Cambodia Day 4 – A recommended sunset

This post is part of our adventures in Cambodia.  To see other posts in this series, please click here.

As we talked about our trip to Cambodia we had lots of plans.  I wanted to ride on a bicycle through the temple complex and Li had certain restaurants he wanted to try.  One thing that came highly recommended was to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat.  That wasn’t going to happen.  Instead we tried to see where the best sunsets could be found.  Our third day there we had stumbled across beautiful skies at Bakon Temple.

That was, though, a happy accident.  There was one location for sunset viewing that was recommended in all the tourists books was Phnom Bakeng.  This temple was at the top of the highest hill in the area and was supposed to offer unparalleled views.  The books also recommended you go early because it got quite crowded.

True to form we arrived over an hour before sunset.  On the way up we saw more temples and another beautiful view of Angkor Wat from above.

A hidden temple through the lush scenery

Angkor Wat – an aerial view

The elephants followed us up!

Then, we settled in and watched the crowds.

It was truly amazing how many visitors they crammed at the top of this monument.

Slowly, slowly, the sun traveled west and the sky started to change color.

I tried to block everyone out and enjoy the beautiful colors, but it required a lot of effort.  We took more photos and finally watched the sun slip over the edge.

It was a beautiful sunset and now I can cross it off the list – but after having seen both, I think I preferred the first, accidental sunset more. My travel tip then it to go to Bakon Temple for Sunset.  It’s a magical place and much more peaceful.

Which would you prefer?

Nanjing specialties

We had visitors at the end of March and were lucky to spend a couple of days in Nanjing with them.  Nanjing means “south capital” and it was the center of Chinese government for many years.  It is also known for the horrendous atrocities that were committed there by the Japanese during the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) during the Japanese occupation of China.

One hundred years ago it had been full of historic buildings and cultural relics – many of which were destroyed or stolen during that period or the following cultural turmoil.  The mountains and tombs though are still there as is a somber museum to the massacre itself.  Nanjing is a city that to me appears very livable and at less than two hours from Shanghai a very possible weekend trip.

The first time I went to Nanjing was almost five years ago - it was the first time I road the train by myself or attempted to travel anywhere within China alone.  I remember getting lost on one of the mountain tomb areas and trying to get my way back to the downtown area.  Now my Chinese is much better and I was with Li so I didn’t fear getting lost at all.

This time I also had a secret up my sleeve –  I have one colleague who is originally from Nanjing.  She recommended some restaurants for us to try and I found out that one of them was very close to the hotel (walking distance) or where we were staying so we explored until we found it inside a very high end shopping mall.

Ambience in the restaurant – the lights and tables like a traditional eatery

Panels on the walls telling traditional stories

The restaurant mimicked a historical style with the waiters and waitresses dressed in traditional garb and the dishes being real home cooking.  We stuffed ourselves with way too many specialties of the house.

A large luscious pork meatball – only one for all of us to share – it was that big!

Nanjing’s famous salted duck – not my favorite actually

Sticky rice with pork belly

Water greens with pressed tofu

Getting ready to dig into our crayfish!

Steamed crayfish – a house specialty

Tofu cooked Nanjing style

Which would you like to try?  I think my favorite was the large meatball and the crayfish. The plastic gloves added to the experience too.

Peeking through after eating way too much!

This restaurant made us all happy and we practically rolled out the door ready to explore some more in Nanjing.

How do you get restaurant recommendations when you travel?  Who are the most reliable sources?

Cambodia Day 4 – A Balloon Ride

This post is part of our adventures in Cambodia, to see other posts in the series, please click here.

One of the items in the tourist brochures we looked at that appealed to both of us was a hot air balloon ride over the temple area.  We did some research and there were two types of balloons – one a free hot air balloon and the other that was attached to a cable and winched up so it wouldn’t blow away.  We decided on the second option, as it was more flexible and also more affordable.

We started our day trying to go up in the balloon, but after snapping a photo, we were informed that the wind was too strong and to try to come back.

Our first attempt to ride the balloon early in the morning

We then went to explore several other places and then returned again after lunch.

Once again they told us that they weren’t sure when/if we’d be able to fly.  This time though we really didn’t feel like going back into the hot afternoon sun and decided to sit and wait for a while.  The ticket takers said we could wait, but we didn’t need to pay until they decided if it was safe to fly.  We watched group after group come, listen to the weather report and then leave.  Finally, after waiting for over an hour they told us that we may be able to go up.  We took a couple of “happy pictures” with the balloon from below and then waited along with a group of German tourists for our turn.

Yay! We finally get to take a ride.

Look at the blue sky and puffy clouds – it was still pretty windy up there.

Even though the balloon was very large, only 8 people could go up at a time.  We watched the earth get smaller and smaller as the winch let us float above the fields below.

My guess is that it was a German balloon. That’s a good thing – I trust German technology

The winch letting us up

The beautiful pattern of the fields below

Finally then, we were able to see Angkor Wat from above.  To think that so many hundreds of years ago this temple was there – before hot air balloons or airplanes – was mind boggling.

See Angkor Wat over Li’s shoulder?

Angkor Wat from above

The ride only lasted about 20 minutes, but we had a wonderful time.  I would highly recommend it if you are visiting the Angkor Wat complex.

Heading down after a great ride.

After finishing our balloon ride we then headed to Phnom Bakheng hill which was the recommended spot to watch the sunset.  Stay tuned to see if it could match the sunset of the night before!

What’s the longest you’ve waited in line for a tourist attraction?  Disney World doesn’t count!

Cambodia Day 4 – Elephants on parade

This post is part of our adventures in Cambodia, to see other posts in the series, please click here.

I have always been a fan of elephants.  For some reason on our fourth day in Cambodia we saw them in multiple places and in different ways.

The first elephants were real elephants that we saw from our car window as we were waiting to pass through one of the gates inside the park.  They were coming out and going in – which led to a couple of fun photos.  We also saw a series of tourists who had paid to sit on their backs and get the true “Cambodian” experience.  Safe inside our air conditioned car, we weren’t up for that this trip.  For me, it brought back memories of riding an elephant in 2006 up to the Red Fort in Jaipur, India.

A traffic jam – Angkor Wat style

I wonder how much it cost for that ride – an Elephant’s Eye view

Finally passing through the gate (behind yet another elephant)

The next set of elephants were the elephants carved into the Elephant Terrace.  We had met our tuk tuk driver at the Elephant Terrace at the end of the first day, but it was only passing it again that we realized that the elephants were actually carved into the side of the terrace.  We had completely missed it the first time around!

Elephant Terrace – more elephants on parade

Another place we noticed elephants was in the carving over the doorway in another temple.  The elephant is right in the middle surrounded by other figures.  I don’t know what elephants symbolize in Cambodian culture, but they were in many places.

Delicate elephant carving above the door.

The final elephant statues were set off to the side of one of the temples.  It was pretty close to life size and gave me a great place to take a rest.

I think the elephant is grinning too!

What else would we experience on Day 4 in Cambodia?  Stay tuned for more…

Hualien Beach, Taiwan

I recently took a trip to Taiwan with my colleagues – the annual outing once again.  Two years ago, it was my trip to Zhangjiajie that led to the first post on my blog.  Last year I headed to Tengchong and then also slipped in a weekend in Korea with my colleagues.  This time we had 20 people on the bus, none of whom (myself included) had been to Taiwan before.

We had a very full schedule over the trip and it was the end of the second full day that we headed to the eastern side of the island to the area called Hualien (花莲).  It had been raining off and on all day and just before we stopped for dinner the bus pulled over to a rest stop by the sea. It was one of the scenic spots on the two lakes bikeway that winds itself across Taiwan.   We made our way down to the beach and walked along the surf.  This wasn’t a sandy beach, but the rocks were polished and the waves crashed over the edge.

Clouds breaking over Hualien beach in Taiwan

The mist from the rain lingered but the clouds broke a little.  I snapped a photo of a lone fisherman down the beach casting into the water.

It was one moment that stayed with me during the rest of the trip.

This post was inspired by the Travel Theme: Beaches - over at Where’s My Backpack.  To see how others illustrated a beach, please click the link.

I have published photos of other beaches over the last several years – a beach vacation is one of my absolute favorites.  To see some of those posts, you can also click here.

Where’s your favorite beach?  Are you an umbrellas and a pina colada fan or do you look for deserted coastline and sea spray?  Is it the closest beach or the one half a world away that calls to you?

Wherever it is – may you have time in the next several months to take a visit.  I hope I will!

Cambodia Day 3 – Sunset behind Bakon Temple

This is part of our travels in Cambodia, if you want to see other posts in the series, please click here.

After our epic car ride of the afternoon, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go to the last set of temples that Li had picked for our long day, but the driver assured us we could make it before close, so off we went.

There were three temples situated together to the south west of Angkor Wat, which was where we headed.  Even though the road was much better, we still weren’t sure if we would make it as the shadows lengthened and we saw children, animals and people all heading in for the night.

Finally we pulled up to our destination – Bakon Temple, the largest of the three in the group and the only one that we would have time to see that evening.  We showed our passes and went in to the grounds.

Our first view

This temple had a large Buddhist monastery painted in Technicolor to the right side when we entered.  There were teenage monks in bright robes checking out the last few visitors straggling in.  We paid them little mind though, because just over the edge of the temple in front of us the sun was starting to set and the sky turning violet.  Rather ungracefully we scurried up and over to see what sunset would be like at Bakon Temple.

Before the sun dipped too low, Li and I climbed to the top to get a view.  It was pretty impressive.

At the very top – posing with others as well

Then, we settled down by the back edge of the temple and watched the sun slip lower and lower over the trees until it finally disappeared.

Tired and at peace, we walked back around to the front and met our driver who drove us back into town.  We had finished our third day in Cambodia.

A final look with purple clouds

This sunset was picture perfect and quite solitary.  What type of sunset would we see the following evening?  Stay tuned to find out.

Art Shanghai 2013

At the end of April I got a note from a friend asking if I’d like to go see the Art Shanghai exhibition near Hongqiao Park as she had a couple of free tickets.  I hadn’t seen her for over a month, so we booked a sunny Sunday morning and met up right when the exhibits were supposed to open.

I’ve never gone to an art exhibition in Shanghai before and wasn’t sure exactly what to expect.

A windy day at Art Shanghai

There were several tents with different focuses including glass blowing and more traditional painting.   We went into the glass blowing tent first and there were several interesting works of art that made me look a little closer.

Glass within glass – substantial yet delicate

The color of this piece caught my eye

With the paintings and photography exhibits I liked this set below.

A set of photos that combined east and west

Another painter we liked and were discussing his work between the two of us.  We were looking around and all of a sudden I thought I saw a man that looked like the artist and started pointing at him to my friend.  All of a sudden he came over to us and started asking us about whether we liked his paintings and which aspects we enjoyed the most.  It was a unique experience for me to speak with an artist like that.  He was French (according to his accent and the bio which was posted on the wall that my friend helped translate).

A walk through the forest in spring

The artist himself!

In general the fair wasn’t crowded which was rare for anything in Shanghai.  I think the temperature may have had something to do with it because although it was sunny, it was pretty cold and being outside not so great.

There was also a street with lots of little booths that screamed “craft fair.”  For a city as large as Shanghai it made me smile because I think the craft fairs that happen at our summer house in Michigan each summer are larger than this one.  However, I haven’t seen something like this in Shanghai before, so I’m sure if I wait a couple of years it will be a huge event.  We got in at the ground floor.

As we walked around, I realized I had been to this park before on one of my walking tours through Shanghai last year through Hongqiao Park.  The statues and scenery looked familiar – after five years I’m finally re-crossing paths from before.  It’s such a large city that there is much more to explore but that was a comforting feeling that I may actually be fitting in here.

Hongqiao bridge – though looking a little yellow at this point! (Hong means red in Mandarin, qiao means bridge)

Have you ever visited a place unknowingly for a second time?  It seems to happen more and more these days – especially as I never bother to learn the name of restaurants that I visit here.  Share your stories!

A light-filled afternoon

I recently was in Hong Kong for a conference.  One afternoon I was able to work from the hotel room instead of going into the office.  I was incredibly productive without any phones ringing or distractions from colleagues and I had a beautiful view to keep me company.

Sun streaking through the clouds over Hong Kong Island

As the sun traveled across the sky I had to close the drapes as it kept getting brighter and brighter.  However, even through the drapes you can still pick out the mountains on Hong Kong island through the sheers.  The light and blue sky made my afternoon.

Sun through the sheers – now all I need is a cat to curl up in the sunbeam

I am connecting up with Alisa’s travel theme at Where’s My Backpack? - Light – for the first time in several months.  It seemed to me that this picture captures that concept – a bright, sunny day.  To see how others portray “Light” please click here.

Happy Cinco de Mayo – may you all have a sunny day to celebrate!

Cambodia Day 3 – Exploring Beng Mealea temple

This post is part of our adventures in Cambodia, for other posts in this series, please click here.

Beng Mealea was an amazing temple and definitely worth the long road to get there.  As we looked around there were so many interesting views to absorb that in total we took several hundred photos.  It was difficult to choose which ones represented the temple most accurately.

Too many photos! How could I choose just a few?

I tried to choose photos that represent my idea of the temple, though they may not give you an exact idea of its size or it’s structure.  These shots remind me of that afternoon exploring.

Even more so than some of the temples we visited earlier – the carving popped out of nowhere – it was in the places you would expect – walls, arches, doorways – but also within the blocks heaped on the floor.  It would have been an enormous life-size jigsaw puzzle to put things back together again.

Another unique things about the temple was that you really needed to climb to get to different places.  There were random blocks of stone piled on top of each other and it was a maze to figure out where to go next.  We “hired” a local guide to show us the way which was worth the $3 that we paid.

And the guide then led us up, up, up to where we were walking on a catwalk over the temple.  We were Indiana Jones exploring in the jungle – nature closing in on all sides, looking for a hidden treasure.  It was a perfect release after the car ride there.

Nature is so powerful – the trees and their roots continuing to pull apart the gigantic blocks that earlier kings constructed.  If we continue to believe we can control nature, I don’t want to be on that side of the bet!

Making our way down again we were greeted by more locals asking us to buy drinks or maps or guides.  This child seemed like a young Tarzan, comfortable in the natural world.

Our own Tarzan?

And as a final memory I snapped this picture of Li by one of the enormous trees on the grounds.  It reminds me of the photos in the Sequoia forest in California where you had trees so large you could  drive a car through.  This tree isn’t quite that wide, but look how small a person looks beside it!

How many people could you fit inside?

Looking back, I believe we could have spent an entire day there – happily exploring each room and watching the colors change as the sunlight went from east to west.  Instead though, we had one last place to go before that day was done, so we returned to our car and went to chase the sunset.

Have you ever been somewhere where you felt like Indiana Jones?  How and why were you there?

Cambodia Day 3 – The road to Beng Mealea temple

This post is part of our adventures in Cambodia, for other posts on our trip, please click here.

After a quick lunch (at the least impressive restaurant of our trip and one of the more expensive), we headed to Beng Mealea temple.  It was way off the beaten path – normally represented with a small arrow to the right side of the map, indicating that it was not close by.  Our driver seemed to know his way though and we settled in for a drive and Li fell asleep.

Unfortunately – the road was under construction.

It was one of tensest car rides that I have taken.  The road was quite literally dug up with large piles of sand and rocks.  Large pieces of machinery appeared at random, punctuated by motorbikes and farm machinery.  The sand tracks were slippery and deep ridges threatened to stall the car.  To make things more complicated traffic was moving in both directions and the road for much of the way was one way.  It meant that we had to wait in small turn-offs and also were never sure when another vehicle would appear over a ridge.

There was one point where our driver started to drive along a newly plowed path, then wound up getting off the road, stuck in the dirt – turned around and the backing up for several football fields in length.  We finally maneuvered our way around after about two hours of nail biting (on my part, Li stayed asleep through most of it) and towards the end of the day arrived at Beng Mealea temple.  Nearby the temple grounds was the sign below.

This only started 10 years ago.

Signs about restoration are all over Siem Reap – different governments have played an important part in restoring this part of the country.  In this instance it was the German government that started clearing the land mines, but they just started doing it in 2003, 10 years ago.  It is difficult to understand or appreciate.  Our driver told us that both of his parents had been killed in the conflict and I don’t think he was much older than I am.  The horrors that this land has seen are so recent that it is almost impossible to understand.  The long drive and this sign emphasized it even more.

Beng Mealea has not been fully restored and it was a different type of exploration – climbing over and under blocks and different pillars.  Below are some of the views as we arrived.

I wonder if Ta Prohm had been that way ten years ago.  Later that evening at our hotel we saw pictures of Khmer Rouge fighters taking an outing to explore the same grounds.  It was eerie to think we had been at the same place just a few hours before.

Beng Mealea was an amazing temple – one that called for photos and I’ll share more of them shortly.

How do you connect a history of a place with its monuments?  When does the history over shadow the place itself and what risk do we take if we forget?

An aside – I have been having a difficult time putting pen to paper (or rather hands to keyboard) recently.  It seems that there is so much to write about that I am getting stuck in the details.  Please stay patient with me as I work through it.