UAE snapshot: Dubai

Organised, clean streets. Sandy coloured...well, everything. Tall buildings and then taller buildings. Even the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa with more than 160 floors. I didn't see much when I took the girls jv soccer team to Dubai but I was able to get the sense that this city is very different from Delhi. The majority of our sightseeing occurred in the mall. I know, that sounds ridiculous, but they are teenage girls and there was actually quite a bit to see there. The first night we got there just in time to catch the end of the large fountain display set to music. For some reason the sight of jets of water splashing in time with music is a bit magical. The last day of our trip we returned and took the opportunity to go up the tallest tower, you know the one that Tom Cruise scales in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Sadly you are not allowed to go up to the very top, but I'll be honest, the 125 floors we went up was plenty high for me. From there the cars at the stoplight look like toys and you are looking down on, well, just about everything in the city. You can see the sea on one side and to the other the vast expanse of sand that makes up the majority of the rest of the United Arab Emirates. Suddenly huge sandstorms make a lot more sense to me. After that I had a few more hours to kill, time to see what else the Dubai mall has to offer. Besides the aquarium, which I didn't think I had enough time to do justice to, I found the waterfall. The waterfall is an indoor two story fountain which has metal divers skimming down the surface. By the time I was finished admiring the smooth lines I had just enough time to go looking for some dark chocolate in a specialty food store before meeting the team to head to the airport. I guess the mall had more to offer in its air conditioned comfort then I expected!

Now, finally, a few weeks into summer vacation, I am done with the stories from my travels this part year. I just hope I will be able to remain more on top of it this next school year.

Cambodian/Thai snapshot: Royal palaces

While I was exploring Phnom Penh and Bangkok I had the opportunity to visit the royal palaces of each country. This was the first time I had been to an Asian palace with its pagoda styled buildings, gold roof coverings and spires. They are incomparable to the palaces you find in europe except in the sense that they are a way to show off the wealth of a country's leaders. In that sense I'd have to say that the Thai royal family is definitely better off then that of Cambodia. The thing to see in Phnom Penh is the silver pagoda, which is almost completely covered in carpets except for a small square to protect the floor and the jade Buddha which resides inside. In Bangkok it was the details which made the palace so absorbing. Giant guardians looming on either side of a gate. Well preserved murals sharing pieces of history and mythology. Gold rooster dragon mix statues. Statues carrying the weight of a spire. Of course it also had its own spectacular pagoda pavilions covered in gold details and gems. When you walk through the gates to either of these two places it is clear that this is not a "normal" person's residence. You can only hope that your jaw doesn't drop and stay open at the ornateness of the palaces of the royal families of these two countries.

Cambodian snapshot: Angkor temples

It seems silly that I haven't written about the main reason that I went to Cambodia- the temples of Angkor. I think I've been avoiding it because I don't know where to start. Exploring the temples in person is a bit like escaping to a different time. A time when buildings spoke to the soul. When they were the heart and soul of a community. When nothing could be grander then these temples. And yet at the same time the draw is seeing just how something this old is surviving until the modern time. This is what you can call some solid construction. True there may be areas where the forest is taking over, where the trees have staked their claim as the fingers of their roots creep over walls, through cracks and sandwich walls. And yet with all the crumbling stones to accompany them there is still a magnificence to accompany these ruins.

I have to admit that Angkor Watt was not my favourite of the temples I explored during my three days there. Some of that may be because they were in the process of doing renovations so green tarp restricted my view of the towers and entrance. Perhaps it was the sheer size of the structure which made it difficult to grasp the full scale. Or maybe it was just that I preferred sites where there were fewer people and I could feel like I was actually discovering a new location.

So what did I prefer? The more than a hundred faces carved into the spires of Bayon held a special fascination for me. So much that I ended up wandering through that temple more than once. Of course who can resist the root entangled temple Ta Prohm, of tomb raider glory? Surely not me. My favourites though were those that were a bit farther off the beaten track. Ta Nei which required us to walk up a sand track and clamber over fallen stones provided a real sense of discovery, solitude and fallen glory. Further afield Banteay Srey stood proudly in a field with extraordinary carvings and details along every surface. Preah Khan had a few trees taking over giving a sense of just what nature can envelop given enough time. I could go on and on, but perhaps a slideshow of pictures will give you the best idea of this fascinating region of Cambodia.

Cambodian snapshot: Kampot

 

One of my difficulties during my Cambodia trip was deciding where I would spend Christmas. All I knew for sure was that I was not going to spend my Christmas on a bus, nor did I want to spend it in the party beach town of Sihanoukville. So I looked into places that were a short bus ride away and eventually found myself in the small French colonial town of Kampot. I'm not going to say that there was an extraordinary amount of things to see there. However, the few riverfront blocks of old architecture, a funky piecemeal bridge, a waterfront walkway and a lovely evening river cruise made for a quiet and relaxing Christmas. The most important thing was found, an Internet cafe where they hooked up a webcam and let me spend three hours sharing the holiday with my family. It turns out that at one point Kampot was famous for its pepper, my guide book even claimed that it was "a favoured choice in Parisian restaurants during the heyday of IndoChina." So what to do but try the local delicacy for my Christmas meal - crab with pepper. That turned into a bit more of an adventure then I expected as I watched the sunset and attempted to attack the shell of my crabs with only a pair of chopsticks. Perhaps it was a good thing that I was alone for that part of my Christmas. By the end of the day I felt like I had gotten exactly what I wanted for Christmas, a quiet relaxing place to spend the day with just a touch of adventure.

Turkish snapshot: Exploring Kapadokya

It is nice to know that even after five (or is it six?) visits to a special location there are still new places to discover. The second half of my trip to Turkey I spent visiting my good friend Ileyn in Kapadokya. Staying with friends always reveals new things for me and this trip was no exception. My favourite day, without doubt, was the day we went out to wander among the magical fairy chimneys in Zelve at the open air museum. This open air museum was an actual village until 1952 when its inhabitants were forced to evacuate due to erosion making their cave houses unstable and unsafe. What is left are three small self enclosed valleys full of houses carved into the rock face, a couple of churches, one mosque, paths winding through the greenery and the yellow and purple wildflowers, a rock winery, painted pigeon houses, numerous fairy chimneys and significantly fewer people then you will find at the similar open air museum in Goreme. I was happy to wander around for several hours with her two kids, exploring everything possible and constantly seeing faces in the rocks around me. By the end of the trip I had everyone else noticing them as well! Yes, Zelve is magical in more than one way.

Turkish snapshot: Return to Istanbul

Punching a straw through the tin foil covering of a container of ayran. A landscape decorated by minarets. Little boys dressed up in their circumcision finery. Enjoying the ferry across and down the Bosphorus. The magical underworld of the Basilica Cistern. The brilliant blue water in the Bosphorus. Food I had forgotten whose first bite brings a flood of memories. Surprising friends during a visit to school. Yes, I am back in Istanbul! It is interesting to be back in a landscape that is a part of my past. To return to a city I was not sure I would ever revisit. To discover new additions such as the aquarium. Of course not everything is better. There have been a few disappointments, the market in Ortakoy is not nearly as enthralling as I remember with significantly fewer jewellery designers in attendance. Tourists seem to have discovered the Asian side of the city. Overall though, it is a bit like a long dream. A happy return to a location that will always hold a special place in my heart.