Day 7 - Travel Day

Day 7

Travel day. We left Shanghai at 945 this morning where we are currently laying over in Guangzhou. All luckily has went well to this point. We had a tentative scare this morning as Kristen got caught with a knife going through airport security! Yep, you read that correctly. A knife through Chinese security. Luckily, the woman running the scanners simply confiscated the butter knife after Kristen showed her the bottle of Skippy peanut butter! Phew. We traveled with the knife from Beijing so we could make PBJ sandwiches when necessary.

 

I am a bit worried about Typhoon Haiyan that is approaching the Philippines. It shouldn't impact Cambodia, but will most likely go through Vietnam when we are scheduled to be there. We will have to keep an eye on the storm. Hoping it gets weaker and turns North.

 

A summary of my China experience:

I had low expectations of China since it wasn't high on my travel wish list. However, I am extremely happy that I have visited. Kristen and I complement each other well in traveling. She pushes me to places I probably wouldn't go and experiences I probably wouldn't undertake. I do the same to her. China is one of these times. It definitely opened my eyes to mass people. The number of people in China is hard to appreciate when you grew up in a town of 4,400 people. Even living in Chicago and visiting Kristen in NYC for a year, is nothing compared to the masses here.

 

Because of the masses, there is significantly more poverty, more trash, more pollution, etc... It highlights the importance of sustainability. This has constantly progressed in my life and will continue as we move to Portland. When Kristen and I went through our belongings to prepare for a move, we were shocked at how much stuff we actually had. Much of it we actually do not use. We struggled with what to do with it all as we did not want to simply throw some of it away. It was all usable stuff, we just did not need it. We ultimately decided to sell most of it for $1 at a moving sale. We pledged to not own so much stuff in the future. The hardest part is finding use for things you no longer need. No one wants to throw things in the trash. This has really set in for us seeing all of the trash and non-sustaining aspects of China. We are going to make much effort to buy sustainable items moving forward.

This pictures does not contain rain clouds, but smog!

Flying into Cambodia it looked like the area had a recent flood. We learned the next day that the rice fields next to the Tonle Sap lake (biggest in SE Asia and one of the richest sources of fresh water fish in the world) flood each year during the rainy season and floating fishing villages move in and out. Then the water levels go back down (~10 feet), the fishing villages migrate back to the lake and the farmers plant wet rice. No bad flooding going on, just yearly tides of the water.

 

The Cambodia airport is beautiful. Reminds me of the Grand Cayman airport. Tropical, lots of glass, with a warm humid air temperature. Our hotel, Borei, had full service, which meant all included transportation during the entire stay, drinks, food, cell phone, and laundry. It was the reason we picked it. Unbelievable service! Our driver and guide picked us up and we were given jasmine flower leis, which smelled awesome and was a great first impression. The hotel was absolutely beautiful. We had welcome drinks and planned our next day's itinerary.

 

We made it to free happy hour with any drinks possible. Great Cambodian food. We tried this amazing white crispy chip like food. We had Long Island ice tea, mojitos, wine, "round the world", and Mai tai. We sat outside in a covered patio overlooking a Siem Reap. Unbelievable start to Cambodia!

 

Full day of exploring tomorrow!

 

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