Tis the time...

to look back on the year and have a look at everything that we have done.

Since I have not posted on all the exciting trips we have done in 2010 I thought I would catch up in one fell swoop by talking about all of them.  I'm going to do this chronologically for lack of a more creative idea.  We are going to start with

C... for Cambodia, but also A for Angkor Wat

 Fabien's parents came over to see us for a month long stay.  After touch down in Singapore, they went to spend 10 days in Vietnam, Christmas in Singapore with us and we then all went to spend 4 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia, gateway to the Angkor Wat archeological park.

Gateway to the Bayon temple

Young souvenir sellers in Ta Prohm

Apsara dancing figures at Angkor Wat

Ta Prohm

Some pilgrims

Reflection of the towers of Angkor Wat

Feeding the monkeys in the park

This complex of temples is the only witness that once the capital of a flourishing and wealthy Khmer Empire sat here from the 9th to 15th century.  It is named after the largest and most awesome of the ruins, the temple of Angkor Wat.  It was constructed as a Hindu temple but became a pilgrimage site for Buddhist as that religion gradually took over.

My favourite temple is however the Ta Prohm that was minimally cleared up and restored so visitors could witness how the jungle could take over these huge constructions - Spung trees seem particularly effective, their roots literally stepping over walls.

The Bayon is also a favourite with its dozens of heads looking impassively over the activity surrounding it.

We took the time to visit a village on the Tonle Sap, one the largest fresh water lakes in the world and the source of the agricultural wealth of the region as it expands and withdraws leaving enriching the soil in the process.  The village was very poor of course, a million miles away from the restaurants catering to tourists in down town Siem Reap.  People seemed to live mainly of fishing, improving their revenues by taking tourists on a tour of the mangroves around the village.  Part of the experience was the pretty long boat trip to and from our destination where we were able to see how a number of people literally live on the lake complete with schools and houses and seeing the mangrove trees peaking out of the water now that the level of the lake is starting to lower.

View of the village from our boat

Snacking after school

Practical tips:  best season to visit is November to February, the humidity levels are low and it rarely gets above 30 degrees celsius.  There are several budget airlines that operate direct flights from Singapore, such as Jet Air.  The standard pass to visit the park is of three days.  It cannot be done on foot - the options are renting a bicycle, a moto-taxi with driver or a car also with driver.

Other places of interest in Cambodia are the capital Pnom Penh (nice museum of Khmer artifacts and French colonial architecture) and Kep, for its beautiful beaches and houses dating back to the brief period between independence and the civil war.

Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the world.  Siem Reap is an island of wealth and the government hopes that the tourism due to Angkor Wat will have a big impact on helping the country out of poverty, however corruption and graft are very present.  You will not be faced with scenes of extreme poverty in Siem Reap, however if you are traveling with children it is best to prepare them to seeing kids of their age begging or selling trinkets.

C is also for..... China!

We intrepidly decided to spend Chinese New Year in China.  Seems logical no?  Most (Chinese) Singaporeans shook their heads in horror and disbelief when I exposed our clever plan arguing that the country would be paralysed by all the people traveling home for the holidays and that everything would be shut.  Since most of the Singaporeans I talked to had never actually set foot in China and certainly not during Chinese New Year we decided to take our chances.  

After a connecting flight in Guangzhou, we landed in Guilin, Guanxi, famous for its karstic formations along the river Li.  The temperature difference was pretty shocking, 30 degrees celsius less than in Singapore!  We ended up buying longjohns to put under our jeans as well as gloves and hats.  We were lucky, the unseasonaly cold weather created a lot of chaos on the East coast but in Guangxi our plans were not impacted in anyway.  

Once in Guilin we took the famous boat ride down to Yangshuo admiring the karstic formations along the way.  These rock formations have inspired  Chinese poets throughout the centuries, a particular panorama is actually on one of the Chinese bank bills (it was clearly pointed out by the guide on the boat ).  In Yangshuo we located our hotel, the Yangshuo Rosewood Hotel (whose pronunciation in Chinese has nothing to do with the English translation). It was lovely, all wood, heating, nice staff, well located and we even got a present for Chinese New Year !

The famous Li river fish

Serious amount of firecrackers

What did we do in Yangshuo besides buy longjohns and look for restaurants that did not leave their doors wide open?  We wandered around town, visited a market and yes in southern China they do eat dogs and we did see a dog butcher... the pig heads etc I was used to seeing in France.  I had visited Guangxi back in 1999, and I clearly remembered a wonderful day with friends cycling on the flat  roads around Yongshuo.  My dear husband justified not wanting to cycle because of the cold... 500m out of the town he exclaimed "the roads are flat!".... too late, we had to walk all the way to his beloved underground river and accompanying cave.  A lot of Chinese tourists float down the river on "rafts" which are then loaded on trucks back to the starting point.

Taking the rafts back to the starting point

We rented a car and driver and headed into the mountains, the autonomous regions of various "minorities", Zhuang, Yao, Miao, Dong....  Our first stop was the vista of the "Dragon's backbone" rice terraces in Yao country.  Very famous in China and the result of centuries of backbreaking work.  The Yao women are known for their beautiful long black tresses. They are only cut once so it can be reattached - therefore the women always have black hair and no gray.

Yao minority restaurant kitchen on the way up to Longsheng

Dragon's back rice terraces

We then headed to Dong country.  We seemed to follow a river most of the time where at regular intervals could be found Dickensian looking stone breaking machines, thankfully not functioning due to the holidays. We also saw several semi-circular shaped bridges in construction with bamboo scaffolding.  The Dong are famous for their architecture.  They construct their houses without digging into the ground but by setting the pillars directly on the ground.  They build beautiful bridges, that are an integral part of their animist beliefs.  They are also famous for their drum towers, several stories high, yet also with no foundations.

Chengyang wind and rain bridge - Dong minority autonomous regions

When we arrived at  our hotel (the only one where the manager spoke a bit of english) we were glad to learn that heating had just been installed in a few of the rooms.  Given the choice we took a room with heating, but that did not cover water....  Our days were spent walking in the countryside and wandering around the Dong villages, our evenings were spent admiring the exploits of the Chinese olympic curling team in Vancouver.

First signs of spring on the hills over a Dong village

We drove back to Guilin, wandered in the various parks, admiring the karstic panoramas and spent our final days visiting two millenial towns, cobblestones, elderly Chinese dressed as Mao... The cold spell had lifted by then and we could comfortably spend hours outside.

The View from the Solitary Beaty Peak in Guilin

Elephant Hill Park - Guilin

Daxu - a thousand year old village near Guilin

Practical:  there are now direct flights between Singapore and Guilin via Jetstar.  Guangxi is very touristic for the Chinese so the infrastructure (hotels etc) does exist.  May is probably a better time than February but don't forget that the summer is very hot and humid.

Y for Yogyakarta...

I am very unfamiliar with Indonesia.  I had only been to Bali, a Hindu enclave.  In Singapore Indonesia does not have a great reputation (but then again anywhere outside Singapore has a degree of risk).  Yogyakarta is known as the cultural capital of Java having preserved through its arts and crafts its Hindu legacy after the conversion of most of its population to Islam several centuries ago.  It also possesses the Budhist monument in the world, the Borobudur.  We had to go and we weren't disappointed.

We spent our first afternoon walking around time, too much traffic of course but moderated by the great number of rickshaws.  A river runs through Yogya  and besides offering a pleasant panorama of colorful houses along its embankment, swimming and playing in it seems to be quite common.

Roosters and rickshaws

The next day we devoted to the serious cultural stuff, hiring a car to take to Borobudur and Prambanan temples that are a decent distance out of town.  At Borobudur I was accosted by junior high school students from a local catholic institutions completing a project for their English class - very amusing.  We then climbed up the Borobudur admiring the vista and especially the reliefs.  

Students studying English from the local catholic school

The Borobudur -
largest and oldest Buhdhist monument in the world

Buddha bites!

Murals at the Borubodur

The Prambanan temple though not as famous as the Borobudur should not be overlooked.  The temple has been badly damaged by an earthquake in 2006, so some parts unfortunately cannot be visited at the moment.  The view of the spires of the temple against the deep blue sky is worthy of any cathedral. We were lucky to be approached by two young ladies that as part of their qualification to become guides offered to show us around for free.  Obviously Muslim as they were wearing head scarves they told all about the Hindu legends described in the reliefs but we didn't dare ask any questions about the erotic scenes...  

Prambanan - Hindu Temple

We devoted the rest of our time to markets, a particularly interesting animal market:

My mate the boa constrictor -
don't wake him up!

Visiting a potter's village where we admired the craftsmen working on characters straight out of Javanese legends

Perfecting a traditional idol

And of course admiring produce in a local food market.  We were very curious about a white looking product that looked a lot like nougat.  We bought a bit and I still hope nobody saw us bite directly in it: it was tempeh a soybean based paste that definitely needs to be cooked before it is consumed.  We couldn't help but notice that none of the older women in the markets wore headscarves, only the younger generation....

Selling veggies traditional style

Satay anybody?

Where am I going to take this one?

I came back from that weekend very enthusiastic about Indonesia and I am looking forward to discovering other parts of it soon.  As to Yogyakarta it was unfortunately victim of an eruption of Mount Merapi a few months ago and I am sure the region needs tourist dollars even more than before.


Practical: direct flights from Singapore on Air Asia.  We stayed at the Novotel which was fine but it would have been more fun to be closer to Malloboro avenue where all the restaurants and shops are present.


K is for Kuala Lumpur and S for Sipidan marine park in Borneo

I hadn't been diving in ages which when you live in Singapore is really a crime, so what better excuse that the visit of my friend Kris to get test the turquoise waters of Borneo?  No direct flights between Singapore and the closest airport in Tawau, so we met in Kuala Lumpur and celebrated our reunion by taking in the views of the Petronas Towers. Oh yeah, and my brother Eric also happened to be in town on a holiday.

Kris and my brother Eric (no they are not an item)

Petronas Towers - Kuala Lumpur

This was my first time in KL and it was a pleasant surprise: green, reasonable traffic, handsome colonial buildings and everybody seemed to speak english.  I actually thought it was very similar to Singapore....I am planning to go back to do some shopping, it is well known that everything is cheaper in Malaysia compared in Singapore...

We then flew from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau which is actually quite a distance as Tawau is on the north east corner of the island of Borneo.  After arrival we had an hours drive to Semporna where we took a boat to the Mabul Water Bungalows on the island of Mabul, next to the Sipidan marine park.  Sipidan is famous with most divers for its extremely rich and diverse marine life.  It's the kind of place where after a few dives seeing a turtle is no longer exciting as there are so many.  The site is now protected and permits are necessary to go diving there so the trick is to make sure to stay in a hotel that has a sufficient number of permits to allow all its guests to spend at least one day in the marine park.

Mabul Water Bungalows was certainly not the cheapest option around Sipidan but it was exactly what it said on the tin, beautiful, quality equipment and instructors and good food.  The diving was amazing and we also had a great time when not in the water.

Cuttle fish

Bunch of crocodile fish

Reef shark at rest

Clown fish or as Kris calls him "Nemo"

Turtle and friend

Face to face

Relaxing between dives

Mabul Water Bungalows

Practical: Flights with Malaysian airlines from Singapore via either KL or Kota Kinabalu.  Most hotels will collect guests from the airport.  No hotel will guarantee access to the marine park so try and make it very clear upon your reservation that you expect to be able to go.  A permit is valid  for one day and 4 dives are generally squeezed in.

J for Japan

I will do a specific post on our two week holiday in Japan, but suffice to say that it was wonderful, the weather was perfect, the food amazing and the gardens beautiful.  Here are a few pictures to wet your appetite.

We landed in Osaka, then headed into the mountains to Yudanaka Onsen, nesar Nagano so Fabien could enjoy the hot springs for his birthday.  We then spent a couple of days in Nagoya to visit the Toyota factory and Inuyama castle before heading up to Kanazawa famous for its garden and traditional crafts.  We finished with five days in Kyoto where we were lucky to stay in a Ryoka right in the centre of Gion, surrounded by temples and beautiful old wooden houses.  We also got to see the Jidai Matsuri, a procession that recounts most of the history of Japan through the costumes of its participants.

The bright lights of Osaka

Somebody's happy! Eating Tako-yaki (octopus dumplings)

Wandering down Yudanaka Onsen main street in geta

Bathing monkey in the natural hot springs

Inuyama castle - oldest castle in Japan

A futuristic vehicle by Toyota

Lacquerware in Kanazawa

Making the tree branch perfect by supporting it - Kanzawa

Kimono wearing Japanese ladies

Mini octopus popsicles

Monk chanting during his morning rounds- Kyoto

Golden Temple - Kyoto

Making okonomiyaki in Kyoto

Dressing up as geishas - Kyoto

Members of the Jidai Matsuri procession

Practical: since we were planning on visiting central Honshu, it was easier to fly into Osaka and avoid Tokyo altogether. We travelled by train but didn't buy the JR Pass as it is limited to JR trains, which is not always useful to get to the smaller towns.  It is cheaper not to buy reserved seats, there are always non reserved wagons and we never had any trouble finding seats, including on the Shinkansen (bullet train).  We stayed half the time in "business hotels" ie western style hotels, and the other half in traditional ryokan , more expensive but much more charming.  People generally speak some english and its easy to pronounce words "japanese style" so you are understood eg. intaneto for internet.  We traveled in October and the weather was perfect, but too early for the autumn colors.  Summers are very hot and humid and winters very cold.  Autumn and spring are really the best times to go to Japan.

I already talked about our weekend in Shanghai in an earlier post and you will have to wait until the New Year to hear about our adventures on the beaches of Bohol in the Philippines...

Alltogether a most satisfying year full of beautiful sights, sounds, tastes and discoveries.