CAMBODIA AND ANGKOR WAT

One of my favorite places to visit is Cambodia. I guess everyone knows of my archaeological interests from all my previous blog posts. In the latter half of 2006, I had visited Siem Reap, cambodia (famous for Angkor Wat and hundreds of other Angkorean temples and cities) for a long holiday and blogged about the trip in three parts. You can find that here titled "Siem Reap, Cambodia" and second part titled "More of the Angkor Kingdom" and last part titled "Siem Reap Trip Ends". Click on each of them to be directed to the blog posts. Now, in the year 2009, I made a short return visit to Siem Reap. Last week to be precise! I had guests who'd never been to Siem Reap before. My previous posts have plenty of still pictures.


(Here above is a vdo clip of the inner courtyard of Angkor Wat now. They are doing a lot of restoration works in the Angkor Wat complex currently, being funded by foreign governments, saw a banner mentioning German Government aid for these works)

Information contained in my 2006 blogs on Cambodia is still relevant today because the details provided in them are still current. Almost nothing has changed except that many more hotels, shops and restaurants have sprung up. Tuk Tuk's (carriage pulled by a moped) still costs $2 anywhere in Siem Reap town and food is still cheap. Hotels are cheap as well, tourism is down like everywhere else. Very attractive for those looking for an interesting and adventurous holiday. This time I stayed at a slightly upmarket boutique hotel called the Victoria Angkor, rates being so affordable these days.
Terms of entry into the country are the same. E-Visa can be obtained online here and having that ensures that you spend very little time in line filling up on-arrival visa forms, paying fees and then having to standing in line at Immigration. E-visa is the fast track way of getting in.



(Above is a short vdo clip of a ride through Siem Reap town, taken from my Tuk Tuk moped-carriage. This is the central park area and houses the King's Palace which is not an extra ordinary building anyway)

This time I went in March, hot season actually and predictably muggy. It's all worth it at the end of the day. So, if you are remotely interested in history or archaeology, this would be the place to put on the top of your "must visit" list. I found a group who had just come to visit those temples where Angelina Jolie starred movie "Lara Croft Tomb Raider" was shot.


(Above is a vdo clip of the Bayon Temple complex, a part of it, taken from the upper-inner courtyard)

Backpackers hang around Cambodia because things are really cheap, there are loads of things to do on a lean budget. You'd find masses of whites on bicycles all around towns and the temple complexes. During my last visit to Siem Reap, I had described and photographed Pub Street, a common watering hole for many foreigners and expats living in Siem Reap. Pub street has expanded, the lanes and by lanes that feed pub street have improved a lot, adding many new restaurants and bars, all reasonably priced and wonderful street side ambiance.

(Doesn't the Mok look good?)

After a hard day of exploring, this would be a perfect place to chill out. Read my previous Cambodia blogs for details of Pub street and the food available there but one thing I'd strongly recommend is to try the Seafood Mok which is a seafood curry in young coconut. Usually served with rice, this is a complete meal, delicious and available everywhere. There are places where one can find the vegetarian versions of the same or sweet talk the waiter to get the chef to put in veggies instead of the seafood.



Here's a short vdo of one part of pub street at night ending with a shot of an Indian restaurant offering Kabab dinner.

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM

Towards the end of the year 2008, I made a trip with golfing enthusiast friends to check out what was available for golfing, in the Vietnam central coast area straddling the South China sea on one side and the Danang river inland. Danang city came to mind and we headed out there on a three hour flight from Singapore. Danang is famous for China Beach, a popular hang out place for American GI's during the Vietnam war and the location for an evacuation hospital made famous by the TV series that was aired in the United States in the 1980's called, what else, "China Beach". Danang was also a major Air Force base during the war, for US Aircraft based in Vietnam.

(Danang city area)
We arrived quite late at night. Danang is a small town and late night food options (or even entertainment options) are quite limited. We looked around for places that had been recommended by forums on the net, only to be disappointed that these were really non existent. Driving by a typical Vietnamese noodle soup shop, we decided that our real Vietnamese experience should start with a noodle soup dinner at a local shop. Ordering food was a challenge since no one spoke English there and none of us knew a word of Vietnamese. Payment was in US Dollars, change given in Dong-their currency. They convert at fair market value. Anyway, either we were really hungry by the time we used sign language and finger pointing to order food and it being past midnight, or the soup was really good, I don't know, but we gobbled it up hot and scalding before continuing on to our lovely hotel, The Furama Beach Resort.

(China Beach early morning)


(Golf course near the driving range)

The next morning we were up early, I was at least, and quick breakfast later, got a chance to wander around beach side taking in the early morning sun and cool breeze. I imagined Robin Williams shouting "Gooood moooorning Vietnaaaaam" like he did in the movie of the same name, except that it was real real quiet.The only sound you hear on the video is that of the crashing waves. The weather was nice, cool but not nippy and definitely not humid like Singapore was when we left. Here is a video of the South China Sea, the beach, pool area and the hotel Furama where I stayed:



Our first stop was to check out the golf course, signature one at that and went around the first nine, the back nine being under development, we only got a tour of that, on their golf buggy. Leaving the golf course, we went into Danang town to have some lunch and visit the Cham museum.

(Cham Museum with Shiva Linga and Goddess Uma below-click on pictures to enlarge)


With Hanoi in the North and capital of the country and with Ho Chi Minh in the South (formerly Saigon), Danang comes in as the fourth largest city in Vietnam. With less than 800,000 population and fairly spread out, it appears as a well planned but old and quiet city. The lanes and bye lanes reminded me of old Bangkok. Some similarities apart, this is a different town in many ways.

(Entrance to Cham museum)
I found the Cham museum to be particularly interesting because it contains archaeological artifacts and relics of an era when Vietnam was ruled by the Chams, a Hindu Kingdom! It boggles the mind that the concepts of Hinduism traveled this far in it's purest form thousands of years ago, as did Buddhism that followed it. The museum contains what was removed from dilapidated temple complexes found during the various expeditions in the Vietnam jungles. Some pictures of the sculptures housed in the museum is displayed here.

(Lord Ganesh above)
Having hired a car, it was a piece of cake traveling around except that our driver was excruciatingly slow and almost everyone except those on pedal driven cycles passing us left and right. When challenged, the guy mentioned that he stuck to the speed limit! The ride to Hoi An took us nearly 45 minutes, on country roads. Hoi An is 30 Kilometers south of Danang. Now, Hoi An is where most travelers end up. Backpackers are aplenty. Decent hotels with cheap fare and even cheaper beer can be found here lined up along the riverside. One can bump into really ancient looking people in row boats offering rides up and down the river, wearing that quintessentially native conical hats to ward off the sharp sun.

(Hoi An street walk route)


One must walk around the UNESCO protected city center where it is pedestrian only and streets contain boutique shops selling art or tailor made suits or cafe's and so on, interspersed with a Buddhist temples. I know many in Singapore who pick up paintings from here real cheap. Vietnamese art isn't all cheap by the way. A few artists here from this town have made it big on the World stage and command good value for their works. It is a real treat to walk around old Hoi An and to stop by a local coffee shop to sip the famous strong Vietnamese Coffee while watching the sun go down on the far end of the river. Another popular site is an old Japanese covered bridge built across one of the arms of the river and a place most visitors love to take pictures of themselves.


It was back to Danang for the night, and like I said before, we scouted around for some "lively" places where one could enjoy the night life and it just wasn't anything close to lively. I'd rather say that come nightfall and Danang just goes to sleep. There are a few beach side cafe's lit up with neon lights like throw backs from another era and these are good places to tuck into fresh seafood. Guess what, that's exactly what we did, quaffing down the local brew along with steaming hot seafood. We left the next day after lunch time, having had a splash at the local spa at the hotel that I would rate first class in terms of facilities and three star when it came to service.

Before traveling to Vietnam, check the entry requirements, most countries except ASEAN nationals need visas prior to arrival in Vietnam. Ports of entry are the airports of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Danang. Ho Chi Minh is brand-spanking-new and has beautiful terminals. Vegetarians beware, if you are the finicky kind, Vietnam can be a real challenge. Bread and milk is available if one can just live off that! Climate varies, check before you travel. New golf sites are coming up, even signature ones, so if you are a golfing enthusiast, keep an eye open for news from that part of the World. Vietnam is a long country North to South and plenty to see and do. Some parts are OK communications wise and in most parts one would have to do with sign language and pointing at things. But its still great fun.

SINGAPORE SNAPSHOT-12 MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL

In my last blog piece I had mentioned about the mid-autumn festival in brief and that this was also the time famous for consuming moon cakes. What I'll do here is keep the information brief and let the pictures do the talking. Mid-autumn festival is a Chinese festival. So, this is celebrated wherever Chinese people live, mainland China especially. Singapore has a strong Chinese origin population, hence the hungry ghost and mid-autumn festivals and so on.

(Musicians entertaining the crowd at Clarke Quay)

The festival revolves around the moon or rather stories built around the moon, it being the biggest brightest object in the night skies (when it's not raining, and it is raining a lot these days in Singapore!). Essentially a harvest festival as it started in China. The China town section of Singapore is specially decked up with lanterns, huge and innovative ones. Not ot be left behind, the Clarke Quay area next to the Singapore river is also lined up with such colorful lanterns, adding a bit of music to the festivities. Moon cakes from all the big name hotels are found in stalls, in many malls across the Island. My focus this time was the lanterns near the Singapore river. Enjoy the pictures, click on them to get full size.









End

SINGAPORE SNAPSHOT - 9 EXTREME SPORTS

I am not sure why they call stunts and acrobatics performed on bicycles, in-line skates and skate boarding as extreme sports, but they are called as such. Singapore is not left behind in the world of extreme sports and last weekend saw an extreme sports challenge take place right in the heart of down town. There is an area next to the Somerset MRT (train) station that has been designated as a graffiti area and for people to enjoy practicing their “extreme” sports. I have been watching young chaps accompanied by their doting girlfriends do their thing at the skate part (for lack of a better word). Skate boarding is a fun thing to do, for me at least, inline skating and stunt biking is not the thing for me although I’d watch people doing it.




So, yours truly had a weekend off, well almost the whole weekend, and what better way to spend the morning and a part of the afternoon but hang out at an extreme sports event? So, there I went, being among the oldest looking chaps at the place, in shorts, scrawny legs and all, gawking at youngsters ability to throw themselves and get hurt in as many ways as the imagination can stretch!


The event was well organized and that is one of the things that I have said in the past and perhaps I sound like a broken record now, everything happens in Singapore the way it is supposed to happen. That said, the event had rock music and sponsored by various sponsors of extreme sports equipment, the Singapore Sports promotion people, a local radio station that plays the latest music including my favorite genre (rock) and other sponsors.


The morning session was dominated by the bicycle stunts participants and by noon the inline skaters had done their thing followed by the skate boarders. Young Singaporeans have taken to the sport, although not in huge numbers and they had their colorful spectators to cheer them on and the locals were joined by some expats as well, especially in the skateboarding part of it. Can’t say that I saw any of my fellow Indians there though, conspicuously missing as usual, perhaps at home or perhaps doing typically sedentary activities on a lazy Saturday, even watching extreme sport can be too tiring for some!


For those of you who have watched these events on T.V. I’d say that being there is better, the spills and thrills are better to watch from up-close except that I never managed to take any pictures of mid-air acrobatics and there were some of them who looped their bikes and skates. Since the options were unlimited on the day and since I was tempted to pack more things on my off-day, I wandered off to the annual rock concert that takes place in Singapore and is free to the public. That’s going in my next post along with a preview of the flying displays that I watched and took pictures of, in preparation of the National Day Parade. Singapore is celebrating its 42nd Birthday on the 9th of August and I’ll tyr and put in some information after the celebrations.

SNAPSHOT-6: PIRATES OF SINGAPORE

Recently the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” was released, for those who have watched the series this was another fun movie and features what is supposed to be medieval Singapore. That was fiction but Singapore celebrated the pirate theme by organizing a River Raft Race on the Singapore River at Clarke Quay with some of the participants dressed up like pirates and flying the “skull flag”.



The event is basically to race free-style hand made rafts that are all not sea (or river) worthy and they are built by various groups of people supported and sponsored by the Singapore Polytechnic. The rafts were made from bamboo, recycled water cans, tires, drums and pretty much whatever material that can stay afloat-although a lot of them that were designed to float actually didn’t and ended up soaking the participants. The race was only on a 100 meter stretch of water. The idea was to have fun, raise funds for charity and spread awareness (more on that later) and that’s what everyone did, the participants and the onlookers.


Organizers and saftey canoes before the race


The river raft event has been going on for the last 19 years and it was originally conceived as an awareness campaign for keeping the Singapore River clean and navigable. The atmosphere was that of a carnival, accompanied by music and DJ’s from local radio stations providing interesting tit bits of information and live commentary of the race.


A "poor" pirates' raft for sure

People had gathered in large numbers to either participate or to encourage those who were participating and it was great fun to hear remarks from by-standers who were desperately cheering on some of the teams that were half submerged and trying desperately to find movement, other than going around in circles. There was no shortage of imagination when it came to raft building and the participant’s sense of humor. To cap it all, the day turned out to be beautiful, nice, clear, sunny, after days of rainfall and cloudy weather.


Will this float? Will this win? asking questions...

Rafts lined up


These Viking pirates needed to be towed..


A painting competition was organized for kids of various age groups and many of the budding artists sat by the riverside drawing and painting the raft race as they saw it. There was rock climbing events on a simulated rock wall of course, netball competitions and food and heritage tours as part of the event.


Kids at the river side 'drawing' the race


Rafts at the starting grid


I thought you'd find hippos in rivers, here's a rhino though!



Ferrari's got more competition than from just Lewis Hamilton!



Jaws-this one went in circles and almost sank!

I’d like to add that As fund-raising is very much a part of Raft Race, a sum of $83,724 was collected for this year's beneficiaries - Autism Children's Centre, The Salvation Army Haven Children's Home, Clementi Student Service Centre and Singapore Polytechnic's Overseas Community Service Program.

SNAPSHOT – 5 SINGAPORE ARTS FESTIVAL 2007

Snapshot-5 is about the Singapore Arts Festival that's going on from the 25th May through the 24th of June 2007. The Arts festival is a combination of Dance (various dance forms and fusion), Music and theatre. The festival offers an audio-visual extravaganza for a variety of art connoisseurs. Information about the location, timings, dates and other details can be found on their website: www.singaporeartsfest.com

The padang area in front of the old supreme court and a view of Singapore's finance district


The opening night was actually 3 nights in a row (perhaps I should call it “opening nights”) i.e. the 25-27 of May. The opening nights event was free to everyone and was organized in an open area called the Padang. The Padang is a grassy field opposite some of Singapore famous landmark buildings such as the old Supreme Court, which I learn, is going to be a new Art Museum. I cannot think of a better use for the elegant colonial building.

The pre-show crowd

The opening nights featured an event called “Dreams in Flight” performed by La Fura dels Baus from Spain. A similar aerial performance was conducted by the same group at the last Barcelona Olympic Games opening ceremony. The show featured Artists suspended in a rotating huge steel disk that was maneuvered on top of the heads of spectators, to the accompaniment of music. The sound system and the visual background screens with projections were excellent.

The hospitality tent

I observed Singaporeans from all walks of life and in all age groups including older people in wheel chairs, had turned up to watch the event. It is great to know that so many people back an Arts Festival here. We were sitting/standing next to a group of somewhat elderly group who were enjoying themselves quite a bit. There were kiosks offering free water (called Newater) and brochures for the various events on offer during the entire Arts Festival month. Singapore has few reservoirs and few rivers and has to rely on neighboring Malaysia for potable water before they are treated here for public supply. Anyway, the older people were joking about the origins of Newater and that’s why no one bought these and hence distributed at most events for free! Testing has proved that Newater is indeed potable.


Wheel in the skies with artists performing while it was rolling and rotating over the crowds


The older couple next to us remarked that the water on offer was “Newater” and wanted to know if we knew anything about it. Sure we did, being nosy characters and wanting to know about everything. And for those who do not know what Newater is, here’s a small digression from the main topic- New Water is actually recycled water, treated water from waste water etc. The PUB (a Government body) has brought in technology that has previously been in use in the US, UK and Australia to supplement the potable water supply in Singapore.

La Fura dels Baus (Spain), the artists who were in the giant wheel

Aerial dancers

Fire works with Aerial dancers


Back to the Arts festival now and the aerial event included, a group of Singaporean volunteers who had undergone training recently, being suspended 40 feet in the air from a crane, strapped to a net, performing aerial dances. Various lights were focused on them and during the last part of their act, massive fireworks were launched, lighting up the skies. It was meant to project optimism about the event and about life itself in the years to come. I am sure that the theme for such an opening was also to give art a fun image, art is fun, art is bold, art is interactive, brings people together and is an expression of hope.

MORE OF MACAO!

Imposing Gent:

I met an imposing gent in the middle of a park in the middle of Macao literally. He stood there, looking quite imposing (I said that already didn’t I?) and unmoving. I am sure, in his time, he moved and how! I am talking about the statue of the Portuguese sea farer, navigator, Captain, explorer, call him by any name and it fits him for sure. His real name? Jorge Alvares, the first Westerner to reach the Pearl River Delta in the year 1513. Take a look at the photo of this gent and how strange he may have appeared to the Chinese fisher folk who had been living along the Pearl River Delta for millennia perhaps.

Imposing Gent! (Click on all pictures for bigger view)

Fisherman’s Wharf:

Yes, Macao also has one and it’s not quite like the one in San Francisco. This one is a mini Disneyland of sorts with a huge man made volcano, a Roman amphitheatre and Roman themed shopping complex and a few other attractions that run along the outer harbor of Macao starting from just of the Macao Ferry terminal. The ferry terminal brings in visitors and locals from mainly Hong Kong by high speed ferry boats. One can reach Hong Kong this way in one hour, a distance of around 70 kilometers away. What I liked about fisherman’s wharf is that it is a nice place to unwind in the evening, not too many people hanging about, at least for now while the place is still new and unknown. There are neat little watering holes, bars and café’s by the sea with a boardwalk kind of feel. I sat at one that featured Dutch beer (finally the Dutch had invaded Macao!) and a live band that was playing some rather good rock music. I’ll take pictures on my next visit.

Like flies landing on rotten meat:

Sitting by the seaside at fisherman’s wharf, sipping a big pint of beer and watch the ferries go by is a nice way to spend the evening. I sat at a American sounding café’ outside, by the water, taking in the sights of the early night and the astounding part were the helicopters taking off and landing one after the other on the roof of the ferry terminal. There’s a full fledged helipad on the roof and regular transfers, mostly back and forth from Hong Kong keeps the choppers busy. I was told that the flight between HK and Macao takes only a little over 15 minutes. It takes me double that time to go by train to downtown Singapore from where I live! However, I can reach downtown Singapore from my place for a little more than a Singapore Dollar. The helicopter costs HK$1,800 each way I was told (US$230) and that’s no small change unless you happened to be a high roller and then it would be peanuts really.

The high rollers were coming into town; one could only imagine the tycoons stepping off the helicopters to be driven straight to the casinos for a night of gambling. Was James Bond on one such flight? Was it him in the tuxedo with Miss Pussycat or whoever his girl friend was this time around? Macao had this air about it, a James Bond set, in living color. A word about the casinos- there’s plenty of them (oops that’s four words!). There are many casinos here and this year, the news was that Macao beat Las Vegas (you heard me right) in casino volumes (numbers and revenues). Gamblers in SE Asia know where to head, before the Integrated Resorts starts in Singapore starts in 2009 (I guess) but then that’s only one casino and Macao has plenty more options) to choose from.

I’d say that the frequency of the helicopters coming in, with their landing lights on, circling around waiting to land one after another was almost like swarms of flies landing on a piece of rotten meat. There’s nothing rotten about the helipad or the ferry terminal, let me assure you but I in the distance that’s what it looked like. A beer too many perhaps?

The foods quite alright and the options were not limited. A vegetarian can certainly not get lost here for sure and the menu featured western delights, too many to list but starters included the stock tortilla chips with salsa and baked potato skins with cheese and sour cream. Assorted pasta and pizza made up the menu. Any more beer or anymore food and I was certain to fall overboard and become fish feed. A little walk was necessary and in the pleasant evening, it rather felt good. Getting back from fisherman’s wharf is a cinch; taxis at the ferry terminal will get you back to wherever you are staying. Adventurous chaps like me can take the regular city buses that go on the usual hotel routes. Like I said before, it is damn difficult to get lost in Macao.


Inner harbour-looking towards Macao Tower

Inner Harbor:

Other evenings can be spent at the inner harbor and yes there is one such place, with a board walk and café’s lining the waterfront there as well. I have posted photos of this place as well. Along side the inner harbor are various heritage and modern buildings among them, the administrative offices of Macao and an imposing façade of a mansion on a cliff, a heritage building that forms the residence of the Portuguese Ambassador. His predecessors were probably Governors for Macao during the time Macao was a territory of Portugal.

Inner Harbor


One need not walk on the boardwalk of the inner harbor and may opt to walk on the road side because of the enormous and well laid out sidewalks, and still be able to look at the fountains and laser light shows in the inner harbor with the lights of the casinos in the background.

Walk way -inner harbor area

A rather long walk from here leads one to the Macao tower, a place that I did not go to this time. I chose to walk, but like I said before, taxis and busses are available to ensure that you don't overwork those legs, unless you love walking like I do. Local information mentions this tower as the tenth tallest in the World. Perhaps it is and I did not see much sense in going up, just to be swallowed by mist and being unable to get a clear view of the surroundings and into mainland China. That’s for another day for sure. I do have photos posted here of the tower below, on another cloudy, cool, misty day.


A-Ma Temple:

I could not, obviously, complete this tour without paying my respects to the patron goddess of Macao. No, not the one featured before in the first part of this story but another one after whom the country/city of Macao is named. Naturally, I tool another one of those real convenient and cheap city buses to the A-Ma temple, also known locally as the Mak Kok Miu, named after the goddess who is the protector of the sea. It is the oldest standing temple in Macao, over 500 years old. Apparently the Portuguese landed right across from the temple when the sailors came ashore and asked the locals what the name of the place was, the local told them that it was called the Ma kok. Hence the name stuck and the Portuguese contributed for some local language corruption and called this land as Macao.

The A-Ma (Ma Kok) Temple


Another heritage building in mid town Macao


Mid Town Macao


Another view of St. Paul's Ruins


More Canons on the fort


Local Administration building-another heritage structure, close to inner harbor area

There’s more to see and that will have to wait for my next trip and I am sure that I’ll do Taipa and the “country side” on Coloane. Let me round off this rather long piece by saying that Macao was pleasant to visit, not too many hassles, good places to walk around and for those with the desire to play the tables, some very fine casinos indeed that will make sure you go back home feeling light (weight reduction as a result of cash reduction). Next time you do that and go to a casino in Macao, have a vodka martini on me, shaken but not stirred!