Thursday, March 28, 2013

Monsoon season is NOT over

Along with living in the tropics comes rain- torrential/monsoon/worst-thunderstorm-of-your-life rain. It rains at least 4-5 times a week, either in short spurts or day-long storms. Luckily for me, I love thunderstorms! Although I have been caught in them walking back from class more times than I care for. Supposedly the rainy season ends in February, but I don't believe it.. Here is a video from the thunderstorm we had today! There's some pretty sweet lightning around 0:11

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Hindi Festivals and Giant Trees

Sorry I have been doing so terribly updating this blog! Time has been flying by. I cannot believe that: 
1. It has been 2 weeks since my last post. 
2. I have been in Asia for 2 and a half months. 
3. I have 51 days until I leave for the U.S.

Since recess week I have taken a little break from travelling since things are getting busier with my classes. I am taking this opportunity to see more of the sights in Singapore. In the last couple weeks I have visited Gardens by the Bay, and also got the chance to go to a Rang Barsay festival for the Hindu holiday- "Holi"! 

RANG BARSAY- "SHOWER OF COLORS"

Rang Barsay means "Shower of Colors" which is a pretty accurate name for this Hindi festival.  Everyone wears light colors, and gets packets of powder to throw/rub on people. Some also mixed it with water from the beach in large buckets or squirt guns, then proceeded to shower the crowd. It was all an amazing chaotic mess of Bollywood music, dancing, conga trains, colors, Indian food, and showers of water. Needless to say, we got quite a few strange looks when we took the MRT (above ground subway system) and buses back to campus. It also didn't come out the easiest, and I still have a little red on my cheek and some light pink left in my hair- but it was worth every minute! I'm so happy I got to experience this cool culture. 


GARDENS BY THE BAY


What would Singapore- "The Garden City"- be without a large garden attraction? Gardens by the bay is a very cool, completely self-sustainable park made up of 2 domes, the "Cloud Forest" and the "Flower Dome", and a large system of "trees" that tower above the area. It is all so beautiful and visually dynamic, with a mixture of modern architecture and amazing plants.   


Cloud Forest (left and right): 7 layers of amazing plants and information about cloud forests- found in rainforest mountainous areas, and also some scary facts about the earth (if it keeps heating up at this rate, 50% of the world's species will be extinct by 2080- SAVE THE EARTH, people!)



Flower Dome (right): The flower dome was a gorgeous collection flowers from around the world. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was pretty dark and since it is in a large glass dome the lighting wasn't the greatest to see the colors. What we could see was still very pretty though! And decorated for Easter! 


Giant "Supertree" Garden (right): Large towers with plants growing up the entire structure. Completely self powered by the rainwater/solar energy they collect! 

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Recess Week: Cambodia


http://www.newhousesonline.com/
This week was spring break- a very welcome break from classes and schoolwork! I spent the week travelling in Cambodia and enjoyed learning about the deep history of such a special country. We left last Thursday, flying into Siem Reap. 


This area of the country is known for the large amount of historical temples built by the Khmer people, dating as far back as 800 AD. Overall, we spent two full days exploring the temples, beginning with a breathtaking sunrise at Angkor Wat- the largest and the most popular temple. We left soon after to escape the large crowds of tourists and headed to other temples nearby. It was so interesting to see how different each of the buildings were, and the amount of detail involved in each one. I have WAY to many pictures to post them on here, so here are a couple of my favorites:

Angkor Wat

Breathtaking sunrise
Inside Angkor Wat- the sheer size of this temple is incredible

Ta Prohm

The temple where the movie "Tomb Raider" was filmed, Ta Prohm is one of the most incredible to see due to the many large trees that have taken over areas of the temple. It was absolutely amazing to see how powerful nature can be as it took over these stone buildings from hundreds of years ago. 



Banteay Srei

Banteay Srei is not commonly visited by most tourists because of its distance from most of the other temples, but our tuk-tuk driver, Sinat, said it was his personal favorite and called it "the beautiful one" so we decided to take his advice and make the trip. It was ABSOLUTELY worth it, as this ended up being our favorite temple by far! The detail in the carvings was amazing, and everything was a rusty red color. 
Such incredible detail! 

Batman's tuk-tuk
We had an excellent guide, Sinat, who drove us to and between temples via "tuk-tuk"- a cart pulled behind a motorbike. Because it was Cambodia's dry season, the day got unbearably hot pretty quickly, so we usually got an early start exploring the temples (usually around 6am) then were done by noon and ready to head back to the air conditioning in our room. 







The Night Markets! 




Siem Reap was a very cool town, and really came alive at night! Our hotel was just off "Pub Street," which was the center for food and entertainment. The atmosphere kind of reminded of a festival because they blocked off the road at night, and there were people everywhere, especially tourists. We spent the first night shopping for souvenirs in the Night Market- rows and rows of booths owned by locals selling Cambodian silk, t-shirts, jewelry, wooden carvings, paintings, etc. I got pretty good at haggling down prices with local shop owners- you don't ever want to pay the value they give you. As Sinat put it, "if you look like you have a lot of money, they'll say $100! but actually only $2." I guess we didn't look too rich, because we never had prices like that. We also took advantage of the massage shops that lined the streets, and got a 30 minute leg and foot massage with a complimentary beer for only $3! Also while in Siem Reap, we discovered their signature spring rolls! One of the most delicious foods ever, and we had them with nearly every meal :)

After three days in Siem Reap, we journeyed to our next destination: Cambodia's capitol, Phnom Penh. We got there via large minivan- not a good experience. But thankfully, the 5 hours were over quickly and everything was fine once we were safe in Phnom Penh. This city was much larger and busier than Siem Reap and there weren't nearly as many tourists, depending on what area of the city you were in. It was interesting to get to see more locals in their natural atmosphere. 

Memorial at the Killing Fields
One of the saddest, but most powerful things I did on this trip was visit the Cheong Ek Genocide Center (or the Killing Fields) and Tuol Sleng Prison. One thing I was unaware of before this trip, was the fact that Cambodia experienced a genocide that killed about a quarter of the population between the years of 1975 and 1979 when they were under control of a group called the Khmer Rouge. Specifically targeted were those with high levels of education, those living in cities, and those with influential jobs. As a result, the country was set behind greatly in terms of economic standing and development. This is an integral part of Cambodia's history, and the visit truly helped me to understand the Cambodian people a little more. It is such a terrible piece of history, and many of the commanders are still on trial for their crimes. I could go into more detail, much of which would astound you, but for the sake of cheerful travel blogging, I will limit it to this paragraph. However, if you are interested in learning more about it, follow this link







Walking through a local market- they had everything!



While in Phnom Penh, we also walked to the Royal Palace- gorgeous! and visited the National Museum, home to many artifacts found in and around Angkor Wat and other temples. I also got to experience my first "real" market- as in housing more than just souvenirs. We wandered through several of the local markets that had everything from raw meat to snails to hardware parts to bras. 



Count 'em- SIX people on that motorbike!
Not that unusual of a sight in Asia. 
Authentic Khmer massages- great way to beat the heat in the afternoon.
And only $6 for an hour!
I was born to live in a royal palace..
Way too much happened for me to fit it all into this blog, but I think I got a pretty good overview of the highlights. Overall, Cambodia was a remarkable country and I will always have a soft spot for its wonderful people :)