Golden Week 2009

Last year's Golden Week extravaganza set the bar pretty high. I think this year did a good job of competing. I can't decide which trip I enjoyed more; each was amazing for different reasons. Here's a root page linking to individual entries about the trip:

๑.	Leaving Japan

๒.	Cabbages & Condoms

๓.	Lada's House

๔.	Running around Bangkok

๕.	Khaosan Road

๖.	Guitar Hero in Bangkok

๗.	Cambodia Ho!

๘.

Siem Reap

๙.	Angkor Wat, day one

๑๐.	Baphuon and Ta Prom

๑๑.	Macaques, Angkor Wat, and bar trivia

๑๒.	Phnom Penh or bust

๑๓.	A palace, a prison, a pachyderm, and a pub

๑๔.	Last day in Bangkok

๑๕.	Back to Japan

All 496 photos can be found here.

Back to Japan

I woke up at 5 in order to be out the door by 5:30. Augie and Lada drove me to a taxi queue at the entrance to her parents' neighborhood. Her mom and dad both hugged me, and her mom invited me back anytime.

The taxi ride was ฿300; all I had was a ฿1000 note. The driver gave me what he said was all his change, which was only ฿600. I point this out only because I ended up, not two hours later, down to my last ฿20 note for the entire trip. I've kept that ฿20 in my wallet ever since, to remind me. I'm not sure what it's supposed to remind me of, but I think of something every time I see it.

At any rate, I ran into Carol and Rachel at the gate. We had planned our trips separately, yet had run into each other more or less by accident in Siem Reap, and had caught exactly the same flight out of Bangkok. We played cards on the floor of the gate, and a little girl whom I think was Korean joined in. The flights themselves were uneventful, though Hong Kong, freaking out about the swine flu, was requiring everybody to go through security again, and inspecting every single carry-on bag. Many people were wearing masks, which didn't bother me in the slightest. However, there were some American tourists near my place in line, and I overheard how obviously rattled they were by the sight.

This is where my notes and my memory end, mostly because I was pretty well exhausted from the past few days of waking up early and seeing so much. I made it back to Tsushima safe and sound.

Last day in Bangkok

We got up at 6 to be ready at 7:30. A tuktuk took us to the airport; the flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok was uneventful. It was actually refreshing to hear Thai spoken again, even though I only understand about five words. We took a taxi to Lada's house, where we relaxed for a couple of hours. We regrouped and headed out for the afternoon at about 4. Lada's cousin, Aom, came along for the adventure.

Our first stop was a parking deck, from which we took a tuktuk to the Siam Paragon, which I'm told was at one time the largest mall in the world. Our first stop was the food court. We settled on an Italian restaurant, and I tucked in to some lasagna.

From there, we headed to the movie theater and saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I bet Augie ฿20 there wouldn't be a clip at the end of the credits; I lost. Oddly enough, the scene in the clip took place in a Japanese bar.

We took another tuktuk to the Baiyoke Tower II, the tallest building in Thailand. (We saw a sign outside the entrance warning of pickpockets -- but only on Sundays.) Mere mortals were only allowed up to the 17th floor, so we went that far and found a bar and a driving range. The rate was ฿1 per ball. Augie and I each went in for ฿50.

The range consisted of a decently large space enclosed by green netting that kept the balls in without obscuring the beautiful view of Bangkok. Placed at the end of the range were the usual pins, complete with flag sticks. However, there were also two small bags. Augie and I agreed the first one to sink one would get ฿100 from the other. After several misses each, Augie called the shot, took three practice swings, and bounced it in. ฿100 richer, he decided to show off, hitting a 5 iron that bounced off the net and fell cleanly into the other bag.

We walked around a little more, then took a taxi back to the parking deck and drove to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. We relaxed in the food court, ate some pad thai, and enjoyed the atmosphere. Aom opened up some, and managed to communicate through our clunky Japanese.

We finally headed back to the house, where I saddled up for my flight back to Japan the next day. I politely but firmly declined Lada's mom's offer to drive me to the airport at 5:30 the next morning.

A palace, a prison, a pachyderm, and a pub

We got up at about 8:30, but took our time getting out. After rising early and trekking Angkor the past couple of days, and getting up early to bus it to Phnom Penh yesterday, we wanted to take it easy.

Our first destination was the Royal Palace, mainly because it's just across the street. Unfortunately, sleeves are required, which meant Lada would have to change before we could enter. So we decided to come back later. We tuktuked over to what Lonely Planet referred to as a Russian market, passing the Independence Monument along the way.

The market was awesome, full of stalls crammed together, each jam-packed with all kinds of goods. I was most impressed by the used hardware section, where bins full of greasy hinges and gears begged to be organized. I also enjoyed the meat section, as the merchants were proudly displaying their very fresh and very raw cuts. The produce section was also a hit, and Lada and I scored some rambutan.

From there, we headed to Tuol Sleng. Originally Chao Ponhea Yat High School, the structure was converted by the Khmer Rouge to a prison and interrogation center. For the better part of four years, prisoners were tortured and questioned in what were once classrooms. The torture chambers are still on display, with iron bed frames which are presumably the same ones prisoners were chained to for electrocution. These are supplemented by photographs of prisoners lying in the same beds. Tuol Sleng was the largest such center in Democratic Kampuchea.

The Khmer Rouge's programs of forced labor and extermination camps resulted in the deaths of somewhere between 1.4 million to 2.2 million people. Despite widespread reports of genocide, Democratic Kampuchea retained its seat in the United Nations. Some Western nations went so far as to praise its government, which was led by Pol Pot. In the end, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ousted them from power.

More than a little sick to our stomachs, we milled around outside the museum for a while, searching for our appetites. Finding them, we headed to a nearby restaurant. After a lunch that would have been tasty under different circumstances, we headed to Wat Phnom.

Wat Phnom means "hill temple" and is a pagoda named for Chi Penh. In the fourteenth century, Penh found five statues of the Buddha, and a temple was built to house them. (Incidentally, Phnom Penh itself is named for the same lady.)

The temple itself was pretty, but the park around it was crowded with beggars. We made our way around and stumbled upon a man and his elephant. He let us feed her bananas, which made for a nice photo.

From there we went to "Friends," a cafe staffed by teachers and students. Conversation ranged from the flies mating at our table to the subject of poo.

After that, we headed back to the hostel, changed into appropriate clothes, and tried the Royal Palace again. It was pretty impressive. Dating only from the late 19th century--the Khmer had their capital around Angkor for most of their history--the palace architecture reflects Khmer as well as some European influences, owing to Cambodia's being part of the French Protectorate.

Finishing our tour of the palace, we wanted to relax somewhere and check our email, so we headed across the street from the guest house. For some reason, I wanted very badly to go to Laos. We're right next door to it, after all. Anyway, we headed back to the guest house and chilled in our rooms as a storm rolled in.

For dinner, we headed up along the Tonle Sap looking for a tasty-looking restaurant. We got tired of walking and decided just to take a tuk-tuk. A few minutes' ride later, we found something promising: the Green Vespa Pub. Offering British fare, like pies, fish and chips, and single-malt Scotch, it made for an interesting escape from Cambodian food. It was also pretty pricey by local standards: my ham sandwich and fries ran me about $10.

After dinner, Augie and I got into a pretty lengthy discussion about free market economics and capitalism in general. (More on that in a separate post, though.) We decided to walk back home from the pub, and began moseying back. Every single tuktuk asked us if we wanted a ride, always avoiding addressing Lada.

We ducked into a club for a break in the trip. We got an appetizer and some drinks, and Augie and Lada danced salsa. Man, I wish I'd kept up with it after college.

After a couple of drinks, we continued the walk back home. We got back at 11, but not before stopping at a night market on the way home.

Phnom Penh or bust

Over the past couple of nights, we discussed our plans for getting back to Bangkok. I'm the one leaving first--Augie's staying an extra week--and I'm flying back from Bangkok, so I need to be back there Monday morning. Fun as it was to be ripped off by immigration services and sketched out by bullying long-fingernailed motorcyclists, we didn't want to go back via Aranyaprathet. So we sniffed around and decided to check out going back via Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

This morning, we got up and out at 8 to check on a bus to the capital. For $8 apiece, we could catch the 9:30 bus. Lada ordered some breakfast to go while Augie and I handled checkout at the guest house.

We got on a big charter bus that was half full. The ride took 5 1/2 hours, but it was on mostly good roads, and we had some wonderfully strange videos to watch. First was a series of videos you see at karaoke bars--the ones with the lyrics on the bottom with a backdrop of cheesy drama scenes. After that, we watched Tom-Yum-Goong, a Thai martial arts movie where the main character tries to save an elephant from gangsters. I'm sure there was more to the movie than that, but Lada wasn't feeling good, so she couldn't translate the Thai for Augie and me.

We made one twenty-minute stop in a town whose name I didn't catch. There were food stands set up at the bus stop, including roasted crickets.

The bus arrived in Phnom Penh at 2:40ish. Augie and Lada had used Lonely Planet to find a guest house for us. We took a tuktuk to the National Museum for $2, and easily found the Bright Lotus Guest House. Rooms are $16 a night, and the location is awesome: two blocks from the Tonlé Sap, which drains into the Mekong nearby. It's also right across from the Royal Palace.

We dropped off our stuff, freshened up, and booked our flights from Phnom Penh to Bangkok for $97 per person. That done, we tuktuked to the post office and mailed some postcards. From there we strolled to the Tonlé Sap waterfront and snacked at a pricey restaurant. We tried to find the Central Market, and succeeded... right as they were closing.

Discouraged but not defeated, we walked on to a nearby mall, and went to the top for a view of the city. We were just in time to see a thunderstorm roll in, and decided to do dinner at the sukiyaki restaurant at the top of the mall.

We took a tuktuk back in a downpour. I traded rooms with Augie and Lada, but I can't remember why. We chilled out for a while, and Augie and I went out for beers.

Sitting at an outside table on the sidewalk a block up from the guest house, we were waylaid by street hawkers. These were selling books, and Augie agreed to buy the Lonely Planet for Thailand if the girl could find one. She darted off and came back twenty minutes later with one.

Surrounded by an awesome lightning storm, Augie and I talked a lot about all kinds of random stuff. Chilling out like that is one of the things I miss most about college. At one point, we noticed a rat scampering around the sidewalk. Soon afterwards, we called it a night. I was in bed by 11.

Macaques, Angkor Wat, and bar trivia

We were up and out of the hostel by 8. We met Noah and had a quick breakfast together. Augie went with banana pancakes, while I went with an awesome fruit plate. Theng was waiting for us, and we went right back to Angkor. On our way back in, we saw some macaques waiting patiently to sucker tourists out of food. We happily obliged them, and they let us take their picture.

One of our first stops in the morning was Preah Khan. After that was Neak Pean, a temple atop an artificial island surrounded by a moat. The coolest part of that was the huge millipede I found when I ventured off to pee behind a building.

For lunch, we stopped at a grouping of restaurants. We were accompanied by a little merchant girl who kept at us with her impressive English. Tired of just saying "no thank you," Noah decided to get creative. The girl had a cute stuffed animal attached to her belt loop; Noah asked her how much that would cost. Her eyes bulged for a beat, but she quickly recovered: "One hundred dollars." Noah played right along, agreeing. She didn't like this at all, and left us alone.

Meanwhile, I ordered chicken green curry with rice. I think it ran me $3, and it was amazing.

After lunch, we continued on to Ta Som, East Mebon, and Pre Rup. Ta Som was interesting, but I got tired of walking with the group, and decided to wander around on my own at each place. Armed with the Indiana Jones theme on endless loop in my head, I clambered around temples, imagining what the builders and original inhabitants thought about them.

I've since learned that East Mebon dates from the 10th century, making it about 200 years older than most of the other temples. Pre Rup was made even more interesting by the thunderstorm that blew in while we were there. We took cover in a central chamber, but that only kept us partly dry--the ceiling was open. It was a great chance to huddle next to other tourists. I counted Spanish and Japanese being spoken!

Having come perilously close to being sick of temples, we decided to finish with Angkor Wat itself and be done with it. The thunderstorm had moved on, leaving a steady drizzle in its wake. We decided to try waiting it out in a cafe across from the temple moat, and paid entirely too much for a ham sandwich and coffee.

On our way to the bathroom before heading to the temple, we were marauded by a particularly persistent group of ten-year-olds. Realizing this was probably our last chance to mess with them, we each struck up conversation with one. Mine went this way:

Girl: "Hey mister, where you from?"
Me: "Cambodia."
Girl: "I don think so!"
Me: "Where are you from?"
Girl: "Cambodia!"
Me: "I don't think so. You're from Vietnam."
Girl: (looking like I just hit her) "No! I'm from America!"
Me: "Okay. Who's the president?"
Girl: (without missing a beat) "Obama. Who's the president of Cambodia?"
Me: "...I don't know."

I think we were the funnest group of tourists they'd had all day. Mine stuck with me:

Girl: "Buy a bracelet!"
Me: "No."
Girl: "Buy one for your wife!"
Me: "I don't have a wife."
Girl: "Buy one for your girlfriend!"
Me: "I don't have a girlfriend."
Girl: "You know why you don't have a girlfriend?"
Me: "Why?"
Girl: "Because you don't buy my bracelet!"

When it became apparent that I wasn't buying any of her wares, she asked me to buy her some ice cream. I said maybe, after we came back from the temple.

Angkor Wat proper is surrounded by an outer moat 190 meters wide, which is outside a 30-meter-wide apron of ground, which is outside a 1024-by-802-meter, 4.5-meter-high wall. We took some pictures on our trek across the moat, and I kept mistakenly thinking we'd finally reached the temple.

The wall encloses a massive plot of land, split down the middle by the causeway entering from the moat. We made our way down, marveling at the openness and the crowds before finally reaching the temple entrance.

The temple itself was nothing less than amazing. The outer walls of the temple are a gallery of bas reliefs depicting many Hindu stories, including the Churning of the Ocean of Milk and several epic battles, including the Battle of Kurukshetra. We dutifully walked along all four walls in the prescribed order, able to appreciate them only as works of art. I felt as though I'd wasted a wonderful opportunity to learn about Hinduism, but there wasn't much I could do about it there.

The central temple was off limits to tourists, as it was being restored by some German outfit. Mildly disappointed, but still satisfied, we made our way out. I was only slightly surprised to see the same girl come running up to me asking for that ice cream. We headed to where we'd seen it, only to find out that it'd left for the day. She wasn't terribly happy.

We headed back to Siem Reap, thanked Theng for his services, tipped him, and said goodbye. We just made it to the day market as it was closing up; I bought a silk hammock for $3. The four of us headed to dinner. As we were ordering, Rachel and Carol--two ALTs from Sasebo--walked up. I'd known they were in southeast Asia for Golden Week, but we hadn't been able to line our plans up. They joined the table, and we had an awesome dinner.

Afterwards, we headed to the Funky Munky for bar trivia. It was exactly the style of trivia I miss--teams huddle together, write their answers down, and turn them in to the emcee. We finished in the middle of the pack, but we didn't really care about the points anyway. No, really. The group broke up afterward, and we three went back to the hostel at about midnight.

Baphuon and Ta Prohm

After finishing at Bayon, Theng drove us over to the Baphuon, Phimeanakas, and the Royal Palace. The Baphuon has a causeway raised about five feet off the ground, and we saw what appeared to be a wedding ceremony taking place. It was starting to get cloudy, which made us a little worried for her dress.

The temple at Baphuon was originally built to honor the Hindu god Shiva, but it was converted to a Buddhist temple in the 15th century. As part of the rededication, a statue of the reclining Buddha was built onto the temple. It was being restored, so we had to walk around wooden decking. As we looked at it, it started pouring down rain. We cowered under a roof with a few workers and enjoyed an apple and some Oreos.

After the storm, we found Theng and headed west of Angkor Thom. He took us to the Terrace of the Elephants. We walked around some more before stopping at a group of restaurants for lunch. They had a nice menu, featuring all kinds of rice and noodle dishes, but we went for fried rice for about $2 each.

Finishing lunch, we met back up with Theng. He drove us to Ta Prohm next. This was easily our favorite of the day. The temple ruins have been left mostly untouched, with many trees growing atop eight-foot walls and piles of rubble. We did a little impromptu exploring, taking a few somewhat-hidden passages through walls. Feeling particularly adventuresome, I started scrambling up a wall, only to be called back by a nearby guide. A bit later, I saw the NO CLIMBING sign.

After Ta Prohm, we went to Banteay Kdei, a temple to the southeast. By this point, we'd just about had our fill of awesome temples for the day. That's why I don't remember the name of the small temple we stopped at after Banteay Kdei. I didn't even take pictures of the lake we stopped at. The children who swarmed us at that stop (as they did at every stop; I've stopped mentioning them because they sort of fade into the background) were among the most creative of the day, carrying on whole conversations with each of us. One of the boys decided to try a new approach and called me a ladyboy.

We'd planned to stop at Angkor Wat itself on our way out and wait for sunset. It'd been overcast since the thunderstorm, though, so we decided to head back to Siem Reap.

We took a quick break at the hotel, then headed to a Mexican restaurant. It was probably a lot more of a treat for Lada and me than it was for Augie, since neither of us get to eat Mexican often. Augie and I got into a fairly long conversation about free market economics. I've been reading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, and it was stimulating to discuss it with someone so strongly in favor of the idea.

After finishing dinner, we headed to the night market again. I bought an alarm clock for $4, then joined Augie and Lada at the Lunar Bar. None of us want to deal with sketchy long-fingernailed bikers and obnoxious border patrol officials, so we did some brainstorming about our trip back to Bangkok. We got back to the hotel and to bed by 11ish.

Angkor Wat, day one

I woke up at 7 this morning without an alarm, and was ready to go at 8. Stepping outside the hostel into the gorgeous heat and humidity, we were immediately greeted by the several tuktuk drivers lining the street. We picked one, and had him drive us to the ATM for Augie. He offered to drive us somewhere else. Rather than turn him down directly, we said we wanted breakfast first, figuring he'd take the hint.

We ducked into a restaurant appropriately named "Why Not?" Bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns ran me $3. There was a white guy seated next to us, eating by himself, so we invited him to join us. His name is Noah, and he's a Canadian teaching English in Korea.

After saying goodbye to Noah, we headed out of the restaurant... and found the same tuktuk driver cheerfully waving at us. He'd waited the half-hour it took us to eat. His name is Theng, and he offered to drive us anywhere for the day for $15. We agreed and set off for Angkor.

Angkor is the name of the region that served as the seat of the Khmer empire, the second-largest empire in Southeast Asian history. The Khmer reigned for about four hundred years, from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries. The region contains the ruins of many temples, palaces, and other structures. (Angkor Wat is the most famous surviving temple complex in the area; we're going there tomorrow.)

The ride to the entrance to the complex took about fifteen minutes. Three-day passes cost us $40 each. From there, Theng proposed a route for us to take. Joey, Mike, and several others had told me not to even try doing everything in one day, but it wasn't until I saw the map that I understood why: there are easily twenty points of interest spread across the region. Theng's plan would take two days; we agreed to it and headed in.

We decided to save Angkor Wat itself for tomorrow, so we drove right past it as we entered the complex. Bypassing it, we made our way north. Stopping for pictures at the southern gate to Angkor Thom, we were waylaid by the first of many hawkers.

As we stopped, we were greeted with several chants of "Sir?" except without the "r" pronounced, so it came out sounding more like "Suh?" This group had booths set up, selling everything from Lonely Planet books and Angkor guidebooks to hats and bracelets. We had no desire to buy a guidebook, and Augie politely told them no.

Being good and persistent salespeople, though, they didn't take no for an answer. I decided to try a different tack, and declined in Japanese. The lady didn't miss a beat, and replied in Japanese as she brandished guidebooks in Japanese. I thought of Tsushima High's library, and caved.

We moved on, already sweating from the gorgeous heat and humidity. There were huge cottonball clouds drifting overhead, and the tuk-tuk provided a very nice breeze. Out first stop was at the Bayon. We ran into a Brazilian guy who we'd met earlier at the border. We also saw some tourists riding elephants around the city ruins.

There's way too much to say about way too many temples to mention, so I'll just say each was amazing. I understand that restoration has been necessary for all the structures, which were in varying degrees of disrepair. Much like Prambanan and Borobudur, the walls use no mortar of any kind. Beautiful carvings and sculptures adorned every structure we visited.

Siem Reap

The cab from Poipet to Siem Reap took about two hours and cost US$45. To pass the time, we played Go Fish and took naps. Lada spoke to Narin in Thai, asking him about Cambodia. He in turn asked all about us, and taught us some bare-bones Khmer. Six through ten in Khmer are expressed as five-something: six is "five one," nine is "five four," etc.

We arrived outside Siem Reap at about 2. Narin couldn't bring his taxi any farther into town, so he dropped us off near some tuktuks. He made it clear that we were not to pay the tuktuks, that he had already taken care of it. We found a tuktuk with a driver and a guy who spoke good English, and took off for town. On the ride, the guy flat-out ignored Lada. It wasn't until she spoke up in English that he seemed to acknowledge her.

The first guest house we arrived at was pretty nice. The guy's price was US$18 per night for one bedroom. We decided to shop around some, and got back in the tuktuk. The second place was full. The third place, called Ancient Angkor, had a two-bed with AC for $18, and a two-bed as single for $15. Tired of looking more than anything, we agreed, paid, dropped off our stuff, and went for a walk.

Siem Reap has a paved main road and a whole lot of dirt side roads. There are street vendors everywhere, and stores selling bottled water, produce, and cooked goodies. Tuktuks, motorbikes, and cars zoom by everywhere you go, and there are almost as many tourists as locals running around.

We ducked in for lunch at an Indian restaurant. After gorging ourselves on curry, tandoori chicken, and naan, we stopped at a store to exchange currency, only to find out that Cambodia uses US dollars almost exclusively. (They use their riel for denominations lower than US$1.) The exchange was about 4000 riel to one dollar, so they'd give 1000-riel notes as quarters.

Wandering back to the guest house, we chilled out in our rooms until dinnertime. We headed out at 7, taking Lonely Planet's advice and aiming for Pub Street. The name is fitting, as the road is packed with restaurants and bars, obviously the main tourist trap in town. We chose a restaurant, recommended by LP, that featured live dancers. It reminded me of Bali, but it wasn't as good, of course.

I ordered the crab sandwich. As you can tell by the picture, something got lost in translation. Augustin, meanwhile, got Amok trey, a green curry with chicken. It was awesome.

After dinner, we went to a bar across the street and talked over drinks. Augie mentioned how surprised he is at how much I've opened up and chilled out. I guess he was worried I'd wuss out on some stuff, like I did for the drag show back in Myers. Anyway, we headed back to the guest house and got to bed at about 11.

Cambodia Ho!

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5 this morning, and got ready to go by 5:30. Lada's mom drove us to the spot where the van picked us up. The van was taking us to Aranyaprathet, at the Thai-Cambodian border.

Augie, Lada, and I had discussed this off and on before meeting up. Pretty much the only big thing on my to-do list for this trip was to visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Everything else was debatable for me. Fortunately, that jibed with their plans, as neither had been, and both are avid backpackers. We talked it over, Lada sorted out details with the help of her parents, and we lined it up: three hours by van to the border, cross, and take a taxi or a tuk-tuk to Siem Reap, the town closest to the Angkor complex.

The van drove us up to the Thai exit point. We were immediately swarmed by poor-looking children, hands outstretched for food or money. They didn't look like they were starving; rather, they looked like rural kids trying to score a snack or money for one. Backpacks slung across our chests, my hands shoved in my pockets, we made the short walk to the exit.

฿300 each had gotten us to the border. This is apparently a bit of a deal, because the van is part of a promotion. Although gambling is illegal in both Thailand and Cambodia, the neutral zone between the border checkpoints has been loaded up with several casinos. Included in the price of the van was lunch at the casino. The van drove us to the Thai exit point. and a tram was waiting on the other side to take us to the casino. At that point we were technically free to walk away. As fools with money from which to be parted, though, Augie and I decided to linger and play some games.

I suddenly realized how badly I missed Texas hold 'em. In the span of ten minutes I went from indifferent to frantically walking the floor in search of poker to frustration and despair at not finding any. We settled for blackjack instead. We did pretty well early, which had me all ready to introduce myself as Mr. Pappagiorgio, but soon enough, gambler's ruin evened things out.

After burning the rest of our chips on roulette, we gathered our stuff and headed out. The opulence of the casinos gave way abruptly to squalor, with street urchins, tuk-tuks, and seedy-looking folks all over. We knew we had to purchase a visa, for which we'd taken pictures the night before, but we mistakenly walked up to the Cambodia entry point. Sent away, we found the official Cambodian Immigration office.

Posted above the window to the office was a sign that conveyed, in clear English, that a Cambodian tourist visa for a US citizen was US$20. Before we got to the window, we were greeted by a uniformed officer who told us the price was ฿1000 (≈US$30). We'd all been warned about this; it's apparently common knowledge among travelers to Angkor via Thailand. Augie and I kind of laughed and pointed to the sign. The officer not-unkindly repeated his original price. Lada wasn't having it, and made for the window, walking briskly past the officer. The clerk closed the window in her face.

By this point, my frustration at being screwed like this was balanced by the understanding that there wasn't much we could do about it. We could make a big stink about it, get upset and hoot and holler at the guy, but in the end, we'd be handing our passports over to him. Fear of them "misplacing" my passport (or, somewhat more frankly, giving me its shredded remains) led me to cave in.

Lada, unflappable, tried a different approach, claiming we'd only brought US$20 each. This brought the price down to $20 plus ฿190, which came out to about $25. We were haggling with the government of Cambodia over an entry visa. At some point, one of the officers explained that $30 would get us the visa in three minutes; $20 would get it to us in three hours. One man's highway robbery is another man's expedited bureaucratic processing, I guess.

We paid the $25, got our visas, and crossed into Cambodia proper. Just as sketchy as the in-between section, Poipet was dirtier and dustier. One of the border patrol officers recommended his friend's taxi. We decided to hear him out. The driver, Narin, quoted us at $45. This sounded reasonable based on all we'd heard from Lonely Planet, Seat 61, and friends who'd been. We piled into his mid-90s Camry and headed out.

Not two minutes after we started, we were stopped by a skinny older man on a motorbike. The guy had a wiry beard, was missing several teeth, and one of his pinky nails was about four inches long. I might have been reading him wrong, but he scared the hell out of me.

Anyway, he said something unpleasant-sounding to Narin, who reluctantly handed over some money. We started again, only to be cut off a few minutes later by the same sketchy guy. He yelled something at Narin, who followed him to a taxi office. This was beginning to bother Augie, Lada, and me, and we sat nervously in the car while Narin went inside. He came back a few minutes later, though, and we started off.

Lada found out that he spoke fluent Thai, so she got the lowdown from him. Apparently the sketchy guy was a lackey for the taxi office, and Narin was being accused of shorting the company on their share of fares. It felt a whole lot sketchier than that, but oh well. We settled down and started the two-hour drive to Siem Reap.

Guitar Hero in Bangkok

Yesterday we decided that today we'd take it easy. That in mind, we snoozed until about 8:30, when we couldn't sleep through the sound of the rooster anymore. Breakfast was the same as yesterday, though Lada's mom was out running some errands.

We talked with Lada's dad for a while. He's a retired colonel with the army, and did intelligence field work in Cambodia and Burma. To this day, he's still afraid of someone finding him. Lada told me later that he spends a good portion of every day walking around the house and the yard, keeping an eye out. He's a very kind, soft-spoken, funny guy, so much so that I have a hard time imagining him doing some of the things I'm sure his job required of him.

He also told us about his childhood. His father wanted him to be a farmer. He wanted to study, though, so he ran away from home. He worked at a temple, performing menial tasks for the monks in exchange for room and board. The way he tells it, he walked 24 kilometers each day for school.

He decided that his children would surpass him in education. To that end, he made sure both Lada and her older sister went to university. Both of them went to universities in America, and both received doctorates.

After breakfast, we got dressed and drove to Lada's apartment. She received a full scholarship for her bachelor and doctorate work in America. In exchange, she works in the genetic engineering and biotech laboratory of a university outside Bangkok. She works on fungi, and she and Augie assure me her work is boring.

We dropped by her apartment so she and Augie could pick up some things. She also had to take care of a couple of things in the lab. Augustin and I found a clearing on campus and threw the frisbee for about twenty minutes. The last time he and I did that, we were both still at UGA. That made the experience kind of trippy.

When we got back to the car, we found that someone had parked right behind us. The parking lot was full, and the person had nowhere else to go, but it completely blocked us in. We puzzled over it for a minute, and Augustin tried to push the car forward. It moved easily; the driver had left it in neutral.

We headed back to Bangkok and went to a mall. We hit up the food court KFC for lunch. Much like Japan and Hungary, they didn't have biscuits or macaroni and cheese, but it was tasty nonetheless. After lunch, we headed to a bookstore to study up on our next adventure. Augustin and Lada found a Lonely Planet for the place and got some coffee. I left to do some wandering around, and to give them some time alone.

Roaming the mall, I saw a bunch of stores that would fit right in back home. I also saw several Japanese restaurants, which made for good pictures to show my students. Eventually I came to an arcade, my all-time favorite place to go in a mall. Whereas I used to go to the mall in Springfield for the express purpose of playingStar Wars Trilogy Arcade, recently I'm plenty amused just by watching. (Also, SWTA is pretty much gone from the world's arcades, which makes me feel old.)

Today, however, I did a doubletake when I saw a familiar logo: Guitar Hero. Somebody has (legally or otherwise) ported the first game--complete with the guitar controllers--into arcades. It's a pretty rough port: the game that loads is literally the PS2 version of the game with a command added to automatically take the player into quickplay mode.

After getting a small pile of tokens, I tried to find the least-crappy guitar controller. This was mostly a failure, and I lost because, each time I played with a different controller, a different button was nonfunctional. There was a version with buttons like Pop'n Music, but I wanted the guitar.

Anyway, I headed back to the bookstore. We made our adventure plans (more on that later), and headed to the theater. Regular seats cost $4 apiece, though they had a king option that consisted of a recliner and concession delivery. Nachos (with cheese, not salsa!) and a can of root beer set me back another $3.

The lights dimmed, and we watched the standard slew of commercials and previews. Before the feature presentation, when American theaters usually play their own promotion, there was a tribute to King Rama IX. Lada explained earlier this afternoon that standing during this tribute is mandatory. The Thai constitution contains a lèse majesté clause forbidding anyone from insulting or offending the king; failing to stand and pay respect to him counts. This is the clip we saw.

The movie was The Haunting in Connecticut, which was creepy and entertaining. The theater kept the AC at what must have been 65, which I think made everyone jumpier.

After the movie, we headed back to Lada's parents' house. Augustin and I watched Snatch on a local network. Standard profanities were bleeped, which I expected, but I also noticed that cigarettes were blurred out. Lada explained that sex, nudity, smoking, alcohol, and cursing are all censored on Thai television. Interestingly, some of Mickey's accented swearing got through.

I had mentioned that I wanted to eat Pizza Hut at some point. Lada wanted pizza, too, so we ordered Pizza Hut delivery. She ordered two larges for us to split. One large was ฿600. What arrived would barely pass as a personal pan pizza back home. It was plenty tasty, though.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing. Augustin and Lada took a walk down the street to find something we'll use on our adventure tomorrow. I stayed behind and talked to Aom. She taught me some Kyoto dialect, and I tried to teach her a little bit of Nagasaki's.

Augustin and I had brought gifts for Lada's parents, and we decided to give them to them tonight. Augie's mom had picked out a pretty for Lada's mom. For Lada's dad, Augie brought a full set of the 50 State Quarters with a map. Her dad was mesmerized by it. The quarters came in two rolls, and he very carefully opened each roll and took out the quarters to look at them. Augustin explained about the map and how to match each one. When Lada's dad was finished, he meticulously put each quarter back into the rolls, slid the map back into the box, and put everything back in the bag. It was precious.

For my part, I brought some local treats from Tsushima. Lada's mom was thrilled at what she saw as the beautiful packaging. She very carefully opened the wrapping, took out one of the treats, and tried it. It's sweet to the Japanese palate, but to folks used to fresh mango, it's not that impressive. The packaging tickled her, though.

We said goodnight and headed to bed sometime around 11, planning on getting up at (groan) 5.

Khaosan Road

After the massage, we left the palace and hailed a tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuks like mopeds with a small trailer attached. They're absolutely everywhere in southeast Asia. ฿40 got us to Khaosan Road.

Khaosan is a road in Bangkok that's apparently a renowned tourist stop. We got there in the late afternoon, so it was pretty quiet, but the place was covered with not-yet-opened street vendors, as well as cheap hotels, restaurants, and hawkers selling everything from clothes to DVDs to ivory to laser pointers.

We decided to relax and kill some time. A jug of beer at the Susie pub, enough for three glasses, set us back ฿150. After that, we noticed the market was starting to open up. I bought a linen shirt, something I've been after for a while, but couldn't justify the $50-$70 stores back home want for one. It cost me a whopping $5 in Khaosan.

As we walked around, we were constantly approached by hawkers and tuk-tuk drivers. Almost all the drivers said the same thing: "Hello, sah! You wan tuk-tuk?" Lada soon noticed that none of the merchants addressed her. Knowing she could speak Thai, some even refused to talk to her, going so far as to respond to her questions--asked in Thai--by answering Augustin in English.

It got even worse when we got ready to go home. Lada called her parents and found out exactly how much a fair taxi fare was from Khaosan to her house. She wouldn't go any higher than that with the drivers. She explained that most of them try to pick up passengers and charge them without using the meter. After a few drivers pulled off in a huff, we finally got one for ฿15.

Running around in Bangkok

We finished up breakfast and went with Lada's mom to the local temple. The overwhelming majority of Thailand is Buddhist, and the official religion is Theravada, the oldest surviving school of Buddhism. Lada's mother had prepared plastic baggies with food offerings for the monks. She dropped us off and we brought the offerings with us.

About twenty monks were seated in what looked like a park on a raised ring of concrete, facing inside the ring. Laypeople like us were gathered around the ring, seated on benches, against trees, or just on the ground. The monks were chanting in unison, and the supplicants would join in at times. Lada thinks they were chanting in Sanskrit.

The whole scene was very interesting to me. The gathered people didn't seem to be dressed according to any rules. The ceremony was completely open: people came and went as they pleased. Some had books from which they read along during the chanting, while others simply sat meditatively, chanting along from memory. Knowing this may sound silly, I'll say it anyway: it felt a lot more religious than every other church service I've been to. And that's without even being able to understand what they were saying.

After the chanting ended, people gave their offerings to the monks. Some offerings were cooked rice and vegetables in baggies like ours, while others were fresh fruit. The scene was rounded out, however, with bottled water and prepackaged candy.

Lada's mom drove us next to a port on the Chao Phraya river. Tickets were 13 baht each. (US$1≈฿30) The long, diesel-powered boat came puttering up to the dock pretty quickly. It seated about 40 people. As we got on, it came a cloud, and we had to pull down the plastic window flaps before we got soaked from the sideways rain.

We got off the boat about five stops downstream. There was a little market at the port, so we decided to stop for lunch. We went for some Pad Thai, a common Thai dish. It's a mixture of stir-fried rice noodles and egg, with varying mixtures of shrimp, chicken, bean sprouts, or other add-ons. This was my first time trying it, and it was amazing. Three orders of Pad Thai and three bottles of water ran us a total of ฿150.

After lunch, we headed to the Grand Palace. The complex has a dress code for visitors, so Augie and I had to rent a pair of MC Hammer pants before entering the palace grounds.

The palace was spectacular. We arrived just in time for a free guided tour, and our guide was great. His English was really good, though I enjoyed listening for his pronunciation problems. (He seemed to have trouble producing a "v" sound, just like most Indonesians I met last year.)

Besides the palace, the grounds house several temples. One of them is completely plated in gold, and is restricted to the royal family. Another houses the Emerald Buddha, a green jade statue clothed in gold. Encircling the complex is a wall displaying a mural of the Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic.

As we were nearing the end of our tour, an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in. Had it not been for my camera, I wouldn't have minded getting soaked; the shower was a refreshing change from the sweltering heat. As it was, we waited for the rain to subside somewhat, and made our way out of the complex. Along the way, we stopped at a massage parlor. Augustin wanted to get one, since Thai massage is apparently world-renowned. I didn't really care either way, so I went in for one, too.

Half an hour's massage cost ฿220. Lada couldn't justify paying this much, so she sat and waited for us. The massage was nice. I haven't gotten any kind of massage since the Rutherford Massage Club at UGA, which made this one turn me all nostalgic. The lady didn't use any oil, and she wasn't very rough, which I had been worried about. To Augie's great dismay, there was not a happy ending.

Lada's house

After dinner, we headed to Lada's parents' house, where we would be staying for a couple of days. On the way, we talked about all kinds of things related to Bangkok. Augie's visited before, and they both told me about some of the seedier tourist attractions the city has to offer.

We got to their gated community at about 10. Their two-story house has a gated driveway. We took our shoes off before going in, and went to the living room to greet her father. I was a little tired by this point, so I can't remember exactly what we talked about, but he's a very nice guy who speaks just a little English.

We said goodnight and headed upstairs. Augustin and I are sharing Lada's bedroom, while she sleeps in her sister's old room. The bedroom has an AC unit, which I wasn't expecting, but didn't complain when Augie cranked it up. We crashed without talking much more.

During the night, I woke up to the sound of heavy thunderstorms. Tsushima gets about two thunderstorms per year, a far cry from the almost-daily storms we often get in Georgia and Florida in the summer. The flash of lightning and the sound of rumbling thunder, combined with the heat and humidity, made me feel more at home in a strange bed in Bangkok than I do having lived two years in Japan.

The next morning, I woke to the sound of a rooster. While that's happened to me a couple of times, in places like Alabama and Romania, it's never happened in the middle of a city. Anyway, I ignored it and dozed until about 8:30. After taking a shower, I went downstairs with Lada and Augie and met her mom. Lada cooked us breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. Despite speaking only a little English, her mom carried on with us as if we were her kids, too.

Toward the end of breakfast, she served us two kinds of mango: green and orange. I soon learned that they had just been picked from trees in their yard. In Thai, mango is มะม่วง, which comes out sounding to me like [mɑː'muɑŋ] to me.

Through Lada, she explained the two types she was cutting up for us. The green one, which tasted kind of bitter and had a chalky texture, has a name that means rhinoceros, which refers to its little horn-like bump. The orange one, which they both said is the best in Thailand, sounds to me like [ok'ɾɔŋ]. Its name means "cleavage," owing to a distinctive crease at one end. That's irrespective of tones, which have always scared me.

Lada's parents are both retired from the military. Her father worked in special forces, and her mother worked as a nurse. They live in a two-story house in a gated community. The neighborhood isn't wealthy-looking, but I get the feeling they're very comfortable.

We finished breakfast and went next door to Lada's uncle's house. Lying on a wicker sofa on the porch was Lada's grandmother. She looks very, very old, but cheerfully if quietly greeted us. We sat down with Lada's uncle and talked for a while. He's retired from teaching English, which explains how easily and happily he talked to us. He talked to us about working in a province in northeastern Thailand famous for gemstones, and listening to the Voice of America broadcasts from D.C.

Saying goodbye, we headed back to Lada's house and sat down to talk some more. Lada's cousin, Aom, joined us. Though she doesn't speak much English, she just got back from studying in Kyoto for a year. I was delighted, and we started talking in Japanese. It was kind of strange: Aom and I would say something in Japanese, and then either she would tell Lada and her mother in Thai, or I would tell Lada in English who would then tell her mother in Thai. Poor Augie was off to the side, only grasping 1/3 of what was going on.

Cabbages & Condoms

Augustin and Lada met me at the airport. It's more than a little trippy seeing them: this is only the second time I've traveled in Asia with friends from back home. Augie had arrived the day before and was jetlagged pretty badly. We caught up on random things as we headed to Lada's car. The heat and humidity of Bangkok felt amazing to me, having come from still-chilly Japan that morning.

Lada drove us into Bangkok. Augie commented that he still hasn't gotten used to the roads, and it took me a minute to realize what he meant: Thai folks drive on the left side of the road. That is, of course, the opposite of America, but it's the same as Japan, so I hadn't noticed.

It was coming up on dinnertime, so Lada took us to a restaurant she'd heard of called "Cabbages & Condoms." I didn't believe her until we pulled up to the place. Sure enough, that's the restaurant's name. We walked past a gallery of various condom-related posters and works of art, including two mannequins decked out in condom apparel. On our way to the table, we noticed most of the floral arrangements were composed of condoms.

The food itself was great: various types of curry with rice. Lada also ordered a condom salad. It gets the name from having a type of noodle that's slick and chewy, which I suppose is how one would describe chewing latex. Augie and I discussed economics and culture over dessert, and I was surprised to discover how badly I've missed having someone to talk to about deep stuff.

In preparation for meeting her parents, I asked Lada for a crash course in Thai etiquette. The biggest thing she taught me was the wai. When greeting someone in Thailand, it's customary to clasp your hands as if praying, lower your head so that your index fingers are touching the tip of your nose, and bow slightly.

The total for all three of us came to about $15. On our way out, there was a stand set up. On a sign was written an apology for not having after-dinner mints. Instead, it offered condoms.

Golden Week: Leaving Japan

Literally right after ensoku, I left Tsushima for Fukuoka. Yonekura-sensei gave Joe and me a ride to the airport. Joe, Joey, and Mike are heading for Bali, where I know for a fact they'll have a mind-blowingly good time. The three of them were planning on staying at their regular hostel, and they booked me a room, too. It was about $20 per person for a four-person room, with a clean communal bathroom. The whole thing was great, and it makes me feel dumb for having spent triple that each night I've stayed at the Comfort Hotel in Hakata.

After dropping off our stuff, we headed over to El Borracho, our favorite/the only Mexican restaurant in Fukuoka. We feasted on an awesome dinner of sincronizadas and margaritas. Anticipating the tiring travel day ahead of us, Joe, Mike, and I got back to the hostel by around 1. Not surprisingly, Joey went out to party.

We all got up and out by 7:30. Check-in at the airport was uneventful, and I hung out with the guys at their gate until their boarding time. Joey broke out his football and we started tossing it around. Not long after, we were approached by someone from their airline. We expected them to ask us to stop horsing around, but instead he asked Joey to deflate it before takeoff to prevent explosion. Odd.

My flights were kind of screwy: first was Fukuoka to Hong Kong, though we stopped in Taipei to refuel. In Hong Kong, I had 40 minutes to disembark, go through a ridiculously crowded security line, and take the skyway to my gate. Thankfully, Cathay Pacific (my airline) had people along the way keeping an eye out for us. I made it just fine.

The flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok was awesome. Cathay Pacific (or at least this particular plane) is pretty swanky. The TV screens had a ton of movies and TV shows on demand. The flight arrived in Bangkok right on time, and I didn't have to fill out a visa application. Hooray for America!

Ensoku

Today was Tsushima High's school picnic, called ensoku. The English teachers like to use the term "excursion," but for me that connotes a trek through perilous terrain, so I hesitate to use that word. Anyway, last year I missed it because of my Indonesia trip. (Though it had been clearly indicated on the school calendar, handouts had been given out, and it had been mentioned during the morning meeting several times, I wasn't paying attention.) After I decided not to stay a third year, I made sure that my travel plans wouldn't make me miss this year's.

The... excursion consists of a two-hour hike from the school to a park, followed by a picnic and general revelry. Most of that hike is off the road, through hilly forest. The weather forecast had us worried: 20% chance of rain may not sound like a big deal, but having a 1 in 5 chance of being caught in a downpour one hour away from shelter was cause for concern.

This morning, despite the cloudy conditions and light drizzle, everyone gathered on the school field. All the kids were in their full P.E. uniforms: t-shirts and polyester two-piece track suits. It was kind of chilly, but I went ahead and wore a t-shirt and shorts. Not surprisingly, this got a big reaction from all the kids, with everyone asking me the classic "aren't you cold?"

After some announcements, everyone divided by grade level and homeroom, and we set out. I'm attached to the first-years, and the third-years get to lead the pack, so we chilled out for a while. Takahira-sensei invited me to walk with his homeroom, the 1-3s.

The beginning of the walk was exactly the way I go from my apartment to the school. From there, we crossed the street and headed up a road I haven't used much. It gets pretty steep pretty fast, and Takahira was huffing and puffing before too long. I've been good about going to the gym over the past few months, so it didn't bother me as much.

Along the way, I talked with the students. The boys jankenned to see who would ask me a question. I pretended to be offended when I learned that the loser had to ask me something. I also talked to Yoshihara and Hamasuna, both of whom were not enjoying the exertion. I learned that Yoshihara had been in art and guitar clubs, while Hamasuna had been in the biology club.

The road we used gets pretty narrow and curvy, which is dangerous enough without 600 pedestrians marching along one side, so we got off the road quickly. From there we took a trail more or less paralelling the road. The path led us through beautiful cedar forest. It's still too early in the season for birds, much less bugs, so the forest was almost silent. At one point, a student behind our group broke out a bar or two of the theme to Mononoke Hime, which got a laugh from everyone.

We finally arrived at the park. Though the drizzle had stopped, it was humid and cloudy enough to feel like the rain could come back at any minute. For all that, it was a reasonably pretty day.

The second- and third-years headed into the park, while the first-years lagged behind. The upperclassmen needed a few minutes to prepare for the freshmen's arrival. We marched the rest of the way into the park amid polite applause.

Next, Tomomatsu-sensei and the student council gave some introductory remarks. That done, they explained the first activity: double dutch. Each homeroom class had a long rope. One student took each end and began swinging it. The other students would jump into the rope. After the first three students, everyone else began shouting out how many people they had going at once. The top 3 teams got candy.

After that, we broke for lunch. Most people had bought normal bentō lunches, but I had planned something different. Knowing the bentos from this place aren't very good, and that I would want something more appetizing than pickled vegetables and oden, I brought my own lunch: a sandwich and chips. This week when I went shopping for today's lunch, though, I bought some extra. I made five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and cut each into quarters. I made my rounds, offering them to teachers and students alike. They were a pretty big hit.

The clearing everyone occupied for lunch was at the top of a hill. I noticed birds overhead, but that didn't surprise me; kites are common in Tsushima. What did surprise me was seeing the kites start dive-bombing the picnickers, trying to snatch their food. This got shrieks from the girls and laughs from the boys. Thankfully, nobody got hurt or even hit, though the kites kept it up for a good fifteen minutes.

After lunch, the three new teachers--Ms. Yonekura, Mr. Tomino, and Mr. Kusano--performed for everyone. They danced to Chocolate Disco, a J-pop song by Perfume. Everyone found this highly amusing, especially because of the cute little ribbons they wore.

Once this was done, everyone was free to play around. Students had brought soccer balls and volleyballs. I brought my baseball glove and three frisbees. The first-year students had heard me talk about frisbee in my introduction, so several of them ran up to borrow one. I ended up throwing the frisbee with several teachers and students, and then tossing the baseball around toward the end.

We ended the day by breaking into groups and scouring the park for trash. Once this was done, everyone was free to go home, which meant that most of the students headed back to school for club activities. Matsushita gave eight of us a ride in his van, including Nanami, a second-year who had sprained her ankle the week before. As we rode down the hill, he tried to get her to make fun of the students as we passed them.