an organization that helps get the kids off the streets, addresses the abuse in their family situations, and employs said people at a living wage, as well as assisting with training and education. The Australian man who runs the place talked to us about it before our delicious dinner. (By the way, dinner in Cambodia was always delicious. I absolutely loved eating there.) The museum had a U.S. man, of similar age (baby boomer) and manner as the Aussie, who got intrigued, came to Cambodia , and isn't leaving any time soon. This guy was from California (in fact, his cell phone played the USC fight song for its ring tone! Fight on! and kudos to Brian for hearing it first before we had even entered the place), ex-military, now working with an amazing ex-military-ex-child-soldier Cambodian man whose life work is now de-mining the country, including some mines he himself was forced to help place back in the Khmer Rouge day. This museum also helps educate kids, and provides an orphange-home for some, plus education.

Well, those are some of the basics about our experience. I will try to get some pictures of the village and houses posted here right away!

Building in Siem Reap The Southeast Asia Odyssey Continues

I apologize for not blogging often during this week as we build in Cambodia with Habitat for Humanity on our Global Village trip. I want to again thank the wonderful friends and family who donated to Habitat to help make our trip possible. I have not been online much at all this week, but here is the basic situation: Our team of volunteers is divided into two groups. My group works on a house made of wood, so there is lots of sawing, hammering, nailing, and painting, much of it done while precariously perched on makeshift scaffolding. Brian's team works on the brick house, a five or so minute walk away through the village. We all meet together at "our" house for lunch. The team leaders are great and do creative things to help us get to know one another. It is surprisingly not that hot while we are working, and our hotel is rather nice. Because the cost of living is so cheap in Cambodia, and because there are many many many hotels for the on-the-rise tourism industry in Siem Reap, we are able to stay at a good place, a bit more comfortable (and bigger) than my accommodations on previous Habitat builds. There are massively cute children at our worksite who are all smiles, like many people in Cambodia. All in all, it is shaping up to be a great experience.

New Year in Siem Reap Day 8 of our Southeast Asia odyssey

Happy New Year! Do you know where Siem Reap's biggest party is? Well, I do now. It is on Pub Street, in a restaurant/market/nightlife area just across the cutest little river bridge ever from our hotel, and boy did we do it up to ring in 2012. Brian and I saw a little bit of the street party set-up while we ate lunch earlier on Saturday, and then after our first dinner with fellow Habitat for Humanity build team members, a few of us headed out to celebrate New Year's Eve with the masses. The entire city of Siem Reap must have been there, plus foreigners galore. There were crowds, dancing, packed streets, pubs, balconies, beer for $1, kegs, random flashback tunes, shots of something pink to drink, dancing to Khmer songs in an electric slide-like group movement, fireworks above the river, lit up bridges, lanterns in the water, illegal fireworks shot from the crowd, smoke, more tunes, more beer, all kinds of good stuff, and it was all just lively and fun.

January 1 was a great day. I approve of 2012!  Our Habitat for Humanity team is a great group of 21 people (I think) plus our leaders and the local affiliate employee and volunteers. I am so excited about this project and about everything I have been learning about Cambodia, its history, its people, the Khmer culture, the language, the history and historical influences...it's all so wonderful. I think I should have regular enough wi-fi this week to keep you updated as our build progresses.

I love new years and starting new projects and new good things!

A Fond Farewell to 2011 Days 4.5 - 7 of our Southeast Asia Odyssey

And now here we are in Siem Reap, ready to kick off 2012 with our Habitat for Humanity Global Village Build. I love New Year's Eve. I like resolutions, festivity, out-with-the-old-in-with-the-newness, and party hats. I'm less fond of amateur hour in the bars, but I actually do like crowds and pubs and street parties and the like. From the looks of things, the market/restaurant area just across the little bridge from our hotel here in Siem Reap is getting ready for one big shindig tonight. I will definitely be shindigging!

A recap of the second half of this week:

Day 4.5: Wednesday night in Sihanoukville post-baguette, we mostly relaxed our sunburned tired selves. It was wine Wednesday in our Beach Road Hotel bar, and we enjoyed our glasses on one of the wicker/cushioned couches near the bookshelves, from which I plucked Heart of Darkness and finally read it. (Totally a Book You Should Have Read in College that I never did.) I finished it the next day and can't say I entirely understand it.

Day 5:  The last full day in Sihanoukville...sigh. I enjoyed breakfast and iced coffee on the second floor of the restaurant in a hanging cushioned/wicker swinging chair that overlooks the Beach Road activity. The day consisted of sun, the refreshing hotel swimming pool, good eats, and of course a sizable chunk of beach time. Have I mentioned that the beach in Sihanoukville is lined with restaurants and bars and you can either sit under the roofed part of them or in beach chairs on the sand where they will bring you menus, food, and drinks? It's really quite fantastic. As were the barbecued prawns we ate there on Thursday. In the evening we relaxed, had some more food and drink (falafel at a Middle Eastern place on cushions, rum/pineapple mixers while we packed) and then saw live music, a band of three middle-aged guys playing all sorts of classic rock. I am fascinated by these Sihanoukville long-termers, I tell you. Fascinated.

Day 6: Friday the 30th, we returned to Sihanoukville and we had air conditioning for the first third of the bus ride. Yes, that means we did NOT have air conditioning for several hours, including the crawling-through-traffic-on-the-approach-to Pnomh Penh part. But that's OK because they left the bus front door open for air flow as we sped down the highway. (For the record, I think that was the right choice.)  It was fun to come back to Phnom Penh - I like that city! - and back to our same guesthouse from last weekend.  In the afternoon we visited the Tuol Sleng museum, which is a building that was used as a prison and torture chamber for 20,000 people during the evil Khmer Rouge reign. It was simple, sparse, and haunting. The evil people who ran the place took photos of every incoming person they subsequently tortured and slaughtered, so the museum displays just row after row of mug-shot-like photos. You just walk up and down these rooms staring into the eyes whose fate you unfortunately know. There were seven prisoners who survived Tuol Sleng (seven! out of 20,000+!) and the paintings of one of them are displayed, depicting torture that happened there. It's all pretty grisly, and important.

After that we had another delicious, cheap dinner and a drink at the Foreign Correspondents Club, or the FCC as they say in Phnom Penh. Have I mentioned the lizards? I am overly fond of the lizards on the walls of these airy tropical courtyard restaurants (mostly because they eat bugs, but also because lizards are fun). The FCC, our guesthouse, and a ton of other eateries and watering holes are along the riverfront, and it was a lively gathering spot on Friday evening. We enjoyed our stroll past soccer-like games, break dancing, other group dancing, and the like. Later on we met up with another member of our Habitat for Humanity team who was also in Phnom Penh on Friday.

Day 7: The boat to Siem Reap is a marvelous thing. I mean marvelous in that there-are-no-U.S.-tort-lawyers-in-sight way. A bit cramped inside with no sign of emergency exit procedures (or even emergency exits), the boat was a little stuffy. But were we sealed in? Oh no! As the high-speed -- keep that in mind, that's an important detail -- boat travels from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap in five or so hours, passengers are free to stroll outside on the foot-wide ledge and clamber up on top of the long, tube-like speeding vessel. Railing? Seats? No, no, don't be silly. Just twenty or thirty travelers splayed on top, sprayed by waves if you lean too far over, and not inhibited by anything so mundane as safety precautions. It was a great way to breathe fresh air and watch the country pass by. And, you get to wave and be waved at with all the people in fishing boats along the way. A bit of a wild ride, but communal, convenient, and kind of awesome. Brian took a video so we can share our peril fun with you.

And then we were in Siem Reap. Such a different feel from Phnom Penh but already charming with its small river, our incredibly friendly hotel staff, and a slew of restaurants all packed together and clearly getting ready for the big New Year's wingding hullabaloo this evening. And now I will also go get ready for said whoop-te-do. Off I go, then.

Let's make those resolutions. Until 2012, y'all!

Christmas in Cambodia Days 1-4 of our Southeast Asia Odyssey

Brian and I departed Korea on Christmas Day after a year of teaching in Andong. As I have previously mentioned, the time flew and we can't believe it's over, or that we aren't exactly sure where we'll be working next year (although it is likely to be teaching English in Asia again). Unfortunately, my laptop has been having some persnickety issue in connecting to certain wi-fi networks, namely those in our guesthouse and hotel, so I have been unable to blog for my adoring fans before today. I will have to give a brief summary. Just to set the scene, Brian and I are sitting on the second floor of a French restaurant on the Beach Road in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, enjoying free wi-fi and about to enjoy some fromage, salade, pain, and so forth.


Day 1: Incheon-Hong Kong?-Bangkok-Phnom Penh...Christmas mostly consisted of flying. We didn't realize until we were at the gate in Seoul that we were going to be stopping in Hong Kong. We did have to deplane there, but despite the free internet I was unable to post an update from there because the browser did not satisfy Google/Blogspot. Then it was on to Bangkok where we walked a LOT around the airport, and then finally to Phnom Penh for a most wondrous evening welcoming us to Cambodia. Lots of people were wearing Santa hats, like in the airport in Thailand and in the bars in Phnom Penh. Good festive times. We stayed in the Waterview Guesthouse on the river in Phnom Penh (including a balcony!), walked around the night market, and sample a few watering holes, including one where Brian could watch a bit of the NBA Christmas day game.

Day 2: After another spell walking around Phnom Penh and sampling its delights, including cheap breakfast and iced coffee and crowds and street crossing (the trick is to saunter, not try to dash through the motos), we headed in a van with other traveling types from various guesthouses to the bus station to catch our bus to Sihanoukville. After a long wait at the bus station ON the bus, and a several hour bus ride, we pulled into this ridiculous tourist beach town, found our hotel, and found the beach. My initial impression of Sihanoukville is one of just being generally startled that it exists. I mean, two months ago I had never even heard of it. I know that some of you have heard of it, but most of you have not. And yet, here I sit gazing out over throngs of travelers from all the Western world, strolling to their hotels, beach bungalows, restaurants (French, Greek, Indian), used bookstores, massage parlors, bars-a-plenty....bars with, like, 75-cent beer, I might add. Cambodia is cheap, including this developed, backpacker-laden tourist beach area. We got in some beach time, some food-in-one-of-the-many-restaurants-on-the-beach time, some hotel bar time, and some DJ party-in-a-bar-on-the-beach time on that first night.

Day 3: Tuesday I got to sleep in with no alarm for the first time in ages, and after several nights in a row of few hours of sleep, thanks to leaving Korea, packing, final noraebang night, etc. Tuesday was relaxing. We sat on the beach for a long time. That is, after all, the main event here. We sat on beach chairs, ordered lunch, read, splashed, sunned, and watched scores of other travelers do the same, comfortably, with chairs and beach umbrellas and open patio establishments stretching in both directions. Night consisted of the fabulous Beach Road Hotel bar again, then dinner at a wonderful guesthouse bar called Monkey Republic across the street, where we had delicious burgers. Mine was of the vegetarian variety. I have already declared that I am so happy, these past 72 hours, to be back among the vegetarians, and the acknowledgement of vegetarians, after Korea. We ended the night a few doors down at The Big Easy, another guesthouse with bar, this one showing Brian's Arsenal game on the big screen, and several small screens.

Day 4: Wednesday was boat trip day. For $15, you get a boat ride to nearby islands, snorkeling, and breakfast and lunch included. We boarded the small boat with 20 other people - and mind you, this is not your typical ferry, but rather a long fishing-type boat that looks like this, very Cambodian/Vietnamese, and wooden. And small. But, nice breeze! - and set "sail" with the outboard motor chugging in my face since I was lucky enough to land in the back row. We stopped for brief snorkeling off one of the islands, where you couldn't see much but I did get to see a bunch of black sea urchins nestling on the rocks, and one of our boatmates stepped on one, getting a spiky part embedded in his foot - ouch! We spent the midday on the main island where there are some "services" (bungalows, a kind-of bathroom, and a kind of bar, at which Brian could order what I think was a green coconut to drink - for real, a straw in the top), and where our crew cooked our delicious lunch while we lay around on the beach chairs reading and relaxing, occasionally getting up to swim or snorkel. On the way back to Sihanoukville we stopped off of the third island for some more subpar snorkeling (but yes, with sea urchins).  Now we are back in Sihanoukville, where we just ate wonderful baguettes and fromage, thanks to those awesome French for colonizing the place.

I wonder if anyone who doesn't get my sense of sarcasm is reading this? At any rate, today on the island I finished the book I started reading on the plane to Phnom Penh, First They Killed My Father  by Loung Ung, which details the horrible things she and millions of others experienced under the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979. I highly recommend it to any of you who are grappling with the concept of Linda in Cambodia, trying to work out what is this place and what happened here and why have we been so scared of it since the 1970s - it's an interesting look at a history that has been pretty much ignored in the U.S., as far as I can tell.


Sihanokville trips me out by its very existence. Also, I feel like I could be anywhere. There's nothing paticularly Cambodian about it, other than that it's here. It's one of those places that would make Julia Sugarbaker say she wants to see "the real Cambodia," with Suzanne replying that she was perfectly content to stay on Serendipity Beach. Part of me is looking forward to going back to Phonm Penh and then on to Siem Reap so I can remember what country I am in. But there is a small part of me excited to lie on the beach and do nothing again tomorrow.