Cambodia

My flight arrived earlier than my parents', so I got to experience taking the Phnom Penh city bus by myself to our picturesque hotel with multiple courtyards, cabanas, and pools.  The first day, we realized early on how itineraries could be disrupted by COVID changes when we arrived at the closed Royal Palace.

We then went to the National Museum, a gallery of ancient artifacts and sculptures wrapping around a tranquil courtyard, and the first of many non-air conditioned museums that would test my dad's constitution.

The art deco Central Market

 

After foot massages that evening, a local guide picked us up in a tuk-tuk to explore the city's food.  I loved Cambodian food--lots of curries served with limes and plates full of foraged leaves, as well as desserts made of glutinous rice, black sesame, coconut milk, and fruits.

Banana flower wrapped in sticky rice steamed in banana leaves

Lentil and fish paste curry on rice noodles, with raw greens

Thick coconut-based seafood curry

Curry; seafood salad on glass noodles

We ended the night at a rooftop bar.  I love rooftop and alfresco dining, but it feels rather rare in Taipei.  People always prefer to be inside in the air conditioning.  My foreign friends and I get strange looks when we ask to sit at a restaurant's one outdoor table.  I thought it was because of the humidity, but Phnom Penh was nearly as hot and even more humid than Taipei.  As our guide said, Cambodians love being outside.  I think maybe it has more to do with how Taipei residents show that they are "modern" or cosmopolitan, much along the lines of the argument that Lizzy van Leeuwen makes about the nouveau riche of Jakarta in her ethnography Lost in Mall.

The next day, we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, which memorializes the human rights abuses and mass murder under the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979.  The Khmer Rouge was a radical communist movement led by Pol Pot that briefly took over the government and has been blamed for around 2 million excess deaths, around one fourth of Cambodia's population during that time.  Their brutal policies involved forced relocation of Phnom Penh residents to the countryside as part of an extremist agrarian ideology.  The Tuol Sleng Museum joined the ranks of the most sobering exhibits I've ever visited, including the 9/11 Memorial in NYC, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C., and the National Civil Rights Museum where MLK was assassinated in Memphis.

On an architecture tour that same day, we saw the impact that forced urban relocation under the Khmer Rouge had on the modern culture of squatting in Phnom Penh.

Makeshift homes built in an old cathedral

Housing in/under a Buddhist temple

An old French colonial style hotel divided among families of squatters--and a cat

Cambodians put out little houses so the spirits will play on them instead of on their own houses' roofs

The two main branches of Buddhism are Theravada Buddhism (more common in Cambodia) and Mahayana Buddhism (more common in Taiwan).  Theravada Buddhist shrines will sometimes portray the Buddha as emaciated, whereas Mahayana Buddhism more commonly shows a fat, happy Buddha.  It is very common for a Cambodian man to spend time as a Buddhist monk, often when mourning his parents' death.  We saw many monks walking on the street (or riding on the back of a scooter) in their orange robes collecting alms.  They are highly respected in society and can even receive free higher education.  

Stupas holding the remains of the deceased

This rat saves lives by sniffing out abandoned land mines

Next, we went to the highly touristed, foodie town of Siam Reap.  It was highly walkable with a nightlife street; it almost felt like Florida.

From there, most travelers take a bus or tuk-tuk to Angkor Wat, but my family decided to bike.  The temples were astounding, formidable ruins surviving for the past thousand years while the jungle reclaimed the surrounding ancient city.  On our bike ride home, it started raining heavier than I've ever experienced in my life.  I could barely keep my eyes open to see the road in front of me.  It was almost hard to breathe through the pouring rain.  By the time we got back to our hotel's street, we were all happily biking through foot-deep puddles of warm water with the rest of traffic.  It was a highlight of the trip.

Before leaving Cambodia for Vietnam, we did a final food tour where we made fabulously fresh rice noodles from scratch.

A tuk-tuk

24 Hours in Thailand

On the way to meet my parents in Southeast Asia, I found cheaper flights by taking a 24-hour layover in Bangkok.  It was the perfect length of time for a solo trip.  Of all of the places my parents and I visited this summer, Thailand felt the most like Taiwan, but still not quite as wealthy or Westernized.  From my brief time there, it also made an impression that Thailand had royalty and a distinct religious culture.

Khao San Road

It was a huge shock going from seeing barely any foreigners in Taiwan to staying in Khao San Road, the backpacking capital of the world.  The area was packed with hostels, restaurants, bars, and massage parlors full of European tourists.  I've never seen so many blond children in one place.  All the Asians (locals and Chinese-speaking tourists) were wearing masks, while all the Westerners were not.  Since they aren't required, I went to leave my hostel without my mask, but then I got too self-conscious and ran back to grab it.  In Taiwan, masks are still required everywhere, even outdoors.

Street vendor selling Thai dessert

The food was really fantastic.  I ate pad Thai, banana chocolate roti, and taro sago.  I had a Thai-style massage, which are similar to what's offered in Taiwan.  Whereas massages in the US you never want them to end, traditional Asian massages you can't wait for them to end, because the masseuse is leaning an elbow into your pressure points.

Grand Palace

Grand Palace

Jade Buddha

Grand Palace

Grand Palace

I was the first one at the breathtaking Grand Palace the following morning.  It was nearly empty of tourists but packed with glittering buildings.  After that, I went to Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.  I had riverside lunch of Thai green curry and mango ice cream with a view of Wat Arun across the water.

Wat Pho

The Reclining Buddha

Saw this pose multiple times everyday in SE Asia, and I'd never seen it in Taiwan

South East Asia 1SE Video

 

新竹、福隆沙灘 Hsinchu & Fulong Beach

Xpark Aquarium

On Saturday, my Taiwanese friend's boyfriend drove us to Hsinchu, a city down the west coast an hour or so from Taipei.  My Taiwanese friend is a makeup artist, aspiring dancer, and absolute hoot to hang out with.  She made the trip tons of fun, even though Hsinchu is not the type of destination a foreign tourist to Taiwan would ever visit.  The highlight of our trip was a lovely glassblowing museum.  However, Hsinchu is certainly the type of destination to which a Taipei local would go on the weekend.  We visited an outlet mall that reeked of consumerist extravagance--essentially the exact American experience that Taiwanese people gobble up.  I had been plucked out of Hsinchu and dropped into Los Angeles: new buildings, American and luxury brands only, signs in English rather than Chinese.  We bought expensive tickets for a modern aquarium called Xpark, featuring just as many photo-ops as educational exhibits.  My other American bestie and I had to talk our Taiwanese friends out of eating TGI Friday's for dinner.  Instead, we drove to a restaurant locally renowned for 麻辣臭豆腐, stinky tofu in mouth-numbing spice soup.  As it was 大暑, the lunar calendar day known to be the single hottest of the year, we also had 剉冰, the uber popular Taiwanese shaved ice dessert.

Mulberry and condensed milk, the specialty flavor at this shaved ice shop

My friend getting into it with a kid at a popular Taiwanese street market game. You pay 300 NTD for a huge bucket of rings, and you get to keep whatever prize onto which you can toss a ring. The nice bottles of alcohol are way in the back.

Sleeping 3 hours the night before did not dampen her enthusiasm nor volume levels 

While we didn't make it to Hsinchu's indoor ski slope, I have other friends who learned how to snowboard on the single bunny hill there.  Hsinchu is an area with great income disparity, home to poorer indigenous communities, as well as large electronics companies, like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

On Sunday, I went to 福隆沙灘 Fulong Beach with friends.  A magnificent swim day for only an hour-long train ride from Taipei.