Granada, Nicaragua

The big 5-0!!! I've hit country number fifty. Only about 153 more to go now. I landed in Managua airport in the evening. After successfully passing the Swine Flu infrared body temperature scanner, I grabbed my bag and headed outside to meet my shuttle to Granada. Well, the shuttle never showed, so I had to swallow my thriftiness and bust out $40 for a cab ride to Granada. The cabbie couldn't find my guesthouse, even though I had a map and was giving what I thought were clear directions in my best Spanglish. "Derecho! Izquierda! Derecha! Es a blanco y azul casa. Casa Silas. Calle de Concepcion. " Arrgh. We finally found it by pure luck.

Granada is a surprisingly sedate, picturesque town in an otherwise poor country. Nicaragua has a per capita GNI of $980 per year, the lowest in all of the Western Hemisphere, except Haiti. As such, I had low expectations. But I found that just as in Laos and Cambodia, poverty need not equate to misery. Granada has a dilapidated elegance. It is lined with colorfully painted Spanish colonial apartments. Schoolchildren in pressed blue and white uniforms run through the streets. Horses adorned with ribbons pull carriages. Granadinos sit in ornately carved wooden rocking chairs in the over sized doorways of their homes watching the world go by. It seems like a placid life. As I walked I passed family after family, two generations of adults rocking back and forth, eyes on the passers-by and ears tuned to the telenovela on TV. Children race about as they calmly rock in front of a fan, as the blazing Nicaraguan sun casts ever-longer shadows down their pastel alleyways.

People move slowly here. One must to survive the boiling heat. The Spanish wisely built their cities with narrow streets and multi-level apartments to allow some shade at all hours. Finding shade is a critical task in Granada.

Granada has some of the most interesting history of any city in the Americas. It is the oldest city in Central America, founded by Spanish conquistadors in 1524. In 1666 it was spectacularly captured by pirates in one of the most daring attacks in history. Henry Morgan paddled up the San Juan River by night with his crew in small dugouts. They then sailed across huge Lake Nicaragua, and caught the city's defenders by surprise. It may be the only case in history of pirates attacking a city 200 miles from the ocean. In 1856 Granada was occupied by American mercenary William Walker. When his plan to conquer all of Central America brought the wrath of Costa Rica and Honduras, he burned Granada to the ground on his retreat. Scorch marks can still be seen on one church that survived. The city was shelled and bombed again during the Sandinista revolution in 1979.

Granada has a lot of bicycles. A romantic evening out seems to begin with the man pedaling his mountain bike with his date sitting side-saddle on the crossbar. You see many couples, young and old, travelling like this. There are a few beggars here, sadly, many are kids hooked on glue. There aren't so many as to be frightening, but it's best to have some small change on you, or be ready to give a firm "no". There are many kids that prowl La Calzada for money. Some small children sell packs of cashews for 50 cents. I made friends with one kid who would hang out at my table and pretend to read Lonely Planet. The man next to me gave the rest of his dinner to a man missing a leg. Some other kids breakdance for change. A couple of them are really good. A big group of kids wear giant costumes and play drums and spin around. I have no idea what the cultural significance is of a giant woman in colonial dress spinning around is, but there are at least two competing groups with the costume.
Granada is a very safe city. I had no problems or felt in danger walking around at night. There is little police presence. Locals tell me that Nicaragua is very safe all over, except parts of Managua, and parts of the Caribbean coast due to drug trafficking. Oh boy is it cheap here too. A taxi across town is 50 cents, a beer in a nice restaurant is $1,A good meal $3-4, a t-shirt $4, An hour of internet $1, a bottle of fantastic Flor de Cana rum $7, a hand made hammock $11.

Taipei, Taiwan

Country #49! While Taiwan is not a member of the UN, and is not recognized by most nations (including the USA), it is undebateably a sovereign nation. It resides in the long shadow cast by China, who claims it as a "renegade province" of mainland China. Taiwan has been governing itself since 1949.

My travels to Asia this time around were on China Air, so it was easy to get a free stopover in Taipei. Taipei is another huge city of 2.6 million. It's airport is a long way from the city, so Aaron and I got a scenic bus ride through the suburbs to get to our hotel. We then added a fruitless march carrying our bags through the city to where I thought our hotel was. People are really nice in Taipei. Just open your map up and look confused and someone will step up and help you find your destination. We showed up at the wrong hotel, and after jovially trying to convince us to just stay at their hotel, they wrote directions to our actual hotel in Chinese, hailed a cab for us, and told the cabbie where to take us. Thanks Neil and Chantelle!
Yes, the hotel clerks were named Neil and Chantelle. Apparently when you are of Chinese descent and you get a job in the hotel industry, you have to pick a westernized name. I didn't have the heart to tell Chantelle, that she is almost certainly the first Chinese named Chantelle ever.

So what is there to do and see in Taipei? Not much. We walked through Snake Alley, a "tourist market" where they sell the same cheap crap that they sell in every night market in Asia, with the addition of snakes. Big snakes. Aaron saw a 10foot python. I moved on. You can drink snake blood here, as seen on the cable travel/drinking show "Three Sheets". We did not partake. That's all we could find to do in Taipei. No bar scene. Just a big city focused on business. Oh, and the world's tallest building.

Taipei 101 is currently, officially, the World's Tallest Building. I think his is really awesome. I like to check off Really Big Things on my list during my travels. And this the THE BIGGEST OF THEM ALL. Sort of. It's actually much smaller than the Burj Dubai, a massive tower in the United Arab Emirates. However, the Burj is not open for business yet, so according to the people who decide these things Taipei 101 is still #1.
This picture does not even begin to illustrate how big this building is. It isn't just taller than the other high-rises in Taipei, it's like three time higher than the next tallest building. It sticks out like a bizarre aberration of architecture. Taipei 101 is 1,670 feet, and has been the tallest in the world since 2004.

Taipei 101 also has the World's Fastest Elevator. It hits a top speed of 37.7MPH on the way up. My ears popped twice during the ride, but I had no sensation of speed.

The view was OK. It's smoggy in Taipei, like everywhere else in Asia, so the visibility was less than ideal.

This trip up Taipei 101 is the crowning jewel of my visits to Really Big Things. I've also been to the Petronas Towers (tallest in the world from 1998-2004), the Eiffel Tower (tallest structure in the world from 1889-1930), Washington Monument (tallest structure from 1884-1889), Cologne Cathedral (tallest from 1880-1884), and St Olaf's church in Estonia (world's tallest structure from 1549-1625).

Our mission in Taipei complete, we headed back to the airport.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Streets of Phnom Penh. Craziest traffic Ive ever seen.

From Siem Reap, Aaron, Pat and I took a bus to the capitol Phnom Penh. The bus was comfortable, had A/C, and played videos of Cambodian standup comedy. We had a close call with a cow that wandered into the road. The 6 hour ride dragged on, until finally we made it to the bus station.
Phnom Penh is much cleaner and more orderly than I would have predicted. It has some nice parks. It's very modern, and the streets are in pretty good shape. The traffic is unreal though. There appear to be no road rules. Mopeds come from every direction, with no stoplights or even stop signs. Every intersection is a four way merge with horns blaring.

The view from Wat Phnom

The Silver Pagoda houses a solid gold Buddha. The entire Royal Palace area is just beautiful, really a smaller version of the Royal Palace area of Bangkok, which it was modeled after.

Now for the harsh reality of Cambodian history. This country went through living hell from April 1975 to January 1979. The Khmer Rouge killed approximately 1.5 Million people. That amounts to one out of every seven Cambodians alive in 1975. No one should come to Cambodia without first watching the movie "The Killing Fields", and reading at least one book about the genocide. I recommend "First They Killed My Father". It seems inconceivable that such a thing could have happened here. Cambodians are so friendly and funny. But it did happen, just 30 years ago. Anyone over the age of thirty you meet would have some terrifying stories to tell. Sadly, after a few days in Cambodia you realize that there just aren't that many people over thirty walking around. It is a youthful country, and for all the wrong reasons.
During that late 70's Phnom Penh was a ghost town. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge forced the entire population to flee to the countryside with only what they could carry. Imagine the population of Boston being sent into the woods of Massachusetts and New Hampshire with nothing but a bag of potatoes, having to fend for themselves for food and water. How long would those people last? Not very long.

Faces of the inmates from Tuol Sleng Prison. 17,000 people were incarcerated and tortured here. All but 7 ended up dying in the prison or being murdered at the nearby killing fields.

We visited Tuol Sleng Prison, also known as S-21. The Khmer Rouge took this school and made it into a torture death camp. They imprisoned anyone who was educated, worked for the previous government, anyone that could possibly be considered a threat to their bizarre reorganization of society. They kept records of every inmate. The photos of the inmates are displayed throughout the building. It's quite moving to look at row upon row of pictures of people that you know were tortured and killed.


One of the beds on which people were tortured. The metal box is an ammo canister that served as their toilet.


Next we drove to the killing fields on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. 20,000 people were murdered here by the Khmer Rouge between 1976-79.

One of many mass graves.

The stupa of skulls. Layer upon layer of unidentified skulls found in the killing fields.

Even seeing all the skulls, I couldn't wrap my mind around the magnitude of murder and inhumanity that existed here.

I wasn't sad to leave Phnom Penh at the end of our visit to Cambodia. The city 's traffic, smog and frightening history wore me down. I will miss Cambodia though, and will certainly return to Siem Reap.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Cambodia is country #48. I'm always a little nervous at border crossings. Siem Reap has a beautiful new airport that belied the country's poverty. I had an encounter with the least friendly passport control officer I've met. I didn't have the right arrrival card so he just waved me away. I asked where to get the right card. He waved me away. I finally found the right card and made it through another window.


My trusty tuk-tuk driver Mao met me at the airport. When Aaron and Pat failed to show up on their flight, Mao wanted to wait to see if they'd come on the next flight. 3 hours later! I was melting in the 90 degree sun of the airport parking lot. Mao ended up driving us all over for three days.

Aaron and I at Angkor Wat. Gowanus Dredgers! The temples of Angkor are spread out over several miles. The place used to be a city of one million around 1200 AD, at a time when the population of London was 50,000! As such, you need some sort of transportation to get to all the temples. Bicycles might be fun in December, but in the 90+ degree heat of April, we chose the tuk-tuk. For $12 we had a driver and tour guide all in one from sunrise to sunset. All we had to do was hop in and hop out. And sweat a lot.

Angor Wat is huuuuuge. Hard to believe this thing was built by 1150, and it's still in pretty good shape. I think I need to build my next house out of stone. And with a moat.

Apsara reliefs cover the walls of Angkor Wat

Endless passageways of the temple

Cambodia is so awesomely cheap it is unbelievable. Here is a list of things I got in Siem Reap for one dollar: An Angkor Wat t-shirt, 80 minutes of Internet, two cold Angkor drafts in a nice restaurant, a hand carved wooden flute, a wooden jaw harp, a 20 minute tuk tuk ride, two litres of cold bottled water, entry to the Land Mine museum. The US Dollar is the de facto currency. You pay in US Dollars, and small change is given back in Cambodian Riel.

At the Bayon temple you have the option to take a short elephant ride around the perimeter of the temple for $15. Riding an elephant is on my life list, so I had to do it. It wasn't actually all that exciting, kind of a weird undulating ride as the elephants shoulder blades roll underneath you. I hope these elephants are well cared for, but I fear they may not be.

Aaron and I on an elephant.

The wonderfully serene Bayon temple was built around 1200. I could spend a day here just looking at all the faces. There are 216 of them in total.

The sleepy faces are watching you from every angle.

A smiling face of Bayon. Bayon is my favorite temple of any I've ever seen so far.

Ta Proehm, as seen in Tomb Raider.

Siem Reap is perfectly set up for backpackers. If there is anything that a traveller needs, someone in Siem Reap has opened a store selling it. I found a bookstore with pirated copies of every Lonely Planet guide for $5 each. Another store will load ripped songs to your Ipod for just 20cents each. Hostels, laundry, massage, travel agents specializing in bus tickets to Vietnam Laos and Thailand, bars, restaurants, all of this in one block. You can live like a king here on $20 a day.

Water Buffalo get in free at the temples of Angkor.

Pre Rup, built in 962, is a great quiet place to wander around.

Banteay Srei was built wayyyy back in 967. It is known for having the most intricate carvings of any temple in Angkor.

"Sah! Cold drink for you? Sah! You buy cold drink from me? Beer? Water? Coke? Maybe after tempah, you can buy from me? You remembah me, OK? I remembah you. You can buy from me."

Any visitor to Angkor will remember these entreaties long after they have forgotten the names of the temples they saw. You may thing you've gotten the tough sales pitch in other developing countries, but no one can outsell the ladies of Angkor. Before your tuk-tuk even rolls to a halt, you will be surrounded by four or five women and girls with armloads of t-shirts, sarongs, flutes, books, and hats.

"Sah! You need t-shirt? You need book on Angkor? Sah! Come to my shop, it right here!"

These are not the roadside sales girls of Indonesia or Laos with maybe five English phrases memorized, these girls, some only ten years old, have learned fluent English solely by haggling with tourists at Angkor. They have a sharp sense of humor too. Whatever reason you give them as to why you cannot buy yet another Angkor Wat t-shirt for two dollars, they have a better reason why you should buy it. Here is one exchange I had:

"Sah! You buy bracelet for your wife?"

"I don't have a wife."

"Sah! Maybe for you Mum?"

"I don't have a mom."

"But Sah, maybe you buy one for you sistah?"

"I don't have a sister"

"Sah, maybe you buy one for you girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"But Sah, do you know why you no have girlfriend?"

"No, why?"

"Because...YOU NO HAVE BRACELET!" (giggles from all her sales cohorts)

These girls are completely charming and harmless and their imaginative sales pitch did not annoy me, it just made me wish I could give em all a hundred bucks so they could go to school instead of selling cold drinks for a daily profit of two dollars.

The Angkor temples are astounding, but really the interaction with these kids was almost as fun as seeing the temples. At one stop the "cold drink" calls were coming in loud from fifty yards away, and I desperately needed one.

"Sah! Cold drink? Watah?"

Just to be a wise ass, I raised my hands in the air and shouted "I need a water! Where do I go?"

The place erupted. "Sah! Sah! Here! Right here!" Three kids sprinted to their mom's cooler, grabbed a water and raced each other laughing and shoving to get to me first. I guess playtime and work melt together into one when your a working kid in Cambodia.

The hot, flat Cambodian countryside, full of rice fields, lies between each temple. Water buffaloes and skinny cows abound. Also monkeys, chickens, and mangy dogs. All of the animals like to step into the road right in front of your vehicle.

What I love about travelling in Asia is that it is always an unexpected and unique adventure. Strange things happen here, things that just wouldn't happen anywhere else. An example; we hired out driver to take us out to all the best bars in town. At first he just kept taking us to one decibel blasting disco after another. We stepped into the first place, and it was pitch black. Not dark mind you, but black, almost no lights at all! If we got separated I'd never find Aaron and Pat. A sappy Thai pop ballad was playing. The dance floor was full of Cambodian kids slow dancing, junior high school dance style. In the dark. Aaron came back laughing from the men's room. I had to go too, and luckily he had briefed me for what was about to happen. I stepped in to see several young men in the club's uniform polo shirts standing at the back of the room. I hesitantly stepped to the urinal. As I'm going, one of the men steps up behind me, says "Good evening sir." and begins to give me a shoulder massage. WHILE I'M PEEING. Odd things happen in Asia. I started laughing uncontrollably, struggled to finish my business, tipped him a dollar for the most awkward massage ever, and got the hell out of there.

At the next club a sign was posted on the door stating in pictorial form; No knives, No guns, and No grenades. No grenades??? Is that enough of a problem that it has to be posted??? I checked with Aaron to make sure he left his grenades back at the hotel. Once we got inside there were lights at least, but the bass was Earth shaking. The bass was so powerful that as I looked across the club, each thump caused my vision to blur momentarily. There was yet another strange lavatorial experience in this place. While I was in the men's room, three young Cambodian kids came in laughing and stumbling, and all went into the same extra-roomy handicapped stall. They were closely followed by two massive goons dressed in black. Their private security force searched the men's room, stared me down as I was the only other occupant, then locked the entry door and stood guard on either side of it. While their young employer presumably sniffed coke in the stall, I quickly washed my hands and wondered if I'd be allowed to leave. I was.

Pat, Aaron and I offering to take out tuk-tuk drivers for a ride instead. Savoen and Mao are sitting in the shade for once.