Day 7: Cambodia

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Saturday, March 13, 2016

We rose early with the goal of beating the heat and the crowds as we explored some of the temples (aka Wats) in the Great Capital of Angkor. Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from the 9th to 15th centuries. The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, ranging in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the Angkor Wat, said to be the world’s largest single religious monument. Visitors approach two million annually making this a popular destination, and is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our first spot was enigmatic Bayon. Our knowledgeable guide went over the history of this temple, and we were able to thoroughly explore the ruins… it was great as there was practically no one else there besides us!

Next we moved onto Angkor Thom (Great City), which was an immense city and the capital of the Mahayan Buddhist King Jayavarman VII’s empire. The city is a square, with walls 8m tall and 3km long on each side, and surrounded by a moat. The Bayon (temples) mixes both Hindu and Buddhist iconography and its several terraces contain 54 towers with facades of stone faces.

After exploring the site, we then found a private temple off in the woods to enjoy some breakfast.

Getting back to the car, we then went further out to visit Banteay Srei, a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva and nicknamed the “Citadel of Women”. A jewel-box of red sandstone, it is famed for its intimate size and the intricacy of its carvings.

After being a bit templed-out for the day, we changed up our day to see a different side of Cambodia’s culture, at a dance school! Ravynn Karet Coxen opened the Conservatoire of Aspara Dance as part of a humanitarian effort to deliver the essentials to the rural areas of Cambodia, including vaccinations, clean water, and education. A traditional dance was put on by the children along with a lotus blessing. I had no idea how much hard work, dedication, and stretching was required to master the traditional dance. These dancers of the Sacred Dancers of Angkor troupe, who train everyday for hours on end, were truly incredible, and in 2013 they (~30 dancers) had the opportunity to spend a month in four cities in the US (Boston, Washington D.C., New York, and Los Angeles), and it was touching to hear their stories. It was such a special way to spend the afternoon that everyone enjoyed. This was then followed by a traditional lunch (feast as I would call it) of lobster, fish, chicken, and much, much more! Once we returned to the hotel, we swam laps and then made it to the spa for some extra relaxation before dinner.

A special dinner was planned for us that night at Banteay Samre. It was fabulous and quite the event! We enjoyed gourmet Khmer cuisine on the grounds of the incredibly well-preserved temple, and were treated to a variety of performances, including traditional Cambodian dances.

Day 6: Cambodia

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Friday, March 11th, 2016

The next leg of our trip was to Siem Reap, otherwise known as the cultural capital, filled with incredible landscape and temples. Upon our arrival at the airport, we were picked up by Amansara’s fleet of vintage, classic 1960s Mercedes.

Amansara is at the threshold of Angkor Archaeological Park, containing the vast ruins of the largest pre-industrial urban settlement on Earth. The Amansara is the former guesthouse of King Sihanouk, so it has the charm and intimacy of a private home and is filled with jasmine flowers everywhere. The smell permeates the entire atmosphere, and is absolutely splendid. The Amansara was opened in 2002, keeping as much of it as it once was, but with the modern comforts and updates of Aman. Back in the 60s this is where Jacqueline Kennedy would stay, so it has always been the most fabulous place in Siem Reap, and I’m sure Angelina Jolie would agree. We had a beautiful room, with a great layout and highly attractive design, and fish pond and our own private pool.

With a few hours of afternoon left, we grabbed our remork (Cambodian tuk tuk) driver and hit the downtown. We buzzed around and saw local crafts being made. It was impressive to see all of the stone carvings being made by hand.

Stopping off in Kandal Village, we went through many great shops. It appears that this is the upsale shopping district in the old French quarter where many expats have opened up businesses. We especially liked the Little Red Fox Espresso (I had a lemongrass-ginger iced coffee which was the BEST ever!), but when the power blew out in this area (and probably many other areas) of Siem Reap due to excessive heat (we arrived during a heat wave) and also infrastructure upgrade projects, we bolted back to the Amansara to enjoy the pool and some air con.

After freshening up we were out that night for a party that was hosted by a haute couture Malagasy designer, Eric Raisina. We had a lot of fun, met many ex-pats who were friends with Catherine and our other local Aman friend, Sally, and it also included a fashion show! Nick and I both left with some pieces as a nice souvenir and headed back to the Amansara for a nice dinner.

Day 5: Laos

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Thursday, March 10, 2016

We rose early and met up with our guide to see more of Luang Prabang. We started at the morning market which was mostly vegetables and meat – with a lot of live animals as well!!  Ducks, chickens, frogs, snails, moles, and raccoons were just some of what we saw!! Even a small owl!

From there we visited the Royal Palace, built in 1904 by the 42nd king of Laos.  When the monarchy was evicted from the country, the new government converted the palace into a museum, and in it were housed many artifacts from the royalty, including thrones, garments, furniture, accessories, and a garage filled with old heritage cars (including a Citroen, Edsel, Lincolns, and a Toyota FJ). Unfortunately no photography was allowed.  After the palace, we hiked up 328 steps to the top of Wat Phousi Hill, which is what it sounds like, a temple on the top of a hill. The views all across Luang Prabang were magnificent! We then hiked down and did some shopping in the boutiques on the way back to Amantaka. Including walking across a bridge made of bamboo! Scary thing to know, this gets washed away and rebuilt each monsoon season!

At 1:00pm we then boarded a river boat for a cruise along the river to the Pa Ou Caves. It was a relaxing 2 hour excursion upstream and we also stopped off at a small nearby village where we tried the local whiskey – $#^&*@! (our reaction to it). Women were weaving beautiful tapestries, something Laos is known for. Once we climbed into the caves, we were overwhelmed by the thousands of statues of Buddha! Because an image of the Buddha cannot be destroyed, for hundreds of years Laos’ damaged Buddhas have been sent to these caves, so these caves held these centuries of retired Buddhas!

That evening we ventured out of the hotel and found a great restaurant with proper Lao cuisine, which surprisingly, are hard to find. There is a strong French influence in Luang Prabang – baguettes and pastries are excellent here – but the local food isn’t as popular with tourists. Tamarind, the restaurant we went to was opened to help showcase Lao food and also has a cooking school! Our server was excellent and helped us to order a good spread of food, and even taught us the best way to eat – with your hands. I loved it! Sticky rice is used to scoop up your food and is used in place of utensils. Thai cuisine would be the most similar, but some main differences would be the sticky rice found in Laos, and dishes that are not as brothy but instead thicker so that you can use the rice to scoop up the food. Chopsticks are only used for noodle dishes, which generally aren’t as popular in Laos.

After dinner we walked back to Amantaka, stopping at the night market to see all of the trinkets the locals were selling.

On our last morning, we woke early and got out onto the streets where just the night before we had been for the night market.  At the crack of dawn was the alms giving to the monks of Luang Prabang, who in their rich saffron-colored robes and number in the hundreds, make their way through the city on this centuries-old ritual.  The procession of monks passed by quickly, stopping at each of the kneeling alms-givers to put a dollop of sticky rice into their bowls.  All of this was done in silence, interrupted only by the noises of several tourists…  Now, for the most part, tourists were well-behaved.  However, there were several exceptions to this, with certain individuals elbowing their way in and being generally obnoxious.  If you’re going to watch, watch from a distance (bring a zoom lens), and don’t be disrespectful to the monks.  Nevertheless, this was a highly moving experience to watch a ritual that has such a deep, rich history.

Days 3&4: Laos

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Wednesday, March 9th, 2016

We left Vietnam in the morning and flew to Luang Prabang, Laos. It was one of our fellow travelers birthdays, so we had cake on the plane to celebrate!

We’re staying at Amantaka, which is set up on a garden estate that was a former hospital and now a beautiful colonial hotel, reflecting the town’s French colonial history. The scent of lemongrass surrounds the Amantaka, a smell that will continue to remind me of this special place long after we are gone. It also works as a great natural bug repellent, which is a life saver out here. Luang Prabang is a picturesque town on the banks of the Mekong River, and is the home of the former Royal Palace and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, helping to keep the culture alive.

Upon arrival we grabbed some bicycles and went out with a guide to explore Luang Prabang.  Biking through the narrow streets of Luang Prabang is definitely an experience, as there are no traffic lights and it’s a “hope for the best” affair.  Our first stop was the Wat Xieng Thong (Temple of the Golden City), the first and still one of the most important of the Lao monasteries.  It was constructed in 1559, and sits near where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers meet.  The brilliant decorations and stunning colors of this UNESCO site definitely stood out, and it was fascinating hearing the history of the kings and monks of this sanctuary.

After that, we stopped at several places near the Mekong and also in the shopping districts, with our guide pointing out several of the best restaurants, shopping sites for locally-produced goods (such as textiles and other souvenirs) and a great spot for massages.

We made our way back to Amantaka to prepare for the evening festivities. Our guide for the evening was Prince Tiao Nithakong Somsanith (“Nith”), who went over the history of Laos, and interesting stories of his life and family. He also oversaw a traditional Baci ceremony which we were able to participate in, followed by a presentation of a few traditional dances and then dinner. One of the interesting points we learned was that while UNESCO preserves these sites, it is up to people like him to help preserve the culture and traditions of the local peoples.

Day 3: Vietnam

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March 8th, 2016

We woke at the crack of dawn so that we could trek up one of the hillsides and watch the sunrise over the ocean. It was a good morning hike where we broke a sweat and had some amazing views over Vietnam. Once we made our way back down, stopping at a nearby cove, we went straight to yoga to get our zen on.

That afternoon we kayaked across the inlet to a floating restaurant. The fishermen bring their catch to this locals only spot and we are able to point and pick out what we want to eat, which was basically everything! It was very good and we left very full!

From there we kayaked into the village. After walking around a bit we were invited into one local womens home for tea and snacks.

Later that evening was some traditional Vietnamese dancing which was organized at the hotel for our last night.

Days 1&2: Vietnam

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March 6th + 7th, 2016

Dubai quickly came to an end when we woke up in Bangkok to begin the rest of our trip. I would not recommend taking a red eye, especially when your days and hours are all mixed up from international travel – however we had to maximize the time we had. We were shuttled off to the private jet terminal where we would meet the rest of our group to travel throughout Southeast Asia. There are 16 of us total (8 couples: 4 from the States, 2 from Europe, 4 friends from China) along with our guide and founder of the travel group (Remote Lands – who also did our Honeymoon to the Maldives!) Catherine. The itinerary is 15 days of touring Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, and Tokyo by means of private jet (Gulfstream G200). We will be traveling to Aman properties in each country, so it really is a special itinerary.

With lots of time to play who’s who in the lounge before take off, it looks to be a great group of very friendly couples who love to travel. As we split up between the two jets, we were able to chat more with some of the couples on the 1.5 hour flight over to Vietnam, with lots of Champagne – of course! Finally arriving at our first property, the Amanoi in Vĩnh Hy, Vietnam, we knew we had arrived at paradise. The property was very zen-like, with an emphasis on wellness and relaxation. Our room was spectacular and setup just how I like it – very open with 360° views to the outside, very open walls.

We then made our way to the restaurant, which had magnificent views out to the ocean, for some traditional tea and snacks (Vietnamese green tea, Vietnamese rice pancakes, VERY fresh fruit… and cream puffs – Nick’s favorite). Having some time to kill before dinner we wandered over to the spa for a great couples massage.

 

For our first night, there was a welcome cocktails and dinner out at the Cliff Pool, a great infinity pool that overlooks the sea. It was a beautiful location, tasty food was served, and the lights of the fishing boats lit up the ocean. The food kept coming and drinks were flowing – it was a wonderful night and a great way to start off our trip and gave a taste of what Vietnam has to offer!

Waking up on Monday, we enjoyed yoga with some of the other guests before breakfast and then a day at the beach. Nick went out on the Hobie Cat a few times, we snorkeled, tried stand up paddle boarding (for the first time!), and did lots of swimming. What a great day!

Once the sun set, we headed down to the beach where a BBQ was set up for dinner. The location of where we are staying in is a National Park that is right next to a fishing village, meaning all of the seafood we had was fresh caught and so good!! At about 4:00pm we can see all of the boats heading out to throw their nets and catch all the fish they can before sunrise.

Ski, Desert, Shop!

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Early to rise Friday morning, Kim and Nick had come up with the great idea to go skiing, yes, snow skiing in the mall, because this is a thing. I had heard about this and seen on those travel television shows, but didn’t really think much of it, something for the uber tourist. Well, the next thing I know, we are all renting skis. Having been in Tahoe the weekend before, I was ready, and this was surprisingly much colder than our California skiing. I think they say it “slope” goes up 25 flights and even though it was early, there were quite a lot of people there! Up and down we went, my review? It was awesome. Would I do it again?? Absolutely. We had a blast and I really enjoyed the two hours of it we had. The other “skiers” there were a mix of kids taking lessons to learn, and very advanced skiers who probably miss the snow and this is the easiest and closest way they can get to a mountain. A lot of them even brought their own equipment!! We rented everything, including snow pants and jackets since we obviously did not pack for this!

Then it was time for our next tour!! We went back to Kim’s hotel, which was conveniently located in the Mall of Emirates where Ski Dubai is, had some tea and the appropriate sandwiches, and were picked up by Platinum Heritage for our desert safari. In our car was a young couple from Norway, along with a Swedish guy who was in Dubai working for a 6 month stint with his two friends visiting, and the three of us. We drove about 45 minutes out to the desert, which was actually private land that the Sheik owned which was neat, jumped into our very classic open air Range Rover, and we were off. Driving further into the sandy desert, we stopped a few times to check out some of the wild animals running around, and to run (and roll down) the sand dunes. It was such a neat experience, I felt like I could just run forever! Or until my calves gave up I guess! We had the opportunity to see a falcon fly and dive in for some food and learn about their history and why they are so important to the people of the area. Our last stop through the desert was at camp that was set up for dinner. Here we were able to hang out and ride camels, get henna, smoke hookah, watch a few performances from the locals, and had a traditional feast! Basically, we had an Arabic Luau! This was a huge highlight from our time in Dubai, we all had a great time!!

It was then our final day. We kept it low key and somehow ended up spending 6-hours at the mall. Embarrassing yes, but it really is the thing to do!!! The stores are all incredible; think of any high-end brand, you will find their store there. But we really didn’t spend the time in the stores, we were just walking around, they squeeze a lot of attractions into the mall, and given the hot summer temperatures, it makes sense.

Nick and I, along with my other friends in Dubai decided to go to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world!!! It worked out perfectly because I had another good friend, Nameeta, who was stopping into Dubai from NYC on her way to visit her family in Bangalore, and wanted to join as well. Nameeta are good friends from London, so it was fun to see her in Dubai! The views from Burj Khalifa were awesome, however it seems more like they are currently doing a lot of city planning and building to make the views from the top amazing as most of what you see is desert. The scariest part of the whole experience for me had to be the elevator ride up. I can’t believe some people LIVE that high, and ever HIGHER! We were on the 125th floor and there were still about 40 floors or so above us!!!

Kicking off our trip in Dubai

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Once we landed, getting out of the airport and to our hotel was surprisingly a breeze. It was about 7:30pm and the city was so lit up! The height of all the buildings was impressive, Dubai is such an exciting place and we were looking forward to the next few days of adventure! After checking into the Shangri-la Dubai (our room was all the way up on the 32nd floor with a view of the Persian Gulf!) we went to get a quick a bite. There was a Chinese restaurant, Shang Palace, in our hotel which looked fantastic so we decided to have a light dinner there. Since the UAE is Muslim, one thing to note is alcohol is allowed to be served only in hotels. This means that all of the hotels have plenty of restaurants and nightclubs!! The second thing we quickly found out was that pork was generally not served. This made me very happy since we picked a Chinese restaurant, meaning all the shrimp dumplings were safe for me!! (since I don’t eat pork, poultry, or beef) Living in San Francisco, a city with the most restaurants per capita (higher even than NYC) with cuisines from all over the world, it can be hard to impress us when dinner time comes around. This, however, was seriously some of the best Chinese I think I have had, and I’m not even much of a Chinese food eater. Now I know why people go gaga for dumplings.

We rose Thursday morning ready to tackle the day and see as much of Dubai as we could. Before we arrived, I had set up a 5-hour driving tour that I found through TripAdvisor with OceanAir travel. They picked us up promptly at 9:00am and we were off! A family of 3 from Pisa, Italy joined us, along with another woman and her mother from Switzerland. Our guide, Adel, came from Egypt and informed us that there is a large Egyptian population in Dubai because much of the tourism in Egypt has evaporated due to the current situation and has moved to Dubai where tourism continues to grow every day. He was a great guide with lots of interesting facts and stories about the UAE. I found it fascinating to learn that the main industry in Dubai was originally pearl fishing. However, once the Japanese were able to manufacture artificial pearls, that business became less profitable for Dubai. Fast forward to the 1950s when oil was discovered, which lead to great wealth for the country. To prevent another economic downturn as the supply of oil would eventually run out, it was decided to invest in creating a significant tourism industry so that people would always have a reason to visit the country. How to do this? Make everything bigger and better than anything and anywhere else so that they would be the best… in the world. We next stopped off at the Atlantis resort  which has an aquarium filled with over 65,000 fish and water creatures!!! (The Dubai Mall also has a huge aquarium but with only 35,000 marine creatures). We also visited a mosque, the Burj Al Arab which is that famous 7-star hotel with a heli-pad and patterned after a sail, went over to Old Dubai which has the gold and spice markets, and of course to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.

After returning to the Shangri-la, we freshened up and were back out the door to meet up with friends. Besides the fact I have always been intrigued to visit Dubai, it helped that I currently have a childhood friend who lives in Dubai, Ariel Steinberg. As luck turned out, we also had another high school friend, Kim Toomer, who was in town for work, who seriously I may not have seen since graduation in 2002??? Or sometime during college visits home, nonetheless, a long time! We all met (along with Ariel’s mother, Leslie, who is wonderful, just happened to also be in town for a visit) at 360*. It’s a bar which jets off from the Burj al Arab with incredible views of the Gulf, the city, and the infamous hotel. It was such a fabulous time all meeting and catching up, after several cocktails we decided to extend the fun by heading back to Ariel’s apartment and ordering some Indian food.

I learned that the Marina is a popular place for folks to live that work in Dubai. The population of residents is actually 90% expatriates, so the community is large and helpful for those who relocate. It is actually hard to find Emirati people in Dubai. We went up to the 50th-something floor in her building, which was not event near the top and my ears were popping in the elevator! It’s totally crazy to me how the buildings are SO tall, it’s a bit scary, but I guess you get used to living in the sky. We appropriately drank Schramsberg and had some of the best curry ever. I think I was sweating tikka masala for two days after, and I am not kidding. Now I know why the Spice Souk was so busy and a popular place to visit!!

 

Dubai or Bust!

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Up, up, and away! Here I am, at an altitude of 37,000 feet, sipping on Veuve Clicquot as I catch up on this past years movies during our 16+ hour flight to Dubai from SFO, and I must say, Emirates does it right. Nick and I got very lucky, we are headed off for a 21 day adventure which kind of happened by chance, through South East Asia – Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, and Tokyo (an itinerary put together by Remote Lands, who incidentally also did our honeymoon to the Maldives). I also took this as an opportunity to make a stop off in Dubai for a few days. It’s a destination that has always intrigued me, heck; it was even an option in my future plans as I job searched whilst my time in London was coming to an end, and the fact that I have a lifelong friend residing there at the moment, it was the perfect time and excuse to visit.

 

Curious about what we have been eating? I can fill you in. To set up the flight, I thought it was only appropriate to start with a Kir Royale, this was actually my first real drink when I turned 21, so a great celebratory beverage for me. I had a traditional Arabic Mezze consisting of local savory dishes such as houmous, moutabel, muhammara, and stuffed grape leaves. It was excellent.

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Nick had the smoked salmon. As a main course I had the Baked Sea Bass, not bad considering it still is just airplane food. Nick went with the Chicken Nilgiri which was cooked in a coriander and mint curry, served with patak paneer and steamed rice, it looked excellent.

The showstopper of course was dessert. Chocolate and Pineapple mousse with a honey anglaise, yum!

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My friend, Ariel, happens to work for the airline Emirates, so she was able to get us some nice seats on this Airbus A380,  and this plane is huge. We boarded and went straight upstairs (my first time on a double decker!) to our seats and access to an in flight lounge. It is really nice to go there to stretch your legs, have a drink, and hang out with some of the other chatty passengers. Not to mention all of the nibbles they have such as tea sandwiches, various warm bites, and sweet treats. I found myself wandering back there a few times…

Poke, Kalua Pig, Lomilomi!

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Hawaii definitely has it’s good eats on the island. I was more up to venturing off our hotel to get a little more of the local cuisine. We found a fantastic little caffe in a neighboring town to where we stayed which we went to more than once! We just stumbled upon Waimea Coffee Company on our own, and it was the best ever. The pour over was so smooth, and the acai bowls and smoothies we had were also excellent. What we liked most about this place was it was a very “locals only” joint, and even had some musicians playing inside on a Sunday morning – I loved that! Clearly it was the place to be. We also noticed what looked like to be a very popular Hawaiian breakfast spot across the street, Hawaiian Style Cafe, it was too heavy for us Tans, but would recommend it to anyone looking for a comforting morning meal.

Me diving into my acai bowl and Nick enjoying breakfast at the Mauna Kea. Surprisingly only dined at the restaurant one morning.

One day we were on the beach, we noticed two couples who, from what it seemed, met at the hotel in the previous day and were exchanging restaurant recommendations. My ears perked up and I listened intently to what they had to say. From what I gathered, “Merriman’s” was the place to go. Checking it out online, it looked great! The Chef, Peter Merriman, originally from Pennsylvania, came out to the Big Island for what he thought was just a few months to work in the kitchen of the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, and hasn’t left since. He is one of the 12 famous chefs to help create and popularize what is “Hawaiian Regional Cuisine” and has opened several restaurants throughout Hawaii. After dining at Merriman’s on this past trip, I would definitely say it was the best meal I have had in Hawaii to date.

Dinner at Merriman’s. Best poke I have ever had in my life, and warm chocolate dessert – need I say more?!?! I love me a chocolate purse.

The last (but not least) dining experience that I will note was the LUAU we went to!!! It was my first time going to a Luau (and 4th trip to Hawaii!) and it was sensational!!! The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel has the best luau on the island and I was very impressed! The hula dancers, flame twirlers, food, music, Mai-Tai’s, it was all great!!! Nick and I had a wonderful time with lots of great food, plus I got my fill of that Hawaiian macaroni salad we all know and luck (but hate to admit!)

The Hawaiian feast!!!! Yumm!

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Such a beautiful place!!

*mere*