Category Archives: Travel

04Dec 2009

Wham! Road Trip to Siem Reap and Penom Penh

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So this road trip… We could have been in a chartered big air conditioned tour bus for around $10 each. However, a relative recommended this driver and his van, although there is no AC, because he knows his way through Siem Reap and he will stay with us and drive us down to Penom Penh. That seemed like a good deal. There were 9 of us and they said his van will fit 13 people.

Little did we know, the driver was half deaf, the speedometer and headlights of the car was broken, and the car fit 8 people comfortably and two people had to squeeze up front with the driver. (there was a pull down bitch seat that Ben put his injured foot on in the back) Overall, it was an adventure.

Our windows were rolled down the whole time and we had to keep our face masks on, because the dirt roads were dusty. We had a 4-5 hour road trip to Siem Reap, except that it got dark and our headlights were broken. I think at one point we resorted to sticking flashlights out the window to light the path. We got in to a repair shop in a small village where we were stuck for 3 hours. 3 HOURS! They made a temporary fix to leave the headlights on for the duration of the travel and we headed on. There was also something wrong with the main circuit… which would power off the car every now and then.

Dogs are rampant in Cambodia and for a lot of people they are sort of like rats. They are abundant, mangy, and they have no remorse when you hit them with a car. Our other host, Sophea’s cousin hit two dogs, she was saying. “I’m glad it wasn’t a pig, since we wouldn’t be able to run over it.” Right. Our driver, of course, hit one that leaped out onto the street. We felt the bump in the back tire, and looked back, and the dog kept going. Poor thing.

And the corrupt cops… There were a group of police officers stopping cars on our way from Pursat to Siem Reap. They pulled us over, gave us some shit about looking behind us, and our driver paid them money. However, the f-ed up thing is, the next day in the paper, cops did this to a soldier AT THE SAME INTERSECTION. The soldier, who was a high ranking officer, didn’t stop. The cops started to shoot and the officer shot back. The officer ended up killing two cops. No joke.

Eventually around 11 that night (we were trying to get there around 7-8), we got to Siem Reap. We were relieved. We stayed there for 2 nights. Unfortunately the quick fix to the headlights wasn’t a permanant fix, so we stayed an extra night so we didn’t need to drive in the dark. (Although for some reason, on our trip to Penom Penh, we got there very late. We were on the roat for 7 hours, when the anticipated time was 5.) The kicker was that when Sophea’s cousin kept telling us we were lucky as the guys pushed the cars away from the driveway. I didn’t understand that it stopped starting. I thought there just wasn’t enough room to maneuver. Can you imagine? One more bathroom stop and we would have been stranded again?

Ankor was impressive and vast, though. I was surprised we were allowed in so many corridors. Sophea made a good point that Ankor Thom was peaceful, with less people, and beautiful. Ankor Wat was just vast.

03Dec 2009

Adventures in Pursat

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I spent 3-4 days (left on the fourth day) and 3 nights in Pursat, a small village between Penom Penh and Siem Reap. Following the wedding, we took a road trip (on that 4rth day) and spent 2 nights in Siem Reap, a larger village/small city. There, we went to the Ankor/Bangor region and saw the temples. The area where we stayed was cheaper than the 5 star hotel strips, rustic, but still slightly touristy.

Come to think of it, a lot of my time there was spent in a damn car. After the 24+ hour plane trip, we had a 3 hour car ride ahead of us to Pursat. Then, we had a 4-5 hour car ride to Siem Reap, except our car had to be repaired along the way, so add another 3 hours. SERIOUSLY. Then, it was a 5-6 hour car ride back to Penom Penh, which took much longer than that.

So, I really appreciated it when we got off the car, that first day, and the first thing they do is to take us to cut down a banana tree. We sat in the back of the pick up and drove through the village. It was kind of fun. Then, when we cut down the banana tree, we sat on the sides of the back, which was an exciting ride. I mean, people pile on and ride these things in huge groups, so we were doing it like the locals, you know? I guess no seat belts required.

Yes, we needed a load of coconuts and like two whole banana trees for the wedding. At the time, I was thinking, “that’s not how we harvest bananas in Farmville,” but apparently banana trees only bear fruits once. (Apparently banana trees aren’t really a tree, and once the stalk bears fruit, it dies. You can cut it down and a new one will grow through the root/stalk.) I was looking forward to having some bananas. Little did I know that they were going to spray paint the whole thing silver and decorate the front of the tent in an arch of the banana trees. Like, you would think they would just get fake trees if you wanted to spray paint them silver. I don’t get it.

Anyway, her relatives there mumbled something about going to cut down banana trees to be a tradition or good luck or something and sent us on our way. With one other local and someone’s aunt/grandmother to guide us, us white people went to cut down a banana tree. No joke! It required couple of poles, pushing the trunk/stalk down and hacking at it. This was all in someone else’s backyard. I think we cut a stalk of coconuts, also, where the local kid just jumped up on a coconut tree and climbed up barefoot, cut some down, and climbed and jumped back down. Just like that. They gave me a coconut to drink and it was quite delicious. Unfortunately, these coconuts suffered the same spray painted fate as the bananas. (I guess we can still drink from them, right? Still, I never found out what happened to them after the ceremony and reveling. They really like spray painting fruits, though. They spray painted some limes, too.

29Aug 2009

Oregon coast

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06Jun 2009

I took the Fung Wah down to Cambridge

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This is my first time ever in Boston.

Ryan bought 4 Bahn Mis to eat on the bus. Of course, we had left overs. Otherwise, I was able to read without getting too sick and Ryan browsed on my iPhone and watched podcasts. I also conked out for like 2 hours. (The bus took 5 and a half hours.)

I’m here to visit Sarah and Danny, and perhaps to meet up with Ryan and I’s friend Conner. Right now, I’m waiting for Sarah to cook us pancakes. ; ) She’s always on twitter talking about baking and cooking so, hopefully we get hooked up!

“I know where we’ll take you! To the cemetery!”

Mmmm, k.

31Dec 2008

“Airplanes take you away again..”

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I am just rubbish at packing. Terrible. A large part of it is that I don’t have any new clothes. Of course, this sounds shallow, but I am not excited about my outfits. I could care less about what I wear to work… as long as it is minimally coordinated. Otherwise, other than a flannel shirt and 2 sweaters, I don’t have any new winter gear. Old winter stuff seems to have worn away… and I feel like a bum.

I am bringing practically nothing. My bag will be relatively light. I wish I would could feel more “put together.”

Tomorrow, on the 31st, I will be traveling to the northwest in the evening. I will be somewhere in limbo when the east coast celebrates the new year. I will land around 11pm and hope to celebrate with a glass of champagne in the airport. Woop. I’m traveling tomorrow because the I get the most time out of the weekend and the flights are cheap. I get back on a flight leaving Sunday night and arriving Monday morning at 8am. Then, I head straight in for work. The flight itself was less than $500.

I was able to score a relatively affordable flight to Frankfurt earlier mid-year, for also around $500 round trip. However, since then, getting tickets during vacation time has been hellish.

All the airlines are getting rid of their amenities, however, I am pleased to report that American Airlines was fairly awesome when I traveled to Japan in July. Their in flight entertainment section really impressed me. They had tons of different genres of shows and movies (The Office, Iron Man, etc..). I honestly prefer that to the Jet Blue hundreds of channels, because depending on the time you fly nothing is available for watching.

I hate planes. However, here’s hoping that in 2009 prices for flights will be reasonable. In an optimistic note, Air New Zealand successfully completed a two-hour flight running on a part vegetable oil fuel, which is a big accomplishment in terms of sustainable resources. Let’s hope that the innovations in using jatropha oil, algae, and halophytes are successful!

31Dec 2008

"Airplanes take you away again.."

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I am just rubbish at packing. Terrible. A large part of it is that I don’t have any new clothes. Of course, this sounds shallow, but I am not excited about my outfits. I could care less about what I wear to work… as long as it is minimally coordinated. Otherwise, other than a flannel shirt and 2 sweaters, I don’t have any new winter gear. Old winter stuff seems to have worn away… and I feel like a bum.

I am bringing practically nothing. My bag will be relatively light. I wish I would could feel more “put together.”

Tomorrow, on the 31st, I will be traveling to the northwest in the evening. I will be somewhere in limbo when the east coast celebrates the new year. I will land around 11pm and hope to celebrate with a glass of champagne in the airport. Woop. I’m traveling tomorrow because the I get the most time out of the weekend and the flights are cheap. I get back on a flight leaving Sunday night and arriving Monday morning at 8am. Then, I head straight in for work. The flight itself was less than $500.

I was able to score a relatively affordable flight to Frankfurt earlier mid-year, for also around $500 round trip. However, since then, getting tickets during vacation time has been hellish.

All the airlines are getting rid of their amenities, however, I am pleased to report that American Airlines was fairly awesome when I traveled to Japan in July. Their in flight entertainment section really impressed me. They had tons of different genres of shows and movies (The Office, Iron Man, etc..). I honestly prefer that to the Jet Blue hundreds of channels, because depending on the time you fly nothing is available for watching.

I hate planes. However, here’s hoping that in 2009 prices for flights will be reasonable. In an optimistic note, Air New Zealand successfully completed a two-hour flight running on a part vegetable oil fuel, which is a big accomplishment in terms of sustainable resources. Let’s hope that the innovations in using jatropha oil, algae, and halophytes are successful!

30Dec 2008

I am a holiday Grinch

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Happy Hanukkah everyone! (Yes yes… Happy Holidays. No, I’m not Jewish.) Friday, I had Sabbath dinner with Cindy and her family and spent rest of the weekend at home.

On Christmas, I went to Genevieve’s place for a tasty stuffed pork chop and to enjoy her tree. Gen and Hoyeon both had presents for me and I had none. Come to think of it, Soph got me a present and I got nothing for her as well. I kinda suck. I did NO holiday shopping.

o.O I think I missed something. I was generally a holiday grouch, but promises of food gets me out of the Apt. I don’t celebrate Christmas or any other holiday, really. I just like to sleep and eat during the holidays.

However, being in Genevieve’s place inspired me to decorate, and I had this big urge to wrap things. Yeah… the one rush of productivity makes me want to play with holiday tinsel. WTH?

Otherwise, on Wednesday I am leaving for Portland, Oregon, for a long weekend. I think this time I need to pick up a present, though. Here is where I need help. I am clueless as to what to get an older couple, someone’s parents. I am leaning towards a cool coffee table book / books.

update: Uhg. No books… sweets it is!

18Aug 2008

This is my story

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From New York Styles Magazine, Women’s Fashion Fall 2008:

J.F.K., on the other hand, smelled the same as always: floor cleaner, jet fuel and cigarettes. Korean Air Flight 82 smelled, surprisingly, like little at all. I think I’m becoming anosmic to airplane smell. It used to mesmerize me. The smell of flight! Now it’s background radiation, undifferentiated. […]
We landed in Shanghai at 8:10pm. in the dark. As we taxied, I got ready for the transition. Everyone knows, though most people don’t think about it, that travel consists of a strange kind of olfactory gate: there is a very precise point, where you pass from the plane’s smell, the international sterile zone, to your destination’s smell. this is the moment you brain, not just your body, actually arrives. You enter Mumbai, and you smell a humid, gaseous thickness; San Francisco, a thin, dry astringency; Tokyo, plastic and sour cherries. (Nasal Passage by Chandler Burr)

I’m not sure what that smell was, but Narita airport has its own distinct smell. Japanese hospitals have that exact smell, also. (For most of my childhood I was dragged to various hospitals in Japan to visit my grandfather. Also I had a lot of family working there.) I don’t think it was sour cherries, though. It is something faintly office-y, but sweet. Like sweetened clean laundry… Not the smell of detergents but the laundry machines.

(And as another aside note, that idea might not be as far-fetched as it seems. I just remembered why I might associate a faint soured fruit smell with laundry. In Kagoshima at my grandmother’s house, she has a sunroom/roof that is enclosed by glass. They have a washer downstairs and they move the laundry up to dry. There, she also dries out plum so that she can pickle them and make home-made umeboshi. THAT is delicious and whenever I went up there in the summer, the heat, smell, and laundry would smell a certain way that wasn’t all that bad.)

The original point I wanted to make was that I didn’t feel anything about going to Japan until I actually arrived. This has never happened before. In the past, whenever I went to Japan I had a clear goal in mind. It was either to see family or take care of some documents. It was never “just to sight-see,” and I didn’t start doing that until recently. I felt happy to be getting away, but other than that i felt almost apathetic. That is until I stepped out of the plane through the terminal and was on our way to customs. The smell of the airport (and I spent a lot of time in this airport) WAS THE SAME… and reminded me of other office buildings in Japan. There was a quality there that was very much indescribable. At that moment I felt an overwhelming sentimentality and an euphoria to be there.