Con Dao

We spent the day exploring Con Son, part of the Con Dao archipelago in the South China Sea. We rented mountain bikes and rode around the only road on the island - getting in a good 40km/25 miles. It was nice to get out and see the town, harbor and various sights, passing a few military bases as well. The island has a population of 6000 but 2000 are soldiers. They do basic training here and I can see why - water and remote mountains abound. 

We also visited the prisons that the French and Americans kept on these islands for criminals and political prisoners on and off since 1861 in unbelievably brutal conditions. The museum describes horrendous treatment and living conditions. My heart goes out to all the prisoners kept here, many of which also died here, whether from the conditions, disease or execution. 

This is an actual room that prisoners were housed in, shackled with no room to move.  I can't even imagine. 

Some less intense pictures from our ride are below. 

Cows on the road. Moo....

Our trusty friends today. 

The wild east coast. 

The local market in town. 

Fishing boats anchored and unused during the day. The small round boat is their version of a rowboat to access the larger boats. 

The horizon lights up with squid fisherman at night off the coast, they stay out until morning with their lights ablaze, drawing in the squid.  It isn't much to look at in the picture but in person it looks like each boat is its own tiny little stadium with a game going on in the water. Super bright from shore. 

We ended the evening with an awesome meal at a local restaurant - tons of good fish, mouth-watering spices, fresh veggies and local beer. 

Tomorrow we are going to do a good hike up and over a mountain here, with some steep sections as well as off trail sections. Can't wait!  And I hear there's a great beach/bay at the other side of the island where the hike ends up...who could ask for more?!

We are hoping the weather improves for sea conditions so we can get some snorkeling in...the military has prohibited small boats from venturing out right now due to rough seas. Crossing our fingers!

Vietnam.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon to the locals) late last night and caught a taxi to our hotel.  By the way, catching a late night taxi at the Saigon airport is no small feat, it took us quite some time to hail one successfully.

The hotel was right downtown, on the Saigon River. 

Since we were in the midst of the city,  this morning, before our flight to the Con Dao islands, we explored the city and a history museum. Walking through all the artifacts at the museum, Tom gave me a brief history lesson on the Vietnam War (Mr. Keller, my high school history teacher would probably be horrified by how little I remembered of it).  We will be back in the city on our way back from the islands, and we will spend a couple of days there, seeing the nearby Mekong Delta and more of the city.  Our first impression of it - bustling, interesting, good food potential, but smoggy!!  And motorbikes galore, even in the pouring rain. 

The Con Dao islands, however, are a sharp contrast to Saigon. Remote, rarely visited and wild, they are perfect. 

The flight over from Saigon had some of the most beautiful cloud formations I've seen. It was also a bit bumpy. 

Runway on the island in the middle of the pic...lets just say the pilot came in a bit hot. 

View from our room. 

We made it just in time to grab dinner at the hotel tonight, so tomorrow we will explore, by bicycle if the weather holds (rain is forecasted). The only town on the island is just a few km away by the only road here, and we can't wait to rustle up some Vietnamese street food in their market. 

A day without temples.

Angkor Wat is amazing, there is no doubt. But 2 days of exploring the temples is enough for us (and probably for most people). So, we spent the day at a silk farm and exploring the town of Siem Reap, did a bit of shopping, ate a bit of local food (again), and visited the war museum, a very sobering experience.  

This is our last day in Cambodia and, as usual, I hate to leave. There more I travel, the longer I want for each trip, to really settle into the culture, to get to know it...to try more foods, to meet more locals, to just BE there longer. If we had a few more days, we'd head down to Phnom Penh and see more of the country. But it's time to go to Vietnam, with a quick stop in Ho Chi Minh City, then onto the Con Dao islands for a bit of beach, hiking, biking, snorkeling and maybe diving. 

Some pictures from our day:

A ghost field at the war museum, old tanks, anti aircraft and other rusty relics of a brutal time in Cambodian history. The field was a mine field before they removed them. It was also a battleground, many souls were lost here. Eerie on so many levels. 

Land mines at the museum, I never knew there were so many different types. 

We stopped along the way for some buggy snacks. Yes, Tom bought a bag and ate a few before it grossed him out. They're not the tarantulas that he promised to eat, but we haven't run across those yet. 

Locusts. Yummy. 

At the silk farm. A very cool experience. They raise the worms, spin the silk, dye it, and have a shop with beautiful creations. Silk worms at about two weeks old. 

Worker making a scarf. 

This is how they sell gas around here. They have some gas stations, but there are tons of roadside stands with funnels and lots of old liquor bottles with gasoline. Puzzling, we will have to ask someone why!

A sign in front of a restaurant in Siem Reap...notice the cheap prices (and this is even near the tourist area, so higher than normal) and the note at the bottom. 

First days in Cambodia

In the short time we've been in Cambodia I've fallen in love with the food. Plenty of rice, noodles and fresh vegetables...my perfect diet!  I used to think South and Central America had my favorite foods - beans, rice, plantains, ceviche. But, oh no, Cambodia has toppled them from their first place position...  Before we came, I had heard that being a pescaveggie here would be difficult, but I haven't found that to be true. I have also not had to order fish yet, purely vegetarian so far!

Today, we spent the day exploring parts of the Angkor Wat complex. We saw at least half a dozen temples of such detail, it makes you wonder how they tackled the intricate carvings and architecture in ancient times. We were in a tuk tuk all day traveling between the temples (one was 25k outside siem reap), and the open air helped to give us some relief from the oppressive heat and humidity. It's like the humidity of Florida combined with the extra strong and hot sun we get in Colorado.  However, if you're willing to brave this heat in the afternoon, the temples are deserted. This is the low season anyway, but they are almost ghost towns during the middle of the day.  And rightly so, did I mention it was hot?

We've found the Cambodian people warm, welcoming and sincere. They always have a greeting and a smile. It makes what we saw during our visit to the land mine museum that much harder to see and digest. People with missing limbs are not uncommon here, children and adults, from stepping on a landmine that was planted decades ago.  It takes only 11 lbs to trigger some mines. The enemy designed the smaller mines to injure but not kill, as it is more expensive to repair a person than to bury them.  Sad but true. 

Some pictures of our day:

Tom exploring. 

Driving through the countryside between temples. Even chacos are hot here, we needed a bare foot break!

Bridge to temple. The green and brown tones were striking in real life, the camera didn't quite capture the contrast. 

People still worship in some of the temples. 

Tree reclaiming the ruins

Enjoying a beer on the way back to our hotel. 

'Twas the week of vacation...

And all was certainly not quiet around the house...

We leave soon for Cambodia & Vietnam with a short stop in South Korea on the way back. I'm so excited!!  Angkor Wat has long been on our list of places to see, as well as Vietnam. We will visit some remote places as well as some very large cities. A perfect trip!  As always, I'll try to blog as much as possible, for my records as much as anyone reading. :)

Last weekend my sister and brother in law visited and we packed so much stuff in...a few highlights:

Thai in Golden, followed by ice cream, of course. 

Avery Brewing Company in Boulder

Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder

Royal Gorge Railway in Canon City

Italian in Lakewood

Firepit and grill out at our house!

Whew, a lot in a weekend but super fun. 

Royal Gorge:

Engelmann Peak

Another weekend, another 13er...Engelmann Peak this time - I *thought* that this one would be a shorter, somewhat easier hike.  Well, I've underestimated things before.  ;)

We met up with our friends (the only ones crazy enough to do this kind of sh*t with us) and headed up towards Berthoud Pass, turning onto the Henderson Mine road and eventually pulling off next to a gate with Extreme Avalanche Warnings posted on it.  We then headed up into the forest via a Jeep road.  After spending a half hour searching for one of the dogs that decided to do her own off-trailing, we proceeded up the road a bit further and then began our own off-trailing, as there is no trail up the rarely traveled Engelmann.

Along the way, we found this very peaceful meadow.  We stopped for a few pictures, contemplated frolicking through it...then moved on, wholly unfrolicked.

Knowing we needed to pick our line up Engelmann, we chose a gully and decided to see how the terrain went for ascending the peak.  The boys scouted ahead, decreed it was doable and we started up.

The terrain we would cover heading up the gully.

 Where we came from...still shrouded in morning shadows.

Tons of talus, then steep grass/loose dirt, until we finally gained the ridge and followed it up to the top of Engelmann.  Below, Tom is on the ridge after doing some scrambling.  It was steep going...this picture, of course, does not do it justice.

We had fantastic views from the summit, all the way to Long's Peak in RMNP.  And like most 13ers, we had the summit to ourselves, simply awesome.

 

And after we did some dog-sitting (literally) on top...

...we decided the way we came up would be a b*tch going down, so we headed down the east ridge of Engelmann and after crossing a large talus field, we ended up...well, on more steep terrain (our view coming down):

The dogs feet were cut and bleeding from the talus and poor Bella (the one who took the run earlier in the hike), was hurting pretty badly.  But we all made it down in time for ice cream at Lewis' in Empire.  Ice cream makes everything better, but you already knew that (so did Ezra and Bella).

Mount Silverheels.

I'm sure I have a blog from last summer titled the same. This 13,822ft mountain has long been my nemesis. Turned back twice by weather and once by Toms cranky ankle, it's been on my "list" for a few years. This year, I picked a good weather day and headed out with friends to tackle the 3650ft incline of this beast ENTIRELY off trail. This makes everything harder, and more fun (IMHO). We arrived at a parking lot at 7am, walked up the road about 100 yards and then set off into the trees, up a very steep incline, no trail, and proceeded to gain our first 1500ft in just 3/4 of a mile.

Soon, the sound of traffic from route 9 fades and we were left in the early morning silence of the mountains. 

The trees to the right are what we just emerged from after fighting our way up that first steep incline. Whew, time for a snack. 

Onto the tundra, interspersed with talus, scree...up, up, up. 

We made it!  This is the view to the west. Quandary Peak on the far right. We were very happy to have the summit to ourselves!  I guarantee the peeps on Quandary were sharing their summit with no less than 20 other hikers. 

Photo shoot time for our friends...

Back at the car, I guess my artwork paid off!  Where's Andi?  Taking the picture. 

Overall a very fun, very challenging 6 mile hike - mountains, fresh air, plenty of laughs and a mountain summit...a perfect day in Colorado.