Getting to Europe Is About to Get Easier

NY Times Travel Section
By MICHELLE HIGGINS

Published: March 23, 2008

Air travel to Europe is about to undergo a significant change, one that is likely to spell more choices and cheaper fares for travelers.

News flash: Lucy Liu is not really Asian!!

I know I devote far too much blog space to discussions on the tiny sizes of Asians but I'm sorry, I cannot help it...

My mother arrived a few days ago and I was certain that given her general tininess she would have no issues trying to buy clothing here in Singapore. Alas, I was wrong!

My mother, whose "fat pants" are Gap size 2 regular, barely fit into a size large traditional Chinese dress. Apparently, her hips are too broad. Ummm... I think that makes me something on the order of quadruple XL, good God!

Anyway, this all brings me to one (albeit, very illogical) conclusion... Lucy Liu cannot possibly be Asian, she's got too much ass.

Road to Angkor, Days 5 - 9

I’m realizing that if I don’t write this post soon, it may never happen and what better time than when my body is refusing to fall asleep...

Day 5 - Siem Reap and Phnom Penh

This was our last morning in Siem Reap and also the morning of our cooking class… the first I can recall since Home Ec in 7^th grade. It ended up only being two of us, Rhi and myself, and our instructor, Sophea – who as it turns out was the same age as us – which was fantastic because she could essentially baby us the entire way through. We spent the first half hour or so exploring the Central Market. Sophea pointed out various fruits, herbs and meats that might be of interest. It’s probably a tossup as to whether watching fresh fish writhe uncontrollably on a table nearby or seeing underwear sold on the table next to dead chickens was more surprising but they both made for memorable sights.

After the market, we proceeded to the kitchen and began cooking. They let us each select one starter and one main course, the idea being that we’d eat our creations for lunch. I selected Setronel soup – a coconut milk soup with tomatoes and squash – and fish Amok – which is a creamier and milder version of Thai yellow curry. (Rhi chose Vietnamese fresh rolls and shrimp Amok.) Thankfully, there were no disasters and everything turned out fabulous.

Our biggest problem ended up being the sheer quantity of food. We easily had enough to feed four, if not more and kept trying to convince Sophea that she should eat with us… she finally caved and had a fresh roll, victory!

Of the entire morning though, my favorite memory came as we were about to leave. You see, we had taken a multitude of pictures and wanted the share them with Sophea. For some reason, it surprised us that she didn’t have an email account. Practically speaking, it’s not a priority for her to have one or even really use the internet but in our reality, a life without internet or email is simply unheard of. Anyway, she asked us if we could help her set up an email account so that she could communicate with us and happily we did. So now the hope is that she will actually use the account… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Our group arrived in Phnom Penh later that evening and like good westerners, headed straight for happy hour at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC). We arrived there literally five minutes before happy hour ended so we were all double-fisting drinks to take advantage of the deals… I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m not an alcoholic… I swear. Once we were good and liquored up, we headed to dinner. Initially, I wasn’t planning on having anything more to drink (like I said, I’m not an alcoholic) but they had a pineapple-chili margarita on the menu… c’mon, how on earth could I resist that? Needless to say, it was awesome. It was the most interesting mix of sweet and spicy I’ve yet to encounter. I have to try whipping those up when I’m home.

Day 6 – Phnom Penh

For as much as our days in Siem Reap meant experiencing Cambodia’s beauty, this day in Phnom Penh meant experiencing the recent and very ugly history of Cambodia. Our morning began at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum and ended at the Choeung Ek killing fields.

Tuol Sleng was a former high school but when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge gained power in Cambodia it was converted into a prison and interrogation center. Unspeakable torture and evil occurred on those grounds and most of it was conducted by brainwashed child soldiers.

The Khmer Rouge was meticulous in their record-keeping and photographed every inmate. These pictures made for an all the more haunting visit. Each face had a look of utter despondency and hopelessness… even the children. As we walked the grounds, seeing the unbelievably cramped cells, the various torture devices, and the crude structures created to ensure that no inmate could leave, or for that matter die, without assistance from the soldiers, we couldn’t help being shocked into a horrified silence.

As if the museum were not enough to drive home the cruelty of the regime, we went on to the killing fields where thousands of Khmers were killed brutally. In memory of the victims of the regime, a stupa containing thousands of skulls recovered from some of the mass graves was erected in the center.

While, staring at all these skulls is jarring, walking among the mass graves and listening to our guide detail what occurred on these grounds not so long ago was really my undoing. As we walked by a tree where soldiers would literally fling babies and young children repeatedly in order to kill them, often while their parents watched helplessly, I found I couldn’t help myself from weeping. I just cannot begin to understand where such brutality comes from and why on earth someone would want to cause such harm to another human being.

By the time we left Choeung Ek, I think we were all emotionally drained and were content putzing around Phnom Penh with no real agenda. I explored the Russian Market, famous from days where you could buy grenades and other assault weapons for a pittance – it’s much tamer now, and scored an incredibly cool pair of rose-coloured aviators for $6. I then had a blind massage, which really wasn’t much different from a seeing massage except where a seeing massage therapist would look at a clock for timing, the blind therapist regularly pressed his speaking clock to check the time. The massage itself was good but I’ll admit it was weird to hear every so often, “Ding! It is [insert time here] PM.”

Since there was still time remaining before dinner, Wally and I headed back down to the FCC for happy hour – this time there was no need to rush, thankfully – and an attempt to watch sunset over the Mekong. It turns out that the FCC faced the wrong direction so sunset was unremarkable, however, the drinks were fantastic… but we knew that already.

Day 7 – Phnom Penh + the Mighty Mekong

On our last morning in Phnom Penh we paid the obligatory visit to Wat Phnom. As far as temples are concerned this one really was nothing to write home to momma about. The bigger attractions were that there was an elephant and some monkeys you could feed. I was willing to feed the elephant because it was fairly controlled and appeared docile but the monkeys freaked me out. They were just running wild through the trees and as someone who never got around to getting her rabies shots, I kept having images of one of them leaping from their perch and biting me. Some of the others – vaccinated, I might add – gave the feeding a go without any incidents occurring.

We spent the last few hours at the New Market, which truthfully looked like every other market we’d seen except for one crucial difference. Here they sold bugs and I’m not taking ornamental bugs. They sold the real things, deep-fried, as snacks. One look made me want to hurl but apparently, yes, there are people who eat them. Based on the size of those baskets, there are lots of people that do… I’m not about to start.

That afternoon we caught a ferry down the Mekong to Chau Doc, Viet Nam.

Before we got there though, we had to make some some seriously sketchy-looking border crossings. At one of them there wasn’t even a proper dock at which the boat could tie up. Instead, we crudely came alongside a low cliff then had to hop out of the boat and climb up. It certainly made me feel like we were engaged in some sort of illicit smuggling activity.

Upon our arrival in Chau Doc, we were given the option of taking a motorcycle tour through Chau Doc and then up the nearby mountain for sunset. Before this trip, I probably would have said, “no way in hell am I getting onto the back of a motorcycle with some guy I don’t know who barely speaks English” but somewhere along the way that changed. I was even willing to sign away all insurance claims just so I could participate and I’m really glad I did. It was a priceless experience. I was giddy and ridiculously nervous. At first, I was gripping onto the driver for dear life but as the night wore on, I found myself holding onto the back with one hand while the other was operating my camera – probably not the most sensible decision but exciting nonetheless. At the top of the mountain was a rough “bar” with a bunch of hammocks strung up so we could relax and take in the sunset. One of the locals pointed out the boundary between Viet Nam and Cambodia (a river, big surprise) and the two million dollar hill (nicknamed b/c the US spent $2M bombing it during the war) but the real highlight was simply stretching out, slowly swaying in the hammocks drinking $0.50 beers watching the sun go down in the distance.

Day 8 – The road to Saigon

The drive to Saigon was an incredibly long one which we started really early on this day. Thankfully, the roads were a million times better than those in Cambodia so the drive itself was very comfortable. We ended up arriving in Saigon just after midday and once we checked into the hotel our first priority was learning how to cross the streets.

A friend had forewarned me that the roads of Saigon would be unlike anything I’d ever seen and that there would appear to be a never-ending stream of motorcycles. He was right. When crossing the road in Saigon, you have to abandon all previous street-crossing skills and in the words of Nike, just do it. If you stand and wait for a break, you will never move. The trick is to wait for a break in the large vehicles and then just start walking at a slow and steady pace. The motorcycles will not stop coming at you. They will just maneuver around you, which is why you have to keep moving. If you stop, there is a very distinct possibility that you will be hit by a bike and there’s no convincing me that would feel good at all.

After we learned to cross the streets, we were ready to take on Saigon… or at least sort of. What it really meant was since this was the penultimate day of our trip, we needed to get our last rounds of cheap massages in… after all, the Reunification Palace wasn’t going anywhere.

Day 9 – Saigon

I only had a few hours this morning to actually try to see some of Saigon and luckily there wasn’t really too much that I really wanted to see. My plan was to walk to the Reunification Palace and then do some last minute shopping before heading to the airport but alas, that wasn’t exactly how it was going to play out.

As I was walking along the sidewalk, a seemingly nice cyclo driver offered to take me wherever I wanted to go and for whatever price I chose. Since I was skeptical… mostly of his price, I made him reassure me multiple times, which he did, willingly. I hadn’t yet to take a cyclo ride anywhere so I figured Saigon is as good a place as any… I was wrong. Don’t do it. It’s actually very disconcerting because you are traveling MUCH slower than the rest of traffic yet you’re smack in the middle of it all. The entire time, I had visions of being hit by a truck and would find myself willing the driver to pedal faster.

Miraculously, we weren’t hit and my cyclo driver was true to at least part of his word and took me wherever I asked. As a bonus, I got a fantastic tan, sitting out in the open for close to three hours. The experience turned a little south as the ride ended and I confirmed the price. To be nice, I asked him for a suggestion as to how much he thought he should be paid and his response was $25 USD. Now, because I like to be prepared, Mr. Frommer and Mr. Lonely Planet are my friends and I knew this cyclo driver was trying to pull a fast one. Needless to say, I was not impressed in the least. (For those of you that don’t know me well, I don’t tolerate bullshit very well especially when it relates to parting me from my money.) I gave him the opportunity to rethink his suggestion but he stuck to his guns.

At this point, I let the amateur lawyer in me rear its head and sweetly reminded him of his promise earlier that morning of the price being “up to me.” I then brought to his attention the fact that both of my travel books said that the rate for cyclos ranged from 20,000 dong to $2 USD per hour but no higher. I then told him that I’d pay him $6, take it or leave it. I think he realized he was caught between a rock and hard place so he took the money and I left for the hotel. It wasn’t what I had hoped my last experience in Saigon would be but so it goes… aside from that particular encounter the experience as a whole was worthwhile and enjoyable.

The Road to Angkor, days 1 - 4

It's been a week since I returned from my recess week trip and there's a large part of me that wishes I was still traipsing around SE Asia as opposed to trying to write papers on taxation and trademark law. Ah well...

DAY 1 - Bangkok
Our group met in Bangkok on Saturday evening and had dinner near Khao San Road. As expected the food was delish but the service was remarkably slow. I suppose it was a good introduction for the remainder of our trip... we came to realize that good manners - i.e. waiting for everyone's food to arrive prior to eating - is just of no use b/c it would only mean that your food would get cold and lose some of it's flavour in turn.

It also happened that weekend there was a ban placed on the sale of alcohol. Apparently, elections for some Thai senators would occur the following weekend and the government wanted everyone sober. I don't fully understand why the ban had to extend to tourists or why it had to cover the weekend before elections, as well as election weekend but, it did mean that Khao San (and Bangkok in general) was significantly quieter than I remembered from my previous trip in 2000.

After dinner, we putzed around for about an hour - I got my first (of many) Thai massage and then we decided to tuck in for the night. The next morning entailed an early wake-up call and a ridiculously long drive to Siem Reap.

Day 2 - The Road to Angkor (pretty much)
A large part of our trip was spent actually traveling. On the one hand it was beneficial b/c had we flown from city to city, I think we would have missed out on the educational experience of seeing how the vast majority of Khmers (and Thais and Vietnamese, as well) live. However, it did mean more time in a bus than I probably would care for.

The drive from Bangkok to the Cambodian border was incredibly comfy. We had two private vans and while I don't know what the interior of the other van looked like, ours was pretty tricked out - leather seats, curtained windows, track lighting... I should have taken pictures. It also helped that the road was paved and well maintained. But then we made it to the border and the wealth disparity between the two countries became immediately apparent. (Ironically, Siem Reap means Siam (a.k.a. Thailand) defeated - it hails from a far more prosperous era in Khmer history - but as you make the drive from Thailand to Cambodia, it's not Thailand that you think was defeated.)



We switched into one, much less cushy, bus and began the multiple hour long drive on mostly dirt road. (Supposedly, the condition of the road is only partly due to the wealth of Cambodia. There is a flight service offered between Bangkok and Siem Reap but it is monopolized by one airline in which some members of the government have a financial interest and, to put it mildly, corruption is rampant.)



Unlike the greenery of Thailand, most of the drive in Cambodia was dusty desolation. We'd occasionally drive through villages where the buildings all looked like they'd tip over if too strong a wind were to come through and everything was coated in thick layers of red dirt.

What probably made it all the more bizarre though was, as soon as we entered Siem Reap, incredible resorts seemed to spring out of nowhere... truthfully, it was an embarrassing display of western wealth b/c we knew that each of us could feasibly (albeit painfully) pay for at least one night in these resorts but the locals who we just passed in the villages could only dream of being able pay for one night.

Day 3 - Siem Reap
Because we had such an early day the day before, we decided that we'd put off Angkor Wat sunrise until Day 4 and instead spend Day 3 exploring the other temples and attractions of Siem Reap.
Angkor Thom is the ancient city and there are numerous, less famous temples within its grounds.



One of my favorites was Preah Palilay. Like Ta Prohm - the famous Lara Croft: Tomb Raider temple - nature appears to be winning the battle but, that's what adds to the appeal. Seeing these massive trees taking over the temple structure and knowing that the tress came after the temple (starting from seed) truly gives a sense of perspective as to just how old these temples are.



My reason for preferring Preah Palilay is that significantly fewer tourists were there and you were allowed to climb all over (at your own risk) whereas you're very limited as to where you can ramble at Ta Prohm. (My camera died before we made it to Ta Prohm so I don't have any good ones to share.)

After Ta Prohm, we went to see the Land Mine Museum. Cambodia is the most mined country in the world and to this day, there are still people being severely injured as a result of the undiscovered mines. While the specific number is not known, it is estimated that there are millions of mines dispersed throughout Cambodia. While all the main roads and tourist destinations are safe, many of the less traversed areas are not.

To cap off the evening, we explored the Night Market in Siem Reap. On the one hand, it's quite a pleasant experience because you're not really bothered by the sellers and the goods seem to be of a slightly higher value than what you typically see in other night markets. However, part of my enjoyment in night markets is bargaining and there was very little of that at this particular market. I felt that, even though the goods were nicer than I'd usually seen, many of the goods were still overpriced, maybe it hit home more because the goods were priced in US dollars versus Cambodian riel and having vendors who refused to budge frustrated me. Eventually, I bought a pair of "temple-appropriate" shorts but, as I feared... they were crap and had to be replaced within a few hours of wearing them.

Day 4 - Siem Reap
In order to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat, this morning was a really, really early one. We made it to the temple just after 5AM and claimed our spots. We were pretty much a captive audience and the locals knew it. After about 15mins, the calls for coffee came through. "Coffee, $1!" As sleep-deprived tourists, we all jumped at the offer... and the coffee was amazing. (Though, I'm certain I only felt that way because of the time of day. Caffeinated sludge would have tasted good at that point!) Amusingly enough, after an hour the offer changed to "2 coffee, $1!" - if only I had the power to hold out.

As to be expected, sunrise was stunning. As the darkness lifted, Angkor Wat appeared majestically in the purplish light of the morning.





The actual exploring of Angkor Wat didn't really take as long as I think we expected it would. The inner levels were closed off for safety reasons so we were pretty much limited in where we could go.

After Angkor Wat, we visited Banteay Srey (a.k.a. Women's Citadel). This particular temple was the smallest of all the complexes but the detail work was unbelievable. In fact, the story behind the name is that it must have been women who did the work because the men didn't have the patience to complete such intricate work.





After a morning of temples, we went to see the floating village on Tonle Sap Lake. Because it was dry season, the lake was nowhere near as large as it is typically and the water was incredibly muddy but the village itself was pretty remarkable. There were hundreds of floating structures including a basketball court, multiple churches and schools. Some of the homes even had floating pig pens.



To end the day, we had dinner in a traditional Khmer home and followed with drinks at Angkor What bar in Siem Reap. The dinner was fantastic but all the more memorable was when the children - of which there must have been easily 15 - dragged us all into an impromptu dance party including throwbacks like the Macarena, and a variant on musical chairs.



The children were some of the most beautiful I've ever seen and seemed so genuinely happy to have more people to entertain. They wouldn't let us sit down for even a moment once the music started, so we're all convinced we worked off dinner!

Mecca

Ikea.

Singapore, has two. TWO!

Massachusetts has a measly one.

Population of Massachusetts = 6,437,193
(2006 estimate according to US Census Bureau)
Population of Singapore = 4,553,009
(2007 estimate according to US CIA World Factbook)

Does this sound wrong to anyone else?