Road Scholar – Page 2 – Destination NOW

Random Images

Jean requested that I post more photos of Mike and me. Mike’s photo card isn’t compatible with my iPad, I can’t get at his photos till I am home. Some other travelers were kind enough to get a few shots of us together. So Jean, these are for you.

After dinner...full bellies and big smiles (or is "big smiles and even bigger bellies" a bit more accurate? — After dinner…full bellies and big smiles or is “big smiles and even bigger bellies” a bit more accurate?

At Banteay Srei, the Temple of the Women

Mike, looking thoughtful.

Time for group shots:

Our wonderful guide made sure we had front row seats for the Angkor Wat sunrise

I DID promise random shots, so here goes. This is the walkway leading to the “laundry” less than a block from the Tara Angkor Hotel. For $12 we got two weeks worth of dirty clothes washed and folded. You might wonder where, because all that is visible are soda cans and umbrellas, which explains why I walked by the place twice. The laundry, you see,is also a cafe. These Cambodians are hard working AND ingenious.

The "bridge" didn't look all that sturdy, but fortunately, the stream wasn't very deep. — The “bridge” didn’t look all that sturdy, but fortunately, the stream wasn’t very deep.

Lest you think the hotel is equally rustic, let me show you the elegance of this gorgeous hotel. Seven of us ladies, and Mike, sipped our gin and tonics in this locale.

The pool had a Goldilocks temperature…not too hot, not too cold–just right. So refreshing!

Now for your viewing pleasure, the Southeast Asia version of “Planes, trains and automobiles”

Comfortable AND decorative buses — Our guide, Mr Long, in our very comfortable AND decorative bus

I tried several times to send Hal and Karen this photo via email. Maybe the post will succeed. Well, this WAS a mode of travel.

So far, we’ve had two trips on the Mighty Mekong. The first was in Laos, to the caves.

Those ARE recycled car seats that we a sitting on! — Those ARE recycled car seats that we are sitting on!

The second trip, in Cambodia, was quite an experience because the water level was so low, and the water was extremely muddy.

Beautiful, friendly children were all along the river.

No, our boat went QUITE like those on the bank. THIS was our boat.

Next stop, Vietnam.

Angkor Wat at Dawn

I don’t have enough adjectives to describe what it wa like to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat. Although my photos don’t do it justice, they will give you a rough idea of the grandeur of this sacred spot. It was worth getting up at 4:30 in the morning to view this remnant of an amazing civilization!
The moat surrounding Angkor Wat represents the ocean you cross to enter heaven; it also serves as a wonderful mirror, heightening the beauty of the structure.

Although we did a lot more today, there are only photos of Angkor Wat because anything else would look puny by comparison.

The five towers were constructed to resemble closed Lotus buds. The central tower represents Mount Meru, the home of the gods.

Only the king and monks were allowed on the third level of Angkor Wat and they were required to CRAWL up to show respect for the gods, so the stairs were suitably steep.

Although I don’t smoke cigarettes or eat products with hydrogenated oil, I HAVE been known to occasionally engage in risky behavior. Besides, I wanted to get in touch with my inner goddess, so of course I was climbing to the third level. The view was spectacular!

I think I might have even had a vision of the Buddha. Or could it be that the altitude produced hallucinations?
What a relief that I didn’t have to crawl up. After a few people fell from the stone steps, this wooden staircase was constructed. Only 43 steps to the top, but like the original, they were quite steep.

Two of my Pennsylvania pals, strutting their stuff

Since this is a shorter post, why not have a little contest? This one is fairly easy.

1. During this trip we have visited two places that were settings for movies. What were the movies,
2. and where were the locations?
3. Of the 4 countries we are visiting, which are constitutional monarchies and which are people’s republics?
4. Whose picture is on the Bhat?
5. What is the difference between the Chinese Buddha and the Buddha in the other Southeast Asian countries?
6. What precious stone is the emerald Buddha made of?
7. Who taught her granddaughter to cross streets fearlessly?

Luang Prabang, Laos

More highlights from Laos. The city of Luang Prabang is lovely, a nice mix of old and new…the “sometimes” nature of wifi was a reminder that we were in a developing country.

We visited a village along the Mekong, delivering gifts from Road Scholar: tin and wood for the school-house roof.
I found the village signs interesting. As you can see, the Lao aren’t big on spaces between words, which make it an extremely challenging language to learn.

Their English is way better than MY Laotian. I have barely learned how to say “hello”.

Our young guide escorted us to the schoolhouse.

The kiddies were on their lunch break, but they gathered to sing to us. We reciprocated with a rousing chorus of “row, row, row your boat.”

How could I not buy something from this sweet boy? I think Low Price Lenny might like a snail with a Buddha painted on his back.

Notice the bill in the baby’s hand? She helped her mother sell me a scarf so she demanded HER cut!

One more view of the Mekong, then we were on our way back to Luang Prabang.

First our guide Man (that’s his name, not a description) serenaded us, then he turned into a bartender, whipping up some killer gin and tonics. What a great way to end the trip!

Several of the ladies decided we could fit in another trip to the night market and a relaxing drink at the Villa Santi if we got ourselves to The Indestructible Rock (that night’s restaurant) on our own. No photos of that excursion…just great memories.

Lovely Laos

The Internet is a “sometimes” thing in Laos, which makes blogging a challenge. So, that’s why these posts are being uploaded in Cambodia. But I sure did love our time in Luang Prabang. Get ready for some highlights.

Monks get up at 4 AM every day. They are not allowed to eat after noon; all their food comes from donations so they hit the road early every morning. The head monk leads the way, followed by the “novices”. I don’t blame this little guy for yawning…so was I.

We followed them to Wat Xiang Thong, formerly the Royal Palace back when Luang Prabang was the capital of Laos. When the king decided to move the capital to Vientiane, he donated his home to the monks.

The techniques to create the beautiful glass mosaics were learned from the Japanese.

Similar mosaics cover the walls of the Throne Room in the National Museum, but we weren’t allowed to photograph there. In the National Museum, the walls and ceilings are a deep Chinese red, which makes the glass mosaics even more stunning. The National Museum was built by the French for the last King of Thailand, who ended up in a reeducation camp after the 1975 revolution.

We visited Ock Pop Tok (East meets West) where we met Jo and Val, who demonstrated how their beautiful silk garments were made, starting from the silkworm, through weaving and dying.

Do you recognize one of the workers, busily (and professionally) dying a silk scarf?

We managed to cruise through both the night and the morning markets. These markets are set up and taken down every day!

Speaking of cruising, we did just that, along the Mekong, to the Pak Ou caves, an important religious site for Laos.

Mike, intently studying the map of the Mekong

Barbara left a small Buddha in the cave, just like a local.

Could that be Indiana Jones, looking for Buddha?

Getting to and from our vessel took balance, as demonstrated by Linda.

The way to a man’s heart (and a woman’s too)

What better way to spend our last morning in Thailand than at a cooking class?

But first, these little piggies went to market, and what a market it was!

The vegetables were so fresh, the bees think they are still growing.

Thai “fast food” – all the necessary vegetables for soup, packaged together.

No wonder Thai food is so amazing–the ingredients are incredibly fresh!
Check out these master chefs.

Could that be Mike wearing a “do” rag??? Yes, it could, and it was.

The spring rolls were so delicious, I didn’t stop to photograph them–I think I might have inhaled them…but I DID capture our other glorious creations for your viewing pleasure.
Pad Thai

Green curry–we all were coughing as we were stir frying this dish. Not sure what ingredient caused that reaction.

And the grand finale–sticky rice with mango. I have never, ever tasted such scrumptious mangoes. They were perfectly ripened, sweet and juicy.

Our group: 4 Lindas, 2 Barbaras,2 Marys, Shelley, Sue, Sandy, Caroline, Karen, Kitty
2 Gregs, Alex, Al, Hal, Mike, Owen, and Rod, obviously not in any particular order.

Good news, folks back home. When I return, I won’t be empty handed. There will be a cookbook in my chubby fist!

After class, we were loaded into vehicles that resembled army trucks. Caroline pointed out this comforting sign. Good to know our driver was trained!

What a way to learn!

Learning was never this much fun during my school years! Why couldn’t all of my lecturers be like those on Road Scholar trips? Or could it be that I have changed?

Our first two lecturers, Jim Lehman and Tony Zola, were both peace corp volunteers, who stayed in Southeast Asia. Jim was a Buddhist Monk for three months, because he didn’t want to be “unripe”, or as our guide Tippy says, “uncooked rice”. Those are the terms for Thai men that do not spend at least a little time as a monk. If you marry someone who is “uncooked” or “unripe” the Thais believe the marriage will not work out, so it was off to the temple for Jim, so that his Thai wife’s family would approve of the union.

Jim explained that Theravada Buddhists don’t believe in god, however anyone visiting a Wat cant help but notice the Buddhists are deep into Hindu mythology.

Ganesha, son of Shiva and Parvati, at Wat Prathap Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai

In fact, they believe Buddha was the last incarnation of Vishnu. When I asked how Theravada Buddhists reconcile “no god” with their belief in Hindu gods, Jim gave me the answer he got from his Buddhist teacher. “When you have an arrow in your chest, you don’t ask how it got there.” In other words, Buddhism teaches us the way forward. It is not concerned with how we got to where we are. I, on the other hand, would DEFINITELY want to know who shot that damn arrow!

In addition to blending Hinduism with Buddhism, Thais throw animism into the mix. Spirit houses are everywhere, and have varying degrees of grandeur. We saw this one on our daily walk to the SkyTrain from the Loft Hotel. I think my dad might have one just like this in his back yard. (Right, Sue and San?)

This fancier spirit house is far more typical.

Our second lecturer, Tony Zola, talked about the socio-economic-political climate of the countries along the Mekong River, which flows from Tibet to the South China Sea. Sixty million people depend on it for food. They receive 80% of their protein from fish, so the “health” of the river directly impacts the health of the people.

Two of the countries we are visiting are constitutional monarchies (Thailand and Cambodia); Laos and Vietnam are People’s Republics. Per capita income ranges from a high of $8,700 in Thailand to $2,100 to $3,100 in the three other countries. One last demographic fact: half of the population of Southeast Asia is under the age of 25.

Tony didn’t just give us facts and figures; he also told us interesting stories. Thailand’s former Prime Minister received a degree in criminology from the USA. He had a creative way of solving Thailand’s rising drug problem. Somehow, the word got out to rival gangs that each was encroaching on the other’s turf. The resulting murders remain unsolved, which triggered a protest at the United Nations. Again, the Thais had a novel solution. The Thai ambassador’s wife utilized her staff’s cooking abilities to prepare delicious Thai food, which was set up on tables in of the demonstrators. It’s hard to be angry with a stomach full of Thai food. Problem solved…demonstration over. We can learn a lot from the Thais.

Did i mention that my posts are not necessarily in chronological order? Random…that’s the way my brain works. After Tony’s lecture, we headed off to the airport for our flight to Chiang Mai. And what an airport it is! Comfortable lounge open to all ticket holders,. With free wifi, drinks and food. No need to belong to a president’s club here.

At Wat Suan Dok, we had a “monk chat”, a discussion of Buddhism from a monk that was not just passing through, doing time so he could become “ripe”. He was a wonderful speaker, who explained that the goal of Buddhism is to be happy right here and now, to relieve suffering by learning detachment. To a Buddhist, the test of a religion should be whether it helps us to be able to live together peacefully. (I’m thinking there are a whole lot of religions that are scoring big red F’s on that particular test. After showing us how to wrap yourself in an orange robe (or as my cousin Kristy would say “rock his robe”)’ we received a crash course in meditation, and I left with an increased fondness for Buddhism.

Wat Prathap Doi Suthep is located about 40 minutes from Chiang Mai, atop a mountain. This wat is renown because the pagoda contains ashes of the Buddha.

A couple more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Goodbye Laos, Hello Cambodia

We had a free hour and a half before we left for the airport, so I flagged down a man driving his truck in front of our hotel. He agreed to drive us around Luang Prabang for an hour for $15.00. But first, we had to stop off to deliver eggs and vegetables to a local store.

Here I am with our friendly driver.

Mike wasn’t feeling adventurous but my new friend Caroline was rarin to go. (Nancy, meet your new friend).

Check out the boards on the walkway, not the most secure…but the view of the Mekong was so worth it!

We climbed Phusi Hill, but didn’t have time to make it up to the top (all 350+steps) because we were running out of time. We got about 3/4 of the way up and figured we’d better not miss the bus to the airport.

We DID catch some unusual sights along the way. Any future Road Scholars travelers reading this, a quick spin around the city in the back of a truck in the early morning is a great way to travel!

I always wanted to mount a Naga, and this one looked agreeable.

This is a Chinese Buddha. How can I tell? He is fat and smiling. The Thai and Lao Buddhas a thin and serious.

And now some views from the hill.

Those orange dots in the distance are monks that have just crossed the bamboo bridge.

The last image of the day…our bathroom, with the huge tub and no shower curtain. It made showering an adventure. I was glad I brought my bath oil!

Riding High in Chiang Mai

I’ve finally acknowledged that my blogging just can’t keep pace with our activities. So rather than try to record all of the things we have done over the last couple of days, I’ll just share one highlight…our visit to the elephant camp.

I didn’t realize our guide was joking when he said we needed our bathing suits to help the mahouts bathe the elephants. I was so ready!

The mahouts are showing us how we’ll be mounting the elephants for our ride thru the jungle.

Okay, so I was kidding about the mounting part, but not about the jungle ride.

It took about 40 minutes to get to the village. I bought a few treasures from this sweet young girl.

On the ride back, we took a short cut thru the river.

Going downhill was a bit harrowing. No photos of that experience…I was hanging on with both hands.
What a great adventure!

Night in Bangkok

Many years ago, Mike and I saw the musical “Chess”, which was memorable for two reasons:
1. it is the only musical that Mike and I disliked enough to leave at intermission, BUT
2. it had a really catchy theme song by Tim Rice, whose lyrics I remember to this day.

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble,
Not much between despair and ecstasy,
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble,
Can’t be too careful with your company,
I can feel the devil walking next to me.

Well, now…MY man has been here for THREE nights and he hasn’t tumbled yet. Let’s see what night number four has in store for him.

First decision–what to wear? While at Wat Arun, I saw some possibilities.

Had one of my female traveling buddies (you know who you are…) been by my side, this next photo might have been us in our evening attire. (These sweet young girls were also touring Wat Arun, decided to purchase the full outfit, fingernails and all, and allowed me to photograph them).

But I digress. Back to last night. Our first stop was Distil Bar on the 64th floor at the Lebua Hotel, where for the equivalent of about $40, I had a rose apple martini and Mike had a beer.

That might sound a bit pricy, but the olives and pistachio nuts were free, and we were able to relocate to the SkyBar when it opened. I’ve been told that this place was prominently featured in the movie Hangover Two. Since we saw neither that nor Hangover One, that wasn’t our reason for going there–it was, what else, the amazing view.

It would have been wonderful to have dinner at the restaurant, but it is booked months in advance, so we needed to go elsewhere.

That gold blur in the center of the next photo is indeed McDonald’s Golden Arches; Kentucky Fried Chicken is a few yards further down.

As tempting as those options were, we decided to walk on by, and headed for “Flow”, a restaurant on the river.

Last stop, the 360 bar atop the Millennium Hilton, from which you can see the Dome at the Lebua Hotel. A great way to end our time “on our own”. We join the Road Scholar tour on Thursday evening, moving from the Loft Hotel to the Majestic Grande.

And now, as promised, the answer to yesterday’s question. There may actually be SEVERAL correct answers, but here’s the one I had in mind when I posed the question.

Thais, like the Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Japanese, Indians and South Africans, drive on the left side of the road. If you think that wouldn’t make a difference to non-drivers, you would be wrong. We kept heading for the escalators, doors, and turnstiles on the right, not the left. So, wouldn’t you think walkers should bear left? Sometimes…but most of the time it didn’t matter what side of the sidewalk you chose, it was guaranteed to be wrong. And if you think motor scooters should only be ridden on the road, you’d be wrong again! We have been wrong a lot.

Let the adventure begin!

To my surprise and delight, I discovered that crossing twelve time zones while confined to a small space for twenty hours is not as awful as I thought it might be. I’m not sure whether it was yoga (“breathe into it”) or my Bose noise canceling headset and iPod, but something got me to my happy state of mind and kept me there!

After flying over the Arctic, we landed at Incheon in South Korea. It is a gorgeous new airport built right on the water. With less than an hour to change planes, we quickly dashed from gate to gate, discovering just in time that our departure gate was one floor higher than our arrival gate. On our return, we’ll be spending five hours there, so our transit will be far more leisurely.

This was our flight path for the first 14 hours of our journey. We were literally on top of the world.

Our plane landed an hour late, because the wings had to be de-iced. We went from a snow storm in Korea to 82 degree weather in Bangkok–at 11 PM, no less. Yikes! What will it be like in the afternoon?

By the time we got through immigration, collected our luggage and exited customs, it was midnight. We were a little concerned that our ride might have given up on us when we didn’t see anyone holding a sign with our name on it.

The Thais sure make it easy for tourists–staffing a help desk at the official meeting place (door 3 in the arrival hall), calling the hotel to make sure our ride was on his way to fetch us.

The airport is on the outskirts of Bangkok. With no traffic, the hotel was about 40 minutes away. We finally made it to bed a little after 1 AM Bangkok time, which was 1 PM our biological time, 24 hours after we took off from JFK.

Because of jet lag and the heat, we decided to take it really easy on our first day in Bangkok. Our big accomplishments were locating the SkyTrain station two blocks from our hotel, buying train tickets from the machine, touring the Jim Thompson House and having dinner at a restaurant on the river.

The Jim Thompson house is actually six separate teak buildings that he brought to the site in 1959 and combined. The buildings are at least two hundred years old and are filled with antique Buddhas, beautiful silk paintings and porcelains. Some of the buildings were moved from the ancient capital of Ayutthaya.

At the entrance to the house and museum complex, I saw my first Thai spirit house.

Spirit houses are very common in Thailand and Cambodia. They are usually miniatures of the actual dwelling, and filled with offerings to the gods. Can you see the little figures inside?

Jim Thompson’s life story is quite interesting. He was born in 1906, and was an architect before
World War ll. During the war, he served in Thailand, as an officer with the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA. He fell in love with the country, moving to Thailand at the end of WWII.

He recognized the beauty and craftsmanship of handwoven silk, and did much to promote and popularize the industry.

In 1967, he went for a walk in the jungle of Malaysia and disappeared. No one has been able to determine what happened to him, although his astrology chart indicated that things would not go well for him after he turned 61, his age at his disappearance.

This beautiful young girl was our tour guide.

She was full of interesting stories about the house, pointing out the previously mention
Astrological chart in his study and challenging us to find the children’s chamber pots in the guest bedrooms. Mike correctly identified the porcelain frog as the girl’s chamber pot, but no one spotted the boy’s–a cat, whose head came off. We weren’t allowed to take photos in the house. Too bad–those were quite cute.

After the tour, we had lunch at the museum restaurant. I was uncharacteristically adventurous, going for the the spicy curry with grapes, duck and pineapple.

The gift shop was definitely worth a visit. They sold the cutest clothes for children. I may not be a grandmother, but I’m determined to be a great aunt, in every sense of the word…so there are some surprises for the little people in my life.

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