Music Montages

Like any good movie from the 80s (and, well, I'm from the '80s), I decided to make some montages from a few trips.

Rocky owes most of his success to various music montages

Its music.
Its photos.
Its me using about three of the S/FX afforded from Windows Live Movie Maker. (Note: These videos are probably best watched not-using full-screen, as they get quite pixelated).

Myanmar:

 Song- Back in Time - Pitbul

              

Bali

 

Siem Reap

                                                      

Vietnam

                                            

Hong Kong

           

                                                                                

Seoul-dier Boy

To get me back stateside I just had to make a little SGN->DMK, BKK->ICN->SEA.
I left Bangkok at 2am with the temperature a healthy 89 degrees.  I landed at 8 am in Seoul, South Korea with the temperature at 30 degrees.  I was armed with a light-weight track jacket, so if that isn't preparation, I don't know what is!  (Side note, I was not a boy scout, flunked out at the cub scout level).

I had a 10 hour layover, and as nice as the Icheon International Airport was, this was my chance to live it up in Seoul.

I took a 53 minute (things run on a tight schedule in Seoul)  train from the airport into the city center.  I step outside into the cold and immediately see Psy (might of heard of him, or that one song he has.  It's mildly popular)...  Ok, see it wasn't Psy in person, but he was on a jumbo video-billboard pitching some product.

I'll mention that I have pretty much been preparing for a visit to South Korea since the summer of 2003, when Arrested Development introduced me to Annyong, both the Korean word for hello as well as character in the show.  But whether it was the pressure, the lack of sleep on the red-eye, or the the freezing temperature, I couldn't for the life of me remember if hello was Annyong Haseyo (it was) or Annyong Kasayo (it wasn't).  TLingle, I feel like I have let you down.

What is with that kid and his name?

With limited time I decided to checkout out a palace, a museum, Insadong district, and sample some local food. A quick visit to Seoul, but a great way to end my time in Asia.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Frozen lake. We're not in Bangkok anymore...

Buckingham Palace guard East

Free museum with heat, yes please!

Insadong district- shopping, art and food galore

Fried delicious street food

The Reapening

An apology for this post being out of order, I should have posted this after Phnom Penh, but hopefully better late than never.  Also, for Jennifer Lawrence fans looking for a post on the Hunger Games, another apology as this will be a HG-free post. Ok, now to the post:

Wat do you think are the most what/wat jokes I can make in this post?  Let's find out:

After driving down from Phnom Penh, Marsh, Kristina and I arrived in Siam Reap on Friday late afternoon.  Siem Reap translates essentially to Siam Defeated (from when the Cambodians, you guessed it, defeated Siam).  Absolutely loved the city.  People are extremely friendly, the food was amazing, and it is even cheaper than Thailand, plus they really know how to build a wat/temple.

Saturday we met up with Kate, Jen, Carlyn and Matt K#2 (I refuse to call myself Matt K #2) and visited three wat's: Angkor Wat (the grand daddy of them all), Ta Prohm (aka the temple from Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones), and Angkor Thom (temple of many faces).

Wat would a post about SR be without an obligatory Angkor Wat water shot?

Angkor Wat (meaning Temple City), was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II

Ta Prohm

UNC

Wat are the odds either of us have actually seen Tomb Raider?

Right about the time I came up for a new hit television show...

...a Cambodian show called Wat Would You Do

Lots of fun in this photo

Marsh and Mr. Chaya strike a pose

Wat if they had chosen Naomi Watts to play Lara Croft Tomb Raider instead of Angelina Jolie?

I wear elephant pants, I look ridiculous- from the market down the road

Angkor Thom

Sunday we spent some time at the pool, visited the largest lake in SE Asia, and celebrated Kate's birthday:

Fishing village outside Siem Reap

Tonle Sap - largest lake in SE Asia

That's a lot of wat-er

Kate's Birthday dinner

I'm an omnivore, but this veggie burger had my mouth wat-ering

Tuk Tuk-ing around SR

Carlyn ordered the birthday girl a cake

Nighlife

Monday, we woke up to watch the Super Bowl at 6:30am, then Marsh and I took a taxi to the Cambodian-Thai border, followed by a mini-van back to Bangkok.

Super Bowl Breakfast

True story, Siem Reap has more Wat-age than NOLA's Super Dome

Jen and I impressed everyone by our expert building and stacking skills

Last note: After visiting Cambodia, I'm ready to declare Gangnam style as the biggest..song...ever...

Psy's influence knows no bounds

When little kids in a fishing village without electricity are mimicking your dance, you've done something right

Good Morning...

...Vietnam. 

Not my most creative title, but this is a free blog after all.

My last SE Asia adventure took me to Vietnam for a quick Friday night to Tuesday evening tour. 

Did you know that GOB Bluth is fluent in Vietnamese?  His trademark “Come On!” is actually the Vietnamese phrase for thank you (cảm ơn).

I started off spending 24 hours solo in Hanoi before flying down south to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon).  While in Hanoi, I headed to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, the Hanoi Hilton, a motorcycle (cyclo) tour, a water puppet show, and some wandering through the Old Quarter. 

Remember how Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh) wanted to be cremated when he died? Remember how to honor his wishes, he was embalmed and his body is still on display 40 years after? I will say he looks good for being 43 years-old-dead.

 

On a cyclo tour

Look ma, no hands!  Just kidding, one hand.

At Hanoi Hilton (Hoa Lo Prison Museum) - John McCain's Jumpsuit (allegedly)

Walking by a shop, I noticed a University of Washington and UNC hat, found two of my three teams, just missing Gonzaga!

The Green Lake of Hanoi

Water puppet show.  I'll be honest, it would have been cooler if the puppets were made of water, but still a fine show.

In Saigon, we took a couple day-trips, one to to the tunnels used by the Viet Cong and another to the Mekong Delta, and also hit many of the sights in the city.  I also tried several Vietnamese iced coffees (very strong and sweetened with condensed milk) and just happened to come across a coffee chain that looked mildly familiar.  

Both in Hanoi and around Saigon, it was fascinating seeing Vietnam and visiting war-related sites.  All in all I was surprised by how friendly people seemed even when we said we were Americans.  However, at government sponsored museums and sites, it was still an adjustment to hear things about the “Evil American Imperialists” and hear a very different story.  For example: in explaining the "Hanoi Hilton" name of the Hoa Lo prison, the museum explained how despite war-time rations, the American POWs were fed very well and enjoyed exercise, so much so that the camp was practically like a hotel.

 

Hotel de Ville- no longer a hotel (now a government building), but probably still a "de ville"

Reunification Palace, formerly the residence of the South Vietnamese President.

Site of the Fall of Saigon

Growing up, I remember being taught to “look both ways before you cross the street”.  Not sure what children are taught in Ho Chi Minh, but I went with look both ways repeatedly, find an elderly women who looks to be crossing, follow behind her, and be ready to sprint out of the way of any cyclos that don’t look like they will swerve around you.

Ready for a fun day of fashion, it turned out we weren’t going to the Gucci tunnels, but the Cucci tunnels… a bit claustrophobic, the cramped quarters almost got me to stop eating 9 Baht($0.30) McDonald's ice cream cones. 

Tunnel entrance just to the left of the tree.

1800's portrait style

When at the post office, pretend to mail things? Probably our best post office pose

Apparently I’m starring in White Man Can’t Jump 2

Post Office 1- Me 0

1st Starbucks in Vietnam opened less than 30 days before, so I decided to show everybody the perks of a gold card…

... apparently I still had to wait outside …

… but Mr. Matt got an Asian Dolce Latte...

... great success!

Our tour guide to the Mekong Delta. I’m fairly sure this was during a 7 minute parable about going to the bathroom during scheduled bathroom breaks, warning us about a bunch of school children appearing out of nowhere and cobras making the process difficult. To take one of out of the playbook of Pawnee’s Chris Traeger, it was literally a 7 minute story

Figuratively?

Just when I had given up on finding a 3-foot tall Smurf lacquer vase in SE Asia, Vietnam comes through!

Marsh wore his UT Longhorn shirt and I wore my UNC Rameses shirt just in case we ran into a horned animal.  Apparently Kristina didn't get the memo...