BootsnAll Travel Network



Archive for March, 2008

« Home

a taste of cambodia

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

check out pictures here (thanks kariena!)

after three fun-filled days in siem reap, i decided it was time to move on to see more of cambodia. i’d really enjoyed trying some of the traditional khmer (cambodian) dishes and i’d read about a cooking class in a town called battambang, which could be reached from siem reap via a six hour boat ride along the tonle sap river. the boat trip itself was rather uncomfortable, but i did make a new friend along the way.

believe it or not, my new friend kariena is from hawaii! i hadn’t seen many americans since laos, let alone someone from the same state, even the same island! kariena is originally from new mexico but has been living on oahu the past two years. i’m suprised i haven’t run into her in downtown! =) it’s always fun to travel alone, but sometimes it’s just as fun to meet up with new friends, so kareina and i both checked into a hotel in battambang and signed up for a cooking class at the smokin’ pot restaurant, then head out to explore the (very tiny!) town.

we arrived at the restaurant the following morning and met some of our other classmates for the day. the owner, vannak, was really cool and answered all of our questions, then took us on a tour of the market. the markets in cambodia are crazy! skinned frogs sitting in pools of blood (it seriously looked like a frog murder scene), fish jumping all over the ground then getting thrown back in their buckets, pig joints and sausages everywhere, along with various fresh fruits and vegetables. unlike the markets in thailand and laos, where you usually see stalls set up at the markets, everything was spread out over the ground! it was quite an experience.
[read on]

temples of angkor

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

angkor wat at sunset, originally uploaded by maliayosh.

anyone who comes to cambodia comes to see angkor wat. it’s just one of those things that you cross off your to-do lists of “sights to see,” and after having been there i can definitely say it’s an amazing temple. it’s the world’s largest religious building, and it is huge! i’m definitely glad that i got to see it, but overall it was a very hot, tiring, and underwhelming day…
[read on]

fear factor

Friday, March 28th, 2008
for all of you who kept asking when i'd be trying something as weird as the stuff jess has been so bravely eating for our video blogs... [Continue reading this entry]

heaven and hell

Friday, March 28th, 2008
cambodia so far has been a study of contradictions... i'd already grown weary of the various travel scams (this applies to southeast asia in general, not just cambodia) and i've come to realize that when it comes to getting yourself ... [Continue reading this entry]

4,000 islands

Thursday, March 27th, 2008
i LOVE hammocks * you can view more pictures of 4,000 islands here. * 4,000 islands is a group of islands formed in the mekong river at the ... [Continue reading this entry]

language barrier

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
overall i haven't had much of a problem getting around not speaking the language in hong kong or thailand, but here in laos things are tricky sometimes! lao and thai are very similar, and most lao people understand thai, which ... [Continue reading this entry]

point A to point B

Sunday, March 16th, 2008
the variety of ways to travel in southeast asia are enough to give even the seasoned traveler a huge headache! but sometimes figuring out the best way to get from point A to point B can be fun! and sometimes ... [Continue reading this entry]

snapshots of memory

Saturday, March 15th, 2008
i've been taking so many photos on this trip, but i'm starting to realize that sometimes not having my camera at the moment that i see something happening isn't the tragedy that i thought. in fact, my memory card picked ... [Continue reading this entry]

slow boat to luang prabang

Thursday, March 13th, 2008
yesterday morning we woke up early and drove about an hour on bumpy, unpaved mountain roads again until we finally arrived at the banks of the mekong. the slow boat coming from the huay xai border crossing was due to ... [Continue reading this entry]

ngok ngok!

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
beer lao!, originally uploaded by maliayosh. ngok ngok means "cheers!" in laotian. we learned this over beer lao bottles and homemade rice whisky with our tour guides in hongsa, laos. i also learned the ... [Continue reading this entry]