Local Guide Archives ~ Mutual Horizons

September 8 2017

The lost temples of Angkor Wat

Tobias Stricker Local Guide Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Damdek, Siem Reap, Temples

Exploring the temple complex of Angkor Wat – Travel log no. 92

In the morning I left Bangkok to drive to Cambodia. On the bus I met two other Germans. Tim and Sven are also from Kiel really close to my home town. Together we planned on discovering the temple complex in Siem Reap the next day. Crossing the borders from Thailand to the Kingdom of Cambodia was real chaos. Not only the driving direction changed. Cars were replaced with people carrying there gods on carts. The Cambodian borders seemed to be more dirtier and dustier. Young kids were begging on the streets for food.

Finally we made it to Sieam Reap. After checking into our hostels we found a Tuk Tuk driver who agreed with us to drive us around the whole day. We planned to meet up at 4:30 am to watch the sunrise. Of course I didn’t wake up on time. I just didn’t hear the alarm. Much likely because I was still deaf from my diving. Luckily my friends kicked me out of bed still in time so that I didn’t miss out on this beautiful spectacle.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia — The sun slowly rises behind the main temple – Angkor Wat.

Siem RIep, Cambodia — After passing by the River and the outer gates we got our first site of the temple.

Angkor Wat, Kingdom of Cambodia — In addition a view from one of the inside lakes.

Cambodia — Of course something had to go wrong. Sven disappeared right in the beginning after he didn’t get in because of in-proper dressing. Luckily we found him later on inside the temple.

Art, Angkor Wat — The main temple is in the best condition. Thus the wall paintings and art are in great shape. Here you can see 4 dancing women.

Group, Angkor Wat — Finally a group picture in front of Angkor Wat. Tim, Sven, Mr Bond (Our Breakfast Chef) and I

After exploring the main temple we checked out the rest. Unfortunately there are just so many temples that it is impossible to see them all. Here are some of my favorites:

Bridge, Angkor Wat — On the way to Bayon the next bigger temple we had to pass this guarded bridge.

Bayon, Cambodia — Bayon temple is consisting out of many faces.

Gate, Bayon — Furthermore these gates in form of a human are pretty common around Bayon.

Temple, Angkor Wat — Thirdly a temple with a long walk.

View, Angkor Wat — Also with a beautiful view.

Mother nature, Angkor Wat — Slowly mother nature is taking back the place.

Tree, Angkor Wat — Another example of this. Trees are growing tall already in most of the hallways.

Bond, Angkor Wat — Mr Bond, our Tuk-Tuk Driver recovering in his hammock from the early morning shift.

Tree Temple, Angkor Wat — Well, if you already feel tired after seeing so many temple you can imagine how we felt around 4 pm.

At 4 pm we actually had to break up the expedition. We didn’t even see half of all the temples but we were just too tired after exploring for 12 hours.

My second day I spend on renting a scooter to explore a forgotten temple two hours away from Siem Reap. Driving the motorbike in Cambodia was probably one of the craziest things I have done. Never the less I still enjoyed it and I got to see the local civilization.

The leftovers of Prasat Beng Mealea the snake Temple in jungle.

Art, Cambodia — Some stone art next to the temple site.

Driving home through the rice fields and small villages was just amazing. I stoped by a small village called Damdek for dinner.

Damdek, Cambodia — Main street of Damdek, the kids are coming back from school. People here are nice but a little bit shy.

Market, Damdek — Finally the local market in Damdek. Here I had what I identified as a chicken heart and liver ginger curry below a tent.

In the end I left Cambodia again traveling back to Bangkok and from there to Hanoi in Vietnam. I cannot wait to share my adventures from this beautiful and communistic country.

February 19 2017

Explore Milwaukee in a day

Tobias Stricker Local Guide City Guide, Express Guide, Milwaukee, Milwaukee in a day, Quick Trip

History

The city Milwaukee is located 2 hours North of Chicago on the lake Michigan in the United States of America. It was founded in 1846 by mainly German and Polish settlers. The original founders have a huge influence on it’s culture today. People of Wisconsin are proud of their heritage and culture. I like to joke that some German-Americans I met here are prouder of Germany than I am myself being born and raised there. Milwaukee was known for its breweries (Miller, Pabst, Schlitz, etc.) and also for it’s state of the art tooling. It was called the workbench of the world in the previous century.

Today

Nowadays Milwaukee has 600,000 citizens, but together with it’s suburbs it has more than 2 million people living in the area. It is big for its banking and insurance industry, but you can still feel the vibes of it’s brewing past. The city is one of the last segregated cities in the US. After the apartheid the German and Polish citizens moved to the suburbs. African Americans moved into the former German neighborhoods in the North and Hispanic people moved into the former Polish neighborhoods in the West of the city. Due to this lack of diversity the crime rate of the city is one of the highest in America being listed within the top 5 of the crime rate per capita. I never felt unsafe in the city though and there are many cultural events during the year to raise cultural understanding and acceptance.

Tour Milwaukee in a day

When guest and friends visit Milwaukee I usually tour with them the following sites and places. The first 3 waypoints are in walking distance to each other as well as to the Amtrak Station.

Historic Third Ward & Public Market
This is the historical downtown former industry district. The old factory buildings have been long turned into hip housing, cool bars and little shops to check out. The public market offers a wide range local and foreign food and also hosts different specialty shops.

The Pfister & BLU Bar
The Pfister is one of Milwaukee’s oldest and most ritziest hotels. Check out the Lobby and go up to the 23rd floor to enjoy a beautiful view over the city skyline from the Bar BLU. The bar has not only a nice view from a top but also a happy hour during weekdays and live Jazz Music on Fridays and Saturdays. The artificial flame you can see on one of the neighboring buildings to the right is actually a weather indicator.

MKE Art Museum & Skyline
One of Milwaukee's city landmarks with a really nice art gallery. Walk a little bit around the museum into the direction of the discovery world to get a nice view on the skyline and the lighthouse in the harbor.

North Point & Bradford Beach
Do you feel like doing a little walk? Then it is time to check out the Upper East Side, Bradford Beach is Milwaukee's only Downtown beach and close to it is the North Point wizard like tower and the enclosed Lake Park with it's beautiful lighthouse and bridges. If you are more mobile you should check out the haunted Grant Park in South Milwaukee with the Seven Bridges Trail!

Lakefront Brewery
Lakefront is one of Milwaukee's bigger micro breweries and offers a really good tour with free drinks. Also try their cheese curds, traditional Wisconsin fried cheese. They have the best I ate so far. Enjoy the rest of your night on Water and Brady Street which are filled with nice bars. Water street provides a more college flair of partying and Brady Street is more the environment of young (and older) professionals.

Insider Tips

Sites

Shorewood & Atwater Park
If you have a car take the Lake Drive up North into the Shorewood neighborhood, along the road you will see Milwaukee’s most impressive housing and the Atwater park on the way has a magnificent cliff and beach. On this picture you see the beach during the winter.

Kilbourn Park
This park is at the End of North Avenue, because it is based on a little plateau you will get a beautiful view over the city. This picture was taken during fall.

Milwaukee River Boat Tour
These boat tours are super fun, it's cool to see the city from a different angle and usually drinks are included. It's a good pregame before going out on Water St or historic 3rd ST.

Historic 3rd st
It's one of Milwaukee’s historic streets and it has a lot of German culture and architecture. Check out Old German beer hall or Buck’s Bradly with the longest bar in town.

Food & Drinks

BelAir
Bel Air - my favorite Tuesday night event. Bel Air offers Mexican food for really good price value combined with a hip flair. The taco special on Tuesday and Thursday is the best day to go but requires waiting. You get drafts and Tacos for $2 each.

Sobelman's
Another tradition in Wisconsin is definitely the Bloody Mary for brunch and Sobelman's has the biggest, if you love Bloodies or want to try American XXL drinks definitely give it a shot.

Ma Fischer's
My favorite brunch location with good price value, their skillets are phenomenal. Service is super fast, you get your food within 10 min and drinks are refilled like every minute in addition it is a 24/7 in the style of an old diner. The bar is located on Farwell which is a really nice street, especially for food in Milwaukee. If you make it down here definitly also check out the main room of the Oriental Theater and FroYo a cool Frozen Yogurt place next door to Ma Fischer's.

Bar Specials
During the week days you can get really good specials on food and drinks! Bar Loui's (Tuesday) and RedRock (Wednesday) have a $1 Burger special, Brother has cheap drinks until 9pm and Wings(Wednesday after 9pm)for $0.25. Bel Air or Vegabond (No line) are perfect for Tacos (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Brothers, Vitucci’s and Old German Beer Hall have drinking specials on Thursdays.

Events

Summerfest & Cultural Events in Milwaukee

Definitely the biggest event of Milwaukee, 2 weeks during summer all kind of bands are playing and on some days it is possible to get in for free too, check out their website.

During the summer time Milwaukee is hosting all kind of cultural festivals on the Summerfest grounds which are super fun, check it out here.

Jazz in the Park

In the summer you can listen to live Jazz every Thursday on Cathedral Square, bring your picnic incl. drinks equipment it is allowed to drink in Public! The Cathedral Square also offers a bunch of nice bars and eat-out possibilities.

Tailgating for a Brewer Game

The brewers are Milwaukee's local Baseball team and their tailgate parties are legendary. Bring your drinks and BBQ and have a good time with all people on the parking lot pregaming for the game. Honestly I would say that 75% of the people who go to the brewers game, come mainly for the pregaming - it's great, to say it in the president's words!

Author

I came to Milwaukee in 2015 to finish my seniors year of undergraduate industrial engineering at MSOE. Over the years I got to like Milwaukee more and more. The city has a lot to offer although there are more activities available in the summer than in the winter. The constantly changing skyline proves that the city is on a growth phase right now. It offers a lot of fun activities for the young generation and is also affordable. The people in Wisconsin are really friendly and open minded and love to share culture and hospitality. Although I am leaving Milwaukee I am definitely planning on coming back. Therefore I recommend everybody to visit the city at least once and for a day!