Christmas Weekend in Cambodia

For the holiday weekend, I headed out to Siem Reap, Camodia with two other Kellogg friends -- Diedre and Johanna. Angkor Wat, one of the most popular Asian tourist locations and supposedly the largest religous temple in the world, is located about 5kim north, so we figured this would be as good as time as any to make the visit.

Captured below is our driver for the weekend, Mr. Youthny (not sure if he had a first name) and the sign for our hotel -- The Villa Siem Reap. At ~$15 a night this place comes highly recommended -- thanks to my HBS friend, Katy, for recommending it to us! It was opened by an Australian couple who decided they no longer wanted to work in "the corporate world" (in their words). Huge tourist investment has poured into Siem Reap in recent years as the political turmoil has recently subsided.

Upon arrriving at the airporr, we met Mr. Youthny and our transportation for the weekend -- a Tuk-Tuk!


For our first afternoon in the area, Diedre and I decided to rent bikes ($2 per day) for the afternoon, and explore a little. Interesting points: cars drive on the right, whereas they drive on the left in Thailand; the entire city is basically funded by tourism; they use $; everything is MUCH cheaper than in nearby Thailand.


One of the young men that worked at the hotel wanted us to follow him on our bikes out to his school, which was located about 8km out east. He was learning english here, and was an incredbily nice individual, like just about everyone I met in this country. The friendliness of the people is especially impressive considering their country was completely engulfed in internal war w/ anti-imperialists less than 30 years ago -- I'm currently reading a book, Stay Alive my Son, which captures the gruesome, incredibly sad story. They have certainly opened up to western culture since then.


A picture of Siem Reap rush hour during our return. Cars mix with bikes and Tuk-Tuk's and there are literally NO lanes. However, I felt very safe the entire time I was on the roads, as the drivers have a strong appreciation for staying to the right when they are moving slowly -- something their Americna counterparts could learn from!!!


For our first night in Siem Reap, we ventured up to a popular temple for sunset. We arrived somewhat late, and I basically had to run up the mountain to get this shot. I must have been passed 100,000 asians during the entire journey

The three of us went out to dinner that night in Siem Reap... and enjoyed the town's friendly presence.

The next day, I awoke early and headed up to Angkor Wat, ~5km to the north. The entire city in which temple sits is sorrounded by a ~100m moat, which was built for protection and religious reasons.

Here is another shot from the moat. The entry to the city is in the foreground, while the temple is in the background. Angkor literally means "capital city", and this temple, along with the surrounding area was used as the capital by the Khmer empire between the 9th and 12th centuries. Over 1 mn inhabitants occupied this and the surrounding area at it peak.

After walking through the entrance, you realize how big the city, which is entirely enclosed by walls, actually is. There are also some impressive views of the temple which sits on the eastern side of the city.

There are 3 ascending layers to the temple. All of it contains impressive, detailed architecture.

All around, there are figures sculpted into the stone which tell stories of previous rulers, wars, etc.

The utlimate destination is the top of the temple, which can only be reached by a steep set of stairs. There are a number of people who can not make it the top, who gather around below, but I am actually surprised how many people actually make it up, as there are no handrails. I never had a second thought....

...and the climb is well worth the effort! The view of the surrounding Angkor area is incredible. This shot looks back towards the entrance of Angkor Wat -- it is the best perspective to see how big the enclosed city actually is.

A look out to the east...

..and one down towards the temple area below.

Here probably my favorite shot of the temple grounds taken from a corner of the enclosed wall. The entire city and temple extend off to the right.

After Angkor Wat, I headed up Angkor Thom which is not quite as impressive. It is basically another temple in the area built for another ruler in the same timeframe. My best shot of this tempe is capture below -- the three walls each have a large face, and there was some impressive story about this ..but I have since forgot.

The most impressive part of both temples was the surrounding sculpted murals on the lower level. At Angkor Wat these murals extend ~60m on all four sides, and each tell a different story. The guide books do a good job of walking you through each story, as there is an incredible amount of detail in each. The effort to sculpt these must have taken decades if not centuries!

Christmas Day 2006 in the countryside of Cambodia

For Christmas Day, I decided I had enough of the temples and wanted to head out on a Christmas adventure in the countryside of Cambodia, an area known to be incredibly poor, partly due to the political turmoil over the last 30 years. My driver and I stopped at a local market on the way out of town to pick up ~$5 of candy, which is very large 5 bags full in Cambodia – I decided to play Santa Claus for the kids! We headed about 5 miles south of Siem Reap to a village called Chong Kneas. The pictures below capture the adventure:

this was the first group of kids who attacked my cart after I pulled out the first bag of candy. After stopping to hand out candy to a few kids, I soon looked up and saw ~30 surrounding the cart-- they went through two bags far faster than I can remember slashing through presents at that age. They were aggressive, partly because this was still an area with tourists often visit.


I finally arrived at our final destination -- a poverty-stricken village, which is entirely built along Siem Reap river. To access the center, you had to hire a boat, and my two guides, Ang and Sam are captured below. Sam (on the right) was decent at english, and was currently enrolled at a local college, which I learned cost $30 / month -- He was astonished when I told him that US schools cost $30,000 / year. They were both helpful and incredibly grateful for my visit.


Here is a general photo of the main river through town. The river is quite polluted, and the sourrounding poverty is far more than I have ever seen.


All along the way, you see natives conducting various sorts of business along the river. This little guy was manning a boat entirely on his own. The kids in the area obviously know a completely different lifestyle than their western counterparts...

We made it through the town to our ultimate destination -- a lake. On the lake, there were about 30 local boats, all there for the purpose of selling products (i.e. beer) to incoming tourists. These boats surrounded us immediately, and my tour guides and I enjoyed three cold ones. The little salesmen below was noticeably thankful for the business.

After our visit to the lake, we stopped to have lunch. Needless to say, I was a little concerned of getting sick given the area that I was in; however, they assured my that the food was clean. As an additional Christmas present, I bought lunch for my guides.

..and a picure of our food -- the local catfish, both wet and dry style ..combined with a plate of shrimp. Not bad for a dinner, but a far cry from my Grandma's usual Christmas feast. To my luck, I never felt ill at all afterwards.

Here is a shot of a friendly, thankful worker in the restaurant.

After lunch, we stopped in a local, riverside “snooker” pub to play a few games of pool. I played against my guide who was quite good, but there were literally NO rules. He played whatever balls he wished, and so I simply went along with it. After clearing the table twice of balls, we called it a draw and went on our merry way.
(From the picture, you can see that I barely had room to lean over on one end of the table, …and to add to the complexity, the table was by no means stable as the entire “pub” was floating on the river .. a fascinating pool experience nonetheless)

By far the most personally rewarding experience of my 2006 Christmas day activities was my final stop -- a visit to a school right on the river. The teacher saw our boat approach, and as I walked into the classroom, all ~25 students aged around 8 years-old immediately put their hands together, bowed, and in their native language greeted me in what I learned later to be, “Hello – Good Afternoon – Welcome to our classroom!” I was amazed at how well-behaved all the kids were, and even more impressed at how thankful and gracious the classroom was for my candy-gifts – I was truly a Santa Claus! I’ll never forget this…

1st travel weekend: Pattaya (12/16 - 12/17)

For my first weekend travel experience while studying in Bangkok, I ventured down to Pattaya, a beach town on the southern coast of mainland Thailand, and what an adventure it was! Joining me on these travels were Bo Parfet, a Kellogg graduate and the epitome of Mr. Adventure (i.e. he has climbed the tallest peak on all seven continents just to give you a hint), and three daughters of the Yindee family, friends of Bo's. Every aspect of our travels turned into an epic journey; just to name a few --4 hours of craziness on the road trip down (i.e. it was supposed to be a 1.5 hour drive to Pattaya), an elite polo match, my first swing of a polo stick off of a mock horse, quite possibly the best dinner I have ever had, and a volleyball game in the middle of nowhere. These are captured in more detail below.

Four of us left Bangkok on Saturday at noon with the hopes of making a 3pm polo match. "It's 1.5 hour drive" the Thais told uu ...yeah, that didn't quite work out. After finally realizing that our van driver was afflicted with grandma-style driving syndrome, we ditched the ride, and jumped into the car of the 3rd sister, who we picked up just north of Pattaya. The car, which held up impressively through numerous potholes, uturns, and fishtailing, is captured below




Bo, our fearless co-captain, was our driver and in full-on GAME FACE for 2 hours looking for the well-hidden polo fields. I'm in the back holding on for dear life, but to be honest, Bo had it under complete control the whole time -- never fear! Line of the trip -- after perfectly and confidently reiterating directions we had just received, Bo casually states, "...and where the hell are we anyways??!!?" -- yeah, not to confidence inspiring :-)


Finally, we arrived!! Right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!! This polo field was just a decoy, in order to hide the real 'polo' field where the actual tournament was being played -- quite a funny joke we thought; we couldn't stop laughing! (...sense some sarcasm???)



Ok, FINALLY -- we're here! Well done Bo. This was the first 'The Argentinean Ambassadors Cup" -- an attempt to build relations and sport between polo playing countries.


Here are the three Yindee daughters settlingl into their first drink just before the 2nd Polo game. From the left, we have Topaz (aka Gertrude), Pearl (aka Navigator), and Angelique (aka BuzzKill ..later Big A!!). They were all troopers throughout it all -- it made for a great team.

...and not bad on the eyes :-)



While we missed the 3pm Polo match, but we did catch the 4pm match, which thankfully started ~ 1 hour late at 5 pm in classic Thai style (i.e. TIT 'This is Thailand'). This was my first Polo match, and I must admit that I was very impressed. These were some top caliber players -- rated 0 and higher (-2 is the lowest). The finesse and power with which the riders and horses move is unparalleled.



Finally, a rest. What a beautiful set of horses! The games are so intense that each horse only plays 1 of 4 periods, or"chukka's", so there are about 80 horses needed per game to the best of my estimation.



While incredibly difficult to find, the Polo field is set in the middle of a gorgeous mountainous Thai backdrop, which you can see in the background below.

Here we have the Argentinian Ambassador to Thailand, who is being interviewed by Bo's friend Tom, who served as our gracious host for this journey -- thanks Tom!

Having been impressed by the entire Polo experience, we now aspire to one day be Polo champions. Below, you can see us temporarily living this dream as we are all huddling around the Ambassador's Cup.

Tom was kind enough of take us down to a Polo training device to practice our skills. All of us, besides the non-athletic Topaz, took a swing on the mock horse. Here we have the three ladies in a classic Charlie's Angels pose.

Yeah, um, Angielique got a little excited on her follow through attempt; however, you can't fault her for her passion! This photo was shared with many at her expense -- she was a great sport as always :-)

Bo and I took our own swings, and being the competitors we are, of course it had to be a competition! I benefited from the similarity with the golf swing, as you can see me in action below. I crushed one about 50 yards. Bo? Well, he didn't quite make it over the initial fence. It was all good, clean fun.

..and the follow through

Certainly, Bo had the form!

To our sheer delight, Tom asked us to stay for what I can honestly was one of the most amazing dinners I have ever had. It was simple -- potato salad, cole slaw, chicken, and beef; however, in classic Argentinian style, the chicken and beef were some of the most tender morsels mankind has ever known.

...and the scenery wasn't bad either

Bo was certainly enjoying myself, and had top class manners on display! ....

However, I was not be out done...

After dinner, we finally ventured down to our hotel, called Shore Cliffs, on the southern end of Pattaya. A photo of the hotel the following morning is captured below.

I was in rare form for the entire trip, and decided so sport the safari look for some ill-fashioned reason at breakfast the next morning.

After breakfast, we ventured out to find a volleyball game. After about a 1.5 hour hunt, we decided to make our own game on a distant beach near the old-stomping grounds of the Yindee household. It was not quite the caliber of some of my games in Hermosa Beach, but it was fun nonentheless ... and most importantly, it gave me the workout that I needed!

..and another action shot! To Bo's credit, I believe he aced me on this one. His newly acquired Russian partner, who randomly appeared out of nowhere, is captured in the foreground.

After working up an appetite, we settled into a restaurant for a classic Thai meal. The adventure was almost over, but we were still ALL smiles.

...and the personality was never lacking!