Cambodia, Initial Thoughts

Cambodia at first sight is unimpressive in its dust blown flatness.  In under a day I had traveled from the green mountains which surround Dalat to the flooded rice fields of the Vietnamese delta and finally to the dry heart of Cambodia.   I spent seven hours on the bus traveling to Phnom Penh in the early morning.  I was the only westerner on the bus.  I watched the flat plains and stilt houses roll past.  In the front of their homes were water holes that provided a small reprieve for cow and man from heat of the dry season.  Something that stuck out about the bus ride was the ferry crossing.  It made me think I was entering a different world somehow.  When I arrived in Phnom Penh I was greeted by tuk-tuk drivers that were advertising the local tourist spots.  The first thing offered to me was a hotel and a tour of the killing fields.  His selling point was the shooting range at the killing fields.  That turned me off to the idea.  I don't know if one can really fire a gun at the killing fields, but I'm sure I wouldn't want to.  I decided to instead to take a shower and eat a full lunch.  I walked around the city for a little while before stumbling upon the 700 year old stupas of Wat Phnom.  Inside of the largest stupa are the remains of one of the kings of the ancient Khmer empire.  Today it's a park and the center of a surprisingly modern eastern capitol.  What actually excited me about the park was the monkeys jumping from tree to tree and the elephant in he park.  At first they excited me and then they drew my interest and I began to think on them.  The elephant had been reduced by its owner to a beggar in the park.  As I got closer to it, I imagined that its countenance was not a happy one.  Then I also saw a mother monkey holding its dead baby in her arms as she desperately tried to awake it.  This went on for some time before she took him away with her.  In both instances the monkey and the elephant seemed very human in their actions.  I felt for them.  I felt like these animals were suffering some sort of public embarrassment, and then I realized that animals don't suffer all the ills of city life that we do.  I spent the night in some bars by the river and then took the bus up to Siem Reap the next morning.

Vietnam at Night

alleyway in Saigon

traffic and exercisers in the park in Saigon

backstreet in Dalat

karaoke and street in Dalat

flag at night

model boat store

traffic and flower festival in the park

sweet rice stand in Saigon

Disco Buddha overlooking Dalat

turning circle in Dalat

Jason taking his shot at Guava in Nha Trang

Badminton Tournament

Bao Luc vs. Dalat. A regional tournament was held at Dalat University.  So one of my neighbor's daughters, who happens to be one of the best players in Lam Dong province, was playing in the tournament.  I've tried playing her in badminton.  I lose every time, and lose badly.  I mostly end up sweaty, tired, and sore.  My prior badminton experience is limited to high school gym class, but it still doesn't feel good to get destroyed by a 16 year old girl.  Lin won two gold medals and a bronze at this tournament.

After The Leaving

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." -  Lin Yutang

This being Jason's first time out of the country where no one was shooting at him.  We discussed the lull we often feel after returning home from a trip.  We should be happy to be home, but there is a sort of let down.  There should be a happiness to be home, but instead there is often a remorseful reminiscence of the recently ended trip.  It makes me wonder what it will feel like when I am home after Vietnam, this being the longest of my trips.  I imagine it'll be strange and awkward at first and then increasingly comfortable.

Why so Tall?

We probably underestimated the height and steepness of Lang Biang mountain.  We probably started a little too late in the day.  We probably should not have bothered to climb up to both peaks.  Somehow we ended up finishing our climb at dusk and walking back down the mountain in dark.  Jay and Ian rented some motorbikes and we all rode there in the late afternoon.  Most people pay to take one of the jeeps up to the top.  We decided against it.  The walk up to the top was paved but rather steep.  It did provide spectacular views of the surrounding valley.

Buddha on the Hill

I live at the top of a long hill the stretches away from the center of the city.  From where I live I can see most of the city laid out between the hills.  There are two Buddhas within a stone's throw of my apartment.  They watch over the city and its inhabitants.  The larger of the two is the smiling sitting Buddha.  From what I can research and tell from his pose, this Buddha stands for meditation and wisdom.  In particular it is most likely a reference to Buddha flower sermon where he said nothing and simply held a lotus flower in his hand.  It makes me think of the Bible passage I included at the start of this blog, "as for man, his days are like grass, /he flourishes like a flower of the field; /the wind blows over it and it is gone, /and its place remembers it no more."  I suppose that's a good reminder to have sitting at the top of the city.

Mekong Delta, Cock Fighting, and a Karate Master

Even though I live in Vietnam and am technically not a tourist, (I am though) I still think tours are a good way to see different things.  I oscillate between wanting to experience new places in the authentic local way and just wanting to take a cheap easy, "foreigner special" tour.   So that is what we did.  We took a nice air conditioned bus to the delta city My Tho.  As we sat on the comfortable bus watching the rice fields pass us by, I noticed that Jason, Ian, and I were the only ones on the bus talking. The tour was made up mostly of Australian and Japanese tourists and I wondered at what people thought of our random pop culture babble.  At our first stop we were encouraged to mingle while they served us tea with honey and kumquats, and some rice wine.  They also played some traditional music on traditional instruments.  This is where we first met Juan the South African muay thai fighter.  He was pretty cool and hung out with us the rest of the tour.  From there we took a small four person boat down a tributary to a an island where they make coconut candy.  There they let us take pictures with a very large snake.

I did not want my picture taken with it.  Ian and Jay made a new pal in the friendly reticulated python.  Afterwards they took us to another island where we had lunch and a few beers.  For entertainment they decided to hold a cock fight for everyone.  Don't worry this was just a sparring match and neither of the roosters died.  Juan told us stories of his fights and parties in Thailand where he was well connected.  He also suggested that we should come out to South Africa for some beers and barbecue.  Apparently South Africa is known for it's barbecue.  After lunch we drifted back towards My Tho and the highlight for me was the children swimming in the channel retrieving some watermelons that had fallen off of a boat.  Even Jason reached down and plucked one from the river.  It was a pretty cool Vietnam experience.

Long Beach

The last time I was here there was only maybe twenty of us on the beach.  Today there was a flood of Vietnamese vacationers enjoying what little time they are spared from their jobs.  This did little to soil the beauty that is a secluded and pristine beach along a peninsula in the shadow of a lush mountain.  Part of the beauty of going to Long Beach is the forty minute ride down the coast.  The highway is sandwiched between the coastline and the hills and mountains that seem to rise up from the sea.  At one point in the highway just before you reach Cam Ranh we pulled off of the street and down some narrow dirt roads.  From the street one could completely pass by this beach with out ever knowing it was there.  As we approached the ocean it was not yet in view but the sounds of the wave beating upon the beach grew more and more apparent.  Bamboo and wood bungalows line the main part of the beach closest to the highway.  In the bungalows sit reclining chairs and tile topped tables, made so they can easily withstand the small wood coal barbecues we would cook with.  I like to walk out along the length of the beach (it goes for miles) until the bungalows and all the people are only a speck, a memory in the distance blurred by the heat of the sun.  There one can swim and be completely alone with the great Pacific ocean.  That is the beauty of Long Beach.  Also Jay and Ian fell asleep and I had a complete stranger take a picture posing with them, that was cool too.

very large fresh whole shrimp

shrimp, crab, and fresh squid

Tet

Tet is the celebration of the lunar new year in Vietnam. It is their most important holiday and preparation begins weeks in advance. We were able to spend Tet with a local family that has kind of taken me in. We ate traditional foods and shared a few drinks. Tet is celebrated like our Thanksgiving or Christmas in America in that everyone goes home to visit their families. So in Dalat all the students went home for about three weeks starting at the beginning of February. Which means Dalat was basically a ghost town. So much so that almost every business including the large corporate ones were shut down and locked up. Somehow a really relaxed city turned into a even more eerily quiet hill station. Some of the traditional foods we had included some sort of sticky rice cake, candied coconut, candied ginger, and pig head cheese. The cherry trees blossom, people go home, they have large parties, and eat sweets. It's probably the most wonderful time of the year in Vietnam.

The Sun is Really Hot

Hey kids, do you think sunburn is cool?  Then you'll love Jason Vilbig.  If you don't think sunburn is cool, then you'll just find this amusing.  The reason the beach at Nha Trang is so nice and calm is in part because of the outlying islands that protect the beach from sea swells.  So while in Nha Trang we took a four island boat tour that occupied most of our second day there.  These tours are popular with foreigners and locals alike, but when they decide which boat we will take they separate the locals from the tourists.  This is because tourists tend to like a more rowdy, alcohol fueled tour while the locals prefer the scenic, easygoing picnic style tour.  At the beginning of the tour you get to find out where everyone is from and we happened to be the only Americans, let alone New Yorkers on the tour.  I like to think we reinforced whatever unfair positive or negative stereotypes the other Europeans and Australians already had about Americans.  As one of two people on the boat that actually lives in Vietnam, I have been able to view tourists in a different light and I take their opinions with a grain of salt.  The first island on the tour was a stop at a small aquarium shaped like a pirate ship.  They actually had some monster sized fish there and a few sharks.  The highlight for me was the moray eels and sea turtles, curiously placed together in the same tank.  This was not a petting tank thankfully.  The island was beautiful and the boat was calm and relaxing.  Imagine this boat tour was basically created solely for foreign tourists.  I think the most surreal moment for me was when, travelling between islands, they played "American Pie" by Don McLean.  Jason is now about four beers deep.  At the second island we docked at small fishing barge just off shore from a fishing village and were given snorkels.  For some strange reason most of the tourists seemed to be waiting for someone else to lead the way into the water.  A Canadian named Matt was the first to jump in, followed by Jay doing a back-flip off the bow of the ship.  I was third or fourth in the water, back-flip off the barge.  The water was infinitely clear and beneath us we were able to observe coral and an array of sea life.

We stayed here for some time, long enough for us to make some friends and for me to ride a jet ski.  There was only one point in which I nearly flipped it when I cut a turn too fast and the nose dipped in the water.  We partied on the barge for a while with some of the other tours.  I am one beer deep now, and Jason is about nine deep and his back is starting to turn red.  The next place we docked was just off some uninhabited island for lunch and a floating bar.  The lunch was actually very good considering it was prepared on boat.  It included local Vietnamese fare of a more western flavor served family style.  Still some of the other tourists seemed hesitant when trying the different dishes.  I offered my suggestions as to what I preferred to eat.  Jason is now twelve beers deep and still refusing sunblock or a t-shirt.  After eating the tour guides set up a floating bar, which only served one type of mystery cocktail, in the ocean and gave us all floats so as we didn't drown while drinking in the ocean.  It was a lot like being in a regular touristy bar here except you had to pay attention to how much you were drifting.  After a long day in the sun you finish the day on a private beach on the last island.  There are reclining chairs and people selling food and souvenirs.  After a long day in the sun it's kind of a nice relaxing way to end the day.  After some time on the island at around four-thirty in the afternoon we headed back to the harbor.  I finished the day at three beers.  Jason's tab has been totaled up and the final tally was seventeen beers, not a new record for the boat but still impressive.  Also his back is crab red by now.  It was the worst sunburn I have ever seen.  I like boat rides.