Lessons learned

Sorry for the wordiness of this blog of late, but we are having problems uploading photos. Hopefully, we will be able to do this soon.

In the meantime, here are some pearls of wisdom for travelling in south-east asia.

• Unless it's an airline ticket, or a bus ticket that's likely to get booked out, never plan ahead. Even for an airline ticket, you only have to book a few days in advance. Case in point: the airport hotel in Bangkok we booked 6 weeks in advance was no longer open by the time we returned.
• It's also likely to be more expensive if you book in advance. For example - we booked a boat from Ko Phi Phi to Phuket before we got to Ko Phi Phi, and found that we could get it 100 Baht cheaper on the island.
• If a local is being super nice to you, it is unfortunately probably because they want something from you.
• Always insist on the taxi meter. it will be cheaper!
• Always be prepared that something you booked may be cancelled.
• you get what you pay for - but not always. Like when we got the uber expensive bus from Bangkok to Krabi, only to be unceremoniously dumped at a tourist bureau at 6am in the morning, 2 hours from our destination, and then be carted from place to place until we ended up on a public bus which took 4 hours to reach the same destination, stopping at every town along the way (clearly, the bus was to Krabi was overbooked and they needed to offload some passengers)
• never expect to be told what is going on. you have to ask. and ask early before they do whatever it is they intend to do.
• if you have time - shop around. there are huge variations in price on everything, even sunscreen. With accommodation, if we weren't happy the first night, we usually only had to look around for a little while before we found something that we were happier with and was cheaper.
• 7-11s in Thailand seem to be the cheapest for stuff. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't support the independent businesses!
• Talk to people. You learn alot from your fellow travellers and even more from the locals.
• Smaller restaurants with short menus tend to have good food. If they only have one meal on the menu, even better.
• Read up on where you are going before you get there. (Although you can buy the travel books cheaper there than when you are at home).

And then there was Thailand

When we started this travel blogging thing, we said it would depend on how much time/energy/internet access we would have, and lately the first two of those have been lacking (the third is no problem). So this post is just a place-holder for the moment, to bring things roughly up to date. Hopefully later we'll have a chance to add to it.

To sum it all up, we've been having a great time in Thailand. Thanks again to Am for her fabulous guidebooks! Here's a rough summary-

• Started in Bangkok, only for a day, saw some of the touristy sights like the royal palace & emerald buddha, and a massive sleeping buddha. Stayed on Khao San road, unfortunately next to a thumping nightclub. Planned the rest of our trip.
  
• Day trip to Kanchanaburi. Saw WWII memorial, bridge over the river Kwai, a very nice water fall, and Tiger Temple (highlight!)

• Overnight bus to Krabi. We got screwed by the tour company, but I don't have the energy to talk about it now.


• 4 days based in Krabi, a coastal town known as being similar to Phuket but cheaper and with less tourists. We hired motorbikes again and cruised around for a bit, did some horse riding, a "4 islands" day trip (excellent snorkelling), and an "elephant ride" half day trip. We expected that one to be average but it turned out to be a real highlight (like learning how rubber is made from the rubber tree and the swimming in the crystal clear spring-fed lake. Not so much when the mahout hit the elephant)



• We are now coming to the end of our second full day on Ko Phi Phi (pronounced "Pee Pee" island). This is a very beachy/reefy/resorty/party island. Yesterday we had an excellent half day island hopping and sunset tour, with some more top class snorkelling. We forgot that we would be entering territory that was affected by the tsunami. The place where we are staying (Charlie's Resort) was completely destroyed and is slowly being rebuilt. It really hits home just how severe the tsunami was when you see that rebuilding (and debris) still continues to this day.

• Tomorrow, it's on to Phuket, probably for more of the same for us. We're really enjoying this relaxing stage of our trip - it's quite good to just kick back and take it easy for a few days.

Note from Bek: Check out Brett's massive tan line from days out in the sun. teehee!

Siem Reap - take 2

Ok. so this is the second time I'm typing this because the computer I was on froze and I am very cross. It took me 3 hours, pizza and a beer to get over it. but now I'm back and will rewrite the summary of our adventures in Siem Reap. It's not easy remembering all the details as we packed a lot into our short stay there.

We spent 3 days in Siem Reap, 6 hours by bus to the north of Phnom Penh, and the closest town to the ancient city of Angkor. We had 3 full days visiting the temples - exhausting but well worth it. It's interesting to note that at no stage we got "templed out". I think that's a tribute to the variety and beauty of the temples in this area.

Day 1 - Angkor by bicycle

Excitement carried us through the first day on bicycles. It was extremely hot and wiped us out for the next 2 days. Looking back, I don't think I would do it again, knowing how hard it was going to be, but it was extremely satisfying to have done it.

• Angkor Wat- we started with the biggy and weren't disappointed. It is said to be the largest religious structure in the world, and is still in spectacular condition. what was a bit disappointing was the guy taking a pee in one of the corner towers. the temple is nearly 1000 year's old, it's a work of art, and this guy couldn't even be bothered to walk down to the appointed facility. it was a disgrace. I should have said something.


• Banteay Kdei - to be honest, can't really remember.



• Sra Srang - just a big pond where used to stand in the centre a wooden temple


• Ta Prohm - home of the famous "Tomb Raider" tree and other trees whose roots are slowly taking over. Ta Prohm boasts to be one of the few temples left in its original state, without reconstruction, just as the European explorers found it in the early 20th century.

• Ta Keo - one of my favourites with a good climb and great view. The stairs on most of the temples are very high and very narrow making climbing a bit scary at times. I wonder how long they are going to let silly tourists climb pretty much anywhere over the temples, hindering conservation efforts, never mind the safety of tourists. Ta Keo is also an unfinished temple, and it was really interesting to see how the big stone slabs fitted together in these amazing structures without the final details.


• Victory Gate - one of 5 gates into the city of Angkor Thom


• Angkor Thom - by this stage we were too tired to stop. More on this on following days(Photo is Bayon at sunset)


• Phnom Bakheng - This is the "it" place to see the sunset. It's a bit of a walk up a hill, (or you can take an elephant for US$15), but gives the best overview of the region. Unfortunately, there was a bit of cloud the day we went, so the sun dropped early leaving the view hazy and grey. I also can't remember much about the temple itself - I think it was quite simple but I can't be sure since it was swarming with tourists.

Day 2 - Angkor by tuk tuk

After day 1's effort, it was time to take it easy and see the temples by tuk tuk. Our driver was pretty good at driving the tuk tuk but his customer service could have done with a bit of improvement. Everytime we came back to the tuk tuk, we had to wake him up or go find him from where he had disappeared to. Also, because we decided to end the day early, he asked if he could take us to a tourist souvenier shop so that he could get a free breakfast the following day! Since he was so candid, we grumpily agreed, although we refused his request to give him a tip.

• Angkor Wat - Yes again! this time to see the sunrise behind the iconic 3 towers (Brett says it's actually 5 but you can only see 3), with it's reflection in the Royal Pond. Very nice but we had to be up before 5am!



• Bayon - With it's 180 (or 216, depending on which guide book you read) enigmatic faces.


• Baphoun - I was too tired by this stage to make it down the long pathway to the temple but from where I stood, it looked like a pyramid. Brett and Blacky said that it was mostly under reconstruction. Pre-Khmer Rouge days, the temple was undergoing reconstruction by pulling it apart and taking copious notes. The Khmer Rouge destroyed all the records leaving the world's largest jigsaw puzzle (footnote : taken directly from our guide book).


• Banteay Srei - this was a good hour's drive on bumpy road to a small temple but worth it for the intricate stone carvings. The temple is made from pink stone and is sometimes referred to as the "temple of women".



• Eastern Mebon - another temple but nice with elephants at each corner.


• Ta Som - the only thing i remember about this temple was a kid who was trying to sell us stuff (there are literally hundreds of adults and children trying to sell you souveniers, drinks and food all around the temples - although they haven't quite reached the artform achieved in Sapa), who ended up trying to sell me nothing for $10. Here's a short transcript: Little kid - "You buy postcards? One dollaaar. You buy cold drink? One dollaaaaar. What you buy?" Bek - "I buy nothing!" Little kid - "You buy nothing? ten dollaaaaaaaaars!"


• Preah Neak Pean - this was a temple consisting of 5 (now dry) pools. It had an interesting statue of a horse with human legs.


• Preah Khan - Another favourite of mine - a maze of corridors and rooms with this crazy Greek looking structure near the entrance, complete with columns and triangular roof. completely at odds with the rest of the architecture.

Brett being accosted by a small child.

Day 3 - Roulos Group and Angkor Thom

Another day, another tuk tuk driver. This one didn't speak much English but he was very pleasant and eager to please. He also drove us to the airport the next day - when we got a flat tire about 1km from the airport, he kept driving, despite what the weight of 3 passengers plus baggage was doing to the rim of his wheel. what a champion!

• Roulos Group - these are an earlier group of temples, set to the east of Siem Reap. We saw the 3 main ones - Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei. Bakong had a nice feel to it, with well kept gardens and surrounded by a water filled moat. They liked statues of cows.


• Angkor Thom - We did quite a walking tour of Angkor Thom, starting at the Terrace of Elephants, Phimeanakas (the royal palace), Preah Palilay, Tep Pranam and the Terrace of the Leper King. The Terrace of the Leper King (apart from its romantic title) was unremarkable in itself but there was a hidden "secret terrace" below the main structure with intricate and well-preserved carvings of the ubiquitus bare-breasted women, naga (seven-headed serpents), elephants and demons, that extended from floor to ceiling.


• Angkor Wat - yes, once again! we couldn't stay away and the 3rd time was a charm, noticing many more details than we did the first time. We planned to stay up at the top of the towers until sunset but were shooed off at about 6pm - probably a sensible thing since trying to move tourists down a very steep and dangerous stair case in the dark is probably not a good idea.

Cambodia - the first exciting installment!

After Phnom Penh, we took a bus down to the quite town of Kampot. This town was once known for its amazing pepper (only some of which remains), then later for supporting the Khmer Rouge after they were kicked out of government, and now as an interesting, but mostly undiscovered tourist spot. We decided it was quiet enough here that we could go for the ultimate in cheap, flexible transport - hired motorbikes. It was a good choice.

Hooray for our mosquito nets.

On the first afternoon we took the advice of our Lonely Planet guide and heaped out to a small village near some caves. It didn't take long for some of the local kids to come riding along beside us, offering to be our guides. We made it very clear that we would only pay one kid to guide us (the one who came to us first), and one to look after our bikes, but about ten of them followed along anyway, clearly hoping we would change our minds. It was a fun adventure, walking, climbing and crawling through the limestone(?) caves in the side of a hill. There was once a small buddhist temple carved into a part of the cave, but we were reliably informed by our little tourguide wanna-bes that it had been destroyed by Pol Pot. I'm not too sure why - probably just another random act of destruction. After our little adventure, we drove off, only to discover that they had syphoned a few litres of petrol from Blackie's tank! Apparently my tank was harder to access than his. These people will try anything to eek out a few extra dollars from tourists - such is the economic inequality between us and them.

Next day was an organised tour to Bokor National Park, on top of a nearby mountain. The hilltop station on the top of the mountain has a strange and eclectic history. Early last century, the king built a Royal Palace half way up the mountain - a spot apparently chosen for its view of the surrounding countryside stretching to the coast. It was a pretty stark palace by royal standards, just the essentials like a residence, kitchen, and a building for a smallish selection of his concubines. After all, he couldn't be expected to be away from his concubines for long, could he? The buildings have since been looted for their building materials.

Our guide - who took us through the forest on a recently found path by ex-Khmer Rouge- insisted on carrying this massive knife to protect us from wild boar.

At the top of the mountain, the French subsequently built a very small township. It had all the essentials - a church, a hotel, a small dam, and of course, a casino. That's right, a casino. It must have been quite a grand building in its day - 3 stories and commanding views. French colonialists came from near and far to use it as a place to relax. There was even a cliff that was conveniently located nearby so that they could throw themselves off if they lost too much money! That's not a joke, it actually happened. It's now in ruins, but makes for an intuiging tourist spot.

Being on the top of a mountain also made the Bokor hillstation an important strategic location in most of the wars fought in Cambodia in the later half of last century, and it saw several major battles. At various times it was held by the French, the Khmer Rouge, the Lon Nol government and the Vietnamese. Overall, an interesting trip soured only by the backside-bruising 2 hour trip by 4WD to get there - the road is in serious need of repair.

Our journey back to Phnom Penh was also interesting. It was organised through a friend of a friend (which is the way most business is done in Cambodia) - this is long distance travel Cambodian style. How many people do you think you can fit in a 11 person mini van? At one stage I think I counted 24, including the two on the roof. There were also 2 chickens and 2 buddhist shrines. That was an experience - but one I'm not sure I want to repeat too often.

End of Vietnam and start of Cambodia

Ok, so we haven't blogged in over a week so this is really going to test my memory as to what has happened.

Saturday was officially our last day of the Intrepid tour. We said a tearful farewell to our new found friends and then went off to explore Saigon, starting with the central post office. It is a massive French-style building, which is on many tourist maps, but the reason we were there was to send a package home instead of lugging the things we had bought around. the good news is that it didn't cost as much as expected and they provided a box (which they wrapped in so much packing tape that you couldn't even see the box anymore). The bad news is that they then proceeded to cram everything into the box, including my brand new suit, which they took out of the plastic, rolled up tightly and shoved in. ah well, what are you going to say. hopefully, the 8 months on a coat hanger before I see it again should iron out any wrinkles. the paperwork for sending the package was also pretty intense.

i think we just walked around after that, enjoying the shop windows and propaganda and eating good food. that was all to end that evening when we had a great meal at a restaraunt which had nearly no English, but then suffered the consequences the next day with stomach cramps and diarrhoea. so we had a lazy day at the hotel, resting up for the travel to come (although we did manage to go out in the evening for a cheap and cheerful meal at banh cuon LA - 221 Ly Tu Trong St, District 1, banhcuonla.com - and coffee at the Majestic Hotel down by the river).

Which brings us to Monday. We had booked a trip with Mekong Delta Tours which, for a grand sum of $24, was to take us through the Mekong Delta and then by boat into Phnom Penh, including 1 night accommodation. while it was fine and really all you could expect for $24, it really made me realise just how spoilt we had been during our intrepid tour.

First, we were herded onto a bus at 7.30am with a bunch of people from all sorts of different tours. After a 2 hour bus ride, we met our new tour guide and hopped on a boat which raced off to one of the islands (not sure which) where we once again witnessed the magic of coconut sweet making and other village production (including popped rice which was made in a massive wok using what looked like black sand instead of oil). Unfortunately, this time (unlike the last time when we went with Intrepid), it felt very rushed, very touristy and just a touch sad - like we had intruded on something that used to be good and simple, which now was not.

then followed another change of guide (this one didn't speak English), who led us very quickly from the bus, to barge, and back onto another bus, and then onto a boat which took us up river to the border town of Chau Doc. All the time, the tour group changed: people came, people left, so you never really felt that you could sit down and chat to anyone, and so many tour guides meant that you never felt quite comfortable or knew what was going on.

In the morning, yet another tour guide took us on a boat, through the border crossing (which was painless although took a long time to process) and then on a long hot boat ride, not to Phnom Penh, but 2 hours outside of PP with the last leg done by bus.

Arrival in PP started with something which, unfortunately, characterises a lot of travel in Cambodia. We were taken to a particular hotel (obviously affiliated with the tour company) whose staff then proceeded to try and have us check in. When we said that we already had somewhere else booked (and paid for, I lied), they then charged us $4 which I now know is a complete rip off to drive us to our chosen destination.

But all in all, despite my whinging, the trip was fine. Definitely a learning experience for us molly-coddled travellers who have been spoon fed until now.

We only spent a couple of days in Phnom Penh. We had fabulous accommodation, down by the river, with friendly staff and great food. We also had a great tuk tuk driver. On our first morning, he came up to us going "Mr Say, I am friend of Mr Say". After our recent experiences, we were a bit wary, but we did have a friend by the name of Mr Say so were willing to listen. after a bit more talking, it was agreed that he was in fact a friend of Mr Say and that Mr Say had told him that we might need a Tuk tuk driver while in PP. after a bit more umming and ahhing, we finally did agree to let him take us around.

First stop was the russian market, which really was like all the other markets which we have seen, although it didn't stop us from buying stuff. next was a 15km bumpy ride on pretty bad road out to the Killing Fields. It's a very sad and very moving place and while not enjoyable, is something you need to see to understand Cambodia's recent history. This was followed up by S21, a former school which was converted by the Khmer Rouge into basically a torture centre before people were taken to the Killing Fields. Again, not a pleasant place but somewhere I'm glad I've been.

Memorial at the Killing Fields
The road out was hot and dusty, but our kind tuktuk driver had bought us masks.
The afternoon was spent with friends, first afternoon tea with "Mr Say", and then onwards to JRS where Brett and I will be doing volunteer work for a while.