Diwali Break Siem Reap 3

Today I went to Kabal Spean, Banteay Srei, Banteay Samre and the Land Mine Museum.

I had three tours as part of a package with the hotel.  I assumed today was more temple, which it was, but I was in for a surprise!  We drove an hour and half in the tuk-tuk along Cambodian Country roads.  It was gorgeous, but I wan't able to take a lot of pictures due to the speed and bumpiness of the tuk-tuk.

We got to Kabal Spean and it was so nice.  I hiked into the Cambodian jungle for 1.5 Km.  It was really rocky and sandy.  At the end there was a riverbed with carvings in it.   When I got back, I grabbed a Fanta and some Pringles and sat in front of fan.  I went to go find my rickshaw driver and he was sound asleep - they hang hammocks in the rickshaws - way more comfortable than the way drivers sleep in Indian rickshaws.

Carvings in the river bed

Banteay Srei  is called citadel of beauty or citadel of women and has very intricate carvings. 

The last temple I went to was Banteay Samre.  I gave my Pringles to the little girls selling stuff.  I am so glad that I have a job I like and that I don't have to go around following tourists all day yelling "$3 for you"  "special price for you"  "You think about it and come back later"  I try to not be too annoyed because I know they are just trying to make a living.  

The Cambodia Land Mine Museum  The Cambodian Landmine Museum was established in 1997 by Aki Ra who is an ex-child soldier.  Land mines and unexploded ordinances are still a big problem in Cambodia.  The Khmer Rouge left behind a lot of land mines and the US dropped loads of bombs during the Vietnam War and some of them didn't explode and are still causing damage to farmers, etc. 

Diwali Break Siem Reap 2

Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, Mebon, Banteay Kdei, and Prerup

More temples today!

After a lovely breakfast, I go in the tuk-tuk with my driver Taea and off we went.  

It is HOT and humid here, but nice to see the sun.  The pollution haze is so bad in Mumbai, we don't see it. 

People may think that is "sacrilegious" because tourists should eat local food. Beef was always hard to come by in India, but this spring they made it ILLEGAL to buy, sell, or consume beef - punishable by 5 years in prison. so I only get burgers when I travel. I have tried eating burgers at local places and have been sorely disappointed sometimes and it might be MONTHS before I get another burger. So... if I come across a Hard Rock Cafe - I eat there. The burgers are pretty much standard across countries, I get some American music, employees speak excellent English and they usually have wifi and AC. A must in Southeast Asia. I enjoyed my burger. Next one will be at Christmas!!

Diwali Break Siem Ream

I decided to take a short trip during Diwali this year.  We had WWW last week and I wanted a couple  days to recuperate so I didn't leave until Monday morning.  I had a flight from Mumbai to Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) but when I got to the airport, there was no flight to HCM city and my flight number was connected to a flight to Bangkok.  I was confused. The guy at the counter said that I stay on the plane in Bangkok and continue on to HCM city.  They didn't mention it on the flight (which they usually do on these kinds of flights) so I asked the flight attendant and she had no idea what I was talking about and was confused when I showed her my boarding pass with HCM city written on it.  She said she would contact people and let me know.  Of course she didn't.  I got off the flight and asked ground staff and they told me to get back on along with a few other people.  That same flight attendant worked that flight!  How did she not know it was going to HCM city after Bangkok?!?!  The flight was about an hour, then I had another hour long flight to Siem Reap Cambodia.

I am staying at the Palm Village Resort and Spa and they were at the airport waiting for me with a sign.  It is a cute place on a quiet dirt road.

my sink

path to my bungalow

My Bungalow

outdoor eating area

In the morning, I got breakfast - a poached egg, pancakes, and some fruit.  It is hot and humid here, but there is a nice breeze in the tuk-tuk.  Rickshaws or Tuk-tuks are common in asia, but different in various regions.  These have no sides and there are two benches that face each other so 4 people can fit in them.  They are powered by a motorcycle which is toting the tuk- tuk.  In Mumbai, the rickshaw actually has its own motor.  The traffic actually MOVES  here so the rider gets a breeze.  There is rarely any honking and people drive in a safe, orderly manner.

The Angkor UNESCO site is HUGE.  400 square km.  It has been filmed in movies such as Lara Croft's Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones' Temple of Doom. I got a tuk-tuk driver to take me to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom Chausay Thevoda, and Ta Prohm Temple, and Ta Keo Temple.   I'm not sure which pictures are from which site :)  but I got some good ones.

I like my driver so I asked him to come back tomorrow for my adventures.

Week Without Walls - 2nd trip to Gujarat

Week Without Walls - Gujarat, India

Every year our students go on a week long field trip called Week Without Walls.  Our 8th graders study the Indus Valley Civilization in Social Studies and last year our teachers wanted the kids to go see some ruins since we are in India. Those teachers are not here this year, but we continued the trip.

On Monday morning we met the kids at the airport at 3:30 am!! and flew to Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat.  It is on the upper left corner of India, on the Pakistan border. 

We had 45 students, 13 teachers, a nurse and 4 security guards.  We arrived in Ahmedabad (with all of our luggage!!) and went to a Taj hotel to have buffet breakfast.  We left for the long drive to Dholavira around 8:30.  We were in two big busses instead of 6 little ones this year.  We went a more direct route and had no blown times like last year.  This year we had the company Jungle Lore help us with logistics.  They had us stop at some great bathroom stops that were a lot better than last years!  They had Cafe Coffee Days at them!  and they found a Dominos half way there so the kids got something more substantial than junk food on the bus.  

Taking the kids to the bathroom cracks me up!!  We have western toilets in most places we go to in Mumbai (sometimes a bathroom has both western and squat toilets). But squat toilets are more common in other parts of India. Some of them are VERY sketchy, but Jungle Lore plotted out some great ones for us.  The kids still complained.  Said it was disgusting- ha!  They should have seen what we used last year!  At one of the Cafe Coffee Day stores I took the opportunity to use a western toilet.  One of my boys was coming out of the bathroom and said it was so disgusting he couldn't use it - said there was poop everywhere.  I found that hard to believe so I peeked in and saw nothing.  I got closer and saw two turds in the toilet.  That is it and he would use it.  Poop is supposed to be in the toilet!  just flush it!!  We were lucky to be in a place with flushing toilets!

 We stayed at Dholavira Resort and Spa - India is a little loose with the words "resort and spa"  :)  We arrived around 6pm - long drive! The huts held 5 kids and had a running tap for a bucket shower.  We had so many adults on the trip that we didn't have enough room in the huts so Nupur and I stayed in a tent.  It had a fan, toilet, and bucket shower.  Monday night, a famous Gujarati folk singer came to perform for the kids. 

On Tuesday, we split the kids into two groups and half went to the fossil park and half went to the excavation sites of Dholavira - a Harappan site. I went to the fossil park first - we had to walk a LONG way in the heat.  We only had 2 cars to ferry us back and forth.  So people would pile into the cars and the rest would walk until the cars came back.  The kids found fossilized wood and shells etc in the fossil park. Last year at the Rann of Kutch we saw the most amazing salt flats, but this monsoon Gujarat got a lot of of rain and it was all sea.  When we got back, there was a potter there so show the kids how the clay pots were made (that we found in the archeological site)  they got to use the wheel and made pots. 

 My group went to the archeological site after lunch ( it is 30 miles from Pakistan) and the kids got to see all the ruins which were really cool.  We went back to the campsite to rest, play games, and plan skits.  

  

On Wednesday we drove back to Ahmedabad.  We stayed at the YMCA which the most amazing YMCA I have ever stayed.  It is great for the kids.  We had all the girls on the second floor and all the boys on the third floor.  The room doors open outside into a courtyard so we could sit out there while the kids played or used the pool.  

I am very intolerant of Indian food - it makes me sick.  It could be I am sensitive to the spices and oils or that my lupus meds have destroyed my stomach lining so it is sensitive.  I do NOT eat it in any circumstance.  I am psychotic about it and if I smell spices I don't eat it.  On these trips I usually only each granola bars which is not great.  This year we ate at dominos a few times and Dholavira served boiled eggs and fruit.  At the YMCA they made one non veg dish and it looked good so I ate it.  I got what looked like plain rice with veggies.  I took two bites and stopped because it tasted Indian.  I woke up barfing in the middle of the night.  augh!  it could be the rice.  or could be on monday a girl barfed for two hours on the bus in a plastic bag right next to me - maybe I caught it.  Miserable. 

I didn't get to go, but the kids got to see  Ghandi's Ashram(Sabarmati Ashram), the Adalaj Stepwell, and the Akshardham Temple.  In the evening, the kids did their skits and played in the courtyard.  We left Friday morning for our 12:30 flight. 

Now we get a week off for Diwali. 

Saabrucken, Germany and Beaufort, Luxembourg

On Wednesdays, our hotel offers a free bus excursion to Saabrucken, Germany.  It was a modern city destroyed in WWII but there were a few things restored to the way they were.

The leaves are just starting to change which I miss!  There was a circular walk through the city to see some of it's interesting sites.

Ludwig's Church- it was carefully restored after being destroyed on WWII

Ludwig's Church it was carefully restored after being destroyed on WWII

Legend has it there was a miserly baker who wouldn't give to the poor and would only give women bread, if they gave him sex. The military commander's wife dressed up like a beggar to catch him and he was put in the stockade and died a few days later.  They built this effigy of him and used it as a sewage gargoyle and a warning to others to not be stingy.

On Thursday, we took a bus to Bedford and tried to hike the Mullerthal Trail to Beaufort to see another Castle.  It didn't work out like we planned!  We did hike on a great part of the trail, but so many different lines of the trail passed through some points and it was confusing.  After a few hours, we still had a ways to go so we found a road and saw that Beaufort was only 4km away so we walked there via the road.  It was hilly and pretty, but a little dangerous.  Cars were zooming by and we didn't have a lot of room on the side of the road.

These cows look way healthier and happier than Mumbai cows

Beaufort Castle

We took a bus back to Echternach and went swimming in the pool at the hotel.
Evelyn took this gorgeous picture.

Our hotel is known for its restaurant and we have eaten there twice.  We had steak both times - BEEF - since we are going to be back in India soon and will no longer have access to beef.

Tomorrow we are headed back to Luxembourg City and Saturday we will fly back to Mumbai.  It has been a great week!!!