Siem Reap: Part I

From the moment we walked out the airport in Siem Reap (which means the flat defeat of Siam aka Thailand), I knew that I was going to absolutely love this country. The airport was clean and sleek, with touches of Asian art. The air and energy reminds me of India, but less crowded.

Our ride - motorcycle attached to a carriage

Dr Fish eating dead skin cells off my feet!

We were craving non-asian food so we found as air conditioned oasis called The Blue Pumpkin (Old Market location) had a delicious Mango Fruit Shake and some american food. We walked around the Old Market and Night Market. They both carry the same trinkets though the Old Market has meats and veggies and was  particularly foul smelling in those food sections. We found a small restaurant run by an Aussie and hung there to cool off. It's hot and humid here like Vietnam and Laos so we're constantly popping into cafes to have water or different sodas that are uncommon to us.

 For dinner we tried Khmer BBQ which is much like Korean BBQ but less tasty. We cooked our veggies (cabbage) and meats at a grill at our table with butter as the base. This came with a side of fried rice. Meat, veggies and rice. Pretty simple.

Since we are spending 4 days here, we devised a quick plan to see the sunrise and explore Angkor Wat  the next morning, take a lunch break, rest and head back to Angkor Thom in the evening.

Angkor Wat sunrise

Angkor Wat: 6 am sunrise. Stunning but smaller than the Taj Mahal. The temple is the middle while it is surround by huge moats, making it the largest Hindu temple complex in the world. We took the classic tourist pictures while the mosquitoes feasted on us. A tour guide approached us and we decided to go with it. He walked around with us for about an hour, told us about Angkor Wat and took some fun pictures. Some interesting facts - it means City Temple, was initially dedicated to Vishnu and then to Buddhism, and
faces west instead of east as most temples do which leads one to think it may be a funerary temple.

The temples are pretty worn down and has not been preserved that well. It seems that the aid of many foreign countries (Japan, Germany and France) are helping to restore parts of the complex though even if there were scaffolding up, there were no workers in sight on a weekday morning. Makes you wonder about how foreign aid is used and why the Cambodians aren't spending money to tidy up their cash cow of tourism.

For late breakfast, we hit up Common Ground, which is owned by People for Care & Learning (PCL). PCL seeks to serve the poor by providing opps for impoverished people to transform their lives through education, feeding centers, orphan/widow care and microfinance. Obviously I was excited to support a good cause, especially one that is close to my heart, in a very simple way. 

In the afternoon, after the most amazing lunch at Abacus, we went to Angkor Thom and walked around for a few hours. Apparently this was the location of many Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie moments though not sure that they filmed on site.

On the way home, we were caught in a rain storm and asked the tuk tuk driver to let us be so were completely soaked during our ride home which was fun! Nothing like a random downpour, there's a calming beauty about it.

look for the faces

Sa bai dee from Luang Prabang

After two flights from Hoi An, we reached Luang Prabang, Laos in the evening. Most of the lights in the airport were turned off which was a bit creepy. We got our visas right before passport control for $36. Our hotel (or shall I say guesthouse) hadn't responded to our emails for pick-up so we bought a ticket and hopped into a taxi. Surprisingly, there's a formal system like in NYC which was a relief since getting ripped off was no longer an issue.

The last two days in the town have been chill yet eventful. Yesterday we walked around town and along the Mekong River which was very peaceful. Then I sent some postcards (to a lucky few whose addresses I could remember, sad to say that it wasn't as many as I would have liked!). Very curious to see how long the postcards take to get back to the US. Hit up a spa (Spa Garden) for a foot massage. The girl who worked on me, Meo, is a 19 year old girl studying law, who is the eldest of 7 children. She was very sweet and asked for my email address so we could become facebook friends!

On the Nam Khan River

Adventure #4: We had signed up for a Sunset Cruise on the Mekong River. Sounds nice right? Yeah, apparently we are the only ones who thought so. We showed up the tour office and they looked a bit confused to see us. So we showed them our tickets and they had a young man escort us to the boat. Except we literally did not exchange a word or know where he was taking us. We just followed. We tend to do that a lot here. He took us down a "death trap," meaning no stairs, huge incline and just dirt and rocks everywhere. I slipped a few times but managed to catch myself just in time. Dangerous! And once we got the boat, there was no one there but us. Private cruise for around $5.50 each. And to think, they must still be making a profit when there were only two of us on it. Ridiculous.

We hit up the infamous night market and night food stalls which starts at dusk and runs until about 10 pm. Bought a few things, ate some dinner and crashed since we had to wake up early today.

Today we took an hour ride outside of Luang Prabang in a tuk tuk, with two medical students from SF, for a morning exploring the Pak Ou Caves and then the Elephant Village. The Pak Ou Caves were nice and the steps to get there were steep. With the humidity, we are already melting each moment of the day, so some steps just made all the more worse. Can't say I'm not getting my exercise in!

 Adventure #5: Elephants. Het's elephant, Sir-Spits-A-Lot, didn't wait to start the tricks. He threw up a bunch of dirt all over Het and since he was on a sneezing fit it was even more of a mess. So for an hour, Sir Spits-A-Lot sneezed and sneezed and sneezed, all of it hitting Het in the face. Gross to have an elephants sneezy bits all over you. Mine did it a few times but not as much. To make the situation even more insane, right when we were about to finish up the ride, the elephants decided to walk through muddy water. And guess who got sprayed with muddy water all over? You got it, Het. What a ride, literally!

We will see some of the Wats today and go back to the night market. After that, off to Siem Reap tomorrow!

I heart Hoi An

We wrapped up our morning in Hanoi by visiting the Dong Xuan Market. The guidebooks recommended to cut the offered price by 50% and then settle at 70% of the original offer. But, for some reason the vendors in Hanoi  weren't so interested in battling it out like I've seen at markets all over the world. In which case, they won at the end because I bought what I wanted without using much of my negotiation skills.

And....off to Hoi An! Our hotel, which is a homestay, is divine. My room is a one bedroom bungalow, with a kitchen, living room and an outside shower! Shout out to The Shahs for an awesome recommendation! Service here (and in Vietnam in general) has been outstanding.

Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (seems like everything is these days!) and caters to tourists since they have been flocking here over the past 10 or so years. With colonial architecture, the buildings and shops are breathtaking. So glad we made it here even though its a bit out of the way but totally worth it.

We đid our part as tourists and ordered some custom made shoes! Dinner at Miss Ly's amazing restaurant - food was on point - White Rose  (dumpling with shrimp/meat in a light sauce) and Fried Wontons were delicious, in fact we may go back again for our last meal here. :)

Fried Wonton w/chicken and shrimp

The next day we took our bikes (regular for me and motorbike for Het) and pedaled/zoomed off to the daily Central Market. Visiting local markets are my favorite part of any trip because you get to see what the town is all about - and the pictures always come out nicely due to the environment.

For lunch, we tried the town's famous Cau Lau noodles at Morning Glory. Have to say, it wasn't my favorite. I think my heart was stolen by Hanoi's fresh rice noodles. Bun bo, yum.

Adventure #2 (of the trip): On the way back to the hotel, Het asked me to wait on the corner but for some reason that didn't register...so I pedaled off. The hotel's about 15 minutes from town so I expected to get there last. After about 10 minutes of waiting and worrying,  I started feeling bad about not waiting to see if everything was ok before i bolted. Back down to town and found each other at the starting point. Turns out that we were both looking for each other...for 45 minutes. Relieved, we headed back and changed for dinner and our cooking class.

We hit up the shoe store before and realized that our class was on the other side of tơwn and it was time to book it! And course, we got lost and it started to raining and the brakes on my bike don't work so well... Adventure #3! We finally found the place and even though the place is Red Bridge's cooking school, classes are held at the Cafe around the corner from the shoe store! So yeah...we laughed it off, took some pictures of the red bridge and head back to the hotel. Lost each other again along the way, 5 minute recovery this time. Dropped our bikes and took a taxi into town for a non-Vietnamese meal at Cargo, overlooking the river on the rooftop balcony.

Quite a day! And happy to say that we got through it in good spirits despite the miscommunication and worries. Planning to check out the beautiful Hoi An beaches tomorrow and pick up our shoes from town.

A day in Hanoi

We started the day with a visit to the Hanoi Prison which was an interesting experience. For some reason, it was hard to get the thought of men and women walking around this prison just a few decades ago out of my head. Men were all shackled to one platform in one room, and to recreate this they had statues in the rooms. It was too real for me. The Prison had much to say about America and Vietnam's perspective during the war. Random but John McCain had been in this prison at some point as well.

After we walked over to the French Quarter, saw the Opera House, the Hanoi Stock Exchange and passed the Hoan Kiem Lake which is in the center of the city. We grabbed lunch at an authentic spot in the Old Quarter - it was all locals and us :)

My lunch: Bun Bo, fresh rice noodles w/herbs and spices topped with beef and crispy fried garlic. 

yummy and less than $2!

We tried to go to the local market but everyone was packing up when we got there so will be heading back first thing tomorrow before our flight to Hoi An!

Hanoi and Ha Long Bay?

After a 24 hour journey, we arrived safely on Sunday evening! Had some luggage issues in that my friend's luggage was ripped/damaged but Cathay was able to take care of it for us.

 Woke up early this morning and boarded the bus for a 4 hour ride to Ha Long Bay for our first junk cruise on the Dragon's Pearl! After an 8 course seafood lunch (clams, oysters, crabs, etc) we were told that there was a typhoon watch and we wouldn't be able to stay on the boat overnight as planned :( They took us to a cave and to a beach for about an hour and then we headed back to the harbor. Another 4 hour bus ride later, we got into Hanoi and finally our new hotel. The cruise people were able to secure a hotel room for us which was nice and very helpful. We are officially calling this Adventure #1.So, unexpected but we now have a full day to explore Hanoi.

Looking forward to finally seeing some of Vietnam and to not be on any planes or buses tomorrow!

And that's a wrap!

Last night, I read through the girls emails telling me more about themselves. The stories are inspirational - being the first in their family to be educated, losing parents at an early age with no where to go, taking care of a large family with an income of a teacher, and one girl has hopes of becoming a doctor. All of this reminded me of my family's story, which is very similar to many of these women.

This morning, I began with my story. It seemed only fair since they had so kindly and openly shared theirs with me.

My grandmother married at 11, had her first child at 13, had 10 children (1 passed away early on), lost her husband when her last child was 2 months, and managed to raise 9 beautiful and wildly successful children. All starting from a village in Bangladesh. My parents were the first in my family to immigrate to the United States, hence I was the first to be raised and be fully educated abroad.

Initially, I asked the Camfed manager (who bears a strong resemblance to Bailey from Greys Anatomy) to tell it for me, worrying that the girls wouldn't understand me. She encouraged me to try as it would be more genuine coming from me. When I finished, there was a round of applause! Not gonna lie, I almost lost my marbles for a moment. Got it together before anyone noticed and charged forward with another typing exercise!

They spent the morning writing about what they learned, how they will apply their new computer skills in their lives and each told me how much their confidence has grown from Day 1. It was amazing to see each girl stand up and speak, projecting their voices and looking proud.

The filming guy arrived in the morning. My coworker and I were both interviewed, as well as some of the girls. We'll be given about 3 minutes of air time on CNBC showcasing my company's initiative and the work we have done in Tamale, Ghana.

We wrapped up with internet exercises and email. Then the women gave me some lovely notes that they had written which was accompanied by a heartwarming speech. Let me tell you, some of these women speak like they belong on the news (but they carry emotion in their voices). Just brilliant.

Group shot


Overall, it was a great experience and am very grateful to have been able to come to Ghana to spend time with these confident and ambitious young women. I wish each of them the best and hope to keep in touch via email.

Thank you for reading, I know this was a long one :)

She said to me "Take a picture and show people how we carry our babies in Africa"

Day 3: a BIG day

As the title says, today was a BIG day in many ways.

In the morning, the internet was only working in the other room, so we decided to swap rooms after lunch to give both groups a chance at setting up email addresses.

We began with another re-cap exercise. Then I showed them powerpoint and excel which was a huge challenge since they were just getting the hang of word.

After lunch, just as I was beginning to feel extremely challenged at the task of repeating myself 15 times per exercise, repeating myself 15 times per exercise...oops, the habit will take a while to go away after i'm back so beware.

Well anyway, after lunch, the girls threw me a bone and told me that they wanted to take pictures with me which felt like a major breakthrough! Maybe the attempt at relationship building actually worked? Or they are just buttering me up so they can have some pictures of themselves. Either way, I'll take it!

I promised them I'd upload the pictures to my computer tonight so I can transfer them to their USBs tomorrow. Its the most excited I've seen them! Ah the little things. :)

At the end of the day, everyone has email though they don't all quite understand how to work it and have been introduced to all of the Microsoft Office applications they need to know.

Review, review, review tomorrow and of course, the filming.

One of my coworkers advanced students ridiculous drawing on Paint


this one speaks for itself