On Friday,  we visited the Hmong mountain village tribe overlooking Chiang Mai.  The gardens were great, many crafts were for sale and there were some interesting sights.  We bought some beautiful silver and jade bracelets along with several very elaborate  Hmong traditional hats.

We then toured Chiang Mai’s most auspicious gold temple called Wat Pratat Doi Suthep (aka the White Elephant Temple) high on a mountain overlooking the city.  Legend has it that Chiang Mai was not prospering after a king had designated it as a special place.  As a result, he sent his white elephant to roam the area alone for 7 days to designate the location of a temple so that the residents might be blessed.  On the 7th day after climbing the mountain, the elephant turned around 7 times and died.  The resulting temple is sheathed in gold.  Chiang Mai residents, after visiting the temple, were then blessed and subsequently became very prosperous.

We enjoyed a truly local Thai dinner with low tables on this second floor restaurant.  The restaurant signage was only in Thai and we were clearly the only foreigners dining there.  There was no floor underneath the tables so you dangled your feet.  Our young waitress (with no English skills) handed us the menus, immediately sat on the floor & didn’t get up until we ordered everything we needed (She upsold us to 4 dishes). The meal was spicy and great ($15 including beers!)

On our second day in Thailand,  we visited the Wat at Rong Khun, commonly known as the “White Temple”, in Chiang Rai, about 3+ hours from our hotel.  Anyone who has seen the Gaudi-designed cathedral being built in Barcelona would correlate the White Temple to the “Gaudi of Buddhism”.  One of Thailand’s most famous artists, Ajarn Chalermchai Kositpipat, decided to build a 16 building temple complex with his own funds about 20 years ago.  The primary temple and crematorium are completed; however, there continues to be ongoing building.  Most temples in Thailand are gold but the only gold building in this complex is the “Happy Building” (restroom facilities).

The drive back, after visiting the Miramar, Laos & Thailand border(the “Golden Triangle”), was very long with a rest stop at an interesting small chain of restaurants called Cabbage & Condoms.  A portion of the restaurants’ profits goes to HIV/Aids victims.

We flew through Bangkok to our first destination in Thailand, Chiang Mai.  Our first full day was Lesley’s birthday.  The hotel arranged for her to attend a monastery and have the monk provide a special blessing for her along with a  sprinkling of holy water.  The monk also gave Lesley a simple hand woven bracelet.  What a way to start her Bday!

We toured some more Buddhist temples, the largest of which had been severely damaged in an earthquake.  It was reduced in height by 1/3 and lost most of its 67 elephants that were around the 2nd tier.  One temple on that site only permitted men to enter it!

Thailand is quite different from Vietnam & Cambodia.  There are primarily cars on the streets, the overall area is more “westernized”, there appears to be less poverty (Thai GDP per capita is 40% more than Vietnam) and the tuk-tuks are 3 wheel cycles vs. Cambodia’s trailor attached to a motorcycle.  The “mass” transportation system is pickup trucks with benches (scheduled routes, specific destinations or rent the driver/vehicle, whatever suits you).

There are schools for all and many start at the ripe old age of ONE.  Whether it is public or private schools, the children all wear uniforms and look adorable.

We finished our first month of traveling with over 2500 pictures!  We are having an incredible time and learning so much about other cultures.  It has been absolutely fascinating.

Another temple which drew large crowds was the women’s temple.  It was small but some of the carvings were interesting.  The large crowds were unexplainable for such a “typical” temple.

Our tour guide came up with the “bright” idea that we should experience an ox cart ride.  With temperatures of 100+, uncomfortable seating – it wasn’t such a great idea.  I now know how the Mormons felt as they headed to Utah.

The subsequent boat ride on Cambodia’s largest reservoir was quite a relief from the steamy ox cart ride.  We motored to the floating villages where the people are very dependent on fishing but they also raise pigs & chickens on floating pens.  The village also had a floating school with a school boat to transport the village kids.

At the end of the day, we visited Siem Reap’s hectic but charming old town filled with lots of restaurants and markets.

Our second day we visited Prasat Kravan, a brick temple with its relief carvings – very interesting on how they did it.  One temple we visited was fully built but as they started the carving process, it was struck by lightening, a bad omen, and it was immediately abandoned.  It was interesting to see how rudimentary the temple looked without any carvings.

Then straight out of the Temple of Doom, we visited Ta Prom that was abandoned and swallowed by the jungle.  It looks now how most of the temples appeared when the were discovered by the Europeans in the 19th century.  The trees are so integral to the structure now, it is impossible to restore.  The trees are massive and in several cases, a ficus tree grew around another tree and killed it.

Siem Reap is clearly “Temple City” , the most significant (and well known) being Angkor Wat, a beautiful, large 3 level temple.  As expected, it draws large crowds even in the hot weather (“Real Feel” temperature was about 110).   All of the temples have detailed carvings covering substantial portions of the walls telling the stories of war, life and beliefs.  We would estimate that the carvings took longer to create than the actual building of the temple.

The temples were primarily built in the 10th – 11th centuries and were abandoned around the 16th century for 200 years.  They were rediscovered by the French beginning in 1860.  Most of the temples are under renovation plans funded by various countries under the UNESCO umbrella.

The Bayon temple (our favorite) is the “face temple”.  Large faces are carved into the towers as well numerous other story carvings.

At an exquisite gourmet dinner, we were treated to an hour of Khmer dancing.

The Royal Palace compound is a grand example of great Cambodian architecture (other than the French style building built by Napoleon).  It was one of the few trappings of a non-agrarian society that Pol Pot let stand.  It was probably because the king, after he was deposed in a military coup, called on the Khmer Rouge for assistance.

The killing fields were depressing.  During Pol Pot’s 4 year reign (1975-1979), over 3 million Cambodians died from starvation, government genocide or medical problems as he attempted to change Cambodia into a pure agrarian society.  Schools, hospitals, banks and the monetary system were destroyed.  Phnom Penh was abandoned and it’s 2.5 million residents were transported to the country to farm, build waterways, etc.  Those former city residents and other elites had to work 18 hours daily as the country people were only required to work 12 hours.  The killing fields were where the “enemies of the government” (including their whole families) were shipped for torture & murder.  The memorial at  the killing fields contained almost 9000 skulls on display.  Only 4 people were ever tried and convicted for these atrocities.  Pol Pot died of natural causes years after he was overthrown.

The speedboat from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh took 5+ hours, including a visit to the Cambodia border facility.  A payment of $34 in USD is required which included a $4 “extra payment” above the required fee.

The river really quiets down north of Chau Doc.  There are far fewer boats, ships and people.  By the time you reach Cambodia (1 1/2 hours), commerce on the river is almost non-existent.  Instead of houses crowding the river, you begin to see more farms, orchards, cows with less single dependence on the river.  There are clearly pockets of river- dependent folks; but, it is  not at all like Vietnam.  This  may be due to population and  other income earning opportunities, etc.

At the end of our river journey, Phnom Penh was an island of bustling activity.  Cranes are scattered across the skyline as buildings rise.  The city is full of “tuk-tuks” – small trailer taxis for up to 4 people pulled by a motorcycle.  Tuk tuks are incredibly cheap.   Phnom Penh is very “westernized” compared to any city in Vietnam.   It almost felt like it could be a city in the U. S.  The thousands of motorbikes of Vietnam make any other city seem slow.  There are plenty of bikes but clearly not the volume of Hanoi & Saigon.

There are also a lot more cars in Phnom Penh.  Interestingly, during our walk to the Russian Market, we probably saw 50+ of the large Lexus SUV’s (like mine).  In SLC/PC, we are lucky to see 3 in a week.  Lexus clearly has captured the market.  MBZ’s are few & far between.

Last night we had a fantastic Cambodian dinner at a restaurant called Malis.  It was in a beautiful garden setting not far from our hotel.  Cambodian food is much spicier than Vietnamese fare!

An overnight cruise on the Mekong Delta allowed us to better understand the life of the area’s citizens. The rivers feeding the Mekong Delta start in Nepal and by the time it reaches southern Vietnam, the rivers & tributaries are wide and brown.  It is clearly  an important commercial waterway.  The rivers are filled with large & small barges, ships & boats.  The floating market near Can Tho, is a vibrant market of farmers, wholesalers & small distributors.  Fruits, vegetables & meats are all available.  Each boat has a pole with an example of the products that it is selling attached.  Some boats only sell minimums (example – 100 kg of watermelons), others will sell any amount.  Small boats collect their produce and chug upstream to sell in their village or supply their restaurant.

Noodles are an important food staple.  The hand-made noodle factory we visited produced 400 kg (sales price $1 per kg) of noodles daily for local sales.  Other than the motorized mixer & cutter, all of the work is by hand.  Rice husks are burned to produce steam which cooks the round pancake-like flat dough.  The thin disks are sun-dried on bamboo mats, then cut into strips.  The employees work from 4 am to 2 pm daily in a very hot environment for $150 a month – about 50 cents per hour.  Clearly machines produce the instant noodles for substantially less costs, but these noodles are organic and are more-prized among families.

After a night in Chau Doc, we are heading by boat to Phnom Penh.

We stayed in Saigon (officially Ho Chi Minh City) for 2 nights.  We figured out how the city was organized and visited the limited number of “highlights” – the most depressing of which was the War Remnants Museum – the Vietnam War revisited (a bit of the 1945 revolution against the French also) mainly focused on Agent Orange & bombs.

We visited an organic farm & took a 3 hour cooking class in Vietnamese cuisine.  It actually was a lot of fun.  Our guide is clearly ambitious – she wants to work for an organic farm in the US for a year so that she can bring more expertise back to the Vietnamese farmers.  She learned her great English in one of Saigon’s parks – a great example how an entrepreneur  provided classes & experiences to Saigon’s youth in a more cost efficient manner than the university system.  She also took us to the tunnels of Cu Chi where the Vietnamese built 250km of underground tunnels to fight the US and the South Vietnamese soldiers.  It was interesting  but not great.