Vietnam and Cambodia - abbreviation of an abbreviated trip

Before the year is over, I'd like to make good on my promise a couple posts ago to put up some photos from the trip I took to Vietnam and Cambodia in Oct/Nov. Though we were only gone a mere eleven days, we packed so much in to our time that it felt double that (in a good way). I know for certain that I would love to return some day to give these two beautiful countries the attention they deserve, but for now I'll have to remember the little taste test that we had.


Saigon/HCM City, Vietnam

Amazing little bread critters in a shop we ducked in to to avoid the rain. I really wish we had bought some, but we only stopped for a couple seconds.

Some of the Party artwork

How just about every family gets around town - all on one scooter. There are helmet laws, but interestingly enough, they didn't seem to apply to children.

Claudia gets groomed.

Golden Temple Villa and Street Shots - Siem Reap, Cambodia


We did manage to get some relaxing in

There were loads of venues for that

"Welcome Drink"

My market friend. This kid could locate just about everything.

In control.

Temple Complexes Around Siem Reap

Day 1 - Bike Ride to Angkor Wat

Just like the cathedrals in Europe, these holy sites are still in use by the local religious folk. Each of the sites we went to still had many active Buddhist shrines.


The friezes were amazing - there are many non-close-up shots in the album, linked above.



It was wonderful to see that Angkor Wat was very much in use by the local people, and not one of those world heritage sites that have imposed high entrance fees that are prohibitive to the average non-tourist. We had to buy a three-day pass, but from what I saw, they only checked the obvious foreigners for these.


Some boys who insisted on giving us a tour of the local cemetery. I believe they were associated with the Children's hospital nearby.


Day 2 - Bike Ride to Angkor Thom

The ladies

The other ladies - they were all over the place.

I turned the corner and was taking a picture of the doorway when he walked into the frame. I literally gasped.

One of the many massive faces overlooking the site.

Active Buddhist shrine within Angkor Thom.

Pretty red stranger

I can't even do justice to the sounds and smells that surrounded us on our ride. I can come close to what it sounded like - every silly, exaggerated jungle soundtrack from a Tarzan movie. Seriously, it's pretty dead on. As for the smells, nothing can really capture that. Think of a mixture of burning aromatic wood and leaves; jasmine and other musky flowers; cinnamon; incense; damp earth; and heat.

Day 3 - TukTuk to Ta Prohm

In real life

These trees just oozed over the carved stones, like melted candle sticks.

The lichens all over the place were vibrant with color

None of these pictures really show the scale of these trees and buildings. I could fit comfortably between these roots, with a couple friends.

This old dude came up to me and started talking to me in very broken English, and for the life of me I couldn't get what he was saying. I could have sworn he was asking me if I wanted to see the dinosaur. Finally I just told Claudia to come with me while I saw what he was all eager to show us, and he pointed to this.

Well what do you know? A dinosaur. Can't even begin to figure what else it could be. So random. The old man was also covered with scores of tiny prison-like tattoos, the meanings of which I can only guess at, considering Cambodia's dark past. I don't doubt he saw some violent days in his lifetime.

It almost looks like the scaffolding is holding up this bad boy.

Walking out looked like something out of an Indiana Jones film.

Night in Siem Reap and the Water Festival

When the TukTuk got us back to Siem Reap, we decided to walk around because it was our last night, and we wanted to see more of the town. We hit the market one more time.


and then went on to the Water Festival, which was getting all revved up by the river.

There were loads of street vendors, noisy Cambodian pop music, and illuminated boats in the water.


People gathered around to watch the canoe races. I took loads of pics of the boats, but they mostly turned out crummy.

all of them were crewed by rowdy local youth and looked like a load of fun.


The night ended with a massive fireworks display

and the children placing offerings in the river of candy, candles, and flowers on rafts.

I wish I were a better low light photographer, but at least I managed to take some!

Halong Bay Cruise



Books and beers - librarian on vacation

why yes, those are carrots and peppers masterfully carved into flowers


and a tomato phoenix




Floating venders

And essentially the only shot I got of Hanoi

I wish I had had time to take more, but we were really only in the city proper for a handful of hours.

Highlights

Yesterday was definitely an interesting cap to the work week. Everything started off with the mayor wandering into my work to use the phone. Apparently a whole clutch of Great Lakes mayors were meeting at the club to discuss various shared problems; Detroit was not in attendance. I actually got to talk to Mr. Daley on his second visit and he said that he remembered my grandmother from the States Attorney's office - it may have just been him being nice, but if it's true that's cool.
I brought in my camera for once, so in the slow evening I took some photos of my library before heading out for the night.

After work I tracked down the CTA Holiday Train, which was running my route home. I know times are tight with the CTA right now, but it's nice that they keep this tradition going - I had a good time, and there were lots of kids with their parents just riding the train around the city, seeing the sights.


Passing out candy - nice!

lol

This guy must have been freezing his ass off.


Till next year, Holiday Train

Photo tour of our trip to Norway and Germany

Quiet arrival

Walked up to the highest point of Ålesund, Norway, for this view.


Overland hike from Geiranger to Hellesylt, Norway

Bergen, Norway - we hiked all the way from here back to the harbor.


Stavanger, Norway



On the Queen Mary 2




Berlin, Germany

Dresden, Germany

Autostadt - Wolfsburg, Germany

Celle, Germany


Internationales Wind- und Wasser-Mühlenmuseum, Germany


Hamburg, Germany

While I'm at it...

I've been sleeping so poorly the last week or so that I might as well use some of my unwanted free time to update my blog. A lot has happened since I went missing from this site. I worked my butt off at a place that, while involved in a very cool project and mission, was not a good work environment for me. Thankfully, out of the blue, I was contacted about a year-old resume that I had submitted at a different place, which brought me to the position where I now find myself.

In the interim, I've lost and gained weight, sanity, confidence, control of my path, free time, and more in varying increments. Only now do I feel like I am finally straightening out my world and moving on to more interesting things. However, have been fortunate enough to have escaped the day-to-day grind in many wonderful ways - from travel, to moving house once again - I intend to write a bit more about that once I've had some sleep. So, hello blog - I missed you; I hope to be around you a bit more often as I get back to living like me again.

Beer goggles on my city

I can't tell you all how thrilled I am - really. The feeling I have knowing that now I can go grab lunch with my father, or my brother, or Dan; the three most important men in my world. To know that when I get out of work - as my own direct boss, when I see fit - that I am in the heart of the city I love with a passion. All I can say is this is amazing. I go to and from with with the biggest, stupidest grin on my face. Riding home on the El tonight, listening to a live PA from Hyperactive (acid techno), knowing that what I see out the windows is really what inspired what I was jamming to. I felt a return to my giddy teens years of escape to the city for something more. And isn't that what I am doing now? Running further into the city to chase my ideal?

I know that today I leafed though, fake-casually, a copy of the original plans of the city, knowing I would soon be in charge of its awesomeness and more. I am a kid in the candy store right now. Everything I see tells me that I can have an amazing time for the next few years, but I know I really really need to read the signs and guess right. We shall see what happens.

I could really use the cash-in on job karma now.

Pho Sho

In Ho Chi Minh City. Passed out hard last night, and woke up in reasonable time this morning to a breakfast of egg pho and coffee. Claudia and I went out for a walk to a local spa where she got her hair and nails done while I had an amazing 45 minute head massage. Yes, head massage - basically all I ever want in life.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around on a mission to locate a particular style of scooter helmet that I kept seeing and really wanted for a bike helmet. Got all humid and sweaty, but then the torrential rain came, trapped us under a shop awning, and we grabbed some beers from the cooler and waited it out. Helmets and groceries were eventually acquired; now it's time for dinner and the bar.

Good morning / good night

Parked watching the sun set over Hong Kong through the windows of the airport - knowing full well it's getting ready to rise not long from now in the city I flew out of about 15 hours ago. Needless to say, I'm feeling a little bit disoriented, but the view is spectacular. I am really excited my connecting flight to Ho Chi Minh City will leave here after dark, so I can see that mushroom farm of skyscrapers on the islands all lit up. Welcome to the other side of the world.