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Cambodia

Tazzy — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:47:00 GMT

Again, I'm late on posting pictures, but I've been quite busy lately.

Cambodia was one of the unexpected surprises on the entire trip. It ranked pretty highly on the places and things I saw. Over the course of the last decade, Cambodia has been a rapidly developing country. Because of the turmoil in the country throughout its history, tourism is only starting to pick up. In the short time that we were there, we saw a number of new hotels and resorts sprouting up around Siem Reap. The great thing about this for tourists is that things are EXTREMELY cheap. The most expensive dish at our hotel restaurant was $4.75 USD. In addition, the people there were extremely nice.

We had hired a tour guide and driver for the two days that we were there. For the 7 of us, it only costed a total of about $250. Our tour guide was amazing. Tour guides in Cambodia have to be licensed by the Tourism Bureau. The guy that we had knew a lot about the country. You could really tell he loved the country and really wanted to share his passion with us. Once we landed, he greeted us at the airport and immediately started our tour since he knew we were only there for a short span of time. We drove down a 2 laned "highway." Supposedly, this was the biggest highway in the entire country connecting Vietnam with Thailand. It consisted of two lanes shared by trucks, buses, vans, cars, motorcycles, bicycle, pedestrians, and cows.

Along the way, our tour guide was explaining to us about the Tonle Sap Floating Village. The floating village consists of 55,000 residents living on house boats. We're not talking about fiberglass enclosed houseboats, but rather little houses built on little boats both made of trees and branches. (Surprisingly though, we found some houses with tvs and generators.) The village even had floating grocery stores and a floating school with a basketball court. Tonle Sap is a large lake that th villagers reside on. During the dry season, the lake covers an area of 2,700 sq km area with a depth of about 1 meter. During the rain season, the lake swells up to cover 16,000 sq kms with a depth of 9 meters. Basically, during the wet season, the lake expands to cover half of the entire country of Cambodia. Throughout the year, the entire village has to move at least 8 times so that they are not stuck out int he middle of the lake nor stranded on dry land. We also watched the sunset from the middle of the lake.

The next morning, we woke up pre-sunrise to head up to Ankor Wat. Our tour guide took us to the back entrance through darken woods to avoid the crowd and to get a better view of the sunrise. Once at the site, we climbed up these steep staircase up about 65 feet to a perch at the south eastern corner of the main temple structure and watched the sunrise from there. Along with approaching the Grand Canyon for the first time, seeing Hawaii from the top of an extinct volcano, and overlooking the canopy of Tikal, this ranked high up there in terms of amazing once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

It is actually quite surprising (and a lot of Cambodians that we talked to lamented about it), that Ankor Wat did not make the list of "New 7 Wonders of the World". Our guide was explaining how the vote was unfair because only a million people visited Cambodia each year and many of the Cambodians don't have internet to vote. I definitely think it should have and would have beat out "Christ Redeamer" in Brazil and the Colosseum in Italy.

Anyways, here are the photos:

(LtoR: Largest Highway in Cambodia, Guy bathing in the muddy waters of floating village, sunrise atop Ankor Wat)

(LtoR: Ankor Wat, Banyan Temple, Celebrating End of Tour)

(LtoR: Village boy, Ankor Wat Facade, Relief at another temple)

Back home now, catching up on pictures...

Tazzy — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:24:00 GMT

I've been back home for a week now. I definitely miss the great weather I lucked out with through SE Asia. Although, I don't miss the crazy humidity and having my clothes be drenched with sweat 5 minutes after walking outside.

I had expected wireless connection and internet to be more widely available in South East Asia. And I expected to be able to upload and post more pictures than I did. But since I didn't get to do that, the next couple of blog entries will just be catching up on the rest of my trip after Taiwan.

Thailand

(Left to Right: Floating Market, Phra Sri Rattana Chedi @ Wat Phra Kaew, Grand Palace)

(L to R: Wat Phra Kaew, Grand Palace, Wat Phra Thong, Reclining Buddha)

(L to R: Buddha is my backseat driver, Buried Buddha, Wat Phra Thong)

In Tokyo now

Tazzy — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:45:00 GMT

Hey All,

I'm in Tokyo, Japan now staying with my college friend Shuichi near Shibuya. If you've ever seen pictures of the massive intersections in Tokyo, that's where I am. Shibuya is effectively the Time Square of Tokyo. It's like being back at home in NYC. Time Square is right out the window.

Here's an interesting news article I just stumpled across: China Frees 3 Canadia after Tibet Protest. The group was arrested the day before I went to the Great Wall of China in the same spot that I went to. Supposedly, she hung a banner that says "One World, One Dream: Free Tibet" off of the Great Wall. This was the talk on the ride to the wall and on the wall itself the day that I went. The "One World, One Dream" is the official slogan for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The group was also staying at the hotel close to where I was staying in Beijing.

I suspect that in the runup and during the Olympics, there will be numerous protest groups using the Olympics as a platform to progress their messages ranging from global warming to Tibet to Human Rights in China to etc. I predict that the Chinese officials will use strong arm tactics to restrict these types of protests. And in doing so, they will further the messages of these groups and present a bad public image to the world through the Olympic Games. The Olympics is about openness and bringing people together. However, from what I saw during the One Year to Olympics Celebration, the Chinese government is going to have a hard time meshing the goal of openness and togetherness with their agenda.

The One Year to Olympics celebration was hosted in Tiananmen Square (and other places in cities in China). They had guests and dignitaries from throughout the world attending the events. I saw limos pulled up with American flags, Italian flags, Israeli flags, and a whole host of others. It was a spectacular event with Tiananmen Square and the gates to the Forbidden City backdrop lit up fabulously. They even had an amazing firework show. The only thing missing were the people. The 5 block radius from the site was on a security lockdown. Chinese police, swat, and military were on site holding people back at least 5 blocks away, a point that you couldn't even see the lights from the events. I had rented a bike that day and was able to ride by Tiananmen Square and get some good pictures from nearby. But the moment you got off your bike to take a picture, the police officers and military security would come over to you to usher you out of the area.

Living in NYC, I understand and have seen the need for security for large public events, such as New Years Eve in Time Square, the NFL Kickoff Event in Time Square, a multitude of events at Radio City. What is interesting is the different approach that the Chinese take to these public events. For example I would say the NFL Kickoff Event in Time Square pretty much mirrors the One Year to Olympic celebration. Both are trying to get the general public excited about the event. What was different was that the Chinese kept the (common) people out and the even in Time Square was open to the masses (granted with security and bag checks). I think the Chinese had a great opportunity to include the masses in these events. Even if they needed (for security purpose) to keep such a large security corridor (5 blocks), they could have set up large LED television displays and speakers for the people that came out for the event. In addition, they had already closed the roads (remember, the road running through Tiananmen Square is about 14-18 car lanes wide), they could have let the people stand out in the streets to watch the events on large televisions instead of pushed back on sidewalks and alleyways with no views of anything. Bag checks and corral systems that have been employeed in other events throughout the world could have been used here. This would have allowed the general masses to "participate" in the celebration rather than being pushed aside.

Beijing residents are giving up a lot to host the Olympics. It is a great opportunity for the city and the country as a whole, however, Beijing-ers are making most of the sacrifices. During my stay in Beijing, I had the chance to bike around the city. Biking was the best way to get from place to place in Beijing. It also gave me a great opportunity to view the parts of the city away from the major tourist sites. On my way from the Forbidden City to the Temple of Heaven (a couple of kms south), I passed by an area about the length of 4 football field long with what looks like modern remakes of ancient city walls. On the walls were pictures of old Beijing. What was interesting and unique about this was that it was too new to be real and that it was about 15-20 feet high. I found it highly curious. As I biked down the boulevard, I saw that every 20 or so yards, there were gates with a guard standing at attention. Eventually, I found an open gate and was able to peak inside of the walled off area. It was the demolition of old neighborhoods that go back hundreds and hundreds of years. It seemed like the destruction of that area was to create a wider boulevard and green parks south of the Qianmen (Front Gate of the old city)

Before I had arrived in Beijing, I had read and heard about Beijing's push for modernization. And how this push was relocating hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes that they've had for hundreds of years. But it didn't really feel real until I saw it first hand. The entire area looked like a WWII war zone. Buildings were half torn down with bricks laying all over and pipes still poking out of the skeletons of buildings. I was able to get a picture of it from one of the unguarded gates.

There was also another building that stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of a freshly green park. There were a bunch of people standing outside the front of the building reading some articles and handwritten posters. I read the one that was in English and it described how the family living in that house had been there for hundreds and hundreds of years and are physically squatting in the house so that the government can't tear it down.

Over the course of the last couple of years (especially since the announcement of the 2008 Olympics), there have been many efforts to rebuild Beijing into a truly international city fitting of a capital of such a large country. Through all this, Beijing residents have had to sacrifice the most. This is why I found it quite ironic that Beijing residents were effectively locked out of the Olympic pre-celebration while large groups from other provinces were all in attendance. I just hope that once the Olympics actually comes around, China will embrace that openness and togetherness that the Olympics represents.

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

Hey, don't get me wrong. I don't fully agree nor disagree with the modernization in Beijing. Some of the stuff that they are doing are truly awe-inspiring at such a grand scale. Some, if not all, of these projects needed the power of a Communist party/system to coordinate and put into effect. (There would be a huge uproar and protest if Mayor Bloomberg decided to raze East Village and Harlem to put in larger streets and green parks.) Some of the architecture and engineering is actually quite advance. Old buildings and neighborhoods sometimes have to be cleared out of the way to advance the city. However, the cost of it is that all these old neighborhoods (hutongs), once bulldozed can never be brought back.

In my tours through the sites and the reading of the history, there was one point that mirrors this. At the beginning of the Communist rule in 1949, the leadership decided to raze the ancient city walls around Beijing. It was only recently that they regret destroying such a historic part of Beijing. These hutongs, once removed, will change the look for Beijing forever. I am not saying for better of worse. Only time can tell.

Disclaimer: The point of this post wasn't to point out how bad China is; it is quite the contrary. So little is known about China from the West. Whenever we hear about China, it's always about human rights abuses, unchecked imports, communism and other "big bad wolf" stories. Once you get to spend some time in China, you can really appreciate what it is going through, such as the difficulties of balancing communist ideals vs modernization and joining the industrial world. I especially think that, if done right, the Olympics in 2008 can really open the eyes of the world to China.

That brings me to another point. Outside of China we don't hear a single thing about Olympics 2008. But in Beijing, it is everywhere. It is the conversations on the street. There are Olympic souvenir stores at every single tourist sites in Beijing. Taxi drivers will talk about it immediately. China, Beijing and the people are relying a lot on this Olympics, more than we could ever imagine.

On my way to Tokyo

Tazzy — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:26:21 GMT

About to board my flight to Tokyo. Should get there in a couple of hours for some sushi and fugu goodness!
Sent from my iPhone

Day 2 in Beijing: Lamasery, Confucius Temple, Broken Bicycle, Temple of Heaven, and Street Fair

Tazzy — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:00:00 GMT

Today was a fun day.

Morning
I woke up at 9AM this morning just because I haven't had a chance to sleep in this entire trip. I woke up with no plans in mind for the day. That is the great part about backpacking/travelling alone. All you really need to do is plan for yourself whenever and however you feel like it. If you just want a relaxing day, you can do it. If you want to walk miles and miles, you can do that also. You don't need to try to satisfy other people's needs. It's actually very relieving.

So I woke up and just sat in bed for the first half hour reading my travel guide and plotting out my day. I decided today would probably be a good day to rent a bike and ride up to the Tibetan Lamasery (the Great Firewall of China strikes again, I can't view that wiki page), The Confucius Temple (hmm..seems like all of wikipedia is blocked...I don't think it was yesterday..strange) -- both about 2 km north of the hostel and across the street from each other. I was also very ambitious and planned to hit up the hill overlooking the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven which are pretty far south in the city.

I went down to the lobby and rented a bicycle. It was insanely cheap. 10 RMB for 4 hours and 20 RMB for 10 hours + 300RMB deposit. ($1 = 7.57RMB -- so basically for $2.64 I can rent a bike for the entire day. It was later that I found out why it's so cheap.) We go out to the courtyard and I got to pick out a bike. The guidebook mentioned to check the bikes before you take them because they tend to be pretty crappy. I picked out the cleanest/newest looking one. The hostel operator goes, "Are you sure? The new ones tend to get stolen." I decided to press my luck. I mean, worse case, I lose out on 300 RMB ~ $39.63. Before you get too excited about it, these aren't your Tour De France high-tech racing bikes. These are all single gear with a mesh basket and barely usable brakes.

This is the first time I've been on a bicycle since the 5 Borough Bike Tour and immediately, my ass had memory pain of the soreness I had then. It is actually quite an experience riding through Beijing on a bicycle. I mean, majority of the people bike around this city plus the bike lanes are huge. That doesn't mean that huge city buses won't creep up on your in the bike lane though. It seems like the bike lane is used for: bikers, pedestrians, and city buses. For some reason, all I could think of were either the Queens song "Bicycle Race" or Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I literally was singing, "I want to ride my bicycle..." all the way through Beijing. Hey come on... I have to entertain myself somehow. Plus, how can you not feel Dorothy-esque with a mesh basket in front and a little bell on the handlebar. (For the record, it was a blue bike... I opted against the pink one.)

Tibetan Lamasery
So an hour later (with a stop for breakfast), I get to the Lamasery. It was quite an interesting place. There were a ton of people there. It wasn't as bad as the Forbidden City. (Really, I don't think anything is as bad as that.) Most of the people here were families with bags and bags of incense to offer to the temple, Buddha, and the Lama. The highlight of this place was the 3 story tall Budha that was carved from a single tree trunk. It was quite awe-inspiring. I wished they had better lit the place though. Buddha was left in the dark.

In one of the temples, there was a large marble throne. When I say large, it's Large. About the size of a building large and 2 stories high. I came in through the back entrance and was just walking around marvelling at the thrown before I realized that there was someone sitting on top of it. He was in a large golden robe with a Manchu haircut. I really couldn't tell if it was just a wax sculpture were a real person. He seemed really really real though. He just sat there staring straight ahead unmoving.

Confucius Temple
After the Tibetan Lamasery, I rode my bike over to the Confucius Temple. I noticed that my left pedal was a little wobbly. I wrote it off as poor Chinese manufacturing and went back to singing "I want to ride my bicycle..." The Confucius Temple was nothing too exciting. Most of it was closed for renovation. It was later that I realized that I had missed out on a section through the side entrance. Either way, it was drizzling and starting to come down harder so I decided to trek on.

I Want to Ride my Bicycle...
So the next stop on my bike tour was to the park overlooking the Forbidden City (I don't remember the name of it offhand). As I'm riding down one of the large streets in Beijing, I feel my left pedal wobbling a little more. I wiggle it more and it kept wobbling more. As I crossed this large intersection (remember, intersections are like 10 lanes across here in Beijing), my left pedal fell off. Yes, THE PEDAL FELL OFF THE BIKE!! I mean.. WTF! The pedal fell off the bike! I turned the bike around in throngs of oncoming bike traffic and quickly grabbed the pedal that was on the ground in the intersection before the light changed. I pull over to the curb and tried to find a way to fasten the pedal back on. Some of my ingenious plans (mind you, I went to engineering school) were: use a band-aid (literally... it was the only thing of use in my bag), ride with me kicking in the pedal after every stroke, ride with only one pedal (near impossibility), and eventually walking the bike.

[I'll continue this post later]