But hey, I got to watch the sun rising over Mt Fuji this morning, and my favorite curry stall is still where I left it. We'll call it good...

written by  Jason Kester on November 30, 2005 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia Again 2006
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It was nice that you could hire a guy for $5 to drive you around on a motorbike from Sunrise to sunset and wait outside these temple sites for hours at a time, but still I think my best day was the one where I just rented a bike and pedaled out to the remote spots that nobody visits. Got to meet a couple kids on their way to the fishing hole, and found the back way through the jungle to get from temple to temple.

Too bad they're building giant luxury hotels so fast. In another year or so I bet you'll start seeing ropes and signs and guards all over the place. Better get there now if you still want to sift through the rubble yourself!

written by  Jason Kester on December 8, 2005 from Siemreab, Cambodia
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia Again 2006
tagged Angkor
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The killing Fields are really something to behold. The site itself is nothing special. Just a small monument in a Field full of holes, but what it lacks in scope it makes up in impact. The monument itself is essentially a giant glass display case. 10 shelves, 20 feet by 20 feet, each stacked three high with piles of skulls that they have been digging up in the immediate vicinity. 8000 in all.

Walking among the mass graves, it took a while to register the scraps of cloth sticking out of the ground. This is Southeast Asia so you get used to trash everywhere. But eventually it sunk in that these were people’s clothes working their way out of the ground after the fall rains. Scratch the surface and you’ll find bones inside them. Visitors collect them in little shrines along with teeth and bits of clothing. The sign says there are 2000 more bodies that they plan to leave buried there. As I said, it’s a pretty powerful experience.

written by  Jason Kester on December 10, 2005 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia Again 2006
tagged KillingFields
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So, a half hour on a motorbike across town and an hour on a state of the art Cambodian airliner puts me back in lovely Bangkok in time to pick up the bags and jump on a night train to Surat Thani. Just 20 hours of buses, pickup trucks and longtail boats away from the beach. No worries!

written by  Jason Kester on December 11, 2005 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia Again 2006
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