Cambodia: A Trip Back in Time

A few months back, I made a trip to Cambodia to update my Thai visa and to visit Siem Reap, where the world-famous Angkor Wat temple is located. In fact, Angkor Wat itself is just one of many ancient Khmer and Buddhist temples in the area of Angkor.

I flew from Bangkok into the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh (pronounced "P-nom pen"). I stayed just one night and was on a bus up to Siem Reap the following morning; about a 6 hour trip. Cambodia shares borders with Thailand so the scenery and landscape have very little variations.

Arriving at the Siem Reap bus station, I (and every other foreigner) was bombarded with tuk-tuk drivers asking where you're going and telling you how cheap they can get you there.

This was my tuk-tuk driver, who drove me around for the entirety of the following day as well. And for just $15!!!

Cambodia's currency system (if you'd call it that) is quite unique. They have their Cambodia Riel (4,000 to 1 US dollar), but then they'll accept -- and sometimes even insist on -- US dollars. The story behind this is that in '93 a UN peacekeeping operation injected a very large quantity of US dollars in the economy, which the Cambodians in turn preferred over the Riel. And it has been this way ever since. As a tourist, you've got to know your conversion and be relatively good at math because you'll pay for things in USD but get back the change in Riel. Pretty wild!

Up early the next morning, I headed first to Angkor Wat. I would see up to 5 very different temples over the course of what turned out to be a 10-hour outing! Oh and was I crispy! KFT style: Kentucky Fried Tyler!

Here's a video of the morning drive to the ancient city of Angkor (which coincidentally enough means "city" in Khmer).

The main Angkor Wat temple in the back.

Much of Angkor Wat and the other temples in the area have deteriorated considerably. I noticed many restoration projects methodically working to bring the fallen pieces once again together.

Angkor Wat is actually an ancient Hindu temple originally built in dedication to Vishnu under the 12th century Khmer empire. After my all-day visit I spent the evening reading up on Angkor Wat's intriguing beginnings and how it, and other temples in the area, became Buddhist.

Here is a map showing Angkor Wat's layout:

Angkor Wat has the largest bas-reliefs in the world. They stretch the full length of the interior walls of the main temple, some 1000 square meters in total. Very impressive.

After passing through the main entrance, I walked around a few libraries and a monastery within the walls and then through the center temple of Angkor Wat.

The main temple was awesome. And people were furnished the opportunity to climb to the top of the very center spire and look out at everything. Spectacular!

You may be saying, "Gosh, those steps are awfully steep!" Well, you are correct -- and these are the steps built for the tourists! The actual steps don't have handrails.

The original steps weren't built to be easy. The Khmer believed that these steps represented the path to the heavens. The incline and inherent difficulty in these steps was a constant reminder that one's journey was not an easy one.

More shots from around Angkor Wat.

 

Here is the map to the complete ancient city of Angkor. Angkor Wat is only one of many temples. 

I can go on endlessly with the names, experiences, etc from each other temple I saw. I'll spare the details, but will definitely provide some of the fantastic photo opportunities I had. 

This is Bayon, famous for its four-faced Buddha towers.

 

 

Next up was Baphuon, where I had the pleasure of chatting with a few Buddhist monks.

 

The next temple I unfortunately do not remember the name of. But it was beautiful!

The last two major temples I visited were Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei, respectively. These temples may look familiar to Tomb Raider fans as they were used as the backdrop to one of the franchise's movies.

These temples were true testaments of the power of nature.

 

 

My experience overall in Siem Reap and the ancient city of Angkor was fantastic. If you are ever making a trip to any part of Southeast Asia, you simply cannot pass up the opportunity to visit this inspirational and beautiful place. 

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. 

...and for those that don't know, I will be coming back to the good ole U.S. of A for the Christmas and New Years holiday in December! I leave Bangkok on the 22nd and will spend just under two weeks in California before heading back on the 3rd of Jan. So drop me a line by email, a comment or on Facebook because I'd love to see as many friends and family as possible!!

Living in Bangkok: The City of Life

No, those are not my legs (they're Lui's [I'm not the tights-wearing kinda guy]), but that is the view from our new condo in downtown Bangkok.

In my last post, I mentioned at the end that Lui and I have officially moved to Bangkok. And no, it's not a holiday or a temporary thing.

Bangkok, Thailand is a very special place for the both of us. This is where we met and began our fantastic relationship. Bangkok is vibrant, fun, culturally dynamic and very "international". It has the second-largest airport in all of Southeast Asia, a growing economy and a decent percentage of English speakers (at least in the business and education sectors).

When we left Thailand in October of last year, we equally shared an incomplete feeling. Our time was not done with this beautiful country. And so while in Europe, our decision of the next point of our lives became more and more clear: We should move to Bangkok.

And it's been a great choice.

Last year, working as an English teacher, I lived in a suburb called Bangbon that resided about 40 minutes outside of the city. I worked in a town called Mahachai that was about an hour from downtown. So I didn't in fact "live" in Bangkok (though I was living in the Bangkok province). Living in the city is a completely different experience. The convenience, the Skytrain, the view, the malls, etc. It's great.

We officially left Germany and moved here in June. We found our condo on the 31st floor of nice building located right in the heart of Silom, which is considered the central business district of the city. The condo is lovely and our view is spectacular.

Presently it is the wet season so there have been some amazing thunderstorms that have rolled through the city over the last few months. We can see a storm coming in from miles and miles away. Then when it arrives, with the lightening strikes, the thunder -- it's awesome.

Best of all, the building we're in is just a 15 minute walk to work for me. No taxis, trains, buses, motorcycles; just the good ole feet attached to me legs!

Ah, now what am I doing for work? Good question.

My previous employer (when I was an English teacher last year) offered me the job to manage their international kindergarten in downtown.

The school is called Learning Home International. All classes are taught in English. The students are ages 1 1/2 to about 6 years old. They are kids from all over the world: China, Singapore, Austria, Japan, Syria, India and of course Thailand.

The kids are absolutely adorable. There are 4 classrooms and a total of about 25 kids. But let me tell you, they're a handful!!!

We have a lot of fun. We had our end of the year graduation ceremony in July. I uploaded it to YouTube recently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQFAGTW1uqo

In addition to this, I'm teaching corporate English to a few businesses in the evenings. Teaching adults is a totally different game. It's nice to take a break from the kids and work with adults who are always very attentive and interested to learn.

I teach an IT company in Silom and a gold and jewelry company called Pranda Jewelry. They are a HUGE jewelry design and manufacturing company with offices and factories all over Asia and even in The States. I teach about 25 of their designers and sales staff at their headquarters.

Lui is currently studying for her bachelor's degree in International Hotel Management at an international university with the Blue Mountain double-degree program. She is expected to finish in about 3 years. She's been working hard to get and maintain some very impressive grades.


In the short time we've been here, we've made a few excursions around Bangkok and some outlying areas. Last month we visited a large market district about 2 hours from downtown. We spent the evening on a boat touring through some areas with large clusters of fireflies. It was gorgeous (but sadly did not photograph very well).

Here are some shots from the trip. 

Lastly, our condo is about 10 minutes walking distance from a exceptionally awesome Muay Thai training camp called Spirit Fighting Gym www.spiritfightinggym.com. The place is owned and run by a 6'6" Australian dude who's been fighting and coaching his whole life. And let me tell you, you feel the burn baby...you feel the burn.

Here's a look at the gym and the owner sparring a little: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLdD6WF5NUE

Serious Scheiße right there.

Well guys, there ya go. I just wanted to give an update on what's happening in my life now. We expect to be here for at least 2-3 years. And very possibly more. If you haven't been to Thailand, you're missing out.

Thanks for reading. My next post will be on a short trip I made to Cambodia a few months ago before settling down here.

Eureka Europa: Part Deux

Bonjour madame! Je ne sais pas. Je suis Tyler.

...and that's about it for my French. I'm too busy at the moment learning German and Thai. Oh, and "de rien" -- that's the last French word I know. Oui oui!

Paris was basically the grand finale of our short but sweet European tour. Here's how it broke down:

Day 1 - Milano
Day 2 - Milano
Day 3 - Lake Como
Day 4 - Venice
Day 5 - Padova
Day 6 - Florence
Day 7 - Florence
Day 8 - Paris
Day 9 - Back to Berlin
Day 10 - Back in Berlin

That's how we roll!

Departing early -- too early -- from Berlin Schönefeld airport, we arrived to a cold, rainy Milano morning and bussed our way to the city center.

As most may know, Milano is truly the heart of the Italian fashion world. You'll find the headquarters of Armani, Gucci, Prada and about a dozen other major brands. And in the heart of it all is Milano's fine Duomo, as seen here.

Castello Sforzesco. 

 

The beautiful and charming Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

At the end of our second day, I asked some of the local police for directions to the river. We soon began chatting and sharing stories about our travels: his cross-country Harley Davidson adventures in America and my stories of Thailand and Germany. At the end it was, "Ciao bello," "Ehhh, come stai!"

I must give credit to the fine sightseeing acumen of my good friend Eric Rennie for taking the time and showing us the major city sights. Eric had been in Milano for a few months and so the timing worked out perfectly for us to meet up with him.

Next up it was Lake Como, just an 1 1/2 hour train ride from Milano.

We hiked around the lake and did some of the all-too-typical tourist things like eat gilatto and sip espresso!

Our view from a cafe in the town of Como.

 

More lovely shots from around the lake. 

 

After Como came the world-renowned Venezia! (Venice)

A little bit of Venetian trivia imparted to us by a local: Venice has roughly 40,000 residents, while the city takes in an average of 50,000 tourists a day! What?! Talk about a tourist invasion! But after a long day there, we could see why its just so darn popular. 

Part of the Venice experience is getting "lost". Yes, you can travel the canals by boat, gondola, whatever. But the real fun is walking through the small streets and alleys and stumbling upon churches, lovely canals and some generally very impressive photographic material.  

 

We truly could not have wished for a more perfect day

This is just one of my attempts at Italian and German whilst taking a short break after walking for hours. 

We had Venice wrapped up in a day. If you visit Venice to just see the sites and explore around, all you really need is a full day. We got there in the morning and were highly content and satisfied by 7pm.

That night we stayed in Padova and were out by early morning on our way to Florence. Padova prides itself in having one of the oldest universities in Europe, the very one where astronomer Galileo taught.

And so...Firenze -- Florence!

We arrived on a Friday, just before a long Italian holiday (I'm not sure which one). And Florence, being Florence, was -- simply put -- mobbed with not only foreigners but also Italians. Florence was a bit of a last-minute choice for us so we had no hostel or hotel booked before we arrived. Very unwise. That won't ever happen again.

We did find a decent deal though and actually got the LAST room available at the Sheraton Florence (not cheap either!).

After a good solid 5 or so hours of travel, then actually looking for the hotel, it was late at night. Because the hotel was not in the city center, we found it very difficult to find a respectably priced place to eat that late at night. But alas, do as the tourists do: ASK! We stumbled upon a very polite Italian couple who recommended a small pizzeria down the road.

Let me tell you, all forms of pizza I have eaten in my lifetime have been utter garbage compared to what we devoured that night. (Sorry Round Table Pizza.)

How deliciously scrumptious. Words cannot describe the level this pizza was at. If heaven exists, someone's up there making this stuff.

We tried to see all the major sights of Florence. Museums were nearly impossible to get into because of the sheer size of the lines. Here are some of the best shots.

 

 

Enjoying some fantastic espresso. 

A begging "peasant" dog: this was a first for me.

 

After Florence we headed back to Milano where we caught an evening flight to Paris. We had a Couchsurfing host arranged for 2 nights who lived right in the heart of the city. Lucky you say? I think so. He worked for a film festival company so we chatted endlessly about our favorite movies and actors -- and of course French films too!

With Pierre, our host.

As of this moment in my life, I declare Paris to be the most beautiful city I've ever been to. This may change as I see more of the world, but this is my official stance right now. I was IMPRESSED.

We walked the whole day from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower -- and everything in between (well, maybe not everything).

The Eiffel Tower was probably my favorite.

From the middle of the tower.

The following day we visited Pere Lachaise Cemetery where there are just thousands and thousands of graves and burial sites. It is a popular tourist sight because it has the graves of some very famous people like James Morrison and Edith Piaf. It was actually quite beautiful.

 Uuuaahh!

Well, that about does it. I hope you've enjoyed.

Since Berlin, both Lui and I have actually returned to Bangkok and are now living here. Lui is studying hotel management at an international university and I am managing an international kindergarten in downtown while also teaching English to some Thai businesses. It's been quite an adventure these last few months.

I intend to give a full blog post on this whole transition back here to Thailand. Where we're living and what we're doing are very different from last year so it deserves it's own post.
 
And so in wrapping up this 2-part post on a fantastic European trip, I say "Ciao Bella," "Au'revoir" and "Auf Wiedersehen!"