Day 104 - Wat Pho and Churches

In a country known for its heavy presence of the Buddhist religion and numerous temples sprawling throughout its cities, it was nice to step away from it and see something else – a church! Maco had to go to church today, so we found one along the Chao Phraya river – the beautiful Holy Rosary Church right next to a schoolyard. It makes me wonder how these students and their families came to Christianity. Were they converted amongst all the Buddhists in the city, or was it already their religion to begin with?

We stayed for a short while, before heading along the Chao Phraya river again to Wat Pho. This would be another day spent almost entirely getting from one place to another on the river. The roof of the structure housing the reclining Buddha was being renovated, and with a donation, tourists could write their wishes on a roof tile, which would then be included in the new roof.

Wat Pho is not only a famous temple, but is also known for its massage school. I got a dose of the massage skills on my first visit here with family, but this time around, I went to a massage place just outside of the temple grounds with graduates from the school. It was probably the most painful, but also the best massage I'd ever received. These women really know how to apply pressure on your tense muscles to relax them. I think I was on the brink of tears a couple of moments during the hour long session from the pain. If you could only get one massage while in Bangkok, I'd really recommend getting a Wat Pho massage, as it is the best value – only 250 baht for one hour.

Refreshed and ready to explore some more, we took a tuk-tuk to Khao San Road so that Maco could get a dose of the backpacker scene. Still crowded like the other times I visited, and still full of foreigners, I sought out a Lonely Planet – India guidebook for my future travels. I managed to find a used 2007 version for a very good discount. I was reluctant to purchase it because it's literally bigger than the size of a brick, but thought I would really need it to navigate such a huge country.

The sun set soon after and we quickly headed back to the commuter boats to get a ride back to our hotel, since I didn't know when the boats stopped operating at night each day.

Holy Rosary Church

Plinking Coins into the Alms Bowls at Wat Pho

Grilled Pork

Day 54 - National Museum and Kouang Si Waterfalls

The National Museum/Royal Palace Museum was closed yesterday when I visited because it was during lunch hours, so I headed there early in the morning to catch a visit before heading to one of the famous waterfalls on the outskirts of the city.

The Royal Palace was the main residence of King Sisavang Vong in the early 20th century before being converted to a museum. You could catch a glimpse of the living arrangements of the Royal Family, including the bedrooms of the King and Queen as well as the childrens' rooms. One of the rooms near the front of the palace was painted with various scenes of city life in Luang Prabang, each highlighted at different times of the day by the sunlight shining through the windows. I wish I could provide pictures, but no cameras were allowed inside the Palace.

At the back of the museum grounds was a photo exhibition called "The Floating Buddha" which housed a collection of photographs of novice monks at a retreat learning about the practice of meditation. The retreat was created because meditation was often neglected or less important and they were trying to revive it, or at least teach these monks how to do it. There was a quote used at the introduction to the exhibit of what of the Buddhist teachings:

Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya - nothing whatsoever should be clung to

I could see why such a saying is fundamental to successful meditation, because you really have to let go of everything to clear your mind and transform yourself into another state of consciousness. Is there compassion and connection if you don't cling onto anything though? What about love?

Afterwards, we took a minivan to the Kouang Si waterfalls, about 30 km from town. At the start of the trek up the waterfall was a bear enclosure with bears that were taken from the wild and kept safe from poachers. It's sad to think that we have to capture these animals and create an artificial habitat for them to live in, just to protect them.

The entire waterfall is multi-tiered, and it took a while to get to the top, but along the way, you could stop and take a dip in the cold waters. It was different than other waterfalls that I have seen because the falls were not too high but more like powerful streams, except for the main waterfall at the top. It started to really pour by the time we got to the top and we found ourselves trapped seeking shelter at the restaurant at the top, waiting for the opportunity to trek down when the rain stopped. That opportunity never came and we had to get back to the minivan by a certain time, so we ran down, getting soaked from the pouring rain.

Back at the city center, Agoes left for Thailand, and I decided to stay for a couple more days. I visited the local Red Cross because someone recommended their massages and herbal sauna room. The sauna room was nowhere as hot as the sauna in Vientiene, but was nice nonetheless. I decided near the end of the night to book an Elephant Mahout Training for 2 days and 1 night starting tomorrow. Can't wait to see the elephants tomorrow!

Kouang Si Waterfall

Wat Ho Pha Bang

Photo Exhibit at the National Museum

Wat Ho Pha Bang

Bear Enclosure

Kouang Si Waterfall

Day 7 - Touring Angkor

Woke up around 4am to head to Angkor to see the sunrise across the lake at the Angkor Wat entrance. We thought we were going to be the first ones there but a ton of other people decided to come around the same time to catch the first light of the day. The moment was slightly marred due to the overcast weather, but still an incredible moment to see the reflection of the trees and temples on the waters.

Angkor refers to the political and religious center of the Khmer Empire, which ruled from the 9th to 15th century. The region houses many temples that are considered architectural wonders, and are still standing today. Some of these temples were built following Hinduism (where the main entrance to the temple is on the west side), while others were built following Buddhism (where main entrance is approached from the east), depending on when they were built and what the religion was at the time. Many of these temples are currently being restored, so access to some of the areas is restricted. There are many temples to visit, but it would take a while since each site is so grand, and you have a limited amount of time each day, unless you can tolerate walking in the extreme heat around noon. Tickets to all the temples in Angkor cost $20/day, $40 for 3 days in a week, or $60 for 7 days in a month.

Angkor Wat, which was built and dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, was smaller than I had imagined. I guess seeing as this was the most popular tourist site, I assumed it would be more grand since it is considered to be the world's largest single religious monument. I was thinking it would be similar to the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing, but it is dwarfed in comparison. Nonetheless, it was incredible to see the architecture of the temple and the surrounding grounds. You could only imagine how life was like when the temple and city was actually inhabited during the Khmer Empire.

We moved on to Angkor Thom after touring Angkor Wat. The type of rock used for this structure was different than Angkor Wat. AngWat was mostly built using sandstone while AngThom was built using laterite. It took quite a while to walk through the entire Angkor Thom "city", which housed many different temples, including the most recognizable, the "Bayon." The entire area was nearly 4 square miles. The towers of the "Bayon" are all decorated with faces, consisting of many large pieces of stones. In fact, the entire structure is made of individual stones piled on top of each other and carved different shapes. Each piece of stone fits like a piece of a puzzle. Pretty incredible to think about how long it took to build such a structure.

The last of the temples we visited on this first day around Angkor was Ta Prohm. This temple was under major construction when we visited. The most memorable attribute of this temple were the trees growing through many parts of the temple walls. Giant trees towered over the temple, its roots taking a hold of the pieces of stones used to build the structire.

It was only around 10am by the time we decided we needed to take a break from touring Angkor since the heat was starting to get to us. We did start at 5am, so we got a good 5 hours in. Tomorrow we will tour 2 or 3 additional temples within the region, hopefully catching the sunset.

We went back to the touristy restaurant area to have lunch, and I decided to try the "fish" massage, which really wasn't a massage, but an exfoliating service where the fish ate the dead skin off your feet. The first 2 minutes were spent squirming and giggling because my feet were ticklish, but after that, I got used to it.

The rain came pouring down at night before we had dinner, but it only lasted for about 30 minutes. I heard from many people that the monsoon season rainfall in S.E. Asia produces a lot of rain, but in short periods. Let's hope it doesn't get too wet wherever I go.

Sunrise across the lake at the western entrance to Angkor Wat

Just outside the entrance to Angkor Wat

Inside Angkor Wat

Carvings of Apsaras (celestial dancing girls) line the walls of Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Just outside the Angkor Wat temple were monkeys playing around. The girl pictured above decided to purchase a loaf of bread to feed to them. She fed the alpha male monkey, who then proceeded to snarl angrily at her and scratch at her. She threw the bread in the air in defeat and he ended up hogging the whole loaf!

Entrance to Angkor Thom

The Bayon

The Bayon, and some of the pieces that still need to be restored

The Bayon - Smiling Faces made up of many pieces of carved stone

Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom

A tree growing through Ta Prohm

Restoring Ta Prohm

This little girl was selling bracelets, repeating "3 for one dollar" as we walked towards our taxi. We decided to give here some money for her troubles. It's sad to see so many little kids working like this to help their families. It's ever sadder seeing how many orphans there are.

"Dr. Fish Massage"

Day 5 - HCMC to Bangkok, Thailand

Today was basically a transportation day, getting from Vietnam to Thailand and getting acclimated to the city of Bangkok. The rain started pouring last night and this morning in Vietnam. Looks like we left at the right time!

On the way to the airport, our taxi driver rear-ended a young girl riding a motorcycle. Luckily, there didn't appear to be any damages since he was driving pretty slowly, and she just drove away. It made me wonder if there was any auto insurance in Vietnam, or even health care for the matter? I don't think there are any health and safety code standards since anyone could open up shop at the ground level of their homes (which many people already do). In some of the poorer areas, where there isn't as much tourist traffic, it seems like these shops cater just to the neighbors in the area, who also have their own little shops. It all becomes a sort of barter system between them all, where the money just gets constantly passed around...

The flight to Thailand took about 1.5 hours, and once we arrived at the airport, we went directly to immigration. As a US citizen, we didn't have to apply for a Visa, but just filled out an arrival and departure card. It took us about 1 hour at the airport to try any figure out how to get to our hotel, though, since we were trying to use the rail line.

Thailand has a very clean and new transit system. It kind of reminded me of New York, but with fewer routes. I am excited to come back to this country on my own and just randomly stop wherever to discover new parts of the city. The traffic is HORRIBLE here compared to Vietnam. At least in Vietnam, the traffic moves, albeit at a slow pace. In Thailand, sometimes you are at a stand-still for a long time... There are definitely less motorcycles in Thailand, and many more cars. The pollution isn't as bad since there aren't as much exhaust fumes lingering in the air.

One thing I was worried about was the weather. Since Thailand is even closer to the equator compared to Vietnam, the temperature was higher. But even with higher temperatures, walking the city was a lot more tolerable because it is less humid than Vietnam.

Another thing I worried about were the plethora of scams that I heard about in Thailand. Check out this thread on lonelyplanet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=633590 Hopefully I'm not moronic enough to fall for any of these traps...

We spent the whole day in Bangkok trying to figure out how to take a bus to the border of Cambodia/Thailand, which we will do tomorrow at 8am in the morning. A good thing was that many of the people in Thailand spoke some English, and many of them seem very friendly and eager to help. I also spent the day reading up on Thai culture, customs, and history, which I will highlight in a future post.

We went to the largest market in Bangkok - the Chatuchak Weekend Market, which covers over 35 acres, but many of the booths were closed by the time we got there around 6PM. We were able to try some street food, which was exceptional! One thing that I noticed was that all the dishes you ordered at a food stall or restaurant came in very small portions, but I guess it gives you the opportunity to try many different dishes.

At the end of the night, my mom and I got foot massages for about $6/hr. Quite an incredible deal, and the massage was tough and hurt my body, but that's what makes it good right?

First Meal in Thailand - Garlic Fried Rice with Chicken

Street Food - I didn't try the food in the first picture, although it was something with corn kernals, The second one looked like a taco with sour cream and cheese/carrots, but was actually a crepe-like dessert filled with what tasted like melted marshmellows and coconut (orange substance). I am uncertain what the yellow substance is.

The transit system in Bangkok

Chatuchak Weekend Market

Various juices sold at the Chatuchak Weekend Market