Erin Cox
Bryan and I spent eight wonderful weeks travelling through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Korea. | view photos | read summary
Highlights of Bangkok:
Spending time with Thai Fuquans: The many generations of Thai Fuquans (attendees of Duke's business school) in Bangkok went out of their way to give us a warm welcome and an insiders' view of their city. Dong (Fuqua '07) and partner Siam spent gave up two nights to give us a city overview tour and take us to several great restaurants, bars and the night market. We were also honored to be invited to join 7 admitted students and their first-year and alumni mentors at one of several bonding events planned before they head to Durham.
Alternative Transportation: It only took 20 minutes, but it was a wild ride. In order to avoid traffic, we hailed a private boat on one of the cross-city klongs (canals). 13 other Thai joined us for the cozy, knees-to-chin ride through noxious waterways. Midway throught the trip the boat jumped out of the water momentarily, Bryan humorously attributed the jolt to our gliding over a hippo or gator. Although our knees, calves and feet were asleep at arrival, we made it safely to our destination and disembarked amid waves from fellow passengers.
60th Anniversary Celebration of His Majesty the King's Accession to the Throne: We were lucky to be in Bangkok during this momentus event which brought multiple celebrations, billboards of King Bhumibol's photograph, firework shows, and a sea of yellow-shirted Thai revelers to the city. We joined the celebration at one of three practice sessions of the royal barge procession on the Chao Praya to be enjoyed by the king and 32 other monarchs on the big day. Getting a table just before it began on a rooftop restaurant on the river, the arrival of our Beer Chang mystically coincided with "oars up" and a major down pour. Despite the rain, we marveled at the 52 ancient barges making their way down the river accompanied by live chanting.
Thai Massage: We cannot believe this form of massage is not more prevalent in the US! It feels great and does not involve sticking your head through a hole. We found a wonderful little place called Ruen Nuad off Sukhumvit but sadly only visited twice.
Fuqua Revisited: Returning early to the Vietnam Embassy to pick up our visa-stamped passports, we found a good friend in line as well, Fuqua '06 Matt Mears. Despite a severe hangover and the reason for being there (he had lost his passport on the beach), he was amenable to spending the day with us searching for fried chicken, a recommended seafood restaurant, and a mystery massage studio.
Mont's for Toast: Dong and Siam took us to one of our favorite eateries in Bangkok - Mont. Apparently toast makes a great dessert when it is Texas Toast covered in butter/sugar or coconut custard. The trendy joint was hoppin and we were thrilled when Siam spyed Mont himself, a former street vendor, behind the counter.
Barges Revisited: One night we set out to find the only restaurant listed in Lonely Planet near our guesthouse, a fish house called Kaolong Home Kitchen. We knew it couldn't be far as it's street matched ours, however we hadn't seen it to either side of us yet. We set out down the street, which winded around and around. Devoid of street lights and people we almost gave up when we spied a tangle of cars parked at the far end of the long street. We pressed on and were rewarded by not only finding the river-front restaurant, which served us yummy seafood, but also by the sight of the same royal barges, seen earlier from In Love restaurant, returning to their homes by more modern barge transport.
More highlights: Bumping into an elephant outside our hotel on our first day in Bangkok: getting whisked away from the middle of chaotic Chinatown by Siam in her BMW; finally getting a request played (after 6 tries) at Ad Makers with Dong (the bar features an American rock and roll cover band); scarfing sweet treats like crepe tacos with boiled egg yolk and tiny coconut pancakes at Old Siam Plaza, a Thai Willy Wonka factory; viewing the Thai hit Khan Kluay, a Pixar-like animated film about an elephant, at the Emporium cinemas in VIP seats (bigger & comfier).
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After Bangkok, we headed west by bus to Kanchanaburi, where in 1942 the famous Bridge on the River Kwai and Thailand-Burma Railway (Death Railway) was commissioned by the Japanese. About a hundred thousand conscripted Asian labourers and 16,000 prisoners of war died working on the railway. Per the suggestion of a friend, we entrusted our 3-day experience entirely to Apple, of Apple's Guesthouse, staying in her simple rooms overlooking a lush garden. We ate our meals in her restaurant, repeatedly devouring her famous bananna pancakes. Apple set us up with a group tour of the area's famous sites. The day began with a hike to all seven levels of Erawan National Park, stopping for a brief moment to catch our breath at each waterfall. At the end of the three hour hike, we were rewarded by a cool swim in a lower pool, though it was cut short when some fishies found our feet and began to nibble. Our guide Nok (also our server in the restaurant) cheerily led us down Hellfire Pass, a railway cutting on the Death Railway, and told us where to sit on the short train ride along the span of remaining tracks in order to get the best photos. The day-long tour culminated in a visit to the notorious bridge. There we safely traversed the bridge, despite the lack of guardrails and the hoards of Japanese tourists who felt it necessary to keep their sun umbrellas open during the short walk on the narrow railroad trestle.
We also took advantage of Apple's highly regarded Thai cooking course, taught by the hilarious and ambiguously gendered Mickey. The course began with an excursion to the market, where Mickey attached an English name to the foreign plant and animal life we had seen on our daily walks in Bangkok. Back in the kitchen, Mickey showed us how to make Tom Yum and Tom Ka Gai, rice soup with pork meatballs, pad thai, and curries of all colors. After the course, the 8 students sat down to enjoy the food we had prepared and exchange tales of our travels.
Having sufficiently "done" Kanchanaburi, we travelled to Ayuthaya, capital of Thailand until 1767 when the city was destroyed by the Burmese army, by local bus (no chickens!). The city's ancient ruins, mostly temples, are intriguing and beautiful. We delighted in seeing first-hand many of the structures built during the reign of King Naresuan, the ruler featured in the animated feature film we loved seeing in Bangkok. But the highlight of our stay in this area was our guesthouse host, Goson. Elegant yet grandmotherly and well-versed in English, Goson arranged for a tuk tuk to take us around the temples the evening we arrived (many are lit at night) and rented us bicycles to tour the sites by ourselves the next day. We had grown quite fond of Goson when, coming in from a day of touring, she invited us to join her at the TV to watch a special fireworks show being held in Bangkok as part of the king's celebrations. Not only were we amazed that the Thais were still celebrating the anniversary, we found the fireworks show more spectacular than any either of us had ever seen before, and it lasted a full hour. We loved Goson's interruptions to explain the accompanying music (written by the king) and photographs being shown on huge screens accompanying the fireworks, and how she always referred to the monarch as "my king" ("my king was born in Massachusetts!"). We marvelled to hear that she was born in the teak house in which we were staying, 63 years ago, 2 years after it was built. But nothing could have surprised us more than when Goson casually mentioned that she was a hemotologist and medical scientist, still lecturing to MD students twice per week in Bangkok.
The next morning we embarked for the first time on the punctual Thai railway system, for a 55-minute ride to Bangkok airport. From there we flew to Cambodia to see grandaddy temple, Angkor Wat, and his neighbors. It was thrilling to see the pastoral landscape of Siem Reap from the plane and arrive in a new country. Unlike Thailand, one is immediately and perpetually reminded of the country's violent and sorrowful past through the visible efforts of NGOs to help amputees and eradicate landmines.
As usual, we relied on a few helpful local people to guide our experience. Mr. Phat drove us wherever we wanted to go for three days in his cute "remorque-moto," and Alonn, a young, university educated Cambodian from the countryside, spent a day with us to make sense of the history behind the many temples. She translated the stories of the bas-relief panels surrounding Angkor Wat and showed us just where exactly Angelina Jolie leapt and climbed in Ta Phrom while filming Tomb Raider. Alonn shared stories of growing up in the countryside, assisting her family in their business growing rice, and about the time that a lingering Khmer Rouge faction blew up a bridge near her home. Meeting Alonn inspired me to purchase a copy of "First They Killed My Father" (bootleg, it turned out), the heartwrenching story of the Khmer Rouge's genocide campaign, told by a woman my age who experienced Pot Pol's terror first-hand from age 6-10. I purchased the book from a pack of girls, after heavy solicitation in an open air restaurant near the temples. Bryan cracked me up by lecturing the young girls (who spoke very good English) on the marketing concept "4 Ps and 3 Cs" (product, placement, customer, etc.), pointing out that their advice to buy one of their small, metal amulets for "our mom, because she didn't get to come" was a good example of "promotion."
Upon discovering that our reserved and unpaid for flight to Laos had mysteriously disappeared, we purchased tickets to Hanoi in Vietnam, one of the places on our wish list. A bit fatigued from sight seeing, we spent the first four days and nights exploring the Old Quarter, eating Spanish, Italian, French and Vietnamese food, shopping in stylish boutiques and remarking often on every aspect of the plethora of motorbikes (scooters) in the city. "Plethora" is an understatement - the number of scooters in Hanoi is insane. They rule the streets (and sidewalks) and stop lights and signs are rare so the only way to cross the street is to step right out in front of the stream and hope the vehicles part around you.
This maneuvering, combined with the city's noise, pollution, and relentless hawkers (salesmen), nearly did us in, but we escaped to the gorgeous Halong Bay, a simple 5-hour minivan, ferry and boat transfer from Hanoi. There we relaxed during a 2-day trip, with with one other tour participant, on our own base camp. We stayed overnight in a thatched hut and the small staff expertly prepared delicious meals while our guide, Hieu, instructed us in how to use a kayak. Each day Hieu led us on a gentle paddle through the tranquil waters, stopping often to let us rest. This was definitely the best way to see a few of the 2,000 limestone islands jutting up spectacularly from the bay. When we weren't kayaking or eating, we happily floated in the calm, warm waters, which inspired us to leave Hanoi for southern Thailand's beaches.
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After leaving Hanoi, we toured some of the beautiful beaches of Thailand - Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, and Railay on the west coast and Koh Samui on the east coast. Though we loved reading books all day and watching sunsets at night, we were ready to go back to the city after three very relaxing weeks. We flew to Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city in northern Thailand. Here we did some serious shopping and enjoyed a totally different Thai cuisine which is very spicy and less common in American Thai restaurants. We also hired a driver to take us to a few sites near the the border of Laos, Burma and Thailand, including a terrific museum on the history of opium in the region.
Later after revisiting our favorite restaurants, seeing friends and completing our shopping in Bangkok, we flew to Seoul on our way home. Seoul was incredible and we saw so much that the three days there felt like a week. The amazing subway system made it very easy to get around and it was exciting to travel to a place where there are almost no Western tourists. Once again we were privileged to be hosted by local Fuqua classmates who introduced us to unique aspects of the Korean cuisine.
Leaving Seoul after eight weeks away we were ready for more but happy to continue on our way to see our family and friends.
1. Watching the royal barge procession on the Chao Praya river for the King's 60th celebration in
Bangkok
2. Tour of the temples at Angkor with our guide Alonn in Cambodia
3. Finding the perfect beach on Koh Samui (Chaweng Beach)
4. Joe Louis puppet show at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar in Bangkok
5. Sunsets over Kata with cocktails in Phuket
6. Listening to our guide Hue tell stories about Vietnam while kayaking in Halong Bay
7. Thai massages at Ruen Nuad in Bangkok and Let's Relax in Chiang Mai
8. Watching fireworks for the King's 60th celebration on TV with host Goson in Ayuthaya
9. Thai fusion dinner with new Fuqua students in Siam Square, Bangkok
10. People watching and window shopping in the trendy, fashion districts of Siam Square in Bangkok
and Myong-Dong in Seoul
11. Alternative rock concert at Club Funky Funky in Seoul's Hongik district