The Kingdom of Cambodia

We decided to bite the bullet and spring for a flight to Siem Reap rather than deal with the land border crossing. Our flight left Bangkok in the early evening and as we made our way east we could have just as easily been flying over the ocean than any sort of landmass. Once it got dark there were hardly any lights and I could see lightning to the south. We arrived in Siem Reap to a steady rain shower, paid $20 each for our visa-on-arrival and headed outside to look for the pickup our hostel had arranged. Standing there in the rain with the biggest smile holding a sign that read "Welcome to Siem Reap Hostel Andrew Bourassa" stood our tuk-tuk driver, Socheat. He ran over to the parking area, pulled his tuk-tuk to the curb, helped us load our bags and off we went.

Once we arrived at the hostel Socheat wrote his name and number on one of the hostel business cards and told us that if we wanted to go anywhere the next day he could take us.

The next morning we woke up relatively late and had breakfast at the hostel (pancakes with banana creme and syrup for both of us). We went to the lobby and asked them to call Socheat and he came running up to the hostel entrance and asked us what we wanted to do. We didn't have much of an idea of what we wanted to do, all we knew was that there were a ton of temples to see and that we should see some of them.  Socheat came up with an itinerary and took us to Banteay Kdei first.

Banteay Kdei has a long walkway up to the temple lined with people (mostly kids) trying to sell you stuff (bracelets, books, postcards). Once we got into the temple it was very quiet and peaceful with very few tourists.  By far the quietest temple and Katie's favorite.

Next up: Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider temple).  This was a temple we had heard we must go to, but when we arrived there was construction going on in the center buildings.  This meant that not only could we not explore the center temple but there was a ton of construction noise.  Not peaceful at all.  We got stuck in a downpour under a little bamboo sign for 20 minutes before heading back to the tuk tuk.

Ta Keo is a tiny temple we stopped at for just a few minutes.  There were hardly any tourists but there was also not much to see.

The last temple complex we visited was Angkor Thom which was once a huge city (about 10 square km).  At this point we were pretty exhausted and getting a little templed out.  We were dropped off at Bayon which was really surreal with all the faces.  Unlike any other temple in Angkor.  We walked down the road to meet out tuk tuk driver, passing by Baphoun, Elephant terrace and other things that we just couldn't muster the energy to spending a lot of time on.

Fotodump Friday (the revenge)

Yea! Two weeks in a row with fotodumps on Friday!

Andy's:

My favorite picture of Kim and Katie from our visit to BKK.

A cool bench at one of the temples in Chiang Mai.

The Wat at the top of the mountain in Chiang Mai.

Cookware at one of the huts in the jungle on our trek.

Katie's:

The dog in that window is not a prop.  There are feral dogs all over Thailand.

Just a reflection of the sky in a puddle

At a temple in Chiang Mai this tv was playing a song with awesome english subtitles.

Mom!  What kind of mom's do they have over here?

Thailand summary

Thailand was a lot of fun but super touristy.  It seemed like there were at least three tourists to every ten people in Thailand (more in Bangkok). The rainy season here means that for a couple hours most afternoons it rains.

Time shift: 10pm Friday in Thailand = 11AM Friday on East Coast US

Exchange rate: 30baht = US $1

Price of a 1.5L water bottle: 15 baht ($0.50)

Largest cockroach: bathroom in the bungalow on Ko Chang

Least comfortable and efficient means of transportation: elephant

Least comfortable and most expensive bus ride, because shit was stolen: Ko Chang to Bangkok

Most overpriced songthaew: anywhere on Ko Chang

Nationalities of people we met in Thailand:  American, British, French, French Canadian, German, Russian, Australian

Katie's favorite experience: renting a motorbike and driving up the mountain in Chiang Mai.  It was beautiful and refreshingly cool.

Andy's favorite experience: trekking trip outside of Chiang Mai - mostly because of the great people we met.

One day trek (elephants!!)

Wednesday morning - elephant trekking. Yes! We scarfed down some granola with yogurt and fruit before our songthaew came and picked us up for our big day.  We spent about 2 hours in the back of this smelly cramped truck picking everyone else up and heading to the elephant park.  The camp sold bunches of bananas for 20 baht each ($0.66) so we bought one bunch.

Our first event was an hour long trek on the back of an elephant.  Each elephant had a chair set up for 2 people to sit in while the Mahout sat on the elephant's head.  Our elephant had an extra passenger, Tim, due to the odd number of people in our group.  He had to sit on the elephantss neck and spent the entire time trying really hard not to fall off.  For an hour we walked in a giant loop, down to the water, up a big hill, and back to the camp.  Elephants are not as smooth to ride on as horses; they shift a lot from side to side and up and down.

Lunch was waiting for us after our elephant ride, fried rice and fresh pineapple (not very sweet).  Next up: waterfall trek.  After driving half an hour to the start of the trail, we spent an hour hiking along a river through the jungle and over some precarious bamboo "bridges."  We passed huts which are where we could have stayed if doing a multiple day trip through the jungle.  At the waterfall we all changed into bathing suits and jumped in (well, we walked in).  The water was COLD!  It was so refreshing since the jungle was hot and humid.  After an hour or so at the waterfall we had to walk back through the jungle to get back to the songthaew.

Our next activity: white water rafting.  This was by far the event I was least looking forward too.  I have fallen out several times before while white water rafting and is just not my favorite thing to do.  While the guides were going over commands and how to paddle they told us we were going to be going over a five meter waterfall.  I was not excited to say the least.

It turns out that it was really fun!  The "waterfall" was nothing more than rapids which I guess dropped 5m but at a very slow decline.  I was imagining free falling for 5m in the boat.  Our guides were really fun and we splashed water at the other boats during the slow periods.  At the end of the trip we got onto bamboo rafts which were the dumbest things ever.  It was supposed to be some sort of authentic experience but it was just dumb and touristy.  For all of ten minutes we sat half submerged in the river trying not to tip over.  The raft guide said we weren't bamboo rafting but bamboo sinking!  Bamboo submarine!

The last event of the day was "visiting" a hilltop tribe.  Although this could have been a really neat experience, it was just dumb and touristy.  We were in the middle of the hilltop village on the only road surrounded by a couple of villagers who were just selling touristy things that had obviously been mass made somewhere else in Thailand (and we had seen at other markets in Thailand).

But after a full day of trekking and another two hour songthaew ride back to our respective hostels, we made friends with some of the other people on the trip.  We all met up for drinks later that night (after everyone showered and ate) and just had fun relaxing.  Andy and I almost didn't make it because we couldn't find the stupid place and wandered around for an hour and fifteen minutes before getting there.  It was a great ending to our trip in Chang Mai and ultimately Thailand.

In the morning we did a little shopping at the local market before getting on a plane headed to Siem Reap, Cambodia through Bangkok.

เชียงใหม่

On Monday morning we got up early to make our way to the airport and catch a 10:00 AM flight to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is in northern Thailand, about 12 hours by bus, but less than an hour and a half by plane. Our first day was pretty relaxed (as most first days someplace new are) and we checked into Julie's Guesthouse, had lunch (red curry with pineapple for me, pad thai for Katie) at the guesthouse and then wandered around the city a bit on foot.

Chiang Mai was originally built in 1296 (according to Wikipedia) and has a crumbling wall that encloses the old part of the city and a larger area outside of the wall that is more sprawling and less dense. Chiang Mai also offered decent relief from the heat and humidity of Bangkok because it is further north and higher in elevation.

One of the remaining parts of the old city wall

While wandering we passed by a firehouse, stopped in a park with some excellent panda statues and stumbled upon Wat Chedi Luang. Wat Chedi Luang has a really neat brick center structure that was damaged by an earthquake in the 1500s but has since been repaired to some extent.

Back at our guesthouse we had dinner again (sweet and sour chicken for me, white curry for Katie) and talked to a guy named Patrick that was a bit younger than us from Idaho. Patrick told us about his adventures and what he had done in Chiang Mai - he really enjoyed his visit to Tiger Kingdom and encouraged us to go, but we decided we would rather spend our money on other things.

On Tuesday we woke up pretty late and once again ate at the guesthouse (it was just so convenient and cheap!) I had a tomato/onion hash brown concoction and Katie had semi-pancakes with bananas. We then booked our trekking trip for the following day and rented a motorbike for the day for 200 baht (about USD $6.66). We hadn't originally planned on renting a motorbike because we had heard it can be quite dangerous, but a lot of people recommended it and it seemed like it could be good fun. It also saved us some money on transportation to some of the various sites around Chiang Mai.

We warmed up our moto skills by doing a few laps around the old city wall trying to get into the correct lane to get to a gas station. We foolishly filled up the tank for 100 baht and were on our way. As it turned out we hardly used any gas, so we basically donated a few liters of fuel to the rental company. Oh well. Our next stop was Doi Suthep (the temple on a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai). We only had a rough idea of where we were going, and we weren't on any sort of time schedule, so we took the "scenic route" through Chiang Mai University's campus which turned out to be quite fun. We made it to the Chiang Mai Zoo about an hour later and decided to take a look. This was a bad idea. The zoo wasn't expensive, but there weren't a lot of animals, it was a lot of walking uphill, the panda exhibit wasn't included in regular admission (really dumb) and the whole place was sort of depressing. The animals didn't seem to have enough room to roam around and we saw a couple of elephants chained up or boxed into some tiny enclosures. If you're ever Chiang Mai, skip the zoo.

After only an hour or two at the zoo we started making our way up the mountain to Wat Phra Doi Suthep. This drive made the motorbike rental really worth it (much better than riding in the back of a songthaew with tiny windows). As we ascended the mountain the air continually got cooler, the traffic was light and the scenery was really pretty. There were even a few places to stop and see the view of Chiang Mai. The temple was really beautiful and there was a great view of the city from one of the terraces.

After riding back down the mountain and into Chiang Mai's rush hour traffic we made it back to the guesthouse. We decided to venture out of the guesthouse for dinner and went to Aum restaurant for some vegetarian food. The portions were kind of small, and the food was just okay. Back to the guesthouse and off to bed to rest up for our trekking adventure tomorrow!

Art fun

On Sunday we then headed to the Bangkok Art and Culture Center in central Bangkok (as mentioned in our previous post).  It is 9 stories tall and free to all visitors.  The top 3 floors house the rotating art gallery.  The middle 4 floors is called the art-trium and has little shops, most of which help a good cause.  One floor was art from a senior project of a local school.  It was all about media and how it affects our lives.  It was really neat.  Here are some pictures of the event.

 What the Bangkok BTS would look like without corruption.  Currently it is 2 lines, both running to only 3/4 of their stops.

Click on the image to see it bigger. lol.

 A hand hat for watching the tv.

 Oh no!

Found my ears 

I don't have anything! 

What are you looking at? 

Classic Asian pose (if you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up.) 

Just two birds stuck in a cage with nothing to say.

Last weekend in Bangkok

On Friday (the 3rd, we're trying to catchup!) the bus dropped us off at Khao San road where Kim and Annika met us for dinner.  At O! Hungry Andy ordered a chicken pie and I had curry. Afterwards we wandered around Khao San road, stopping for a massage at an outdoor stand where we all got half hour neck and shoulder massages for 100 baht ($3.30).  It was fantastic for Andy and I who had been traveling all day.

We then went to a bar called Food Garden that was down a little side street and we sat in a little wooden structure and had cocktails.  Then met some of Annika's Thai friends at a street bar and all sat down at a folding tv tray and had more cocktails.  It was fun to be in the middle of Khao San and people watch all the tourists.

Saturday we did some laundry, had american breakfast at the little shop that serves ice cream with everything and sorted out our money situation.  We discovered that $2000 baht ($66) and my debit card were stolen from our backpack while we were on the bus (the bag was stored out of sight underneath the bus).  So we spent a couple hours figuring that out and canceling my card.

We met up with Annika and Milky at J J Market, otherwise known as the weekend market (supposedly the largest market in the world).  We wandered through it's many streets for a couple hours before it closed.  For dinner we headed to a lebanese restaurant in the middle eastern part of town (little Arabia).  We all split a of couple dishes.  Hummus, Makabol (eggplant hummus), taboulie, naan, lebanese bread, chicken tikka, chicken masala, and potatoes with egg.  It was all incredibly tasty and fun to eat something other than Thai. We also both tried hookah for the first time (mint) which was fun to experience, but neither of us are really smokers of any kind.

If There Was No Courruption

On Sunday we went to the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. It was a sort of fusion between an art gallery and a bit of a market. Some things on display were for sale and others were just there to be viewed. We didn't buy anything, but there were lots of interesting things to look at. The above photo is map entitled "If There Was No Corruption" and it shows what the Bangkok public transportation system would be like if all of the money that was suppose to go into public transit actually made it there. After a couple of hours wandering around the Art and Culture Center we met up with Annika and went to a beer garden which was basically an outdoor food market with a bunch of tables, food stalls and beer. It was a really laid back place to hang out and finish up our time in Bangkok.