He's a Real Nowhere Man, Sitting in his....

That should be my new name, basically because the last time I worked was the 7th of October, when I flew from Tokyo to Dallas. I was on vacation the rest of the month, but since returning from vacation, I started my reserve rotation and for the month of November, I have not gone anywhere.

I am starting to get a little stir crazy. When you make your living by traveling from place to place, to be stuck at home is a little numbing. Please do not worry about my finances though, as I have to be paid for 75 hours, or my guarantee, if I do not fly the minimum threshold.

I have been first to go for the past week though so I am hesitant to leave the house for long periods of time in case I get "called up to the majors".

SE Asia Slideshow

I took over 150 pictures over the course of our vacation. Obviously, I could not use all of them in my blog posts, so I created two slideshows (put to music with the help of the Allman Brothers, Paul Simon and Louis. B. Armstrong) so everyone could see ALL the pictures from the trip.

The Long Journey Home

On Monday, October 27th, it was time to head home. We would be in for a long day. We left Cambodia at 8:30am and flew back to Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia, our new favorite low-cost carrier, and of course Stu had his usual halal dog.

After arriving back at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal, we had to get ourselves back to the main terminal, which was not close. We could have taken a bus for 25 cents, but we were a little pressed for time and with all our luggage, we splurged and took a cab. It was still a 10 minute cab ride.

We made our way to the Cathay Pacific check in counter and passed a group of Chinese travelers surrounding a member of their traveling party who was having a meltdown that put all of our meltdowns to shame. She was upset about something! We were using our Staff tickets, which are for standby travel, but the flight had enough open seats that we were issued boarding passes on the spot.

Our flight to Hong Kong was about three and a half hours long. Stu and I watched the Will Smith movie "Hancock", which was pretty funny. We had a nice lunch including what was the best dessert I have ever had on an airplane. It was a vanilla ice cream bar, covered in a chocolate magic shell.

We landed in Hong Kong with about 5 hours to kill. We must have waited for what felt like an eternity for our luggage while Marty and I got a little punchy.

Since Hong Kong is the hub for Cathay Pacific, we proceeded to a special staff counter they have for airline employees to check-in and standby for their flights. Things went from great to not so great rather fast when the rather surly agent informed us the flight to Los Angeles was now oversold by 25 to 30 people, and our chances of getting on were terrible. When we checked the status the day before, everything was fine, but now, things were not so fine. The airport in Hong Kong is like a mall, with lots of things to do, but we all had the wind taken out of our sails at this point and I got a case of nervous stomach (aka non-rev tummy) and made frequent trips to the bathroom.

What was even more distressing was the fact that we had no back up tickets out of Hong Kong. When you are outside of your airline's network, you have to have all of your tickets issued in advance. Earlier that day, we had commented on how the trip came in under what we had all budgeted, but now we were looking at a $500 hotel room for the night in HKG and then a $621 one way full fare ticket to Tokyo the next day to connect to our airline back to the states. So much for the savings.

We were either at the point of insanity or acceptance because we resigned ourselves to our fate and figured we'd get home one way or another. Stu was the only one with a positive attitude and he said all along that we would get on the plane. At 11pm, we were all called up to the standby counter, and as luck would have it, the flight ended up closing with 5 open seats, so the three of us would get on, albeit in middle seats and not together.

The 14 hour flight back across the dateline really rocks your world. We left Hong Kong at 11:45pm on the 27th, and 14 hours later, we landed in Los Angeles at 10:00pm on the 27th, so we arrived before we left. I made it thru my uncomfortable circumstances with the help of Ambien and probably slept for about 8 hours.

Our arrival in LAX was not a crazy as we thought it would be. Of course our bags were the last ones loaded on the plane, but apparently the last ones to come down the conveyor belt in LA. Given my previous experience in flying thru LA, it has always been insane. We were pleasantly surprised to see our airline's terminal was nice and quiet, so we checked our bags and zipped thru security in time for our red eye flight home. We were wide awake of course and Marty and I enjoyed some cocktails and played cards most of the way.

Given that no one wanted to pick us up at 5am, we took a cab back to Stu and Marty's house, where I left my car. I managed to stay awake enough to go do early voting, and then grab my dog Gretchen and head home before falling into a coma.

This was an incredible trip. In the course of 10 days, we covered about 24,000 miles and managed to circumnavigate the globe. The Cambodian people were so gracious and friendly. The area was safe and while not very developed, it still offered incredible sights and unique experiences that made for a memorable vacation.

Tonle Sap Lake

We spent our last full day in Cambodia on Tonle Sap Lake. It is a huge lake in the middle of the country (to give you perspective, to go from one end to the other by boat would take six hours). The lake is connected to the Mekong River, and is vital to the economy of Cambodia. In fact, UNESCO declared it a biosphere in 1997.

The lake is unique for two reasons. First, its flow changes twice a year. Second, the portion that forms Tonle Sap expands and shrinks in a dramatic way depending on the rainy and dry seasons. To give you an example, during the dry season, the lake is about one meter deep and covers 2,700 sq. km. During the rainy season, that depth changes to nine meters and the coverage expands to 16,000 sq. km.

Because of it's proximity and connection to the Mekong River, when the water reverses its flow in the rainy season, the sediment and and rich soil of the Mekong drain into the lake. As a result, it is a productive inland fishery and provides Cambodia with 75% of it's fish catch, and 60% of the protein for the Cambodian people. Directly and indirectly, the lake supports the lives of over 3 million people.

One of the most amazing thing about the lake is the people who call it home. An entire group of people call the lake their home, living on floating houses that they move around depending on the water level and time of year. Most draw their living from tourism or fishing. The backgrounds of the people living here include ethnic Siamese, Vietnamese, and Cambodians.

We signed up for a tour with a company called Tara Boats. What impressed me was their goal of promoting sustainable tourism, while at the same time preserving the life of the people that live there.

We were picked up by our guide at the hotel and he drove us out to Chong Khneas. We stopped at the GECKO Center, which is a little floating building that promotes the environment and shows visitors the importance of the fragile ecosystem that these people call home.

We then proceeded to a small boat that would take us thru the floating village, with a stop at a fish and alligator farm. It was amazing to get a peek into the life of the group of people that live on the lake.

While it is poverty by our standards, you got a sense that the people living here really were happy with their lives. What I found interesting was that everyone had a television. They used car batteries to power their electrical appliances, and our guide explained that once a week, they take their batteries to various floating shops where they are recharged for about 50 cents. The charge lasts about a week and then they repeat the process. Water boats head thru the village several times a day so folks can buy fresh drinking water. We saw everything from floating Catholic churches to schools and even a floating basketball court.

We docked at a retired riverboat called The Tara. It was actually used during the Vietnam War to help Vietnamese escape into Cambodia (and many of those who fled now call this lake their home). It now serves as a floating restaurant.

When we docked there, Marty was having a bit of a meltdown because their second camera had apparently broke, leaving them with no way to take pictures. Later, I would load the film and everything was fine (the real issue appeared to be Stu's improper loading of the film). We had lunch on the boat, but then it was my turn for a meltdown because there were all these bees everywhere and they scared me. I drank some Lao Beer, which was pretty good and did my best to avoid the bees.

There was a little bookshelf at one end of the boat, and I actually read an interesting pamphlet from the UN about the war crimes trials for the former Khmer Rouge leaders. During the era of the regime, Pol Pot and his leaders murdered over three million Cambodians. Only now, 30 years later, are the surviving leaders being brought to justice. The whole process is very much controlled by the UN.

We boarded the smaller boat and headed back to town after lunch. Our guide drove us back to our hotel, just in time for the afternoon rain storm. I spent part of the afternoon packing and gathering all of my stuff together . We were leaving rather early in the morning so I wanted to make sure I had everything in order.

We were pretty pooped so we had an early dinner before turning in.

Seeing the sights around town

After a day of going non stop at the temples, we were kind of happy to take it easy with a day of strolling around town. Our hotel arranged for a Tuk-Tuk driver (Mr. Khun) who picked us up and took us around town. We wanted to go to the National Museum. It had just opened, and it was a great way to help us understand what we saw the day before.

The bad part was that they take your camera when you arrive, so we were not able to take any pictures of the artifacts that we saw. The building was fairly new (it still had that new construction smell). We went in the morning so as to get started and be finished before the rains of the afternoon arrived, and missed the rush of people from the organized tours (which were full of ugly Americans anyway).

After spending a few hours at the museum, we had Mr. Kuhn take us to a place for some souvenir shopping. I got some gifts for people back home and Marty got some charms for her bracelet. One of the places we wanted to hit was the Hotel D'Angkor because we wanted to go to the Elephant Bar. The property is owned by the Raffles Group out of Singapore and we wanted to have Singapore Slings, reminding us of the Long Bar at Raffles in Singapore. I had been there in 2006 with my friends Carla and Steven. Marty and Stu had been there in 2002. We were sad to learn that the bar did not open until 4pm, but from 7-9 it was Happy Hour so we decided we would go back that evening.

Mr. Khun took us back to the hotel, and we relaxed for a few hours. Based on the suggestion of my friend Carla, we signed up for a trip to the Floating Village on nearby Tonle Sap Lake, for the next day.

That evening, we headed back to town. We visited the Elephant Bar and had two Slings that went right to our head (ahhhh the beauty of gin) and then went to a little restaurant Marty had read about called the Khmer Kitchen. It is supposed to be the favorite place of Mick Jagger when he comes to visit. It was a mix of tourists and locals, so we knew it would be good. Marty and Stu had curry and I had a fried garlic meal. It was fun to people watch (we saw an American man and his local gal pal, who we think was a hooker) and see the gecko lizards walking on the ceiling.

Angkor Wat

When we finished up with Angkor Thom, we headed to lunch. It was the perfect time because as soon as we sat down, it started raining hard. Like Biblical downpour hard. Thank goodness we were under a cover.

I had some fried rice, which seemed like a safe bet. We took our time because we really had no desire to go out in the rain and we had no idea how long it would last. To the credit of the little street children, they were gathered outside the restaurant waiting for us with umbrellas and ponchos for sale. I had a rather distressing bathroom visit, as it was swarming with mosquitos, and I was afriad I would get a skeeter bite on a certain part of my body while I was trying to pee.

Then just a abruptly as it started, it stopped raining. John, our tour guide, and our driver (whose name I never learned) rounded us up and we were off to see more ruins.

The second part of the day was spent at Angkor Wat. Probably the more famous of the two sites, it sits on a patch of land surrounded by a moat 2.2 miles long. As a little history, it was built in the 12 century, by King Suryavarman. The temple was actually based on early South Indian architecture (at the time that Angkor Wat was built, the Khmer kingdom was big time into Hindu beliefs). It was dedicated to Vishnu, a Hindu god, before being altered to pay homage to Buddhism. It is the most well preserved temple in Siem Reap and is the most recognized. It's even on the flag.

The named Angkor Wat means "City Temple", and under the rule of Suryavarman, it became the center of religious life for Khmer civilization. In the late 12 century, the Chams (ancestors of the Thai people and long time enemies) sacked the Khmer society and took over the area. When Jayavarman came to power, he adopted Buddhist principles, and then went onto construct his own city at Angkor Thom.

At Angkor Wat, we saw more Bas-reliefs, the very ornate wall carvings that depicted stories. Like at Angkor Thom, they depict battles, creation stories (The Churning of the Sea of Milk). The World Monuments Fund is currently doing extensive restoration on some of these Bas-reliefs and other parts of the Temple structures.

The interior part of the site has more ornate carvings, including the Aspara, the Hindu version of concubines. They sprang forth out of the Sea of Milk (or so the story goes).

As we were leaving the site, we saw a little monkey. He was making the rounds from trash can to trash can looking for food. And of course, as we waited for our driver, the little children surrounded us trying to sell their wares.

Angkor Thom

Our first full day in Cambodia, we were set for a full day of sightseeing at Ankgor Thom and Angkor Wat. We spent the first part of the day at Angkor Thom, which was the last capital city of the Khmer empire before their decline. It covers 9 square kilometers and actually has several monuments from earlier eras, but was mostly the home of temples built by king Jayavarman IV.

I did not do much reading up on the sites before visiting, so I assumed it was Buddhist. One of the interesting things I learned about Khmer society, was that is started out more animistic, believing that souls and spirits were everywhere in nature. As contact with Indian traders began, they adopted Hindiusm, which is actually the basis for which the temples were constructed (especially more at Angkor Wat which I will blog about next) and then with the arrival of Buddhist beliefs, the Khmer incorporated their Hinduism, to create a mix of the two, rather than dropping one over the other.

If you saw the movie "Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie, you will notice that it was filmed in this area. I have never seen the movie, but I think it had a lot to do with renewing interest in these historical sites.

We had our own personal tour guide, named John (perhaps that is his Western name as his Cambodian name would like be mispronounced by the tourists).

We entered the ruins thru the Victory Gate, and headed to the Bayon complex, which is the main site at Angkor Thom. The various sites were constructed between 900 AD and 1295 AD.

Given that Angkor Thom was built towards the end of the Khmer empire, it is more Buddhist with hints of Hinduism. Therefore, the faces present at the sites are thought to be Jayavarman. His earlier predecessors would have acquiesced to Shiva and other Hindu gods.

Now we still saw signs of Hinduism in the bas-reliefs, which were these ornate carvings in the walls that detailed battles between gods, good and evil, Khmer and their enemies, etc. etc.

While the ruins were incredible, we had to deal with the incredible heat and humidity. There was literally no breeze, so you just kind of sweat constantly. By the time we were done with the first site, Stu had managed to completely soak his shirt and top half of his scrubs in sweat, that is how hot it was.

Our tour guide, John, took us about a half mile way from the main sites to an even earlier temple that was built as far back at 800. At this point, as we were walking down the path, Marty and I were almost non-existant as John and Stu continued their intense conversation and rapid walking. I started to have a little melt down as my mosquito repellent was wearing off and mosquitoes the size of moths were landing on me. We made it to the site and took a little break, reapplied our repellent, caked in sweat.

Marty and I were still kind of cranky on our way back to the main site. We said we wanted to stop for a beer, and John told us we would when we left the complex for lunch, but Stu gently, yet firmly insisted we take a breather now before Marty and Ron had a nervous breakdown and killed the tour guide.

We stopped at one of the little restaurant stalls near the Bayon complex where we were immediately surrounded by the ever abundant street kids trying to sell us stuff. They were all selling the same things: postcards, bracelets, magnets, tour books. They were very insistent as well. As soon as we sat down they were all over us. Here is a general idea of how it went:

"Would you like to buy a tour book?"

-No thank you.

"Please"

-No I already have one (lie)

"Then show me"

-No

"Where are you from?"

-Texas

"If I tell you the capital of Texas will you buy a tour book?"

-No, I do not want one

"Then buy two or three"

It was very much scripted for them, and you really did feel sorry for the kids. We found it very Oliver Twist-ish, imagining that they had to go home to a "Fagan" at the end of the day to deliver their monies. "You got to pick a pocket or two".

We did find one little girl selling magnets, which I collect, so we bought a few.

Our beers were a welcome treat, and I know Marty and Stu enjoyed their "smoke" time.
I took anti-bacterial hand gel with me, and gave some to our tour guide, John, which he had never seen or used, but hopefully I got him on the right track to keeping germs off the hands.

Energized (well not really) we set off for the next part of our journey thru Angkor Thom. We went to the Baphuon temple, which was built mid-11th century. It was built by a Khmer ruler whose name I cannot remember at this time who was Hindu. At one time, the towers were covered in bronze, although that is now long gone. In the 15th century, it was altered to incorporate Buddhism, and a reclining Buddha was constructed, although very little of it remains now, but if you have a good imagination you can kind of make it out. This site had largely collapsed, and during the Khmer Rouge, it was badly damaged. There is a French team that has started efforts at restoration, and have been at the site since 2005.

Interesting to note, were the napping workers as we walked up to the site. I guess the heat even gets to them too.

As we left Baphuon it started raining, but given how hot we were, it was quite nice. We when to the Phimeanakas temple site after that. It was even older, having been built in the 10th century. It was built as a watch tower. According to legend, the king spent the first watch of every night with a Naga girl (a minor Hindu goddess) in the tower, during that time, not even the queen was permitted to intrude. Only in the second watch the king returned to his palace with the queen. If the naga who was the supreme land owner of Khmer land did not show up for a night, the king's day would be numbered, if the king did not show up, calamity would strike his land.

Our last stop was the Terrace of Elephants. Not much remains, but we do know it was used as a viewing stand for the king to watch his armies coming home from war, or for parades and public events.

From there we bid our farewell to Angkor Thom and got back in our car and headed off to lunch.