More Adventures - Argentina 2009

We're Home

Everyone is back: Jeanne in New York, Emily & Les in Memphis, and John & Alan in Phnom Penh. It was a great trip. We're sorting through more than 1000 photos and we'll post a dozen or so this weekend in a new photo album.

Final Day

It's Thursday morning in Luang Prubang - our last day in Southeast Asia. We've not posted to our blog as often as we would have liked, mostly due to lack of time. That's a good thing, I suppose. We've got a lot of travel in front of us - a flight this afternoon to Bangkok with an overnight stay, and then a 6am flight on Friday from Bangkok to Tokyo. We'll post more pictures and thoughts over the next 24 hours. It's been a fantastic trip and we want to document it.
    Luang Prubang is a lovely city, very colorful and quiet. After 4 days I have yet to see a policeman. Laos is a poor, communist country that has seen plenty of conflict, both internally and as a pawn in the battles between superpowers. Yet the people are gentle and sweet, and the smiles are genuine. The pace is slow, and the food is unique and really great. And they make a great beer - Beerlao - which is served in large bottles and consumed in abundant quantity. This is a place where one could settle in and never leave. In fact, we've met several westerners who have done just that.
- posted by Les

Toilets

In Southeast Asia "squat toilets" are the norm. (I won't describe these, just use your imagination). But the restaurants and hotels that cater to tourists have the traditional toilets that we all know. Since the public restrooms in Siem Reap (Angkor) are used by both tourists and locals, the powers in charge thought it necessary to post signs on the proper use of these facilities.

Monks in Luang Prabang

Early every morning the monks leave their quarters and walk, single file, to the wats to pray. Along the way, the local people line the road and offer alms of fruit, rice and bread. These alms are placed into orange bowls carried by the monks. We observed this ritual this morning at around 6:30 am, as a couple hundred monks in bright saffron colored robes came down the street. Most of them - in Luang Prabang at least - are young boys. It is customary for every boy to become a novice monk and spend three months studying in the wat.
    In the afternoon you see these boys walking down the street, sitting at computers in the internet cafes, or wrestling in the grass in front of the wat - still wearing their orange robes and usually carrying a black umbrella. The photo below is a novice monk walking down the street in front of the Apsara Hotel (the white building with balcony on the left), where we are staying.

Stuck Inside of Luang Prabang with Those No Wi-Fi Blues Again

We're in Luang Prabang, Laos, which is amazing. It is considered the most historically preserved city in Southeast Asia, and is rich with Buddhist temples and French colonial architecture from the turn of the century. The landscape is lush; we're at the juncture of two rivers. More about that later. This is the first place we've stayed that doesn't have wi-fi readily available (it's somewhat old fashioned here - in a really good way). So stay tuned for more posts in a day or two. In the meantime, check out some new photos we posted from Siem Reip and the Angkor Temples.

Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

It's 1 am Saturday morning. We've arrived in Siem Reap (still in Cambodia) on Wednesday, all 5 of us intact and healthy. Thursday and Friday were spent touring the temples and the floating villages of the Tonle Sap Lake. Those adventures will have to wait for another post. Although there are plenty of internet connections (it's amazing that a third world country seems to have more Wi-Fi and cell phones than the U.S.), there has been little time to update the blog. We did manage to figure out our new cameras (Jeanne: Nikon Coolpix S1 and Les: Sony DSC-R1) and the new laptop and photo software (Apple iBook G4 with iPhoto). We're now able to efficiently post our photos in the photo albums, so check them out on the right side of the blog. You can click on any photo to make it larger. Stay tuned...

- posted by Les

Holiday in Cambodia

Phnom Penh is a mess. On the other hand, there is an undeniable charm to this gritty, former French colonial town that is the capital of Cambodia. The architecture is crumbling, the streets are full of potholes (the ones that are paved), traffic is a disaster, and the drainage systems backs up and floods the roads whenever it rains. But the residents are stoic and good natured, and it’s obvious they are working hard to rebuild their city, which not that long ago was considered the most beautiful in all of Southeast Asia. There is substantial investment...

Back to Bangkok for a Minute...

One great, noticeable addition to the Bangkok landscape from my last visit has been hip new, well-designed stores, restaurants, hotels, clubs and products. They are starting to dot the Bangkok landscape. Stores with modern furniture, and those with everyday items – housewares, office stuff, clothing accessories, etc.  A lot of it designed by Thai designers.  During our stay, I ran around the city visiting a lot of them -- hot new, fun stores called Propaganda, Q Concept Store and Playground.  The Metropolitan Hotel reminded me of the Mercer in NY.   The Design Center mentioned is part of this growing trend. I loved it.

Another note: the skytrain and subway system are so modern and efficient and help make this crazy city full of traffic, noise, heat and pollution so much easier to get around in, and also so much less oppressive. 
                                                                                                                            - post by Jeanne

New Years Day

    Sunday was the day that we left Thailand for Cambodia. It was also the day that jet lag hit the three of us: alternating waves of intense sleepiness followed by a second wind of energy. We're 12 hours ahead of U.S. central time zone, so the body is very confused.
    After a fantastic lunch at the really groovy Metropolitan Hotel, we checked out of our respective hotels and made our way to the Bangkok airport, bound for Phnom Penh in the Kingdom of Cambodia. John and Alan accompanied us on the 55-minute flight...

Happy New Year!

Bringing in the New Year at the Sheraton in Bangkok.