fish market – Dave and Kay's Travel Adventures

Sunday, September 3rd, 2023

This morning we were awake at 4:30 AM and watched ESPN’s game cast of the Ohio State VS Indiana football game. It was their first game of the season. Ohio State won 23-3.

This morning we tried another tropical fruit, longan. The fruit was similar to the lychee. It was native to Asia.

Today we had about an hour drive to the Udon Monastery. We passed the fish market which was busiest at 3:00 AM and 4 PM but we still saw individuals doing business. As we drove along it was so interesting watching the sites.

The Vipassana Dhurak Buddhist Center or Udon Monastery complex was huge. The main purpose of the center was to teach Vipassana meditation techniques. Vipassana meant to see things as they really are and came from India’s ancient teachings for meditation. Proper temple dress was required and no hats on the grounds at all so many of our group used umbrellas because the sun was intense today.

The architecture of the buildings and gardens was beautiful.

We climbed the steps up to the temple and removed our shoes before going inside.

This was the temple we climbed up the stairs for our blessing with the Buddhist monks.

The inside walls and ceiling was covered with colorful panals that told of the Buddha’s life.

We went into the Pagoda for a blessing service from two Buddhist Monks. Instead of water being thrown the monks threw jasmine and lotus petals. When the monks started the blessing chant their voices were so calming even though we had no idea what they were saying.

Just some of the petals that landed on us.

Tony, our program director, took this picture during our blessing.

After the blessing we walked around the area. The monks and the laypeople were getting ready for their meal. The monks eat first in order of their age and then the laypeople.

In part of the wooded area were homes of the laypeople who live here. Below were just some of the homes we saw as we walked around. Our local guide told us her grandfather lived in a home like this at a different temple complex and when he passed the family left it for another family to have a place of shelter.

We left the Buddhist Center for a drive to a small village. On our way we crossed the Tonie Sap Lake which was part of the Mekong river system and were on a modern bridge.

Our next stop was Koh Chern which was famous for silver smith and jewelry and was an island in the Tonie Sap Lake. As you cross the bridge the first sight you see was a sitting Buddha!

Once we crossed the bridge our bus was too big to go into town so we transferred onto tuk-tuks for the rest of the ride.

The village of Koh Chern silver craft was passed from generation to generation. None of these artisans attended art schools, they learned from family members. Their craft was almost lost during the Khmer Rouge regime. We visited one of the many family-run workshops in the village. The workshop was also part of the family’s home. The family did a demonstration for us.

This afternoon we took a tuk-tuk to the Harvest Square shopping area to visit the Hard Rock Cafe to pick up a guitar pin for Cambodia.

The same tuk-tuk driver picked us up and on our way back to the riverboat our driver stopped and pointed out sights around the city and then a torrential rain fell and blew in on us. Our driver stopped and put down the clear plastic sides but he was drenched!

Independence Monument- marked Cambodia’s independence from France in 1953.

Before dinner we went to a presentation on Cambodia’s modern history by Stephanie. She was a linguist and anthropologist.

After her presentation we had a port talk so we would know the schedule and have time to prepare for tomorrow’s adventures!

Sunday, October 9th, 2022

This morning we met our Road Scholar group leader Victor. There were 18 of us travelers in our group. We already knew Kathy (from Colorado) that we got to know on our Galápagos Island tour with Road Scholar and Roseanna (from Minnesota) that we got to know on our Road Scholar New Zealand/Australia trip. It was great that we could meet up and travel together in Peru. The fourteen others in our group were great and our group got along well.

After our introductions, we had a speaker, Ricardo Bohl Pazos, who was a geographer. His lecture was “An Overview of Peru”. In the region of Lima, there were 50 districts and 50 mayors. Peru has over 300 volcanoes and 4 are active. He was very interesting.

Our next activity was to board a bus for a tour of the city with our local guide Claudia.

We visited a local fish market and walked out on the pier in Chorrillos, which is another district of Lima.

Our tour also stopped at the archaelogical site that we toured yesterday, Hauca Pucllana! Claudia led us through the site but it was a quick overview. We were very glad we took the tour yesterday where we climbed to the top and also visited the entire area. After our quick tour we ate lunch at the restaurant that looks over the site. The Huaca Pucllana Restaurant served us a Pisco Sour, the classic Peruvian cocktail. As an appetizer we had ceviche which was a traditional dish in Peru. The main course was beef tips, fries, and rice. We learned that most Peruvian meals are served with two starches! This was true almost everywhere we ate local food. The dessert was caramel cheesecake but when you must eat gluten free, my dessert was ice cream.

After lunch we rode the bus to the historic downtown area of Lima. We walked to the Plaza de Armas which was Lima’s main square. Off of this square was the presidential palace, the cathedral, the municipal palace and private colonial buildings. This square dates to the 16th century.

We visited the Cathedral of Lima that was on the square. It was a Roman Catholic cathedral and it was built between 1602 and 1797. Francisco Pizarro founded Lima and set aside land for the church. The current cathedral was the third built on this site.

In the late 1800s the remains of Francisco Pizarro were moved to the cathedral and placed in one of the chapels in the church.

We got to visit one of the mansions in the historic area of Lima. The Aliaga family owned this beautiful home since the 16th century! It was the oldest dwelling in the Americas that has been home to the same family for 17 generations! Earthquakes have caused the family to do some rebuilding over the years. This mansion was gorgeous.

The home also had secret passageways.

As we walked around the town, we came across a Picarones stand. Some of our group wanted to try these. They said they were very good. The Picarones looked like doughnuts. The main ingredients were squash and sweet potato. They are fried in oil and served with syrup made from charcaca (an unrefined sugar base).

Sites as we walked through downtown Lima.

Santo Domingo was a Dominican convent with a pink bell tower. It was an historic religious site that we toured. It had a large courtyard that was lined with Baroque paintings and vintage Spanish tiles (from the 17th century). The monastery was well preserved.

The Chapter house was where the friars gathered to solve their problems and choose their authorities. It also was the place where the University of San Marcos which was the first Peruvian university and the oldest university in the Americas! It was founded in 1551.

We also visited the monastery’s library. It contained over 25,000 antique texts.

In the library in a case was a book written on the 6th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. He was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher who died in 1321! He was best known for La Commedia or The Divine Comedy!

This evening we had dinner at a local restaurant called La Tiendecita Blanca. The bartender demonstrated how to make the Peruvian Pisco Sour which was also served to us!