Off to Switzerland

Believe it or not, our driver was early and there was little traffic so we arrived at Newark Airport EARLY....early enough to use my two free passes for the United Lounge.

Posted with Blogsy

Rick Steve's Sketch of the Berner Oberland

Use this sketch (thanks to Rick Steves) to figure out where Nancy and I will be exploring and walking in the Berner Oberland between Aug 1 through Aug 5.  We'll be based In Wengen, right there in the middle and will be taking every cogwheel, train, bus and funicular we can find.  Click on the map to enlarge.

After that we're in Bettmeralp in the Valais until Aug. 12

Whale Watching off Santa Barbara in June

March visit to California

I spent a little time with Mother in California.  She's doing really well, but you know how she hates to have her picture taken.  So here's a photo of Mary, Jeanne and me.  We're in Carpenteria, helping an artist with his mural, after a great lunch at Zookers.  Note Jeanne's got the brush!

Home again!

Should I post some rainy cloudy weather?  Well, here I am back in New Jersey, and caught up on sleep and laundry.  And back long enough to think of perhaps the next trip.
Our last night in Bangkok at the Kantary Bangkok was just fine, although I got tired of fighting with their wonky Internet codes.  The last dinner in the super duper, very-high-end mall nearby was culture shock, and it was interesting to try to decipher menus only in thai.  Luckily, Tim showed up around then and helped out.  The grocery store part of the mall was surprising, only luxury import goods, and we were looking for Thai stuff to take home.
The flights from Bangkok to Hong Kong and then on to JFK were fine, but long.  We stopped in Vancover to let some people off which meant 3 seat across for the last part of the flight!
I heartily recommend Gate 1 Travel, and even more heartily recommend Tim Pattrraporn Sangkapat, our wonderful tour leader.  Tim, we miss you so!  Maybe another visit to East Asia is in order.

Feb 14 Siem Reap, Tonle Sap, return to Bangkok

This morning we drove through a rural farming area and experienced a ride on an ox-cart which is still in use by local farmers if they're not wealthy enough to have a pick-up or scooter.

That's our guide Bun with the red lanyard

Then we boarded a little tour boat for an excursion on the Tonle Sap, or Great Lake.


The Tonlé Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is an ecological hot spot that has been was designated as a UNESCO biosphere.


The Tonlé Sap is unusual for two reasons: its flow changes direction twice a year, and the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. From November to May, Cambodia's dry season, the Tonlé Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. However, when the year's heavy rains begin in June, the Tonlé Sap backs up to form an enormous lake, and its size increases eight to ten-fold.

But for us it was fascinating to watch the local Cambodians fishing along the canal, and then as we went further, we were intrigued by the floating villages. 

fish traps

Our guide explained that most of the floating villages were ethnic Vietnamese without any of the benefits of Cambodian citizenship.
Click for an interesting article from the NY Times, "For Vietnam Boat People in Cambodia, No Anchors."

This is a floating school, probably charity sponsored

Their houses can be anchored to posts above the water line or built on bamboo rafts so that during the flood season they can float to a higher location.  It is truly subsistence living, and makes us feel ever so fortunate.

On the way back to Siem Reap we stopped to photograph a water buffalo

 .

and greeted some Cambodian kids returning from school

Then back to the hotel and off to the airport for our flight to Bangkok and our next hotel,  It was another great flight on Bangkok Air.  We spent the last night at the Kantary House in Bangkok and had dinner at a super-exclusive, high-end mall down the street.  What a contrast between that conspicuous consumption and the hard life of the rural or boat people!

Feb 13 Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat

What a full day this is....first exploring the fortified city of Angkor Thom, the Terrace of the Elephants, the Bayon Temple with beautifully preserved bas reliefs and giant stone faces. 

The city of Angkor Thom was founded by Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181-1219), who came to power following the defeat of the former Khmer capital by the Chams. At its height, Angkor Thom may have governed a population of one million people in the surrounding area.
Angkor Thom was built in a nearly perfect square, the sides of which run north to south and east to west. It was surrounded by a square wall (jayagiri) 8m high and 12km in length and further protected by a 100m-wide moat (now dry), said to have contained ferocious crocodiles.
A gate opens exactly in the middle of each wall, from which a bridge extends over the moat to the area outside the royal city. The original royal palace at Angkor Thom, built in the 10th and 11th centuries, was probably built of wood and no longer stands.

I wish I could remember a fraction of what our local guide Bun told us.  But it was just so much information and so fast all at once in the heat.   (We did retain the fact that Lara Croft: Tomb Raider used this area as a location.  So when we returned home we watched the movie.  It was terrible and had nothing to do with Angkor Thom.)

And then we had lunch at a local restaurant.  More meals were included in Cambodia and the food was good and beautifully presented.

Then back for the highlight of Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation – first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.

Yes, we climbed to the top

 

Nancy and Penny among the apsaras

Sunset at Angkor Wat