Hello from Seoul

So far so good.  Last leg of the flight coming up putting it at 24 hours since I've been awake and another 4 1/2 hours before I see a bed.  It was a fabulous flight over. Met some friends in the Vancouver lounge, no screen punchers, seat kicker and no seat in my lap during the flight.  And there was a clear view of some northern scenery so I tried out the new camera.  Have to hit the tarmac again but here's what I've seen so far...

The plan

Travel OCD has kicked in. I've checked the travel folder no less than four times today to make sure my passport is in there.  I'm also rechecking flights and times.  One part of this adventure involves a one week bike ride from Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap home of the Angkor temples.

This is what the plan looks like.  And take note of the back to back 90 km days.  I don't expect to have the energy to type those days.

Tour organized by www.spiceroads.com

Day 1 - We meet at Northern Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City. We spend the day unboxing and testing bikes and give you some time to explore the city. In the evening we dine at the enchanting Temple Club Restaurant.


Day 2 - Ho Chi Minh City – Tra Vinh
After breakfast transfer a couple of hours out of Ho Chi Minh to Cai Be - the gateway to the Mekong Delta. Today’s ride will lead you right into the heart of rural Mekong, as you pedal down narrow roads and lanes, past banana plantations and fields of sugarcane. A section of biking takes us off road onto gravel and dirt lanes, weaving through hamlets, across rivers and through quite thick vegetation, this makes for superb biking. A final ferry crossing takes to Tra Vinh a pretty tree-lined town with many ethnic Khmers.
Ride 45 km.

Day 3 – Tra Vinh – Can Tho
The route today is peaceful and the road is scenic all the way to our destination of Can Tho. There is plenty to see along the way from contrasting architectural styles of Khmer homes and temples to the rich and colourful river scenes when crossing many small bridges. Ride 92 km.

Day 4 – Can Tho – Chau Doc
Visit Cai Rang Floating market before transferring approximately one hour to the start of the ride. Once more the scenery is completely different. From Tri Ton the cycling starts to gently undulate (I read this as hills and lots of them) and mountains begin to loom as you ride closer and closer to Chau Doc. The presence of Thot Not trees indicates the growing proximity to Cambodia and the local people speak Vietnamese as their second language. We cycle to the Killing Fields of Vietnam at Ba Chuc, where Pol Pot’s regime massacred over 3,000 Vietnamese in 1978 (I guess we have the Vietnamese tour guide not the Cambodian one). We then loop around Ba Chuc along the border and ride the rest of the way to Chau Doc along incredible country roads. Those with energy to spare can climb Sam Mountain for sunset! (hahahaha!)
Chau Po Hotel. Ride 90 km.

Day 5 – Chau Doc – Phnom Penh
Cruise up the Mekong River to Phnom Penh from our overnight stopping place Chau Doc. We get a chance to rest our legs as we see many scenes of local daily life along side one Asia’s great rivers. As we head into Cambodia we stop at the capital Phnom Penh before heading north to cycle among 1000 years of Khmer history.

Day 6 – Ride to Oudong
Today we start by taking the back roads out of the modern capital of Cambodia – Phnom Penh for about 45 km to the town Oudong where we branch off towards Phnom Prah Reach or Oudong Mountain, once the capital of Cambodia. The 400-plus steps to the top will get the legs working overtime (or at least the legs of the person carrying me), but the view is worth it! This ride gives us a chance to see rural Cambodia - stilted houses, rice paddies, ox carts, waving children and of course the friendly Khmer people. After the ride we head back to Phnom Penh and lunch. The rest of the day is free to explore this fascinating city.
Almond Hotel. Ride 45 km.

Day 7 – Phnom Penh – Siem Reap
We start the day with a transfer to near Kampong Thom and the ancient temple site of Sambor Prey Kuk. We saddle up and ride between the temples by bicycle. This temple site was constructed in the 7th century and functioned as the capital of the Chenla Empire. It is one of the oldest temple sites in Cambodia and is mainly covered in vegetation. After our guide assisted tour through the temples we enjoy a local picnic lunch prepared by the local community in small wooden huts along the Stung Sen River and are able to absorb the local sights and sounds. After lunch we have a beautiful ride through rice paddy fields and small villages with many locals greeting you warmly. It is then a 2 hour transfer to Siem Reap.
Steung Siem Reap Hotel. Ride 36 km.

Day 8 – Angkor temples
This morning we start our bike ride to the entrance of Angkor Wat and head to Ta Prohm, famous from the film Tomb Raider, and deliberately left by French conservationists in the same condition as it was discovered; overgrown by strangler fig and silk-cotton trees, giving the temple a mystical and romantic appeal. We continue to Angkor Thom, Bayon temple and the Terrace of the Elephants. We enjoy lunch at the Angkor Café before we explore the biggest religious Hindu edifice in the world - Angkor Wat. Considered the masterpiece of Khmer architecture, this Vishnuite temple is the King’s funerary temple, which is why the temple is orientated to the West. Inside the temple the walls are covered by carvings and bas-reliefs depicting Hindu mythology and the wars Suryavarman II fought during his reign. After our visit to these magnificent temples we cycle back the 7 km to Siem Reap.
Steung Siem Reap Hotel. Ride 30 km.

I am super excited about this but I won't lie to you I'm a little worried.  There will be pain.
I'm pretty sure of it.

Revival

It has been 4 years since my last post, my last extended trip. Four YEARS. Wow. In between I've had a few adventures; Belize, Philippines (x3), Brazil, Finland and a few new North American destinations. Generally these trips have been two weeks or less, long enough to see some sights but short enough to leave the computer at home and relax. But I'm headed out again on a longer venture, this time to explore South East Asia in a combination work and recreation trip through Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. So I fired up the blog, refreshed the look, and am ready to report on the daily events from the road.  Part of the motivation is to keep family and friends posted on the adventure, but an unexpected result of my China experience was the daily log of life in another country that I turned into a travel keepsake book using Blurb.  It is great reminder of the challenges and joys of adapting to a new culture.  So stay tuned for a new Asian adventure...

Some sights from the last four years.

Philippines

Philippines - Mindinao

Sao Paulo

Weekend before Carnival

Pracitice for Carnival - Sao Paulo

Belize - Glover's Atoll

Entrance to ATM cave - Belize

Butterfly Farm - Belize



Helsinki - Finland

up the wall

Once the Yangtze journey came to an end, it seemed like all I could think about was conquering the wall and heading home. Usually I dread the end of a trip but this time it couldn't come fast enough. It is too bad because Beijing has a lot of neat things to offer besides the wall. Of course all neat things lose their shine when you have FOOD POISONING!! Yes, after all the care I had taken up to this point, the salad bar on the boat took me down. Or at least I'm blaming the salad bar. And yes I know I shouldn't have eaten fresh veggies but it looked so good and so healthy. It didn't hit until the second night in Beijing so I got one good day in. So knowing that little tidbit, here's how the progression of events took place.

The night we landed we skipped dinner and headed straight for the hotel. Skipping dinner usually means we'll either get money back or in this case, a deal that secured us a Peking Duck meal for our second last night - an expensive Beijing's specialty.

Our first stop was Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Forbidden City, or Imperial Palace, was home to several emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emperor's wife and the concubines.

The Forbidden City was packed with very pushy tourists. At this point in the trip I had seen a number of ornate buildings painted in a similar way so although the site is incredible, I was now just going through the sightseeing motions.

After several hours of being knocked around by people, I was grumpy, tired and not interested in being anywhere else that hoards of tourists would also be. Which of course brings us to our next stop, the Summer Palace.

Summer Palace was the vacation spot from the Imperial Palace - the emperor's cottage. And to my horror - more pushy tourists. We walked along the Long Corridor - yes that's really it's name - until we decided to break from the crowd to go for higher ground. The guide, who didn't like a strenuous walk, tried everything to convince us that there was nothing to see; that we would miss the Marble Boat if we went this way, that it would take too long, but in the end finally followed us up the hill. After I convinced her that we had all the time in the world, she decided to be a good sport and show us some of the sights away from the mob. Finally we could stop and take a picture without being elbowed out of the way. We proceeded to have a very pleasant walk through the Summer Palace to the Marble Boat.

Our last event of the day was an acrobatics show which was incredible although I chose not to take pictures and just enjoyed the show.

On the way to dinner, I started feeling queasy. I thought I was just dehydrated since I would avoid liquids throughout the day in fear of actually having to use a public toilet. As we sat down to our Peking Duck, I realized this was more than a little queasy, this was full blown 'need to hold my lunch down' nausea. While I was concentrating on not getting sick, I look over Peter's shoulder just in time to catch a man blowing his nose onto the floor. That is correct. ON THE FLOOR of a restaurant - no Kleenex, just ... well you get the picture. Done. Gotta go. I headed outside shortly after that to get some fresh air. Side note: Beijing has done a remarkable job of cleaning up the air for the Olympics.

We took off back to the hotel where I proceeded to fight nausea and stomach cramps for the next few hours. I finally started to fall asleep thinking the worst was over until at about 6:00 am. I found out that all the descriptions of food poisoning symptoms we heard in Food Micro class were not exaggerations. I will not go into further detail because nobody needs that kind of information. I COULD NOT believe this was happening. This was the Great Wall day. The only thing I was looking forward to in Beijing and I was in danger of not making it out of the hotel bathroom. So I did what any desperate traveller would do - loaded up on drugs, ate nothing, and hoped for a miracle. Well it worked. The drugs were my miracle.



The wall was amazing and much steeper than Peter and I imagined it to be.

There are other flatter parts but according to our guide, most foreigners want this part because they want to conquer the hill. I made it about 2/3 of the way to the top before I ran out of energy and the will to conquer. Peter went to the top of course and snapped these shots.

I was just happy I didn't have to stay in the hotel room. We skipped the Ming Tombs that afternoon for a full recovery period.

The next day was departure day - otherwise known as the 31 hours before I see a bed again. We had some time in the morning to head down to Old Beijing to see the hutongs or walled courtyard alleys that once populated most of Nanjing. Currently, many are being torn down to "clean-up" before the Olympics.



One million people have been moved or displaced to make sure everything is pretty for the Olympics. The picture below is the new ParaOlympic Villiage under construction where the hutongs once stood. I'm glad we wandered down there for a last look at these historical buildings.




Our departing shot was taken inside the front doors of the spectacular new airport built - yes, for the Olympics. It is a stunning piece of architecture.

I think Beijing is going to surprise the world. They are putting a gargantuan effort into putting on a show. I hope they do well because they already feel as if the world is against them. Maybe we could show them that we want to be friends and not enemies. And as friends maybe we can help them through some of their issues if we can. I, for one, wouldn't want to be enemies with them. They will be a super power one day and when that day comes, I would like to say "ni hao" with the confidence that we are on friendly terms.

Last comment: I still have lots of neat pictures so as I go through, I will post them. Check back if you are interested and thanks for following along. Knowing that I had people reading actually made me pay closer attention to content, pictures and my daily events. It was fun. Zai jian!

Up the Yangtze

Other than Tibet (which of course didn't happen), the three day cruise up the Yangtze was the second big highlight on our itinerary. We were a little apprehensive about a cruise since neither of us thought we would like being confined to a boat for three days. We also weren't sure if we would like all of the group activities and timed meals. As it turned out, we had a great time. The scenery from the boat was mesmerizing. We sat for hours on the balcony (beer in hand) watching the cliffs and ships go by (perhaps not on this particular day because of the fog/smog).





I had in my mind that this Yangtze trip would be the last time the Three Gorges would be in their natural state before the largest hydro project in the world, the Three Gorges Dam, closed its gates to change it forever. In actual fact, the river was already transformed by a 250ft rise from its original level. There is still another 60 feet to go, for a total of 175 meters (approx. 525ft).




The river was no less stunning and might even be prettier because the water wasn't as stirred up with mud. But the river has changed the lives of 1.5-2 million people who were displaced by the flooding, mostly farmers and fishermen. The exact number depends on which source you believe. Many of the farmers have either moved to higher ground or moved to the cities along the river. There are many pros and cons to this project but when you see the pollution caused by the number of factories along the river, there is no question that they need a better alternative to coal.






The Three Gorge Project, once completed, will supply 22,500 megawatts of power. In comparison, the largest MB hydro station is about 1,300 MW.


We stopped to see a few cultural highlights along the way including Fengdu or Ghost City.







You see a lot of temples in China but never ones for the afterlife. It had a whole new look to it (black) and focused on what happened to bad spirits such as these ones:









Good incentive to behave I would say. Ouch.


We also visited an area known for their "hanging coffins". The ancient people would somehow find a way to bury their ancestors in the crevices of sheer cliffs hundreds of feet from either the top of the cliff or from the river. Some of the coffins were removed due to the rising water, but some coffins still exist.

(look for the little wooden coffin and sticks to hold it up)












And for the final stage of the trip we passed through the locks of the grand project - the dam itself. It takes 3 1/2 hours to pass through 4 of the 5 locks. The 5th lock will be in use once the project has been completed. They pass through the locks at night, since it takes so long. It is a bit freaky to be locked into a concrete cell with five other boats and dropped 20meters, with a wall of water above you.




We went to sleep after the first lock probably due to the high co2 levels in the lock from all of the boats churning out exhaust.




The next morning we had a look around the dam. Once again, it is hard to see because of the smog but you can tell it is pretty big. I really don't know how people get blue sky pictures for the dam (as seen in many of their promotional material). It seemed to me that we were always in a "haze".









It is 2.3 km long and 40 metres wide at the top. I hope they got a good price on concrete because 27.2 million cubic metres of concrete was used. Pretty amazing piece of human effort. China can do some amazing things.

Last stop...Beijing and the Great Wall.

Yangshou and beyond

In my spare time I've been trying to edit 3.5 GB of pictures. That's a LOT of pictures. Digital photography is a blessing and a curse. It doesn't cost a thing to get the perfect shot except the time to go through everything afterwards. But it is a good way to re-live the trip too.


Alright then...back to the journey. Yangshou was one of the best parts of the trip. I've already posted that highlight. To get to Yangshou we took a four hour boat ride up the Li River. Just like our rice terrace day, it rained for a least three of the four hours. Fortunately it was intermittent so we were able to get a few pictures. The Li river is home to a famous landmark featured on the back of their $20 bill. I can't remember the exact name of the spot. They have names for everything, "Lion Roaring, Monkey Jumping Over Donkey, Apple Mountain (which actually is one of the names). It usually takes an active imagination to see the figure the mountain is named for. But the name for this particular spot was blocked out by the frantic cries of our guide, Hu, as I prepared to take the picture. He was a little overbearing and while I was waiting for the perfect shot to come into focus all I could hear was "take picture now, take it, you will miss it and we can't go back. Take picture now." BACK OFF HU! I got the shot finally and quickly retreated to the lower deck to escape yet another Hu story.




Yangshou was like a Chinese Banff. Beautiful town, small, easy to get around and set up for tourists. You could actually read the menu in most restaurants. This was a bit unfortunate since the menu often contained dog meat. I was assured by Hu that it wasn't "in season" so it wouldn't end up on my plate. Blech.


This is the front of our hotel. It is too bad we didn't stay more than one night. Who knew we would like it so much?





After Yangshou and Guilin, we flew to Chongqing, pronounced Chong-ching which has to be the most Chinese sounding name I've ever heard for a city. And what a city! The actual city center is about 4 million but Chongqing is a municipality of 31 million on 20 million acres. That's like putting all of Canada into Nova Scotia and maybe a bit of New Brunswick. It is one of the major manufacturing centers of China so when something says "made in China", chances are this was where it was made. Before it became it's own municipality it was part of the Sichuan province which means...spicy food. Chongqing is also the starting point for the Three Gorges tour. Before we got on the boat though, our very sweet little tour guide took us to dinner and gave us a tour of the city. We told her we liked spicy food so she ordered up a traditional Sichuan dinner. Talk about knocking your taste buds into another world. One dish had these little peppercorns that she called "dancing peppers". There was no real botanical translation into English so I really have no idea what they actually are. They made your tongue tingle and then go numb. I guess it was supposed to feel like the peppers were dancing in your mouth. If that was the case then these little guys were doing a hip-hop routine in mine. Pain and pleasure all rolled into one little dish. (and yes that is oil, lots and lots of oil. Most Chinese dishes are bathed in it. The meal looks a bit unappetizing but it tasted great -not the oil but the spices.)



After we sweated through our meal, we had a little tour. What a neat city. Polluted, but really nice. The best part of Chongqing was the People's Square nestled in between the People's Grand Hall and the Three Gorges Dam Museum. The square was packed with people of all ages - dancing, practicing Tai Chi, Kung Fu, and just generally hanging out. I've never seen anything like it. People just dancing away without a care if they were doing the right thing or had any rhythm at all. They would form these big line dancing areas - different ones for different types of music. What a great way to spend an evening.







After our brief tour we settled into our cabin on the boat and watch Chongqing's lights sparkle through the haze. China has a way of lighting up their cities that makes you forget how dirty they can look during the day. China must have been the birth place of rope lighting.





Next stop...the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River.

there IS no place like home

Wow does it feel good to be back home. First off the bed is WAY softer than anything China had to offer. They believe that sleeping on planks is good for your health. I think they are justifying their lack of access to pillow top mattresses.

I am so happy to be breathing pollution free air. It is astounding how much better I feel. We now have a theory that people in China are so sleepy because they lack oxygen. Seriously, some people can fall asleep anywhere - case in point.

Now that I have reliable Internet, I can post a bit more info on our journey around the incredibly diverse world of China. I won't put it all into one post because it is far too much to read and write in one sitting. So I'll start with Guilin. We flew to Guilin from Xi'an. I could post at least 20 more pictures of Terra-Cotta Warriors but I'll spare you. Instead we have a whole book at the house for any unsuspecting guests.

Guilin is an incredible part of China. It has only recently picked up on tourism primarily because of the weird landscape and rice terraces. Guilin and surrounding area was once an ocean bed according to our guide. This is what formed the huge outcroppings called karsts.

I already shared the rice terrace day, and like the warriors I have at least 20 more pictures that look fairly similar to the one posted already.

What I haven't shown yet is the cormorant fishing.

In the Guilin area, local fishermen raise cormorants from an egg to be working birds. They train the cormorants to fish, or rather, the cormorants already know how to fish but they train the birds to give up their catch. The fishermen tie a rope around the birds' necks preventing the bird from swallowing the fish. The weird things is, the birds aren't tied to the boat. They stay there on their own free will. When the birds have a number of fish in their pouch, the fisherman dips the pole in the water, the birds climb on and the fisherman proceeds to strangle, I mean extract, the fish from the bird. This is what it looks like live:

I think it is all a bit barbaric, especially when they hold the bird up by the throat. But you have to admit it is pretty ingenious. When you have mouths to feed, I guess this is an efficient way to do it.

(don't just stand there - fly away while you can...)

The other common site around Guilin was rice fields with water buffalo and those cool Chinese hats that you think only tourists buy. They really wear those hats. Who knew?

So again, way too many pictures of water buffalo including one where I got out in front of the herd. Peter questioned my sanity. So did I when I saw one hunch it's shoulders in a really angry way. I could see him/her eyeing me up. Then I found out kids play with them so it was all good.

Guilin and area is commonly found in many Chinese paintings so I bought a couple. Next stop is Yangshou and the trip down the Li River.

Off to bed now. Jet lag is still messing with me. I'm not tired but I know I should sleep. And we've been working like crazy since we got home on the renos. They are still going - heading into month 5 of the chaos. But at least it is Canadian chaos. So happy to be home.