Video: Singapore

 Kevin put together all the video clips from our short visits to Singapore in April and May. Enjoy!

Postscript from Singapore

I know, I know...in my previous post I said that Cambodia was the grand finale of our trip! But it's impossible to fly direct from Siem Reap to Phoenix. So we've had one last 3-night stay in Singapore, which has been great because we had a couple "must-dos" leftover that we weren't able to get to on our first visit a few weeks ago.

We landed at Changi airport in the early afternoon and decided to schlep ourselves and our luggage over to the Jewel (a very fancy mall next to the airport) just so we could see the "Rain Vortex" right in the middle of the shopping center. So we have now officially checked "see the world's tallest indoor waterfall" off of our list. 

While Singapore is about ten degrees cooler than Siem Reap, it's still pretty hot here. So we were thrilled that we didn't need to even go outside to get from the airport to our hotel. We took the MRT metro train directly from the airport terminal, and then it was just a short walk underground from the MRT stop directly to our hotel elevator. For this leg of the trip, we had decided to pull out all the stops and use some Hyatt points to book a stay at the Andaz. They ended up giving us an amazing corner room with fantastic views of the city...

...even from the commode! (Thank goodness there were good window shades).

The hotel pool has a good view of the port, the Singapore Flyer ferris wheel, and even a partial view of the Marina Bay Sands building.

We spent our first afternoon just relaxing at the hotel, but on our second day we decided to knock a couple more tourist sights off the list. We got tickets for the Future World exhibit at the Art Science Museum. When we were in Tokyo a few years ago we really enjoyed the teamLab Borderless art installation, and this permanent exhibit in Singapore is run by the same international art collective. Future World hosts several rooms full of interactive art and technology, like this infinity room called "Crystal Universe".

The exhibits all have grandiose names, like "Universe of Water Particles, Transcending Boundaries". What is cool about this interactive light projection is that you can change the flow of the waterfall just by touching it or standing in it.

One of our favorite exhibits here is called "Sketch Flight". You color a pre-printed sheet of paper (your choice of a bird, butterfly, or airplane). Then you take your artwork to a staff member to be digitally scanned. We were delighted to embrace our inner eight-year-olds, so we grabbed some crayons and created these masterpieces:

After scanning, the images are animated in 3-D and projected onto a huge wall with everyone else's drawings. Then you get to use a tablet to control the flight of your drawing, and you can also view the animated world through your object's perspective. Pretty cool!

Since the museum was right next to the Marina Bay Sands building, we decided to go up to the SkyPark Observation deck on the 57th floor to see yet another view of the city skyline and Marina Bay. The Art Science building is the white building that is shaped kind of like a lotus flower in the lower right corner of the photo.

Looking out over the Singapore Strait we could see dozens of ships in the harbor (Singapore is the world's second busiest container port) and the Supertree Grove and conservatory domes. For me, it was very impressive to see the grand scale of the Gardens By the Bay from above.

Relaxing in one of the world's most modern, beautiful, and well-planned cities has probably been the best way to end this three-month trip. While we have enjoyed the easy public transit, excellent food, and fancy hotel room here in Singapore, we are looking forward to heading home and settling back into "real life". We'll enjoy being at home for a few months and then start planning our next adventure, so stay tuned!

Video: Cambodia

Here's Kevin's video of our week exploring the temples around Siem Reap.

Siem Reap, Cambodia -- the Grand Finale

As luck would have it, we have unintentionally saved the best destination for last. For five days we have been here exploring Siem Reap, the second largest city in Cambodia and home to Angkor, the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. The Khmer kings ruled here from around 800 AD to the mid-1400s, each monarch building grand and elaborate temples and palaces that were truly great feats of engineering.

The best-known temple here is Angkor Wat, a Hindu temple built in the 1100s and originally dedicated to the god Vishnu. Over the centuries it was converted to a Buddhist temple and although it was never completely abandoned, it declined in importance until it was "re-discovered" in the 1860s by a Frenchman. Restoration work throughout the past century has revived it to its former glory. Angkor Wat (and the surrounding area of ancient temples and palaces) is now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and sees over 2 million visitors a year.

Luckily for us (or unluckily, depending on your perspective) we arrived during the hottest part of the year and the lowest point of tourist season. On the one hand, that means we have needed to wake up before sunrise and do all our touring by 10 or 11am to escape the scorching midday sun. But on the other hand, we have been able to get stunning photos with almost no other tourists in them. Because who in their right mind is here in Cambodia when it's 100 degrees fahrenheit and 70% humidity?

Of course there was a small crowd at Angkor Wat when we went at sunrise on Wednesday but that was truly nothing compared to the size of the crowds here in high season. Just search Google Images for "Angkor Wat Tourist Crowds" and you'll see what I mean. We have felt very lucky (and also very sweaty!) being able to have the temples practically all to ourselves.

For our first full day of touring, we hired a guide to show us around Angkor Wat in depth. We were glad we did because he was very knowledgeable and also knew some of the best photo spots. It seemed like nearly every inch of the inner temple was carved or decorated in some way. The wall panels on the outer level corridors are covered in bas reliefs depicting Hindu stories about the creation of the universe and battles of the gods.

Our guide also walked us through a nearby temple called Ta Prohm, built about 40 years after Angkor Wat. The contrast between the two temples is striking; Ta Prohm has been left in its original state, taken over by vines and gigantic trees. Nature is so intertwined with the structures here that it is hard to tell at this point whether the temple is holding the trees up, or if the trees are holding the temple together.

Ta Prohm is also known as the "Tomb Raider" temple since a scene from the movie was filmed here. Apparently this spot where I am standing with the guide is the exact spot from the film. He told us that during high season there is often a long line to take photos here; people sometimes wait up to half an hour just to take a photo in front of the door & tree. 

Seeing the jumble of stone blocks at Ta Prohm really made us appreciate all the restoration work that has been undertaken at many of the other temples. The temple here was originally assembled without using mortar and over the centuries the stones became loose and tumbled. Can you imagine trying to piece the structures back together with this jigsaw puzzle of stone slabs?

We called it a day after seeing just two temples and headed back to the hotel for some lunch at the pool. We relaxed for the afternoon and then headed to a unique circus show in the evening. The Phare Circus in Siem Reap is an extension of the Phare Ponleu Selpak ("The Brightness of the Arts") non-profit that was established after the end of the Khmer Rouge regime. So much was taken from the Cambodian people during that tragic time, and this organization emerged to give children a place to go to school and learn academics while also providing a creative outlet for all aspects of the arts. Graduates from Phare's performing arts school put on a nightly show that features acrobats, acting, music, and different stories from Cambodian history and folklore. We enjoyed watching the talented performers and we are glad we had the opportunity to learn about and support this very worthy organization.

On Thursday morning we unwisely decided to go it alone without a guide, and took a remorque (which is a carriage pulled by a motorcycle) to the ancient city of Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom means "Great City" in Khmer, and this was once the capital of the Khmer Empire. Built around 1200 AD, it was a fortified city with square walls and a moat surrounding multiple temples, residences, a palace, and administration buildings. Our Lonely Planet guidebook had a very misguided walk that began by taking us along the path on top of the outer wall from the Southern Gate to the Western Gate. The walls and moat are laid out in a square that is about 2 miles in length on each side. We did not realize the scale of the map when we began the walk at about 7am, so by the time we reached the Western gate after walking two miles through an uninteresting forest we were pretty sweaty and annoyed. But at least we were rewarded by seeing the beautiful enormous faces of the recently restored West Gate (Ta Kav Gate).

This is what the West Gate looks like from down below on the road. There are five gates like this one with roads leading into the city of Angkor Thom (one facing each cardinal direction plus a "Gate of the Dead"), but we weren't about to walk to any more of them. Luckily we were able to hail another remorque to drive us further into the center of the city so we could at least see a few more temples and the ruins of the palace before it got too hot.

In the evening we went for dinner at Embassy Khmer Gastronomy where we had an amazing meal. Each dish was exquisitely prepared and made with seasonal local ingredients. Service was impeccable and it was a pleasure to meet the chef afterward and compliment her creative presentation and delicious flavor combinations. A very memorable evening!

On Friday we wanted to see a couple of temples that were a little further away, about an hour's drive from Siem Reap. So rather than taking a remorque we hired a car and driver. We lucked out with our driver Rayou -- he spoke excellent English and we had some great conversations about life and culture in Cambodia compared to the US. About fifty minutes north of Siem Reap is the temple of Banteay Srei. Unlike the other Angkor temples, this one was built by a royal counselor instead of by a king. Finished in 967 AD, it pre-dates Angkor Wat by more than 170 years and was constructed using a unique reddish-toned sandstone. It was restored in the 1930s and is considered one of the most beautiful temples due to its color and carvings. The stone has been elaborately sculpted, and this type of sandstone is especially durable so the details of each carving have been very well-preserved.

Beng Mealea is about an hour away from Banteay Srei but is in a completely different state -- the temple is completely overgrown and unrestored. A wooden walkway has been constructed to guide tourists through the ruins, otherwise it would be tricky to navigate the rubble. Another great reason to stay on the path is that the area around this temple was only just cleared of landmines in the early 2000s. (A sad fact of Cambodia's recent history is that there are still many landmines contaminating the countryside from the Khmer Rouge regime). Beng Mealea is a wilderness of trees and vines. 

Friday evening we decided to have dinner at a restaurant on Siem Reap's famous Pub Street. If you are looking for cheap beers and lots of dining options, this is the place. It was relatively quiet, although the bars were still pumping out loud music. I can only imagine the crowds here during high season. 

Are you "templed out" yet? Don't worry, just a few more shots from our last day. We hired Rayou to drive us around again and we really did save the best for last, heading back into the heart of Angkor Thom to visit the showpiece temple of Bayon just after sunrise. It has dozens of towers and each one is topped by serene smiling faces looking outward in four directions. From a distance away from the temple it just looks like big messy piles of rocks but then as you get closer and come inside the faces start to come into focus. It is almost otherworldly.

Bayon was by far my favorite of the temples we visited. One guidebook that I saw suggested that it's possible the exterior of the temple was once gilded and painted. It's already magnificent; I can only imagine how breathtaking it would be in full color.

After Bayon, we decided to just stop in at a few more sites since we still had some time before it got too hot. Each temple has a unique story and history; for example, Preah Khan was built on the site where King Jayavarman VII defeated the invading forces of the Cham kingdom (in modern-day Vietnam).

At Ta Som we could see the recent efforts to salvage one of the gopuras (entrance towers) from death by Strangler Fig. 

And we just had to visit Pre Rup, one of the oldest temples in Angkor having been completed in 961 AD. With its reddish brick construction, it was quite different from the others we'd seen. It reminded me of Mayan step pyramids or of the Egyptian pyramid of Djoser.

Our photos truly do not do justice to this incredible place. The astonishing thing for me is to think that many of these temples were already built and in use before construction even began on Notre Dame in Paris in 1163 (Angkor Wat was completed around 1140, Pre Rup and the beautiful Banteay Srei were finished in the 960s). Throughout our five days here we have been awestruck by the history and grandeur of these ancient and sacred temples. I would definitely consider this the grand finale of our trip and a destination not to be missed! 

Video: Malaysia

Here is a video with some highlights of our time in Malaysia.

The Rainforest of Northern Borneo

We had enough time during our Malaysia leg to visit the island of Borneo. Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and is shared between three countries -- Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. The island is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. The area we explored on this trip was in the Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo. We booked stays at a couple of eco lodges. The accommodations were definitely a bit more primitive than we’re used to (during our stay one lodge lost water pressure and the next one lost power for a few hours) but that’s all part of the adventure. Besides, the location was right in the heart of the orangutan rainforest. 

Our first stop was the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in the village of Sepilok.  This place takes in orphaned and injured orangutans and teaches them the skills they need to live wild. Since it was established in 1964 the Centre has successfully released over 760 orangutans back into the forest. 

There are no cages here, the apes are free to come and go in and out of the preserve area as they wish. When they are first released, or when food is scarce, the orangutans know that they can come back here twice daily when the rangers put out tasty fruits and vegetables to supplement their foraged diet. During our visit, a few adults came to the feeding platform and we were able to get a couple okay photos from a distance. Of course the orangutans never like to hold still!

But our favorite area was the nursery. In the wild, baby orangutans will stay with their mothers for the first six years of their lives, learning how to climb, forage for food, build nests, and other essential orangutan skills. When they are orphaned or confiscated from illegal captivity, they are brought here to shadow older juveniles and learn how to be wild. In this area, they are still free to come and go from the rainforest if they wish, but most stay close by until they are old enough to have the confidence to live on their own. 

Right next to the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is a similar reserve for the Bornean Sun Bear. This is the smallest of the bear species, and a very agile climber. Their habitat is diminishing due to deforestation, and unfortunately they are one of the species of bear that has been illegally captured for the traditional Chinese medicine bear bile trade, a cruel practice that involves keeping the bear in a cage while siphoning the bile from the animal’s gallbladder through a painful open wound. When possible, the Sun Bear Centre rehabilitates and releases the bears, but if the bear cannot be released at least it will live out the rest of its life in a large natural enclosure rather than a cage. 

From Sepilok we moved on to a remote eco-lodge on the Kinibatangan river. We splurged on a fancy cabin overlooking a pond. (This is the place that lost power for a few hours, so our room was a sauna with those big windows and no AC, yikes! Also note the mosquito netting on the beds!)

We stayed two nights here in order to take four cruises on the river hoping to spot wildlife in its natural habitat. The boats went out twice daily when the animals were most active — we had to get up super early for the 6am departure and then the second daily cruise left at 4pm. 

But the early wake-up alarms were totally worth it!  We saw a few baby crocodiles like this one sunning themselves on the riverbank. 

And several much scarier larger saltwater crocs. Very different from seeing them at the Hartleys farm in Australia. No fences here!

But we were really here to see the primates. The most numerous species were certainly the long-tailed macaques. These little guys were everywhere along the banks just living their happy monkey lives. 

They also liked to hang around the elevated walkways at the resort, hoping to scrounge a snack or enjoy a peaceful view of the river. 

We rented some binoculars and it was a wise decision. As it turns out, wildlife generally doesn’t just hang around in the open, posing for tourist photos. Kevin even managed to hold the binocs and his phone still enough to snap some in-focus pics. If we’ve learned anything from this trip, it’s that we need better phone cameras for next time!

The monkeys in that photo are pig-tailed macaques. This species is much more aggressive than their long-tailed relatives. The large males are extremely territorial, and we were warned not to approach them, turn our backs on them, or look them in the eyes. Here’s a male, you can see that he looks like he’s been doing some crossfit training - much larger and brawnier than the long-tailed macaques. 

But not all of the monkeys were intimidating. It’s hard to be afraid of a primate as goofy-looking as the proboscis monkey. These little guys wander the forest like mini Jimmy Durantes with their huge bulbous noses, tan “shirts” and gray “trousers”. We saw lots of them and enjoyed watching their antics. These monkeys can swim and they use their flexible noses like snorkels when they’re in the water. Who wouldn’t love a face like this?

We were on our second to last cruise and I was a bit disappointed because we hadn’t yet seen any truly wild orangutans. I did notice that while the banks of the Kinabatangan River were lined with dense strips of rainforest trees, just beyond that you could sometimes see the orderly rows of oil palm trees. So much of the critical habitat for the orangutans (and other "only-found-here" species) has been lost because it has been cleared for acres and acres of palm plantations. But then -- when we least expected it -- one of the river guides spotted a lone orangutan high up in the trees. As it ended up we saw a family group of at least three orangutans the next morning, too. So our trip to the river felt like a success -- these beautiful creatures were swinging happily through the trees, at least for now. It is vital to continue protecting this habitat and making sustainable choices when buying products that contain palm oil. I will admit that the grainy image in this photo definitely has a "sasquatch" vibe -- I promise you it's just that we didn't have very good cameras and the orangutans just would not hold still!

After our whirlwind river safari, we took one night to enjoy the town of Sandakan on the northwest shore of Borneo. The town is famous for its fresh seafood, but there is also a strong echo of the British colonial days here.  When we got to town, we had a very nice afternoon tea at the English Tea House overlooking the Sulu Sea.

And on our last morning in Borneo, we went to the Rainforest Discovery Centre which is a great place to learn more about the rainforest and the creatures who live here. There is an elevated walkway over the pond and through the treetops that lets you get closer to the wildlife (it's open forest, so animals are free-range). We saw some birds and a chameleon, plus a Mullers Gibbon and three more orangutans.

We enjoyed the spectacular natural beauty of Borneo, but I'll admit that travel here was a bit more intense than other locations. We are finally starting to feel ready to come home soon. Especially after this Borneo leg, with two flights, four boat rides, several long van journeys, and wandering around Sandakan in the midday heat. We are used to the dry heat in the desert but the humidity here in the tropics can really get overwhelming! This image sums up our current mood: