Saturday, December 21, 2013

Phnom Penh

Left hotel in Siem Reap at 8am and arrived in Phnom Penh at 3pm - with three stops probably one hour combined. Its not actually that far but the roads are a mix of ok, and 'challenging'. Whilst the countryside was quite interesting perhaps a short flight would have been a better option or even the 6 hour boat ride.

Evening was spent with a short cruise along the Mekong, weather very pleasant with cool breeze (cold to my local guide who tried to convince me i would need a jumper). Not that much to see, as the waterfront is not that developed, but now appears to be an area being transformed, with new luxury hotel going up. After that a very pleasant meal at a restaurant that looks to take kids off the street and train them for jobs in catering.

The following day was the city tour. Very much a tale of two halves, with the morning seeing the splendour of temple, royal palace, silver pagoda and national museum. All well preserved and interesting.

The afternoon was different. Visit to Prison 21 where Khymer Rouge took the educated and high ranking as part of their purge of decadent Cambodia. People stayed there between three and six months whilst they were tortured and their families and friends rounded up. Then taken to the killing fields, not knowing they would end up beaten killed and buried. Another challenging place to visit, in particular given how recently this all took place 1975-1979 and the severity of what went on. 

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Final day in Siem Reap

An hour or so drive took us to the edge of Tonie Sap Laje - Asia's largest freshwater lake. Edge does depend on time of year as the lake reduces to a 1/5 of its size during the dry season, which does make for interesting planning.

Most of the houses you see are on stilts, seemingly suspended in the air but when at its deepest the water comes up to about a meter below - although a couple of years ago, at the same time as Bangkok was heavily underwater, so was a lot of the communities here.

We stopped at a village and walked around briefly. It appears in a way a bit desolate at the "roads" take time to improve once they come out of the water, and rubbish piles up until eventually burnt. That said the locals appear settled and there was actually less begging or hawking compared to other areas of Cambodia and indeed Asia generally.

After lunch, we returned to land and stopped at Banteay Srey. Smaller than most of the other temples, it is one of the earliest and unique in color compared to the others.

Final step in Siem Reap, was a landmine museum. One of the places you have to visit, but wont really enjoy that much given the subject matter. It was fairly understand but harrowing none the less.

Tomorrow is a 6 hour drive through the countryside to Phnom Penh

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Siem Reap

OK so there is a lot to take in here, mostly temples.

Most of the area, excluding Angkor Wat itself, was deserted from 16th century, overgrown by forest and only found again by French explorers in early 20th century. It has, other than areas specifically left overgrown been amazingly uncovered to reveal its former glory.

Ranging from (in broad order seen):

Angkor Thom - last capital of Great Khymer Empire. Large city surrounded by 8m high wall dating back to 12th century.

The Terrace of the Elephants - from which the king used to talk to his people

Ta Prohm - temple largely left as found, with trees/vines living/growing amongst ruins of temples

Preah Khan - a similar aged temple to Ta Prohm which has been uncovered and restored

Neak Pean - set in the middle of an artificial lake, originally only accessed by boat, now by walkway

Angkor Wat - the largest and most impressive and apparently the largest religious site in the world. 

Cambodia

40 minute  flight from Bangkok took me to Siem Reap in Cambodia. On arrival you need to buy a tourist visa. The "system" is clear to anyone who has arrived there in the past but most people, including me, got part of the process wrong. Without much English spoken, you just end up watching someone else try, follow those that are successful and not those being shouted at in Khymer. What you should do (for anyone who might be going there) is:

- queue in first line then
- give that person your passport, form and money and
- ignore the six other people to the right of him - but your passport goes through their hands to
- the guy on the far right who gives it back to you and you then
- walk to the immigration desk where another guy checks your passport and
- then go through an unmanned customs

Not sure if all of the six checkers have different jobs or whether they just all need to be happy that you are an acceptable tourist?

Siem Reap used to be a fairly quiet town, but has grown over last 15 years or so following war as more and more tourists arrive. It is now home to 150 hotels, of differing size/quality but still has a small town feel to it. Here for 3 nights.

ps be warned photos are now surfacing on my google+/picasa site - not much editing has taken place so there may be some (a lot) of duplicates

Bangkok

With only one full day in Bangkok, i was not looking to do much sight-seeing, but just to get over jet lag. I was here a few years ago and went around the main places then.

So i decided to take a boat trip, up the river and around the canals which act as suburbs of Bangkok. 

At the hotel there is a boat launch which takes guests to both a local entertainment area as well as a stop for the overground subway. It also links to a jetty where there are various tourist boats. Normal Thai polite chaos with a variety of different options but its not always obvious whats being offered. I ended up paying c £20 for a two hour trip including a stop at an Orchid Farm - which i expected to be the hard sell part of the trip (all local tours i have been on in far east have included the "shopping experience" normally designed to earn the guide a few bucks in commission). But this time the farm was just that -  a deserted farm as it happened with just a table with a request for small donation.

Otherwise the trip was quite interesting. Three of us, plus driver, in long boat which at times could build up some decent speed. Life jacket optional until local police boat seen when everyone asked to wear. Did include some retail opportunities as local boats joined us. Properties on the banks of the canal were both a combination of run down (looking as though they will shortly be in rather than on canal) and quite expensive looking.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Off East

Ok so off to find some sun before and over Xmas period.

Trip consists of:

- Fly to Bangkok and spend two nights to get over flight and do a bit of (currently unplanned) sightseeing
- Fly to! Cambodia for 6 nights split between Siam Reap and Phnom Penn
- Fly to Phuket via Bangkok for 6 nights relaxing by pool
- One night in Bangkok and then travel back to UK just before New Year

Just arrived, in Bangkok, the trip started the way i think my last three long trips have gone........

Get to Heathrow
Remember witin about 20 mins of getting there that i have forgotten..........headphones to listen to the music that i now store partially on my tablet and the films i had carefully remembered to download before i came
Another pair purchased at Dixons where the cashier politely told me when i explained that i was the type of customer they loved..... one that kept on giving.
They will be added to the store when i getback.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

St Louis

This was a trip away to play bridge. I dont normally write about these trips, but given i am stuck at Charlotte airport for a few hours i thought i would share a few thoughts.

So for the last 10 years or so i have been coming across to the US to play in one of the three annual major championships. Normally the summer but last couple of years in the spring. The locations vary, see later, so it means you see some different cities in states. This year was St Louis.

Given the weather, the fact you are here to play bridge rather than a "normal" tourist and therefore busy most days from 1pm, means i did not see much of the city. It did have the feel of a typical city that a bit down on its luck. Some "highlights"....

- arrived to bright sunshine and 70 degrees
- i had been warned, but the drop to closer to 40 degrees the following day, with a significant wind chill was a bit of a shock
- after the cold, a week later the snow came, 6-9 inches and caused some concern about travel (so far i have flown to Charlotte as planned, no snow but mechanical problem on plane means current  4 hour delay)
- other than the weekend, the bar and restaurants were empty. The city seems to close at 10pm.
- the Arch was impressive. Standing as recognition to the fact that St Louis used to be the gateway to the west, its impressive in design and hopefully i will have some ok photos (its practicaly the only thing in the city to shoot)
- some interesting sculptures in a city squar

Thats about it. It did make me think of other US cities i have visited to play bridge, which i think are  (in no real order):

Washington (x2)
New York
Chicago
Vegas
Memphis
Nashville
Phillidelphia

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Hong Kong

So i returned back to Hong Kong after a few days in Macau. Obviously there is a fair amount of British influence still on the island, unfortunately this was reflected on my trip through cold and wet weather for some of the time. I did check one day and it was warmer at home (a cold belt through Asia taking the temperature from 70s to 50s almost overnight). However it did brighten up and whilst never as hot as in Macau, i did have to take off one of my four layers on a couple of occasions!

I don't know why, perhaps time of year, but Hong Kong appeared less busy than i remember. I did manage to take in more of the sights, or in the case of the Victoria Peak more of the cloud/fog, notable being the Zoological/Botanic gardens as well as Hong Kong park. What is easy in Hong Kong is getting about, the train from the airport is efficient and there is a range of alternatives - tram, ferry, bus, metro as well as being able to walk between most areas.