My last blog left off at Sisophon, the city we drove to after crossing the Thai/Cambodian border. After I wrote it there was a massive thunderstorm in the area and our hotel flooded in the middle of the night. Each floor had a section open to the outdoors and soon there were a bunch of hotel workers in their pajamas running up and down the floor to wipe it up. The lightning was incredible to watch and the thunder rocked our hotel throughout the night.
The next day we left by bus to Siem Reap, the city near all the Angkor temples. The bus ride was only a few hours and the driver was booking it too. We got pulled over on the highway for speeding and our ticket was 10,000 riel. That sounds like a lot, but in US dollars that's only $2.50. The riel is weak by itself and Cambodia uses it with the Thai baht and US dollar. It is confusing to use three different currencies because you pay with American and Thai bills and get back change in riel. They do not accept or use any coins and the riel bills start at 100, which is less than three cents. These quickly fill up the wallet but I found they can be lifesavers as emergency toilet paper.
The Angkor temples were probably my favorite part of the trip. They are the remains of the Khmer Empire that lasted between the 9th and 14th centuries. A lot of them are in the same area, which was the largest pre-industrial city in the world. I can't even describe how beautiful everything was. Our group visited Angkor Wat, the Bayon Temple, and Ta Phrom. Afterward, I stuck around with a couple guys and we visited Ta Keo and a few others I don't remember the names of. It was really fun getting off the tourist trail and exploring these lesser known places. We hiked, crawled through broken rocks, and climbed steps that were over a foot high and only a few inches long. We even had our pictures taken with monks we met on the trail. We found a tuk tuk driver to drive us around and bring us back to our hotel for $10.
In Siam Reap we also visited a giant culture center which Lauren lovingly referred to as the "Disneyland of Cambodia." There weren't any rides, but there was amazing scenery and interactive exhibits that included housing complexes and an underground museum of horrors. There were also a lot of dramas that took audience participation to a new level. One guy on our trip was married in a traditional Cambodian wedding, another guy went courting and danced around in his underwear, and another pulled a bow out of stone and became king. These were really amusing to watch.
The food in Cambodia is slightly different. It is like a combination between Thai and Vietnamese food and it is a lot less spicy. There are still a lot of soups, rice, and noodle dishes, but there are also plenty of weird options as well. One interesting delicacy is the fried tarantula. I was skeptical to try one at first but they aren't bad. They have a nice crispy and chewy texture that is really juicy. I ate three of them for a snack, but Lauren wouldn't let me sit next to her afterward. My "spider breath" made her gag so it took a piece of gum and some convincing to get my seat back. Insects are popular here too. I tried grasshoppers, crickets, and silkworms, but none were as good as the tarantula. The silkworm is chewy and gross tasting.
Another thing I noticed in Cambodia is how intense the street vendors were. They all know English and follow tourists around like zombies. They wait by buses and will hound people to purchase anything from handicrafts to fruit. In the most touristy of places there are a lot of kids that beg you to buy from them in repeated, broken English. The vendors in the markets were less intense and the prices were cheaper than in Thailand. I knew pirated movies and music were commonly sold, but I never knew you could pirate books. Guidebooks and other types of reading are sold on the street for cheap, wrapped in plastic to disguise their poor quality. Another thing common in Cambodia are bands of land mine victims that sell music CDs.
The last city we visited in Cambodia was the capital, Phnom Penh. Here we did some last minute market shopping and visited two genocide areas. Cambodia experienced a period of genocide between 1975 and 1979 under the regime of Pol Pot, and two million people died in the killing fields. We started at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Known as S-21, this was a high school that was turned into an interrogation center and prison. Next we visited Choeng Ek, a killing field just outside of the city. There are lots of mass graves and the rain is constantly washing up more bones and fragments of clothing. This was by far the most impacting part of the trip.
Update: Friday, May 27
We got back to Oregon this week after three flights and layovers in Taiwan and Seattle. The weather seems freezing cold here, but it is welcomed after weeks of uncomfortably hot and humid weather. I also got back to my island last night. It's hard to believe our trip is over. Three weeks is plenty of time to travel and experience new cultures but I wanted to keep going. Nevertheless, going to Southeast Asia was a great way to start the summer! I will upload pictures from the trip soon.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
Reflections on Bangkok
Bangkok is awesome. We made it to the Thai capital on Tuesday after 28 hours of travel. It took three flights, including a 12-hour plane ride from Seattle to Taipei (Taiwan). The first thing I noticed in Thailand was the heat. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, the 90+ degree temperature and humidity just about knocked me over. My last semester in Oregon was sun-deprived and this change was extreme, but I love it now that it's tolerable. Most places have air conditioning, including our hotel. This luxury is wonderful beyond words.
My favorite part about Thailand so far is probably the food. It is unbelievably better than the Thai food I thought I knew in the US and it's much spicier. I have finally found a culture that likes it's food as spicy as I do! Street food in Bangkok is both amazing and cheap and brings many spices and flavors together. There are a lot of delicious meats, stir frys, and soup combos that are blowing my mind. With the weaker baht currency you can get just about anything for less than a dollar and a full plate of food won't cost more than two. I've found there is nothing like eating really spicy food on a hot day. It's quite an experience to be sitting outside in the heat and sweating profusely while you're digesting fire. Fruits are also popular as well and there are lots of different tropical varieties. The most (in)famous is the durian, which the locals say "tastes like heaven and smells like s**t". Vendors cover it up so it doesn't reek up the streets and there are signs that tell us not to bring it into buildings. It reminds me of mushy onions and old cheese.
One big part of Thai culture is massages and foot massages are perhaps the most popular. Lauren and I went to get one together this afternoon and it was awesome. While her masseuse was gentle on her feet and legs, mine was really rough. I learned how soft my legs were and many knots my feet had, but through the pain I enjoyed it. The best part: an hour massage only cost me 220 baht, just over $7. The girls tried to speak English to us and were hilarious. One said I looked like an army soldier because I was "big sexy man". I have had some interesting encounters and Lauren calls me Asian meat. Another type of massage is from fish. You put your feet in a tank of feet eating fish that like to nibble on dead skin. They swim over and suck on your toes until they are smooth and clean. I found this to be a unique experience that tickled like crazy, but I won't do it again after hearing why they aren't allowed in the US.
The transportation in Bangkok is fairly modernized because it is such a big city with 10 million people. There is a sky train and new subway system, but the old school way to get around is in a tuk tuk, a three-wheeled motoried taxi that flies through the streets. These are really mobile and fun, and the drivers have great personalities. Taxis are popular too, but they can scam tourists. The other day, I went to hand a taxi driver some change and he dropped it under the seat. Then he got mad and made us pay him more while the meter was still running. Here vehicles drive on the left side of the road.
Thai is an interesting language to say the least. The alphabet has 44 consonants and 15 vowels and looks like a bunch of squiggly lines. It is hard to speak but I have picked up words here and there. I know a handful of Thai phrases including 'how much does it cost?', 'I like spicy food', and 'it's very delicious'. I like to try and learn new words, but I am still very much a farang (gringo). I also learned a few Mandarin words when we were in Taiwan.
So far we have visited the urban downtown, some temples, and the riverfront. We also went to a resort with elephants. There are a lot of street markets too and I've been bargaining for good deals. At night it is easy to see the effects of the prevailing sex trade industry. There are some sketchy streets and just about anywhere people will try to get you involved. This is really sad to see as such a big part of the culture.
Tomorrow is our last day in Bangkok. We are going to the Saturday market in the morning and then travelling south to Dolphin Bay. This is on the coast and we'll be spending a lot of time at the beach. I am stoked for this.
แล้วพบกันใหม่ (Laaeo phohp gan mai)
Until we meet again!
My favorite part about Thailand so far is probably the food. It is unbelievably better than the Thai food I thought I knew in the US and it's much spicier. I have finally found a culture that likes it's food as spicy as I do! Street food in Bangkok is both amazing and cheap and brings many spices and flavors together. There are a lot of delicious meats, stir frys, and soup combos that are blowing my mind. With the weaker baht currency you can get just about anything for less than a dollar and a full plate of food won't cost more than two. I've found there is nothing like eating really spicy food on a hot day. It's quite an experience to be sitting outside in the heat and sweating profusely while you're digesting fire. Fruits are also popular as well and there are lots of different tropical varieties. The most (in)famous is the durian, which the locals say "tastes like heaven and smells like s**t". Vendors cover it up so it doesn't reek up the streets and there are signs that tell us not to bring it into buildings. It reminds me of mushy onions and old cheese.
One big part of Thai culture is massages and foot massages are perhaps the most popular. Lauren and I went to get one together this afternoon and it was awesome. While her masseuse was gentle on her feet and legs, mine was really rough. I learned how soft my legs were and many knots my feet had, but through the pain I enjoyed it. The best part: an hour massage only cost me 220 baht, just over $7. The girls tried to speak English to us and were hilarious. One said I looked like an army soldier because I was "big sexy man". I have had some interesting encounters and Lauren calls me Asian meat. Another type of massage is from fish. You put your feet in a tank of feet eating fish that like to nibble on dead skin. They swim over and suck on your toes until they are smooth and clean. I found this to be a unique experience that tickled like crazy, but I won't do it again after hearing why they aren't allowed in the US.
The transportation in Bangkok is fairly modernized because it is such a big city with 10 million people. There is a sky train and new subway system, but the old school way to get around is in a tuk tuk, a three-wheeled motoried taxi that flies through the streets. These are really mobile and fun, and the drivers have great personalities. Taxis are popular too, but they can scam tourists. The other day, I went to hand a taxi driver some change and he dropped it under the seat. Then he got mad and made us pay him more while the meter was still running. Here vehicles drive on the left side of the road.
Thai is an interesting language to say the least. The alphabet has 44 consonants and 15 vowels and looks like a bunch of squiggly lines. It is hard to speak but I have picked up words here and there. I know a handful of Thai phrases including 'how much does it cost?', 'I like spicy food', and 'it's very delicious'. I like to try and learn new words, but I am still very much a farang (gringo). I also learned a few Mandarin words when we were in Taiwan.
So far we have visited the urban downtown, some temples, and the riverfront. We also went to a resort with elephants. There are a lot of street markets too and I've been bargaining for good deals. At night it is easy to see the effects of the prevailing sex trade industry. There are some sketchy streets and just about anywhere people will try to get you involved. This is really sad to see as such a big part of the culture.
Tomorrow is our last day in Bangkok. We are going to the Saturday market in the morning and then travelling south to Dolphin Bay. This is on the coast and we'll be spending a lot of time at the beach. I am stoked for this.
แล้วพบกันใหม่ (Laaeo phohp gan mai)
Until we meet again!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Colonial Quito & Last Weekend
Things have gotten a lot busier here. We have a midterm exam and presentation tomorrow, and Friday morning we leave for a weeklong missions trip to Santo Domingo, about a three-hour trip west. I’m really excited for this because we get to do a lot of volunteer work (as opposed to class and homework) and activities with the kids. I doubt we’ll have internet there so I’ll make this post a little longer and add some more details about the weekend.
Today we had another weekly academic outing, which is awesome because we get to learn outside of the classroom. It was our introduction to colonial Quito, which is an awesome and beautiful part of the city. After arriving at the plaza and grabbing a delicious pastry, we had a tour of The Society of Jesus Church, a popular cathedral that took 160 years to build and is almost completely covered in gold leaf. Next we went to the City Museum where we learned a lot about Quito’s colonial history. Finally we went to lunch and I had shawarma wrap and some guanábana ice cream. Later we had some salchipapas at a small street corner restaurant that was about as hot as a sauna from all the frying grease. I absolutely how cheap food here can be. (Large Size = $1.40!)
Here are a couple pictures I took today, including a panorama of South Quito.
On Sunday I decided to hang out with Gustavo and I went with him up to the mountains to the church he works at. We had to take a bus up there, which I’ve found is one of the scariest systems of public transport. The bus drivers aren’t any better than the others and they hardly stop to let you on and off. It is really important to hold on too because they drive all over the place. Even though I’m used to riding on a ferry, I realized my balance isn’t as good as I thought. They will cram a ton of people on, like the subways in Tokyo. The only difference is South Americans value personal space a lot differently, and if you sit down you might end up with someone’s armpit in your face. At the top, the roads were dirt and cobblestone, littered with garbage, and there were close concrete buildings and stray dogs everywhere. I love places where I can be the only foreigner!
The church service was small, but really good, and afterward we walked over to the pastor’s house to eat lunch. On the way, we stopped at a small street corner grocery and bought some chorizo (sausage). Those tiny stores have everything, including chicken feet and other cuts of meat I don’t recognize. While Gustavo and the pastor cooked the sausage and rice, they showed me how to make juice from tomatillos, which taste like the combination of a tomato and a peach. Juice is really popular here and they make it with blended fruit, water, and (lots of) sugar. There are a lot of good drinks here, with tropical fruits and sweet teas.
Oh yeah, the concert on Saturday turned out to be awesome! There were probably about 10,000 people there and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only gringos. I love learning about new music and there were four different bands playing (I really liked Pescao Vivo, a Columbian alternative band). The concert was supposed to start at 5, but instead the first band didn’t open until 6. This is because of La Hora Ecuatoriana, Ecuadorian Time where everything begins casually late, anywhere from ten minutes to over an hour. From what I’ve heard this is pretty common in South America. Our first week welcoming party started about thirty minutes late (us Americans were all standing around waiting), and I’ve gone to play basketball but had to wait a while for someone to bring a ball. During orientation we were told that whenever we see a time, just to add an “ish” on the end of it. Coming from a punctual society I’m not used to it. Well I’m used to procrastination… I still have to study a lot for my exam tomorrow. Hasta Luego!
Left: Jenna, Josué, and the girl with the flashlight. Right: Pescao Vivo
Today we had another weekly academic outing, which is awesome because we get to learn outside of the classroom. It was our introduction to colonial Quito, which is an awesome and beautiful part of the city. After arriving at the plaza and grabbing a delicious pastry, we had a tour of The Society of Jesus Church, a popular cathedral that took 160 years to build and is almost completely covered in gold leaf. Next we went to the City Museum where we learned a lot about Quito’s colonial history. Finally we went to lunch and I had shawarma wrap and some guanábana ice cream. Later we had some salchipapas at a small street corner restaurant that was about as hot as a sauna from all the frying grease. I absolutely how cheap food here can be. (Large Size = $1.40!)
Here are a couple pictures I took today, including a panorama of South Quito.
On Sunday I decided to hang out with Gustavo and I went with him up to the mountains to the church he works at. We had to take a bus up there, which I’ve found is one of the scariest systems of public transport. The bus drivers aren’t any better than the others and they hardly stop to let you on and off. It is really important to hold on too because they drive all over the place. Even though I’m used to riding on a ferry, I realized my balance isn’t as good as I thought. They will cram a ton of people on, like the subways in Tokyo. The only difference is South Americans value personal space a lot differently, and if you sit down you might end up with someone’s armpit in your face. At the top, the roads were dirt and cobblestone, littered with garbage, and there were close concrete buildings and stray dogs everywhere. I love places where I can be the only foreigner!
The church service was small, but really good, and afterward we walked over to the pastor’s house to eat lunch. On the way, we stopped at a small street corner grocery and bought some chorizo (sausage). Those tiny stores have everything, including chicken feet and other cuts of meat I don’t recognize. While Gustavo and the pastor cooked the sausage and rice, they showed me how to make juice from tomatillos, which taste like the combination of a tomato and a peach. Juice is really popular here and they make it with blended fruit, water, and (lots of) sugar. There are a lot of good drinks here, with tropical fruits and sweet teas.
Oh yeah, the concert on Saturday turned out to be awesome! There were probably about 10,000 people there and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only gringos. I love learning about new music and there were four different bands playing (I really liked Pescao Vivo, a Columbian alternative band). The concert was supposed to start at 5, but instead the first band didn’t open until 6. This is because of La Hora Ecuatoriana, Ecuadorian Time where everything begins casually late, anywhere from ten minutes to over an hour. From what I’ve heard this is pretty common in South America. Our first week welcoming party started about thirty minutes late (us Americans were all standing around waiting), and I’ve gone to play basketball but had to wait a while for someone to bring a ball. During orientation we were told that whenever we see a time, just to add an “ish” on the end of it. Coming from a punctual society I’m not used to it. Well I’m used to procrastination… I still have to study a lot for my exam tomorrow. Hasta Luego!
Left: Jenna, Josué, and the girl with the flashlight. Right: Pescao Vivo
Saturday, August 28, 2010
El Mitad del Mundo y La Gran Carrera
Wow, this has been a really busy weekend so far! On Friday we didn’t have class and took a field trip to Mitad del Mundo, the famous park on the equator. (It’s funny because they discovered with GPS that the monument is in the wrong spot, but all of the tourists still go there instead of the real spot.) We also went to the nearby museum that is actually on the equator and were able to stand on it and see a lot of cool tricks because of the Coralis Effect. Water always spins counterclockwise to the equator and we saw how it drained differently on both sides. In the middle it just fell straight through, and it’s crazy how much of a difference six feet on either side makes. Other tricks were drastically reduced strength and balance while standing on the equator, and overall it was really cool to stand in two hemispheres at once!
Afterward we went out to lunch, and in my quest to try everything I tried an Ecuadorian plate lunch along with elote mayonesa. This may sound super gross, but it is corn-on-the-cob smothered in mayonnaise and a cheese garnish (the corn, mayo, and cheese are all different than the kinds we have at home). It’s super popular in Mexico and Central America, and it actually wasn’t too bad. The worst part was just thinking about what I was eating. Later that night some of us decided to go to a movie and we ended up seeing El Origen (Inception). We were relieved when we found out the movie was only released in subtitles, because it was hard enough to understand in English. Movies down here are either completely dubbed or have Spanish subtitles. It’s funny that we were probably the only people in the theater who could understand the movie without reading.
Today, we had a “transportation seminar” that started at 9 am and we expected it to be a long classroom lecture. Instead, we were handed envelopes that said ‘La Gran Carrera’ (roughly, the Amazing Race) and after being paired up with our roommates we were unexpectedly thrown into Quito on a trail of clues. It was a lot of fun, and we spent over four hours racing through the city by bus, taxi, paddleboat, and on foot (sprinting is super hard at 8,000-10,000’ altitude). We dashed across streets, through parks, and through markets and a mall, and I can’t imagine how ridiculous we looked. In the end our group came in third because the first two groups found a taxi before we did.
Tonight a few of us are going to a concert downtown. I don’t know any of the artists, but it sounds like a lot of fun. One of the guys in our group has heard of Alex Campos, a really famous Christian artist in Central and South America. There are a bunch of other famous bands playing as well and it’s supposedly a five-hour concert. Hasta Luego!
Afterward we went out to lunch, and in my quest to try everything I tried an Ecuadorian plate lunch along with elote mayonesa. This may sound super gross, but it is corn-on-the-cob smothered in mayonnaise and a cheese garnish (the corn, mayo, and cheese are all different than the kinds we have at home). It’s super popular in Mexico and Central America, and it actually wasn’t too bad. The worst part was just thinking about what I was eating. Later that night some of us decided to go to a movie and we ended up seeing El Origen (Inception). We were relieved when we found out the movie was only released in subtitles, because it was hard enough to understand in English. Movies down here are either completely dubbed or have Spanish subtitles. It’s funny that we were probably the only people in the theater who could understand the movie without reading.
Today, we had a “transportation seminar” that started at 9 am and we expected it to be a long classroom lecture. Instead, we were handed envelopes that said ‘La Gran Carrera’ (roughly, the Amazing Race) and after being paired up with our roommates we were unexpectedly thrown into Quito on a trail of clues. It was a lot of fun, and we spent over four hours racing through the city by bus, taxi, paddleboat, and on foot (sprinting is super hard at 8,000-10,000’ altitude). We dashed across streets, through parks, and through markets and a mall, and I can’t imagine how ridiculous we looked. In the end our group came in third because the first two groups found a taxi before we did.
Tonight a few of us are going to a concert downtown. I don’t know any of the artists, but it sounds like a lot of fun. One of the guys in our group has heard of Alex Campos, a really famous Christian artist in Central and South America. There are a bunch of other famous bands playing as well and it’s supposedly a five-hour concert. Hasta Luego!
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