Stylish Singapore

Our visit to Singapore was very short.  Mark and I arrived one night and immediately departed for Melaka, Malaysia.  We returned to Singapore 10 days later for three nights.  I had been to Singapore 27 years earlier on my trip around the world.  Mark had been here in 2003 for work.  However, neither of us really remembered much from our brief visits. 

Peranakan Museum: Typical kitchen

As in Malaysia, December is Singapore’s rainy season.  Undaunted and armed with umbrellas, we set out to explore the city.  We took in the Peranakan Museum.  This is a fabulous ethnological museum (named for the ethnic Chinese who had settled in the Straits area and intermarried with the Malay and Indian inhabitants) and walked around the Arab district.   

Amy joined us in Singapore on our second day (around 1:30AM in the morning).  It was great to see her.  Although tired, she was delighted to have finished her exams and escape the 39 degree weather she left in Seattle.

Lovely street off Orchard Road

After sleeping until 1100, the three of us explored Little India, the Muslim quarter, Clarke Quay, and Orchard Road (Singapore’s Fifth Avenue).  We also walked around the spice and butterfly gardens, and Singapore’s historic area.  Like Malaysia, Singapore food is delicious and we found a fabulous restaurant called the Islamic, across from a mosque not far from Arab Street.   

Amy with some friends

Unfortunately we encountered a downpour on our only night together that put a cab bash on our plans to take the night safari at the zoo.  So instead we headed back to our hotel and just hung out.

Before we left for Bali the following day, we explored a bit more of Singapore and then we met up with Jen Marks at the Singapore airport.  Jen was one of Mark’s NROTC students during his tenure as the Marine Officer Instructor (MOI) at MIT back in the early 1990s.  Jen will be accompanying us to Bali.

Catching up with Tock-Ling

For me, one of the highlights of our brief visit to Singapore was having a chance to catch up with a friend from my Northeastern University days.  Tock-Ling Chua was one of the first international students I worked with during my time in the International Placement Office at Northeastern.  Upon graduation, Tock-Ling took a job with Texas Instruments.  We caught up a few years later when I came through Singapore in my earlier Asian travels.  What a delight it was to see him again!  Yes, old friends are special.

Singapore takes it's rules seriously

We are off to Bali seeking sun.  Hopefully we will find it there. 

Marvelous Malaysia

We didn’t really know what to expect when we decided to travel to Malaysia.  I have a friend, Faith who is from there and a colleague of Mark’s has also lived there.  Other than that and the recommendation of June and Deasy, two women we met during our Ha Long Bay cruise, we decided to add Melaka (Malacca) and then Penang to our itinerary.

The Spice Route

Su and Ila in Melaka

We arrived in Melaka late in the evening having traveled from Bangkok to Singapore and then hopped on a bus to Melaka.  The following day we found our way to the Selvim, an Indian restaurant for lunch.   We shared a table with a group of hospital employees who graciously treated us to lunch.  Served on banana leaves, I had the Friday vegetarian special:  globs of this and that with rice and chi tea.  Yummy!  I soon found out that Malaysia has a marvelous mix of cultures:  Chinese, Indian and Malay.  The three groups live in relative harmony.  The dominant religions are Islam, Christianity and Buddhism.  In fact, you can find a church, mosque and temple all on the same street!



There is so much to see and do in Melaka, but at the beginning of month six of our travels I have definitely slowed down.  One day, we spent lounging at the Marriott Renaissance hotel pool, reading our books, and of course, playing on the Internet and making reservations for upcoming destinations.

Sunset at the Portuguese Settlement

Despite our laziness, I think we made a good effort at getting around Melaka.  One day, after taking in some of the sites, we ended our night in the Portuguese settlement for dinner. We had walked the entire day, so we had meandering from our hotel to the settlement, a distance of about 10K.  We opted for a taxi to return. Walking in Melaka is a bit tricky; the concept of pedestrian rights has not made it to Malaysia.  In fact it is fascinating how few people we saw walking.  Beware of the scooters that rule the roads!   We visited the Sultan’s palace (yes, Melaka had Sultans), the Dutch square, St. Paul’s Hill, the Dutch, British and Chinese cemeteries, and the famous Jonker Street.  Jonker Street is known for its antique stores by day and weekend Night Market.   We went to church at the first Anglican church of Melaka.  One evening we cruised down the river that meanders through the city.

Aside from the friends we made at the Selvim, we also had the pleasure of meeting Su and her niece Ila who run a small soda fountain on Jonker Street.  The two women were delightful.  Su made multiple dining recommendations.  Indeed we loved the Northern Indian tandoori restaurant she recommended!

Mark and Lee

As you can tell, food is a passion in Malaysia.  This is also true in the other Malaysian place we visited—Penang.  Once again, we were blessed by meeting someone who would make our trip extra special.  We met Lee on the bus from the airport.
Lee, a native of Penang, has been retired for 10 years.  I mentioned that I was delighted to be in Penang having read a book about the city.  As it turns out, Lee had met the author of the book, The Gift of Rain, a week earlier at a Literary Conference in Penang.  Our friendship was sealed.

Georgetown waterfront in Penang

Once again, armed with Deasy and June’s recommendations, we toured Penang’s sites.  It was easy to see why The Kek Loc Si Temple is a must see.  The temple is enormous and ornate.  The shrine has been lovingly restored.  Penang Hill, mentioned in The Gift of Rain, was a hill station during Britain’s colonial period.  The temperature on the hill was 15 degrees cooler than in the city!  The Hill also houses a small aviary and a collection of tropical plants.  We also visited the home of a Cheong Fatt Tze, a man who became as wealthy as Rockefeller.  Tragically, in 1916, Cheong died of pneumonia on his way to meet with Rockefeller to set up an Asian bank.

Tropical Spice Plantation

Tropical Spice Plantation

One of my favorite sites in Penang was the Tropical Spice Garden.  The Garden is located about an hour bus ride out of Georgetown on the Northern Coast of the island.  What a beautiful site.  Nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, and cloves coveted by the Europeans grew easily in Malaysia.  Malaysia was renowned for its role in the spice trade being both a geographic crossroad and being so fertile.

Thanks to the warmth of the lovely people we befriended and the beauty of this country, we had a wonderful time in Malaysia.

Cambodian Contrasts

The international airport in Siem Reap is three years old, clean, air conditioned and elegant.   Likewise, the main road from the airport to our hotel is lined with very large, brand-new, internationally known chain hotels.  This is not the way I pictured Cambodia.  Our hotel, though more local in style, is also lovely but the road it is on is made of rutted, soft sandy clay.  Cambodia is a country of contrasts.

 

We are only here for a few days.  The cost of a flight to Siem Reap exceeds any of the flights we have taken so far.  Cambodia wants travelers but it seems only those who are well heeled.  

The hotel we stayed was on a rutted, dirt road, just off the main drag.  The Auberge Monte Royal is a charming oasis.  Our room had a four-poster bed, bright white down duvet, a lovely lanai, a delicious breakfast with 6 choices of fresh fruit and all the amenities of a modern hotel.

Buphon temple Buddha

Bas Relief from a temple

Following a delicious breakfast on the hotel lanai, we met our tour guide Dee and driver Rosa.  Our three-person tour, set up by Barbara, was, thankfully, in an air-conditioned minivan.   Rosa offered us bottles of cold water.  Dee and Rosa took good care of us during our stay.  Cambodia was scorching and humid even early in the morning.  We spent two days visiting various wats.  The most famous wats are those in the Angkor Wat complex.  These wats were built for King Suryavarman II as early as the 12^th century.  However, it was King Jayavarman VII in the 13th century (aka Jaia 7) who is credited by the Cambodian people for building temples that honored both Hindu gods and goddesses and the Buddha.  Jaia 7’s religious tolerance allowed both religions to coexist and created peace in Cambodia.  Unfortunately, religious tolerance was not continued under his nephew and successor, Jaia VIII.  Jaia VIII had all the Hindu gods and goddesses removed and replaced by statues of Buddha. 

The first morning we explored some wats in Bauphon, on the outskirts of Siem Reap.  Seven man-made lakes surrounded this complex.  These lakes represented the seven oceans within the kingdom.  Man-made lakes surround many of the wats.  We also visited the Jungle wat, a wat taken over by the jungle and used for the filming of Indian Jones.  We did a lot of climbing. 

Angkor Wat

On our second day we concentrated on the Angkor Wat complex. We admired the bas-relief on the temple at Angkor Watt.  The bas-relief is a pictorial retelling of Hindu mythology.  We marveled at the architectural genius and engineering feat evident in the Wats.  We ruminate on the lives that must have been lost constructing these magnificent monuments.  What have we constructed that would stand this test of time?

All were spectacular; but after awhile, though each was fascinating, I began to get temple weary and confused.  Happily we took a break and visited a silk farm.  I found the visit fascinating.  

Artist sponsored by Save the Children

However, what I realize I like most about traveling is the people we meet.  We saw a group of children drawing as we exited one of the temples.  Their art class is a project of Save the Children.  It was a pleasure to see the children and I enjoyed watching them draw.   

One woman who touched my heart was Sophea Pheach, a Cambodian woman who left her country as a child when her family became political refugees during Pol Pot’s regime.  She grew up in Uruguay and was educated in France.  A few years ago she returned to Cambodia to found an orphanage.  From there she has continued to help her fellow Cambodians by establishing a silk farm employing over 110 locals, many of them orphans and poor local girls, and making gold silk that is turned into museum quality tapestries, clothing, bedding and accessories. Sophea’s determination to preserve this traditional Cambodian handicraft and helping her country is both admirable and inspirational.  Check out her site at http://www.goldensilk.org/index.html  

and a wonderful review of her business and one of a kind silk products at http://luxurytravelreview.com/2011/11/07/interesting-inspiring-visit-to-cambodia-golden-silk-farm/

In front of Angkor Wat

Mark and I also met a young man, Ping, in a temple who spoke to us of his struggle to get an education.  As the child of farmers, he is not able to pay for his schooling.  He was in school at a monastery but had to return home when his father was injured.  He longs to attend school but is now too old to attend the monastery school.  He has found a monk who works with him on English.  He is unable to marry since he cannot find a good job.  This reminded me of the predicament we heard about by some of the men we met in Jordan.  It seems that the current employment situation has had a direct impact on their marriage prospects.  

As I said earlier, our visit to Cambodia was extremely short.  We had a brief glimpse into the poverty that still exists there as we took a taxi to a restaurant that was outside the heavily trafficked tourist area.  On the way we saw people living in squalor along the riverbank.  With the recent memory of the flooding in Thailand, we wonder how long these people will have their homes before flooding washes theirs away also.

As I reflect on my time in Cambodia, I once again realize how fortunate I am.

Our Visit to Vietnam

We arrived in Hanoi with a bang on the tarmac in the darkness.  Was it an omen of things to come?

After consulting the travel counter, we decided that it would be easier to take a taxi rather than the airport shuttle to the downtown, some 40 miles away.  We showed the taxi driver the address of our hotel.  Unfortunately he did not read English and didn’t recognize the address.  He called the phone number of the hotel and spoke to a young man who directed him to another address.  The young man, told us that the hotel was overbooked and walked with us to a hotel “that was of the same quality.”  The Lemon Hotel was just that—a lemon:  the bedspread was ripped, one of the bed lights broken, and there was glass on the floor.   We asked the young man for a restaurant suggestion.  He brought us to a stall on the street.  We thanked him but declined the food and walked up the street to find a sit down restaurant.  About two blocks up the street we found a lovely hotel.  We walked in and asked if they had two rooms.  They did and we moved ourselves to the Hong Ngoc Hotel.  For exactly the same price we got two lovely rooms with a refrigerator, flat screen TV, and shower with a full bath.  Our room was even big enough to dance in!  No doubt we had been the victims of a bait and switch by the Sunshine Suites Hotel.  Happily Barbara notified Agoda, the booking agent and they subsequently refunded us for our Sunshine Suites Hotel rooms.

Exhausted, we had dinner at the Hong Ngoc Hotel.  Huong, the very friendly and helpful desk clerk, informed us that the rooms we booked were unavailable tomorrow night.  He suggested that we take our boat trip in Ha Long Bay tomorrow, spend the night there, and then return to Hanoi for one more night before leaving for Hue City.  Patty, Mark and I booked our passage on the Alova while we booked Barbara, not a fan of boats, at a hotel in town of Ha Long Bay.

Beautiful Ha Long Bay

Early the next morning we left Hanoi with 15 others for Ha Long Bay.   The four-hour trip was uneventful.  Mark, Patty and I took a tender to the Alova while Barbara was taken to her Ha Long Bay hotel. 

Our Alova travel companions

The Alova was on its 8^th cruise.  The new ship with 13 rooms and accommodations for 22 is a gem.  The ship has a first class chef and all the amenities.   We left the harbor and traveled southwest toward the magical mountains for which Ha Long Bay is famous.  The limestone weather-worn islands of which there are over 250, jut out of the bay reminding me of Coke bottles on a chess board.  The view is breathtaking and surreal.  We dine on a delicious lunch and meet the rest of our fellow passengers.   One is a man from Germany, and one is from the Czech Republic.  Three women and one man are from Malaysia and recruit Asian students to study in the US and Australia.  There is a family of 7 with 2 children.  After lunch we go to visit the famous Ha Long Bay cave and swim in a beach on one of the islands.  Life doesn’t get much better!

By early evening we were back at the Hong Ngoc Hotel in Hanoi.  We returned to our lovely large room.  We sought out a restaurant in the Old Quarter that was recommended.  The food was yummy and the ambience was festive.  We walked home the long way since I insisted upon setting our direction that turned out to be completely wrong. 

Huong and Mark

The following morning, Huong, offered to take us around the city.  We started with a walk to Hoan Kiem Lake to purchase tickets to Hanoi’s Water Puppets theatre.  We lucked out and got tickets for the early show.  The puppet show was lovely—45 minutes of music and puppets that was magical for both the adults and children. 

From there we hopped on a public bus with Huong and went to Ho Chi Min’s home.  In order to get to the home you had to visit his Mausoleum though we did manage to avoid the Ho Chi Min museum.  Ho Chi Min’s home was austere but elegant.  According to Huong, Ho Chi Min is affectionately called Uncle. 

After lunch at Koto, a restaurant used as a not-for-profit hospitality-training center for Vietnam’s street an disadvantaged youth.  (www.koto.com.au)  The food was fabulous and it made me feel good to support such a worthwhile mission.

From there we went to the Vietnam Ethnological Museum.  As always, I loved the museum; this museum even included an outdoor section with replicas of various minority tribe homes, tombs and temples.

We left Hanoi later that evening and traveled to Hue City.  Hue was the former Imperial Capital of Vietnam.  Hue is located on the Perfume River in the middle of Vietnam.  Hue was also pivotal in the Vietnam War (known as the American War in Hue.)  

The Romance Hotel was our home base during our time in Hue.  It was fortuitous that Barbara had arranged such a nice hotel for us.  The next morning we got an early start to explore Hue.  We went up for breakfast on the 11^th floor.   The food was plentiful and delicious but did not agree with Barbara.  Soon after breakfast she felt sick and went back to bed.  At the time none of us knew how sick Barbara really was.   While Barbara rested, Mark, Patty and I explored Hue.  I found a store that had old Blackberry parts and I was able to buy a replacement tracking ball and holder for my phone.   We also walked to the old Citadel that houses the remains of the old Imperial Palace.  I found a store that sold lovely silk blouses and another that raises money for disadvantaged disabled Vietnamese youth, called Healing the Wounded Heart Shop. 

Upon our return to the hotel, Mark and I treated ourselves to massages and I even got a much needed pedicure.   Ahh—to die for!  When I checked in on Barbara, I discovered a Vietnamese doctor in her room.  She felt so ill she had had the hotel call a doctor.  He diagnosed her with acute food poisoning.  He gave her some antibiotics to ease her discomfort. 

The following morning, Barbara still did not feel any better.  She was very concerned that the medicine she was taking did not seem to be helping her.  Later that day she asked the doctor to come by again.  By the following morning having talked to her doctor stateside, she still felt so terrible, she decided to go to the hospital.  Hue Central Hospital is a teaching hospital and blessedly, the doctor who had come to the hotel was on duty in the ER.  While Mark and Patty were checking out the Imperial City, Barbara and I were on our way to the ER.   After an array of tests and a night in the hospital, Barbara returned back to the Romance Hotel weak but healthy.  Navigating the hospital was fascinating and I must say, Barbara received excellent care.  Yesterday, Patty departed for Ho Chi Minh City to return to Seattle.   Unfortunately, due to Barbara’s hospitalization and our extended stay in Hue, we had to rebook our flights and were unable to visit Ho Chi Minh City. 

ER at Hue Central Hospital

Happily Barbara is almost back to normal today.  This morning, in the pouring rain, Mark, acting as our tour guide, took us through Hue’s Imperial City.  This afternoon we left Hue, via Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  We will be in Cambodia for a few days visiting Angkor Wat and then we will return to Bangkok. 

So was our bump on the tarmac an omen of things to come?   Perhaps.  But just like the airplane, in the end everything has turned out just fine.  Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving!

Lovely Lao

The Slow Boat is full!

We entered Laos from the Northern Thailand town of Chang Kong, near the Golden Triangle to begin our adventure by slow boat down the Mekong River.  The boat held about 80 people for our two-day trip.  The scenery is magical as we floated down the quickly flowing, winding river. We traveled through the lush mountainous valley filled with teak jungles, banana-laden trees, rice paddies, bamboo huts, people bathing in the river, and water buffalo on the shore.  Life on the river operates at a different pace.  Hours rolled by as we chatted with fellow travelers, drifting off to sleep, reading and watching the scenery.  We arrived at a village for the night and returned to the river early for our next day’s journey.

We pulled into Luang Prabang around 4PM the following day.  Our hotel was lovely.  The staff was welcoming and we came to be good friends with Yee and Hong.  We all found Luang Prabang charming.  Its French influence is undeniable.  It feels like you have been transported to a different era.  The buildings reminded me of New Orleans with an Asian twist.  The people are friendly.  Luang Prabang has a sizeable Hmong population.  Their handicrafts are plentiful at the Night Market.  This is a town to savor.  The townspeople work hard as the tourists leisurely explore this paradise.

The Mekong River

Although Lao is still a communist country, it opened itself to tourism in 1997.  Lao has a strong Buddhist tradition.  Luang Prabang is known for its 350 monks who walk each morning at daybreak around all the Wats collecting sticky rice and other foodstuff.  The procession and offering of alms is solemn and sacred.  The bounty is collected for the temple offerings and to be eaten by the monks throughout the day.

Yee  and Huong in front of our hotel

Our hotel desk clerk, Yee, asked if I could help him with his English pronunciation.  The following day I accompanied him to Big Brother Mouse, a program staffed by volunteer English speakers.  I worked with Yee and when he left for secondary school, I spent two more hours working on pronunciation with two other students.  Lao English study seems to consist of memorizing enormous lists of vocabulary and learning some grammar but the students do not practice basic conversation.  In order to get a good job in the tourist industry, conversational English is essential.  So Big Brother Mouse tries to help the Luang Prabang students speak proper English.  I left my students with homework:  practice pronouncing R, L, B, V, W.  Two days later I returned to check on the progress my young Buddhist monk had made.  His Rs and Ls were much improved.  I do enjoy teaching English!

Three of my ESL students at Big Brother Mouse

At lunch we met a man who had returned for the first time in 27 years to his hometown of Luang Prabang.  He was reuniting with two of his three sisters and planned to surprise his uncle who still lived in Luang Prabang.  Bud had been a policeman but was jailed for six years following the ascension of the Communists in 1975.  He managed to escape and has lived in Florida since the 1980s.

On our third day in Luang Prabang, we took a riverboat with Mr. Thongdy, a former USAID employee, to a weaving village.  The silk products were beautiful.  A few of the townspeople were obviously exceptional entrepreneurs.   We also saw paper being made.  From the weaving village we stopped at a pottery village but a townsperson had died the day before and the kilns were not operating.

Then we headed further south to a village where we took a truck ride to a waterfall and bear sanctuary.  The sanctuary held Moon and Sun Bears.  We arrived just in time for watching the bears eat:  they looked healthy.

The waterfall was tiered and the water was ice blue.  We hiked about a bit and even swam in the icy cold water.

We got in........brrr!

That night we attended a Lao cooking class in the countryside.  The class was professionally orchestrated and the food was delicious.  Patty, Barbara and I enjoyed ourselves immensely.  (Mark chose to pass on the class.)

Beautiful silk at the Night Market

Food in Luang Prabang is a treat.  There are French croissants, good coffee, fabulous Lao food, delicious fruit, pizza and pretty much everything else (including Diet Coke) your heart could desire.  Massages are also plentiful and inexpensive.  One afternoon Barbara and I tried our luck at a place on Main Street.  Luck wasn’t with us---the massage was a first for my masseuse!  The following evening we were much happier; Mark, Barbara and I had fabulous massages at a local shop.  Luang Prabang, like Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, has an active Night Market filled with linens, jewelry, food, traditional handicrafts and collectibles.

On our last day we hiked Puisey Mountain, and had a delicious wood oven pizza at the Bee Hive restaurant.  Then it was off to the airport for our trip to Hanoi.