St. Patrick's Day

We joined several of our friends for a Guinness to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. It isn't a holiday that's really caught on in Japan, so it is mostly just celebrated by the expats and any Japanese friends they bring along. We had a nice time and it was just another party in our week-long birthday celebration.

ikebana #8

Cherry blossoms!

cooking okonomiyaki

Our most recent cooking lesson was on my birthday, so I got to pick our menu. I picked okonomiyaki, which is my favorite Japanese food. Okonomiyaki translates to "as you like it". It is a cabbage pancake to which you add your pick of vegetables and meats. Yum! Plus, Lauren baked a special chocolate birthday cake.

Yosha!

(Yosha is what the Japanese say for "I did it!")
The Cambodian pictures are finished! I've added more albums but they weren't chronological, so you might need to scroll back to make sure you didn't miss any (if you're interested, that is).

I hope you enjoyed them.

I'd made some notes about strange/interesting things we saw or did during our trip but they didn't all find their way into the blog posts, so I'll put them here.

- The food really was wonderful. I particularly enjoyed inexpensive fresh fruit. That was a real treat because fruit is so expensive in Japan. Some of the fruits I'd never had before, like dragon fruit or jackfruit. I also enjoyed some of the other new things I tried, like a cashew milkshake. Yum.

- The children who sell things outside of the temples are persistent and can get annoying. I felt rude just pushing past them without saying anything, but even if you just made eye contact or said "no thank you", that would encourage them. There was one little girl who really wanted Jason to buy some postcards and he told her "maybe later" as we were entering the temple. Her response was "Ok. When you come back, I'll meet you here." We were actually impressed that she could form that much English. And sure enough she was waiting for Jason when we exited the temple.

-A different girl tried to tell Jason that he need to buy bracelets from her because she needed the money to buy her books for school and if Jason didn't buy them she wouldn't be able to go to school. Unfortunately for that girl, the pleas of this variety annoyed us rather than compelling us to buy anything.

-The children often sold postcards in sets of 10. To prove to you that you were getting a good deal and that your set included all 10 cards, the kids would count for you, in your native language. In the course of our trip we heard the kids counting in English, Spanish, French, Japanese and German.

-One day we rented bicycles and biked around tour and out to the temples. It was wonderful. Where did we rent the bikes? From the Mexican restaurant in town.

-There were a lot of tour groups at our hotel, in town and around the temples. We know that this is the preferred way for Japanese people to travel, and we did see a lot of Japanese people on our trip. Some of the t-shirts we had with us had Japanese writing on them, and it was funny because we could hear the Japanese people reading our shirts out loud. I'd often surprise them by turning around and asking them a question in Japanese.

-The only time I didn't feel safe and comfortable on the trip was our early morning encounter with the bats. One evening, however, as we were walking around the night markets there were a couple of people who offered to sell Jason marijuana or opium. But they weren't pushy and would leave us alone as soon as we said no thanks.

- At times the temples could feel a little crowded if you were in an area that was on the route of the tours. But I was amazed that if you turned the corner you could find yourself all alone and it would become very tranquil.

Cambodian sunsets

We got to see a couple of beautiful sunsets in Cambodia.
There's a hill overlooking Angkor Wat that has great views of the landscape. You had the option to ride an elephant to the top of the hill, but we walked because I thought it seemed sad to make the elephant carry you. I found the time around sunset very interesting because it stayed light and then once the sun set it became dark very quickly.
We also saw a sunset from the grounds of Angkor Wat. The temple faces west, so it isn't ideally situated for sunset pictures. Maybe because of this, we found that the grounds were practically deserted around sunset time. It was like we had the place all to ourselves.
As always, there are more pictures on the picasa site.

silk farm

We went on an afternoon tour of a silk farm just outside of Siem Reap. I knew that making silk was a process, but I had no idea just how complicated it was. I can't believe that man-hours required to make silk.
The place that we visited is a training center where workers (primarily women) are taught how to make silk and can get the necessary equipment with the idea that they can return to their villages and help the local economy.
Unfortunately the afternoon when we were at the silk farm was when I wasn't feeling so great. I was struggling with dehydration and had to leave the tour early. Jason filled me in on the rest of the tour, but I guess we'll have to go back some day so that I can see for myself.
There are a few more pictures on the picasa page, but I didn't have my A game. Sorry.

BBQ

One night we had street-side BBQ for dinner. Amazingly, our entire dinner -for two, with drinks- was about $4. Along one of the main streets near the center of town these restaurants spring up on the sidewalks in late afternoon. They are packed every night, but the next morning you'd walk down the same sidewalk and have no idea.
We were served by a young girl, who appeared to be wearing pajamas. She was very friendly and liked talking to us.
We got a platter of food that we grilled ourselves on small BBQ in the center of our table. It reminded us of the yakiniku places we've grown to love in Japan.
After dinner we walked through town and went to the night market, where Jason got a stylish Vietnamese-style shirt.

New Year's

Happy New Year! (yeah, I know we're three months late)
Our hotel had a big New Year's party. They had a huge buffet table and they'd set up a stage over the pool where there were various performances. The party probably started a little too early and it kind of ran out of steam around 10:30. But, luckily, there were several tour groups who provided their own entertainment. There seemed to be strong contingencies from Japan, China and Korea and as the band played a song from their homeland they would sing and dance. I have to say that the Koreans were the funniest. They were quite the dancers. There's a video on the picasa site.

good to know

We needed some instruction as to how to use the squatty-potty, and apparently some people need instruction on western toilets.

Cambodia daily life

One of the most interesting things about Cambodia was just the things we'd see as we were walking/riding around town. I was amazed by the things that Cambodians could carry while riding a motorcycle. It was not uncommon to see three, four, even five people on a single motorcycle! Plus they'd carry large amounts of stuff. Before I learned to be prepared with my camera on and ready to go, I missed a few great pictures. Our hotel was next to the hospital and one day as our tuk tuk was pulling out of our parking lot, we saw a motorcycle in front of us pull out of the hospital parking lot. There were three adult males on the motorcycle. I noticed that one of them was holding some kind of pole. As we pulled up next to them, we saw that the pole was holding an IV drip bag that was connected to the guy in the middle. And I missed it!
But I did get many interesting pictures of people going about their daily business and transporting odd things on their motorcycles. They are posted on the picasa site under Cambodian daily life.

Ume picnic

Earlier in the month we had a picnic under the ume (plum) trees that are in full blossom. There is an area near my school that has a mountainside covered with 1000+ plum trees. Some of the blossoms are beautiful shades of pink and others are white, and together they're very beautiful. It was a great pre-birthday celebration.

Tonle Sap

Our last major adventure in Cambodia was a boat trip on the Tonle Sap. This is a huge lake in the center of the country which serves as a home and livelihood for many residents. The lake also changes size substantially depending on whether it is the wet season or the dry season. Our tour took us down to the port near Siem Reap. There is a town there, one of three we had the possibility of visiting. We were told they were varying levels of touristy, based on distance from Siem Reap. So this was the touristy town. As part of our tour, we got to visit an elementary school. We were a little dubious about this at first; we thought the kids would be tired of tourists trooping through their school. But this appeared to be a new tour, and we were the only two people on this one, so it turned out to be interesting. The school was located on a couple of docked boats. We visited an English class and introduced ourselves. It was actually quite interesting and fun to meet the kids.
After that we got on the boat and headed out on the lake. Near the dock it wasn't that big, but we soon got out to the point where we couldn't see the far shore. We stopped at a building, on stilts, in the middle of the water. Apparently is a residence for a Buddhist monk. He wasn't home at the time, but we looked around the very basic building. It was painted with some nice murals, as well as with the names of people who had donated to its construction. The size of the donation determined the placement of the name.
We continued on to another village. All of the buildings here were on stilts, although the water was fairly low at that time of the year. We walked through and saw some of the homes and boats. We also visited the local temple and had tea with some of the monks. It was really interesting to see how the people had built their homes up in the air.
Following our tea, we got onto a little canoe paddled by a local woman. We paddled back to our boat through the flooded forest: the water came several feet up the trunks of the trees, and we just paddled between the trees. It was quite an experience.
We had lunch back on our boat, then switched to a smaller boat to travel up a side channel of the lake. We went back past the village we had visited and saw other parts of it before being dropped off back at the van and heading back to town.
After our experience with the photography tour, we were really happy with how this one turned out. It was both a nice lake cruise and an interesting glimpse into local life in a village and culture that is quite different from anything we'd experienced before.
-Jason
There are more pictures and two videos on the picasa page.

snowshoeing

We went snowshoeing on Saturday with a group of friends in some mountains about two hours north of here. It was a really nice day. It had snowed about 30cm up there late in the week, so the snow was plentiful and fresh. But Saturday was showing signs of spring weather, so it wasn't too cold. Jason even spent the better part of the day in just a long-sleeved t-shirt.
In some places the snow was so deep that we'd sink in past the knee with each step. Jason was fairly good at managing this (I think it must be ingrained in Canadian DNA), but I had some trouble with it and spent a good deal of time falling over and then rolling around as I tried to get back up. Luckily the snow was so soft that falling over didn't hurt.
There are more pictures on the picasa site.

Earthquake aftermath

We are fine over here, in case people are wondering or hadn't heard yet. We are so far away that neither of us even felt the earthquake. The only noticeable sign in our area is people collecting donations outside the train station. Some of our friends know people up north, so it's a little worrying for them, but we have not been affected much.
-Jason

Outer Khmer temples

Since we stayed in Siem Reap longer than most tourists, we had a chance to explore some of the further temples. One day we hired a tuk-tuk to drive us out to a couple of them. Our first stop was actually the landmine museum. This was a small museum that displays a number of disarmed explosive devices that have been found in Cambodia. Many of these are landmines from Cambodia's civil war, but some were unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. There was also information on the production of landmines, how to disarm landmines and the staggering number of mines that were/are in Cambodia. It was of special interest to Chelsey and I because there is a chapter in the Japanese eighth-grade English textbook about Cambodian landmines, so we were trying to pick up information to pass on to our students.
Our first temple was Banteay Srei. One notable thing about this temple is that it wasn't built by a king, but rather by one of his advisors. It's also considered one of the most ornate temples in the area, which is no mean feat. There really is an incredible amount of carving and detail at this one, however. Banteay Srei is actually quite a small temple; in fact, it looks like a children's temple or something, as the buildings aren't much higher than an adult person. There is also very little space between the "towers". The central part of the temple was roped off to keep people from wandering in there, so we couldn't see all the carvings, but it was interesting to look around. (We did see one pair of tourists get into the center after appearing to bribe a security guy).
Also, Banteay Srei was where we ran across a couple of kids playing with a snake. They let us take their picture, so we gave them some candy. Then more kids appeared, wanting either candy or to sell us things.
We then continued on to Kbal Spean, which isn't actually a temple but carvings in a streambed. One of the older guidebooks we had said we were not to stray from the path, as there were still landmines in the area. Our newer book didn't mention this, though, so I think it's been cleared. Nevertheless, we stuck to the path. It was quite a nice little hike up to the stream. There were several Hindu images carved into various places along the streambed as we walked down. The hike ends at a nice waterfall, where several local people were splashing around.
Another morning we decided to go for one more sunrise at a temple. This time we decided to head for the Roluos group, rather than Angkor Wat. The Roluos group is an older group of temples that was the site of the first capital in the Angkor area (around 900 AD). We had read that they were good spots for sunrise, so we got up early and went out to the site. We hadn't expected to be completely alone; only one other couple showed up just before sunrise. Since we were there early, it was dark, and it was a little spooky walking through the jungle (not really "jungle", but close enough at that time). It only got spookier at the temple when there were dozens (or more?) bats whizzing just above our heads. When the sun finally came up, it did make for a nice moment, though. The Roluos group, which consists of three sites, is mostly ruins now, but we poked around them for a little bit before heading back to the hotel for a nap.
-Jason
There are pictures from the further out temples and the Rolous temples on the picasa site. They are both back at the beginning of January.

Khmer cooking

Before we started exploring the temples of Angkor, we took a Cambodian (or Khmer) cooking class. There were actually a few restaurants that offered a similar program. We got to go to the restaurant we took the class from and pick what we wanted to make off the menu. Each student got to choose a salad and a main dish, and we all combined for a dessert. After we chose, the teacher took us to the local market and showed us how to buy ingredients and what they look like. In some cases she even told us what we could substitute if we had trouble finding those ingredients at home.
I chose a papaya salad and "Samlor machou khroeung", which was sort of like a less-spicy version of Thai green curry. The salad, which included shredded papaya, was pretty good. I put some peppers on it, which made it a little spicy, but those could be left off if people don't like it. The curry, meanwhile, was probably one of the best dishes I've ever prepared. The class was a lot of fun and quite interesting. I also enjoyed looking at the posters on the wall showing the strange fruits available in Cambodia.
-Jason

(Chelsey's notes)
I'd read about the cooking class online and signed us up before we went. I was surprised that they honestly handed us the menu and said "pick anything you want to make". The hardest part was choosing, and we enjoyed it so much that we easily could have gone back and done it again -- though we did get a DVD from the restaurant that has video instructions for 31 different dishes. So I guess we can have our own class sometime.
I prepared a banana flower salad and Khmer canelloni. I picked the canelloni because I was really curious to see what it was. Most of the items on the menu were curries or stir-frys and the canelloni seemed kind of out there. I started out by making a yellow curry and stir frying it with some chicken and vegetables. Then the entire thing went in the blender. Once I had my curry soup, I wrapped it (almost like egg rolls) in rice paper. I added a little sauce and cheese on the top and popped it in the oven. It was delicious!
If any of our readers end up in Siem Reap, I highly recommend the cooking class at Le Tigre de Papier. They have three classes per day -- one morning, afternoon and evening session. We took the afternoon class, and there were only two other people there, so we practically had a private lesson. The restaurant chef told us that the evening class is usually packed, so that's something to consider.

There are more pictures on the picasa site. You'll have to go back to Dec 29th to find them.

Ta Prohm

We visited Ta Prohm on the same day we toured Angkor Thom. When the Angkor area was rediscovered in the 19th Century, much of the area had been reclaimed by the surrounding jungle. The French archaeologists decided to leave Ta Prohm unrestored as an example of what the temples were like in that state.
Apparently keeping Ta Prohm in a state of disrepair takes some doing. In some places, the trees are enveloping the temple walls. This happens when birds deposit tree seeds in cracks in the wall. When the seeds start to grow, the tree grows up from the wall while the roots go down to find the soil. In some cases, the growing tree pushes apart the stones in the wall. The tree itself then becomes the support for the wall. This is fine while the tree is healthy, but could be a disaster if it dies and leaves the walls without support. So just to keep the site in its current state requires some monitoring.
The best part about Ta Prohm was the visual images of seeing the trees and jungle overwhelming the temple, so have a look at the photos on the Picassa site.

Angkor Thom

The next-most famous spot after Angkor Wat is Angkor Thom. This is not a temple, but rather it was a large walled city that was the capital of the Khmer empire. It was founded by Jayavarman VII, who was a great builder and left his stamp all over the area. The area of Angkor Thom contained temples, palaces and other buildings. As with Angkor Wat, most of the non-religious or royal buildings are gone now, since they were built of cheaper and less-durable materials.
At the center of Angkor Thom is the Bayon, the state temple of Jayavarman VII. This is probably the main attraction in Angkor Thom now; it was certainly our favourite. It is a mountain temple, like many of the others we saw. On the upper levels of the Bayon, however, there were huge faces carved into the walls and columns. The upper levels were quite cluttered, which means there is not a lot of open space but there are a lot of nooks and crannies. Apparently it achieved its present appearance because it was modified several times. The usual practice for a new Khmer emperor was to build his own state temple. However, after the founding of Angkor Thom, a new temple would have required moving the whole city, as the Bayon was at the center of the city. Rather than dealing with this inconvenience, subsequent rulers simply modified or added to the Bayon. One result is that nobody seems to know exactly how many faces there are. After walking around it I can see how that would be difficult to count.
Other attractions in Angkor Thom include the Baphuon, an older temple. However, there isn't much left of it, or of some of the others. We did walk along the Terrace of the Elephants, a long wall with carvings of elephants along the side. The terrace looks out over the Royal Square, which was apparently the venue for large state events. At the end of the Elephant Terrace is the Terrace of the Leper King. This is named after a statue at the top of the terrace, which is not of the Leper King but of a god of the underworld. Years of decay left the statue looking odd, and a story grew up that it was the statue of an old Angkor king who was a leper. Thus, the name. Like the Elephant Terrace, there are carvings along the walls of the terrace. There are actually two sets here due to a partial collapse some time in its history. The ruler decided to build a new wall in front of the collapsed portion. Now you can see both sets, although you have to squeeze between the walls to see the carvings on the inner one. We squeezed in to see the rare carving of a five-headed horse.
-Jason

Chelsey added the Angkor Thom pictures to picasa. You also have to scroll back to find them.

ikebana #7

I think this is my favorite one so far.

Angkor pictures

I've finally finished the pictures of the carvings from Angkor Wat.
They are in the Angkor Carvings folder on the picasa page, but you need to go back to Dec. 31.
The rest of the pictures from the grounds are there, too. They are in the Angkor2 folder.