Holiday in Cambodia: Spring Festival 2014

As we approach Chinese Spring Festival 2015, here's a very delayed post from last year.

It seems that recently everywhere we go in Asia, we like even more than the last place.  Our recent trip to Siem Reap in Cambodia continues that trend.  Having the week off work for Chinese Spring Festival (New Year) seemed the perfect time to visit.  It was just after the peak season (December, January) and before it gets too hot (March onward).

Many people choose to combine Cambodia with Vietnam and/or Thailand, but we mainly wanted time to relax, enjoy the warm weather and not rush around.  The first thing you notice in Siem Reap is how laid-back and relaxed it is.  It very much feels like the Caribbean with its open air shops, restaurants and bars (with the addition of cheap massages and fish pedicures).

There's every variety of tuk tuk waiting to whisk you around town or to the temples. The small downtown is easy to get around and there's a high concentration of restaurants and bars, along with a lively central market.

Siem Reap has grown up for the tourist crowds, and it's a lively scene at night on the Pub Street and beyond. We especially had fun one night sitting on an upper balcony and watching the street vendors (and a few scammers) below as well as watching a large dance party that broke out on the street.

Snakes and bugs...yum! This enterprising stand charges for tourists to take pictures, since many would do that rather than buy. However, with a zoom lens from above, it's no problem.

We stayed at the lovely Diamond D-Angkor, a boutique hotel just a short walk from downtown. Not only was it a lovely spot, the service was the best we've ever experienced (for the price, especially) and it comes with access to a tuk tuk and driver for your stay, to take you to the temples and around town whenever needed.

Of course, the temples of Angkor Wat and beyond are the highlight of any trip to Siem Reap. Here are a few snapshots from our first outing to Angkor Wat. There's no way to cover all the great snapshots from the temples in this blog, so for those who want to view more check out our TwoWhoTravel photo site (woefully neglected lately).

Ta Prohm was our next visit. This temple, made famous in Tomb Raider, is in the middle of the restoration process which lends it a special quality. You're probably familiar with the images of large trees growing up within the temple ruins. We spent lots of time climbing around and exploring this special site.

Another day, we paid a small extra fee to have our tuk tuk drive us out to Banteay Srei, which gave us great opportunities to see life in the countryside on the long ride out and back (including a very pink wedding celebration being prepared).

Banteay Srei is built out of red sandstone and is a smaller scale temple, with beautiful detailed carvings you can still see today (along with many bullet holes from the war years, as our guide pointed out to us). This temple was well worth seeing and though a tuk tuk ride is not the ultimate in comfort, the peaceful countryside and people living their lives along the way made for a scenic ride.

A Break in Thailand: Hua Hin

We started our Thailand vacation with a relaxing few days in HuaHin, a beach town about two hours from Bangkok, where the Thai king resides. This has long been the vacation spot for the royals, and pictures of them abound (they look pretty down to earth, huh?).

It's easy to see why this spot is popular with the royal family and Bangkok's vacationers.

We stayed at a perfect rental apartment, where we quickly got used to enjoying the amenities.

We took in some sights, including the gorgeous old train station and the hotel where The Killing Fields movie was filmed (yes, that was about Cambodia).

While enjoying afternoon tea at the hotel lounging by the beach, we witnessed a passing naval ceremony.

And, we made an (accidental) visit to the requisite giant Buddha (we thought we had pointed to the royal palace on the TukTuk driver's list of sites, but apparently we should have confirmed).

But, to be honest we spent most of the time enjoying the beach and tasting amazing Thai food, especially the bountiful seafood of HuaHin. The night market was a diner and shopper's paradise and the compact downtown of HuaHin was packed with great restaurants and fun nightlife. Being the off season, we experienced a tiny bit of rain but also had the joy of light crowds.

HuaHin would make a great stop on any trip to Thailand, especially if you want to take it easy and avoid the big tourist crowds. If you go, we know the ideal rental apartment. Our host even stocked us up with snacks and drinks and provided us with a traditional memento of our visit to Thailand. We've never stayed in a more well-stocked apartment and I could have spent many more days on our cozy porch or by the pool reading and relaxing.

Seoul Snippets

Beyond the DMZ tour, our trip to Seoul was mostly filled with more lighthearted, fun activities. Our apartment location gave us great access to the Hongdae area around Hongjik University so we had tons of restaurants, bars, shops and people watching nearby. We started the trip off right with some Korean BBQ (and for me, some spicy kimchi and tteokbokki).

Spicy Tteokbokki (Korean rice cakes)

We were also lucky to be able to join some friends (Mr. Twowhotravel's former work colleagues) for an evening out. They showed us great hospitality with a more well-informed (read: tastier) version of Korean BBQ and a visit to a Korean Jamaican/Reggae bar owned by the friend's brother. It is always great to be able to talk to locals and see things through their eyes a bit.

We had also scheduled a Korean baseball game, which was definitely one of the highlights despite getting rained out. We debated just getting tickets ourselves, but in doing research on activities we'd spotted a great food tour company and decided to combine activities since they offered a food and baseball tour. We met up with Daniel Gray, owner of O'ngo Food Tours, at our metro station, for our private tour. Our first stop was an area not far from the stadium for some dinner. Since we'd had plenty of opportunities thus far for Korean BBQ, Daniel steered us to something different. The first option was potentially too spicy, so we landed on a great chicken soup spot. The broth is actually patented and there were pictures of news features on the soup throughout the restaurant. It's hard to describe except to say it was worth a patent. The co-owner showed us the process (including mixing up your dipping sauce, spice level up to you) and we dug in to the ultimate comfort food. Even better, they added my new favorite (non-spicy this time) tteokbokki to the broth at the end.

We waited out some rain (so we thought) in the restaurant and then headed to the game. Our host bought us some traditional game snacks outside the park: dried squid and beer plus sochu (the popular drink combo here...not my favorite thing, but it does seem to match well with the spicy, meaty food).

The game was so much fun, with each side enthusiastically cheering coordinated cheers for their players. Almost everyone wore team gear and each side's dancers also had all kinds of great routines (and new accessories for each).

Our side's cheer "leader"

Unfortunately, after only a few innings, the true deluge began. Our host assured us "they never cancel the game" but when the TVs inside were showing waterfalls in the seats and a lake on the field, we guessed this would be an exception. Our host consoled us with some Korean fried chicken (a trend that has hit Shanghai big time, apparently related to popular Korean TV shows). This particular specialty was topped with a massive pile of garlic. I think next time I need to ease in to all the delicious Korean food a bit more slowly. It was great fun talking to Daniel and learning about his business and personal path to what he is doing today.

The next day we made a visit to the Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Entering the palace grounds

Modern city and ancient palace

On the way back, we visited Bukchon Hanok Village, which is situated between the two major palaces. This is an area of preserved traditional homes. Like most rapidly progressing Asian cities, many of these had been torn down as people moved towards high-rise living. But, recent efforts have helped to preserve this area and make it a tourist destination as well. I'd love to spend more time wandering the narrow streets on a less rainy day some time. We ducked in from the rain for lunch at a great little place called Pan Steak.

Korea was a wonderful surprise. So far, this has been true of almost everywhere we have gone in Asia. We are constantly impressed by these great gems. Seoul also has wonderful nature surrounding it, with mountains and easy hiking access right on the metro. Another place I'd love more time to explore (or even settle down for a bit)!

Korea DMZ and Joint Security Area Tour

Seoul is a short jaunt from Shanghai, so we packed up for a quick three-day weekend trip recently. We rented a GREAT Air BandB apartment as a home base and had a number of fun and interesting activities lined up, along with a plan to just have a fun time exploring. We'll share more about all our fun (and delicious!) activities soon, but our first post is on a more serious note.

We had decided to get some important context while in Seoul by visiting the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). There are various tour options available, and we did an afternoon tour focusing on the Panmunjom area/JSA (Joint Security Area) with TourDMZ. We got a bit of background (and important guidance on behavior while in the DMZ) from our guide on the hour-long bus ride from Seoul before stopping for lunch. Our first official stop was Imjingak park and the Freedom Bridge. This area was set up for visitors to be able to access the DMZ fairly easily and pay their tributes, remember the war, etc. You can see the many ribbons on the fence and notes about peace and reunification.

Map of the DMZ. The DMZ Wikipedia page gives a good overview of this area, history, etc.

Next, we entered Camp Bonifas and the JSA. The JSA is used by South and North Korea for diplomatic engagements. It's the only portion of the DMZ where the two sides stand face-to-face, so it is a solemn and stark reminder of this ongoing conflict.

South Korean forces and United Nations Command run this area and we were given a briefing and provided with guest passes and asked to sign a declaration of the rules while visiting. The American presence is much lighter than in the past, with about 90% of the soldiers being South Korean, but we had an American soldier as escort throughout.

The soldier and our guide were very helpful in answering questions and explaining the area to us. There are two villages within the DMZ, one for South Koreans (they call it "Prosperity Village") and one for North Koreans (the South Koreans call it "Propaganda Village"). 

We learned a lot about Prosperity Village as well as some of the incidents that have occurred within the DMZ/JSA. These include the "ax murder incident" in which several United Nations Command soldiers were cutting back a tree in order to have better clearance on their viewpoint and were attacked by several North Korean soldiers. Two UNC soldiers were murdered. In another incident, a Russian national tried to defect while on a N. Korean JSA tour. The area is run very tightly and the tours are cancelled during times of heightened security, but the stories are clear reminders that this remains an unstable region (the night after our tour, a S. Korean soldier shot and killed several of his colleagues, which obviously was not an issue between the two sides, but clearly had the whole area on high alert).

We were taken inside the conference buildings where the two sides have diplomatic talks. You can see the South Korean soldiers, who stand in a martial arts pose (and also stand with half their bodies behind the building to "make a smaller target" per our U.S. soldier guide). In this conference room, you are essentially stepping foot into N. Korea, though you don't get a passport stamp. We were permitted to take pictures and look around briefly. It is all completely surreal and pretty tense as they tell you both sides record and monitor everything in the building and you think about the discussions that have gone on here.

From outside, we were told more facts about the various building (being reminded once again not to point at anything or anyone). There is a "recreation" building for the North Koreans, which has no recreation equipment or much of anything (we were told this, clearly not something we could see on the tour). Apparently, on occasion, soldiers will be packed in to the room and apparently watch the other side and make provoking/rude gestures. Our group was watched carefully by the sole North Korean soldier standing guard on their side (according to our guide, there is always another soldier also watching from inside the building).

We toured around the area further on bus, with background on the area and incidents as well as better views of the two villages. We stopped to take pictures of what looks like nothing, but is the "bridge of no return" which was used for prisoner exchanges. It gets its name from the fact that prisoners were given the chance to remain captive or return home, but never be allowed to return.

As we rode back into modern, bustling Seoul, there was a lot to process. I am happy we did the tour, as I have tried to learn more about the war, ongoing conflict and North Korea since being in Asia. It is one of the most puzzling and disturbing things in today's world (though there's a lot of competition for that honor) and I think it gave some important context to our visit to Seoul.

For anyone interested, I'm also glad to recommend some books on North Korea and I'll try to put some up on our site's Amazon recommendations.