Hi Happy World traveller...)

hiya rohini! don't 4get to try plenty of spicy lasaks whilst you're in S'pore, i had mine as breakfast in holland village, boy it rocked! did you hear the troubles in Fiji, r u still going there ?

take care!
Linda

Day 25 and Day 26: Farwell Bangkok...Hello Singapore

Day 25: Today I decided to take it easy and indulge myself in a facial and then to the Thai boxing at night. By the way, the prices are excellent for massages, Kim and I got a foot massage for a whopping $10 and I got my facial for a little less than that. The Thai boxing was interesting, anything goes meaning they can use any part of their body to beat the opponent, meaning they can use their legs as well. When they come out they have a ley around them and when they warm up, it looks like they are doing some type of dance. They also have a band playing Thai music in the back. The crowd really gets into this as everyone around was betting on one of the opponents. The Thai's are very friendly people, compared to the other places I have visited so far and I realized a warm smile, will get you very far in this country...
Despite the level of sex tourism that goes on in country, it is definitely worth the visit to come and see Thailand.

Day 26: Farwell to Bangkok. I headed to the airport in the morning, as I headed to the aiport I noticed the 'Kinnari's' that are displayed on both sides of the road that leads to the airport. The taxi cab driver had a statue of the 'Buddha' and the 'King' on his dashboard. Once I got into the airport, I looked around and noticed all the things that represent Thailand were all displayed there at the airport. First, I noticed a huge picture of the King, a large pagoda looking structure reminded me of the Chinese culuture, a buddhist monk passed by me,
and a scene from the 'Churning of the Milk Ocean', from Hindu mythology (Indian culture), where they have Lord Vishnu at the center and the Garuda's and humans struggling with each other....

I arrived in Singapore and noticed all the green, the policemen with their big guns, the Chinese, Malay's, and Indians working there. It is a very modern, clean and safe city. The subway system is excellent. It reminds me of NYC and Hong Kong, but the people are not hustling and bustling as much, they are more relaxed. Things tend to close early here. I tried Durian (a fruit mainly in SouthEast Asia), I had heard alot about it and decided to try, as I saw a sign on the subway saying that it was not permitted on the train. My friend Kim had warned me of the pungent smell and boy was it strong. The smell is horrifing and the taste is even worse, I guess it is an acquired taste, the after taste that I had in my mouth reminded me of garlic...
I also tried peanut soup, which is a soup that has peanuts and then you can a variety of dough balls stuffed with yam, peanut, seasame, or red bean. It was tastey, thanks for the tip Lydia.....My friend Gaylie, who I had dinner with told me in the Chinese culture, a newly married couple has the peanut soup for good luck in their marriage. We went out in Chinatown and the buildings are very modern, since the British had occupied Singapore for some period of time and there are Chinese lanterns hanging above the streets.

Day 23 & 24; Hello to Bangkok

Day 23: Today was a long day. First we paid a visit to the largest and oldest temple in the Bangkok (aka 'City of Angels') Wat Pho. Wat in Thai means 'Temple', to say hello to the world's largest reclining Buddha. It was pretty amazing the buddha is 46m long and 15m height, it illustrates the passing of Buddha into final nirvana. The buddha is modelled out of plaster around a brick core and finished in gold leaf. His feet display 108 different characteristics of Buddha.

Then we headed to the Grand Palace to pay a visit to the king in his 'Royal Palace'. Unfortunately, the king wasn't there, but were were able to got thru the temples and then to the palace. The temples reminded me a mix of the Indian and Chinese cultures and alot of the Khmer style temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.. When I entered the temples the first thing I saw were two giant 'Garuda's', in Thai they are know as 'Khrut', protecting the temples. Garuda's are from Hindu mythology, they are half man and half monkey. There were all different sizes of Garuda's in the temple area. They were holding up different parts of the temple. I also saw 'Kinnari', which is from the Indian epic Himmawatprad, but was modified to fit in with the Thai way of thinking, it is a half bird and half woman. Alot of the architerue on the roofs of the temple reminded me alot of the roof styles in Beijing. I also saw huge Chinese stone figure protecting the temple. As we walked more through the temple area we even saw a minature model of Angkor Wat, which I had seen in Cambodia. Then we went to the Wat Phra Kaew, which is home to the emerald buhha. The emerald buddha was perched high in the temples. There were buddha's leading up on both sides to the emerald buddha. The Emerald Buddha is 48.3cm. wide and the height, including the base, is 66cm. It is made of green jasper, at type of jade. The Emerald Buddha was covered in gold robe...

As you can you see Thai and Cambodian culture are very similiar, and they are both influenced by the Indian and Chinese culture. The Thai language is also based off of Sanskrit. The food reminds me of a blend of the Chinese and Indian culture, they have alot of the noodle dishes, they even had the boiled rice for breakfast which I had when I first arrived to Hong Kong. They have alot of the curry dishes, which is similar to the curry dishes in India. We went to a Summer Festival and and saw some of the culturual dances, the outfits and the dance reminded me alot of Cambodian and Indian style of dancing and outfits.

Food: Feeling daring that night I tried a fried 'grasshopper', a little relutant at first, I decided to give it a go. The vendor had many fried insects, grasshopper, different bugs, and worms. I decided to go for the grasshopper as it looked the least slimiest. It tasted like a shelled fish, pretty crunchy...Then I tried a Thai Taco, the taco was a sour/sweet, it had a sour paste in the middle and then put coconut and green onions on it, it was pretty tastey. They sell the best shakes you can get, they have all different kinds coconut, watermelon, etc... The beers they have are Chang and Singha, which more or less taste to me like Budd/Miller, so I really didn't enjoy them too much. They don't use chopsticks, they use a big spoon and fork, and they don't use soy sauce, they use alot of different sauces, one of my favorite is the fish sauce with hot chili peppers and garlic.

Day 24: We went to the 'Wat Arun', aka...'Temple of Dawn', we took the skytrain over and then the river boat to the temple from our hotel. It's named after the Indian god of dawn, Aruna. The spires of the temple are similar to the Khmer style, which I saw in Cambodia. We saw alot of the same things that we saw the temples outside th Royal Palace, the Garuda's, Kinnari, and the big stone Chinese figures. Then we headed to the Pennisula Hotel for tea time, it was very good and very inexpensive.

Day 21 and Day 22: Chiang Mai

Day 21: The day was full of activities. We started the day going on an elephant ride out in the country side. The country side was lush green. Chaing Mai the temp. is much more moderate and cooler than Bangkok. The elephant ride started off a bit bumpy as when my friend Kim and I got on the elephant the guide was hitting the elephant on the ear quite a few times and the elephant kept swaying back and forth. I was a little concerned that the elephant might revolt and throw us off, luckily there was a seat for two on the elephant, with a rod that protected us from falling down. The elephant ride was fun, though there were some close call, as we went close to some edges and luckily the elephant managed to stay on track.

Then we headed to tribal village and then to waterfall. The walk/trek to the waterfall was a bit rocky as there were some close edges, but luckily we had two nice Belgium guys (of Moroccan descent) helping Kim and I down to the waterfall. Then we headed to whitewater rafting and bamboo raft. The water for the whitewater rafting was brown and murky, but it was alot of fun. The Belgium guys were in the raft with us and they were quite funny and animated during our rafting trip. The bamboo raft was fun, it was basically sticks of bamboos put together and we all sat in the center of the raft. It was a couple of inches under water so were pretty much in the murky water most of the time.

Day 22: Today we took the train back to Bangkok. Unfortunately, we had to cut the trip short in Chiang Mai due to the International Flower Fest. going on that weekend, and we were not able to get any flights back to Bangkok. We rode first class on the train back to Bangkok, which costed us a little under $20 for a 12 hour train ride and we even got lunch, a snack, and dinner on the train. We ended up meeting a nice Dutch couple on the train.

From good old younger brother

Boy, this blogging thing is interesting -- my first time...

Rohini - sorry it has taken us so long to respond. I could not figure out this blogging thing. We just saw all the strings of your travels. It sounds like a great time and you are doing sooo much. Karen and I are jealous and hope to meet you somewhere in your travels. It sounds like you are meeting a lot of people and are having the time of your life. We just had Thanksgiving with the Lareaus and we were telling them about your travels. They say hello.

I'm so happy you decided to do this. When are you going to send some pictures? We want to see them:)

Be safe...

Sanjay and Karen

Day 19 & Day 20: Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai

Day 19: Spent the day traveling from Bangkok to Chang Mai, which is in the north. It is much more relaxed here than Bangkok, though not as modern, but I am enjoying it. It is the 2nd largest city in Thailand. I did spot a couple of 7/11's here already. They are quite popular in Thailand. We went to the Night Bazzar later that night, and boy was it a bazzar they had stalls from one side of the street to the other, we had realized we had spent too much time at the first section of the bazzar that we needed to come back for another trip. My friend Kim and I spent the day having fun haggling over prices with the local vendors. I was trying to practice my negotiations skills for when I come back and get a job, hope it helps...

Day 20: Spent the day taking a tour of Chang Rai and to the 'Golden Triangle', which is where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Burma meet. The drive over was nice, lots of greenery and we saw woman working in the rice paddy fields. We got to Chang Rai and went to a Buddhist temples. The Buddha's in Chang Rai are more distinct, since they have longer ears than the other Buddha's. Then we took a boat ride on Mekong River and saw the 'Golden Triangle'. We went over to the Laosian side and went over to check out some local vendors. One interesting product that they sold was whiskey with a 'scorpion and corbra' inside of it. Then we headed towards the border of Burma, went shopping and even spotted the last 7/11 in Thailand, before crossing the border to Burma....got have one.

Then we headed over to hill tribes to see the Karen Hilltribe aka 'Long Necked Woman', just at the border of Myanmar (Burma), in a small secluded valley right outside the provincial City "Mae Hong Son" of the Mae Hong Son province. The Padaung, or Ka-Kaung as they call themselves, are a subgroup of the Karen. Ka-Kaung means 'people who live on top of the hill'. Padaung women are often referred to as 'giraffe' or 'long-necked' because of the custom of placing brass rings around their necks from when they are young girls until they marry. The practice is fast disappearing. In fact it is not the neck which has stretched but the shoulders which have been forced down by the weight and pressure of the rings. The long-necked people, the Padaung (a Karen subgroup from Burma). Some (not all) of the young girls start applying brass coils at an early age of 5-6 in order to elongate their necks. Legends suggest this custom may have to do with imitating dragons and presumably it is also considered attractive. Woman in this tribe are the head of the household...not bad I would say. They had stalls outside and we shopping around. All the woman had the brass rings on their necks some even had them on their legs....

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Day 17 and 18: The Thai islands...

Day 17 & 18

Day 17: Today I took a boat from Kho Phi Phi to Phuket, there are so many young tourist there to party, it was beginning to be a little too much for me; the island is beautiful, but it does smell like a dirty toilet, so I was happy to leave. Parts of Kho Phi Phi were destroyed from the Tsunami, there is a part of the island that was built up before, so you couldn't see from one side to another. Those buildings were destroyed and you can see from one side to another.

Took the boat over from Kho Phi Phi to Phuket, the trip was a nice boat ride. Arrived in Phuket and noticed all the 7/11. I must say I have consistently seen a 7/11 in ever country except in Cambodia. Phuket is bigger island than Phuket, and thus is very touristy. I don't mind as it is much bigger than Kho Phi Phi. The beaches here have all types of ethnic cuisine including food from Dubai...

I took my laundry to the local laundy mat, not bad only ~$5 to do my laundry, which was done by someone. Then I walked along Patong beach. It was nice, the water is an emerald green and there are mountains on both side of the beach.

Day 18:I spent the day again at Patong Beach, it was very relaxing. I had some time to just sit back, think, and enjoy myself. I feel like traveling I am always doing something, thinking ahead, planning where I am going to be going next, it's hard to slow down when there is so much interesting stuff in front of you. It's interesting the types of trips we take my Cambodia trip was more of a deep meaning trip, which I got alot out of the culture and the people. It's interesting, because ever person that I have talk, that has been to Cambodia has rated as one of their top places to go, along with Laos and Vietnam, now I can see why. Going to Cambodia has intrigued me to consider going to Laos and Vietnam. Thailand, so far has been more of a relaxing time as I have been at the beaches most of the time. The relaxing trips are good, because you have time to just sit back, think about things, and relax. I plan on going to Chang Mai and Chang Rai, so hoping to see more of the Thai culture as well. I am enjoy myself, but I realize as I move from place to place, hotel to hotel, I realize my life currently is a temporary state of being, and as people come and go out of your life that you meet from the different places you travel to, it made me realize living for the moment is important!

Day 16: Oh the Beaches.....

Day 16:

Oh the Beaches of Thailand... Today was spent at the beaches of Thailand. Had a much need rest after being on the go for three weeks. Most of the beaches were nice, except some of them were too touristy. The last one was called 'Bamboo Island' it was beautiful, the water was an emerald green and you can see right through the water at the coral. The beaches are located on the Andaman Sea, which is to the left of Thailand. The islands in southern Thailand are beautiful. We went snorkeling and hung out on the beach. Even went to 'Maya' beach which is where the movie 'The Beach' is filmed. Ended the boat tour watching the sunset....

Met two French gals and a couple of Irish girls, one of the French girls her family is from Algeria, she was telling me alot of the Algerians that came over, came over in the 70's to build cars in france, most of them live towards the German border. The Irish girls, who I met at dinner, told me of a place called 'Raheny', close to my name and they said even accents are quite different in the different counties of Ireland that some of the Irish can't even undertand each other, I didn't feel so bad as I had mistakenly identifed them as Aussie. I am still trying to decipher all the english speaking accents, hope to accomplish that by the end of my trip. It was nice to meet the Irish girls, they are in their mid 20's and so excited about traveling the world. It's nice to be around that excitment when you feel that sometimes it would be nice to have home cooked meal and sleep in your own bed.

In Kho Phi Phi there is even a 7/11 here. One of the French girls Marie and I went out after dinner (Papaya, great Thai food), we went to go see the Fire Show at a local bars. At night the island is all lit up with x-mas lights. Very interesting the people in the show they hold two rope (it's obviously made out of some other material, but don't know what) looking things in their hand and they throw it around, it was pretty amazing. Then we sat by the water and had a Thai pancake, which is similar to a crepe, the crepe is thicker and they put the fruit inside and the nutella outside, had an interesting conversation about my trip to Cambodia, I was telling her that I got a lot out of going there, more of an appreciation of the simple things in life and then we were discussing how we need to have a more complicated life in order to have a more simple life, we can't get to the simple things in life unless we get through the complicated parts of life, I guess it goes hand in hand......

Day 14 & 15: Who's that man in orange?

Day 14 & 15: Folks we have landed safetly in the 'land of orange dressed men' , yes that is the land of buddhist monks....The Kingdom of Thailand. More than 90% of all Thai's are Buddhist and there are many Buddhist monks around. The kingdom it is as the first thing that I did notice when landing were signs on the outside of the airport reading 'Long Live the King'. This country definitely loves it's king as his picture is everywhere including monetary bills and coins.

I left the aiport and I headed to Bangkok to find a room. This country is definitely very tourism based as they even have english speaking movies when having dinner at one of the restaurants, they also have a Muslim Mosque room at the airport. I spend the night in Bangkok, things here are definitely cheaper as I got my hotel room for about $15 US. After being on the go for last three weeks, it does get a bit tiring....I definitely needed some beach time, so I headed for the beaches of southern Thailand. The first beach was in Krabi. The beaches are nice
and the people are very friendly. My hotel manager was kind enough to give me a ride on his scooter to meet my new American friends. Though a little scary as he didn't have a helmet for me to wear and wasn't too concerned.

Ended up meeting some northern californian's so ended up hanging out with them the rest of the day and that evening. Then I took a boat ride to Kho Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee). Got here today and was a little rainy so didn't get to see the extent of it's beauty. It is extremely tourist as they have currently have American music blaring from the bars, they even have a 7/11.

Day 12 and 13: Cambodia

Day 12: Got up in the morning and realized how different Siem Reip (Cambodia) was than Beijing and Hong Kong. Cambodia is definitely a 3rd world country. It pretty much has store shacks and roads, no malls. Siem Reip is the largest city next to Angkor, so alot of tourist stay in Siem Reip. Tourism is so big in Angkor they are even moving things like the jail out of town and into the countryside to build hotels to house the tourist, tourism in Angkor is one of the drivers of the economy for Cambodia.

The people are pleasant, though they are very aggressive about selling things especially the kids, they even accept dollars. I ended up meeting a German lady at breakfast and we decided to head over to Angkor Wat together. Angkor Wat was amazing. Angkor Wat, built during the early years of the 12th century by Suryavaram II, honors the Hindu god Vishnu and is a symbolic representation of Hindu cosmology.

Then we headed for lunch and I tried the Amoke, which is a coconut type soup with seafood, it was delicious....

Then we headed to Bayon aka 'smiling buddha temple'(since all the buddha's in the temple are smiling). One of the last temples built in Angkor, Bayon is one of the few Buddhist temples in Angkor; most are dedicated to Hindu dieties. Over 200 large faces adorn the 54 towers at Bayon.

Day 13: My tour guy and I headed to a couple of more temples, my favorites one before lunch was Ta Prohm aka the 'tree temple' as they have a bunch of trees coming out of the temple. A scene from 'Tomb Raider' was filmed here.

For lunch I had Lak Lok it is marinated beef with egg and and rice, very good. Then we headed to Bantea Srei aka 'woman temple' as this temple is dedicated to woman (gotta have one!!). Bantea Srei is about 1 hour from where I was staying and was out in the country side. The drive to the temple was very interesting. Most of the people are poor and most of the homes are one story homes made from straw that are elevated by poles. I saw water buffalo's, rice paddies, and children happily playing outside. Given that 36% of the population is under the poverty level, these children looked happy and the people were pleasant. Boy I was thinking despite the fact that these people don't have alot and lead a 'simple life' they are happy. It made me appreciate the more 'simple things in life', I think as human beings we sometimes tend to
complicate our lives and forget about the 'simple things'.

My tour guide Darrith was very good and I would recomment him. His email is darith_touch@yahoo.com

I was surprised to see so many westerns so meeting and conversing with people was easy.
I met an Aussie gal , Irish gal, and a Spanish guy at the internet cafe and we we headed for dinner. The Irish gal at dinner pointed out as 'travelers' we are all looking for a change in our lives and are open to meeting new people, thus it's easier to meet people. I was a little concerned at first about traveling on my own and not meeting people, but am definitely meeting other travelers from all over the world, as I haven't had a free evening until tonight.....

Cambodian History and Culture..

To understand the present day people of Cambodia and to understand the Ankor Temple (Hindu and Buddhist temples) is to the understand the history of Cambodia.....

Below is brief introduction to Cambodian history....

1. From 1st to 6th century was part of the Kingdom of Funan, whose prosperity was due to it's position on the great trade route between China and India. Indian had the greatest culturual impact and it's language, religion, and culture was absored by Cambodians. Then a series of small kingdoms then developed and they unified to create the Chenla empire, the mightest in the history of Southeast Asia.

2. Rise and Fall of Angkor...The Khmer empire of the Angkorian era know for it's achievement in architecture and sculpture began under Jayavarman II in 802. Thais sacked Angkor in 1432. Thai and Vietnamese kingdom's steadily occupied areas of Cambodia and the kingdom of Cambodia was in danger of being squeeze off the Map.

3. Enter The French....It was the French that preserved the borders, establishing a protectorate from 1864 until independence in 1953. The French were more interested in Vietnam's economic potential and left Cambodia to fester. As WWII drew to close, there were still no universities and only one secondary school.

4. Independence...A new world emerged from the war and Cambodian's King Norodom Sihanouk, began his crusade for independence from the French. The French gave Cambodia it's independence in 1953. For 15 years King Sihanouk, prime minister dominated Camobidan politics. The late 1950's and early 1960's was Cambodia's golden years as the economy prospered. However Sihanouk's erractic and repressive politics alienated both the left and right, the army overthrew him in 1970 and he fled to Beijing. Under pressure from the Chinese he threw in his lot with Cambodia's weak, indigenous rebels the Khmer Rouge (French for 'Red Khmer').

5. Coming of War...From 1969 Cambodia was sucked into the Vietnam Conflict. The U.S. secretly began bombing suspected communist base camps in Cambodia and shortly after the 1970 coup, American and South Vietnamese troops invaded the country to root out Vietnamese communist forces. They failed and pushed Cambodia's communists and their Vietnames allies deep into Cambodia's interior. Savage fighting engulfed the whole country and Phnom Penh (capital of Cambodia) fell to Khmer Rouge on April 17, 1975 two weeks before the fall of Saigon.

6. Khmer Rouge...After taking Phnom Phen, the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot's (a Cambodian) leadership implemented one of the most heinous revolution the world has seen, it was 'Year Zero' and Cambodia was to become a Maoist, peasant dominated, agrarian cooperative. Between 1975 and 1979 almost two to three million Cambodians were killed. Most of them were the country's educated people, people who spoke foreign language or wore spectacles. 1978 Vietnames invaded and overthrew the Khmer Rouge, who fled westward to the jungles of Thailand. Many Cambodians set out of foot to find family members. Khmer Rouge maintained a guerilla war throughout the 1980's armed and financed by China and Thailand against the Vietnames backed govern. in Phnom Penh.

7. Peace... 1991 both sides met and signed a peace accord, a new constitution was drawn up and adopted and Norodom Sihanouk once again became king.

It's interesting to see the Indian impact on the Cambodian culture. Most of the Ankor (Hindu and Buddhist temples) are mainly based on two of Indians classical stories the Ramayana and Mahabarta and various Hindu gods like Vishnu, Shiva, Brahman. The language is Khmer, which is sanskirt based, the traditional outfits that the Cambodian woman wear they closely resemble the Indian sari, the Cambodian dance called Apsara, the dance style and the outfits are very similar to Bharat Natyam (the Indian classical dance), they believe in the dowry system for marriage. Most Cambodians are short, with tan to brown skin, with Asian features, they look a mix of Chinese and Indian.

Day 10 & 11 Farewell Beijing...Hello Cambodia

Day 10: Silk Market....Today I went and checked out the silk market. The silk markets
is building with many floors of different types of goods to sell. One floor is dedicated to silk, the other one jade, another one for perl, leather, etc... The sellers there are pretty aggressive as they come after you to buy things. Things are cheaper in Beijing than Hong Kong. The malls in Beijing are very similar to the malls in the U.S. I checked out the local McDonalds just to see if there were any differences, but didn't notice any, they had the usual Big Mac's, etc. Later that evening went to a Japanese rest. with my friend Asha and her family. The Japanese food pretty much taste the same. The pollution in Beijing and Hong Kong is pretty bad. Some people wear the facial mask to protect them from the pollution, I hadn't realized the pollution was so bad until I looked down at my white shoes and they were covered with brown marks.

Day 11: Farewell to Beijing...Big thanks to Asha and her family for letting me stay with them. Had a great time. That morning got up at 6:00am as I had an early flight, I only had a few hours of sleep as I was trying to catch up on some things the night before. Ended up catching a taxi to the airport. When I got out of the cab a gentlemen came to the cab and took my bags and put them in a cart. Then he asked me where I was going and told him. We headed towards the terminals, he was walking quite fast so I was trying to keep up with him, so I didn't really have a chance to ask him how much he charged. I figured I would give him 5 RMB (= 80 cents), which is alot for them. Once we got into the terminal he told me he wanted 100 RMB (=12 dollars), I was shocked and told him I would give him 5 RMB, then he said 50 RMB, a little worried since he was still holding on to my cart, my eyes quickly darted around the room looking for a policeman, none in site, I figured I was in hopeless situation as I didn't speak Chinese and couldn't ask for help, I said 10RMB, luckily he agreed to this amount, boy was that a close call....

I did have a good experience with one of the taxi cab drivers in Beijing. He had taken the wrong turn when driving me from the Silk Market back to where I was staying. When he dropped me off I gave him the full amount of the fare, and then he gave a few RMB (Chinese dollar) back.

Hello Cambodia.......Rest of the day was catching flights to to Siem Reip in Cambodia. The flight over from Bangkok to Siem Reip was full of Americans/Europeans/Australians. I hadn't realized this was such a popular destination for them. As we were landing I noticed all the palm trees it reminded me of Key West Florida. I read up on Cambodia on the plane and hadn't realized all the atrocitices that had happen in that country. I had vaguely heard about it, but didn't really know the details. It seemed we had always heard about the Vietnam war, but had not so much about the atrocities that happened in Cambodida in the late 70's. As I read my 'Lonely Plant' book on Cambodia, I realized that in the 'history' section of all the countries in South East Asia that was the only country where they describe the history as the 'good, bad, and the evil'. The atrocities I am referring to that happened to Cambodia was the period during the 'Khmer Rouge', when 20% (2 to 3 million) of the Cambodian population was killed between 1975 and 1979. Most of the people that were killed were 'educated and intellectuals' of Cambodia. The 'Khmer Rouge' was lead by Pol Pot a Cambodian Communist. You can tell that this is still a very sore subject for the Cambodian peoplem, as so many had family members that had died during this period. My tour guide, Darrith, and I were talking about the 'Khmer Rouge' as we were getting out of the car for one of the tours. He had mentioned to me that his uncle had died, his uncle an educated man was asked to go to the local school and he never came back. Then he was telling me about Pol Pot, he then stopped as we were in crowd of people and said that we should not really talk about Pol Pot in public, as many people had family members that were killed during this time.....

catching up....

to my faithfull blog readers, thank you for all the positive comments. i have been quite busy trying to get more stories for my blog, i am glad you are enjoying them. i am taking tomorrow off in thailand and hope to catch up on writing and pictures....

how's the weather?

Hi Ro

It sounds like you're having an amazing time! Thanks for being so descriptive...I'm living vicarously through you! Can't wait to hear about the rest...take care!

Day 8 & 9: Beijing

Day 8: Started the tour at 8:20. Unfortunaly, the group wasn't as lively as yesterdays group, but I did manage to meet an Australian couple.

The first stop was the 'Ming Tombs. This is where the Ming Emperors are buried. There are 13 of them buried here. The emperors are buried here with their wives, concubines, and the eunuchs. Jade (especially jade belt) was an important factor and was only given to very important people in the kingdom.

We then headed to the 'Jade' factory, where we saw how Jade was made. Then we headed to lunch and then to see the Herbal Factory. At the herbal factory we were brought into a room with a few herbal medicine doctors and their associates. The herbal medicine doctor examined me. He was a chinese man in his 60's, no more than 5'7'', with a white coat and big thick, dark, round glasses. He grabbed my wrist and checked my pulse then he asked me to stick out my tongue. After some time of piercing into my eyes, checking my pulse, and asking me a serious of questions via the associate (translater) he explained to me that my 'liver was overheated'. The he prescribed some herbal medicine for me...boy I thought I hadn't noticed any smoke coming out of me lately.

The last stop was the 'Great Wall of China'. It is one of the wonders of the world. It was magnificent. We took a cart half way to the top of the Great Wall. It was like riding on a rollercoaster. We got off and headed towards the top. It was quite crowded and my tour guide explained to me that climbing the 'Great Wall' is the duty of every Chinese to do before they die. Some parts were very steep climbing up and I almost slipped, you can just imagine how the workers constructed this as it is so steep. As I headed to the top, I got stopped a few times by some Asians to ask if I could have my picture taken with them, I noticed a couple of the other non-Asian fellow tourmates were being propostioned also with the same question. It's interesting, the Asians find it such a novelty to see non Asians and have their pictures taken with them.

Later that evening went to dinner with Asha (my good friend from high school that I am staying with in Beijing) and Ellen (the Norweigan gal, I met on my first tour of Beijing), who has excellent English. We went out for dinner and had an interesting conversation. I had commented to Ellen how I didn't think she was Norwegian and she told me that she is not a typcial Norwegian, as most of them are more reserved. We then talked about the cultural differences between the Norway and U.S. She had told me that Norweigans bring and drink their own alcohol at parties, since alcohol is very expensive in Norway and that Norweigan mothers get up to a year off with pay when their babies are born and their husbands are eligible for paid time off as well. Not a bad way to live I would say....

We then headed to a local bar called 'Bar Bleu'. The bar was very similar to the bars/clubs in the U.S. very modern, nice couchs (very important for those of us 30+), a dance floor with American music, it was like almost being back in the U.S.

As we were getting our drinks at the bar, I decided to ease off on the alchol and get a 'diet coke' after the herbal doctor had mentioned that my 'liver was overheated'. I was in the mood to meet some local Beijingers as I realized I hadn't met too many and only had a couple of days left. I noticed a Chinese group sitting at one of the couchs. I slowly approached the Chinese group and asked if my friends and I could sit with them, they were a little relutant at first and then agreed. As we started talking I soon realized they all worked for 'HP' (my former company) in Beijing and they all had worked for the same division of HP that I had worked for. I thought boy this must have been faith, out of all the couches I could have picked in the bar, I picked the couch with the fellow HP'ers. Then as I was talking to one of the guys, he then mentioned to me that he had gone to 'Purdue', (my alma mater...go Boilermakers!!!!), what a concidence. Then after further discussion he told me he use to live in Fremont (I used to work there). Boy what a small world it is. I had to go all the way to Beijing to find a fellow HPer that had gone to Purdue. The night ended with Asha (my high school friend) and I dancing to 'Billy Jean' by Michael Jackson, it reminded us of our high school days. What a great night....that night I found a little bit of home in Beijing.

Day 9: Did anyone say 'Duck'? Yes, today is the day that I tried the famous 'Peking Duck' and famous it is. Asha and her family (her husband, and two small kids (Anand and Akash)) joined me to go to the 'Quandjude Roast Duck Rest'. We had to be careful not to say 'Duck', since Akash (who is 2+)was a little sad when we told him we were going to go eat 'Duck'. After we received the 'Duck', Akash slowly joined in trying some and things were okay. They had all parts of the duck on the menu. We put the duck in a thin pancake and then added green onions and plum sauce, it was delicious....

More info. on Beijing and attractions above: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/attractions.htm

Day 6 & 7: Beijing

I am settling into Beijing. Things have been quite busy lately and unforutnately I have caughten a cold, but am slowly recovering...

Day 6: My good friend, Asha, from high school that I am staying with and I decided to go down to Tianamen square to pay a visit to the world's largest public square and to say hello to 'Mao Zedong', the first Communist leader in China. Asha and I then had lunch and caught up on old high school days....

Day 7: Got up at 6:30 to go on a tour of the 'Forbidden City', 'Temple of Heaven', and the 'Summer Palace. The tour was a fun group of people, it consisted of Ellen, who is Norweigan, but I thought she was an American as her Enligsh is excellent and she was so bubbly and friendly, a Malaysian mother and daughter (who kindly invited to take me out when I am in Malaysia), two Americans (from Bay Area), a Tawianese couple (the gentlemen reminded me of Mr. Myoto from Karate Kid as he was demonstrating to Ellen how to cut a watermelon with her hand), the Spanish couple (nice couple that kept to themselves). The day started out at the Forbidden City...

Forbidden City was very interesting. It was off limits to the commoners for 500 years. The Ming and Qing Emperors lived there with their wives, concubines, and eunuchs. The emperors had 3,000 concubines living in the forbidden city, to help them live a comfortable life and many eunuchs., who served as servants to the emperor. It made for a very intersting group dynamic I would say..... The concubines were allowed to have childern and their sons could compete to be the next emperor. For some of you who don't know what a eunuchs it is a castraited man. I had a hard time getting the meaning of a eunuchs since the Chinese Tour guide kept telling me it was half man and half woman. I kept asking the tour guide to clarify this for me, but then soon found out that Chinese are embarrased about these types of topics, Ellen the Norweignan gal kindly informed me it was a castriated man. The eunuchs were very loyal to the emperors and the emperors trusted them. There are 9,999.5 rooms and many entrances. 'The Last Emperor' is filmed here. Chinese believe the dragon is the sign of the man and the phoenix is the sign for the woman, the color red is a lucky color, and the number 9 is a lucky number.

Next stop was the Temple of Heaven. This is where the Ming and Qink emperors would go to pray to the heavens. The Chinese belive that the heaven is circular and the earth is square, go figure I always thought it was the other way around..... There was a beautiful garden leading up to the gates of the 'Temple of Heaven'.

Next stop was lunch. Lunch was really good, we had a lunch that was typical of the Han Dynasty and saw a traditonal Chinese dance. The Chinese believe in sharing everything, using our own chopsticks. We had tea and in China, they do not put sugar and milk in their tea. We got several dishes and shared them with everyone in the group and then someone came around with a red yarn and put it on our wrist for good luck. We finished lunch and went to a herbal tea presentation and got to taste a variety of different Chinese teas.

Next stop was the 'Summer Palace'. The Summer Palace was spectualar. It is where the royalty came to escape the summer heat that roasted the Forbidden City. Cool off they did as there is a big lake that surrounds the palace.

Next stop was the 'Silk Factory'. I learned that silk is made from silk worms. The silk worms basically create a cocoon oustide of their shells (which is the silk), it only takes a couple of months for the silk worm to create the cocoon. Once the cocoon is created, then the silk can be extracted from the worm. Their are two methods one way is using a machine to extract the silk from the silk worm the other way is doing it manually.

More info. on Beijing and attractions above:
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/attractions.htm

Hi Happy World traveller...)

I have heard from my friend Gaylie that you bought up a storm from the wholesale garment ctr when u were in HK...I can't wait to c all the goodies you'll bring bac!!!

So R U a real WOMAN yet...after climbing the Great Wall?

hey there, ro!

hi ro! great to hear you're well on your way for your adventures, sounds really exciting thus far. look forward to hearing more about the exciting places you're visiting, and hope to meet up with you at some point along the way!

Day 4 & Day 5: Farewell to Hong Kong and Hello to Beijing

My last day in Hong Kong I spent on Hong Kong island going up to Victoria Peak and saw some great views of Kowloon (another island that is part of Hong Kong) and Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong Island reminds me alot of Manhattan, it is very modern and western. Kowloon is also very modern, it reminds me more of Chinatown in San Fran. Then I headed back to Kowloon and went shopping on Ladies Street, another popular shopping area. Hong Kong is like any other major city, people are always in a hurry, they are always trying to get somewhere. In Hong Kong aside from seeing Chinese people, I did see quite a few Indians and European/Americans. Most of the people speak English or can at least understand some English, so getting around was quite easy.

I was happy to leave my tiny little hostel room and head to Beijing to see a friend from high school...

Beijing is quite different then Hong Kong. It is not as modern as Hong Kong. My first day in Beijing it was cold and gray and I spent the day going to the market with my friend. Her husband is part of the Foreign Service here in Beijing. We left the apartment complex in the morning and headed over to the market. As we were leaving the apartment complex, my friend mentioned to me that one of the guards had taken down their license plate and the time we were leaving, apparently they do that, when you come and go they take down your license plate and the time you come and go. Also her husband had mentioned to me that when they were visting the States a couple of months ago, someone (the police) had gone through their apartment. They weren't alarmed as this happens quite regularly. What a vast difference then the U.S.

The first market we went to was the veggie and fruit market and then to the fish market. In the veggie and fruit market I noticed not too many of the stall people were smiling, except one of the ladies my friend and we happily went over to her stall. When we were in the fish market I noticed a little bay boy with a split down the middle of his pants in the back. I though that was a bit unusual and then she explained to me that is for easy access to the bathroom and that it was quite common. Then we headed to the American market 'Jenny Lou's', we weren't able to find parking so my friend ended up parking on the sidewalk. I asked if she was worried about getting a ticket and she said 'no' that it is quite common to do that in China. Also there are alot of bikes that join the vast number of cars on the road.

Day 3: Macau

Took the ferry over to Macau which is another island that is part of China. The ferry ride was about an hour. Macau belonged to the Portuguese and then in 1999 it was given back to China. It was named after the 'Goddess of Seafarers', whose temple stood at the entrance to the sheltered inner harbor. Similar to Hong Kong it benefits from the principal 'one country, two systems'

Population: 488,000
Official languages: Chinese and Portuguese, Cantonese most widely spoken.

Macau is much more relaxed then the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. People are more laid back. Macau is know for it's casinos, similar to how Las Vegas is to the U.S. We went to the 'Sands' casino and it looked very much like the casinos in Vegas. Interesting the signs inside the casino said 'no use of video camera, camera, or no spitting', which I thought the 'no spitting' portion of the sign was interesting. The waiters come around with soft drinks, coffee, and water. Then we headed to see the female Buddha 'Kum Iam'. Some of the buildings have the bright yellow colors and styles of the Portuguese. Then went to the Macau Culture Center and walked around a bit. That's it for now....

Sounds like you are having a great time!

Day 2: Hong Kong

I am settling into my new room and Hong Kong. Hong Kong is very modern. Fri. went to afternoon tea and had Shanghi style dim sum, which was very good. Then went to Victoria Harbor and then took the ferry to Hong Kong Island. Walked around Hong Kong Island, which is the Financial Hub of Hong Kong. The main language here is Cantonese. Sat. went to the Hong Kong History Musuem and then the garment district for some fantastic shopping. Took the subway, which was very modern. Hong Kong is a very modern city, reminds me alot of NYC with the big flashing billboards. There are alot of KFC, McDonald's and Seven 11's around. Interesting the taxi's open the door automatically for you. Had afternoon tea and Cantonese style dim sum.

Day 1:Here's To Hong Kong

Well ladies and gentlemen we have arrived safely at our 1st destination Hong Kong....

I had some interesting conversations at the LA airport, as I had a lay over for 6 hours. Went to one of the bars in the airport and just started chatting with people. It was alot of fun. First I met Rosemarie, she was a programmer back in the 70's and we were bonding over IT days. She has traveled quite extensively and I asked her where her favorite place were and she said 'Bahia' in Brazil and China. I asked why Brazil and explained the passion that they have for life, definitely agree with the Brazilian passion for life. Then I met Sande, who watches dog while housesitting, what a great life she gets to live in nice peoples homes and watch dogs. She has a great view and zest for life, instead of setting goals, she lets things happen when they are suppose to, she believes that there is a reason for everything in life and that we either learn from people or they learn from us. She belives we should enjoy the journey and not so much the goal. It's the journey in which we gain the most experience..... Then I met Stephen from San Diego. He believes in simplifying his life as much as possible, what a great concept... He is letting me read his book on 'Tao Te Ching' , which is a spiritual book by Lao Tzu. I started reading the book and would highly recommend it. It is the most frequently translated book in the world!

The flight was long, slept for most of it. Woke up to breakfast which was 'seafood conchi(msp)', which is suppose to a popular breakfast in Hong Kong, it ended up being quite tastey. I was about to ask the steward if the rice was under cooked as it is a dish that looks like watery rice with seafood, when the Filipino gentlemen next to me kindly informed me that is the way it is cooked and then explained to me that the brown thing in the dish, which I thought was mushroom was a cucumber grown in the sea... go figure didn't know cucumbers grew in the sea. When first arriving in Hong Kong, it reminded me alot of San Fran., we crossed over a bridge to get to the city and they had alot of canneries very similar to when you cross the bride from San Fran. to Oakland. It has a bit of the South American flavor with all the trees. I just arrived and am waiting to get my room, it won't be ready for another couple of hours. I must say there is not too much space in Hong Kong the rooms are very small, hope I don't get too claustrophobic....yikes. Till tomorrow.