Our First Day in Siem Reap

Yes, things are looking better this morning especially when we sit down to our breakfast at the guesthouse.  It is generous and tasty, and we are seated with three young ladies who are delightful companions.  Two are from the UK and one from Germany; all three are on extended trips of six plus months.  They are all thrilled with their visit to Angkor Wat which reassures us immensely.  We're here for 5 nights/4 days so we plan to do a walk-about in SR today then spend the following three days on AW.

Our host, Reinhart, cautions us about traffic in SR and reminds us to look both ways, look again and once again before crossing the street.  (Apparently a female Chinese tourist was struck and killed by a bus recently.)  Cambodia drives right; we've just gotten used to changing our look pattern for Thailand where they drive left.  And Cambodian drivers are 'creative' - not as creative as the Indians but creative nonetheless.

Couple of observations . . .

Cambodia uses the USD.  They do have a national currency - the real - which currently trades at about 3800/1$ but the only time you see it is if you buy something with an uneven dollar amount, you'll get real as change (US coins didn't make it over here - only paper money).  Everything is quoted in USD.

Their tuk tuks are modified scooters which have been fitted with a hitch-like device behind the driver's seat to which the towing compartment is attached using a ball and socket-type device.  It's all quite efficient and allows for the tuk tuk to easily convert from passenger to 'freight' conveyance.
Wearing a helmet is mandatory for scooter and tuk tuk drivers; we actually saw police writing tickets to non-helmet wearing drivers.

Everyone we've met (except for yelling customs lady) has been very kind and most are able to communicate in English, albeit haltingly.  As a country, they still seem to be working on the basics - personal and public hygiene, universal education, health care, affordable housing . . . the ravages of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are beyond imagining.  Estimates vary, but most people agree that approximately one-third of the population was killed during that regime.  And like most totalitarian reigns, this one finally consumed itself . . . and now 35 years on this country still struggles but there are hopeful signs.

We begin our walk-about with a wander along the banks of the Siem Reap River where a spectacular display of photos by a French photographer documents Life along the Mekong.

While this is nominally a Buddhist country, the Indian/Hindu influence remains.

I was so taken with this young fellow . . . his coloring is so non-Asian.

Today is some sort of Buddhist holiday, and this shrine at the base of a sacred tree was the site of a number of worshippers.

These two young boys were ready with their contributions to the shrine.

We see so many children during the day . . . apparently universal public education hasn't quite made it here . . .

On our walk-about we run into our two UK friends from breakfast at the guesthouse.  Over delicious fruit smoothies, we continue comparing travel notes and adventures.  Later we all make our way to the public market - enormous and labyrinthine - and eventually make it back home.  Good day - we're both starting to relax and feel safe.  Tomorrow, our first day of a 3-day visit to Angkor Wat!

Getting to Siem Reap

Traveling is frequently an exercise in exposing ones (frequently unacknowledged) prejudices and flying from Chiang Mai to SR is no exception.   We have two flights (both under 90") – one from CM to Bangkok and, after a 5- hr layover, another flight to SR.   We get on the plane in CM only to find that a woman is sitting in Tim’s seat.  OK, these things happen but once the mistake is pointed out, usually the person graciously moves or pleads to remain (and we generally agree).  Neither happened this time.  She tried to tell us we were wrong – huh?  There were three passengers and they had decided that we should take one of the empty seats (in the middle) across the aisle.  They decided, didn’t ask us - just decided - and it took a call to the flight attendant to get our seat! 

And it happened again on the flight to SR!  Same scenario – three women traveling together who’d decided they’d simply appropriate one of our aisle seats.  And once again we pointed out that one of them was sitting in my aisle seat.  This time they agreed they were in one of our seats but decided that since we were traveling together, one of us could take the middle seat across the aisle!   Huh?  When I said that was not acceptable, the three of them loudly told us why this was a bad idea (I wouldn’t like their loud conversation) and I would not be happy sitting with the two of them!  They then proceeded to grill me as to why I wasn’t sitting with my husband; the woman seated next to Tim did the same thing with him.   I chose to ignore them and their comments and worked very hard not to think badly of them (they were from Germany, speaking Russian to each other, and English with a very heavy accent).

We finally get to SR, an hour late, cranky, hungry, and tired.  Now it’s just Immigration then Customs and we’re in!!  But wait, we can’t get through the terminal door into immigration until we fill out a Health Card – huh?  This is a full plane (200+ passengers) and there is one person handing out these forms, inspecting them for completeness and then giving us an ‘If you get sick in Cambodia’ form.  One person!  It is chaos. Isn’t this the kind of form that should be handed out to passengers who can complete it en route?  Are they really looking for potential ebola-carrying travelers?

My strategy in these situations is to just let the crowd go in front of me – we’ll all get through the door, there’s no need to push and shove.  And that’s what we do and finally make it past the ‘health inspector’.  We’re inside!  And in another, long line to get our VOA.  It took me a while to realize that this is the first time I’ve not seen a ‘(Fill in the blank) Nationals’ line at an international airport.  There was no separate line for Cambodians!  

This is a Visa on Arrival (VOA) country - $30 each plus a passport photo – and a long, long line of processors who actually take your passport out of sight!  Another prejudice exposure here – all the Chinese tourists who brazenly attempted to jump the line – I called them on it, pointing out that the end of the line was behind us, causing all the English speaking folks waiting in line near us to congratulate me on taking the initiative.  We’ve actually brought photos and USD to pay for the visas.   All in all a pretty efficient operation.

Just when I think we’re home free – passports with colorful Cambodian visa inserted - and about to begin our SR adventure, I get a rude awakening at the Customs desk.  Apparently I didn’t have a completed Arrival/Departure card, and the lady Customs examiner proceeded to yell at me and demanded I produce the card.  She didn’t speak a word of English!  I called across to Tim who’d completed one card (given to us on the flight) which he thought would cover both of us; he was through – I’m still being yelled at.  Finally, I get a blank card, take it back to the waiting area to fill it in and go back through the Customs line – not the one with yelling lady!!   Well, by this time, we’re both ready to turn around and get back on the first Air Asia flight out of here!!  What a rude introduction to a country that has one of the 7 Wonders of the World (Angkor Wat) and whose tourist industry is their biggest source of income. 

Fortunately our tuk tuk driver (sent by the guesthouse) has been waiting patiently outside, holding a card with my name on it. He is sweet and kind and with his limited English comments on how late we are – he was worried. The trip from the airport takes us past row upon row of mid-rise hotel complexes, with tour busses filling the parking lots.  Is this a tourist town or what??  

We arrive at our guesthouse which is located away from the backpacking/ bar scene area and highly rated.  It’s lovely and we begin to relax . . . but when we tell the owner of our ‘adventure’ at the airport, he regales us with the wretched state of this whole country, the corruption of the police force, the thuggery of the politicians, the dangers of walking on the streets in SR!!   I can’t help but wonder if this has all been a big mistake . . . I have wanted to see Angkor Wat for a very long time, but this is an ominous beginning to this part of our SEA adventure.   

Things always look better in the morning . . .

A Day Overflowing with Blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving dear friends and family!  What a day of wonder we've had.  We arranged with the lovely ladies who run our hotel to hire a car and driver for the day to take us to the Maesa Elephant Park, the Queen Sikrit Botanical Garden, and to dinner at Duke's in the shopping mall.

A quick word about elephant parks in Northern Thailand - they're only slightly less controversial than the Tiger Temple in Khanchanburi.  We relied on our travel gurus, Paul and Debbie, for a recommendation and they said:  Maesa.  No question, this is the one to see and they were absolutely spot on!  We didn't want to become mahouts, gambol in a muddy river washing elephants, or mortgage our house to do this . . . this was the perfect choice.

For openers, each mahout has an elephant - for life.  They take them home at night and are totally responsible for their care and feeding.  There is a full-time vet on staff and we saw nothing that made us uncomfortable or uneasy - they all looked well-loved and well-fed (the elephants that is).

We'd planned to get there for the 8 a.m. 'show' but were a few minutes late and to had to rearrange our personal program and take the ride first.  That turned out to be a fortuitous turn as there were very few people 'riding' and we had the trail to ourselves.  Our elephant, Mai San, was an 18yo female and her mahout was Nichan (my spelling is creative here).  We actually rode in a howdah!  Not bareback

, ala India.  View from the howdah.

We get to the top of this long hill, and Nichan hops down - with the help of Mai San's trunk - and says, 'See you later!'  Then he asks me to hand him my camera and voila!

Everyone knows that an elephant without a raised trunk, well, you don't want that . . . neither do we.

Nichan figured out how to use the telephoto feature for a great close-up!

The trail through the dense jungle was beautiful and uncrowded.

This pair really touched me . . . they are eating specially chopped-up greens.  They're old and their teeth are so bad they can only 'gum' their food.  Mistreated - I don't think so!  They're good pals and are inseparable.

Back at the riding station, we bid goodbye to Mai San and Nichan.  What a lovely experience!

Off to the baby elephant area.

Babies stay with their mothers until age 2 when they start training.  Bananas are always welcome!

The tenderness between mother and baby is evident . . .

The early part of that training is becoming familiar with and comfortable around humans, lots of them.  Comfortable includes 'kissing' tourists . . . felt like a giant, hairy vacuum cleaner hose!!

'I think you should have a hat on and I'm going to put it on!'

'I think it's too big - ha ha ha!'

'Oh, I like this game!'

Don't ask . . .

Time for the 'show' . . . no idea what to expect but we've been very impressed so far and have read that the 'show' activities are stimulating for the elephants.  Ok, Ok, maybe stimulation is not what we need right now (I have no idea how Tim got this photo!)

The stands are packed for the show and this pair gets to lift off the sign and carry it around the arena on their tusks.

The mahouts demonstrate how the get on and off their elephant.

This is all done with voice commands which were so quiet we didn't hear them - and we were in the front row of one of the stands.

Who knew elephants love music and love to dance!  This youngster was a hoot - he 'danced' all the way out of the arena!  The crowd loved him.

An exercise in trust - the elephant places his foot just over the back of the fellow on the ground, never touching him.

And there was some soccer/football . . . with an elephant-sized ball!

I'm skipping over some of the 'athletic' events because the thing that left both of us gob-smacked was the painting.  The mahouts set up an easel for each of four elephants who carried their own paint/brush container.  As soon as the paper was placed on the easel, the elephant began to paint.  It was hard to see much at a distance, but there was no 'faking it' - these elephants were painting!  We watched them,   Honestly, they each should have had a beret on!!  They would take the brush in their trunk, make a stroke and then stand back and assess what they'd done!  Now here's the amazing part - the paintings in the photos shown below were all done by the elephants in this 'show' in less than 20" - 20"!!

They were all priced and I think the most expensive one was a grand 4000 baht - $130 or so.  There were some in the gift shop for as little as $15!  I couldn't take photos inside the gift shop but did manage to get one from the outside.

The painting to the right was done by an elephant artist and that mural on the back wall was a collaborative effort - the title of the mural is 'Chill winds, still valley, early morning' A group of elephants did this!!!

We were both struck by the Japanese-influence, both in composition and brush strokes.  Well, surprise, surprise, a Japanese brush painter was brought in to help the owners develop this program.  In 2000, a group of artists/businessmen from NY came to Thailand to 'develop' an elephant painting program.  Apparently, they went to every elephant camp (and there are a lot of them) except Maesa.  No explanation as to why they left this camp out.  So Maesa decided to try their hand at developing a program of their own and the rest, as they say, is history.  It's worth a visit to their web site to check out these works of art.

Colin has told us that Thai has no grammar and no verb tense.  This sweet sign is testimony to that and what we felt here today.

----------------
Just a few km up the road is Queen Sikrit's Botanical Garden which appears on a few lists of things to see in and around Chiang Mai.  The Cat Cafe (complete with 17+ cats wandering around the eating area) was in the Top 10 but we decided to pass on that . . .

 The Glass House of the Gardens which was all cacti!!  It had the most amazing array and described them as the 'dinosaurs of the plant kingdom', many specimens having been around since that era.

Just down the hill was a series of greenhouses, each containing one variety of plants.  One was 'Carnivorous plants' another was all bromeliads and yet another was all orchids!

Some of the carnivorous plants . . . 

 Unfortunately, almost all the text was in Thai!

These reminded both of us of condoms!

 The biggest leaf we've ever seen!

This was one orchid plant!

 And yet another . . .

 One greenhouse was all water lilies . . .

The orchids up close . . .

 And the cacti in the Glass House.

-------------------------

And last but most definitely not least in this day of wonders, our Thanksgiving dinner!

All the trimmings but not a candied yam in sight!!  I guess they don't get marshmallows in Thailand!!

We brought home two enormous 'goodie bags' which are tonight's dinner.

We wish you all a very 'Happy Thank Giving'!

Tomorrow we're off to Cambodia with Siem Reap/Angkor Wat our first stop.  Planning to wear a lot of clothes to be sure we're under the 7kg carry-on weight limit on Asia Air!!

The Warorot Market and a Search for Turkey Dinner

It's almost Thanksgiving, and we're feeling nostalgic for the table full of long-familiar, once-a-year foods, followed by football games . . . a quick search reveals a couple of places here in CM that actually serve Thanksgiving dinner!  Are there a lot of ex-pat Americans here or what??

Decide to check out Dukes's which appears to be the most authentic menu-wise, and head out of the old city to the banks of the Ping River for the local Duke's.  Alas, of the 4 available seatings, the only one left is 8:30 at night - way too late for these two.  On our return walk, we detour through the Warorot Market which Colin and Winnie have told us is 'the' market for locals.  And it is!!  Reminds us of the gigantic indoor market in Merida, Yucatan . . .

The flower vendors are right on the street - block after block of them.

Aisle, upon aisle of food, clothes, take-away . . . 

And the ever-present stuff on a stick . . . 

We haven't found a place for dinner tomorrow but we sure are hungry after this walk-about!

Back home, we learn that Duke's has a second location - an upscale shopping center (no reservations necessary) so we'll give that a try tomorrow.  But first on the schedule tomorrow, our last excursion in Thailand . . .