I’m having trouble posting photos. Many are rotated 90 degrees. Photos are uploaded to my Smugmug account here -
View my photos at: https://smithee.smugmug.com/Alaska-Cruise-2022
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Monday, July 18, 2022
Headed to Ketchikan
Relatively quiet seas today. We awoke to cloudy skies, about 15 miles west of Vancouver Island. Now headed into Queen Charlotte Sound. We should be in Alaskan waters around 2:00 am, and arrive Ketchikan 6:00 am. No excursions planned for the day. Probably just explore the town.
Edit -
Arrived Ketchikan around 5:30 am. The weather is pleasant, partly sunny, temps in the low 60’s. No excursions planned for today, so we took out time, had breakfast on the ship, then got off to wander and explore. Went down to Creek Street, the old red light district that now is souvenir shops. In fact, the whole area around the cruise docks are one giant souvenir mart. Had a beer at the Arctic Bar, then headed back to the ship. I’m having trouble adding photos. They all are rotated 90 degrees left. I’ll try uploading them to Smugmug.
Sunday, July 17, 2022
Day One on Alaska Cruise
On our way! We boarded around 1:00 pm and the ship departed Seattle at 3:30 pm. Spent some of the afternoon exploring the ship. We are currently in the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. Going to turn north and head up to the west of Vancouver Island. Hopefully the seas won’t be too rough. A few photos from today -
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Kampong Cham, On the Mekong River
Today was a 5 hour drive from our Homestay in Chambok to Kampong Cham on the Mekong River, north of Phnom Penh. Perhaps as a reward for having done the Homestay we are staying at a quite nice hotel with a beautiful view of the Mekong River.
Yesterday’s track:
A bit about the town: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kampong_Cham_(city)
After a shower and some rest time, Dylan, Paul, Kenan, Herb and I met behind the hotels for a bicycle ride. It turned out to be about 20 km which, in this heat, was a task. But it was worth it. We headed to the bamboo bridge, a bridge over the Mekong made entirely of woven bamboo slats. It is at least 300 meters long. The bridge washes away each wet season and is rebuilt when the waters subside. It was a little unnerving riding a bicycle across the rattling clattering bridge.
On the other side we continued into the village. There was house after house built on stilts. The occasional cow wandered into the road. The kids were a kick. They’d see us coming and run up and yell “Hello!!!” We in turn would yell “Hello!!” back. Some would hold their hands out for a high- or low-five.
We rode past a Buddhist temple, and out into the country past corn and tobacco fields. We looped back to town on a partial dirt track, saw a herd of goats being brought in for the night. Then it was back across the bamboo bridge and back to the hotel, where we cooled down then met for dinner at the rooftop restaurant. I had shrimp and squid with vermicelli. Excellent!!!
Tomorrow, Siem Reap and the Angkor Wat temple complex.
*
Yesterday’s track:
A bit about the town: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kampong_Cham_(city)
After a shower and some rest time, Dylan, Paul, Kenan, Herb and I met behind the hotels for a bicycle ride. It turned out to be about 20 km which, in this heat, was a task. But it was worth it. We headed to the bamboo bridge, a bridge over the Mekong made entirely of woven bamboo slats. It is at least 300 meters long. The bridge washes away each wet season and is rebuilt when the waters subside. It was a little unnerving riding a bicycle across the rattling clattering bridge.
On the other side we continued into the village. There was house after house built on stilts. The occasional cow wandered into the road. The kids were a kick. They’d see us coming and run up and yell “Hello!!!” We in turn would yell “Hello!!” back. Some would hold their hands out for a high- or low-five.
We rode past a Buddhist temple, and out into the country past corn and tobacco fields. We looped back to town on a partial dirt track, saw a herd of goats being brought in for the night. Then it was back across the bamboo bridge and back to the hotel, where we cooled down then met for dinner at the rooftop restaurant. I had shrimp and squid with vermicelli. Excellent!!!
Tomorrow, Siem Reap and the Angkor Wat temple complex.
*
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Photos from Chambok
As promised, here are the photos from the Homestay. More at Smugmug - https://smithee.smugmug.com/Travel/SE-Asia
Chambok Homestay
We departed Shianoukville on a private 16-seat bus at 9:00 am Thursday, February 8, headed for a Homestay at Chambok. The ride, by private 16-seat bus, took about 5 hours. Chambok is a rural farming community of about 900 families, maybe 4,000 people spread over the entire area. Most farming centers on rice, mangos and similar crops. The area is promoting Ecotourism, with a number of Khmer stilt houses designated for Homestay. About the community: https://chambok.org
Upon arrival, we met the families we would be staying with in two houses and inspected the dogs. Pretty basic. Each room was fitted with 5 or 6 pads on the floor, covered with mosquito netting. After getting oriented, we took a stroll through the neighborhood with our guide Jae, after which we took the bus to the community center where we had an orientation talkmby a delightful young lady who works for the organization. Thereafter, she led 5 of us on a trek through the jungle to a stream and waterfall. There were huge, VW Van sized,boulders in the stream bed. Our quote told us they’d washed down last rainy season when a dam upstream failed. We got to an area where some serious scrambling over boulders was required. I opted to wait there as I didn’t want to chance a slip or twist of the ankle (I’d save that for later. More on that in a subsequent post). Reports were that the waterfall was quite impressive, with a pool where some swam at the base.
Back at the visitor center and we hung around and then were fed a meal by our hosts. After that there was a dance show put on by the local,kids. Very entertaining, and they were all so cute with big smiles. Of course, as with kids everywhere, there were a couple cut-ups in the group. After that it was back to our Homestay houses, which were next door to each other. We met, at one with the owners and the owner of the other one for questions and answers. Most people in the village attend school only up to 9th grade. Most have not traveled far from their village in their lifetimes. They asked us about our lives, whether there is farming where we come from, what it’s,like to live there.
After out get-together we all turned in. In the morning, the consensus was no one had slept very well. I’m a side sleeper and the thin pad didn’t provide much cushion for my bony hips. Paul, who,was in the bed next night greeted me in the morning with, “You’re a bloody loud bastard.” Apparently my snoring kept him awake.
We headed back to the community center for a breakfast of coffee, eggs and fried rice, after which we piled back into the bus for the 6 hour trip to Kampong Cham, on the Mekong River. Factoid – the Mekong is the longest River in Asia.
I am having trouble uploading photos to this post. I will try with a new post. Hint to self - an iPad is great, but not a substitute for a laptop.
Upon arrival, we met the families we would be staying with in two houses and inspected the dogs. Pretty basic. Each room was fitted with 5 or 6 pads on the floor, covered with mosquito netting. After getting oriented, we took a stroll through the neighborhood with our guide Jae, after which we took the bus to the community center where we had an orientation talkmby a delightful young lady who works for the organization. Thereafter, she led 5 of us on a trek through the jungle to a stream and waterfall. There were huge, VW Van sized,boulders in the stream bed. Our quote told us they’d washed down last rainy season when a dam upstream failed. We got to an area where some serious scrambling over boulders was required. I opted to wait there as I didn’t want to chance a slip or twist of the ankle (I’d save that for later. More on that in a subsequent post). Reports were that the waterfall was quite impressive, with a pool where some swam at the base.
Back at the visitor center and we hung around and then were fed a meal by our hosts. After that there was a dance show put on by the local,kids. Very entertaining, and they were all so cute with big smiles. Of course, as with kids everywhere, there were a couple cut-ups in the group. After that it was back to our Homestay houses, which were next door to each other. We met, at one with the owners and the owner of the other one for questions and answers. Most people in the village attend school only up to 9th grade. Most have not traveled far from their village in their lifetimes. They asked us about our lives, whether there is farming where we come from, what it’s,like to live there.
After out get-together we all turned in. In the morning, the consensus was no one had slept very well. I’m a side sleeper and the thin pad didn’t provide much cushion for my bony hips. Paul, who,was in the bed next night greeted me in the morning with, “You’re a bloody loud bastard.” Apparently my snoring kept him awake.
We headed back to the community center for a breakfast of coffee, eggs and fried rice, after which we piled back into the bus for the 6 hour trip to Kampong Cham, on the Mekong River. Factoid – the Mekong is the longest River in Asia.
I am having trouble uploading photos to this post. I will try with a new post. Hint to self - an iPad is great, but not a substitute for a laptop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)