siem reap, cambodia, day three.

september 27th, 2010.
woke up and explored the downtown area, which was done and over with in like, ten secnds. siem reap is tiny. i ended up walking in some parts of town that tourists pretty much never went to, and how you could tell was that the tuk-tuk drivers –finally– left you alone, and the locals gave you the weirdest looks. on my way back, i tried to find happy pizza — which i thought was shroom pizza, but it is in fact marijuana pizza — bummer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i didn’t end up eating it — i was going to buy it for take out, but i couldn’t fucking find it on the menu, so i didn’t ask. it was also like, 10:30am or something ridiculous, and i didn’t have much of an appetite…

kept my bike for another day. after putzing around for most of the day, i decided to ride out to bayon. by the way, throughout this experience, i’d been learning to put all of my shit — camera, wallets, money, etc. — in plastic bags. that way, because i had a cloth bag (i bought two bags in vietnam. they both broke, in less than a couple days. so fail… the cloth one i was using — its zipper fell off and it could no longer close!!!!!!!!), so putting stuff in plastic bags protected the contents while i still got to utilize the bag’s utilitarian aspects. so smrt. uh huh. so bag lady. bag lady’s the name of the game.

anyway.

i didn’t take any photos this day, which felt pretty godamn good, to be honest. i just left mycamera at home, because who the hell cares, dawg. it was nice to just relax for an effing moment. i went to bayon first and drew for a while, but then i got bored and went to ta keo. i met a couple people at both temples. at bayon, i met a canadian couple who was traveling for a very, very long time (it seems like everyone we met on this trip was), and at ta keo i met a couple of locals who were working in that temple, and i also met this really young kid who drew in my notebook. more notes on him later. there were also these two japanese guys, and one of them was learning cambodian phrases from the two guides in ta keo, and he asked to learn, “how much do you cost?” haha. errrm. and i gave him this look and laugh — but i don’t think he was embarrassed…

in any case.

had some really long broken english conversations with them, and then the two guide dudes had to leave. they were rushing to get home and ran down the steps of ta keo because they know it so well, even though the steps are really steep and narrow!!!!! i stayed there, watching the 13-year-old kid draw in my sketchbook, for a while. it was pretty cool, cept then it was sunset, and the sunset was obscured by all the clouds. FAIL. this was never-ending sunset fail (the previous day was the only day i was at the complex that a sunset woulda been possible, but josh had been tired of biking). anyway, so i saw no sunset and headed down with the kid, and he showed me this back route and like, insisted on holding my hand and helping me down every step, which was weird, because he was tiny!!!!!! and then, as i was leaving, he asked for a handshake, then a hug, and then kinda seemed like he wanted a kiss, which was really fucking weird. but then he asked for a cheek kiss, “for good luck,” he said, and that as a tiny bit weird as well…………………………… but i gave it. weird. and then i hauled ass out of there.

by then, though, it was pretty godamn dark, so i was riding, and got slightly lost on the way back, and i ended up putting my bike into a tuk-tuk and then riding back home that way. it was $4 or $5, which was weak and expensive, but luckily i didn’t have the full amount of money — or i said i didn’t — so……………… yeah. whuteva. i do what i want. went back to the hostel and passed out pretty early. kind of… unintentionally. yeah. by the way, i’d been conned into buying an angkor wat guide book the previous day at the temple complex. this kid had been following me around -forever- until the $10 book (or was it $12?) went down to $4. but i only had a $20 bill (by the way, cambodians pretty much use american dollars everywhere… not that they don’t use cambodian money, but you can use american dollars just as easily), and he ran away with change, and only gave me back $15. he seemed quite pleased with himself. i told him that it wasn’t nice. and the he said something like, “good luck to you,” which is what cambodians always seem to say when they’re saying goodbye to you. which is kind of sweet, i guess. i guess i like it.

anyway. the rest of that day was a wash until xinlei came to the hostel early the next morning. i was quite impressed that i’d passed out so early and so thoroughly. guess i needed it… i had intended to be social at the hostel, but who the hell needs that anyway…

siem reap, cambodia, day two.

september 26th, 2010.
taking josh’s notes and expounding on them, again… lazy.

Woke at 4:30 and biked out to Angkor Wat to catch the sunrise, but it was obscured by clouds

we were also late. the bike ride was quick, though, because we were relatively hauling ass, trying to get there in time. we still failed. ah, well. angkor wat isn’t frankly that cool anyway. this is not to say the complex is not fucking awesome. i’m only talking angkor wat — the main temple. it does have some cool bas-reliefs, though.

there were also monkeys… you know how i feel about monkeys… monkeys can do no wrong. monkeys make girls and boys happy. monkeys, monkeys, monkeys. especially if they’re sniffing butts…

josh was a newb and fell sucker to an expensive-ass breakfast and this horrible effing hat. well, he bought a different one, but his fucking, melted, basically, in one day of heat, humidity, and biking. SO FAIL.

cool bridge showing creation myths.

loveth the mossy water float.

biking like a champ. model style.

Biked to Bayon and explored the temple there. It was a temple with many faces

when we first got to bayon, it was raining. it was AMAZING. made it my favorite, although the beauty was not captured in these photos below, and ta keo later beat out bayon as my favorite temple. so it goes.

Next went to Preah Khan and was given an interesting tour by a local who asked for 10 bucks. We gave him 3.50.

but that’s pretty much because we literally didn’t have any money. high-maintenance whore!

garuda, my favorite bird-man!!!!!!! mythical! yeah!

ganesh, all cute and shit at preah khan!

preah khan had hindu and buddhist features. really interesting. the difference can be seen in the legs of the figures and their prayer postures. some buddhas were carved out of the walls (chopped out, really) and they were sometimes replaced with hindu-postured prayer-fools.

Biked to Ta Keo which is the really tall temple with very high and steep steps.

almost didn’t go into it. were getting templed out. glad we did…

Next was Ta Prohm which was a temple over run by trees that grew directly on the sandstone structure, sometimes holding the buildings together with it’s roots.

this is the “tomb raider” temple. everyone digs it so much. i thought it was alright after our awesome preah khan tour…

the old trees WERE cool, though…

i took this spider shot a MILLION TIMES. what was annoying is every shot i would take, someone else would be there, waiting to copy it. and i just thought. man, there’s no way you’d typically want to take this shot (the one below here)… you’re only taking it because i am. no one takes crappy shots like this. i mean, not no one, but barely anyone appreciates this kinda crap… kinda obnoxious.

After Ta Prohm, biked 13 km to Angkor Wat and another 10 or so back to town. My ass hurts from biking on a teeny tiny bike with a teeny tiny, barely padded seat. Dropped of bikes in front of a store and took a tuk tuk to the Old Market for some cheap eats and then took another tuk tuk to the bus station to get my bus ticket back to HCMC.

josh complained a LOT about his ass hurting. i guess his bike was really small, but c’mon, you were a marine, fool! he also took SO MANY SHOWERS. like, literally, three a day. he was definitely the diva between us. i was just a dirty slob (as usual). we also met a guy — an engineering student — on the way back to our hostel from the grounds. i gave him my phone number so we could go watch the sunset on bakhaeng hill the next day, but he never called! stOod up!!!!

After, went back to town and got a Dr. Fish foot pedicure and an oil massage, once again from a guy. I think it’s because Vivian was there I keep getting guys as masseuses. Whatever, better for me I suppose.

josh paid for this massage cause i was getting broke, and he wanted an oil massage but didn’t want to get one by hisself. the place was slightly seedy-seeming, and it was really unrelaxing because it felt like the chick was fucking KICKING!! MY!! ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and also……… there were these really godamn loud people in the main entrance room who kept asking the workers shit like whether they had boyfriends or not, and i expected them to be super shady dudes when we went out, but it was like two dudes and a chick, generally well-vibed, although the main dude (a belgian who spoke english — the other ones were russian and didn’t) did give me some weird looks. but he was generally friendly and just asking basic questions about whether the massage was good or not. still, though. it was really, really, really non-relaxing.

phnom penh, cambodia, day two.

josh’s notes, from which i will expound, cause i’m lazy. i just ate a buncha chocolate. feel kinda sick. whatever.

september 24th, 2010.

Observation: Phnom is more modern than HCMC and very much more westernized. Prices are the same as in the US for most items.

yeah it seemed more expensive.

started off by going to the main palace or something or whatever. it was nice, although there was some special procession or something going on, so a lot of it was cut off from public visits. bummer dummer mummer! but it’s fine. got our fill. one place had this really amazing music playing, with female dancers and stuff… the music was great. but we were roped off from really being able to see, unfortunately… bummer. dummer. mummer.

people thought i was positively crazy with taking photographs of this ornamental gate… c’mon, shit is cool. man, i’m fat (side note).

next up, we went to the killing fields. the tuk-tuk driver we’d met the previous day, john, brought us. here he is! he said that he worked for a non-profit as a driver before the economy turned bad, and he had to turn to tuk-tuk driving to fix it.

The Killing Fields is a stark and horrifying monument to the depravity of mankind. At tall tower in the middle of the grounds dominates the scene. Upon further inspection, it is shown to be filled with hundreds of skulls and bones that were all that remained of the victims of the Khmer Rouges bloody cleansing. Millions of Cambodian intellects, upper class, foreigners and peasants alike were systematically slaughtered in the most brutal ways, in order to save bullets used in the battle against the Vietnamese. It was sobering to see that mankind is capable of such depravity.

yeah. we suck ass… photos from the killing fields, below:

the compound the killing fields was in was really quite nice. park-like. nice.

pretty yummy meal, though i’m pissed we ate it because it was in a touristy area. josh’s fault for asking the driver if there was anything to eat nearby before we got out of the tourist place. it was decently priced, though, because the driver basically told them we wanted cheap eats. it was still more expensive than like, the $0.50 we paid for some meals later…

this kid kept coming out of this building, waving “bye” at nobody, going back in, coming back out, repeat.

S-21 was a museum dedicated to the school turned interrogation and detention center. It was run by a Khmer named Dung, who is one of the surviving members of the Khmer Rouge’s leadership and one of the only ones to admit such atrocities occurred. I’m amazed that after all these years, the captured members still haven’t completed their trials. There were many pictures there of the victims that passed through S-21 on their way to the killing fields. Many were small children, infants, even mothers with babies. It was very depressing, but we need reminders of what we are capable of in order to prevent it from happening again. Those who forget are doomed to repeat the past.

some photos from that. this place was pretty amazing and well-worth a visit:

a prisoner.

The Russian market actually has nothing Russian about it. Instead it is filled to the brim with touristy shops and souvenirs. I spent a pretty penny snapping up cheap trinkets to take home. I could probably have bargained more, but it was all in good fun and a few cents is going to make less of an impact on me than on the indigenous.

yeah, i didn’t do that, but i did buy a couple presents…

Ate at rumerg and had fried tarantula

apparently i got confused and wrote about this the previous day. don’t care to change this. oops. oh wait, i just realized what we did the night before for dinner. we went to eat thai noodle house (boat noodle) with some friends of vincent moon’s — local cambodian filmmaker kids. it was fun and stuff, but we never saw them again really.

Massage for 5 bucks, one whole hour

we found a particularly good place that really wasn’t at all shady, which was pretty impressive! my foot massage was $4. mostly it was a good way for her to scratch my bug bites… my feet were really fucking disgusting that evening. no lie. (note to self: why did i just pound all those chocolate chips…)

Rubies wine bar where we waited for British expats that never showed. Being late must be fashionable in this region.

yes, this happened.

Roach flinging

there was a roach in our dorm room. it was running all over the place and i was trying to catch it in this snack box (dehydrated seasoned broccoli snack! so good!) and josh fucking tried to be a man and instead of catching it, like a proper man, he threw it at me! i was like, “WHAT THE FUCK?? SERIOUSLY??” and we couldn’t find it for a while. that motherfucker.

siem reap, cambodia, day one.

september 25th, 2010.

we got into siem reap at about 1:00pm after a fairly grueling bus ride. lots of stops, including one which yielded for josh some crickets and spiders (to put in the mouth). score. i guess. or something. in any case, we had tried tarantulas the night before or whatever (who would have imagined we’d see them again so soon, and for so cheap, after paying $6 for three of them at a fancy restaurant?). josh really liked tarantula but said crickets were pretty gross, because they were “gummy” and tasted more “earthy”, i think, whereas tarantulas are just like soft-shelled crabs or prawns or something.

this is a turtle. i have no idea what the fuck is going on beneath the shell of this turtle. what the hell is going on?!!

in any case.

i called this driver friend of andy’s friend justin, because i assumed he would be pretty cool because he was a pal of justin’s. not so, really. he was pretty awkward and not really at all anything like i was expecting; i imagine the hostel guy who he talked to before he found our room felt similarly, because when i saw him later, he said, “who was that guy who came to find you?” and seemed to think it was weird. anyway. justin’s driver pal didn’t really talk to me at all, but i’m finding this to be the case with many a cambodian male, when i am also with a male. guess they don’t want to come off like they’re hitting on me or something, maybe…?

on the bus to siem reap, they were showing cambodian music videos on the tele. there was one in particular where a chick was on a dock, and a guy was being a creeper / lurkoid in the background; we concluded that — man, cambodians must be some passive dudes. and it seemed more or less to be the case. anyway. the dude we hired was driving a car, which was ball, because it was weird going from ac to heat and back again or whatever. he charged us ten bucks for a half day, which is like what a tuk-tuk would charge for a full day, so that was balls, too. but he took us like, 20km out of town, to the floating villages, cause josh wanted to go. unfortunately, the boat tour of the floating villages cost $15, which was a bit balls. although “balls”-mentioning is strictly money-related. don’t get me wrong; the car was -definitely- unpreferred, but the boat was pretty great.

two boys who’d grown up on the lake took us around, and one would say stuff to the driver, and the driver would answer him fairly rudely. class thing, i think. in fact, the driver kept making “classist” comments. like — when he saw the village kids swimming in the water of the lake, he would say stuff about how it was dirty. the dude’s name was seiha, and he just kinda rubbed me the wrong way, man. dislike. as far as the boys, and the boat, though… basically, the boat used to be government property, but some company privatized it. as a result, they charge a flat, non-negotiable rate of $15 per person to tour the lake, but they use the money and build roads, open schools, etc.

<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RqrWKVC07xM/TLP0NklslyI/AAAAAAAAYlk/NT1vMn2VzH0/s720/_DSC6448.JPG".

the lake was basically a lot of people who live their lives on the water, and the water grows or shrinks according to what period of the year it is (wet or dry season). there's water still during the dry season, but i think it's like 10x smaller or something. still, though, they have EVERYTHING on these boat-house-shops; they have tv repair shops, basketball courts, schools (for orphans, and language schools), churches — the whole gamut. it's pretty godamn amazing, and "nomadic", but on water. it's brilliant. there were two kids with us; the boat driver who didn't speak (and had his face completely covered in the traditional cambodian scarf) and the "tour guide" kid who said he didn't get money other than tips. he would basically work as a tour guide to practice his english and get free schooling. seemed like a good kid, and i got very good vibes from him (even if seiha, our car dude, didn't). he also let me drive the boat for a bit, and it's basically really simple, with the pedal rigged up to a rope which is tied to the engine somehow. it was easy. like driving a car, or something.

after the boat tour, we took a trip back to town and then went to buy the ticket at angkor wat. if you buy a ticket after 4:30pm, you get a “free sunset” — meaning, you can enter the grounds of the complex without it counting as a day. so, we went to angkor wat and attempted to watch the sunset, but it was fairly underwhelming because it was a sunny day. we left early and just headed back to our hostel, which was this really, really amazing hostel called jasmine family lodge (or jasmine hostel). it’s slightly outside of the main city center, but it cost only $2.50 a night and was bloody amazing! i stayed there five nights; josh and xinlei each stayed two. so. so. so. good. it was like a jungle bungalow. amazing!!!

that evening, we wandered downtown, i think, and just got a bite to eat. food is pretty cheap in siem reap if you stick to the “local” food. we went to this one particular stall, on this island in the middle of the downtown area. it was extremely amusing, because it’s open on all sides and it’s excellent people-watching. everyone in siem reap speaks another language, at least, and a lot of them speak japanese because there are SO many japanese tourists. the stall we went to had this super cute waitress, and she was quite entertaining and definitely hit it off with this huge group of japanese tourists. so it goes.

hyperbolic.

quick post.
practice of the brain.
long time no write.
hoi an, vietnam am in.
best city of vietnam so far.
(which still isn’t as good as either city in cambodia.)

only 5 more days left.
lots of journaling to do.
not that many photographs to chronicle, actually, though.
got a bit tired of photographing.
only taking it when it counts.
only when inspired.
no bullshit.
anyway, there’s not that much to take pictures of, anyway.
even my angkor wat album is fairly slim.
was also limited to 8gb of memory card space.
which is a lot when you’re not shooting in raw.
but i started out shooting in raw.
gonna go back to it, maybe.
seems i don’t really need the space.
yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh dawg.

phnom penh, cambodia, day one.

woke up bright and early to take off to phnom penh from ho chi minh city. stumbled outta bed, went to get a couple pastries to eat, and jumped on the bus. i imagined that it would be like peruvian busses where you drive like, twelve hours, and don’t stop to eat, but i totally underestimated that it was a tourist bus, or something, or whatever. they stop like a million times, and it’s pretty much unnecessary to get food beforehand. but oh, well. i tried to take some photographs of some food vendors who were vending near the place the bus was leaving. one was totes pissed and moved. the other was amused and wanted to see the photo.

anyway. the trip was like, six hours or something, and at the border, the border crossing was insane! the cambodian side was more orderly, but the vietnamese side was complete and utter chaos. there were “lines” but not really, but luckily the bus operator took care of everything visa-related, including the purchase of the visa at the border. i think if one were to go by oneself it would have been majorly confusing, and one would have gotten lost in the throngs of tourists who were also confused. like, there were metal detectors and stuff just sitting there, not being used, and there pretty much were no lines; it was just like, a crowd… bizarro world.

when we finally crossed over into cambodia, it felt like a world of difference almost instantly. my god, the cambodian countryside is fucking *BEAUTIFUL*. so. beautiful. we’re talking flooded rice fields with farmers and water buffalo and stuff. it’s really, really nice. and people just look so rad wearing the traditional cambodian headscarves or whatever; that shit looks ILLLLLLLLLLLLL. they wear it in so many styles. i mean, i just think it’s cool that a nearly entire face-covered outlaw look is cool and acceptable.

double piggies on his bike…

so we got into town and checked into nomads, and the hostel is okay, but they try and charge you for every godamn thing, which i am not particularly downz with. soon thereafter, we explored a bit and ate a meal at this stand which was serving soup noodles. we could not communicate with the girls at that stand whatsoever, and just did a lot of pointing and they did a lot of smiling. the soup they gave us was chicken broth i think (d’oh), with all sorts of veggies in it, and slices of fish, but also… blood!! i didn’t eat the blood, but josh ate everything — good for him!

after that, we continued on and found this street with ALL OF THIS! REALLY! AMAZING! STREET! FOOD! and we were kind of like… fuckkkk. but oh well. what can you do? meant to go back there to eat but never got a chance (although i’m going back to phnom penh soon and might be able to after all).

then we went to the national museum, which was almost about to close, and wandered around there for a bit. it was nice-ish, and i followed a chinese tour group around for a little bit, eavesdropping and then playing translator guide, but then they made me feel awkward after i asked if it was okay if we followed them around, so we stopped. the place featured a lot of the ruins which were pulled from the angkor archaeological park, so i guess maybe it woulda been better to go to the museum afterwards so that contextually in my head it would have been cemented better, but whatever.

got kicked out of there and hurried to the stadium to try and catch the sunset dancing group aerobics! yeah! it was amazing to be able to see the sunset from within an asian city — seems damn near impossible with how polluted they usually are.

anyway, the group aerobics/dancing is nutty. it’s like, just masses and masses of human beings dancing coordinated dances to music, and they each pay 1,000 real a month (is it a month?) to pay for the facilities — that is, the music and speakers and instructors. it’s pretty crazy, and the dancing got pretty advanced at times, and you just had to wonder, “how the fuck does everyone know how to dance to this shit?” it was gnar. beyond that, there was a LOT of dancing to korean music! which was the weiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirdest thing. but i must say, their choices of songs to dance to were… pretty good, generally speaking, and very worldly. like some of the djs were playing indian pop afterwards, too. interesting!! but yeah, korean pop is all the rage.

afterwards, we followed this guy (i forget his name) who went to the stadium with his two kids, who also dance there. his younger son was like four or something (in the pic), and danced like a pro! knew all the moves and was like impromptu doing some! the dad worked selling clothes and his sister owned a clothing shop. anyway, we followed them to the mall which was right next door to the place, and walked around briefly and used the bathroom. then potong met me up outside, and i handed off his printer ink to him. and i think maybe he wanted to hang out, but i wanted to check out the supermarket in the mall, so i told him that, and he left. oOps? met his new wife and his sister-in-law, who seemed really young and was cute.

we took the motorbike home from there (as opposed to a tuk-tuk) which was sOoOo fun!!!!!!!!!! it ruled, although it was kinda leg-numbing, too, but it’s amazing that the bikes can fit three grown-ass adults.

let’s see… my timeline is all fucked up. not sure what we did after that. gotta consult the josh cause he took notes.

went to some restaurant (boat house?) because josh wanted to go there and eat fried tarantula (!!!), and i had lok lak, this traditional steamed fish dish. i think it mighta been the national dish or something. it was pretty good, but it was really tiny considering it was kinda expensive. this place was a “nice” restaurant run by street kids, and they were taught pretty interesting manners… one of the interesting parts was that they insisted on putting all the silverware from the right side of you. weird. i just tried the legs of the tarantula cause i was too pussy to eat the body. it was quite crispy and shrimp or soft-shelled-crab-like… josh was really, really into it. i was freaking out prior to eating it, and the workers were looking at me hardcore!

we stopped by a hostess bar or whatever, one of those bars where women stop and drink with you. it was next door to our hostel. josh opened the door first, and the roomful of girls got really excited, and then i followed. i didn’t really get a good look at their faces, but josh said their faces totally fell and they got this WTF look. we sat down and ordered a couple drinks (i drank half a beer), and one girl pretty much just talked to me and nobody talked to josh, haha, and he was kinda like boo! about that, i think! we shot a couple games of pool but josh really *cough* sucked *cough* so we stopped shortly thereafter and then just went to bed, i think. woooooooooooooo.