Ko Phi Phi, Yeah You Know Me

For our final week, we vegged out on the Thai islands of Ko Phi Phi and Koh Samui.

KPP is tiny and picturesque. No cars, no motos, not shirts or shoes required! Our hotel was on an isthmus, and panoramic views from the rooms covered an inlet beach on one side and the harbour on the other. We tanned, fire danced, fire limboed, and rented a speed boat for a day. Twas glorious. We were sad to leave.

Also, we found Nemo! No joke! While snorkeling, we saw a clown fish chilling out in sea anenome. It was inspiring. Not surprising someone saw such a sight and made the movie. Due to a lack of underwater cameras, here's an artist's rendering:

Koh Samui is much larger and more heavily touristed. We're too tired, sick and sun burnt to take any pictures. It's time to go home...hopeful Bangkok International will not be closed by PAD protests :)

Cool Pix, Hot Times v2.0

It's easier for Rebecca to go pass though the eye of a Dong than for an HBS student to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

A macaque monkey at Angkor Wat. [Insert pun here.]

Rush hour in Ho Chi Minh City:

Causing trouble in a Ko Phi Phi restaurant.

Rooftop cocktails in HCMC.

Swinging dinner table in Cambodia.

Tiger Beer does strange things to a man. Well, you really just make the tiger face in pictures.

DANGER: EXTREME MAXIMUM WATTAGE

As Wat enthusiasts, Angkor Wat was the climax of our travels, the apex of our odyssey, the culmination of everything we've ever done our short lives, and...ok, you get the idea.

For this blogger, the trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia and the surrounding ancient temples (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Phrom of Tomb Raider fame, and many more) meant adding a second check on my list of man-made Wonders of the World visited.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words and an hour of internet costs 80 Baht, let's cut to the chase:

Angkor Wat at sunrise:

School kids at a local monestary in English class.

Our intrepid guide in Cambodia, "T," aka Mr. T, aka Iced T, telling us a "mani-pedi-botox" joke.



Ok, these silly pics are only worth 990 words apiece, so let's add silly captions

Who's got a sweaty orange shirt and a beard? These handsome chaps!

One of them used to be a ballerina, and the other a wrestler. Bet you can't guess which is which!

One of them was Harvard Dance Team '04, and the other was '05. Bet you can't guess which is which!

It's good to be the king!

The element of supplies!

Get over here...finish him!

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

FYI, we're following the regional news closely and are confident that our departure plans will not be impacted. The airports we're using have remained open, and the protests have been peaceful, for the most part. The US Embassy in Thailand did not suggest that we hasten our departure and said that life in Bangkok is business as usual.


'Critical' weekend
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=130153

Escalated anti-government demonstrations were in their fifth day on Saturday, with the prime minister losing support from the Army amid signs of an increasing government dilemma.

"This weekend will be critical," said academic political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak.
"The government is in a dilemma. If they crackdown, that may cause a boomerang, but if they don't, they look weak," said the director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University - who also is an Oped contributor to the Bangkok Post.

The French news agency AFP reported on Saturday afternoon that about 45 protesters used bolt cutters to break into Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's abandoned office at Government House, occupied for days by the anti-government group.

One of the activists told AFP that protest leader Chamlong Srimuang had ordered them to force open the doors so that he could use the offices himself, the report said.

On the street on Saturday, and particularly from Government House, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) continued its call for the resigination of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and the entire government. The court ordered protesters out of Government House last Wednesday but on Friday stayed the injunction indefinitely in an order to promote a peaceful solution.

Meanwhile, protesters agreed on Saturday to lift their siege of two of the three airports in the South. But the international airport at the important tourist centre of Phuket remained blockaded, after PAD allowed flights to resume for travellers at Krabi and Hat Yai.

On Friday, army commander Gen Anupong Paojinda rejected a call by Mr Samak to declare a state of emergency and call out troops. He suggested the use of police instead, or the resignation of the premier to cool tempers. Mr Samak repeated he would not resign.

"If the PAD succeeds in ousting Samak, it will be a huge setback for Thai democracy," Prof Thitinan said. "It will be the crowning success for the right-wing conservative contingent who are against election-based democracy."

PAD leaders, such as retired Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang, have said the Thai electorate is too uneducated to vote in honest politicians and continues to sell its votes to the highest bidders.

Pho for thought

Forty years after our parents' generation faced the decision to fight in Vietnam, dodge the draft, linger in academia, or... and almost thirty years after Saigon fell to communism and was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, our group of twenty-somethings visited HCMC as tourists.

At the Notre Dame Basilica in HCMC

Aside from the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels, there aren't many reminders of the Vietnam War (err, the American War) around HCMC. There's Starbuck's and Burger King, Gucci and Prada, wealthy neighborhoods and slums, and tons of traffic. Very much the L.A. of the subcontinent.

You can't help but wonder what Baghdad will be like in 2043, forty years after the U.S. invaded Iraq. Will there be fast food and luxury goods? Will the population welcome American visitors? Will our kids visit during a pre-business school adventure? Does mixing Malarone and Cipro do funny things to your inner monologue?

Awesome Signs v5.0

As we trek deeper and deeper into the subcontinent, we've noticed a marked decrease in both signage awesomeness and signage ridiculousness. However, the intrepid photo staff at CIGAWW have found a few diamonds in the rough.

Apparently, BJ services were available at our Saigon hotel:

Ko Phi Phi: "The town for walkers and primitive vehicle users."

P.S. Primitive vehicles is not the preferred nomenclature.

If the suit fits, you must acquit...money from your wallet

Tailored clothing is typically a big part of the SE Asia tourist experience. We passed up the usual spots (Bangkok and Hanoi) for Hoi An, a charming town in central Vietnam.

The team at Yaly Couture went above and beyond for us. If you're ever in this part of the world, give them a shout (think they have write ups in Rough Guide and Fodor's).

We're gonna look like a million bucks at GSB formals. Someone's already got a date!

And don't forget to get a custom-made pair of gladiators to match that stunning dress!

Lessons Learned v1.0

If you ever trek for 30 days through SE Asia, most definitely keep the following in mind:

1. Reapply sun screen to your back frequently when snorkeling for a full day. Who knew!?

2. Bring 1 bottle of sun screen and 1 bottle of bug spray for every 10 days of travel.

3. Don't get roundhouse kicked in the face by Rebecca.

4. Sunrises are more spectacular than sunsets. Get your lazy ass out of bed early.

5. If you're sick for three days and still don't feel better, find a good doctor pronto.

6. Don't take tuk tuks in Bangkok. In cabs, insist that the meter is turned on.

7. In Hanoi cabs, follow your route on a map and make sure you don't get taken for a ride.

8. Don't get on a moto cab with a red faced driver!!!

9. Don't fly Lao Airlines, unless you have a death wish and/or really short legs.

10. Don't let yourself get forced into a pork ball situation, especially in Hoi An.

11. Bring water shoes, like the Solomon Tech Amphibian, and an ample supply of granola batrs and bandanas.

12. You get what you pay for.

Roll Call v2.0

Becca: The Numismatist (specializing in Baht)
Briana: The Diva
Erin: The Heart Breaker
Ilana: The Healer
Jason: The Connoisseur
Joel: The Mensch
Karla: The Super Trooper
Kim: The Champ
Kristy: The Elephant Whisperer
Margot: The Social Nexus
Rebecca: The Black Widow
Sam: The Soulja

P.S. Team tee shirts are in the house. Previous posting of "team tee shits" was a typo, not an awkward activity in Ko Phi Phi. We swear.


P.P.S. We miss you a ton KG :(

Exactly what we need, right now

Big thanks to David Rogers for taking us up on the CIGAWW challenge and drawing up an Indiana Jones style map of our travels. Pls excuse the compression. It wasn't easy to convert the PDF to JPEG in an internet cafe in Ko Phi Phi. The original looks even more incredible. Thanks!

More photos to come soon. The blogger's camera is broken, and new photographers are being interviewed as we speak.

Some teasers till next we speak...
- Sun rise over Angkor Wat
- Fire dancing on the beaches of Ko Phi Phi
- The first official photo with team tee shirts

Umm, Help Please

Fans of CIGAWW have been demanding an Indiana Jones style map of our travels, perhaps with animation of the plane and a trailing dotted line.

Anyone know of a free web app that does this? (Surely Paramout created this Facebook app to promote Kingdom of the Cyrstal Skull and pull in a travel industry sponsor.) Or does anyone want to draw this for us?

Our travels thus far have covered:

Bangkok>
Pai>
Chiang Mai>
Chiang Rai>
Huang Say>
(Mekong Slow Boat>)
Luang Prabang>
Hanoi>
Hoi An>
Ho Chi Minh>
Siem Reap

Pho-Shizzle My Dong-Izzle

Two highlights from Vietnam (we've covered Hanoi, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Mihn City thus far):

1. Pho: We've got a problem. As mature adults, we understand that the first step to recovery is admitting we have a problem. So, out with it: We're addicted to pho. If we could find enough of it to bathe in, we would. If it was available intravenously, we'd shot it up. It pharmaceutical grade pho existed, we'd find a crooked doctor to hook us up.

2. Dong: As mature business professionals, we're embarrassed to be so endlessly amused that the Vietnamese currency is the Dong. And the common denominations are even more humorously large than in Laos. Two Dong to one Kip!!! I'd write a serious commentary on the the inflation of the dong, but well... "I've got a lot of dong burning a whole in my pocket." "Does anyone have any smaller dong." "Gimme a sec and I'll whip out my dong." The sad thing is, I think we're the only tourists to have this much fun with it. Our American born host in Hanoi has been in the country for three years and hasn't heard a single dong joke from any of her many visitors.

Sex and the City, On the Dock of the Bay, In Cold Blood

For our one night sleeping on our provate boat on Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the group voted to watch a bootleg DVD of the Sex and the City movie instead a rooftop party under a full moon and clear skies.


Sure, Sex and City is still a big hit in Vietnam.

And sure, the boat crew was kinda of creepy. But damn it would've been nice to celebrate our youth in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places we've ever seen.

The men (and Kim!!!) tried to neutralize the estrogen fest by diving head first from 75 feet up into jelly fish infested waters (100% true story) . And some brave souls battled sea monsters.

But in the end, the men did not regain their dignity. This aggression will not stand. Oh no, this aggression will not stand. We don't know when, we don't know, but vengeance will be ours. Oh yes, these dogs will have their day!