Cambodia

Angkor Wat has for years been one of the few places in the world I dreamed of visiting. I bought a ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap for about $150. From the airport (I had to buy a visa on entry for $20) I paid $1 for a motorcycle ride into the city - good thing I packed very lightly. My motorcycle driver pretended to search for the hostel I'd booked a reservation at, but "couldn't find it" and brought me somewhere else where he had connections and would probably get a finder's fee. They even told me my hostel had closed down, a blatant lie I found out, but that's not a big deal. The hostel I found was $5 a night, but after walking around I found a MUCH better please for only $8, with cable TV, two twin beds and hot water.

Although I wanted to get rid of my driver, he stuck around until he'd convinced me to hire him for three days, paying $50 altogether. (That's way too much for a motorcycle guide. It only costs $12 a day for a tuk-tuk, which are more comfortable to ride in anyway.) He took me to get my 3-day instant picture ID pass, and took me to my first ruin at sunset. For those who don't know, the temples of Cambodia are remnants of the Khmer civilization, which was at its peak about 1,000 years ago. The temples were abandoned and lost until discovered by French explorers.

The next three days was a blur of temples. Luckily I met a nice Korean girl, also traveling alone, so I had some company and someone to help me take pictures. At every temple are hordes of locals trying to sell souvenirs. It is generally the children who are put up to this task, something which many foreigners can't stand. Although they could get annoying, I was amazed at the Cambodian kids. They were so intelligent! They could speak several languages, and had an armada of tricks to get you to buy their bracelets/guidebooks/bronze statues or whatever.

"Hey Mister, you buy this Ok?"
No thanks.
"You go in, come back then you buy Ok?
No.
"If you buy, you buy only from me Ok?"
Ok.

They would ask your name and remember you until you came back their way again, and they would remember what you promised you might buy. They would also ask where you came from, and tell you the Capitol of your State or Country.

"If I know the capitol of Madagascar, then you buy, OK? Do you know the capitol of Madagascar? If you don't know, then you buy OK?"

The girls were generally better at this, pouting or laughing or manipulating at whim, instantly judging up tourists and knowing how to appeal to them. The boys would just get angry and repeat plaintively, "You buy? You buy? You buy?" No tact.

If you ask why they aren't in school, suddenly they say, "I don't speak English!" Someone has been training them good, because they all knew the correct formula for any response.

"But I don't want a bamboo-flute!"
"Oh, buy for your friends!"

Cambodia has had the misfortune of quickly becoming a tourist destination almost before they had a real country or government. Most of the roads aren't paved, nearly everyone outside of the tourist industry are farmers, providing for themselves. And then there are still the thousands of landmines spread throughout the country, creating perpetual hazard.

Siem Reap was a tourist town, filled with markets, internet cafes, photo shops and hotels. They also had AMAZING restaurants and I want to go back just to eat more.

I was there just 5 days, then I took a 12 hour bus to Bangkok so I could fly back to Taiwan.

Malaysia

I went to Kuala Lumpur this summer to watch my friend Nick jump off of the KL Tower. The "2007 KL Tower International Jump" was a huge event, overwhelmingly publicized as part of Malaysia's 50th anniversary celebration, highlighting a theme of "Unity and Harmony" to promote Malaysia's cultural diversity.

Malays, Indians, Chinese and Arabs live side-by-side in Malaysia, using any number of languages to communicate with, bargaining and arguing but otherwise living peacefully. (I have my doubts that the peace wouldn't end with the strong economy, but that's the same everywhere.) Nick's sky-diving buddies were great and, although I settled into a cheap hostel the first day, I ended up staying on the couch at their hotel, which was right across the street from the KL Tower.

The KL Tower is the 4th largest communications tower in the world. It is also the only Tower to open itself to the sport of base jumping once a year; 100 jumpers from all over the world came to KL to spend a week jumping, shopping and drinking - fitting nicely with their tourism campaign of "Visit Malaysia" 2007. The only thing I didn't like about Malaysia was the hype. They have the most heinous tourism propaganda I've ever seen. "Malaysia - TRULY Asia" is their main slogan on TV advertisements. Of course China doesn't need that kind of propaganda. Everybody knows where the great wall is. Unfortunately, Malaysia is one of the least Asian countries I've ever seen. I ate a lot of great Indian food. I was harassed at the markets by the pushy Arabic sellers. (Not their fault - that's their selling style. Same in Egypt or anywhere else, except they're selling Hong Kong junk.)

The day before the jump we took a one hour taxi ride to an enormous tourist hub up on top of a mountain - an indoor mall with an amusement park and tons of other things, including a wind tunnel. Only $6 a minute or something like that which I'm told is a deal. I did allright, for having very little experience. I could keep myself stable...just couldn't really control where to go. The 2nd time around, I was getting tired and desperate - I couldn't get out by myself and there was no way to call for help! The experienced instructor grabbed me, spun me up and down and all around, and then tossed me through the door. Good man.

The first day of the Jump I picked up a Media pass that I held on tightly to for the remainder of the event, which allowed me full access to the building, to go up to the rooftop and strap on a harness and sit on the edge of the 980 foot platform the jumpers used to catapult themselves into space. At night we'd go for full bodied massages or bars. We went to a nice hotel buffet one night, with an open bar, and caused a ruckus - standing on tables and throwing sugar packets. (Not me of course).

It was nice to see Nick a part of something so big - jumpers were treated like VIP guests, star athletes, and cultural ambassadors. As they should be: BASE jumping is amazing...and dangerous. They have good gear, and they play safe, and they don't have a death wish, but when you've got only a few seconds before you hit the ground, anything unexpected can actually kill you. There were a few accidents, but nothing serious. More alarming to me was that people were jumping who only last week had broken an arm, a leg or a back. Hardcore.

But who am I to judge. They had a great time, I would try it too if I could get more skydives first.