Travelling karma is an interesting phenomenon. The ferry trip to the mainland was over calm seas under a moody winter sky in the company of Pacific White sided dolphins surfing on our wake.

The young Indo-Canadian man who piloted my taxi to the airport became incandescent (in a very positive way 🙂 )  when I told him where I was headed. He immigrated to Canada from the Punjab in Northern India and has whole heartedly embraced his new country – Canada rocks! I emerged from the taxi ride with a list of survival tips in Delhi, ranging from which brand of bottled water to buy to how to negotiate streets filled with cows, pigs and other interesting items. We discussed food and the food supply links in the city. Refrigeration is uncommon and many city dwellers grow produce in small areas around their dwellings for their own consumption and to sell at the many markets in Delhi. I was told that I would eat better than anywhere I have been. Once at the Fairmont, an upgrade to to the Gold floor with a member lounge, outstanding view of the runway and strait of Georgia was the icing on the cake 😀 to a very good day.

Next day. After a nominal departure delay caused by offloading the bags of a male passenger whose VISA wasn’t in order :-(.   , our heavily loaded 787 taxied and just got off the ground before the runway ended at Georgia Strait in the heavy rain. The passenger left behind turns out was in the seat next to me. The luxury of two premium economy seats to myself was a real pleasure for the 14 hour trip (sorry dude) . Time was spent enjoying excellent Indian meals and snacks, as well as a very nice Syrah, reading and catching up on movies. A couple of them were duds,  but Victoria and Abdul (starring Judi Dench) is a gem and highly recommended. The Indian subcontinent greeted us at dawn with a magnificent vista of the Himalayans bathed in a icy blue glow.

Shorty thereafter (in airplane time 🙂 )  – Delhi became apparent on the horizon as an orangey brown cloud, rapidly enlarging into a massive urban sprawl housing 25 million people.

Security was a breeze. Watching people ahead of me in line get fingerprinted and grilled had me ready for a lengthy stay at the customs and Visa check points. A Canadian passport works wonders here, no fingerprinting or grilling, immediate passage through other check points. Just lots of smiles and welcome to India. My minder greeted me at the Exit, along with another Canadian couple on the same G Adventures tour as me. We hit it off right away and spent the hour or so waiting for our transport chatting, exploring how the local payphone systems work

(you use one and the charges get spit out on a tape below which you then take to the attendant and pay him) and trying to stay awake after 24 hrs without sleep. Our ride to the hotel was provided by a group called Women with Wheels. An all girl taxi service catering specifically for female travellers.

The term “assault on the senses” categorizes the trip into Delhi to our hotel. A cacophony of horns, cars and scooters going all different directions at once, smells (good and bad :-))), yelling, music, cows placidly eating garbage in the middle of the road. Dust and fumes everywhere, open air stalls full of fruit, roasting peanuts, and some interesting looking mystery meat….  Love it!!!!

After an hour we arrived at the hotel which is perfect. I have a pool view room on the inside of the hotel, just had a fabulous mulligatawny soup and a glass of Cabernet – life is good.

Tomorrow on to street food and my first foray into the city!

The non-stop rocking of the plane on the tarmac before we left Toronto was an indication that our journey was going to be interesting. We were right in the tail section of the flight. The old bucket of bolts vibrated all the way to San Salvador and landed with a grumble and shudder to the applause of the crew in the tail section – not very confidence inspiring. My two seat mates popped pills and drank wine through most of the flight – I guess they knew something we didn’t :-))) The plane from San Salvador to San Jose was about 50 years newer and the flight a smooth one. The service and food on both Avianca flights was excellent – North American airlines could learn a few things from their foreign counterparts.

After arriving at our hotel late last night, Carol and I were fortunate enough to secure two spots today on one of the Barrio Bird walking tours of the historic part of the city, plus visit to the main market and an excellent local lunch. Our email to the tour company owner at close to midnight was immediately answered and we were booked. The taxi from our hotel to the starting point of the walk was our first introduction to driving in San Jose.

Navigating in San Jose is an art form. Street addresses mean nothing. Landmarks are used to find locations- kind of like the directions you can receive on the Canadian prairies. My heart always sinks when some one says just go down past the green building on your left, behind the slough a few kms past that and turn right – you can’t miss it… We managed to get to the meeting point with the help of a very understanding taxi driver, whose use of a translation app that fed audio through his cab speakers just about put us through the roof of the vehicle when he used it the first time. But it worked and we could communicate 🙂 One tip – use only red taxis with meters if you go and do not want to haggle over the fare in advance.

Our walk started in the Parque Morazin which used to be a favourite hang out for the ladies of the night. The bandstand in the park has also served as a dance floor for courting couples in the past. Its main use now is as a nice shady spot to while away some time people watching.

We walked the main historic streets, saw some amazing street art,

checked out historic buildings, museums and had some very interesting people watching sessions. Our walk ended in the Mercado Central – a warren of alley ways full of everything from an extensive apothecary, to flowers, to all types of meat, produce, textiles and some excellent restaurants. We had lunch at one, splitting a tamale and an enchilada -washing it down with Cas – a Costa Rican fruit smoothie. Lovely way to end the trip.

We were very impressed with Barrio Bird walking tours. You can find them on the web at http://www.toursanjosecostarica.com. Our guide Carla was excellent and we recommend the company and Carla whole heartedly as a resource during a visit to the city of San Jose.

The weather is perfect, mid 70’s. We have a room over looking the inner courtyard and swimming pool. The louvered windows are open and a nice breeze is coming through the room. We meet our other group members this evening and leave for the Carribean coast of the country tomorrow morning.

Another long day by bus. Interesting views along the way. One thing we learned today is that recycled glass soft drink bottles are used to hold gasoline for selling to  motorbike owners. We had wondered what that yellow fluid in the bottles was. There are official service stations with pumps but the majority of the bike owners fillup at the small roadside stands. Also passed spirit house manufacturing central 🙂

The Thai border went relaitvely smoothly. Some tips if you go. An extra $15 “tax” will get you through the border without waiting in line.  Our crossing went well, despite me getting into the wrong line at the final check point.  Apparently there is a ladies line and a men’s line. I went into the mens line – chaos ensured with officials waving at me and shouting – I froze and did my  blond deer in the headlights routine – worked well – a line of people was building behind me and I got waved through along with all of my group 🙂 without the final check.

The scenary changed dramatically once we were in Thailand. It seemed like one long  strip mall until we reached Bangkok – which is huge. Very western and very boring after the colour and acitivity in the Cambodian countryside. Bangkok did greet us with a spectacular sunset.

We fly home tomorrow. It has been an intense trip and a life changing one.  Thanks to you all for following along and see you next time!

This place is immense. 100,00’s of thousands of steps and a couple thousand photos later here we 🙂 temples visited included Angkor Wat., Angkor Thom, Preah Khan, Ta Prohm and East Mehon. I have included a schematic of the complex below.

They ranged from 1900 to 600 years old.  The speed at which the jungle takes over the temples is amazing – most are under restoration by foreign agencies working with the Cambodian governemnt. We managed to cover a great deal of ground today.

Tonight we visit the night market in Siem Reap.

It seemed like the entire population of Cambodia was headed in the same direction at 5 am – to Angkor Wat to see the dawn over the main temple.  The dawn didn’t disappoint as faint pinks intensified the sky and reflections in the pool in front of the palace. The appearance of the sun a few minues later completed a magical morning.

Angkor Wat park is a UNESCO world heritage site that covers about 400 square kms and contains temples  constructed from the 9th to 15 centuries during the rule of the Khmer empire. The temples started out as Hindu and are now Buddhist. The area was heavily mind by the Khmer Rouge and wasn’t safe until the last 20 years. We  focused today on Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom with the wonderful Banyon temple. Stairs are steep and high in Angkor watt in particular.Wooden stairs had to built in many areas as most dignitaries and religious figures arrived by elephant in the past. As they dismounted 20 feet off the ground, stairs were not required.

A visit to Ta Prohm – the overgrown temple where the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie was shot – rounded out the day . This temple is similar to  most of the Angkor Wat complex before restoration was started by the French in the 1860’s . The entire Angkor complex had been overgrown by the jungle following its abandonment by the Khmer in the 15th century . A bad drought at that time forced the relocation of the court to Phnom Penh.

A slow bus took us to Siem Reap over a period of about 7 hours. The bus meandered through the countryside and small towns and exposed us to a fascinating cross section of Cambodian life. Most of the houses in rural areas are built on stilts. This provides a room under the house which is shaded and used for activities during the heat of the day, the stilts also protect the house and inhabitants from flooding caused by monsoons and provides a shelter for livestock at night. People fish with hand thrown nets in most reasonably sized bodies of water

Transportation styles can be varied 🙂

Our first stop was at a country market. The long history of war and strife in this country has resulted in an interesting diet. One vendor sold deep fried insects – the cockroaches were 3 inches at least and the tarantulas even bigger. There were also a lot of bugs I couldn’t identify – must admit that I didn’t try very hard 🙂 .

We rolled into Siem Reap about 4 pm, had a quick rest and then caught Tuk Tuks and went out to a dinner at a local house in a village bordering the town. What a magical evening. Our hostess was a young woman who after learning english and getting a good paying job, returned to her village and is now sponsoring and educating 20 children in the village. Our group went for a village walk, met the children and their parents. We were then served a wonderful home cooked meal. We headed back to our hotel under a lovely orange moon and a cool breeze.

Tomorrow is day 1 at Angkor Wat

I am not sure how to approach this blog post – so will just put my shoulder into it and get it down the best I can. Choeung Ek is one of the many Khmer Rouge killing fields in operation from 1975 to the end of 1979. Many others  are found across Cambodia. Our route to Choeung Ek included a stop at the infamous S-21 prison and torture centre that housed over 20,000 prisoners from 1975 until 1979 when the Khmer Rouge was driven from power. Our local guide lost two younger siblings and many other family members in the genocide. The best I can do in describing S-21 is to direct you to Internet sources for photos and more information. What you will see and read is not exaggerated.

Choeung Ek itself was an orchard that proved the final resting place for 9,000 people executed by the Khmer Rouge. Mass graves are everywhere. Although most have been excavated, remnants of human bone are plentiful even though most of the remains have been removed from the graves. Babies, women, children and men were executed at Choeung Ek. The wooden shed, which housed hundreds of skulls and which was featured in the infamous photos which made the world aware of the extent of what had happened, has been replaced by a Buddhist Stupa. The Stupa houses 5,000 skulls as well as other bones.

I have visited Belsen in Germany and the genocide memorial in Rwanda. Both were powerful reminders of mans inhumanity to man. S-21 and Choeung Ek were like a punch in the gut.