Temple Fatigue: Is YOUR Family at Risk?

Angkor Wat
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Top warning signs that you and/or your loved ones have attempted to visit too many temples:

1.  You're too exhausted to have even petty disputes with each other.

2.  You find yourself drinking the water on purpose to fall ill and stay in the hotel room.

3.  You begin taking photos of other comically attired tourists instead of ancient battle carvings

4.  You're too numb to snap another perfect collage of orange robed monks amidst eroding stone walls

    


Good thing this guy didn't
catch me taking his photo!

 

I have an entire series of this

character - instant classic!



There were a number of strange outfit choices around the temples considering the high temps and humid air.  I'm sure we looked strange as well.

Seriously, if you actually wanted to learn something, you wouldn't be reading this blog.



Kidding aside, the temples of Angkor are awesome (and old).  It does appear that the entire town has been developed to support tourists trampling all over these ancient sites, with little being done to actually preserve or prevent further destruction.

 

No ropes, no "do not touch" signs, and more often than not you find that you're using an old MFA-worthy statue to climb through a temple doorway along with the busload of zip-away-pants-tourists in front of you.

In Cambodia, however, poverty is everywhere and it becomes hard to see all the children begging you to buy trinkets and postcards and water.  We hope that our extra dollars help as tourism seems welcome.

Food was surprisingly excellent at a very good price.  Influenced by the French with plenty of Khmer at the core.



Temple fatigue victim #336,787,995

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We spent just a couple of nights in Kuala Lumpur on our way back from New Zealand - this photo on the right nicely captures the juxtaposition of old-meets-new.  Mosques, palaces and modern office towers - kind of like an Islamic Copley Square.



Petronas Towers - check!

I got my haircut in the nice shopping mall located directly underneath the Petronas Towers.  After a while you learn to just go with the insistant approach to style you like a 1980's anime pop star.

 

Aren't palm trees great?



Surprisingly, this was the first meal that I
 discovered a live worm in!

 

Shaken Not Stirred

We're out of New Zealand and just in time - we karmically changed our plans to end up in Auckland on the North island on the 22nd instead of Christchurch on the South island exactly where the earthquake hit. We were boarding our plane when all flights were stopped to assess the fallout and allow flights bound for Christchurch to land. We seem to have a knack for dodging natural disasters, so we hope our luck continues.

 

New Zealand was an incredible "side" trip, probably one of the best decisions we've made so far on this jaunt. Our campervan rocked us across both islands in comfort (fortunately, Suzanna was in charge of emptying the toilet cartridge each day since I managed to dry-retch on the first day while merely observing the process).

The South island proved to be the most scenic and driving wasn't much of a task, although somehwat laborious at times winding up and down cliffs without much in the way of guardrails to stop idiot tourists from creating a new dive site in the ocean below. Considering we were hauling a living-room-on-wheels with everything on the opposite side (you try driving a manual with your left hand) we fared quite well. Not eating out in restaurants for every meal was also a nice detox.

 

Shotover River Jet Boating - No Seatbelts!

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

While in NZ we pushed ourselves as much as we could and are quite proud of how sporty we pretend to be now. Suzanna came up with the idea to hike a volcano on a 19 km climb ominously titled "Alpine Crossing" - it was really tough but our intense preparation by doing absolutely nothing ahead of time really made us look like pros.



Franz Joseph Glacier - Still Intact?



Red Crater on Alpine Crossing

 

Photos don't have audio

 
 I jumped off the original bungy bridge in Queenstown which ended with a refreshing (and unexpected) plunge into the river below. Amazing how much you have to pay someone to take a dive off of a bridge. To round out our adventurist posturing, we went caving in an ice cold underground river, hiked to two glaciers, and raced in a jetboat through a canyon. Oh, and I saw Suzanna eat a berry from the side of the road. Funny, can't recall signing any waivers.

Throw in a couple of wine trails, beaches, geysers, and mud pools and you've got yourselves quite a trip.
Anyway, we're in Kuala Lumpur, on our way to Cambodia to tour Ankgor Wat...

Camping for Yuppies

Milford Sound

Come on in, the water's warm! (100 deg C)

 

I'm sorry, did you say "New Zealand"?

So after several lovely days in Singapore, we had two unscheduled weeks to spare and decided to go to...New Zealand! We are rolling around in an RV, taking in the breathtaking scenery and feeling renewed interest in finally watching "Lord of the Rings." Who knew you could have so much fun while driving a tank on the left side of the road! (and it's a standard) There are only 4 million people in all of New Zealand and we think most of them have passed us going double our speed.

RV life is liberating and pretty hilarious. We have a shower and bathroom on board (note: avoid parking on a steep hill. Use your imagination.) The whole thing is like a puzzle that turns from living room to kitchen to bedroom with the help of an unhelpful user manual. Lots of sliding of formica slats accompanied by loud swearing. Good family fun!

We chose an RV that can do "freedom camping"...meaning we can pull off and spend the night by whatever stream/lake/glacier looks pretty and peaceful.  The scenery is amazing and we find ourselves stopping many times a day for cucumber sandwiches (Swedish-style) and staring at the view. 

We Heart Singapore

Dear Singapore,

You are graceful, lively, modern and cool, like Epcot with superior food courts. We could not resist your charms, and stayed much longer than we planned. We even forgive you for charging us fifteen bucks for a beer. We loved every minute of it.

You foxy city, you.

Suzanna and Nick



Happy Chinese New Year!
Braving the crowds in Chinatown.



It's the year of the Rabbit. Make a note of it.



Who knew "carrot cake" had fish in it?

That's a lotus-shaped building in front of a cruise ship on top of a hotel.
In the face.

Bridge shaped like a DNA helix. Nick pictured between "guanine" and "cytosine."
Look it up.

Singapore: home to worlds most awesome food courts!

Ice skating in the mall

OK we went to Universal. So sue us.

SAK-AY!

More eatin' good in the neighborhood.

Thanks for the free upgrade!