Cambodia: Kampot

After a few days at the beach, it was time to continue my Cambodian adventure. I took a tuk-tuk to a "bus" stop and then caught a van to Kampot. A couple of travelers in Siem Reap had recommended this town to me. The best recommendations always come from fellow travellers.  

Kampot as a town has some great spots to just hang out and enjoy a relaxed pace. However, the real charm to this place is that it is a great jumping off point for other activities. Once again, I felt crunched for time and I could easy wile away more days here.

Wandering along the river.

Activities that I didn’t do, but will get to next time: visiting the nearby mountain and beach, biking through farms and seeing the salt and pepper cultivation process and floating on the river!

So what did I do? I took yoga classes (Banteay Srey and Simple Things), got a traditional Cambodian massage, wandered the town, spent a day rock-climbing, hiking and rappelling with Climbodia (highly recommend them).

Here I go!

View from the top

Hiking

Inside the caves

Reclining Buddha in the caves

Pretending like I know what I am doing...

Yoga space above Simple Things.

Riverside lounging at Banteay Srey.

Where I stayed: The first room I booked was much different than advertised and had a broken lock and shower. I stayed the first night, but ended up changing to the very lovely La Java Bleue for the rest of my stay. Traveling in off-season lets you get good value and I loved my room, its view and the hotel's location.

A comfy home for a few days.

What I ate: There were a lot of vegetarian, healthy and gluten free options in Kampot. 

Veggie Curry

My favorite restaurant, hands-down, was Simple Things and the following pictures are from there. 

cute, cute, cute

Barbecue tempeh salad

GF vegan raw cheesecake

Stay tuned! There is one more stop before I leave Cambodia!!!

Reunion on Koh Chang

When you move abroad loads of people say they would love to visit. The reality is, though, that a lot has to come together for most of us to make an international trip happen. My friend, Y, made it a reality this year! I was delighted when she booked her flights and we threw around a lot of ideas for our week together.

We decided to meet up in Bangkok at the start of my fall break and then travel southeast to a Thai island called Koh Chang. A few of my colleagues had been before and they suggested it based on beautiful beaches, a cool vibe and plenty of options for fun while still relaxing.

All went smoothly with both of our flights and we jumped up and down and hugged repeatedly upon meeting at the airport hotel on Friday night. We took an early shuttle the next day, which allowed us plenty of time to chat and catch up on the way to the island.

Our top 10 from the week (in no particular order):

1. Beaches! That's why we visit islands, right? Well, Koh Chang is one of the biggest islands in Thailand and it has lots of them. We stuck to the west coast on this trip, staying at three different resorts, which allowed us to see different spots on the island. The west is more developed than the east, but it sounds like there are some great spots if you want to get away from it all on the east side. I heard that one small town is only accesible by boat!

My classic feet + beach shot

At some spots the beach is rocky...still gorgeous!

2. Shoulder Season! This means that we paid very fair rates for some very fancy places… it also means that there weren't lines, crowds or sunburns… However, it does mean we had some gray skies and got caught in a few monsoon showers. Luckily, the weather is warm and you can swim rain or shine. Also, the sun really made an appearance in the second half of the week.

So where did we stay?

Mercure - I booked this hotel for our first few days so that we would have a place to head to right away. It was beautiful! We loved the beachfront location, TWO swimming pools and attentive staff. We didn't love the "hideaway" location since it meant we had to get all meals, snacks and drinks from the hotel restaurant and it made it more difficult to explore. 

We decided we were basically on honeymoon together!

Modern room

AWA - After some scoping out, we decided to spend our next few days in Kai Bai, which is a nice stretch of beach and has one main street with plenty of shops and dining options. We didn't love the hotel, but we did like the location.

Pretty pool

The main street

Ramayana - I found this one through its great Trip Advisor reviews. And it was a find! We had relaxing massages here, dined poolside, hiked to a waterfall and dipped in the pool and jacuzzi. The only downside is that it's not on the beach (but it operates a shuttle to and from). The grounds are carefully landscaped, the food is good and our room was cute! 

Y contemplates the water.

3. Thai Food! Y is vegan and I am almost vegan and gluten free… communicating these needs to folks who don't understand a lot of English and who don't have the same cultural concept of food preferences and allergies can be a challenge. Y and I had many successful eating experiences on our trip with favorites being coconut curries, phad thai (it's a classic for a reason!), fresh coconuts and fruity cocktails (hey, it's vacation!).

Drinking coconuts and waiting for veggie Thai food.

4. Hikes! Well, technically we only went on one true hike. But, we walked and wandered a LOT this week. On our last day we found Klung Phu waterfall. We walked here from our hotel, enjoying the local scene along the way and then the national park trail along the river to a gorgeous waterfall. We even saw a river turtle (photos didn't turn out) and lots of fish nibble visitors as they swim!

Starting our hike

Y dives right in

P.S. Dad, this one is a national park! We even stopped at the visitor center and signed the guestbook. ;)

5. Animals! We saw lots of fishies on our day trip snorkeling, but we were surprised daily by frogs, huge bees and lots of tropical bugs! A lot of the shop and restaurant owners also keep pets that wander their establishments.

Temple kitten

The most beautiful bee

He was hopping along the main street!

This one visited us on our hotel porch

6. Good company! As you may have noticed, I do most of my adventuring alone. It was a real treat to have a true blue friend's company this week. We realized that we had never been on vacation together before, but that we had similar travel styles. The week was an excellent balance of exploring, resting, reading and doing yoga together.

Hanging our feet overboard on our snorkeling trip

When in Asia...

Yes...

...we played peek-a-boo.

7. Coffee! Yeah, we are both big fans. It was super fun to wake up each day, giggle with each other and get our coffee as we got going. Coconut milk was our favorite option for creamer and iced americano the preferred drink.

Poolside selfie with caffeine :)

8. Swimming pools! We played in the waves and sand, but each spot we stayed had beautiful swimming pools - the Mercure had two!

Y takes her victory lap at the Mercure!

9.  Books! We are both big readers. My genre of choice is fiction. During the week I read…

Diary of an Oxygen Thief by Anonymous - This was a recommendation from a former student. It is an intense and quick read and it won't be everyone's favorite, but I thought it was excellent. It's been described as a modern Catcher in the Rye and I can see why - you get into the narrator's head, hearing his thoughts about his life and the struggles he faces.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt - a young adult classic! I don't think I ever read it growing up. Worth a read if you are young or old!

And Y was working on: The Rift: A New Africa Breaks Free by Alex Perry. It was a BIG book and covered a lot of history; she didn't quite finish it, but she said she had heard that the end was hopeful. I hope so.

10. Movie nights! Neither of us were looking for big parties or late nights and we enjoyed winding down with films on several evenings. What did we watch or re-watch? Kill Bill (1 and 2), Girls Season 5, Twilight Over Burma (and after viewing we both decided to read the book upon which the film is based) and a few episodes of Orange is the New Black.

On a much more somber note, Thailand experienced a huge loss during our trip with the passing of the King. There is no shortage of articles about his life and what is next for Thailand, but one succinct story is here. 

And I would like to congratulate myself for publishing a post about a trip that I took just a couple of weeks ago - way to go CassyBee!!!

Bye bye, Koh Chang, we hope to return someday!

Article of the Week:
Expressions are one of the more challenging parts of learning another language. Read here if you are curious about all the different ways we can use milk in Spanish. The article is in English! :)

Recipe of the Week:

I think that I have mentioned this blog before, but I tried their Spanish Vegan Fabada this week and it turned out amazing! The flavors were delicious and it really was simple to make. I didn't have sweet paprika, only smoky (from Granada, Spain!), but the dish still turned out great. 

Drink of the Week:
Another from the Simple Vegan Blog! If you want a non-caffeinated, comforting and creamy hot beverage this fall, I recommend a Turmeric Latte. Turmeric has many positive health benefits, including being anti-inflammatory. I used coconut milk for mine this morning and it was delicious. You could also add a dash of nutmeg, ground cloves or cardamom. 

I had to include one last sunset.

Til next week! ;)

Vietnam, Part 2: Phung Nha and Vinh Moc

Like I said in Part 1, after a few days in Hanoi, I was ready for a change of pace. My friend, P, had recommended this Farmstay, near Phung Nha. Getting out of the constant noise, action and traffic was exactly what I needed. I miss the green of the Pacific Northwest and the relative closeness of so many wonderful outdoor activities near Seattle.

I hopped a very early morning flight and then was picked up by a van, making it to my Farmstay in time for breakfast, served with plenty more of that delicious coffee.

Panoramic view from my terrace...not a city in sight!

Wow, an intense and very real sign!

Sunset over the rice paddies

I had booked a cave tour, but the main "plan" was to relax. The Farmstay has an onsite restaurant and bar, small pool, loads of lounge chairs, bikes and plenty of information about the area. I spent a lot of time reading, lounging by the pool and just hanging out.

The Farmstay also organizes movie nights, projecting films about Vietnam on a big screen outside. The films they cycle through are: The Quiet American, Heaven and Earth and Good Morning, Vietnam. I saw The Quiet American while I was there. 

One excursion involved an "easy" bike ride to the Pub with Cold Beer. This place is a local and international legend; they have a simple menu and the main, er, course is the chicken, which you get to pick out, have killed and then prepared for you. This free range fowl is served up with sautéed local greens, peanut sauce and rice (of course!). 

The ride was not easy, short, relaxing or cool. The day boiled, my borrowed bike lacked any gears and it felt more like torture than vacation, but I eventually found the pub, chugged cold water and settled into a hammock. 

A lovely couple from the states who had just finished med school offered to share some of their chicken with me, so you will see a tiny bit of meat represented on this pescatarian's plate below. 

If you are interested in learning more about this spot, Huffington post did a nice write-up.

The world famous meal

Morning caffeine at the Farmstay - Vietnam has AMAZING coffee!

The cave trek was probably the most memorable part of the trip. Being able to step off the end of the wooden platform with a small group and experienced local guides felt so exciting. The beginning of the cave was beautiful, but the 7 kilometers we walked into is something that not many people get to see.

Selfie just before I had to put on a helmet and step off the boardwalk

Sparkling stalactites 

Our brave group of explorers

It was like being on another planet!

The trek included swimming across an underground river! Eventually we made it to the end of the cave, where a magical opening from above let in streams of sunlight. Here we settled in for a picnic before returning. It was a long day, but I highly recommend this experience if you are in this part of Vietnam.

One of the fish that lives in the cave. They have no color and no eyes!

Oh, I really hope this video works! I took my (waterproof) camera on the swim across the underground river. :)

The end of the cave. Yes, it felt magical.

So, speaking of that Vietnam history, here's an example of how things can happen, even when you don't plan a history tour. I booked a shuttle from my Farmstay to Hue. I thought this would be a tourist van, which would take us from point A to point B. As it turned out, the trip included a stop and tour at the Vinh Moc Tunnels.

On our guided tour we learned about the people who built and lived in these tunnels during the war. The central part of Vietnam is the skinniest and the US was trying to cut off communication between the north and the south, so this area was heavily bombed. This entire community (of men, women and children) sought shelter underground. Babies were born here and the community continued functioning. 

Exploring the underground tunnels...can you imagine living down here for years?

Touring through the tunnels

And this is what the coast looks like outside of the tunnels.

While it was a somber reminder of history, I'm so glad that this stop was included as part of our transport.

One thing that struck me many times on this trip, is that the Vietnamese are happy, open and welcoming. Not once did I feel like my country's past was being held against or over me. I think that says something pretty special about Vietnam's people.

Stories from Hue and Hoi An in the next posts as we continue south in Vietnam!

Blog Recommendation:

Are you interested in reading other blogs? Do you speak Spanish? Well, this one might have a limited audience, but my students and I are participating in an international blogging project this year. A teacher in the U.S. is organizing the collaboration, which includes schools from across the states, Peru, Paraguay, the Caiman Islands, and of course, Myanmar! Follow our journey of sharing stories and culture here.

Favorite TED Talk of late:

One of the questions that we all ask and hear a lot is "Where are you from?". While I'm pretty sure which country to answer that question with, if someone prompts me further I feel confused... I either need to explain a LOT, or say an answer which is inaccurate or incomplete. Taiye Selasi has an even more challenging where-are-you-from situation and she makes some important points about this question here.

Big News in Myanmar:

Maybe you have already heard, but Obama has announced that the US is ready to lift sanctions on Myanmar.

The background noise from the press in this video is insane, but it's a good clip of Aung San Su Kyi and Obama together.

You can check out the CNN clip also.

See you next week! :D