Travel, Relationships, and The New Twenty

This was the sight that greeted us as we tromped down from our hillside cabana to Ao Phranang (a beach in the Railay area of Krabi Province), on our first morning there. We were pretty happy with it.

 

 

Railay is a popular rock-climbing destination, but we also found a couple sweet rope swings like this one.

 

The Railay area is surrounded by such high cliffs that, although it’s not an island, long-tail boats (like the ones pictured here) are needed just to get to the region.

 

The limestone (karst) formations along the beach create countless overhangs and caves.

 

 

The limestone seemed almost to be dripping before our eyes.

 

 

As the sun went down, the already-quiet beach emptied out and the scenery became more and more gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

The other large beach we hung out at in the area, Ao Railay West, wasn’t too bad either:

 

 

But exploring those stunning outlying islands by kayak (and snorkel!) on our last day yielded even more discoveries:

 

 

 

 

These rocks were just off the island where we snorkeled.  The island was a pillar of rock with just enough beach at low tide to pull the kayak up.  But with pristine coral all around, the scene underwater (not pictured) was spectacular!

 

This beach, located in a national park and winding toward that far crescent of sand at low tide, was our favorite spot of the day. Especially because the only building on this island was a shack with some sandy picnic tables out front that served delicious Thai food!

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t want the day to end!

 

But paddling back, we knew it was an unforgettable way to end the vacation.

 

 

We spend the better part of three days staying in Siem Reap, from where we visited the temples at Angkor Wat, the spiritual and physical seat of power of the Khmer Empire for hundreds of years (from approximately 800 - 1400 AD). Angkor, with its sprawling complex of ancient temples and cities, is recognized as the largest pre-industrial city in the world, many times the size of the next-largest, Tikal. Angkor Wat is located in modern-day Cambodia, a country still recovering from the terrible rein of the Khmer Rouge — but one that we would already really love to go back to.

 

Bayon, famous for the dozens of mysterious faces carved into its towers (look closely!), is the central temple in Angkor’s central walled city, Angkor Thom.

 

 

 

 

 

No one has come up with a satisfactory explanation for the meaning behind so many giant faces, which on each tower face in the four cardinal directions.

 

 

Bayon is also famous for its well-preserved bas reliefs.

 

 

The reliefs around Bayon tell several stories about the Khmer Empire; this one seems to celebrate an extremely prosperous period (see all the fish!).

 

We finally moved on from the enchanting, sometimes foreboding . . .

 

. . . and sometimes happy towers of Bayon.

 

Baphuon, whose main temple is currently under restoration, is another one of the gems of Angkor Thom.

 

The steps to all temples were steep, symbolizing that the way to heaven is never easy, and functioning as a way to ensure that people’s heads were bowed as they arrived at the temple.

 

To one side of a large public square in Angkor Thom, the “Terrace of the Leper King” is famous for well-preserved carvings.

 

The aptly named “Terrace of the Elephants,” along with its signature sculptures, was built at the right height for mounting and dismounting its namesake animals.

 

The function of these mysterious towers, across from the terraces, is still unknown, but one story is that acrobats walked on tightropes from tower to tower for the king’s amusement.

 

Giant railings like this one had gorgeous ends.

 

Elephant rides are popular at Angkor Thom’s south gate.

 

 

Many minor temples are mossy and crumbling.

 

While others are being taken over by jungle (more dramatic examples to come!).

 

Lacey and I rented bicycles one day and found this gem, Angkor Thom’s east gate, which wasn’t labelled on the map and had no (paved) road or tourists. We passed a herd of monkeys and a lot of jungle on the way!

 

Lacey gazes up at the east gate.

 

I climbed up for pictures of the north “face” of the east gate.

 

Including a close-up.

 

A gorgeous find!

 

Our bicycles helped us visit some of Angkor Wat’s lesser-known temples, which are also gorgeous. Banteay Kdei was especially photogenic.

 

 

 

 

Across from Banteay Kdei is a gorgeous man-made lake, although it is dwarfed by Angkor’s original lakes, now partly dried up.

 

Another temple, Ta Keo, was especially memorable for the climb to the top!

 

 

View out the top of a tower at Ta Keo.

 

Ta Keo’s towers had an especially surreal quality.

 

 

 

 

The entrance gate to Ta Phrom, a grand ruin being taken back by the jungle, and made famous by “Tomb Raider,” an action movie filmed here and featuring Angelina Jolie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the enormous and beautiful Angkor Wat, the jewel of the Angkor area and the largest religious structure in the world, even a minor gate in the outer wall is imposing.

 

Within the outer wall (but still outside the main temple) are several well-preserved outlying structures.

 

 

We knew our most gorgeous views of the temple facade would come near sunset, so first we circled the impressive colonnade . . .

 

. . . and looked at dramatic bas reliefs.

 

As the sun lowered we perched on an inner tower in the southwest corner of the temple and watched the light soften.

 

 

We weren’t alone.

 

Finally, we made our way back out to the inner western gate.

 

Moving back from the inner gate, all five of the main towers were visible.

 

But these were the kind of views we’d been waiting for!

 

 

 

 

Below, the last temple of our last day (spent entirely on bicycles) was Ta Som; not as grand as Angkor Wat, but a good way to end our visit.

 

 

 

Although we scheduled them more like punctuation marks to our other destinations, Hong Kong and Bangkok are fabulous international cities that we really enjoyed — especially Hong Kong. These were just a few of the lanterns hanging at a streetside market.

 

Having been held by the British well into the 1990s, Hong Kong felt in many ways vastly different than other Chinese cities. Differences pictured here include other Westerners and street names in English.

 

Aspects of traditional life here seemed to clash less with the modern culture of the rest of the city. It’s difficult to tell from this angle, but many of the incense coils in this temple were several feet in diameter!

 

 

 

 

Glitzy skyscrapers and colonial buildings are a reminder of China’s dilemma: Hong Kong is a “special administrative region” with greater freedom of the press (and perhaps political freedom) than any other part of the country. Of course, Tibet is also a “special administrative region,” so this is less a sign of progress than evidence that China doesn’t quite know how to handle wealthy, recently repossessed Hong Kong, which still has separate visa requirements and uses separate currency.

 

 

 

And although Hong Kong still had a profusion of signs that made us go “hmm?,” we enjoyed some much-needed western treats, like cooling off with a Grape Slurpee on a hot day.

 

Bangkok was another modern, up-and-coming city with an interesting history.

 

Wat Phra Keo (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace were two of Bangkok’s must-see sights.

 

 

 

 

But during our brief stay, we enjoyed Bangkok’s river transit options, aging neighborhoods, and night markets even more than its temples.

 

 

 

 

As I wrote in a previous post, our travels in Southeast Asia took us to the Yangshuo countryside in Southern China’s Guangxi Province, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and finally to Krabi, on the Andaman Coast in Southern Thailand (plus a day each in Hong Kong and Bangkok). All were amazing!! We felt so lucky to have chosen these magical destinations, to have had excellent weather during most of our rainy-season journey, and of course to be able to travel like this at all. We are so very, very privileged to be able to explore our world and gain perspective on it in this way. So without further ado, here is the first round of pictures, from the otherwordly countryside of Guangxi Province:

 

On our first full day around Yangshuo, we took the obligatory bamboo raft ride up the Li River from a small town called Xingping. The area is famous for its karst (limestone) peaks, which provide imagery that is almost inseparable from the identity of Southern China.

 

The scenery is even more stunning and unreal-looking in person . . .

 

. . . and even famous enough to make the 20-Yuan bill!

 

 

 

 

Cormorant fishing is a common method in the area; string is tied around the cormorants’ throats, who then “fish” but cannot swallow their larger catch, which goes to the fisherman.

 

 

 

After our “cruise,” we strolled around the lovely older sections of Xingping . . .

 

 

 

 

. . . and bought a couple paintings.

 

The next day we spent in the Yulong River Valley, this time using a different kind of transportation.

 

The valley is still made up of farms and rice paddies, and, of course, gorgeous and seemingly endless karst peaks.

 

Rafting on the Yulong River is also popular.

 

 

 

Tilling, harvesting and planting is all done using the same methods that have been used for thousands of years.

 

 

 

The staple crop, ready for harvesting.

 

The ancient “Dragon Bridge,” which spans the Yulong.

 

In the afternoon we found an old raft chained to a lovely, spreading tree and cooled off with a swim.

 

On our way back home a thunderstorm approached, but only ended up grazing us with light showers.

 

So we had a cocktail and played some cribbage on the patio of our quiet countryside hostel.

 

And then strolled back out for some late-day pictures.