Whirlwind Phnom Penh

This was a really short trip. I was only staying 2 nights before leaving by ferry for Chau Doc, Vietnam. In fact I would only be spending a day sightseeing. Half of that day would also be at the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre,  also known as the killing fields. After the previous 5 days in Myanmar on the tourist loop, looking at Pagodas and fishermen, this was a really sombre day in comparison. I recommend getting the audio guide (Unless you are in a group they'll likely charge you for it anyway.), it really helps in understanding what happened.

Thinking back, even though its been 2 whole days since I visited til I'm writing, I still have disbelief that it really occurred. How does one order the deaths of 1 in 4 of your countrymen? I guess just like the Nazis persecuted the Jews, when power is unchecked, the unthinkable can happen. It is no wonder that even when refugees told of the horrors, most of the world did not believe them either.

After lunch and a quick stop by the Russian market, we also visited the old prison where those executed would have been. Blood splatters still exist on some of the ceilings as well as the floors of both interrogation rooms and the tiny cells which the prisoners were held. After visiting both places the same day, thelast stop at the grand palace, though magnificent, really wasn't enough to lift ones spirits.

As my previous post,  I'm also including a cost breakdown. Pictures when I get back home and look at what's on my camera.

2 Mar 2015
- 9USD Tuk Tuk to hotel(King Grand Boutique Hotel) from airport (This was a flat rate from the counter. I reckon you could get 7-8USD if you haggled outside the airport grounds. After 24 hours of continuous travelling, I wasn't up for haggling)
- 2USD laundry ( You can find laundry rates as low as 1USD/kg. I wasn't really searching very hard for the lowest rates)

3 Mar 2015
- 6USD Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre (Killing Fields)
- 3USD Audio Guide
- 3USD Tuong Slay Genocide Centre (S22 prison)
- 25,000 Cambodian Rials Grand Palace

4 Mar 2015
- 20USD Ferry from Phnom Penh to Chao Doc (This is the agent price though as I was fortunate enough to be travelling with my travel agent friend. You're unlikely to get the same price as a walk in customer. Additionally, for some reason, the ferry ride from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh is 5usd more)

5 days Myanmar

This was a very short trip as firstly, I realised how expensive accommodation would be and secondly, while booking my flight tickets,  I forgot that February only had 28 days. Anyway during this trip, I spent one day in Yangon, 2 days in Bagan and finally 2 days in Inlay. All in I spent about USD 200 not including flights. My flight from Singapore cost SGD 140 on Tiger airways including taxes. And my flight out from Yangon to Phnom Penh via Bangkok cost USD 220 on Bangkok Airways. I was lucky to be able to join other travellers too which allowed me tostill hire a car and be at thesame price as renting a bicycle. I will just give a breakdown as I'm still on the road. Update in detail later. 

25th Feb Yangon
-10USD cab to hostel (MYANMAR BACKPACKER) 2pax
-4USD cab to Shwedagon Pagoda
-8USD entrance to Shwedagon Pagoda
-3USD cab to hostel (I dropped early at the market and walked back while Liz went straight to hostel)
-16USD for one night (forfeited as realised not enuff time in Bagan)
-16000Kyat for bus to Bagan (purchased from hostel as cheaper than travel agency nearby)

26th Feb Bagan
-25USD cab to sunrise then to hostel (Ostello Bello Bagan) 4pax
-20USD entrance fee for Bagan (managed to sell it for 10 USD as it was -5 days long and I had only used 2 days)
-35USD hired car from 9am to 6pm 4pax
-21USD for one night in hostel

27th Feb Bagan
-34USD car hire to Mt. Popa.
-11000Kyat bus to Inlay

28th Feb Inlay
-1USD ride to hotel (Joy Hotel)
-1000Kyat bicycle rental til 9pm (A Tun travel, beside smiling moon restaurant)

1 Mar Inlay
-15000Kyat boat tour of Inle Lake. 3pax but can take up to 5pax (Sun rises from behind a mountain so it is still possible to catch it if you leave hotel at 6am. Might miss a bit of the hues though. Otherwise youd have to be on the water at 530)
-18000Kyat bus to Yangon (13000Kyat if you take the standard bus)

2 Mar Yangon
-8000Kyat cab from terminal to Airport 2pax (I reckon it could be pushed down though another guy who had offered 9000Kyat was shouting at our driver. Distance felt shorter than hotel to Shwedagon Pagoda)

Sneaks from Iran

Went to Iran at the end of the year and some sneaks while I try to get back into the mindset of the office worker. 

WTA Finals in Singapore 2014

Singapore won the rights to host the WTA finals for at least five years and October 2014 was the first of those five. I was fortunate to have some complimentary tickets to view the matches and I guess it was really an eye-opening experience. How often does one get up close to the top players in the world after all. I guess there are also a large number of aficionados in Singapore as well as I wasn't able to get tickets to the finals. For someone who really isn't a fan of tennis, I really seem to have caught a large number of the matches. After watching the many intense matches, I'm sudden;y motivated to pick up a new hobby! And congratulations Serena Williams on winning the Championship position!

Cara Black Sania Mirza Vs Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears

Cara Black Sania Mirza Vs Raquel Kops-Jones Abigail Spears

Maria Sharapova vs Caroline Wozniacki

Maria Sharapova vs Caroline Wozniacki

Petra Kvitová vs Agnieszka Radwańska

Petra Kvitová vs Agnieszka Radwańska

Petra Kvitová vs Agnieszka Radwańska

Petra Kvitová vs Agnieszka Radwańska

River Safari in Singapore

I don't really travel overseas all the time, so today's post will be about one of Singapores own attractions.. Even though Singapore is a tiny country, there are many places to be seen. In fact, having met a number of travelers, I've found that there are still many hidden sights in Singapore waiting for me to discover. As luck would have it, my friend had a few free tickets to the River Safari and had invited me to tag along as well. Having never been there before, I naturally jumped at the opportunity, packing my severely under used camera equipment along too.

The River Safari is not a very large site and I would say 3-4 hours is sufficient to see pretty much everything at a fairly relaxed pace. Considering that the group of friends i went with consisted of camera lugging toons, each vying for a good angle at almost every single enclosure/exhibit,we were going at a very slow pace which should match families which are visiting with many young children.

With the exception of the boat ride, we did manage to cover all the other sights. From what I've heard though, we didn't miss much skipping the boat ride, so no loss. In general, I'd recommend it if you've got time to spare and the weather is kind with no rain. most of the enclosures are sheltered, but there are a few which are in the open.

Crocodile Gar

Mississippi Paddlefish

African Dwarf Crocodile 

Giraffe Catfish

Mekong Giant Catfish

Red Panda

Squirrel monkey

Xingu Platinum Pleco

Manatee

Giant River Otter

Ladakh, India (4-9 June 2014) p.s. many pictures

This was the 2nd part of my maiden trip to India, the first part being in Mumbai where I met up with my friend, Elizabeth, prior to heading to Ladakh. This is one of the countries where the Himalayan Range passes and the flight in did not disappoint with snow capped peaks as far as the eye could see. For this journey, we would not actually be doing any trekking. Instead, together with a local tour company, we had arranged for a car with driver who would bring us to the various sights over the course of 6 days.

View from the plane as we approached Leh.

Group photo!

Alighting the plane was an experience in itself. Located at 3,300 m above sea level, Leh Airport is one of the highest in the world. The cold dry air hit once we exited the plane and it was only summer. I'd really hate to be there in the middle of winter! According to our driver, the entire Ladakh might have only 3-4 tourist during winter. The roads into Ladakh are also closed off. Being a bit worried about altitude sickness, we got the driver to stop by a pharmacy on the way to the hotel to drop off our luggage so we could buy some preventive medication. To give our bodies time to adapt to the higher altitude, we also didn't have anything planned on our first day. Just a stop in the town for a light meal and walking about some of the shops. Walking in Town reminded me of the time I was in Nepal. Buddhist prayer flag, strung up between buildings, formed a tapestry of colors along the streets.After buying snacks for the long car rides ahead, we headed back to the hotel to meet the man, from the local tour company, who would also be taking our passports to apply for an inner line permit as we planned to visit Pangong Lake, located near the Sino-Indian border, where incursions by the Chinese is common. This would prove to be an issue later due to two of our party holding diplomatic passports ( they worked in government ministries).

Royal Enfield

The next 2 days were filled with monasteries. All of them were perched high and what felt like an endless flight of steps had to be scaled to reach the monastery itself. At the high altitude, even the shortest flight of steps felt likeI was scaling a mountain. Each completed climb was rewarding though. Being perched on high, the views were just magnificent. I could imagine spending an entire day sitting at the top of the monastery overlooking the courtyard with the Nubra Valley below and the Himalayas all around the horizon.

Massive prayer flag at Hemis Monastery

Hemis Monastery

All of us trying to get a picture of the epic view

Shanti Stupa

Thikse Monastery

As earlier mentioned 2 of my other friends were not able to get the permit in time and we were scheduled to visit Lake Pangong which was a 6 hour drive each way. Not wanting to waste the permits which the other 2 of us had, we carried on leaving Elizabeth and Ken Mun in Leh town while the travel agent carried on trying to get permits for the both of them. Being close to the sensitive border with China and with reports of a recent incursion by China across the demarcated border, security was tight and everyone had to stop and verify passports at an additional security checkpoint. The journey would also take us through Chang La Pass, an altitude of 5350m above sea level, the worlds highest motor-able road. Despite the low temperatures, the sheer strength of the sun meant I only needed a very light jacket as long as the windows of the car weren't fully open. The snow capped peaks we'd been seeing also turned out to be ice not snow. Definitely don't want to be rolling around on it. Sadly due to the time it took to drive to the lake, we could only stay for a bit more than an hour before we had to turn around and head back to Leh. I did see some accomodation by the lake, so it looks like if one had the time, they could arrange to spend a night instead of putting in 12 hours of driving.

Why isn't it snow! :(

The sun is always strong up here

I wonder if it is tough being a dog up here

Beautiful valleys

One of many quotes seen along the mountain roads

Jump shot

See the yak?

Looks like it wants some food.

First glimpse of Pangong lake

Azure waters

Narrow roads

Local tribal herders

Chang La Pass

After getting back from Pangong Lake, we did have some good news from the travel agent. They'd managed to convince the military to issue all four of us permits. We would all thus be heading through Khardung La Pass to Nubra Valley, where we would stay overnight, before heading back to Leh.It was also here that we really had to rely on our drivers skill. Although the road is termed motor-able, it really is just a wide dirt track. with the strong sun, some of the ice also melts regarding in streams which have to be navigated. Our MPV really wasn't the most suitable vehicle for crossing streams when the water flow was high and some of the smaller cars did get stuck along the way. While on our journey to Nubra Valley, we also did come across a group of bikers who were riding from the Southern most part of India up to the Northernmost part. This was all to bring awareness to the frequent cases of violence against women that had been happening recently.

Looking down on Nubra Valley while perched up high.

Lots of army guys looking on

Bus decided to just drive off 

All of us waiting for the road to be cleared of debris

This altitude, 18380ft, is supposedly wrong!

Noodle soup and momos

A whole day of such views

After Crossing Khardung La Pass, we headed to our new accomodation in Nubra Valley. Not exactly a hotel, it was more like a tent hotel.No hot water piped in either. One had to fill a pail from the kitchen and lug it back to the tent.

Tent city 

As it had taken us almost the whole day (about 8 hours) to reach the new camp, and we were a bit out of the main tourist belt, we just lazed around a bit just outside the tents waiting for dinner to be ready. Unsurprisingly we were still the only non-Indian tourists. Perhaps at it was pretty early in the season, the main bulk of tourists still had yet to arrive. I did spend a while out in the open admiring the stars despite the temperature drop at night.. Sadly I had not thought to bring along a tripod. so no pictures of star speckled night skies to show. After a good nights sleep, It was time to embark on the journey back to Leh town. Along the way we would also be looking at some Bactrian camels (two humps)! It was almost a pity that the trip in Ladakh was not any longer. It's been over a year and i still think back wistfully about the amazing views then. Hopefully I will return, and on a motorbike the next time!

Camels

Baby ones too

Drying manure for fuel

Kids playing with the gates

Another car stuck on the return journey