Heading to my all time favorite destination: home! I didn't realize how much I love the Bay Area until being away for an extended amount of time. I love Shanghai too, and China is a fascinating place to be, but it doesn't compare to San Francisco. As much as I have loved seeing new places, meeting people, and being alone, I have to admit I am tired of riding buses, planes, trains, and figuring out where to sleep and where to eat. I am also tired of being so "on guard" all the time. I had to get a little fiesty [View Full Entry]

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Back in Shanghai - still in one piece. :) I was starting to miss Shanghai! I am happy to not be sleeping at a hotel tonight, nor trying to figure out where to eat, where to go, or when to get to the bus stop or airport. I had such a good trip the past 6 weeks. I am thankful that everything went smoothly and I did and saw almost everything I wanted to! A few more days in Shanghai and then I head home. I'm so close to going home, just one more plane ride away! I loved my visit [View Full Entry]

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Admission tickets to Angkor Temples: $20 USD for one day, $40 USD for three consecutive days. When you purchase your ticket, they take your photo and the entire ticket and pictures is laminated for you! We were a bit templed out and tired by the third day. The humidity and heat was making me dizzy - and soon enough the awesome temples started to look like piles of rock. Day 3 we took it easy and went back to Angkor Wat - yes, that's three days in a row. However, this time, we found a "guide" to explain the carvings and [View Full Entry]

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Some pictures of transportation the past few weeks. Some of the buses were pretty nice, with considerate passengers. Some of them were just horrible - smoking, trash (peels, bones), spitting, overcrowding, people wanting to bring on weird stuff (ie their bike engine)... yikes. A small taste of real China. There aren't taxis in most smaller cities/villages, so people rely on passing buses to take them into town. At first I thought that there were just a lot of hitch-hikers and the driver was getting extra money for picking them up, but I think that there are just no designated stops and [View Full Entry]

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We woke up at 4:30 am to view the sun rise over Angkor Wat. Quite magical. [View Full Entry]

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Day 2: We woke up insanely early to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat and then continued visiting temples. Ta Keo: Really steep, steep steps. Some of the steps are worn down so a bit scary to climb up. I only went 1/3 up - I was clutching to the wall. J went up a little further and saw a small boy selling bracelets. He sees her and tells her to buy a scarf when she declines the bracelets. Before she can protest, he races down the temple (keep in mind it's really steep) and runs to get the scarf and [View Full Entry]

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We bought a 3 day Angkor Temple pass, and planned to visit most of the main areas. We hired Mr. Bann, a tuk-tuk driver from the hotel to drive us around for the day ($10 USD). He waited for us while we went to each temple. Angkor Wat is about a 15 minute ride from Siem Reap. The temples are actually pretty far apart - not very walkable. Renting bikes would be a good idea, but a bit tiring in the heat/humidity. Our first stop was Angkor Wat. We got there around 8:30 and the sun was already pretty high. It [View Full Entry]

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Air Asia to Cambodia We spent the day traveling from Chiang Mai (Air Asia) to Bangkok, and Bangkok to Phnom Penh (Air Asia). Air Asia is a budget Thai airline. Air Asia is definitely budget - no assigned seats, and they charge for beverages. The only airline that flies directly from Bangkok to Siem Reap (where Angkor Wat is) is Bangkok Air, which charges $150 USD each way. The flight is like 45 minutes. Ridiculous, but it's the only direct flight. Anyway, we flew into Phnom Penh, which is Cambodia's capital. We figured we could see PP and then take a [View Full Entry]

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We waited for the weather to clear up before committing to a trekking tour. J and I signed up for a 2 day 1 night trek North of Chiang Mai, in the Doi Inanthon National Park. The trek includes elephant riding, hiking, staying at a hilltribe overnight, and more hiking, and bamboo rafting. A pick up truck with seats in the trunk picked us up, along with a group of travelers from England. The 6 of us first stopped at a market to pick up some water, food and snacks. We headed to an elephant area and went for rides - [View Full Entry]

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We waited for the weather to clear up before committing to a trekking tour. J and I signed up for a 2 day, 1 night trek in Northern Chiang Mai. We took it easy our third day in Chiang Mai. We got a late start since we stayed up watching Mr. and Mrs Smith on HBO the night before. After eating brunch at Art's Cafe (?) we went looking for a spa to get massages. We went to a place called "Let's Relax" - they are all over. I got a foot massage and fell asleep during it. :) J and [View Full Entry]

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