Posts Tagged ‘Asia’

Fish Market Sashimi

The influence of Japanese food on American cuisine is huge – and we were excited to experience the real deal while we were in Tokyo.  We weren’t disappointed!  The food was definitely reminiscent of the things we’d find in the States, but much more emphasis was placed on the non-sushi items available.  Of course, sushi was to be had:

Chirashi Sushi

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While in Singapore we had one Friday night where we wanted to go out on the town.  Being the big partiers that we are, we decided that a bar is just not party-hard enough for us!  We instead opted for an ingenious venue found on a very touristy street: the Game Cafe!

Games!!!

The thing that drew us in was a special – all you can drink sugary drinks, and all you can eat chips, and all you can game, all night, for a very reasonable price!  We were sold!  Little did we know that we’d find classics in this game shop.  One of our favorites while we lived in California was the “Bean Game”, also known as Bohnanza, and we happened to find it there!  Of course, it was just the two of us so the game wasn’t up to its normal form.  We also found Quoridor, a game I had in high school, and tried out a bunch of new games as well.

The real entertainment of the night, however, was a giant group of 15 or so people who were playing a very loud group game – and would spontaneously burst out laughing.  Kept the mood lifted!  We had a blast — game nights are something you just don’t get so often while you’re travelling.

Bánh xèo in Saigon

I had decided, before we arrived, that the main purpose of my trip to Vietnam would be to sample as much local food as humanly possible, and to learn to cook some of it!  Even though our trip was a whirlwind, I am confident that I succeeded in my goal.   (more…)

Leaving Cambodia

So after we finished seeing temples in Cambodia, we didn’t want to deal with another border like the last one we dealt with.  So we flew to Vietnam, the land of delicious food and a really long coastline!  In fact, it was so long that we spent about half our time travelling!

We ended up not being so happy about this, but c’est la vie.  We used a number of different modes of transportation – trains, planes AND automobiles!  Our favorite was the train, where we took a first class sleeper car from Da Nang to Hanoi.  There were four people in the cabin and nice comfy beds to sleep in, along with air conditioning (though the weather was pretty mild anyway).  We’ve found that trains gently rock you to sleep whereas planes and cars don’t have nearly the same relaxing feel to them.

Our least favorite mode of transportation was the bus.  We took two overnight buses in Vietnam, and one was definitely better than the other but they are both suboptimal when it comes to rest quality.

Sleeper Bus Vietnam Style

At first it seems really cool!  Everyone (almost) gets their own bed, separated from the others, and there’s a bathroom on board.  But the truth comes a little later when the reality of Vietnamese roads sets in – the driver is going crazily fast, causing you to float out of your bed on occasion, and he doesn’t hesitate to use his really loud horn (at all hours of the night) to warn other drivers of the speeding bullet hurtling down the road at completely unsafe speeds.

Then you find that your second overnight bus has no bathroom and that you are shoved into a communal platform-bed with 4 other travellers in the back of the bus where it’s even more bumpy.  At that point you become convinced that the train is worth the extra cost!

The plane was pretty much as expected.  It was convenient, reasonably comfortable, and most importantly it was fast!  The only downside is that airports tend to be really far from the downtown areas of town.  But if you have the cash, this is the way to go!

In between all of our temple watching we had a chance to explore the town of Siem Reap.  We were extremely lucky because the town had suffered from some serious flooding the week before we arrived.  It was bad enough that a couple of people died and there were still sand bags and lots of water about when we got there.

Flooded street - right outside our hostel!

The city and our hostel (Rosy Guest House) were drying out and recovering from all of the water.  It didn’t affect us too much though and we considered ourselves really lucky to have decent weather for temple viewing.

Siem Reap is a pretty touristy place.  There are lots of good restaurants (a good thing), but lots of people hassling you to buy stuff (and they are PUSHY here).    Honestly, it got pretty tiring constantly being shouted at to buy things.

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The second day we hired a different tuk-tuk (our first driver was a bit pushy and upsold us a little too much) and went to the famous Ta Phromh which is a temple that’s been left in its semi-ruined state.  Trees are growing literally out of the walls!  It is pretty cool and very atmospheric (and part of Tomb Raider was filmed here).

I've seen sand castles but not sand temples before

Crumbling Temple

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Once we arrived in Siem Reap, we quickly found out that there was more to that area than just Angkor Wat.  Angkor Wat itself happens to be the world’s largest religious building, but immediately adjacent (i.e. 5 minutes drive by tuk-tuk) is the humongous 9 square kilometer Angkor Thom which was an entire walled city.  Within it is Bayon, the state temple, and numerous other ruins inside.  Other temples can be found all over the area.  Indeed it would be difficult to see all the sights in this area in one trip if only because you’d get so bored of seeing temple after temple!

We made a plan that served us pretty well as far as getting to see a lot without paying too much.  The first day we hired a tuk-tuk driver and an English-speaking guide to take us around several of the sights, point out what we might miss, and explain the history and geography of the temples in the area.  That day we went to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and another smaller temple, Banteay Srey, which was quite a distance out of the way.

The Entrance to Angkor Thom

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Stop.. So We Can Rob You

The title says it all.  For what it’s worth, the land route from Bangkok to Siem Reap (the home of Angkor Wat and other cambodian temple complexes) is one of the most unabashedly corrupt places on earth (as far as we’ve seen.) It is so corrupt that an entire web site (it took Hazel and I about 2 hours to read the whole thing) has come into existence with the sole goal of guiding helpless travellers through the gauntlet they will experience taking this trip.

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Our plan, once we took the bus and catamaran back to Bangkok, was to fly up to Hanoi and begin our exploration of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.  But a number of factors made us change our plans.  First, I got sick right when we arrived, and we agreed that we shouldn’t leave the city till I got better.  Nothing like having a case of food poisoning on a cramped plane!

The other thing was the typhoon looming over Vietnam.  It had just hit the Phillippines, causing widespread damage, and was predicted to make landfall just east of Hanoi.  We thought long and hard – should we cancel our flight?  Knowing the airlines, it would be a big hassle, and we’d end up a lot poorer and without any set plans.  Eventually we decided that yes, we don’t really want to fly into a hurricane, so we called Orbitz and asked to cancel.

Much to our delight, the carrier we’d booked with (Qatar Airways) allows cancellation for no fee!  That’s right, we got off scot free, paying only the Orbitz booking fee in the end.  This allowed us to give me a nice recovery break.  Eventually, we decided to take the land route over to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we’d get to see one of the amazing sights in South East Asia – Angkor Wat!  Another bonus came from delaying our trip to Vietnam: I got to experience my first coffee to go served in a plastic bag.  Interesting.

Brew In A Bag

Of course it’s hard work to get certified in anything!  Well, that’s what we told ourselves before embarking for a few days’ R&R on the other side of Koh Tao.  On the east coast there are several bays which have far less development than fancy Sairee Beach.  We chose one called Tanote Bay, renowned for its snorkeling and relatively low-key atmosphere.  We scored a bungalow on the beach (!) for only $12 per night.  Since we purchased our own masks and snorkels, this was all we needed to have a relaxing snorkeling rest.

Our Beach Bungalow

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