Royal Mutt and Panda Bear on Vacation

Royal Mutt and Panda Bear will be on a short break until I get back from my travels in Southeast Asia.

FYI: Royal Mutt and Panda Bear will be an 8 part series.

Day 19 Thailand - Chiang Mai and Bangkok

As of this writing I'm now in the big city of Bangkok. I spent the last week in the north Thailand city of Chiang Mai.



Chiang Mai



Some notable things that I did here:



1) Eco-Trekking: This was a tour set up by a local tour agency near our hostel. We did some hiking in the jungles north of the city, elephant back riding, and ended the day with bamboo rafting.

In the jungles north of Chiang Mai.

The elephant back ride was fun but also a bit nauseating. At first it was cool being there on the back of this huge animal, but then after a while I started getting car/elephant sick. It was a very bumpy ride, we sat in these two person seats on the back of the elephant and you could feel every movement the elephant was making. At one point the elephant started rubbing its butt against a tree which was pretty funny.

Here's a picture of our elephant (a male and quite rebellious) getting his greens. As you can see, our mahout (elephant caretaker and driver) is getting his greens too, through a blunt (I urge you, if you ever happen to go elephant riding, to stay away from mahouts that smoke cuz this guy's blunt kept wafting back at us which exacerbated my nausea.)

Elephant crossing.

View from my elephant of another couple on their's.

As for the bamboo rafting, that was real fun. Four people from our group got on a small raft made of bamboo and we had a guide in front who would use a bamboo pole to guide the way. I was in the rear with another bamboo pole and I would take directions from the guy up front. This was a pretty good balance exercise since I was standing the whole way (I almost fell once). We rafted down a semi-fast river through the jungle, taking in some really nice sights.

(No photos for bamboo rafting, I couldn't bring my camera)

There was one downer though. After we finished rafting, 4-5 people from another tour group were rafting below and their raft got overturned. One of the girls was underwater for a good 10 seconds before resurfacing because the raft was above her head while she was underwater. The guide and other locals managing the activity went down to help the group and managed to get two girls out of the water. Since the current was too strong, the others just got on an unmanned raft that the locals floated their way and floated down the river to another stopping area. I was glad no one got seriously injured.

2) Thai Cooking Course

This was real fun and tasty. In this one day course, I got to learn how to make 1) Tom Kaa Chicken Coconut Soup 2) Red Curry w/Chicken 3) Chicken Cashew Nut Stir Fry 4) Pad Thai 5)Pumpkin Coconut Soup, and of course I got to eat everything I made which if I may so, wasn't half bad.

Lower left: Red Curry w/ Chicken, Upper Middle: Tom Kaa, Lower Right: Chicken Cashew. My favorite would have to be the Chicken Cashew.

3) Thai Massage and Foot Massage

I got my first Thai massage in Chiang Mai and it was brutally relaxing. They laid me down on a mat and for 30 mins (you can also do a 1 hr session) they destroyed me. Basically Thai massage is like having someone force you do yoga while pressing your muscles at key pressure points. The foot massage was also very nice, though it made me want to laugh/cry at times. According to my masseuse (?) each section of the foot correlates to different organs and places in the body which I found interesting.

Bangkok

I don't have too much to say about Bangkok since I've only been here on two previous stop overs and this is only the 2nd day of my longstay here. It is definitely a lot more busy then Chiang Mai and there are certain aspects of the city that turn me off (various guys at the night market asked my girlfriend and I if we wanted to see a ping-pong show, which we turned down [the show seems to involve a ping-pong and the female anatomy]).

I will probably have more to say in the coming days.

Till then.

Day 8 Kompong Phhluk

Yesterday Trish and I saw the floating village of Kompong Phhluk. It's pretty crazy, basically it's an entire village with houses that are on 6-7m tall stilts. When we went (this is the rainy season) the houses were only maybe 1-2m above the water, but the great thing about going now is that you can take a small boat and paddle through a nearby submerged forest next to Tonle Sap lake.

Today was a good break from temple exploring (though we went to a temple of Bakong to see the sunset) and we got to see an entirely different lifestyle. In order to go to your neighbor's house, you got to swim or take a boat. There were kids that were probably only a few years old, swimming and paddling like pros.

Tonle Sap lake.

Til my next update.

Day 6 Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom

Yesterday and today, Trish and I have been busy with temple visiting. We got a one week pass to the Angkor Temples for $60 USD.

We rented bicycles ($1/day each) yesterday and made a 6-7km bike ride to the Angkor Wat temple from our guesthouse, Jasmine Lodge, in Siem Reap.

It was actually a very nice ride going there (going back was another story) and we stayed the early afternoon there. Angkor Wat is a beautiful temple, but to be honest, it wasn't as awe-inspiring as my imagination had conceived. A part of this is due to the fact that the central towers were closed off for restoration, so we weren't able to climb up and check out the view.




To catch the sunset, we rode our bikes to Phnom Bakheng, a temple situated ontop of a hill. There were so many people there, but we tried not to let that get in the way of enjoying the view.

We rode back in the dark, and I had this very cheap handheld flashlight to lead the way (luckily the street lamps were turned on halfway down the road). On the way back, there was a faraway thunderstorm that gave a beautiful lightshow as it lit up the sky behind Angkor Wat. Video to be posted.

Today was a bit crazy. Trish and I headed out to the temples today at 5:15 am to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Today we decided to take a tuk-tuk (a motorcycle-drawn hooded carriage) to the temples given that we were very tired.

The sunrise and the clean it-just-rained air gave a whole new appeal to Angkor Wat and this time around I found myself more in awe of the world's largest religious structure. I also felt inspired to do some Bagua martial art forms among the ruins, videos to be posted.

The highlight of today was probably the Bayon, a huge structure with many many enigmatic smiling faces, four to each tower. It lies in the direct center of the ancient city of Angkor Thom (Great City).




Afterwards we visited the ancient temple, of Tomb Raider fame, Ta Prohm, a temple that has merged with it's jungle surroundings, creating a very unique atmosphere. After visiting some other smaller temples, we headed home. We got back to our guesthouse around 4pm, a long 11 hour day of temple exploring.




I know, I write a lot, but where are the pics? I'm in search of an SD USB converter here in Siem Reap, but they only sell those universal converters for 15USD and up. All I need is a SD to USB converter (3USD and up in Taipei), and I haven't found one yet. If I don't find one, I'll probably just get when in Thailand, and if worst comes to worse, or when I get back to Taipei.

Tomorrow we'll be sleeping in.

Day 4 Siem Reap, Cambodia

Flat Tires and Cows

So I'm here in Siem Reap, Cambodia along with my girlfriend Trish. We got here after a 6 1/2 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh.

Prior to getting on the bus, Trish overheard a Chinese businessman talking to the bus company owner (an Overseas Chinese) in Mandarin: "Didn't this bus pop it's tires before?" The owner said, "Yeah, three times."

Being the unlucky fools that we were, we had already bought tix and just got on the bus. Lo and behold, while on the Angkor Express, we got a flat tire while on the rode. During that time, the passengers (some foreigners and some Cambodians) got out of the bus to walk around and some took a piss off the side of the road (those who did were Cambodians with the exception of myself = P).

We were in the middle of country land and there were some strawhuts near our bus. There were also two cows that were tied next to where we were (one brown and one white) and a water buffulo further down the road. Pictures to be posted once I find an USB adapter for my SD card. A group of children from one straw hut said "bye bye!" to me as I was walking away and I waved back.







After the driver changed tires, we were back on the road and got to Siem Reap at 420pm (we started from Phnom Penh around 950am).

Trish and I just had dinner at a Khmer Restaurant which served us a curry-like dish of chicken, egg, vegetables, and coconut milk. Now, we're making plans how we should go about seeing the famous Angkor Wat temples tomorrow (one was featured in "Tomb Raider" the movie).

More updates later on

In Bangkok

Day 1 Bangkok

James here in Bangkok. Dan, I forgot to bring the hostel card you gave me, but luckily Trish and I found a nice place to stay last night. We're heading out to Cambodia this afternoon.

Oh, Trish and I saw a guy walking his baby elephant last night just on the sidewalk like it was no big deal. It was too dark to take a pic, but hopefully when we come back to Bangkok we can get some pictures.

Allright, going to eat brunch.

Later everyone.