Sleeping Beauty

Steve: Well, I’m not on top of an elephant.  Sorry to disappoint you, Delaney.  I’m on a different beast entirely.  Though the racket it makes as it lumbers along is easily as loud as a pack of plundering pachyderms.  In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say I was in the middle of another one of those 6.7 on-the-Richter-scale sized earthquakes, and that I have been in one for the last five hours.  It is 2:30 in the a.m. and we are on a train bound for glory.  Yes, this train, it’s bound for glory, this train!  Am I the only one who remembers that tune?  Sorry, I’m a bit giddy with lack of sleep and an inability to remedy that situation.  Hopefully, the rest of my family is actually sleeping despite the bouncing and the screeching.  I’m not going to wake them up to ask.  This train is actually bound for Hat Yai, Thailand.  We boarded in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  It is a twelve-hour journey and we’re almost halfway through.  With no ability here in my little “sleeping” compartment to sleep, or read, lacking a light, I figured I might as well write.

The last blog post ended in Singapore.  On our last night there, Dan and Annette took us downtown where we went to a bar at the very top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel (the one that has a cruise ship lying on top of three identical buildings on the 57^th floor).  The four of us had a total of five drinks that cost something like $130 in total.  We were paying for the view.  Incredible.  Especially at night, Singapore has a fantastic skyline full of geometric designs and colors and surrounded by thousands of cargo ships in one of the busiest ports in the world.  We had about 240° of unblocked vistas and we had trouble leaving, it was so breathtaking.  It was much cooler than the Tokyo skyline, though that one left us speechless as well simply for the sheer size of the place.

The crazy Marina Bay Sands hotel from a distance.  The bar is at the top of the cruise ship.

The beautiful Singapore skyline.

A different direction from the roof showing all of the cargo boats out in the harbor.

In Singapore, we boarded a bus for Melaka (also spelled “Malacca”) Malaysia.  It was supposed to be just a one-night stop over that broke up the drive a bit.  We had no real expectations that it would be a place worth stopping in and of itself.  But it was.  The hotel had a room dedicated to the history of Malaysia.   We learned that pretty much all of Southeast Asia was called Melaka a few hundred years back, due to the importance of the port for the Portuguese and the Dutch and everybody else who had an interest in the region. I guess the port isn’t quite as important anymore, as I had never even heard of Melaka before we got to Asia. But I guess the place deserves a little more respect than I had originally mustered.

We took a river cruise and were sufficiently wowed by the architecture and the historic feeling of the place.  No skyline, just a beautiful array of sights and sounds.  We took a walk down Jonker street, a famous outdoor market, and were sufficiently wowed by the happenin’ feel of the place.  We had only about four or five waking hours in Melaka, but we all agree that it was one of our favorite stops.

A one-time Mr. Universe hailed from Melaka

Jonker street lit up for Chinese New Year, in Melaka, Malaysia

As a side note, we were also pleasantly surprised the next morning. We received our Cambodian passports after less than one business day with no troubles. Only after spending the $92 applying for them online, had Carol read in the fine print that three business days were necessary for processing. We only had one day before we were off to Cambodia. So I anticipated a bit of a problem, as I hinted in the last post. But there was no problem, no sob story. Sorry. Nothing like a good sob story to lift the spirits.

But no worries, sob stories I have aplenty. Case in point? The rest of the day was not as pleasant.  We had decided not to buy our bus tickets online ahead of time.  Our flight was at 7:00 p.m. out of the discount airlines’ Kuala Lumpur airport.  One possible bus was due to get us there at 5:00 and another at 3:00.  We wanted to ask at the counter how reliable the timing was to be sure that the one that arrived at 5:00 was OK.  At the counter, they told us that the later one was too late, as there was no guarantee that we’d get to the airport with sufficient time to go through the boarding process.  “OK, then we’ll take the one that arrives at 3:00.”  No dice.  That one is full.  Great.  So now we had to take a bus that arrived at 12:00 and had to wait seven hours in the airport for our flight.  This was no Singapore airport. It was kind of a dump. It was just concrete and linoleum and plastic in all directions. What’s more, there were next to no benches or chairs in the entire airport to discourage loitering.  They even had poles at the bottom of every wall to keep people from sitting with their backs against the wall.  OK.  Seven hours of standing with all of our luggage under constant surveillance.  We can do this.  No, we can’t.  For once, the whining from the children was warranted.  Thankfully after about two hours, some seats opened up, and we could at least sit out the wait. 

Air Asia is no Singapore Airlines either.  Those discount airlines are cheap for a reason.  But it was a short flight and we landed in Cambodia with little trouble.  I asked Chloe was to write an essay on the merits of Singapore airlines.  Here it is:

Chloe: Singapore Airlines, the Dream Plane

Have you ever wondered which is the best airline to take? I'd recommend Singapore Airlines. It's fun for the whole family and reasonably priced. The fun includes movies, video games, free food, and comfortable seats.  

My personal favorite part of the plane ride is their enormous selection of movies. I'd say they have around 200 movies.  When I flew from Los Angeles to Japan I watched 5 movies and 10 TV shows. My favorite movie was "Madagascar 3", and my favorite TV show was "Glee". It is really nice how they let you pick not only which movie to watch, but also when to start and stop, with the ability to rewind, and fast-forward. On other airlines, you either have to pay for the movies, or watch what ever they put on. And if you have to go to the bathroom, well then that's "tough cookies" for you, because you miss part of the movie. 

One of my brother's favorite parts was the choice to play video games. You just turn over the remote and "voila" it's a video game controller! What's more they have amazing service. You could ask the flight attendants for food and drinks anytime you want. You just push the call button and they will come rushing over to see what you want.  I ordered a chocolate bar, fruit, potato chips, orange juice, and cookies. If you are just plain exhausted they have comfortable seats that you can lean back and sleep with the cozy pillow and blanket provided.  I never tried sleeping though because I was so excited about being on such a cool plane. Lastly, you can charge your electronics. They have outlets of all different shapes and sizes. 

I enjoy their philosophy of making the plane be the best they can make it (rather than other planes which just try to make it cheap) so you will fly with them again. Whenever I get a chance to fly I hope it can be Singapore Airlines. I hope you can fly with them too.

In Siem Reap, Cambodia, a driver picked us up from the airport and dropped us off at our extremely charming hotel, ready for the next adventure. But I need to digress a bit. You see, things are not going quite as anticipated in terms of how we are digesting our experiences. Our kids are getting spoiled. The complaints about the discount airline abounded, now that we were no longer on Singapore Air. Much of this trip has been planned in a way that we are supposed to be opening the kids’ eyes to new perspectives and a greater appreciation for how lucky we are to have what we have. Instead we seem to be spoiling them with beautiful hotels and private drivers and Singapore Airlines. What are we doing wrong? We are just booking the best deals. We aren’t staying at the Hilton. But we aren’t going to purposely book a dump either. We are trying to eat at local dives, not in five-star restaurants. But if anything, I think the kids are getting more used to luxury. Which brings me back to our Cambodian experience. Our hotel was about half a block from a local neighborhood that could be described no other way than as one of abject poverty. In that direction, we saw nothing but dirt floors, cloth roofs and poorly clothed people among unhealthy animals. We never went in that direction. We didn’t have any reason to, other than to gawk, and that seemed like an intrusion if anything. All of our destinations were the opposite way. But our hotel was an oasis of luxury almost right next door to the poor conditions.

What’s more, as expensive as everything was in Japan and Singapore, Cambodia was dirt-cheap. Ice-cream cones, for instance, cost ten cents. The hotel supplied us with our own personal tuk-tuk driver at our beck and call from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. for $15 a day. And he was absolutely beaming with happiness about having the job. We were living like royalty for next to nothing, and the people three doors down were living with next to nothing and some of them were probably the very people who were treating us like royalty with smiles on their faces. I am certainly getting a lesson in perspective and privilege. But I’m not sure the kids are absorbing it, and I’m not sure what I need to do, to help that along.  Carol and I point things out and attempt to begin discussions, but the kids don’t seem ready to digest any of it.

Our tuk-tuk driver’s name was Cheumreon. He was insanely courteous; friendly beyond words. Every time he dropped us off somewhere, he’d thank us. I’m sure he was thrilled to have a job. But I still felt guilty for using him like a horse and being thanked for it. What impressed us most was that he could pick us out of a crowd of thousands of tourists at the exit of some giant ruin, after waiting in the lot for two hours for us with no real idea when we’d reappear. He'd pull up his tuk-tuk before any of us ever spotted him. We’d hop in, and away we’d go like rock stars escaping the paparazzi.

And if a personal driver wasn’t decadent enough, let me mention the pampering. Day one in the hotel, we all got a massage. Mine was $18 for an hour and a half full body gig. The kids each spent $6 for half an hour of back, neck and shoulder bliss. Carol got a body scrub for $10. The next day, Carol got a $6 leg wax and while we waited the kids got a half hour fish massage for $3 a piece (which included a can of coke for each). I’ll leave it to Josh to describe that experience in detail:

Fishy Massage

In Cambodia, on Wednesday, the 20^th of February, Chloe and I got a fish massage. What’s a fish massage, you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you. But before that I need to describe the scene. We went to lunch at a place called the Blue Pumpkin in downtown Siem Reap. When we were finished with lunch, we wandered around a bit. We had told our tuk-tuk driver (the person who drives us around on a motorbike with a cart attached to it) to come back later to give us time to check out the town. As we were wandering around, we found a place where there was something for Chloe and I to do. We found a spa that had a humungous tank of fish outside that was there for the purpose of soaking your feet. There were at least two hundred fish, most about the size of my thumb. We decided to try it out. The fish swarmed to bite the dry skin off of our feet. It is called a “massage” but it tickled a lot for the first five minutes. After that, we got used to it and it felt good. It was pretty relaxing. They even gave us a free Coke to sip while we sat there. We had fun spotting fish that looked different than the others. For example, all of the fish were silver but one, which was slightly orange. Every once in a while we did a “dead fish check” because there were two dead fish in the tank that the other fish were nibbling. That was a little gross, so we did not want these near our feet, especially because one had its nose munched off and the blood was visible. Other than that though, it was a good experience. At the end, our feet came out very smooth. I think I recommend you trying this, if you get the chance.

Feeding Frenzy

Steve:  That night in the market, the girls were accosted with offers of a pedicure.  How could they refuse at $2.50 each?  What would Josh and I do?  How about a half-hour foot massage in the next chairs over for $2.50 each.  The next day, Carol decided to go the “Full Monty” and get her a bikini wax as well.  Why not?  It is so cheap!  So what should the rest of us do for that hour?  How about another back massage!  Eight bucks apiece!  Josh and Chloe had never had anyone give them a massage before, unless you count Mom’s thirty-second backrubs.  Now they’d each had three in as many days.  Yeah, I’d say we’re spoiling them, all right. Carol can tell the story better about what occurred during that bikini wax. Let’s just suffice it to say that those women got a bit over-personal, poking around in her nether-regions. “It’s OK, you cry lady, you cry!” was repeated often and with positive results. If you want more detail you will have to ask Carol.

But Siem Reap was not all about massages.  We scampered through more temples than should be legal.  We are all on overload.  It began with Angkor Thom and the giant stone carved faces.  So cool.  And lumbering around the temple were half a dozen elephants that we could have ridden for a minimal fee.  It was tempting, but we decided against it in the end, since this was to be the highlight of our trip to Thailand, and we didn’t want to spoil that adventure. 

One of dozens of such structures towering above us at Angkor Thom

Our time to ride will come soon.

The second day was highlighted by Ta Prahm, which is the temple featured in the Tomb Raider movie where nature has reclaimed much of the structure.  It was full of crazy, ancient looking trees popping up out of the rocks and growing roots all over the entrances to the temple.  So cool. On the third day, the temple relay ended with Angkor Wat itself and the awesomeness of the sheer size of those ruins.  We spent about two hours in each of the separate temple grounds.  We could easily have spent all day wandering through each, but it was pretty darn hot, and the kids only have so much patience for things built a thousand years ago.  I am nowhere near the writer that I’d need to be in order to describe the beauty and the wonder of the place.  I’ll try to let the camera do the talking.  But pictures don’t really do the place justice either.  Suffice it to say that the Mayan ruins that we were so jazzed about in Mexico ain’t got nuthin’ on this place.

Good Family Shot

Tomb Raiders at Ta Prahm

There were dozens of Guardians at the gate of Angkor Thom

More of Angkor Thom

This was the theme at Angkor Thom.  Giant faces carved into multiple stone blocks.

Hundred of thousands of detailed carvings covered all of the different temples.

Part of the inside of Angkor Wat, from another part of it.  It went on and on, all preserved magnificiently.

The backside of Angkor Wat

A separate highlight of the main temple in Angkor Wat was a complete surprise.  A troop of monkeys lived in the grounds on the backside of the temple.  They were so used to people, and so tame, that you could walk up and pet them if you so desired and they wouldn’t have flinched.  We didn’t, of course.  They needed to remain wild.  But there is something way cooler about watching wildlife when you know it is wild, and not at a zoo or in a preserve.  There were a few babies that were so cute that we could have left Chloe and Josh to watch them without another word, and come back for them after we were done in Thailand.

I promise, this is not a zoo shot.  These mamas and babies are as wild as they come.

We even spent our nights well in Siem Reap, which by the way, is the name of the town near the Angkor temples.  On the first night, Carol and I left the kids in the hotel, and went to a famous temple atop a mountain that was supposedly excellent for watching the sunset over Angkor Wat.  Any time we get a chance to be without the kids is a good time.  So we enjoyed the evening immensely.  But the actual temple was a disappointment.  After a long hike among hundreds of other tourists we got to the temple only to have to stand in line for about 45 minutes to be able to climb the steps to the top.  When we finally got up, we were sharing the views with so many other gawkers that we felt like sardines in a can.  The sun was on the opposite horizon as the Angkor Wat temple in the distance.  And though the haze was bound to make for a good sunset, we finally decided not to stay the extra half hour.  Nothing too romantic about a sunset shared with a thousand other sardines.


Angkor Wat from a couple of kilometers away.

The second night we went to a dinner show with traditional Cambodian dancers in full get-up.  The outfits were amazing.  But the dance numbers were not our cup of tea.  This was to be Carol’s treat.  The rest of us would just have to suck it up and deal.  The dances appeared to be telling unknown stories about a monkey falling in love with a fish and such.  I started to narrate one story aloud, giving voice to the dancers.  This made it a bit more fun for the kids.  After that, Josh and Carol apparently took the narration thing to another level on the last dance.  Both were giggling for days after that about the story they made up out of earshot for Chloe and me.  Carol will say in a ridiculously high voice to Josh “but I have a pointy hat!” and Josh will reply in his lowest baritone “but I have the high knees!”  Then both will lose it with mirth.  Hey, if they’re happy, I’m happy. 

Where's high knee action man?

The third night we shopped a bit at the night market and got the foot massages that I already talked about.  The last night we went to an outdoor “circus” put on by gymnasts.  It was again a stage show that told a story.  But this one was right up the kids’ alley.  There was much body contortion and juggling and crazy acrobatic flipping.  Live music was provided by two extremely talented drummers/bass players/Asian xylophoners/flutists right on the stage with the gymnasts.  The coolest part for me was that all of the performers were kids taken from troubled homes and bad environments and trained to do what they do so that they could contribute to society in a positive way.  The show was no Cirque de Soleil, but it was quite good and the performers were quite talented and their enthusiasm made up for any missteps.  Our kids, with no other similar experiences to compare it to, were blown away by it.

We were sad to say goodbye to Cambodia.  We loved our hotel.  The food was great.  The people were the friendliest we’ve met, and that includes the Ticos of Costa Rica.  Really, the only drawback of Cambodia was the air itself.  Air quality is very poor.  You can taste the smog.  I don’t know where it comes from.  Perhaps it is diesel fumes from the hundred of thousands of motorbikes that everyone over the age of ten drives around town.  Perhaps it is coming from unseen industrial plants in another part of the country.  All I know is that skies were brown for our entire visit.  And it is tough to breath in dirty air when you are huffing and puffing from a big climb in the 90°F heat.  But that was a minor concern.  We all loved Cambodia and will miss it.  Saying goodbye to Cheumreon was sad.  I’ll miss that private tuk-tuk too.

Our tuk-tuk driver and his trusty steed.

The hotel pool was well used by all.

The flight back to Kuala Lumpur was uneventful.  The bus ride from the airport to the train station was pleasant enough.  The hotel was something much different than we had experienced thus far.  We booked a hotel that was right at the train station so that we could conveniently go wherever we wanted in town and so we were right where we wanted to be when it was time to leave for Thailand the next day.  But the hotel itself was unimportant since we were only staying for one night.  I expected a dump.  We got a five-star experience.  We were on the twenty-fifth floor and the view was awesome.  We had to sneak Chloe in because we booked a room where only three people were allowed.  Josh just slept between the grown-ups. 

So, what to do with about 24 hours in Kuala Lumpur?  Well, to me, this city meant only one thing.  The Petronas Twin Towers.  Highest twin towers in the world.  Let’s go to the top!  We had to book the first night for a trip up on the second.  While I waited in anticipation, we had to find another activity or two.  We got lost, on purpose, in the six-story mall at the base of the towers.  We even managed to get unceremoniously booted off of a grassy knoll by an over-zealous security guard whilst watching a color light show at the fountain beneath the towers. 

The color fountain show was pretty cool.

I guess they are cracking down on smooching in the Kuala Lumpur subways.

The next day, we decided to take the commuter train to the outskirts of the city where a few mountains had seemingly just popped out of the ground like they were pushed straight up from underneath by some mythical geologic beast.  Within the mountain was an enormous cave.  You climbed about three hundred very steep steps to enter the cave only to find a Hindu shrine inside.  On the way you avoided the dozens of incredibly aggressive monkeys if you wanted to keep your snacks or your hat or your camera or whatever they felt like stealing from you.  The cave was awesome.  The shrine was disappointing. The view of the city from the top was pretty cool though.  At the front of the cave stood a golden statue of some Hindu god that was a hundred and forty feet tall.  So large was the statue that you could see it clearly from the top of the Petronas Towers ten miles away. 

The caves were spectacular.

We were finally able to go up the Petronas Towers  that very evening.  The 86^th floor view was super cool.  There was even a little high-tech museum at the top designed to answer all of our burning questions about the towers and what we were seeing from that amazing viewpoint.  The entire city was at our feet.  Kuala Lumpur is definitely a very modern metropolis, much like San Francisco without the bay and the bridges.  Skyscrapers are interspersed with hills and housing communities and zillions of parks and trees and other greenery.  It is quite a friendly looking city.  It was a stark contrast from the never-ending buildings of Tokyo. It was also quite different from Singapore; less in-your-face glitz.  And the towers themselves were beautiful, inside and out, with all kinds of modern technology to wow the tourist.  The walls of the high-speed elevator project images of the city as it would look outside if they were made of glass and there was no building in the way.  The vantage point of the projection kept changing as we rose.  There were holograms and laser shows.  It was worth the wait and the money, though we paid more for that one half-hour trip up and down the tower than we did for all of the massages and body-waxes and pedicures in Cambodia combined.

Awesome.

On the 86th floor, baby.

So we boarded this train at 9:20 p.m.  It started moving out of the station at 9:23 after letting 300 or so people on in three minutes.  We found our seats, which are really bunk beds and plopped down for the night.  The lights in the car will apparently stay on all night.  We do have curtains that we can draw separating our beds from the aisle, but they do not block out a large percentage of the light.  The bunk is exactly six feet long.  So you are out of luck if you are taller than me, or really even if you are my size. I have about two and half feet of head space to Chloe’s bunk above me.  I have about two and half feet of mattress width.  There is nowhere to put your luggage other than the narrow walkway between the bunks.  The pillow is a very dense foam type affair that barely gives when you place your head on it.  This would be fine, except that it takes up an awful lot of bed-space as it is about twenty inches long in its shorter dimension.  With my head on the pillow and my shoulders off, I now would need about six feet, three inches of space to let my legs go straight, even at a diagonal on the bed.  No dice.  I guess either no pillow, or my knees will be bent all night, which means no sleeping on my back.

Our sleeping car.

This was before I tried to sleep.  I didn't look so good afterward. :)

I had pictured some romantic sleeping car setup not unlike the Amtrak trains back home, maybe even nicer.  I’ve heard so much about Amtrak being such an old junkie railroad compared to foreign trains and I completely believed it after taking all of those amazing trains in Japan.  Well, Amtrak is looking mighty good right about now.  The bathroom is smaller than an airplane bathroom and has a pit “squatters” toilet.  It smells pretty bad, so I’m staying out of there at all costs.  My problem here is that we hiked up to those caves this morning in the 90°F heat and I have not had an opportunity to change clothes since then as we had to check out of the hotel first.  Now that I have only 37.5 cubic feet of space in which to reside for the next twelve hours, I am suddenly very aware of my need to bathe.  No bathing will be had.  It is hot, and I smell like monkey.

I am going to attempt sleep again.  It is around 4:30 a.m.  The train is still bouncing around like crazy.  It is still loud as a rock concert.  But my eyelids are getting heavy, so perhaps I’ll be able to sleep.  We shall see…

Well, I did finally get some sleep.  At nine o’clock we were all kicked off the train to go through Immigration at the Thailand border.  We were instructed to leave our luggage on the train and walk to the security checkpoint.  We did so, and the train took off.  After a bit of panic, we learned that it was coming back.  I don’t know why it had to leave and come back, but as long as we see our luggage again, I guess all is well.

Don't know if you can read this, but they have strict rules against "hippies" in Thailand, no joke!

It is now nearing 11:00 and the train has not returned.  We were supposed to be in Hat Yai and off the train at 10:30.  When are we allowed to panic? The other passengers do not look as worried.  Most of them can read the signs in the station but cannot communicate with us.  Those with whom we can communicate also cannot read the signs. There is nothing left to do but wait.

The train came!  It came back for us! We don’t have to live forever on the Thailand/Malaysia border with nothing but our laptops and no power source nor internet access to help us find our way out!  All is well! 

We got dropped off at Hat Yai and left the train station in search of a way to the bus station across town.  No English anywhere.  We finally decided to take one of the guys nagging us up on his offer, and get taxied the whole two hours to Trang, our final destination for the day.  It was big bucks, but much less hassle.  Sometimes you do what you gotta do.  Now I’m sitting here in our little hole of a hotel room right next to the Trang train station, finishing my blog entry and wishing I were still in Cambodia, or even Kuala Lumpur, but looking forward to our island hopping tour for the next five days.  Then it is on to Kanchanaburi where we will finally take that elephant ride.  But for now, it’s naptime.