Travelogue: Battambang

After the touristy madness of Siem Reap, I decided to visit Battambang, a very chill town. Even though it is Cambodia’s second largest city, there’s not much to see here – mostly the bamboo train and the bat cave, so there aren’t many tourists. I stayed here for a couple days, just soaking in the ambiance – and of course, visiting the bamboo train.
Battambang - bamboo train portrait

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Travelogue: Angkor Archaeological Park

Angkor Archaeological Park! Angkor Wat! Angkor Thom! Bayon! If not for Angkor Park, Siem Reap would be utterly devoid of tourists. But as it is, every day a phalanx of tourists descend upon the park, and it’s probably one of Cambodia’s greatest sources of income ($20 per person per day for an access permit!) Many people choose to do Angkor Park slowly, over the course of a couple of days, but I chose to do a grand one-day tour, from sunrise to sunset, and visiting all the most famous temples of Angkor Archaeological Park.
Angkor Archaeological Park - Angkor Wat sunrise 14

This will be a very photo-intensive post!

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Travelogue: Siem Reap

From the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, I traveled to Siem Reap, the tourist capital of all of Cambodia and home to Angkor Wat – which will get its own article later. The thing about Siem Reap is that it is totally a tourist town, built to accommodate the millions of people who fly into Cambodia just to see Angkor Wat – so there’s not much here aimed at backpackers, but a lot aimed at more mainstream tourists.  Still, if you get away from the touristy parts, it’s an okay city.
Siem Reap - riverside tranquility

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Travelogue: Phnom Penh

Back on the road, in Phnom Penh! Oh, how I’ve missed it, backpacking!  Sure, taking a break in Taiwan is awesome, but there’s something about the rest of southeast Asia – the noise, the heat, the endless tuktuks, the feeling of adventure.
Phnom Penh - street 2

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Interlude: Taiwan’s Honor Guard

During my time in Taipei, I saw Taiwan’s honor guard at both the Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial and the Sun-Yat Sen Memorial, guarding the two statues of CKS and SYS respectively.  Kind of like the guards at London’s Birmingham Palace, but without those silly hats.
Honor guard - air force guard 2

There are three branches of the Taiwan’s army – the army, navy, and air force.  And each branch has its own honor guard – white for the air force, dark blue for the air force, and camouflage greens for the army.
Honor guard - navy guard Honor guard - air force guard

For the most part, the honor guard does not do much – stand to attention, look handsome, and pose for the cameras.  But every hour on the dot, there’s a changing of the guard, as two guards come to replace the two previous guards.  And when that happens, there’s a nice 5-10 minutes ceremony, as the current guards stand down and the replacement guards stand to attention.  It reminded me of the nutcracker.

Supposedly the army has the best changing of the guard ceremony, and the air force has the worst.  So of course, every time I show up at either of the memorials (5+ times), it’s always the air force on duty…

Video!

Quite a crowd gathers to watch the changing of the guard – especially tourists from mainland China.  There are like, a billion mainland Chinese tourists that flock to Chiang-Kai Shek’s and Sun-Yat Sen’s memorials to watch the changing of the guard.
Honor guard - guard change with crowd

Travelogue: Maokong

While in Taipei, I visited Maokong (貓空, literally ‘cat empty’), a mountain area known for its tea, and accessible by gondola.  I had to visit.

The gondola to Maokong starts from right near the Taipei Zoo (which I did not visit), and oddly enough has a fountain show.  I sat here for a bit, read, and waited for the show to start.  It was pretty good.  The fountains are set to spurt, sway, and spin in time with classical music.
Taiwan Zoo - fountain 1 Taiwan Zoo - fountain 2

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Travelogue: Pingxi

Before leaving Taiwan, I saved the best for last – Pingxi, a scenic area about an hour and a half away from Taipei by train.  This area is actually a collection of towns – Pingxi (平溪), Shifen (十分), and Jingtong (菁桐).  All used to be known primarily for coal mining, but have since become a major tourist attraction, especially with tourists from the mainland.  This area has decent scenery, but is primarily famous for its sky lanterns.
Pingxi - Shifen railroad through town 1 Pingxi - Shifen sky lanterns over town 1

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