Desert
August 28, 2007
This one didn’t turn out as well as I liked. It’s a plain desert setting. Our last fight in Mike’s game was in the desert against a Rust Monster.
I’ve also been thinking of a Rifts Japan story and also thinking how my current favorite anime, Claymore, could be adapted. Hmm… dou shyou kana…
My first dungeon map
August 26, 2007
After a lot of dungeon crawling in Mike’s game yesterday, I was inspired and made myself a small map for fun. Pure photoshop and a couple of downloaded textures. This is not for any real game but I even have a back story for it. This is for low level characters (level 1-3).
Click for a larger version
Travel Tips
August 19, 2007
To not make my travel logs even longer, I took out the travel ideas and tips from our Thailand and Cambodia trip. Enjoy!
Get some good travel guides on these places. I used the Lonely Planet series for both Thailand and Cambodia. The Thailand book is excellent while I found the Cambodia book to be not as useful. The layout for the different sites in Angkor was a bit confusing - I actually relied on the lady’s shitty Japanese travel guide because it had better maps and more details on each site within the Angkor Thom walls. Look around for a better guide.
Begging / Tourist traps
Not that you’ll be doing any. I honestly did not see any beggars in Bangkok. The ones in Siem Reap were often victims of the land mines. Also, I noticed some kids put on really good sad, puppy dog faces only to giggle and laugh with their friends the second we walk off. I gave out $1 like candy because… well, it’s $1. More commonly though, you’ll meet people selling trinkets and crap to dumbass tourists.
In Siem Reap, they were strategically placed at every attraction in the Angkor area. It did get quite annoying because you hear “You wan cold drink?” / “Postcard $2.” / “OK You come back later. My name is Tiger.” very often. Best not to get mad at anyone because they’re just trying to make a living. I am a dumbass and I politely turned each person down while the lady adapted much quickly and just ignored people.
The guidebooks suggest to give food to the kids. The lady gave some Japanese gum to a really tiny kid and when she tasted it, she reeled in disgust. Perhaps it was too sour or sweet. Another little girl called the lady a liar, “嘘ã?¤ã??” after she turned down whatever crap she was trying to sell. The lady is not so popular with children.
In the old market, the remorque-moto drivers ask you if you need a ride… constantly. It gets old, very fast. Massage parlors also hound people too.
As a professional English monkey I found very interesting language aspects in Siem Reap. People often dropped syllables or letter sounds. Sohkong, our taxi driver, had trouble with ‘S’ sounds. I heard, “Are you Japanee?” from many locals and in my head I added the final “ese”. Other things: “ehcuse me” / “do you wan massa lady/sir?” (massage).
Books
Not so sure about Bangkok but in Siem Reap there were a couple used bookstores in the old market with a fairly good selection. I finally gave in to the resistance and picked up the Dan Brown books for cheap there. Everywhere else, you had kids selling really good replications of travel guides. I picked up a Lonely Planet Vietnam for $5… and I still overpaid. Most kids around the temples were pawning these off for $1 or $2. I neither condone or condemn the use of photocopied books. The quality is rather good for photocopies though.
Currency
Thailand has a well established economy and uses the Baht. Cambodia, on the other hand, runs mostly on US dollars but change less than a dollar is given in riel (roughly 4000 riel to 1 USD). There is a 5% value added tax in Cambodia and I forgot if there was a sales tax or not in Thailand. There are currency exchanges everywhere in the places we went to and the rates were much better than in Japan. Our hotel gave the worst rates - go to the market places and smaller counters for better deals.
Faux Pas
The feet! The feet are considered the lowest part of the body, both literally and culturally. Pointing your feet at people, at Buddhist statues, or at monks seems to be frowned upon. The head is regarded as the higest part of the body (both literally and culturally again) so touching people there is bad. It seemed like people shook hands as much as we did but we mostly met locals who were used to foreigners. The locals in Siem Reap often did the “wai“. I guess it was best to return it.
In Thailand, there are many pictures and paintings of the king. Stepping off the airplane, one of the first signs I noticed read, “Long live the king!” As described in most travel guides, one must show respect and reverence when speaking of the king. Joking about the royal family is not funny. I kind of noticed this when I asked our guides some questions about the king. Their answers always put the king in good light. Hold off on political opinions until later I guess.
My books kept going on and on about “losing face” in Asia and to avoid becoming angry in public because it demonstrates a sign of weakness. I found that to be crap. Feel whatever you want to feel. Certainly haggling for prices was much easier when you had a big smile on though.
Food and dining
Bangkok has all kinds of restaurants and fine cuisines. At times it was like walking around Hong Kong with all the hustle and bustle on the streets. Siem Reap, on the other hand, is a much smaller place but there are many restaurants still. Most in the old market offered service in English while other restaurants had at least menus in English. There are cafes and western cuisines but don’t expect any McDonalds in Siem Reap - something I very much appreciated.
Getting around
We had a friend take us around Bangkok but taxis and tuk tuks were everywhere. From what I can gather, it’s best to establish a price beforehand and stick to it. The guidebooks are packed with warnings about shams. Siem Reap was much the same but I found the drivers were much more enthusiastic about taking you around - everywhere you went you had people in the remorque-motos hounding you for rides. We met our taxi driver, Sohkong, on the first day and for about $25 a day he took us around everywhere and waited for us. He also gave us brief descriptions of each place.
Visas
Most people can get a 30 day travel visa to Thailand without filling out extra paperwork. Cambodia sells travel visas for $20 a pop. You need to bring a passport photo there or else they’ll charge you more to take a picture. The paper work for the visa can be found in the Siem Reap airport but we got ours early in the airport in Bangkok (S-something airport).
Voltage
In both Thailand and Cambodia it’s supposedly 220V but there are some quirks. In our hotel in Cambodia though, they had both plugs available - a very handy and intelligent option. Best to bring an adapter just in case.
Weather
HOT. Luckily (relatively speaking) we went during the rainy season so the bouts of 30-35 degree, full hellfire sunny days were broken up with quick and powerful showers. The rain really cooled the streets down but did nothing to lessen the humidity (up to 80% I hear). My shirts were literally drenched after walking around for an hour. Dress accordingly but be warned - it is frowned upon to visit temples in shorts, skirts, basically anything other than long pants. Some temples were much stricter but usually they had clothes to lend out. Best to bring your own I fathom.
Cambodia: Part 2
Note: click on the thumbnails for a bigger and clearer picture. You can also skip my commentary and head directly to the pictures too.
This one’s a long one so here’s a convenient link for you.
Cambodia: Part 1
August 04, 2007
Note: click on the thumbnails for a bigger and clearer picture. You can also skip my commentary and head directly to the pictures too.
We spent three fully packed days in Cambodia and because I don’t have the energy or memory to write about all of it at once, here is the first part.
July 16
When we last left, I had just mentioned that we got on a very small airplane from Bangkok and flew to Siem Reap. The flight only took about an hour and a half but the turbulence was rather strong. During the flight I got to witness a conversation from the dumbest sounding girl I have ever seen. To stereotype her as a Valley High girl would increase her intelligence too much. Even the guy she was talking to was doubting himself… “Is this worth getting into her pants… is this worth it.”
I digress. Dumbasses aside.
Cambodia is without a doubt the most amazing country I have ever been to. It is also the poorest country I have ever been to. I will most certainly not get into Cambodian history here but the years of Khmer Rouge rule, then French, and now corrupt governments and corporations has definitely taken its toll. The infrastructure for the average person is unbelievably limited. For the average tourist though, there’s everything you need and more.
As undeveloped as Siem Reap was, I was most pleasantly surprised by how happy and how warm the people were. The few people I had a chance to speak with were welcoming and helpful and more than happy to share stories about the city, the country, and the history. I am in their debt.
From the airport, we got a taxi and met our driver, Sohkong. Sohkong is a very short man in his early thirties who only recently became a taxi driver. He used to work in a hotel but for reasons he didn’t get into, he left the job and now makes a living as a driver/tour guide/history teacher (to tourists). Sohkong’s English is at best at a lower intermediate level and the poor guy can’t say certain syllables - “s” sounds that were not the first syllable were often dropped, eg. “Japanee”. It took awhile before I could understand him while the woman never quite understood anything he said (nor could he understand her). We paid $5 to get from the airport to our hotel; the Sokha Angkor Hotel.
What a beauty. I guess it’s one of the higher end hotels but really, even though it’s more expensive than most hotels around, it is still financially cheap compared to anything in Japan. The staff all spoke very good English and were all very polite. They catered to every need.
Right before he left, Sohkong asked us if we needed a taxi driver during our stay in Siem Reap. For $10 a day we would basically charter the taxi for all of the Angkor area and if we wanted to go further, we’d pay a little more. I think some people negotiate prices but it’s $10 people! We gladly accepted his offer and collapsed in our hotel room.
In the afternoon we walked around the area around the hotel and found nothing but a few crappy souvenir shops. It’s weird but there are very distinct souvenir shops for different Asian cultures. The Korean shop we went to sold clothes and trinkets and the two Korean girls there tailgated us and explained to us what we were looking at. We quickly left because if they got any closer we’d have to swat them off our backs. The Chinese shop had a big floor filled with jewely showcases, that were in turn filled with very cheesey gold and jade jewelry. I can see old Chinese women flourishing with the tacky jewelry but not us, we are hip and trendy twenty somethings. (I like silver and platinum myself).
We got sick of those crappy stores pretty quickly so we returned to the hotel and got ourselves a remorque-moto. I have no idea what that means but I guess it’s from the country’s French influence back in the day. Just think of a small covered carriage for 2-4 drawn by a motorcycle. It’s Cambodia’s version of the tuk tuk. Our driver, Bun Thorn, reminded us of Daniel, so we secretly called him Daniel because when Bun Thorn first told us his name, I heard “Putin” but wasn’t sure.
We first asked Daniel to take us to the landmine museum. He muttered that it had moved away - and I guess far enough that he didn’t want to go in a remorque-moto. We eventually did go to the landmine two days later and it was quite far actually. We then decided to go to the war museum. That really sucked ass. For $3 we got to see some local commander’s collection of old military junk thrown around a backyard. I would avoid that place.
While driving there though I noticed how crappy the people have it compared to the tourists. The main street where the hotels are were paved and nice but the streets leading up to the museum were not paved, had huge potholes, and no street lamps. The houses on the side were made from literally anything people could fine. With the 500% humidity and the 30-38 degree temperatures, I am sure it wasn’t comfortable.
Things were looking grim as we just wasted time in a junkyard. We then decided to head to the Old Market - the foreigner hang out. Things suddenly got much better! The Old Market is a small part of town with many trendier stores. The market itself is a covered area where people sit around and try to sell you anything - fake jewelry, fake Angkor Wat relics, photocopied books (I kid you not), crappy toys, whatever you don’t want! One clothing store even sold mp3 songs directly to your Ipod - they had a huge catalog of hundreds of music albums for download. I’m sure the recording industry would have a field day there. It was fun to walk around though. I bought a fake Lonely Planet Vietnam book for a friend and admired the quality for the $5 book (I still overpaid). I stocked up on some other used books and went my merry way. The other stores around town sold pretty nice arts and crafts - stuff I would buy and decorate my apartment with. The bars and restaurants were nice as well.
The annoying thing about the Old Market is the endless stream of solicitation from the remorque-moto drivers and the massage parlor workers. The drivers all park by the sidewalk and anyone who looks anything like a traveler is asked if they need a ride. There are dozens of them parked on the main street. The massage parlor workers, although not as many as the drivers, are annoying in their own way too. “Massaaa, lady? Massaaa sir?” Here people dropped “ge” syllables. The lady learned to ignore everyone very quickly while I was too polite, I had to politely decline each and every time. Aargh.
After that we had dinner in a really shady restaurant near the hotel and dropped into a coma at the hotel.
On the next instalment: a birthday boy climbs a tall tower.
