Hong Kong and Chinese Censorship

We have been in Hong Kong for four days and have had a great time exploring this very cosmopolitan and multi cultural city including taking in some good American cultural imperialism (Disneyland). Mostly, it has been great to catch up with some good friends and stay with them and their girls in Discovery Bay. MC and Doug have been wonderful hosts and the girls - Taia and Skye - have been great to meet. Madeline has particularly enjoyed having another young girl to play with. MC and I have known each other for 25 years having met at Queen's in the late 80s.

Tomorrow morning - very very early (5 a.m. rise) we leave Hong Kong for Guangzhou and then fly to Xi'An. I was hoping to get a half decent blog on Hong Kong published before leaving - most importantly because all blogging is illegal in Mainland China and therefore our blog will be inaccessible to us as soon as we cross the border. We have run out of time and energy...

It will be silence from the Global Family of Five unless you email us - this is accessible - and you know our email addresses. Facebook will not be available to us as well - no blogging and no social networking. I am not sure about Skype yet.

That means the next blog will be published from Ottawa, Canada as the rest of the trip is in China - Xi'An and Beijing. If I get really organised I may be able to publish in Seoul which is a stopover on our way back to Canada on 6 September.

Thanks to all our readers thus far for your comments and emails - your encouragement and interest. Its been a great deal of fun doing this and I intend to keep it going...it just may be a little less "global" for awhile!!

Stay tuned, stay safe - drop us an email....

Cheers from the GFOF

Breakfast in Cambodia, Lunch in Thailand, Dinner in Hong Kong

The night before we left Cambodia we had a traditional Khmer dinner of burgers and fish and chips…ok, a couple of us needed a break from curry while the others had their last taste of the good Cambodian fare. When we arrived back at the hotel, they had laid out these beautiful silk scarves for each of us on our bed to thank us for staying with them. The girls were thrilled and luckily there were no arguments over the colours. The other interesting daily treat for us was each night; they put a Cambodian fairytale or legend which we read to the kids each night.

This morning we said good bye to Siem Reap and Cambodia. After another great breakfast at Pavilion d’Orient, we said “Orgoon” (thank you) and we were off to the airport. They gave us another gift – necklaces with our Buddhist birth signs as pendants so Madeline = Monkey (how appropriate), Erica = Snake, Joshua = Tiger, Scott = Goat and Kristen = Rooster. Another nice gesture.

A quick flight to Thailand was followed by a 5 hour layover in Bangkok. The airport is only 2 years old and was recently named the number three airport in the world – it could also be named the largest airport shopping mall we have ever seen!!

We arrived on our Royal Jordanian flight into Hong Kong on time and after a rather long line through customs, we met the taxi driver and headed to Discovery Bay to our hosts and good friends MC and Doug. It was nice to stay with friends after weeks of hotels and we were looking forward to exploring their city with them in the days to come. This is my third visit to Hong Kong but first as a tourist rather than on business. It is a new destination for the rest of the family.

As with the other departures from the countries we have visited, let’s hear from the family on their highlights from Cambodia:

Joshua

Favourite part - This is a difficult question. I liked Angkor Wat because it was interesting. How they got the stones and built it was good to learn. I also liked the hotel pool.

What are you bringing back? I am bringing back an Angkor Wat t-shirt and one with elephants on it and a green scarf that I got at the hotel.

Erica

Favourite part - The pool at the hotel was good because we could go swimming everyday. Angkor Wat because it is a very big place and very interesting. My favourite food was Khmer Curry with chicken.

What are you bringing back? I am bringing back a couple presents for my cousins and I got a present from the hotel for free. It was a scarf and I like it.

Madeline

Favourite part - The temple that was really big that had lots of water around it. Oh ya, Angkor Wat. I like swimming in the pool and jumping cannon balls in the pool with the goggles on.

What are you bringing back? I got a pink silk scarf from the market. By accident, the hotel gave us another scarf which was pink with a white line and yellow on the sides. “One other thing that I want to say that is sad. I lost Jessie (my stuffed lion) and my blanket. This is pretty sad”

Kristen

It is amazing what people built with elephants and bamboo rafts. I really liked the amok spices that they cooked with the fish. I am seeing Vishnu everywhere now and can recognise him (he is a Hindu God). I found the prospects for Cambodians to be less optimistic than the people of Laos and Vietnam.

Scott

The temples and palaces of Angkor Thom and Wat were beyond anything I imagined. With Suprai as our knowledgeable guide, we were able to understand the incredible history (from the 9^th Century), architecture and religion of the times. The hotel was fantastic and generous and we were thankful each day for the pool and our tuk tuk drivers. Siem Reap was a nice town with great food. All of the people we met (Cambodian and other guests) were fun to talk to.

Day Two – Angkor Wat

Although Angkor Wat is much smaller than Angkor Thom, it is in the best shape and has survived over the past 800 years without too much destruction or wear. Angkor Wat was built in the 12^th century as mausoleum and temple for King J7 and represents the height of Khmer Art. It is surrounded by a 200 metre (in width) moat that spans about 8 km around the perimeter. The first set of walls around the temple once you are through the royal gates is adorned with bas relief art – the largest and longest in the world – telling Hindu stories of Gods, wars and the creation of heaven and earth. Supai loved telling us these stories and he has learned much of what he knows directly from Hindu tourists who have told him some of the meanings beyond the stories depicted on the walls. We learned about Vishnu, Garuda, the Sea of Churning Milk, the God of Death…many stories of love, marriage, war and death…all told very well.

Inside these walls lie the towers of Angkor. The top floors were under reconstruction by a German team so we could not climb beyond the second level but we were still able to marvel at the stone architecture, carvings, art and statues that surrounded us.

After a quick lunch at one of the Khmer food stalls outside of Angkor Wat we visited Neak Pean (built for the memory of the King’s father), Ta Som (the King’s sister’s residence) – all a little different but each filled with Buddhist and Hindu artifacts.

Today, I will share more pictures which illustrate the beauty much more than I can describe in words…

A Thousand Years Ago – The Cities of Angkor, Cambodia

I had been looking forward to Cambodia a great deal as the temples and palaces of ancient Angkor loomed and they did not disappoint.

One of the bonuses of staying at our (great!) hotel was that we had the same tuk tuk drivers for our trip. So, we got to know Mr. Coll and Ta quite well and they were always happy to take us to our various destinations. We spent two days among the Angkor ruins and decided to hire a local guide to take us through the history, architecture and stories of Angkor. Supai, a student of history and guide for the last 4 years was our guide and his knowledge was immense and fascinating.

Day One – Angkor Thom, Preah Khan, Ta Keo and Ta Prohhm

I guess the first most amazing fact about this place was that it was a huge and powerful empire from the 8^th century until the 16^th century. At one point in the 12-13^th century, Angkor Thom (the city proper which is about 9 square kilometers) had over 1 million inhabitants and was the largest city in the world – greater than any of those in “modern” Europe.
This empire stretched into modern day Thailand, China, Laos and Vietnam.

The cities of Angkor and their temples have been built to worship both Hindu gods and Buddha over the years and the evidence of these changing religious commitments was evident every where we went. An example was the many (many) headless Buddha statues as the Hindus would remove them when they ascended to the throne.

Angkor Thom (built in the 12^th and 13^th century was a magnificent walled city with its front gates protected by 54 gods and 54 demons each waging in a tug of war using a seven headed serpent. Its gates were always topped by four large heads each facing in perfect symmetry to the main points of the compass. A treat for us all inside the gate was a family of monkeys that we watched for some time. We were told that it was unusual to see them up so close so we enjoyed that experience and the kids were mesmerised!

Bayon was the center of Angkor Thom with 54 towers each with four carved faces on the top. These temples and palaces were built using a foundation of volcanic and honeycomb rock and then topped with sandstone for the walls and ceilings. The sand stone was also used as a canvas as it was elaborately carved with stories (in ancient sand script writing) and art. There were lots of pictured depicting dancing nymphs – the king’s concubine and Madeline decided she was one of them and spent lots of time over these two days dancing through the ancient ruins.


While we were there parts of Bayon were being restored by a team of Japanese archaeologists.

We also visited Phnom Bakheng – the hilltop temple of the city, Preah Kahn which was once the temporary house of King Jayavarman VII (aka King J7) while he was rebuilding Angkor Thom after it was damaged in an attack by the Siamese (Thai) people. Ta Phrom was originally built as a Buddhist monastery but has not been restored and left to the jungle so as you can see by a couple of the pictures, huge trees have become one with the stone buildings creating a fantastic combination demonstrating the changes in time between nature and man-made buildings. At its height, Ta Prohm housed 12,000 people who lived and worked in the monastery.

The day ended with a climb (in the very hot sun) to the top of a temple that provided a great view over the Angkor area and in the distance beckoned the towers of Angkor Wat – our next day’s adventure!!

Thankfully our hotel had a pool that welcomed us back after a long day of exploring. Supai was a fantastic guide and we continued to talk about what we learned over dinner in Siem Reap.

Farewell to Laos - Final Interview

Our departure from Laos started out interestingly. If you have visited Faceboook lately you will note that I published a question that went something like this: "if they start taking your place apart while on the tarmac and the captain starts to argue with the maintenance guys, should you walk away??"....This is how the day at the Vientiane Airport started. With the propeller cap on the tarmac, I turned to Kristen and said, "I don't think we are leaving"....two hours later, they found us a new plane and we said farewell to Laos. We were not too upset to leave Vientiane - the capital city - notice that I have not written a dedicated blog to rave about the sites, food etc. We will leave it at "ordinary" BUT we cannot forget the beauty and fun had at our time in Northern Laos and Luang Prabang. So, as we did with Vietnam, here are the family members to give us their thoughts:

Joshua
Major Highlights?
Riding the elephants was great because you got to feed them in the end. The Tad Sae waterfalls were fun because you climbed up to the top of the waterfall, climbed down them and jump off them.

What are you bringing back?
I am bringing back a Beer Lao shirt.

Any stories you want to share?
One of the best part was going to the big temple on the top of the mountain. There were nice paintings. The food was good and I really liked the Laap.

Erica
Major Highlights?
The best part for me was riding on the elephants and feeding the elephants bananas and pineapple leaf.

What are you bringing back?
I am bringing back a wooden elephant that I bought at the Night Markets in Luang Prabang.

Any stories you want to share?
The hotel that we stayed in was fantastic and the staff were really nice. The fresh salted cashew nuts were nice as well.

Madeline
Major Highlights?
Riding on the elephants and swimming in the waterfall.

What are you bringing back?
I am bringing back some earrings for someone but I am not telling who.

Any stories you want to share?
That's all Dad. I don't have anything else to say.

And the parents….

Kristen
Major Highlights?
Luang Prabang, the town and surrounding temples. Bicycle riding around town. I had a really good cup of coffee - ice cappuccino and a cafe latte

What are you bringing back?
A beautiful skirt still to be put together and some gifts.

Any stories you want to share?
Seeing the same people in three places - at the elephants, in the airport and then again in Vientiane. It is a small traveller's circuit here.

Scott
Major Highlights?
Everything about Luang Prabang was great - the people, food, markets, temples - it was the highlight of the whole trip so far.

What are you bringing back?
Lots of Christmas pressies...stay tuned...

Any stories you want to share?
Riding the elephants in the mountains was pretty special. They are majestic creatures, gentle and so powerful. We all loved spending time with them and to do this amongst spectacular scenery just topped it off!

And to think we almost did not come here. We have now convinced a couple other families and couples to take a side trip to visit our friends in Luang Prabang - a yet undiscovered piece of the world that is very special.

Onto Cambodia!!

Elephants and Mountains - Northern Laos

I am so glad that we put this country on our itinerary - it has been a wonderful surprise!! We split our time in Luang Prabang by a two day/night stay at a mountain villa about 25 km north of the town. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the villa. Owned by a German couple, they have five bungalows nestled into the hills and on the banks of the Khan River.

This little place was kept a secret from the kids. I knew that riding elephants was going to produce some excitement so we told them only a couple days before we went up into the hills. The villa resort was beautiful - a nice bungalow overlooking the river....there was only one other couple there (from Germany) and so we had the place (and the staff) to ourselves. The food was great - all home cooked Lao food (fantastic Laap Muu!) and of course Beer Lao to wash it down.

As soon as we arrived, the kids wanted to hike to see the elephants so we hiked through the forest/jungle to the camp (even passing the "Dangerous, Do Not Enter, Free Roaming Elephants" sign...nothing was stopping this pilgrimage!).

The Elephant Camp is located next door to Lao Spirit Resort (http://www.lao-spirit.com/). There are a few of these elephant places popping up and it is very important for these animals. Laos only has about 1200 elephants remaining and of course, they are on the endangered species list. Of these 1200, just over 500 are domesticated and used in the forestry industry. They are talking about phasing them out of the industry which means you have 500 unemployed domesticated elephants that cannot be sent back into the wild. They have been testing this unsuccessfully in Thailand with little success.




The elephants live with their "mahout" - completely dedicated elephant caretakers who stay with these elephants for most if not all of their lives. While we went for the visit on Day One, it was the morning of our second day that we had scheduled for the elephant bathing, rides and feeding. It was an amazing experience. We had two elephants - (all the elephants at this camp are female) - both were 61 years old!! Mae Cot was looked after by myself and Madeline and Mae Boun Nam was looked after by Kristen, Joshua and Erica. We had an hour of riding and then fed them to wrap up the approx. 2.5 hours we spent with them....the kids are still talking about this time!




Later that day, we took a boat down the river to the Tad Sae Waterfalls. Being that it is the rainy season, the falls and rockpools were huge!! The kids swam and jumped off the falls for 4 hours that afternoon...you can imagine how tired they were by the end of this day!! The water was quite cold given that it comes from high in the mountains but it was lots of fun to explore and relax in the heat of the day.

During the long trip planning process, I had high hopes for this visit to the mountains of Northern Laos. I spent time speaking with the owners of the villas, making sure the elephants and their mahouts would be open to having kids around (most elephant camps will not take kids younger than 12 - 15 years). It was an absolutely brilliant couple of days - something that we will remember for a long long time!!

Luang Prabang - First Impressions of Laos

We arrived in Luang Prabang in Northern Laos just before 9 p.m. Very dark of course and quite humid so we had no idea what it was really going to look like the next day. Laos had been an add-on to this trip. We knew nothing of Laos but a couple people had told me that is was a great place to visit so I threw it on the list – who knew when you might ever get to Laos in your lifetime.

We woke up on the banks of the Khan River where it reaches the Mekong surrounded by mountains enveloped by low lying clouds – it was spectacular!! The hotel we stayed at (Le Belair Villas – highly recommended) offered us bikes during our stay to use anytime so we decided to use these to explore. They also gave us unlimited water to drink which is great when its 33 degrees everyday.

We rode to our first set of temples – very modest but surrounded by nice gardens. We then decided to cycle around the old town to get our bearings. Luang Prabang has a population of only 100,000 so it is quite easy to get around. The old town (all of it a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995) is quite small, has very little traffic and the most obvious thing missing from Vietnam is the horn blowing – there was NONE. Vietnam traffic was always thick and loud. The silence was very welcome.

We stopped by a café on the banks of the Mekong for Lemon Shakes and then walked up to Phou Si (“Sacred Hill”) – one of the most holy areas of the town.

It stands on the top of the hill in the middle of the town and is surrounded by many gold statues of Buddha. The views were great.


We also visited the National Museum, the former home of the King and Queen of Laos (the last ones before they were sent to the wilderness to die in the mid 1900s).


On our first night we tasted the great traditional Lao food – Lap Muu (minced pork cooked with lots of garlic, spring onions and lemongrass). We also made a quick visit to the Night Market – the very best market we had been to on our travels. We started to do some Christmas shopping.

We decided to take a boat ride on the second day up the Mekong to the Pac Au Caves.

We had a beautiful ride down the Mekong surrounded by the mountains, passing fishing villages and lots of kids diving and swimming in the river. The caves are small but interesting in that they house abandoned Buddhas that are no longer “appropriate” for the temples – I guess they were passed their used-by dates…There are little kids all the way up the walk (this happened in many places) trying to sell you birds in small cages.
It is good luck to let them go near temples and other holy places.


We also stopped at a Whiskey Village – a small village known for making whiskey from sticky rice – it is sweet but good.


On our last morning of our time here, I decided to go into town early to watch the Monks “parade” through town – some may call it stalking. The Buddhists Monks are very respected in Laos and revered in this town. Each morning, they walk the streets and people offer them food for the day. From midday, they do not eat so they walk around town accepting offers and prayers. They look regal in their garments. It was fun to capture their daily ritual.

In total we spent four nights in Luang Prabang and we were quite sad to leave. It has been a highlight for us…the people – who always bowed their heads, folding their hands, wishing you well with the greeting “Sabai Di”, the food – fresh, tasty and a good cross between Thai and Vietnamese, the scenery – beautiful in every direction, the intricate handiwork of their garments of silk and hand spun cotton, silver jewellery…and the relaxed approach to life. We will really miss this special place…”Khop Jai” – thank you!!