...did the Colby's go for President's Day weekend?
We went to Vietnam and Cambodia! It was a much-too-short, never a minute to spare, sleep-deprived whirlwind tour - small slices of two very interesting cultures. 5-minute parking sign at the Hanoi airport - seems that airports are the same in any language. Cambodia had elelphant crossing signs!
We started our trip in Hanoi. Vietnam is a very interesting mix of traditional and modern. Carrying baskets and conical hats are still in use every day, even on busy city streets.
Woman selling fruits along a busy Hanoi street.
Bicycles can transport more than we thought - like a load of turnips, or a stack of basketry material. We also saw amazing things being transported on motorcycles, including
Pigs and water buffalo. Live ones. Really!! No kidding!!! (These 2 aren't my photos - I was too busy standing there with dropped jaw to think about taking a picture)
Because of the French colonization of the country, Hanoi has a lot of buildings that are European in style, but the execution of the details is really different. These are what is known as "pencil houses." Taxes were based on the amount of frontage you had on the street. The solution? Build very narrow, deep and tall.
One of the highlights in Vietnam was a trip to Halong Bay, a Unesco World Heritage site. The bay is full of very interesting rock formations. We cruised around them on a little wooden boat.
Layden got this great shot of a small boat that pulled up next to ours - the fruit boat.
The fruit boat had a darling fruit-selling boy that scampered over to our boat and offered fruit through the window. Of course we bought some - the lychee fruit in his left hand. It was good.
Caves in Halong Bay.
I thought it was very interesting to see this man plowing in the rice fields, not very far away from this Communist Party billboard promoting progress and prosperity.
The "One-Pillar Pagoda," a famous and popular shrine in Hanoi.
Layden and Sarah at Hoam Kiem Lake with the very small Ngoc Son Temple in the background. This lake is in the middle of Hanoi, set in a lovely park. In the evenings there are performances of Water Puppet shows here.
We didn't get to see a Water Puppet show, but I did find this wonderful shop that sells the Water Puppets.
Entrance gate and roof beams in the Temple of Literature, a very ancient seat of learning in Vietnam. It included a temple complex and a large library.
All too soon, we had to leave Vietnam, but we were excited because the next stop was Siem Reap, Cambodia. Siem Reap is adjacent to the large Khmer temple complexes, which were the focus of our short time in this country. We arrived late at night, but that did not stop us from getting up very early the next morning in order to see the sun rise behind Angor Wat.
Moon setting behind the entrance gate to the Angor Wat complex.
The towers of Angor Wat in a pink, lavender, and blue sky. As the dawn was breaking, monks at a monastery in the complex began chanting and playing bells and drums. It was all rather mystical and quite marvelous - we were both really excited to be at this exotic and impressive place.
Towers of Angor Wat reflected in the lily pond.
After breakfast, we headed back to Angor Thom, another site in the archaeological park. This is the entrance gate. The size and scale of these temples is hard to describe - they are impressive!
Monks walking in Angor Thom. The vivd colors of their robes was quite a contrast to the gray and brown stones.
The Elephant Terrace - named because of all the elephants carved here.
Layden surrounded by souvenir vendors. There were a lot of vendors in the park, selling all sorts of things. There wasn't a whole lot that we wanted, but we did end up with a few things - it is hard to resist their charming smiles and their unending flattery!
A favorite site was Ta Prohm, which has been only partially excavated. Trees and other jungle growth have been intentionally left on some of the structures to show what these ruins were like when they were first discovered, and to show how relentless the jungle can be.
Sculpted panel showing warriors.
A group of musicians along the pathway (yes, we bought a CD) playing lovely music on traditional instruments. These men have all been maimed or injured by landmines left from reign of the Khmer Rouge.
The road back to the bus was long, hot, and dusty, so my friend Tracey and I (in the hat on the right) elected to make the trek in a conveyance known as a tuk-tuk. A pleasant way to travel!
After we ate lunch we went back to Angor Wat for more exploring. Here, a view down to a courtyard.
Reclining Buddha
Layden at Angor Wat.
In the evening, the group headed up Phnom Bakheng to see the sunset. The steps were VERY steep - I did not go to the top. But Layden did.
View of Angor Wat - it is hard to see through the misty air. The temperature here was in the 90's and it was VERY humid.
We ended the day at a restaurant that offered a huge buffet of tasty foods. Cambodia seasons much of their cuisine with ginger and lemongrass, which makes for very interesting tastes. Along with our dinner, we got to see a performance of traditional dances. Very lovely.
We would like to end this blog entry with a very important tip for travelling to hot and humid climes:
HYDRATE!
My grandpa went to Laos on a mission like 10 years ago, I remember reading about tuk-tuks every week in his letters!
ReplyDeleteOh, my gosh! Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, think you would someday be a tourist in Vietnam or Cambodia?? For those of us who remember living thru the 60s that's just mind bending. What an adventure! Thanks so much for sharing- Fascinating stuff!
ReplyDeleteSuch a contrast from your Polar Express journey! Do you know what the significance of the orange color of the robes is (that the monks wear)?
ReplyDeleteThe saffron and ochre robes represent simplicty, sacrifice, searching for enlightenment, and detachment from the world. The colors are derived from natural plant sources. There is probably a more extensive answer, but this is what I know at the moment.
ReplyDeletePosted on behalf of Daphne:
ReplyDeleteYour dad and I visited Siem Reap for a week in July of 1969 (a few weeks after you returned to the US from Taiwan). It turns out we made it there just before the Cambodian Invasion. We were almost the only foreigners around and there were none of the tourist-y dance performances or other tourist-oriented activities. We went to many of the temples following the chronological order in which they were built. A wonderful learning experience. At Angkor Wat there were many Buddhist monks examining the bas reliefs, touching them as they followed the stories, and incense was smoking in front of the many Buddhist sculptures in the corridors. A coterie of charming children followed us around, temple to temple, and when Abe would sit down on a wall, the little boys (not the girls!) would come up and shyly rub their hands over his arms, fascinated by the hair, and of course his height was also a wonder to them! Late afternoon, the muggy heat had built up, we would retire for a while, tremendous thunderstorms would occur for half a hour or so, then the bugs would come out! But you are right, the food was great! The several hundred slides we took have been archived by the East Asian Institute of Boston University and I believe are available for viewing on line.