Angkor Wat & Siem Reap

Yesterday morning we arrived in Siem Reap. We were dropped off at the bus depot and got a tuk tuk ride into town. We didn't know where to stay so we asked some travellers that were on the bus with us for a recommendation and they suggested Encore Angkor. We asked to be brought to the same hotel as them but when we got to the main street our tuk tuks went in opposite directions. We had no idea about where we were going but figured he was taking us to one of his friends hotels. Unbelieveable to both of us we actually arrived at the right hotel. The hotel is by far the nicest we have stayed in thus far. It is very peaceful and the hotel staff are very nice.

Once we got checked in we decided to get some breakfast. We started walking down the street but there was nothing we could find. We decided to walk back to the hotel and low and behold there was a restaraunt directly across the street. It had a sign for laundry service above it so it was a little decieving. Jason and I both ordered the omlette and bread with a couple shakes which came out to $4 total.

After breakfast we hired a tuk tuk driver for 2 days to take us on a tour of the Angkor Wat temples. On arrival we finally got our first view of the temple of Angkor Wat. This is the most popular of the temples of Angkor. It is 1/2 wide by 1/2 mile long. We spent a good 2 hours at this temple alone. The enormity and detail of the work done by the ancient Kymer is difficult to describe. After we were done with the Angkor Wat temple we visited at least another 8 temples that all had different and interesting characteristics. Wakling through the ruins and seeing the smiling faces on the sculptures of the Bayan temple was definitely a highlight. We took a break during the middle of the day to get some lunch and take a siesta in some hammocks they had in the restaurant. We finished off the day at a temple at the top of a hill to watch the sunset.

On day two we had to wake up a 4:30am to meet the tuk tuk driver ("Lucky") to get a ride back to Angkor Wat for the sunrise. Unfortunately the clouds blocked most of the sunrise so we were only able to get a couple pictures. We then headed off to Banteay Srei which was about 27km away. This wat ("temple") had some amazing carvings in the sandstone walls that has been preserved for the past 1000 years. We then headed back to the main temple area and hit a few more wats before calling it a day. We headed back to the hotel for some nice R&R in the pool.

Tomorrow we head to Thailand.

Phnom Penh Day 3

Yesterday we had a really busy day in Phnom Penh. I'm running a little behind on the blog so I'll make it quick. Or not.

We started the day going to the Killing Fields. It was really sad. Over 2 million people were murdered in Cambodia between 1975-1979. The Khmer Rouge took over the country, and forced everyone to back into the stoneage. If you didn't follow all the rules you were killed. No working, No smiling, no artistic ways, no education. No public jobs, only peasant manual labor, There were around 10,000 people killed at the killing fields, They were all bludgeoned to death, because bullets cost to much. There was a big Stupa were thay placed all the bones that were found there. Brad and I saw bones still in the dirt as we were walking around.

We then went to S21 were the people were jailed and tortured before they were brought to the killing fields. Again it was really sad. But a part of history that I hope never repeats it's self.

We finished off the day on a brighter note we visted the Royal Palace, It was breathtaking. Very similar to the one in Bangkok but worth the money.

We were taking the night bus to Siem Reap. Which left at midnight. This left us with some freetime. So we got a nice 90 minute Khmer Massage for $15. We have been doing a ton of walking around so our bodies were beat.

Were in Siem Reap now. I'll try to get a blog of today up soon.

Enjoying Phnom Penh!!

Yesterday we took the bus from Vietnam into Cambodia. The trip through customs was smooth and before we knew in we were in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We arrived at about 2 got checked in then straight for lunch. I had a really good Chicken Curry with rice, Brad was craving a taste of home and had a Hamburger.

After lunch we just walked the town checking out all the markets and riverside. This town is a lot nicer than I was expecting. Granted we are staying in the nicer area along the river. While checking out the city, we ended up playing Frisbee with a handful of local kids for at least 30 minutes. It was a lot of fun, the kids were having a great time.

That night we needed to stay up late so we could get adjusted to the time and hopefully insure us a full nights sleep. We went out to a few of the restaurants and meet a nice couple from Germany. We ended up spending the night chatting about the orphanage they were teaching English at and scuba diving; he was an instructor so we swapped stories.

We are having a good time so far in Cambodia. Off to the Killing Fields today. I know this is going to be tough to see.

Day 1 - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

After about 20 hours of airports and planes we landed in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam. We were sitting up front so Brad and I were the first few off the plane. We went straight to the Visa on arrival area. We had to set it up in advance but there was no problem, it took about 5 minutes then off to customs. Which was a breeze. I grabbed some DONG out of the ATM then off to the Taxi's.

We ended up getting a ride on a metered Taxi which ended up costing us about $10 usd for the 20 minute ride. Not bad but I'm sure we paid way to much. We got dropped off in the Pham Ngu Lao Area. The traffic made the bay area look like a Sunday stroll. The motorcycle to car ratio is crazy, I'd guess 100 motocycles to each car, It's a area of mixed hotel's shopping and resturants. We headed to a place I had read about in the Lonley Planet. Once we found it, they had informed us they were sold out, but would bring us to there other hotel. Within a minute were were on the back of Motorcycles zooming through the streets. It was a short ride, but a good experince to start off the trip. We took a look at the room and it wasn't bad but we wanted to look around. We ended up walking off and the next place we checked out was Duc Voung Hotel. It was a little more but twice as nice. We took the room for $22 a little more than my budget but Brad and I split it. The room has A/C, breakfast and free WIFI.

After throwing our bags in the room we were off to explore the city. It was only 11AM so plenty of time to see the highlights off the city. We walked to Reunification Palace which was where the first Communist tanks crashed through the gates and Saigon surrendered to the North. We took a quick look then off to lunch. Then off to the War Remnants Museum, It gave me a totally different perspective on what I thought about the war. It was really sad. We then walked around and went to a few markets and got pitched everything in this country. No purchases though. I don't want to carry anything extra for the next 3 weeks. There's a big Notre Dame Cathedral that was built in 1877. We took a few pics then started to head back to the room at about 6.

We had plans to rest then go back out for dinner. But we both ended up sleeping and not waking up until about now 1am. I decided to do a blog post then back to bed.

Were going to start to head to Cambodia in the morning. We saw the highlights of the city so time to move on. Brad is flying out of Bangkok so we are in a hurry to get going.

Please check back for more.

All packed up and ready to go!

I'm all packed up and ready to head to the Airport. This is all of my luggage for the 3 week trip. I only bring the necessities. I have a few sets of clothes. I only bring synthetic material clothes, since they don't hold odor or sweat like cotton. Each set gets worn a few times then it's washed when needed. I can get a load of laundry done for about 50 cents. At that price no need to overload a huge suitcase that you'll have to carry halfway across the world. Having this small bag also makes it so I can carry it on to Flights and Buses. It would suck to lose your bag when overseas so this is a way to help prevent it.

I'm flying out in a few hours. First I'm heading to San Jose and going to spend the evening with my dad and family. My flight to Vietnam leaves San Francisco at 1:05 am so I have plenty of time. The flight with a layover in Taiwan is about 20 hours. Not the longest flight I've been on but still a journey.

Check back for more updates on my trip.

South East Asia Here I Come!!!

On Wednesday I will be taking off for another adventure in Asia.

This trip I will have my friend Brad with me on the first half. We are starting off in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City. Brad is going to be flying home out of Thailand, Bangkok on April 4th. And I'm going to be flying home out of Vietnam, Hanoi on April 16th. That's all we have planed. Everything else we will figure out along the way.

Most of my friends and family think this is crazy. But I love the split second decisions about were to go and stay. I have a rough idea on what I want to see. All other things will fall in place along the way. A few of my highlights that I want to hit are the Temples of Angkor in Cambodia, Halong Bay in Vietnam, floating down the Mekong river in Laos and a list of others things.I'm going to be updating every few days along the trip.

Please check back for amazing pictures of Asia.

Sunshine to Shoveltime

One Sunday to the next couldn't have been any more different. Valentine's Day was bluebird, perfect temps. The very next Sunday we awoke to find two feet of snow outside. On Saturday we went to dinner with my Aunt Ginger, Janet, Great-Grandma Margaret, and Brad to celebrate my Great-Grandma's 86th birthday. It started to snow, but it wasn't sticking. The forecasters had called for up to two inches on the Valley Floor, so we figured it would change over night to snow and give us a little dusting. WRONG. After dinner we went to the Grand Sierra to catch up with some of Danielle's past co-workers. We were only there for about an hour and three inches had already built up on the car. There were people outside the hotel playing in the snow. They were from Miami and had never in their lives seen snow. They were beyond excited to be playing in it in just shirts and shorts. We drove home - slowly. When we got up in the morning we found a nice surprise of around twenty four inches of snow. Luckily the snow fell so fast the roads didn't have much time to cool down from the prior week's heat. The roads were surprisingly in decent shape. Just as two feet of snow can fall, the rain can come and melt it all away. Over the next four days all of it was gone.