We're really just here for the food

The other day in Hoi An Andrew noted he had pinned a restaurant on maps that had some Western options. I was confused and he wasn't interested either, but noted that while planning he wondered if we'd be culinarily homesick. I rarely eat french fries back home and we've been eating so well here it seems crazy to get a side of iceberg lettuce or garlic toast to pizza or 'spakiti' in place of local spices.

Okay one beet and bean burger, with banana chips instead of fries and pineapple aoli

In Siem Reap we were told the most traditional dish is 'fish amok' and we had a few servings over the course of the visit. Years ago a green (marijuana) chicken dish was the dish and the guide was interrupted before explaining if it was Khmer Rouge or Western prohibitionism that resulted in the change. Guides wanted to share as much about the recent history and current reality of the country, but had to be very careful no other locals were within hearing distance and could get them into trouble. The scars on the country and people are visible everywhere. From the decapitated Budhas at temples to amputees in the city, something as simple as grabbing a fried banana donut from a road side stand can serve as a sobering reflection.

We probably had fish amok 4 times, the curry addiction is real

I'd been able to try some bugs in Thailand thanks to our load up of convenience store snacks for hiking, but in Siem Reap found more variety and fresh. Ladies at the market would scoop you a ton of spiced bugs into a to go bag. One of our favourite spots, an outdoor restaurant by the canal, cooked bugs fresh for locals, but hasn't bothered putting them on the English menu! When I spotted another table getting some the owner kindly shared a fresh fried sample. The biggest disappointment was the Bug Cafe. Their menu has the squeamish in mind, so we couldn't really make out the flavours or anything as they were mostly lost in the larger dish. The bee larvae were nice, but I would say we didn't really try tarantula until getting one while on the street.

Good nutty texture in a night market cliché

Banana blossom salad, tofu eggplant curry, and the remnants of a guzzled carrot smoothie

One night bus to Phnom Penh and a day bus to Saigon (to the locals; officially Ho Ch Minh City) and our food options changed again. It turned out there was an incredibly popular banh mi shop down the block that had a constant line of scooters driving up to grab bags of sandwiches. For all Mary is trying to reduce meat consumption where possible, a locals favourite spot for a popular dish was hard to resist. It was a loaded treat! They weren't open any other night that we saw, so maybe it was something special for the lunar calendar? Certainly helped explain the line up. A further wander in District 1 lead us to tourist central where a British style pub offering games, used books, and some veganized options rounded off the evening with a cool beer and some veggies.

This is actually a great vegan version!

Our first full day we opted for a self directed walking tour, using different online guides to learn about sites while going at our own pace. First stop, the Ben Thàn market where Andrew acquired his first Vietnamese coffee (in Vietnam, we tried our first in Siem Reap). Yum! The opera House successfully sold us last minute tickets to the evening's show, called Teh Dar, a show of tribal culture with great music and  acrobatics. This treat was a necessary balance to the afternoon at the War Remnants Museum, formerly the Exhibition House for US and Puppet State Crimes. It went over the Indochina War and Vietnan War along with past and present day issues with Agent Orange.

In one wander day we had:

• Iced coffee and tea
• Steamed Bao (Mary noted it was egg bao, turns out that means pork around quail eggs, oops)
• Fried banana donuts
• Noodles with the nearby office workers along with lemon tea and more iced coffee
• Coconut ice cream served in a coconut with coconut sauce, peanuts, and chocolate
• Bânh cām / orange balls - filled sesame donut this G's that were all of 2500 VND each
• Vegan banh mi and banana blossom salad at a fancy new 'chay' joint
• Sugar cane juice
• Bánh xêo / sizzling pancake - thin egg fried on top of shrimp, bean sprouts, and you guessed it, surprise pork! Served with lettuce for wrapping and various greens along with dipping sauce/pickles. A delicious veggie version was found another day
• Bánh khot / savoury mini pancake with rice flour, corn starch, turmeric, and coconut milk with choices of topping (generally proteins)
• Banana 'cake' at the opera house with traditional tea
• Bánh Trang nuong - a kind of street pizza or taco made from cooking of rice paper with a mix of ingredients
• Xoai lac - spiced green mango 
• Name unknown not fried radish cakes (Mary's guess on the street), but fried bite squares with egg, bean sprouts, and yummy sauces
• Vegan banh mi

Cocoception at its finest

Not the neatest to eat, but fun

On the whole Vietnamese food has been a tad same same. Andrew is still on the hunt for a rich pho broth.The diner adds a lot of the flavour at their table from the carafes of sauces, chilis, peppers, and plates of greens. Apologies for butchering the names!

We met up with an old friend of Mary's in Hoi An for lunch. Eric explained that street food in Thailand is much safer. In addition to police bribes, the carts also get checked over for things like safety. Mary got sick at the end of the Saigon leg, but Andrew was up to cooking ginger rice and frying bananas for invalid mush. We lucked out with the hotel giving us an upgrade after a night in Hoi An. It's nicely between the old town and beach, with bicycles on hand to get to either. Right across the street is a cute 4 entree menu vegetarian restaurant offering 30k VND dishes (around $1.50) that we went back to.

Veggie version of cao lau, the Hoi An specialty, with rolls

White rose - a kind of shrimp dumpling

Hoi An is famous for it's tailoring industry, to the point that every other shop in the old town is full of fabrics and mannequins with fantastic attire. Mary noted she'd better eat well to ensure her suit didn't fit too tightly on returning to work in Canada! Happily the hotel breakfast starts the day on the right note. Both the eggs and crepe like fruit pancakes are from the same day.

Banana/ passion fruit/ peanut butter / coconut milk lime - worth a sunburn

Fried tofu and veg in a peanut sauce

Street dessert with honey strings, chocolate, peanuts, and condensed milk

In which we look at rocks

Cambodia has a rich and complex history. During the middle ages the Khmer Empire spanned from the Andaman Sea to the Gulf of Tonkin, including most of present-day Thailand and Vietnam. The empire collapsed in the 15th century after 700 years of rule, but during its peak in the 11th to 13th centuries the capital of Angkor was the largest pre-industrial urban centre in the world. The region was heavily influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism, and while they would trade places as the dominant religion over the centuries both would inform the construction of and carvings in the magnificent temples built by the great kings of the empire.

In 802 A.D. Jayavarman II performed a ceremony on the sacred mountain Phnom Kulen. Here he proclaimed himself a God King and declared his kingdom's independence from Javanese rule. This event marked the beginning of the Khmer empire. Their territory expanded over the next few centuries relatively peacefully, and they established a strong agricultural and trade economy. Their prosperity enabled the building of many shrines and temples, and a few of these oldest constructions survive to this day.

 Pre Rup was completed in 961 A.D. and is believed to be a funeral site. The name means "turn the body" and refers to the rotation of ashes during funerary rituals. Several large kiln spires are found in the courtyard, constructed from brick and blackened inside with soot. At the top a Buddha is enshrined in the central "mountain" spire, a common and more recent addition.

A high degree of symmetry is common in Khmer temples

Two kilns, centre

Banteay Srei was consecrated in 967 and was built largely with red sandstone, the only example of its kind. This is a higher-quality stone which allowed for deeper, more detailed carvings which withstood the test of time, although the structure itself has been damaged by hurricanes, jungle overgrowth, and bombings during the wars of the 20th century like many other temples.

Banteay Srei

The temple was originally named Tribhuvanamaheśvara and was dedicated to Shiva. Upon its rediscovery the locals named it Banteay Srei which means Citadel of Women, owing to it's smaller size and the pinkish hue from the red stone.

The 12th century saw much conflict for the Khmer Empire, both internally and externally. After a series of brutal power struggles, the kingdom united internally in 1113 A.D. under King Suryavarman II. He commenced construction immediately on a grand temple, one which would serve as a fitting house for the gods and represent the structure of the cosmos itself:

Angkor Wat, the Citadel Temple, took 37 years and some 300,000 labourers to complete. The inner temple-mountain was constructed first with the five towers representing the peaks of Mount Meru, the home of the Deva in Hindu mythology and the centre of the universe. The courtyards and walls surrounding them represent the plains and mountains of the mortal plane, and the impressive 5km moat enclosing the complex represents the great oceans encircling the world.

 Unlike most, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west. In Hinduism this direction is associated with death, which initially led scholars to believe that this temple was intended as a burial site for Suryavarman II. However inscriptions were found dedicating this temple to Vishnu, the guardian of the west, and a few other temples in the Angkor complex are oriented this way as well. In any case, Suryavarman II died in battle in an attempt to route the Dai Viet in 1157, and his body was never brought home.

Just inside the moat is the outer wall which encloses an area of over 800,000 square metres. Originally occupied by the city proper and the royal palace, these buildings have all long since decomposed having been built of wood and other such materials. Only two stone libraries, the central raised main street, and traces of the roads remain.

Where once there was a city

Encircling the lowest level of the temple itself is a series of eight bas-relief galleries depicting both historical and mythical events, including great battles, the Hindu creation myth, life in heaven and hell, and monkeys biting horses (it's cool, the monkeys were the good guys). The general citizenry would have been permitted to enter only this level, except on special occasions when they may ascend further.

The west gallery

Churning the ocean of milk; the creation myth

Suryavarman II on the march

Heaven & Hell (hell portion depicted)

Battle of Lanka (good guy depicted)

Inside these gallery walls, connecting them with the second-level enclosure is a cloister called Preah Poan, the Hall of a Thousand Gods. Pilgrims left images and statues of the Buddha here as offerings, and there are many inscriptions of their good deeds. Most of the statues have since been removed, but many are found in the Angkor National Museum in town.

Sorry for the quality; every wall nook contains a Buddha

The second level enclosure is a flat, sunken courtyard with a small library building. It is decorated with carvings of Deva on many surfaces, and highly detailed lintels over the doorways. It is believed that this courtyard may have been flooded in order to perform religious rituals.

Lintel detail

Library in the second-level enclosure

The shadow reveals the five peaks

The innermost sanctuary called the Bakan was reserved for the king and for the priest caste. 12 sets of 37 stairs, representing the 37 levels of heaven, are arranged around the structure and lead to the top. They are very steep, because it is not easy to ascend to heaven.

Stairs up from the 2nd level

Mt. Meru from inside the Bakan

View of the main gate from the Bakan

Jayavarman VII established a new city center, Angkor Thom, just to the north of Angkor Wat in the early 13th century and set about building his state temple soon after. He is considered the last great king of the empire, and is regarded highly for his public works and empathetic rule. This is attributed to his Buddhist beliefs which set him apart from earlier kings, who were all Hindu excepting one. His state temple, Bayon, reflects this in it's unique architecture.

Can you spot them all?

There are 216 giant, serene, smiling faces on the towers and other surfaces of the temple. Many scholars believe these to be a representation of the Bodhisattva of compassion, while similarities between the faces and contemporary statues of Jayavarman VII lead others to think they are of the king himself. In addition to these striking portraits, the temple is richly decorated with insightful galleries, alluring apsaras, and delightful details tucked into every nook.

The gallery extending to either side of us in the photo above depicts daily life for the citizens of Angkor Thom. Cooking, eating, building, dog- and cock-fighting; they certainly kept busy in the ancient capital.

Some liberties taken vis-a-vis physics

Dancing apsaras

This little fella appears in numerous temples

The inside of a door frame

boop

Jayavarman VII undertook monumental construction and public works projects; the Angkor Thom city eclipses Angkor Wat's in size, even if the state temple is smaller. He was responsible for the building of over 100 hospitals across the region, and hundreds of rest houses placed every 15 kilometres along major roads for pilgrims. Statues dedicated to Jayavarman VII can still be found in Siem Reap and villages nearby.

Loungin' Around

One of the benefits of the method we used to fund a portion of the flights and accomodations on this trip--credit card churning--is the lounge access granted by our AMEX card. Of the 11 airports we will find ourselves in, 10 have lounges in which we are welcome to gorge ourselves prior to flight. Minutes before writing this, Mary received a complimentary 15-minute Thai massage at a lounge here in Bangkok. This access is normally worth $40-50 a pop, each, and with some layovers hitting the five-hour mark it's a godsend when all you want is some peace and quiet and a charge port. The beer and canapes don't hurt either.

I wasn't even sleeping, my eyes just do that

Betel leaf wraps and guava juice

Our time in Thailand is coming to an end. Our final day in Bangkok saw us riding river taxis on the canal, checking out Chinatown, visiting the fanciest mall we've ever seen, and catching some new year celebrations to boot.

A day on the street is not complete without street food

The ICONSIAM is a half-million square foot shopping complex which just opened in November. Although we didn't do any shopping except for some food, it's an awe inspiring place to walk around.

From across the river

A restaurant just inside

 There were a number of special events going on inside for the new year, including one with stylized Chinese garb and mask painting. Mary donned a costume just as a pair of Thai TV presenters rolled in to describe the activities!

They are quite famous in Bangkok, we're told

The food court level is designed like a traditional Lanna village (with a bit of extra flair of course). There are even "rivers" with floating boat stalls! We bought some moon cakes to ring in the new year, along with some tasty bao.

The last five days have been spent in the southwestern beach town of Krabi; specifically Klong Mueang, a quieter stretch of beach just to the west. This was a very welcome change from the bustling city we came from. We stayed in a small family-run six-unit hotel, which had a beautiful yard and was a short walk to the beach. There was a kitchen cabana where we cooked a few meals and even hacked open one of the provided coconuts!

 

 

Our first excursion was a hike up Khoa Ngon Nak or Dragon's Crest mountain. We had our first trip in a tuk tuk to get there for an 8 AM start to take advantage of the cooler morning weather. It was 3.7 km and ~500m elevation to the top with Incredible views and outrageously steep sections. It's now popular enough they've added stairs in a couple sections where you would previously have been scrambling on hands and knees.

Steeper than it looks

There was a mountain, of course we had to climb it

Don't think about it too much, mom

We were very impressed by the French couple carrying their baby and the ultra runner who passed us early on with no water.

Post hike we enjoyed AC back in the room before venturing out for smoothies by the beach.

Passion fruit and mango

Our next day was quiet to relax the legs and keep cool in the tropical heat. We enjoyed the short walk to the beach to enjoy an 8 AM swim before the sun required slathering sun screen or too many other tourists emerged from the resorts dotted along the shore. All beaches are public in Thailand, so to have a 'private beach' your resort would have to be in a far away location or only accessible by boat. Given that Klong Mueang is a quieter village, and the tourist presence is largely in self-contained all-inclusive resorts, the street food scene is basically non-existent. We did have some seafood curries and papaya salads at sitdown restaurants but our snacking mostly consisted of interesting Thai packaged stuff from the local grocery. Things like coconut cream cracker peanuts, BBQ flavored crickets, and Thai custard buns. Not a bad way to spend a few baht!

Our last day in Krabi was a longtail boat tour. We visited four islands and snorkeled a few times. The sealife was really amazing, and we were regretting our lack of waterproof cameras! Rainbow parrotfish, urchins, jellyfish, giant clams, and sea snakes were abundant. We were fed a Thai lunch on the second island, including fried squid, fried rice and veggies, spring rolls, and chicken with morning glory. Later, after watching the sunset on Railway beach (near a very provocative cave), we snorkeled one last time with bioluminescent plankton.