Rabbit Island

Huts where we slept
on the first night.

When you think of beaches in SEAsia, you probably imagine something not unlike Koh Tonsay ("Rabbit Island").

The beach is soft and the sand is warm; there are palm trees and calm, teal-colored water. Bungalows with thatched roofs line the beach and a fresh fruit smoothie is only a call away. It’s paradise.

In the evening, beers are 75 cents during happy hour and if you are so inclined, you can have a full body massage on the beach for $7 an hour, while watching a beautiful sunset over the water.

Angkor Wat

‘The Temple of the Capitol’ was once the center of the Khmer empire. It stretches over hundreds of kilometers. Today, over 2 million tourists visit per year. It may be their sole reason for coming to Cambodia at all.

It is impossible to sum up the character and feel of Angkor Wat in one blog post. It has to be experienced personally. Even if you’ve done your research, it will surpass your expectations, especially in terms of its diversity of design.

I sincerely hope you have the chance to visit. I recommend the elephant.

Chelsea and Chad

It’s great when you have someone to travel with. It’s even better when they’re old friends. Chelsea and Chad have arrived in Cambodia!!!

Travelling with four people has its difficulties but I would go anywhere with those two – they are the perfect travel companions. They tease each other like an old married couple, so bystanders have hours of entertainment on long boat trips.

They leave on the 26^th and I will be sad to see them go.

Hippies.... eeeww

Imagine the Backpacker’s Stink post, plus dread locks, dirty baggy clothing, and a cloud of (pot) smoke. I hate hippies.

Get a real job, have responsibility to someone other than yourself, quit the drugs for a while, and then we’ll talk. In the meantime, stop preaching about ‘going with the flow’ and ‘feeling the vibe’- you sound like a missionary.

There is more than one way to travel, people that think their way is the only way are obnoxious.  

Backpacker's Stink

I will never understand while those travelling abroad while utilizing a backpack feel the need to avoid bathing. I get it, it’s hot, and we’re all sitting here in a small reservoir of our own sweat… but must you make it so obvious? If your stench is so powerful that it hurts my nose, it’s time for a shower. And you may want to consider burning all your clothes.

Some are worse than others. It’s the men, for obvious reasons:  their laziness. How difficult is it to take five minutes at the end of the day to rinse off the shirt coated with your own excretions, and dunk it in the sink with a bit of soap? Answer: not very difficult at all.

I staunchly refuse to be a stinky backpacker.

Sambor Prei Kuk

Not all of Cambodia’s history is full of hardship. Scattered throughout the country is evidence that a healthy and advanced culture once thrived here.

Older than Angkor Wat, the temples of Sambor Prei Kuk are a hidden gem. If you want to feel like Indiana Jones, this is the place to visit. Getting there early, you can avoid the crowds and spend the morning climbing over ruins that are barely resisting being taken over by the jungle.

Some minimal conservation efforts are under way, but for the most part, you’re on your own. Be careful not to wander off the (unmarked) trails because there are landmines buried in the area (left over from border disputes with Vietnam).

Khmer Rouge

1975 isn’t that long ago. All of the adults in Cambodia have memories of death.

On April 17^th, 1975, a communist regime called the Khmer Rouge came to power led by a man named Pol Pot, a former teacher educated in France. Over the next 4 years of his rule, genocide would claim over 2 million Cambodian lives. They were killed by their own government. 1 in 4 people were murdered.

Bodies were dumped into pits by the
hundreds, covered with DEET, and buried
naked. Their graves are unmarked.

Less than 30 km from Phnom Penh is one of the Killing Fields. Thousands of people were taken there and worked to death in the rice fields or simply killed. The deaths were without mercy: throats were cut using dried palm leaves, women were beaten and raped, and babies were smashed against a large tree.

 

Western governments had no idea what was happening. If they did, they kept that knowledge from their people. In fact, the UN supported the Khmer Rouge even after evidence of the killings emerged.

Cambodia: Phnom Penh

Coming from sky scraper-dominated Taipei, Phnom Penh seems like a large town, not a capitol city. There are only a handful of buildings higher than a dozen stories. Away from the touristy riverfront, the city is ‘eh’. The streets aren’t very clean nor are they very dirty. There are some nice restaurants and some crappy ones. The building themselves are old, but not falling apart. It’s a sprawling city, but has little character of its own.

In the middle of the city, across from the riverfront, are a few sights worth stopping by. The Palace is still the residence of the ruling monarch. Next door, the National Museum holds pieces of temples from around the country. The most action can be found around the markets: the largest is the Central Market; the best souvenir shopping is the Russian Market.

The best of Taiwan

Let's talk about some cultural differences, shall we....

Unidentified and dangerous-looking beast, that way.

Why no gum?

No porn.... or drooling!

You know she likes it.

Okay, I get the wierd foods. But almonds and dried fish? Really?

This is just silly.

And finally,

The name of this toothpaste brand is "Black People". I'll let you draw your own conclusions on this one.

Cash is King

For the past two days, it's been raining non stop in the great city of Taipei. Making it a gloomy place. The most determined of the backpacking crowd have had only enough enthusiasm to visit the museums, and found them crowded with bus loads of Chinese tourists. Others have stayed indoors. And the smallest, most elite group of hostel-goers, have soothed thier boredom with shopping therapy.

In Taipei, there is almost nothing you can't buy. The most popular destinations for clothing, cell phones, shoes, handbags, candy, alarm clocks, hairpins, puppies, fortune tellings, or unidentified meat products... are the night markets. The key thing there is night market. Good luck finding anything during the day. It's only after dark that the stalls appear. And there isn't any space left unused: the most crafty venders set up their stalls in stairwells or the tiny alleys between buildings.

While most Americans have long ago traded their greenbacks for plastic, at the markets, cash changes hands in the blink of an eye. The currency is straigtforward: bills for NT 100 and 1000, and coins for NT 1, 5, 10, and 50. Backpackers can easily get by on less than NT 600 a day (about $20). $1 is roughly equal to NT 30.

2nd tallest building in the world

Surprisingly, the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010 was Taipei 101, in Taiwan. Now it's second to Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The 101 floors, 509 meteres of height, and unusual archetecture still make Taipai 101 a sight.

Taipei is still celebrating the lantern festival, so the area around the behemoth was also worth visiting. Temples from all over Taipei have huge lanterns on display in festive dragon designs.

Lantern Festival

Lighting lanterns at Pinsi

If you've seen Hangover II, you've got the basic idea. Its changed over the years to include concerts and other specticals, but the most eligant event of the Lantern Festival is still the releasing of thousands of paper lanterns.

Made of wax paper around a thin bamboo frame and lit with oiled paper burners, the lanterns are surprisingly large, but light. Before sending them on their way, they are covered with writing and wishes... to be carried off into the heavens.

You've got to be careful, however. Firefighters and bystanders are often called upon to help when a lantern bursts into flame before being released, chunks of burners fall off and land in the crowd, or the entire lantern drifts down onto an unsuspecting visitor. The latter is exactly what happened to me when I was happily listening to my iPod. What I thought was a particularly warm-blooded tourist bumping into me turned out to be a fallen lantern that just missed landing on my head. Carefully lifting it back up, I sent it on its way and it sailed happily away.


Pingsi Lantern Festival

Wishes written on lanterns



Frogger

At the National Palace Museum this afternoon, I felt like I was playing human Frogger in a sea of Chinese tourists... and I was loosing. If I were that little electronic frog I'd have died so many times that Nintendo would have personally written me a letter requesting I not depress the system further by suffering it to play any more. I knew they couldn't understand me, so to keep from causing an even bigger scene I would mumble and curse at them "blah blah grrr fucking blahh, move!"

If I were homesick, the thing I'd miss most is the concept of 'personal space'.

Urban Taiwan

Taipei

As per Maggie's request, here is more about the streets of Taiwan.
 
Most of the pictures posted have been of the best parts of Taiwan: the magestic mountain views, the colorful street vendors, and the occasional temple. But the reality is far different. While the people are wonderfully friendly, the scenery itself is often crowded, messy, and consistantly smelly. Most of the habitable land is covered in high density cities.

Yukai Rd in Lukang

There are lots of western stores; Starbucks and KFC appear in all major cities. I'v also seen lots of Fords driving around. The radio stations frequently play American songs and have entire stations in English. Sometimes it's easy to forget you are in a foreign country because America is such a mix of cultures it's easy to imagine your on the streets of DC or New York. Except for the fact that everyone is shorter than you are.