Sosasia

Thursday Feb 23rd: Some of the group went off this morning to the Blue Elephant cooking school. They were taken to the market and had many of the sites and smells explained to them. At the school they were shown a dish and then taken to their own stations to prepare it. When all four dishes were made they each ate their own creations. They were then taken to Health Land for massages. The other half of the group went for massages in the morning. I had a full (and I do mean full) body massage and foot reflexology. It was wonderful. We stopped at a shopping mall on the way home that was similar to our western malls although all the stores are small and crowded. back to the hotel for a swim and then ... read more

Tues Feb 21: We were up at 6 to board the bus in the dark on our way to offer alms to the monks. it is optional for Buddhists, but many young men become novice monks for at least 3months (one rice growing season). Some are very young, seven yearrs old. They are dressed in orange shrouds and come down the road towards us from the temple, where they are studYing, to collect food for the temple every morning. Buddhists believe it is extremely important to give in this life in order to ensure happiness in this and the next life. Some people bring food with them from home and others, like us, purchase food from venders beside the road. We are each given a small silver tray with water, rice, sweets on it. When the ... read more

Friday Feb 17 we arrive in Cambodia and are met by our guide Khet who shows us immediately the huge smile and gracious treatment we will receive from all the Cambodian people. Cambodia is far less populated, greener and more subdued. Our hotel Le Meridien is situated in a huge green space with gardens all around. The pool is again spectacular. In the afternoon we make our first visit to the city of Angkor. In it's day Angkor was the largest city in the world with a population of several million and covering an area of over 200 square miles. It contains almost 300 temples and in the middle is a huge lake. Many temples are surrounded by walls and moats. It is steaming hot and we visit our first temple Wat. It is the largest ... read more

Monday night: we ended our stay in Hanoi with dinner at the Green Tangerine. Home to bed early and up to find Millars have arrived safe and sound overnight. On the bus by eight to leave busy Hanoi and set out into the countryside. If Hanoi is the city of lakes Vietnam is the country of water! Every ditch and field is full of water. We cross the Red River which appears to be very low. Hoang tells us this is because of the Chinese three Gorge dams which has severely reduced the water downstream in Vietnam and Cambodia. He tells us they are now talking about dams on the Mekong River which would also badly impact Vietnam where 80percent of the people are employed in the rice industry. We see huge electronic,appliance and car factories ... read more

We just returned from a full day touring Beijing. We started at the Temple of Heaven. The grounds were full of people, mostly elderly, doing Thai Chi, fan dancing hackey sacking, line dancing, card playing, chess....David said many of the elderly come everyday to exercise and enjoy the company of their friends. The temple itself was beautiful. We carried on to Tian'anmen Square which was teeming with people, all of them Chinese. We were definitely in the minority! First we viewed Mao's Mausoleum..lots of rules, security checks and guards. Then on to the Forbidden City. David our guide is full of knowledge and was able to give us lots of history as well as stories and information on China today. Lunch at the Tiandiyijia Restaurant was fabulous with David ordering samples of many dishes for us. ... read more