Travel Archives - Page 36 of 47

Europe Georgia Trip 2014 Poland

Warsaw Whirlwind

I arrived in Warsaw at around noon and zipped through security and immigration and onto a train which got me into the city centre speedily and without incident. I did a bit of reading up before leaving and knew where i planned to roam around. Of course, upon leaving the train station I promptly set off, quite confidently, in the wrong direction. Walked for about a half an hour before I realized something had gone wrong. No matter though, I got to see some of the more ordinary parts of the city, filled with traffic, cafes, milk bars, and kebab shops.

Once i had my bearings i walked up the lovely Nowy Swiat (street), lined with cafes, churches, palaces, the university, and oodles of inviting cafes and eateries. There were certainly people about but the streets weren’t particularly lively as it was pouring rain and windy. A winning combination. First purchase: an umbrella. Nevertheless, the walk was lovely. The churches were filled with worshipers and three of them had weddings underway, so I watched for a bit. In each case, the bride & groom sat on chairs, which led me to believe that these are long ceremonies. I didn’t stay long enough to find out how they ended.

One church stood out for the fact that it (allegedly) has Chopin’s heart in an urn inside one of the columns in the nave. I was disappointed that it was not on display in a box, like something out of Snow White, but it was cool anyway.

At the end of that street it opens up into a beautiful square in the “Old Town”. I am using quotation marks because this part of the city was decimated in WW2 and then later re-built and restored, painstakingly, into an exact replica of what it was before. So it isn’t technically old, i guess, or at least not entirely, but it really is beautiful. Wonderfully open squares with outdoor cafes are surrounded by colourful buildings, often ornately decorated with design or paintings of people and animals. Of course there are countless places luring you in with their pastries, vodkas, meats, and dumplings.

After walking for quite a while (and getting quite soaked in the process) i cozied up inside a warm eatery with wooden…everything, and lots of books lining the walls. (An observation: there are still tons of bookshops here. Awesome.) i had a plate of golden pierogies and a cabbage salad, washed down with a pot of tea. Perfect rainy day fare.

After that, more walking, including poking around in an antique store filled with soviet and WW2 odd and ends, where i picked up an (allegedly) antique, wood-lined, silver cigarette box with a skull on top of it – with a cigarette in its teeth. There was no way that wasn’t coming home with me.

This really was just a Warsaw sampler. There are so many wonderful looking museums and areas to explore, but i only had 10 hours, and there is still the airport to factor in. I spent the last hour or two in the most perfect cigar lounge, settled into a leather chair with a Bolivar Belicoso Fino and a Punch Limited Edition torpedo, watching the rain and reading. There were some other guys in there, but they were in pairs, talking in hushed, conspiratorial sounding Polish, so i didn’t make any new friends.

I then confidently got on a train back to the airport, with just enough time to spare and rode three stops before i realized i was on the wrong train and did not know any words in Polish to assist. After drawing a picture of an airplane and something that was intended to be Chopin (after whom the airport is named) for a foursome on my wrongly chosen train, much to their amusement, they pointed me in the right direction, and, well, here I am back at the airport, waiting to board my flight to Georgia.

I’ll be back here for a sequel to this Warsaw whirlwind next Sunday, at which point I should have a better idea of where I am going.
On to Tbilisi!

But first, a few more photos:

Asia Georgia (the country) Georgia Trip 2014

Georgia (the country)

In one week I’m off to Georgia – the country, not the American state. I know. Georgia. Random. This will be a short trip, 10 days in total, so it seems somewhat ludicrous that I am flying to the other side of the globe, but I think I’ll be able to pack a lot in to my time there and I love flying so the long flight is kind of a bonus (all that forced relaxation and guilt free napping…heaven).

It’s not like I discovered Georgia of course, but I really hadn’t given it a thought until about a year or so ago when I was looking at my atlas one lazy day over a cigar (as you do) and I saw it and thought, “What’s the deal with Georgia?” So I started reading about it and became very intrigued. First of all, it looks beautiful in terms of landscape and architecture: snow-capped mountains, bucolically verdant valleys, medieval churches, and glittering modern design. Second, people don’t really go there – not like they do to Italy or Argentina anyway. This appeals to me. The off-the-beaten-track places are always the best. Fewer crowds and a sense (albeit somewhat false) that you are discovering something new makes any place better. Third, Georgia is small enough that I can see enough of it in my time allowed such that I shouldn’t feel deprived. Fourth, I feel an obligation to select travel destinations that will help to improve the geographical knowledge of my friends and family. You’re welcome.

You can read about Georgia on your own if you are so inclined, but here are some basic facts to get you started. Georgia is technically in Western Asia, on the ‘balcony of Europe’. It is nestled between Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, and Turkey, with its West coast on the Black Sea – the Caucasus region. Population: about 4.5 million. It was in the news most prominently in recent memory in 2008 when it fought a war with Russia. It has this awesome looking language – Georgian – which is a Kartvelian language. Seriously, Kartvelian. It’s fun to say aloud. It is a family of about 4 languages which are only spoken in that region, so it is entirely dissimilar to neighboring languages like Russian and Turkish. The written language looks like this: ულოცავენ. სად არის უახლოესი სიგარების მაღაზია? (Which means, “Greetings. Where is the nearest cigar store?” I think.)

The flag is this cool looking medieval design that would not look out of place being held high by a knight on horseback.

Apparently, Georgia is the oldest confirmed wine-producing country on the planet, with evidence of wine making vessels discovered from about 6000 bce. From what I can tell the food looks good, with lots of dumplings, bread, eggplant, walnuts, and tomatoes.

The capital city is called Tbilisi (or T’bilisi), which will be my base for the time that I am there. It looks like a beautiful city with charming crumbly bits and beautifully re-built areas, set along a river lots to explore.

From what I’ve read, the Georgian people are renowned for their hospitality, much of which may be booze inspired, but nevertheless, the stories of friendly and welcoming locals was appealing.

But here’s what sealed the deal for me: you can still smoke everywhere in Georgia: in restaurants and bars, in the backs of buses, etc. The thought of being able to smoke cigars with my meals or beverages – inside – is so appealing, that this alone makes it a winning destination. I plan to smoke constantly and joyfully. I have read in two different books however that in Georgia, although it has very high rates of smoking, that when it comes to women, only prostitutes smoke outside on the streets. This is a theory I will obviously be testing on a daily basis.

One added bonus is that my flying itinerary affords me two lengthy layovers in Warsaw, so I’ll be able to do some exploring there are well.

So that’s what I have planned. I’m sure it will be terrific and I hope to have lots of interesting adventures to share.

Now, let’s see how many cigars I can cram into my backpack…

Asia South East Asia 2013 South Korea Thailand

Temple of Dawn & Cold in Seoul

We did so much in our first full day in Bangkok that we were a bit burnt out on the third and final day. We had already done so much exploring and seen so much, but we had saved a couple of things for the final day: we began by walking down to one of the many piers along the river and caught a boat across to the Wang Kang pier where a market was bustling. It was a fun one to explore, as it was a bit different (a bit more clothing and odds and ends and a bit less pig entrails). We did that until we grew weary and then caught a couple more boats south down the river. Each crossing of the river by boat is brief and cheap (3 Baht) and quite pleasant.

We arrived at our final destination: Wat Arun, which means ‘Temple of Dawn’. It is one of the oldest Wats in Bangkok and is very interesting as it is decorated with perfect symmetry of design largely out of broken pottery. It also has steep stairs that one can climb about half way up the outside. It isn’t too far, but the stairs were quite steep and seemed like a bad idea, given my sprained ankle from my fall at Angkor Wat. It was a beautiful structure though.

After that the afternoon sun was merciless and we hailed a tuk tuk back to the area around our hotel before killing a few hours languishing on restaurant patios, enjoying cold and fruity drinks, snacks and cigars, just killing time until it was time to go to the airport.

When we left (narrowly missing the lantern festival) the moon rose large and full over the city.

After a 5 hour flight we arrived in Seoul, having had no sleep and realizing that it is winter here and the temperature was about 2 degrees celcius. We were still dressed for the tropical weather of Bangkok. I hadn’t really factored this into my plans. We had a 12 hour layover in Seoul and when i have done this previously, it had been summer and perfect for walking. I had foolishly planned a wonderful walking route around Seoul to occupy us during our layover, but we arrived not only finding it wintery but windy. Canadian though we may be, we are just not that hearty.

We gave it a go though, taking the train to Seoul station and walking to Namdaemun market, where we had some breakfast bibimbap and tried to warm ourselves by browsing through the market shops, but we had to admit defeat. It was just freezing. We headed back to the airport, stopping ay Seoul station for coffee and looking around in a supermarket and various shops selling cute and confusing items.

No photos from Seoul this time. We were too icy and tired to even think of it.

Fortunately the airport in Seoul is extraordinary and we have had no trouble keeping ourselves entertained and catching up on much needed rest. We will be boarding our flight to Vancouver presently. The trip has been a great one. I hate to return home, but we are both badly in need of clean clothes and baths, so home it is.

Thanks for following.

Asia South East Asia 2013 Thailand

Bangkok

Our first full day in Bankok was an active one. Betty Lou will tell you without any prompting that we walked for at least 10 hours. Fortunately, the weather was unexpectedly mild and pleasant.

We left our hotel after breakfast and walked a bit randomly, visiting a couple of stunning temples we stumbled upon. It was still quite early and they were empty except for us and a caretaker. Most of the temples we have visited here are more ornate than those in Cambodia, and there are fewer monks about. Just as lovely but different.

We then visited Wat Phra Kaewa and the Grand Palace. The complex was simply amazing. It was brimming with temples and palace buildings and statues, all covered with detailed ornamentation; it was such an explosion of color and sparkle and that all we could do was walk around in awe and daftly say “wow”.

Following the Grand Palace and associated wats, we walked further south to Wat Pho, which was also lovely (although i must admit that at this point things started to get blurry – too much of similar, beautiful things viewed in a short time can be exhausting). It was smaller and more manageable however and we enjoyed the ornamental structures.

The big site at Wat Pho however is the reclining Buddha, which did not disappoint. It is a large gold Buddha laying on its side, is covered in gold (except the soles of its feet which are mother of pearl design) and is 46m long and 15m high. Pretty amazing. The room was filled with the loud sound of people putting hundred of coins, as offerings, into metal bowls which lined the walls.

My plan after that was to walk down to Chinatown, but we became sidetracked by this amazing flower market. Apparently it operates 24 hours and it runs for countless blocks, in which people are surrounded by giant baskets, or in some cases, whole rooms of orchids, marigolds, and other flowers. Along the way, workers were fashioning the fresh flowers into decorative garlands, and ornaments on to which candles were to be placed before the flowers were used as offerings at temples, or more specifically in this case, used in a full moon lantern festival which was set to occur the next night (and which we would miss by a couple hours due to our airport deadline). It was really interesting and very busy.

In the evening we had a leisurely dinner on Rambuttri Street (near Khao San Road and our hotel) and then i smoked some shisha while we watched the endless procession of tourists. The place has a definite night life vibe, which carried on far later than we did. I was detemined to get up early the next day to pack in yet more sightseeing before our flight (lest there be one temple or market alley we might miss). It was a great day.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Battambang

Battambang day two.
We had arranged a tuk tuk driver to take us around to the various sights I wanted to see, which were outside of the city. Our driver called himself “Dollar” and proved to be a terrific guide for the day. He was handsome, spoke excellent English and was quite willing to talk to us about his life now and previously when he was a monk, as well as his mother surviving the Khmer Rouge and his dream of moving to New York. He also gave us a lot of information about the sights.

Our first stop was the bamboo train. Cambodia has no trains; they were all decommissioned some time ago, but there is in Battambang, in one of the rural villages on the outskirts, one remaining train…of sorts. The bamboo train consists of a low platform of bamboo slats through which the ground is clearly visible. The platform sits atop two axles each with two metal wheels/cylinders. The contraption is powered by a small motor which seems to be operated with a wooden stick. There are no brakes.

Dale, Betty-Lou, & Mr Dollar on the bamboo train

Apparently the thing can reach speeds of up to 40k per hour but we did not seem to travel that fast. We sat in the platform and were zipped though the countryside, leaves slapping our arms much of the way, past rice fields and over rickety bridges which cross muddy streams. The tracks are mostly even and mostly straight, but the ride is bumpy at times. It was great, like a really primitive amusement park ride. At the end of the line (after about 20 mins) we arrived at a “station” consisting of a few shacks selling water and bananas and some t shirts and scarves. There were a few children around who were keen to show us the brick making factory nearby, which was really two giant kilns that looked like beehives, in which they made bricks by burning the left over husks from the rice harvest.

On the way back we passed numerous other trains coming in the opposite direction. There is only one track, so when another train comes in the opposite direction, the drivers decide somehow who should get off. One of the trains is quickly dismantled to allow the other to pass and then first train is put back on the tracks and everyone carries on their way. They whole thing was really fun and cost $5 for the ride.

We reboarded our tuk tuk and set off to our next stop. The dirt roads were incredibly uneven. It had rained the night before and heavily that morning and there were deep holes and furrows in the narrow road, which made the travel interesting and slightly frightening when we had to pass by another vehicle and drive perilously close to the edge of the drop off into the rice paddy. The bumpiness was just fun.

We next went to a small mountain and drove half way up in a jeep (your options are walking, motorbike, or jeep) to a temple, some golden shrines with buddhas, various monks, and some caves. The caves had been used by the Khmer Rouge to throw people to their deaths, but now a steep staircase has been installed and there is a shrine at the bottom with a large, golden buddha and glass boxes in which the bones of the dead are collected. The cave was somber and beautiful, but what made the visit less fun were the stinging red ants that covered the stairs and the handrail on the way down. I was mostly exempted from their wrath, but Betty Lou had them on her ankles, up her pant legs to the thigh and on the back of the neck. To her credit, she handled it well – far better that i would have.

After that the jeep took us to the top of the mountain to the temple Phnom Sampeau which was beautiful, but even more stunning were the views over the verdant landscape. While we were up there we saw one large, loner monkey walk out of the trees and right into someone’s house.

Back at the base of the mountain at Dollar’s suggestion we ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant in what was basically the yard of someone’s modest home. Betty Lou had fried ginger with chicken, i had morning glory with rice, our driver had soup and rice and with water the whole bill was $7. And the food was delicious.

The next leg of our journey involved another stretch of insanely bumpy dirt road in the tuk tuk. The holes and furrows were even worse, but it was exciting and it afforded us some a wonderful look at rural life.

We stopped at a grouping of trees which were filled with hundreds and hundreds of giant fruit bats. They were mostly hanging upside down in the trees, but were very much awake, screeching and flapping their wings. Every few seconds a few would fly around, stretching their enormous wings (these are some of the biggest bats in the world). It was incredible.

Next up was a stop at a tiny winery – a new thing in Cambodia (they do grow grapes here). We sampled the wine (not great, but drinkable), a brandy (not bad and very strong), grape juice (nice), and a honey ginger juice (delicious).

Finally we stopped at a local fishing village to see locals fishing from boats, using large nets.

The day was wonderful. We saw so much pristine countryside and authentic rural life. The weather was excellent and our host delightful. He charged $20 for the day and i for once did not haggle. (I’m pretty sure Betty Lou slipped him a 50% tip.)

The evening finished up with dinner at small corner restaurant where we watched a cat stalking a rat. More wildlife, up close.

It is now the next morning and we are waiting for the bus to Bangkok. They say it will take 6 hours. I have my doubts.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Siem Reap to Battambang

Our final day in Siem Reap was spent in town. Two full days of temples was enough to satisfy us and so we spent the fourth day shopping for souvenirs in the market. There are so many beautiful things, but of course one has only so much room at home and in one’s suitcase, so we tried to limit ourselves. That being said, we have had to purchase a third bag to carry our purchases.

Betty Lou shopping the market amuses me greatly. Cambodia is a culture of bargaining. One never pays the first price and, while not merciless, some haggling is expected. I enjoy this process; Betty Lou does not. While I play along with ‘the whole, hesitate, walk away and name low prices as a starting point’, she willingly pays the first price, or, often, she pays more. A shopkeeper asks $4 for a pair of earrings and Betty Lou pays $5, saying that they are worth more than the asking price. With this strategy in place, I am sure the merchants of Siem Reap were sad to see her go.

But go we did, after a couple meals sitting in the perfectly warm night air. The following morning we took a bus to Battambang. We were told the journey would be 3 hours and it was closer to 5, but the ride was very lovely, through the countryside. At one point we stopped for a break and we bought sweet rice and beans cooked in a bamboo stalk, which one peels back in order to feast on the contents. There were also roasted beetles and crickets for sale, but we took a pass on those.

Battabang is not a particularly nice looking city. It is dusty and the buildings are old and not particularly well maintained, aside from that though, there are some nice restaurants and cafes and some interesting, poorly kept french colonial buildings. The main reason for stopping here though is for the countryside, which is said to be some of the country’s loveliest.

We checked into our Hotel (the Royal Hotel), which is unremarkable, but adequate, and very affordable. It is also right across the street from the market and steps from good places to eat.

One of the welcome things about Battambang is that it is so quiet compared to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Here people are not constantly trying to sell us stuff or offer us services. People are mostly just going about their daily lives. It is nice to take a look at a regular city in Cambodia.
The first evening we went for a bit of a walk and had some amazing curries; i also visited a temple and saw many monks chanting before i settled down at a local restaurant for a cigar and a bit of reading. The next day would prove to be action-packed.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Angkor Wat

On our second day in Siem Reap we hired a tuk tuk driver, Mr. Lum, to take us to the temples. The journey was not long but was wonderful, riding through the shady jungle streets in the tuk tuk, past troupes of monkeys, elephants, and roadside vendors selling coconuts, fruit and water.

We began by visiting Angkor Thom, of which the highlight is the Bayon temple, which is three levels structures with of dozens of faces, all of them huge and perfectly carved and identical to one another. It was spectacular to climb over the stones and in and around the temples’ various rooms, some of which held Buddhist or Hindu shrines and were thick with incense smoke. There were many tour groups there, but it did not spoil our visit.

Let me say this of this temple and all that we visited so i need not repeat myself unnecessarily all of the temples, are amazing. They bear many similarities: each is situated in the jungle and is surrounded by the forest as well as countless smaller temples, statues, walkways, and pools, and everything is or was ornately carved with design and religious figures. All are about 900 years old, give or take a century. Some have been well maintained and others have let the jungle enclose around them, with vines and enormous strangler figs growing on and through them and slowly reducing them to rubble. Around each shrine or temple are locals selling drinks and souvenirs and there are throngs of small children selling postcards and musical instruments. Our driver took us to each temple and we had more or less unlimited time to explore. It was a great way of visiting. Some people took bicycles to the temples, which seems like a great idea in the morning, but by the afternoon, the heat is oppressive and i did not envy them in the least.

Next we visited Ta Prohm, which is one of those temples where nature has been allowed to take over, it was amazing to see what will happen if the trees are allowed to grow as they please.

On our way out of that temple we saw what looked like a foot long twig but was the largest walking stick insect i have ever seen. Aside from its mantis-like head, it looked exactly like a stick. Incredible. We also saw a large, dead black millipede and some flying beetle the size of a big cockroach. There were also innumerable cows and several grazing water buffalo (at least that’s what they looked like).

We visited numerous other temples, some of which involved climbing steep stairs to the top, which afforded wonderful views over the landscape. Betty Lou was delighted to find an artist from whom she bought a painting.

Our day of temples finished up at Angkor Wat itself, which is truly magnificent, rising above the jungle and approached by way of a long walkway bordered by carvings and a large moat.

We walked around the temple taking in the incredible bas reliefs and i was looking forward to climbing up to the high inner chamber when i fell down some stairs (because i was being stupid and not paying attention) and badly twisted my ankle. Betty Lou sprang into action, assessing the injury (not a break but a sprain) and fashioning a bandage out of her krama (traditional Cambodian scarf). The end result of that was that i can walk/limp, very slowly and my ability to climb stairs is somewhat limited, so i did not get to climb up to the inner part of the temple. It is painful and annoying but it shall not otherwise hamper my sightseeing.

In the evening we went out for a dinner of traditional Khmer food – i had a lovely curry and an odd dessert of cooked potato and tapioca – before going to bed, early and exhausted.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Siem Reap

We arrived at the airport in Siem Reap the other morning after a 45 min flight from Phnom Penh and quickly arranged a tuk tuk to take us to our hotel – the Golden Temple Villa. The hotel is lovely with a courtyard filled with tropical plants and palms, pools of fish and statues of Vishnu and Buddha. The service is impeccable, the room is simple but charming, the wifi is good and it comes with swell perks like free coffee, tea, and bananas, and a 1 hour free massage (of which Betty Lou has already availed herself), all for the princely sum of $24/night.

After getting settled we went out to explore the town. It feels much smaller and while the traffic is still madness and there are even more hawkers, it is much quieter than Phnom Penh. We are staying a few blocks from the hub (at least as far as tourists are concerned) of Siem Reap – the market and streets lined with colorful and inviting shops and restaurants. There is a river running through the town and which connects it with Phnom Penh.

We had a lovely time exploring and browsing at the market for spices, tea, fruit and clothing before settling in to a lovely outdoor eatery for some amok. The rest of the day was spent exploring the town, including popping into one temple to listen to the monks in prayer, chanting, which was very peaceful.

In the evening, we sat at one of the many bars/restaurants on “pub street” for some people watching, which was alright. There are so many tourists here. It is to be expected i suppose, but they are really concentrated into this one area. It is a nice area though. After exploring and eating Betty Lou enjoyed her massage and i enjoyed some relaxation of my own variety at the hookah lounge across the street from our hotel which was crowded with locals and thick with shisha smoke.

It feels a bit hotter here than our other stops – hotter and more humid. It is still fine, but you have to accept that you will never feel cool or clean and makeup is impossible. We did get some laundry done (cleaned and pressed for $1.50), but those clothes are already filthy.

Here, as in our other stops, people in the business of catering to tourists speak decent English. Our attempts at speaking Khmer are simple at best. We noticed in Phnom Penh that many locals who spoke no English, also had little ability to read Khmer. A few times i used my phrase book to point to sentences written in Khmer (like, ‘do you have vegetarian food’) but they were unable to read them. The same goes for maps. But one can always make one’s self understood.

We are here for about four days and plan to spend about two of them visiting temples.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Phnom Penh by Tuk Tuk

On our second full day in Phnom Penh we hired a tuk tuk driver, who went by the the name of Johnny, to take us to the “Killing Fields” and a couple of other sights. It was strangely relaxing being driven though the city traffic, which seems chaotic but actually has a bizarre flow which works well and did not bring about the least amount of apprehension in either of us. We weaved between buses and tuk tuks and motor scooters carrying their multiple passengers, bushels of bananas, sacks of something, and in one case, a large dead pig. The exhaust and dust from the barely paved roads grew string as we carried in and out driver offered us each a surgical mask. It was very useful for keeping the grit out of one’s teeth, but not so conducive to smoking.

We arrived at the Killing fields of Choeung Ek, which are really very peaceful, due to the their rural setting and despite their horrific past. We did the audio tour of the sight, which was very good and informative, giving the history of the otherwise nondescript spots along the walk. After Choeung Ek we went by tuk tuk to the Tuol Sleng prison, where so many people were held, tortured and executed. It was a sobering pair of sights, but certainly worth visiting.

Finally, we had our driver take us to the “Russian Market”, large market, very similar to the first, but more labyrinthine and containing more crafts and souvenirs. We had some vegetables, noodles and fried ginger at a food counter and took the tuk tuk back to our hotel.

Yesterday was the first day that it felt really hot to me. All the other days so far were hot, but in a totally bearable, humid, Miami sort of way. Yesterday afternoon though it felt very hot as I went for an afternoon walk. I visited a couple more temples and walked to an area which was quite fancy, which I promptly left, as I felt too dirty and shabby to be there. All around the streets local people were setting up for the next day which is a holiday, and flags were hung above the streets.

In the evening, we dined and people watched before making our way back to the hotel along the wildly uneven and dark paving stones, sidestepping holes, garbage, and sleeping families.

That was yesterday. Now we are at the airport about to board a 45 minute flight to Siem Reap.

Asia Cambodia South East Asia 2013

Soggy in Phnom Penh

Our first full day in Phnom Penh began with a lovely breakfast at our hotel underneath the palm trees. After that we decided to walk to a couple of temples along or near the waterfront. The walk started off well enough but then the rains came – slowly at first and then they were a full tropical deluge. By the time we were able to procure a couple of umbrellas we were drenched from socks to scarves. The thing is though, once you are that wet you can’t get wetter so we relished in it and enjoyed splashing though the puddles in our sopping shoes and smiling and declining the offered from tuk tuk drivers to take us dryly to our destination.

Our first stop was Wat Ounalom, which is the head of Buddhism in Cambodia. It is more that one building but a complex of temples and graves and shrines. One such shrine, guarded by an old man in sunglasses and chain smoking cigarettes, contains an alleged hair from the Buddha’s eyebrow. The sunglasses man beckoned us and unlocked the shrine and had us sit on the mat in front of the Buddha while he lit incense and candles and then mixed scented oil in a bowl and used some sticks to flick the oil on us while he chanted (prayers or blessings I assumed, but for all I know if could have been a curse). No sign of the eyebrow, but apparently it is in there.

After that wat we walked further north to Wat Phnom, which is a temple atop a hill. We climbed up the stairs which were pouring with water and spent some time inside, on the floor, admiring the gilded Buddhas and drying out.

The rain began to let up slightly as we walked back south to the Central Market (the Psar Thmei), a large, domes, Art Deco building which houses a large market. The inside sells mostly jewelry, clothing, electronics, and other goods, while around the market are the food stalls selling fresh produce and vegetables, eggs, fish and seafood, and meats – so many means being carved up, from chickens and teeny tiny birds to frogs, grubs, and who knows what else. It was smelly and colourful and fantastic.

We sat at one of the counters in the food selling area and ordered a couple of soups (mine without meat). They were very tasty and with some added spicy chilis, they were delicious (and about $1.25 each). After that we bought some tasty pastries and mangosteens and a small white coconut and walked back to our hotel, now in the sunshine.

After a bit of a rest we walked back down to the waterfront and had a tasty dinner of Thai food with a fellow we ran into who had been on our boat in Vietnam (an Australian fellow who was a jackaroo turned hot air balloonist – there are a couple of careers I never considered).

It was a satisfyingly full day and we slept soundly.

Wandering North

Tag: Travel

Warsaw Whirlwind

Georgia (the country)

Temple of Dawn & Cold in Seoul

Bangkok

Battambang

Siem Reap to Battambang

Angkor Wat

Siem Reap

Phnom Penh by Tuk Tuk

Soggy in Phnom Penh