Back from Singapore!

Okay, so I'm back from a few days in Singapore. All in all, it was a fun trip-- I got to see the Orchid Gardens, some museums, and Chinatown, and Josh and I went to the zoo and the Night Safari together-- but I was more tired than I expected. I'll put up some photos here later on (they are already on our Flickr page).

For Labor Day weekend, we are off to the beach! Specifically, we are driving down to Cha-Am beach on Saturday, just about two hours outside of Bangkok:


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We are going to be staying at the Alila Resort there, which I am very jazzed about: it's brand-new and has gotten a lot of press because of its cutting-edge design.

Broadway in Bangkok

(I considered back-dating this post, but figured it might get lost in the shuffle...so here it is, a little late!)

On Saturday, July 25th, Josh and I went to see a traveling Broadway show here in Bangkok. Yes, Bangkok does get traveling Broadway shows, in a theater designed specifically for them (more on that later).

The show in question was We Will Rock You, the musical based on the music of Queen, which had been recommended to us by some friends. This so-called "jukebox musical" is in the same category as recent shows such as Mamma Mia! (ABBA), Movin' Out (Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp), Our House (Madness), Good Vibrations (the Beach Boys), and so on. (If they ever make a musical based on the music of U2, I'll be there with my PopMart T-shirt and my inflatable lemon beach ball.* But I digress.)

I'm no huge Queen fan, but We Will Rock You was a very enjoyable, and suitably campy, show. The setting is 300 years in the future, when rock music has been outlawed, and a giant corporation (GlobalSoft) led by the Killer Queen (and her henchman, Keshoggi) controls the world through the copious application of bubblegum pop and reality TV shows. It falls to the young rebel Galileo Figaro, his girlfriend Scaramouche, and the rest of the "Bohemians" (who take their names from past legends and are led by tough-guy "Vic", aka "Victoria Beckham") to follow the Ancient Signs to find the Sacred Instruments stored in the Place of Champions in the Heart of the Living Rock and save the day. Many Queen songs are repurposed as accompaniment, including "Under Pressure" and "Another One Bites the Dust", and the show culminates with a giant sing-along of "Bohemian Rhapsody". There were lots of other audience participation moments as well, which seemed to bewilder the polite Thai gentleman sitting next to us (his children were getting into it, though).

The cast of the traveling company was, interestingly enough, mostly South African and Australian (since I've only seen US traveling companies before, I'm used to mostly American actors and actresses). They did a great job!

The theater which plays host to traveling Broadway shows here is the Muangthai Ratchadalai Theatre, which is brand new (just built in 2007, actually) and is located on the top floor of the Esplanade shopping mall not too far from here (we took the MRT, or subway, to get there). The inclusion of theaters in shopping centers here seems to be much more common than standalone theaters, which makes sense for space-saving concerns. We did end up sitting in the very last row-- my fault for not looking closely enough at the ticket diagram!-- but were still able to see everything pretty well. The language issue was taken care of through four large (but unobtrusive) screens at about each corner of the stage, showing surtitles in Thai.

One definite difference about the shows here: the merchandising. We bought the glossy souvenir program for 100 baht-- approximately US$3. This is the same program that would cost about $15 in the States. T-shirts were similarly priced, at 300 baht! (Moral: if you want show stuff and the show is coming to Bangkok, let me know and I'll get you the goodies, cheap!) The tickets, on the other hand, were a bit more expensive than in the US, but still not bad.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening, and we're going to keep a close eye on what else comes to town...

*Actually, I no longer have the inflatable lemon, because I passed it on to a wide-eyed young U2 fan before coming to Thailand. Oh well.

First Thai Olympic medal

Josh and I have been watching the Beijing Olympics today on the Thai national broadcast station, NBT. Although we can't understand the narration, we are really enjoying it: they are doing a great job with almost non-stop coverage, and VERY few commercials. Although they are focusing (understandably) on events where Thai athletes are competing, they are also showing a good mix of other sports.

(Plus, I watched the Opening Ceremonies the other night with NO commercial breaks! Take that, NBC!)

We just watched the 53-kg women's weightlifting competition, which was won by the Thai contender, Jaroenrattanatarakoon Prapawadee (they have been shortening her name to Prapawadee on the displays, for conciseness). She set a new Olympic record, too-- there is going to be a lot of celebrating here!

Interesting NYT article about our neighborhood

Today, I was pointed to an interesting New York Times article about "Soi Arab", a small street that forms the center for the local Muslim tourist community. This is just around the corner from our apartment.

To get to Sukhumvit Road and the Skytrain, Josh and I frequently walk down through this area. It's a fascinating experience-- a bit of sensory overload, true, but a glimpse of a tourist "experience" different from what we are used to. There are lots of interesting restaurants that we need to try, and quite a few incense shops (as mentioned in the article). The latter shops interest me because they sell agarwood/aloeswood, which is one of the most prized incense ingredients in the world and the major incense material in historical Japan (where high-grade aloeswood is known as kyara). I've often thought about duplicating some of the Heian-period incense recipes, but the price and scarcity of aloeswood held me up. It's good to know that I can at least go around the corner and get a whiff of what the good stuff is like, even if I can't afford it.

Boring historical aside over, we should try and get some pictures of Soi 3 and Soi 3/1 at some point.

Driving!

Yesterday I screwed up my courage and embarked on a new adventure: driving in Bangkok!

We didn't bring either of our cars with us to Thailand, figuring that we would see how things went, and pick one up if we needed one. It turns out that one of our friends had two cars and was only using one-- so we are now the proud owners of a comfy Toyota Corolla. Hondas and Toyotas and the like are great cars to drive around here, because the parts are readily available and service is cheap. American auto makers such as Ford *do* have a presence here (something I wasn't expecting!) but service is a little harder to come by. Essentially, it's the reverse situation from back in the States.

Thursday and Friday were holidays here, and the traffic was light, so Josh persuaded me that it would be a good time to try getting out on the road. So, I drove over to meet him for lunch. Below is a handy Google Map of my route (from C to B and back):


View Larger Map

Fortunately, no bodily or property damage ensued! I was also able to pick up frozen groceries without having to lug them home by hand, which was nice!

The car is a US car, so the steering wheel is on the left...but here in Thailand, you drive on the left, so that has been the first thing to get used to! Fortunately, traffic tends to be very fluid, so as long as we keep an eye out and "go with the flow", it is really not all that crazy. The hardest thing to get used to are the ubiquitous mopeds and motorbikes that weave in and out of traffic, so "no sudden moves" is a safe strategy when driving a car!

Yesterday we also picked up a new Garmin car navigation system, to make our travels easier. Garmin has a huge presence here in Thailand, and they produce some really excellent and detailed maps for the whole country, in both English and Thai. We ended up buying a nuvi 200 GPS in English (they also have them in Thai), which is identical to one we'd get in the USA, except that the Thailand maps are pre-loaded on the unit. When we travel back to the US we'll get a card with the latest US maps and pop it in. Easy!

We intend to use the car mostly for trips out of town, rather than daily commuting. We are thinking of going to the beach (probably Koh Samet) in a few weeks, and we also want to make some day trips to places like Ayutthaya, the Kao Yai National Park, and similar. Watch this space for details!

Cambodia -- Tonle Sap Lake Village

Greetings-- it's Ellen again (finally!)

By the end of our second day in Siem Reap, we were pretty much "templed out"...something that must be pretty common! Our guide, Mr. Vith, suggested that on the third morning we take a boat trip down the river onto the Tonle Sap to visit one of the Lake Villages, Chong Khneas.

The Tonle Sap is a huge freshwater lake/river system. Most of the time it's pretty big, but in the rainy season, the Mekong River actually reverses its course and flows *into* the lake, causing it to grow to over twice its dry season size. At the time we were there, the rains were just beginning, and the floods were a few months away.

The road south out of town started out in good condition, but gradually deteriorated into a rutted dirt track.



The road is elevated a few meters above the surrounding marshlands, and the houses are built on stilts to be at road level. Many of the houses were built by squatters.



We had stopped back in town to pay for our boat tickets (it is organized by a central company). Once we got to the end of the road, our guide located a boat, and we set out on the river.


We passed numerous other boats along the way, and a couple of floating barges holding the local primary school. The water level will rise by several meters in the rainy season, putting all the marsh grasses, etc. underwater-- so having everything float is a smart idea!





There is even a floating "rec center", with an enclosed basketball court:



The river then opened up onto the Tonle Sap itself, and we could see the floating village:



There are several of these floating villages on the lake, but this is one of the most frequented by tourists, thanks to its proximity to Siem Reap. Most of the folks on the lake are actually ethnic Vietnamese rather than Cambodian, but our guide told us that there are pretty well divided "neighborhoods" within the village. (Here, at least it's relatively easy to move house if you don't like your neighbors...)



Life is hard here, and most people are engaged in subsistence fishing, etc. There is a great deal of innovation, with folks creating floating chicken coops, "fields", etc...




We stopped at a floating tourist center, with a great display on the lake's fish and waterbirds (as well as traditional fishing methods), a small shop and a chance to view some local residents:



There is even a church, which attracts many people to services by promising them a free meal afterwards. Not entirely sure how I feel about that, honestly...



All in all, it was a really eye-opening experience to see how differently people lived. The same was true for the entire Siem Reap trip, for me: I felt like an obscenely rich person casting an imperious eye at the "quaint native customs", and that assessment isn't really far off the mark for any Westerner that comes here.

It really is true: how you live is, in great part, a fluke of where you were born. But no matter where you are, people are always finding creative ways of meeting their needs.

The Temples of Angkor: Part II

Although Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat are the most famous of the monuments, if you are really going to see everything you will need to have a driver and a guide. We hired Mr. Ou Niv Vith (Tel: (855) 12 97 26 11) to take us around. His English is excellent--he used to be a school teacher, but by taking the test to become a guide he could make more money. It is still highly recommended that you do your research ahead of time--it will make it much more interesting and, not entirely unsurprisingly, the latest research is not always in the hands of the local guides.



Much of the temples near Siem Reap remain covered by jungle--some are still inaccessible due to mines left over from the Cambodian civil war and, later, their war with Vietnam. In the coming decade, who knows what more will be revealed?

Banteay Samre, shown above, is not so hidden in the jungle, but is off the beaten track--though not so much so that there weren't people there catering to the tourists. Still, it is deinitely one of the less well-known beauties of Angkor Wat.



And the beauty isn't just in the temples. This rainbow showed itself--we saw it 360 degrees around the sun, apparently filtered through the moisture in the atmosphere. I'd heard of pilots seeing this kind of phenomenon, but was taken aback when we saw it here. Fortunately, one of the buildings at Banteay Srei helped to block out the sun so that we could take this picture.



The temple itself was carved with myriad delicate carvings, in a distinctive red sandstone that really brought out the light and shadow of the haut relief carvings throughout. That they have survived since the 8th or 9th centuries is absolutely incredible.



Nearby Banteay Srei is a less decorative but no less impressive monument--Preah Rup. Built as a funerary temple for the king and the royal family, it still stands today--the black smoke of ancient royal cremations can still be seen on inside of the two crematoriums.



For your truly 'jungle' temples, you really can't beat Ta Prom. It was actually used as a set for "Tomb Raider", and is one of the most distinctive temples with the trees having overgrown so many of the walls. Although the trees are continuing their slow process of tearing down the temple, conservation work is very careful of the fact that today the trees are as much a part of the heritage of this site as anything else.



The ruined temple of Preah Khan is also secreted within the jungle. It is actually the yang to the yin of Ta Prom, having been built for the king's father, while Ta Prom was built for his mother. The dilapidated ruins still give voice to the king's filial piety, for as you approach the center where his father's coffin was placed, the doorways grow smaller and smaller, until you are forced to bow before him, no matter how noble you may be.



But for all the searching around in the woods, we still come back to Angkor Wat as the most impressive single religious complex in the area.



Inside, the complex is just as impressive, with carvings around the lower galleries showing famous stories, including the story of Ramayana and the Churning of the Sea of Milk.



The towers of Angkor Wat are perhaps the most famous view, however. It is used on the Cambodian flag, and has been so since the mid 19th century. Oddly, for all of its stature, we know very little of why the temple was built--and why it differs from so many other temples, facing west, towards the setting sun, rather than east, towards the rising sun.



The most important structure in Angkor, however, contains the least decoration. The west baray was the largest of several man-made reservoirs that supplied water to the city and the fields. It was their ability to tame the waters in these large reservoirs that gave the early Khmer the ability to grow three crops of rice a year and thus support their flourishing civilization. Unfortunately, much of the canals and aqueducts have been lost to the jungles, and people are only now figure out how to recreate them and hopefully reinvigorate the agriculture in and around Siem Reap.

To be continued...