my little adventures.

Even more of Cambodia... and wow, I am slow at getting these up. This should top it off though...

Here is a temple right next to Angkor Wat, called Angkor Thom or Bayon. It had faces carved all over each, one for each of the provinces of Cambodia at the time, I believe. It was another incredible site. I could've explored these temples for months, they were amazing.

Next stop, Ta Phrom, a favorite of one of our little Cambodian friends. This is the temple that was used in the film Tomb Raider, hence its nickname of Tomb Raider. I'm not quite sure why, but the way nature and neglect have destroyed the temple has made it gorgeous. It is an eerie kind of beautiful.

And I think these are my favorites pictures of the whole trip. I fell in love with all the little Cambodian kids (despite all of them wanting to sell us stuff). They were so full of energy and excited to have their pictures taken. We stopped at a roadside stand and hung out with the kids, they loved the candy we would bring for them and it distracted them from selling us stuff for a little bit. The 3 boys came to see us while we were waiting in our tuk tuk. And lastly, this little boy was so sweet, he didn't like his job, but was helping his family. He was a smart one and read a little for us and did a great job. Ah, I would have taken them all home with me if I could've...

A trip to Cambodia is not complete without a visit to Angkor Wat... so here it is...

I first saw Angkor Wat in a National Geographic magazine years ago, and as soon as I saw it, I wanted to go. One of the beauties of living in Hong Kong is being able to travel to tons of places easily... so I finally had my chance to come. It can now be checked of my list of places to visit, haha.
Angkor Wat is surrounded by a huge moat, which makes it seem really far away. It's an incredible sight, definitely did not disappoint.

These are images of the exterior and interior of the temple complex, but they don't do it justice. Being there is definitely an experience, the pictures only give you a tiny glimpse of what it's like.

These are images of some of the details. The walls were covered in reliefs, all telling different stories of the gods and battles and what not. Lots of the remain in good condition, with some shiny bits here and there as people rub certain areas for good luck. The walls and doorways have some of the original paint remaining, and it would be incredible to have seen it when it was built in the 12th Century. There are also many statues and buddhas, though many heads and faces were cut off to be sold in Thailand.

The adventures continue in Cambodia...

We crossed through the border and entered another world, though we didn't quite realize it at the time.

After a long day of bus rides, border hassles, and silly arguments with people wanting to scam us, we made it to Siem Reap, Cambodia and headed to our guest house. A celebration was in order, not only because we were off the bus and the bumpy roads, but because it was New Year's Eve. We found a party in full swing and celebrated the New Year.

We began our adventures in Cambodia by hiking up a mountain with our guide. As you can see, it was gorgeous... and we had the treat of learning a little about traditional Cambodian medicine along the way. The marks on our guides stomach was a traditional remedy, which they will do before going to a modern doctor... I think I'll go with the modern doctor first.

At the end of our hike was the River of 1000 Lingas. There were carvings all over, the sides of the river, even in the riverbed itself. Quite an amazing scene. The linga was a very common symbol in Khmer architecture at this time. One part of the river had a small waterfall with lots of Cambodian kids playing in it. One girl, who we named Hershey, was a little shy, but caught a crab and showed it to us.

From the river, we went to a temple, not sure on the name. But it was gorgeous, with intricate carvings all over it. It seemed like there wasn't a spot they had missed. I can't imagine the hours it would take to do all that carving. There was also some great examples of the ancient writing, sanskrit.

More images of the temples around Angkor Wat. For our first day, we took a tour to some of the surrounding temples around Angkor Wat. These were older temples and provided a good background for seeing the main complex. Again, intricately carved and beautiful, the temples and land around it.

There were lots of kids around the temples, you'll see later, so this little one wandering around was not out of the ordinary. The girl selling scarves was really fun, we had a good laugh with her and ended up buying a scarf from her. And lastly, our tour guide, who was pretty cool and quite knowledgeable... And he loved Tomb Raider (the movie) and AnGelina Golie.

Alright, here's where the adventures begin...
Jason and I planned a 2 week trip to Thailand and Cambodia over the holidays, which was a ton of fun. So here is a small sampling of our pictures and fun.

We started in Bangkok, Thailand...

...and tried some of the local cuisine. You'd make those faces too, if you were eating a bug. That was an experience we didn't feel the need to try again, strange.

Gold. I think that might be a favorite color there. Here's a few of the places we saw: the road decorated in gold; a giant gold reclining buddha; a gold Wat at the Grand Palace; and a Wat with lots of gold on and in it.

We found lots of animals in Bangkok - some alive, some pretty stiff. The birds were nice and very excited about dried corn. Jason found a new pet that didn't bite at him, like all the dogs we saw. And who doesn't love balancing elephants and stone animals with lots of teeth.

Part of the fun of traveling is trying different food, some turns out to be good, some not so good. The fresh pineapple was always a delight, the fruit smoothies became a daily addiction, while the barbecued squid did not. And who wouldn't want to drink cream soda from a bag?

Amidst our wanderings (we NEVER got lost) we found the flower market, which was quite a site. Like a little flower packing and shipping factory up and down the street. It was bright and beautiful and you could even find turtles made out of flowers.

All countries have their quirks and oddities.. so here's a few from Thailand. From top around (clockwise):
a) It's a country full of gents, but apparently you need a small mustache to qualify.
b) Who needs to spend lots of money on dentures when you can bargain on the street... I bet you could find a set for 30 baht ($1).
c) Money fish. That's gotta be worth a lot.
d) Scooters everywhere, and he makes riding a scooter look so good.
e) Tuk tuks... a good way to get around, one would think, turns out if you're white, you get to pay much more (unless you have good bartering skills and the driver's in a good mood).
f) So this little boy wasn't the best musician I've heard, but he got some money for effort.

Temples and religion seemed to be everywhere. Here are just a few of the things we saw dealing with that; some beautiful, some ironic.

A few more of the sites around Bangkok. These were taken at a variety of Wats and other buildings.

Monk bowls. The monks carry bowls to receive alms in each morning. They used to be handmade, but its cheaper to buy them from China (what a surprise...), but we decided to check out the old school way. This man and his family made bowls and he was extremely excited about Canada. He even gave us a "special price" just because I was Canadian... I bet lots of people got that special price too.

Just a few shots from one of our last nights in Bangkok. The city is beautiful at night. It's a pity though we don't have a picture of our dinner from that night. We grabbed some curry from a street vendor... it contained some very questionable meat. I'm not sure what most of it was, but what we did recognize were the chicken feet that not even the street dogs would eat. We also decided to check out some Thai kick boxing. It was just as entertaining to watch the crowd as it was the fights.

Merry Christmas! Haha, once again, a few weeks late on that, oh well. There are a few pictures of Christmas in Hong Kong. I spent Christmas Eve at Disneyland with a few friends, which helped make it feel more like Christmas (it sort of came without me realizing it). On Christmas Day, my friend Jason flew in and we spent the day with some friends here in Hong Kong, the Collins family. It was great fun, we had crowns and everything. So there you have it, Christmas in Asia.

Yes, I have been a slacker in the blog world lately... So here's a few images to tide you over, haha. Hong Kong is great, I've had a blast here so far... but I'm not done yet! I've decided to stay in Asia a little longer than originally planned. I will continue working for the same company doing product design. I'll probably start heading west in May or so, hopefully by way of Europe... We'll see.

Anyway, here's a good way to spend the weekend in November. My company rented a party junk for a work party several weeks ago. This is a little of the scenery.

A great way to spend the day; jumping into the sea and chilling with my coworkers.

So here's more of Singapore, I've been slow at getting them up.

Mmm... There is a good reason why Singapore is known for it's food. We had Malay food, which was great, who knew coconut rice with dried anchovies and peanuts would be good. Same with Indian fish head curry; far better than it sounds. I miss the food already.

The colors and types of flowers were incredible, here's just a little sampling...

Cities at night are always fun to see. Here we have the Singapore Merlion, this one is spitting, the city, the Esplanade Center and an exhibit in it.

Rachel and I along with some of our friends that we met at the zoo.

Here's some images of little place called Singapore.

The airport, a strange van/bus on the way home and Rachel outside of her house.

The Island of Sentosa, which is right beside Singapore, which is where the southern most point of continental Asia is.

None other than the luge at Sentosa, not what I'd call a scary ride, but enteraining all the same. Haha, Rache was good.

Turns out, if you take a bus for 20 minutes or so, you can leave the city and find the ocean. Just a few shots from Stanley.

The markets at Stanley, you can buy all sorts of stuff there...

And a little bit of color as the sun set on the water.

This is what I found just around the corner and up a street or so from my flat.

A few streets in my area. The first, Des Vouex Road, is the street that work is along. Apparently, it's the dried seafood street, and that's almost all they sell along it, as you can see from the other images. The second is the one I live along.

Here's my little flat, also known as my little box. It's small, but it works.

I met a couple girls visiting from Seoul at church and played in Hong Kong with them later that week. So here's a little from our adventure, starting at the Temple with KaRyn. We headed across the Harbour on the MTR to have dim sum and exploring. Lumina loved the circle building, we later found out is the Jardine House, which at one point was the tallest building in Hong Kong.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was a couple weeks ago, I'm a little slow at getting it up. It could also be referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival, as there were plenty of both. Around this time, everyone is eating mooncakes, which are heavy dense cakes traditionally with egg yolk in the center... definitely not a new favorite dessert, but worth a try. It could take months to eat one... So here are a few images of Victoria Park and the festival there.

A little elevator ride in the Hopewell Center for a great view.

Kowloon at night is quite a crowded place, especially at the markets. The Temple is gorgeous. I found a boat that looked like it could be a pirate ship, it's a little blurry, but at least Nicky can know where he can live when he grows up to be a pirate. And, the Pennisula Hotel... I don't think I make nearly enough to even have tea there...

I love the lights at night! It's always amazing and it was fun to see it with Rachel... So the images are a little blurry, but it's still incredible.

I have learned that you can't come to Hong Kong and not have dim sum. It's pretty good and different every time I've had it. So the Tan's chose the dishes. Does vinegar pork look good to you? (It's actually better than it looks). Not sure what the next ones are, but they're good... and Rachel and I did enjoy the meal, haha.

Hong Kong is an interesting mix of British and Chinese... These streets were right next to each other, but the first one is very Chinese and the next one, very British... That's Hong Kong.