With a lot of encouragement I managed to drag Prue into the bar across the street from our hotel, the same bar I had entered the night before. Instantly we were set upon by a pack of young Khmer girls who greeted us and ushered us to a table where they sat with us staring at us with polite smiles. Prue shifted uneasily in her seat as we ordered a beer for myself and a margarita for Prue. The girls tried making conversation with us and Prue tried to find out the score asking them if they were paid to talk to us, but we struggled to translate the questions, so after much deliberation between the Hostesses they replied with “Do you want a Tuk-Tuk?”. Prue’s margarita was neon blue in colour and like myself the night before she swiftly sipped her drink and we bailed from the bar to find a less awkward place to enjoy a drink and get some dinner.
After two nights in Phnom Pehn we’d seen enough, it’s not that the place wasn’t interesting, just that it wasn’t very nice. We boarded a coach the next morning and headed south towards Shianoukville. We paid and extra $2 ($7 total) for the Airconditioned bus with a toilet and free drinking water, we didn’t see any drinking water but we were treated to some first class Cambodian Karaoke on the TV screen, the first half hour of the trip we pissed ourselves at the cheesiness of the Khmer music videos and especially the song called “New Zealand” we had no idea what the song was about but it was fun singing the only English words of the song “New Zealand” as they popped up on the screen.
After Karaoke we were treated to a Cambodian comedy show, we had no idea what was going on but the laughter from the Khmer people on our bus and the indecipherable madness happening on the screen made it quite entertaining. The laughter was stopped as we drove past a collision on the way out town, where a scooter rider had a very bloody forehead, a wound that probably would have been avoided had he been wearing a a helmet. We stopped at a rest point about halfway through the trip and found disappointment that there were no kids with Tarantulas hounding us to buy fruit, but we did find some of the yummy fried bananas we had in Battambang.
The second half of our trip on the bus became somewhat of a surreal experience… As soon as the bus had fired up the engine and roared off down the highway (road from Phnom Phen to Shianoukville is a very good road surprisingly) on came the TV and we found our self watching a 90’s Jackie Chan film dubbed into Khmer with English subtitles. The opening scene displayed the word “Melbourne” and we both had an “oh shit, no way” moment as we realised the film we were watching was not only filmed entirely in Melbourne. But when they filmed the movie Jackie Chan had stayed at Darling Towers our former work/home. We ended up watching the whole movie, shouting out locations as we recognised them and had a truly strange experience thinking about the coincidence of it all while we rolled into the beachside town of Shianoukville…
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tragedy and Majesty
Tragedy and MajestyWe headed off late in the morning after a sleep in to have breakfast in Phnom Penh. After dodging the flocks of Tuk-Tuk drivers we found a nice little place to eat around the corner from the hotel. With a good breakfast in our bellies we headed back into the scrum to pick a driver. We ended up choosing a driver that spoke English in a great Aussie accent and it took us ages to figure out he was in fact from Phnom Penh. He’d been taken under the wing of some Aussie ex-pat and he spoke a bit like a local from central Australia or maybe north of Perth. He had Australia and Perth written on his Tuk-Tuk as well as the inside part of the roof being covered in stickers of people with him and of him with his family and many other interesting things.
We headed out to the Killing Fields to see the sad history of the people of Cambodia. I don’t really know what to say about the Killing Fields except that I believe it’s is a place that everyone who visits Cambodia needs to visit. It is hard to write about the experience, it’s not like Battambang where there was so much to say about that day that we could gloss over it. We knew that we’d have to take our time and pay our respects and on entering the site we both got chills. When you first walk in you see the large Stupa that was built to hold the bones of the dead that had been unearthed. Only about a third of the site has been excavated so far and they know that they have only taken out a small portion of the dead. We took our time at the site, reading all the information and looking through the small museum on the site. Drew and I were profoundly affected by what we saw and read. This is a testament to the character of the wonderful Khmer people who have overcome huge adversity to become the wonderful, welcoming and happy people we are meeting everywhere in Cambodia. These sites are both a stark reminder and a memorial and we are grateful we chose to do it.
We headed to the Royal Palace in our Tuk-Tuk (The only one like it in Phom Pehn) and said goodbye to our charismatic driver. The Royal Palace is another awe inspiring place and the wonderful buildings that we were allowed to see were amazing. I hate to draw comparisons, but I don’t think it was on the same scale as the pimped out Thai Palace. It is however, amazing in more subtle ways. The artworks inside on the walls are from many hundreds of years ago and the fact that any of it survived the Khmer Rouge is amazing in itself. So many places we’ve visited have been breathtaking despite people apologising that it was more amazing before it was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. We love it anyway. The Royal Palace did have something that the Thai King didn’t have. The Royal Palace has a huge building that has a floor completely made of Silver Tiles. Most of the tiles were covered in carpet so you could walk through the Pagoda to see the wonderful museum quality objects that the King has made available to be viewed, but you can still see the silver tiles. Even though you’re not meant to step past the rope and onto silver floor Drew and I did possibly inch forward a little too much just to stand barefoot on the floor.
We headed back to the hotel and dropped some stuff off at our room and then headed out to see the night markets. We may have got to the markets a little early but we wandered around with all the locals looking at the food and clothes and many other items available for sale. It was slightly underwhelming when compared to some of the markets that we’d seen already so we headed off down some dark back streets checking out the local parts of the city…
We headed out to the Killing Fields to see the sad history of the people of Cambodia. I don’t really know what to say about the Killing Fields except that I believe it’s is a place that everyone who visits Cambodia needs to visit. It is hard to write about the experience, it’s not like Battambang where there was so much to say about that day that we could gloss over it. We knew that we’d have to take our time and pay our respects and on entering the site we both got chills. When you first walk in you see the large Stupa that was built to hold the bones of the dead that had been unearthed. Only about a third of the site has been excavated so far and they know that they have only taken out a small portion of the dead. We took our time at the site, reading all the information and looking through the small museum on the site. Drew and I were profoundly affected by what we saw and read. This is a testament to the character of the wonderful Khmer people who have overcome huge adversity to become the wonderful, welcoming and happy people we are meeting everywhere in Cambodia. These sites are both a stark reminder and a memorial and we are grateful we chose to do it.
We headed to the Royal Palace in our Tuk-Tuk (The only one like it in Phom Pehn) and said goodbye to our charismatic driver. The Royal Palace is another awe inspiring place and the wonderful buildings that we were allowed to see were amazing. I hate to draw comparisons, but I don’t think it was on the same scale as the pimped out Thai Palace. It is however, amazing in more subtle ways. The artworks inside on the walls are from many hundreds of years ago and the fact that any of it survived the Khmer Rouge is amazing in itself. So many places we’ve visited have been breathtaking despite people apologising that it was more amazing before it was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. We love it anyway. The Royal Palace did have something that the Thai King didn’t have. The Royal Palace has a huge building that has a floor completely made of Silver Tiles. Most of the tiles were covered in carpet so you could walk through the Pagoda to see the wonderful museum quality objects that the King has made available to be viewed, but you can still see the silver tiles. Even though you’re not meant to step past the rope and onto silver floor Drew and I did possibly inch forward a little too much just to stand barefoot on the floor.
We headed back to the hotel and dropped some stuff off at our room and then headed out to see the night markets. We may have got to the markets a little early but we wandered around with all the locals looking at the food and clothes and many other items available for sale. It was slightly underwhelming when compared to some of the markets that we’d seen already so we headed off down some dark back streets checking out the local parts of the city…
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Mr Handsome and Mrs Beautiful
The Temples of Angkor are amazing, it truly is an exhilarating place. I guess some people don’t really get into it as we noticed many times that people were just walking along snapping off photos and (like the Sai Yok Noi waterfall) most of them never actually stopped to look at what they were taking pictures of. Prue and I on the other hand have spend the last three days clambering up steep staircases, ducking and weaving through dark hallways and jumping over giant square stones like Lara Croft and most of the time humming the theme to Indiana Jones.
We organised a Tuk-Tuk driver to take us for the day, and Mr Thea would happily drive us from place to place and then wait (sometimes for hours) in the back of his Tuk-Tuk until we came back ready to explore the next place. Arriving at a new temple always meant that there was a group of street peddlers waiting to pounce on you as soon as you got off the Tuk-Tuk (and usually before you got off) with calls of “hello sir you wanna a cold drink, only one dollar” or “maybe you think about it, you come see me when you get back”. Most of the peddlers are quite young and they speak in a sad voice and give you puppy dog eyes to play on your emotions, quite often they follow you all the way to the temple gates, but they were always polite and although it did get a bit bothersome at times it was also a bit of fun walking along saying “no thanks, no thank you” or “Te Oh Kun” which is the Khmer for the same thing.
The Khmer people as a whole (especially the younger generation) are very good at speaking English, much better than the Thai people we met. It is easy to have a basic conversation with most of the people you meet, the younger peddlers are always quite happy to ask you questions about where you are from, and like the Bangkok reply “Sydney -Kangaroo” here in Cambodia we get “Australia, capital Canberra” or “G’day Mate”.
Siem Reap is one of the first places that we have felt comfortable, possibly a combination of the lovely hotel we stayed in, the warm friendliness of the Khmer people, and the westernised/bastardised strip of town brought about by the tourist hordes. The markets we full of local clothing, crafts and souvenirs and it became a little depressing thinking about all of the magnificent things we could buy if it weren't for the fact we’d have to lug it around in our backpacks for the next few months. We originally booked to stay three nights in Siem Reap but after our first day we decided to extend one more night, Unfortunately our hotel was booked out but they were nice enough to take us around the corner to an equally priced but not quite as nice hotel for our last night before catching the bus to Phnom Pehn.
The bus to Phnom Phen was a bumpy ride, saying that the roads in Cambodia are shit is somewhat of an understatement. Reading a book was a bit of a challenge as you’d constantly we bobbing your head up and down just to keep your place on the page. We stopped for a refreshment break about 75kms from Phom Pehn and met the coolest peddlers so far of our trip. The place we stopped had a toilet and a restaurant and was full of stalls selling all kinds of nasties like giant crickets and tarantulas. But it was again the kids that mobbed us that were the most interesting. They all carried a bag of fruit to sell to you and even though we didn't want any fruit it was so hard to say no, as they played up the poor street urchin so well.
While I was standing around I had a great conversation with two of the girls, who asked me a thousand questions in almost perfect English (although with a slight American accent). And then one of them pulled a live tarantula out of her pocket… Yikes! Most of the kids carried around pet tarantulas, we assumed it was to attract the tourists, but it was nice to know that one of the girls named her tarantula “Happy”, thus probably sparing this spider from ending up like its brothers and sisters in the frying pan. At least for now.
Phnom Pehn is another big bustling city, although unlike Bangkok there are no large skyscrapers and we haven’t seen any modern central business district. To be honest, from what we've seen it is an entire city of slums, with the exception of a few nice bits, surrounded on each side by not so nice bits. We are staying in the riverfront precinct, which is something of a western hub. Full of bars, clubs and restaurants all with very western names to appeal to tourists and ex-pats, Our hotel is nice, after walking down the street from the bus station and looking at a lot of shoddy hotels, we finally found one that was nice for only $30 p/n, apparently it has only been open for ten days so everything is new and modern.
After visiting the National gallery (very amazing) we went to the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) for dinner. At the FCC we had our most expensive meal so far, around $30, was also the best (western) meal we have had so far, and it would have been quite easy to spend more money there. The FCC was the local hangout for journalists during the time of war, and the place was full of well to do looking westerners… And us.
After returning to our hotel last night Prue decided to jump on the internet downstairs (no free wireless at our hotel) so I walked across the road to have a drink at one of the bars. As soon as I walked in the door of the bar I realised instantly three things were our of place. Firstly; I was the only customer. Secondly; all of the people in the bar were young attractive women (with the exception of possibly two or three lady boys). Third; all of the women were smiling at me and saying hello...
I’d stumbled into a hostess bar, the situation became very weird and awkward as I quickly drank my beer while four or five girls sat around me staring at me and making polite conversation, while another ten or twenty watched from nearby tables, I felt like the last sausage on the barbeque. I guess it would have been fun had the place had a lot more customers, but as the girl explained to me it was seven thirty and the place would not get busy till ten or eleven o’clock. I wasn’t waiting around I went back to the hotel and we both had an early night, drifting off to sleep listening to hustle and bustle of Phnom Pehn, and waking in the morning to find it is still there…
Photos from the last few days can be seen HERE.
We organised a Tuk-Tuk driver to take us for the day, and Mr Thea would happily drive us from place to place and then wait (sometimes for hours) in the back of his Tuk-Tuk until we came back ready to explore the next place. Arriving at a new temple always meant that there was a group of street peddlers waiting to pounce on you as soon as you got off the Tuk-Tuk (and usually before you got off) with calls of “hello sir you wanna a cold drink, only one dollar” or “maybe you think about it, you come see me when you get back”. Most of the peddlers are quite young and they speak in a sad voice and give you puppy dog eyes to play on your emotions, quite often they follow you all the way to the temple gates, but they were always polite and although it did get a bit bothersome at times it was also a bit of fun walking along saying “no thanks, no thank you” or “Te Oh Kun” which is the Khmer for the same thing.
The Khmer people as a whole (especially the younger generation) are very good at speaking English, much better than the Thai people we met. It is easy to have a basic conversation with most of the people you meet, the younger peddlers are always quite happy to ask you questions about where you are from, and like the Bangkok reply “Sydney -Kangaroo” here in Cambodia we get “Australia, capital Canberra” or “G’day Mate”.
Siem Reap is one of the first places that we have felt comfortable, possibly a combination of the lovely hotel we stayed in, the warm friendliness of the Khmer people, and the westernised/bastardised strip of town brought about by the tourist hordes. The markets we full of local clothing, crafts and souvenirs and it became a little depressing thinking about all of the magnificent things we could buy if it weren't for the fact we’d have to lug it around in our backpacks for the next few months. We originally booked to stay three nights in Siem Reap but after our first day we decided to extend one more night, Unfortunately our hotel was booked out but they were nice enough to take us around the corner to an equally priced but not quite as nice hotel for our last night before catching the bus to Phnom Pehn.
The bus to Phnom Phen was a bumpy ride, saying that the roads in Cambodia are shit is somewhat of an understatement. Reading a book was a bit of a challenge as you’d constantly we bobbing your head up and down just to keep your place on the page. We stopped for a refreshment break about 75kms from Phom Pehn and met the coolest peddlers so far of our trip. The place we stopped had a toilet and a restaurant and was full of stalls selling all kinds of nasties like giant crickets and tarantulas. But it was again the kids that mobbed us that were the most interesting. They all carried a bag of fruit to sell to you and even though we didn't want any fruit it was so hard to say no, as they played up the poor street urchin so well.
While I was standing around I had a great conversation with two of the girls, who asked me a thousand questions in almost perfect English (although with a slight American accent). And then one of them pulled a live tarantula out of her pocket… Yikes! Most of the kids carried around pet tarantulas, we assumed it was to attract the tourists, but it was nice to know that one of the girls named her tarantula “Happy”, thus probably sparing this spider from ending up like its brothers and sisters in the frying pan. At least for now.
Phnom Pehn is another big bustling city, although unlike Bangkok there are no large skyscrapers and we haven’t seen any modern central business district. To be honest, from what we've seen it is an entire city of slums, with the exception of a few nice bits, surrounded on each side by not so nice bits. We are staying in the riverfront precinct, which is something of a western hub. Full of bars, clubs and restaurants all with very western names to appeal to tourists and ex-pats, Our hotel is nice, after walking down the street from the bus station and looking at a lot of shoddy hotels, we finally found one that was nice for only $30 p/n, apparently it has only been open for ten days so everything is new and modern.
After visiting the National gallery (very amazing) we went to the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) for dinner. At the FCC we had our most expensive meal so far, around $30, was also the best (western) meal we have had so far, and it would have been quite easy to spend more money there. The FCC was the local hangout for journalists during the time of war, and the place was full of well to do looking westerners… And us.
After returning to our hotel last night Prue decided to jump on the internet downstairs (no free wireless at our hotel) so I walked across the road to have a drink at one of the bars. As soon as I walked in the door of the bar I realised instantly three things were our of place. Firstly; I was the only customer. Secondly; all of the people in the bar were young attractive women (with the exception of possibly two or three lady boys). Third; all of the women were smiling at me and saying hello...
I’d stumbled into a hostess bar, the situation became very weird and awkward as I quickly drank my beer while four or five girls sat around me staring at me and making polite conversation, while another ten or twenty watched from nearby tables, I felt like the last sausage on the barbeque. I guess it would have been fun had the place had a lot more customers, but as the girl explained to me it was seven thirty and the place would not get busy till ten or eleven o’clock. I wasn’t waiting around I went back to the hotel and we both had an early night, drifting off to sleep listening to hustle and bustle of Phnom Pehn, and waking in the morning to find it is still there…
Photos from the last few days can be seen HERE.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
In Awe of Angkor
Today we woke to find it was pouring rain and the day looked to continue in the same fashion. Yay! Our first day of Monsoon rain... Unfortunately the rain had to happen on the day we finally get to see Angkor Wat and its surrounding Angkorian Temples. Oh well, we jumped in our Tuk-Tuk with the rain shields up and headed to the Temples via a quick stop to buy two umbrellas.
This is pretty much where today's blog finishes, I'm not going to try to use words to describe what we saw today. We literally spent the entire day with our jaws gaping open saying things like "Oh my god LOOK at that!"or "Holy Fucking Shit!" all with childlike grins on our faces and utter bewilderment at everything. There are no adequate words for today and the pictures definitely wont do justice. We will be returning to the temples tomorrow (hopefully in the sunshine although the rain did keep away the mass of crowds and gave everything a very serene beauty) and we will definitely try to return to the temples of Angkor in years to come.
Enjoy the photos from today HERE
This is pretty much where today's blog finishes, I'm not going to try to use words to describe what we saw today. We literally spent the entire day with our jaws gaping open saying things like "Oh my god LOOK at that!"or "Holy Fucking Shit!" all with childlike grins on our faces and utter bewilderment at everything. There are no adequate words for today and the pictures definitely wont do justice. We will be returning to the temples tomorrow (hopefully in the sunshine although the rain did keep away the mass of crowds and gave everything a very serene beauty) and we will definitely try to return to the temples of Angkor in years to come.
Enjoy the photos from today HERE
Monday, November 2, 2009
Cambodian Snow
After our crazy experience getting into Cambodia and the sorry state of the town as we drove in we weren’t hoping for much today. We had organised a motorbike tour of the sites surrounding the city. This turned out to be a scooter tour as actual motorbike were thin on the ground. We came down after eating a great breakfast of hot fresh baked rolls and in Drew’s case an omelette, and met our guide who was sceptical that I could actually ride along with all the other guys sitting out the front who ran the motorbike rentals. We climbed on our little machines and headed off into the unknown.
Riding through town was a double challenge. Firstly there’s the problem of riding on the wrong side of the road which is a challenge in itself. Drew suggested I tie something to my right hand so I wouldn’t forget. But opting for guessing that I would get it after a while I rode after the departing guide. The second challenge is the riding in the traffic. It’s like a cosmically huge version of chicken. Basically you have to know where everyone around you is, but never make eye contact. If you make eye contact then you give way.
We headed out of town and road down some small back roads to a local temple that was a mixture of new temple building and an old walls that went all the way around and were carved to display the churning of the sea of milk. It was very cool, but on returning to our bike we’d discovered that Drew had gotten a puncture in his back tire and we needed to go and get it fixed. Our guide wheeled Drew’s bike into a tiny little grouping of shacks on the side of the road around the back of the temple. We discovered that the little shack that we’d pulled up to was in fact the local mechanic and a kid of about 16 was brought over and started to work on the back tire. We sat down in the shade and watched his attempts to manually get the tire off with hand tools, we were very impressed.
Once he got the tire off with our guides help, we discovered that the long nail that went in the tire didn’t just puncture it, but also ripped a huge gash in one side and put a few dozen holes in the other side too. In the end it was decided that it was unfixable as the gash was about 5 inches long. The mechanic’s sister roared off on my motorbike to get a new inner tube. Our guide walked us across the road and we watched an old couple work on frying food up. The guide selected a fritta that had shrimp fried into it and a fried banana for us to try. We were surprised by how fantastic it was and when the guide said he was getting some fried sweet potato for later we readily agreed. The girl came back with my bike and after the inner tube was replaced and the whole back end of Drew’s bike was screwed back on we headed off with a wave of thanks.
We headed up to Phnom Sampeau first and (after parking our bike and wiping the red dirt off from the roads) headed for the summit. We walked up the curving road to get to the top and stopped half way to see the killing caves of Phnom Sampaeu that were used by the Khmer Rouge to dispose of people that had disobeyed them or were no longer useful. The guide sat us down and explained how the old building (a small square school house) was used as a prison and more than 10,000 people were kept there over the course of the war. The people were disposed of by being thrown down into the caves and died at the bottom. Our guide explained that with the other shallow cave the people tended not to die straight away and there was no escape from a slow and sad death. He also explain many other torturous things that happened there and I don’t want to explain it here. I’ll just say that it’s very sad. We went down into the caves and there are memorials to the people who died, including clothes and bones. The majority of the bones were cremated and only a small number were kept to be used as a reminder to the future generations. Our guides father was killed during this time and he is an only child and his mother never remarried.
With massive lumps in our throats we headed up to the old temple at the top of the hill. The temple is still in use and the monks were chanting and preparing for the full moon day the next day. It had amazing views and there were local children being taught in one of the open rooms as we walked passed. After the massive hike up the hill we were so tired and decided that after looking around we’d go straight down the staircase that we could have walked up and had lunch. By halfway down we realised why the guide said to walk up the road and down the stairs. They were uneven and slippery and it would have been much more tiring climbing them than walking down them. We had lunch at the little place where we left the bikes and mine was a fantastic soup that had two minute noodles in a home made broth that was fantastic and morning grass (this ones for you Mac) as my vegies. It was actually fantastic and we then headed off to our next place to visit.
We were riding along when we started to see more and more piles of chillies on the side of the road. Our guide pulled over and explained that it was chilli harvesting season. The chillies were laid out about half an inch deep on huge blue and green tarps creating a sea of colour as we rode along. The smell of chillies were in the air and it was a magical experience. We made our way to Phnom Banan and then climbed the 358 steps almost straight up to Prasat Banan, an 11th century temple complex. It is an amazing temple group that look a lot like Angkor Wat does, but in much a smaller scale. Some of the temples have only just been rebuilt after they were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge rein of terror. It is an amazingly atmospheric place and it was like a different world when you reached the top after climbing all the stairs.
We then rode through many small towns, waving back at little kids on the side of the road and were challenged when we had to ride the scooters across a suspension bridge, great fun all round. We reached the Bamboo train (nori or norry) and decided to go for a quick round trip. The train is just two train wheels and a bamboo frame on top. The rule is that if they run into a train coming the other way the train with the least amount of stuff is dismantled and moved off the track to let the other train through. We got to do this which was a bit of an adventure. The train goes really fast and sometimes the home made track has big gaps leading to very sore bums when it hit’s the gaps.
After we got back from the train we road on through the country side and came back into Battambang from the other side. We said goodbye to our driver and again headed out to see more of the town. I found my first seeing hands massage and decided that dinner could wait and had an hour massage by a blind man who couldn’t understand very much of what I was saying, it was actually heavenly and only $6. Drew and I then headed off to find a restaurant that we’d been recommended called Gecko Café. It’s run by an American man and it only employs young people who are the soul supports of large families and orphans. It was a great place and we had a odd moment where we were listening to Nora Jones being played and were just thinking about how odd the experience was of listening to songs you’d heard before in a completely different surrounding (while eating Mexican food). It was also as we were sitting there that we noticed that hadn’t seen many people over the age of about 25 and we were reminded of the horrible price Cambodia has had to pay for the peace it has today. We walked home with a renewed love for the country and we we’re very glad that were able to see more of Battambang as we might not have appreciated it if we hadn’t.
Riding through town was a double challenge. Firstly there’s the problem of riding on the wrong side of the road which is a challenge in itself. Drew suggested I tie something to my right hand so I wouldn’t forget. But opting for guessing that I would get it after a while I rode after the departing guide. The second challenge is the riding in the traffic. It’s like a cosmically huge version of chicken. Basically you have to know where everyone around you is, but never make eye contact. If you make eye contact then you give way.
We headed out of town and road down some small back roads to a local temple that was a mixture of new temple building and an old walls that went all the way around and were carved to display the churning of the sea of milk. It was very cool, but on returning to our bike we’d discovered that Drew had gotten a puncture in his back tire and we needed to go and get it fixed. Our guide wheeled Drew’s bike into a tiny little grouping of shacks on the side of the road around the back of the temple. We discovered that the little shack that we’d pulled up to was in fact the local mechanic and a kid of about 16 was brought over and started to work on the back tire. We sat down in the shade and watched his attempts to manually get the tire off with hand tools, we were very impressed.
Once he got the tire off with our guides help, we discovered that the long nail that went in the tire didn’t just puncture it, but also ripped a huge gash in one side and put a few dozen holes in the other side too. In the end it was decided that it was unfixable as the gash was about 5 inches long. The mechanic’s sister roared off on my motorbike to get a new inner tube. Our guide walked us across the road and we watched an old couple work on frying food up. The guide selected a fritta that had shrimp fried into it and a fried banana for us to try. We were surprised by how fantastic it was and when the guide said he was getting some fried sweet potato for later we readily agreed. The girl came back with my bike and after the inner tube was replaced and the whole back end of Drew’s bike was screwed back on we headed off with a wave of thanks.
We headed up to Phnom Sampeau first and (after parking our bike and wiping the red dirt off from the roads) headed for the summit. We walked up the curving road to get to the top and stopped half way to see the killing caves of Phnom Sampaeu that were used by the Khmer Rouge to dispose of people that had disobeyed them or were no longer useful. The guide sat us down and explained how the old building (a small square school house) was used as a prison and more than 10,000 people were kept there over the course of the war. The people were disposed of by being thrown down into the caves and died at the bottom. Our guide explained that with the other shallow cave the people tended not to die straight away and there was no escape from a slow and sad death. He also explain many other torturous things that happened there and I don’t want to explain it here. I’ll just say that it’s very sad. We went down into the caves and there are memorials to the people who died, including clothes and bones. The majority of the bones were cremated and only a small number were kept to be used as a reminder to the future generations. Our guides father was killed during this time and he is an only child and his mother never remarried.
With massive lumps in our throats we headed up to the old temple at the top of the hill. The temple is still in use and the monks were chanting and preparing for the full moon day the next day. It had amazing views and there were local children being taught in one of the open rooms as we walked passed. After the massive hike up the hill we were so tired and decided that after looking around we’d go straight down the staircase that we could have walked up and had lunch. By halfway down we realised why the guide said to walk up the road and down the stairs. They were uneven and slippery and it would have been much more tiring climbing them than walking down them. We had lunch at the little place where we left the bikes and mine was a fantastic soup that had two minute noodles in a home made broth that was fantastic and morning grass (this ones for you Mac) as my vegies. It was actually fantastic and we then headed off to our next place to visit.
We were riding along when we started to see more and more piles of chillies on the side of the road. Our guide pulled over and explained that it was chilli harvesting season. The chillies were laid out about half an inch deep on huge blue and green tarps creating a sea of colour as we rode along. The smell of chillies were in the air and it was a magical experience. We made our way to Phnom Banan and then climbed the 358 steps almost straight up to Prasat Banan, an 11th century temple complex. It is an amazing temple group that look a lot like Angkor Wat does, but in much a smaller scale. Some of the temples have only just been rebuilt after they were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge rein of terror. It is an amazingly atmospheric place and it was like a different world when you reached the top after climbing all the stairs.
We then rode through many small towns, waving back at little kids on the side of the road and were challenged when we had to ride the scooters across a suspension bridge, great fun all round. We reached the Bamboo train (nori or norry) and decided to go for a quick round trip. The train is just two train wheels and a bamboo frame on top. The rule is that if they run into a train coming the other way the train with the least amount of stuff is dismantled and moved off the track to let the other train through. We got to do this which was a bit of an adventure. The train goes really fast and sometimes the home made track has big gaps leading to very sore bums when it hit’s the gaps.
After we got back from the train we road on through the country side and came back into Battambang from the other side. We said goodbye to our driver and again headed out to see more of the town. I found my first seeing hands massage and decided that dinner could wait and had an hour massage by a blind man who couldn’t understand very much of what I was saying, it was actually heavenly and only $6. Drew and I then headed off to find a restaurant that we’d been recommended called Gecko Café. It’s run by an American man and it only employs young people who are the soul supports of large families and orphans. It was a great place and we had a odd moment where we were listening to Nora Jones being played and were just thinking about how odd the experience was of listening to songs you’d heard before in a completely different surrounding (while eating Mexican food). It was also as we were sitting there that we noticed that hadn’t seen many people over the age of about 25 and we were reminded of the horrible price Cambodia has had to pay for the peace it has today. We walked home with a renewed love for the country and we we’re very glad that were able to see more of Battambang as we might not have appreciated it if we hadn’t.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Chapter 2: Scams, Shams, Slums and Salmon.
Cambodia... Where the slums got so much soul.
We alighted the train into the sweltering heat of Aranyaprathet just on the Thailand side of the border between Cambodia. A pack of Tuk-Tuk vultures set upon us immediately and another couple travelling on the train with us negotiated a 40 Baht ride to the border, so we followed suit. Arriving at the border we noticed one thing. Where the fuck was the border?... Jumping out of the Tuk-Tuk a few sleazy (Bangkok suit seller style) men started waving forms for us to fill out claiming they were the visa organisers and we needed to get a visa then they would take us to the border. We all instantly new something was dodgy especially because the sign on the building said "traveller's agency" and after about five minutes of second guessing them and checking the Lonely Planet for advice we jumped back in the Tuk-Tuk and told the driver to go to the border.
The driver reversed, drove 100m up the road and turned into the Embassy of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Again at the embassy we weren't sure if we were being scammed or not but we noticed that one of the guys from the travel agency came in with the passport of another European man who had been at the travel agency. Basically they get you to fill in the form and pay, then they take your passport to the embassy to get the visa adding a few dollars commission. We decided just to go ahead and do the visa at the embassy but the other couple from the train still felt suss so they went straight to the actual border. Leaving the embassy a man in a Salmon Polo Shirt tried to convince us to get a taxi from him on the other side of the border, we politely declined saying we'd get a bus and jumped back in the Tuk-Tuk.
When we did make it to the border we found the other couple and learnt that you could actually just get the visa straight from the border and for about $5 less. Oh well, shit happens. The border crossing itself was long and hot process, lots of standing in line, going to a counter and then moving on. The area between Thailand and Cambodia was a no man's land and reflected an instant change in the level of road maintenance as well as general wealth. Cambodia being the much, much poorer of the two.
In PoiPet on the Cambodian side of the border we were accosted by the man in the Salmon Polo again, he had followed us over the border and led us to the last checkpoint where we got our Cambodian stamp (another long hot queue). Leaving the border he directed us to the free tourist shuttle that would take us to the bus station. Arriving at the Bus station there were no buses to Battambang and that a taxi would cost us about $20. We checked the Lonely planet guide again and found that the bus station was actually run as a monopoly and were notorious for scamming tourists with expensive trips.
Again we bailed from the station taking our fellow travellers with us back to the main road. Problem. The Salmon Polo Shirts followed, they didn't just follow us they chased us constantly trying to negotiate a price to travel. By the time we arrived back at the main rd (about 200m from the bus station) the four of us had an entourage of unmarked taxis and men in Salmon Polo Shirts fighting with us and each other for our fare. We found another smaller bus company, but the buses only departed in the morning. We tried to ask a police man for help but he just took off only to return two minutes later with another taxi following. BYYAAAAAGHHH!!! While they were distracted negotiating with us, the other couple (who were heading to a different location) took the opportunity to bail unnoticed and we wished them a silent "good luck".
Eventually we negotiated a 500 Baht fare ($16.66) in a share taxi where we had the back seat to our self. Considering Battambang was an hour and a half drive from PoiPet and the taxi had aircon, this was a pretty sweet deal. Then the next problem occurred, right hand drive, right hand side of the road. This was our first experience with wrong side driving, and especially considering the driving style of the region with the imaginary third middle lane, and the fact that when the driver wasn't indicating to overtake he was mashing the horn, and the constant overtaking while cars or trucks are rapidly approaching the other way... Well lets just say it was a bit unnerving.
A lot more people in Cambodia are on Scooters and a lot more things are piled on the scooters. We've been having a lot of fun counting the number of people or the amounts of stuff that we've seen thus far, which includes one guys with a solid wood bed on the back of his motorbike and a family of three with the mum holding up a IV drip which was going into the arm of the kid in the middle.
When we arrived at Battambang it wasn't really as we expected, to be quite honest it's a bit of a hole, and kinda smells like a combination of fish and Echuca?? We didn't realise we'd been spoiled in Thailand. Battambang is desolate and feels like a busy version of the wild west. If there wasn't so many scooters you could easily imagine a tumbleweed rolling down the dirt/concrete/paving/etc street.
We walked into a hotel that we found in the Lonely Planet and booked as walk in and got a lovely and huge room with a great ceiling fan, TV, balcony and hand carved heavy wooden furnishings for $10 US for the next two nights. Then taking the recommendation of Lonely Planet again we went to dinner at 'Smokin' Pot' which is a great little restaurant that did great food. We copped out and had western food (breakfast/hamburgers) for dinner seeing as we hadn't eaten all day.
We've booked to be taken on a motorbike (scooters) tour of the sights tomorrow and we've even got an English speaking guide for the whole day, all for just $24. Hopefully we'll see some of the temples and evidence of French Colonialism and the lush areas of Battambang of which we are still sceptical as to whether they exist., either way we get to try our hand at wrong side driving, on a motorbike, in Asia...
More on that and possibly a link to photos in the next post...
We alighted the train into the sweltering heat of Aranyaprathet just on the Thailand side of the border between Cambodia. A pack of Tuk-Tuk vultures set upon us immediately and another couple travelling on the train with us negotiated a 40 Baht ride to the border, so we followed suit. Arriving at the border we noticed one thing. Where the fuck was the border?... Jumping out of the Tuk-Tuk a few sleazy (Bangkok suit seller style) men started waving forms for us to fill out claiming they were the visa organisers and we needed to get a visa then they would take us to the border. We all instantly new something was dodgy especially because the sign on the building said "traveller's agency" and after about five minutes of second guessing them and checking the Lonely Planet for advice we jumped back in the Tuk-Tuk and told the driver to go to the border.
The driver reversed, drove 100m up the road and turned into the Embassy of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Again at the embassy we weren't sure if we were being scammed or not but we noticed that one of the guys from the travel agency came in with the passport of another European man who had been at the travel agency. Basically they get you to fill in the form and pay, then they take your passport to the embassy to get the visa adding a few dollars commission. We decided just to go ahead and do the visa at the embassy but the other couple from the train still felt suss so they went straight to the actual border. Leaving the embassy a man in a Salmon Polo Shirt tried to convince us to get a taxi from him on the other side of the border, we politely declined saying we'd get a bus and jumped back in the Tuk-Tuk.
When we did make it to the border we found the other couple and learnt that you could actually just get the visa straight from the border and for about $5 less. Oh well, shit happens. The border crossing itself was long and hot process, lots of standing in line, going to a counter and then moving on. The area between Thailand and Cambodia was a no man's land and reflected an instant change in the level of road maintenance as well as general wealth. Cambodia being the much, much poorer of the two.
In PoiPet on the Cambodian side of the border we were accosted by the man in the Salmon Polo again, he had followed us over the border and led us to the last checkpoint where we got our Cambodian stamp (another long hot queue). Leaving the border he directed us to the free tourist shuttle that would take us to the bus station. Arriving at the Bus station there were no buses to Battambang and that a taxi would cost us about $20. We checked the Lonely planet guide again and found that the bus station was actually run as a monopoly and were notorious for scamming tourists with expensive trips.
Again we bailed from the station taking our fellow travellers with us back to the main road. Problem. The Salmon Polo Shirts followed, they didn't just follow us they chased us constantly trying to negotiate a price to travel. By the time we arrived back at the main rd (about 200m from the bus station) the four of us had an entourage of unmarked taxis and men in Salmon Polo Shirts fighting with us and each other for our fare. We found another smaller bus company, but the buses only departed in the morning. We tried to ask a police man for help but he just took off only to return two minutes later with another taxi following. BYYAAAAAGHHH!!! While they were distracted negotiating with us, the other couple (who were heading to a different location) took the opportunity to bail unnoticed and we wished them a silent "good luck".
Eventually we negotiated a 500 Baht fare ($16.66) in a share taxi where we had the back seat to our self. Considering Battambang was an hour and a half drive from PoiPet and the taxi had aircon, this was a pretty sweet deal. Then the next problem occurred, right hand drive, right hand side of the road. This was our first experience with wrong side driving, and especially considering the driving style of the region with the imaginary third middle lane, and the fact that when the driver wasn't indicating to overtake he was mashing the horn, and the constant overtaking while cars or trucks are rapidly approaching the other way... Well lets just say it was a bit unnerving.
A lot more people in Cambodia are on Scooters and a lot more things are piled on the scooters. We've been having a lot of fun counting the number of people or the amounts of stuff that we've seen thus far, which includes one guys with a solid wood bed on the back of his motorbike and a family of three with the mum holding up a IV drip which was going into the arm of the kid in the middle.
When we arrived at Battambang it wasn't really as we expected, to be quite honest it's a bit of a hole, and kinda smells like a combination of fish and Echuca?? We didn't realise we'd been spoiled in Thailand. Battambang is desolate and feels like a busy version of the wild west. If there wasn't so many scooters you could easily imagine a tumbleweed rolling down the dirt/concrete/paving/etc street.
We walked into a hotel that we found in the Lonely Planet and booked as walk in and got a lovely and huge room with a great ceiling fan, TV, balcony and hand carved heavy wooden furnishings for $10 US for the next two nights. Then taking the recommendation of Lonely Planet again we went to dinner at 'Smokin' Pot' which is a great little restaurant that did great food. We copped out and had western food (breakfast/hamburgers) for dinner seeing as we hadn't eaten all day.
We've booked to be taken on a motorbike (scooters) tour of the sights tomorrow and we've even got an English speaking guide for the whole day, all for just $24. Hopefully we'll see some of the temples and evidence of French Colonialism and the lush areas of Battambang of which we are still sceptical as to whether they exist., either way we get to try our hand at wrong side driving, on a motorbike, in Asia...
More on that and possibly a link to photos in the next post...
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Samboon and the Angry Man (Atleast we’re out of the Tree)
Well it has been a little while between blog posts now and we've had quite the adventure. I am currently sitting on the train in 3rd class (cattle class was the only option). We are heading towards Aranyaprathet the border town between Thailand and Cambodia, in an hour or to we will cross into Poipet in Cambodia.
When we last posted we were about to head into the Jungle on a three day, two night tour. Our first day heading due west from Bangkok took us to the War Cemetery at Kanchanaburi, the cemetery is one of five that contain the graves of Allied soldiers that where killed while being held as POWs by the Japanese during the second world war. There was a large section dedicated to Australian soldiers and reading the inscriptions on the grave stones was really moving as they‘d had personal inscriptions from the families added. When you think about these young men working on the Thai-Burma railway and never coming home it’s hard, but when you read ‘sleep now my son, daddy is proud of you’ or ‘put of flower of his grave for me, mum’ it makes it that much harder.
We then went to the “new” bridge over the river Kwai, the original bridge was actually 300meters upstream but as they bombed the shit out of it towards the end of the war, no trace of the original bridge remains. Was still pretty cool to go there although the museum at the location was poorly arranged and other than seeing an Ex Japanese Military BSA and a Triumph painted “Triumphn” we were pretty disappointed.
After the museum we rode the “Death Train” along side the river and through the jungle to Sai Yok. It was a little unnerving getting on something called the “Death Train” but it was actually pretty nice. In case you are interested it was called the “Death Train” due to the 100,000+ people (POW’s and local forced labour) who died building it.
After riding the train we were dropped off at Sai Yok Noi waterfalls for a two hour swim. The falls were beautiful and was the first time we had seen clean water since leaving Australia. The whole place is full of tourists and locals alike, although we kinda felt it was only us and the locals actually swimming at the falls, as most of the tourist just spent their time posing for the camera in various different positions.
Our accommodation for the two nights was a guest house floating over the river Kwai. It was a fairly basic room with two firm beds, an aircon that didn’t work and our bathroom had a view of the river through the floor boards (Just to remind you that all the water ends up in the river. Yes shit too). The guest house was really relaxing and had a nice dining area that was great to just chill out with a beer and watch the river run by, floaties and all. We met a few Pommie travellers and swapped stories about Bangkok and our itineraries.
We were offered the chance to go and bathe with Elephants before breakfast the next day. Seriously it was the most fun I’ve had so far. Our Elephants name was Samboon and our driver was Tun. We both climbed onto Samboon and Tun led him out into the river (Yes the same river our shit goes into) then Tun shouted various commands and Samboon would either spray us with water or dive to the left or right trying to throw us off. It was so much fun I think we laughed the entire time. Samboon was really cheeky and seemed to be having a ball as sometimes he’d dive or spray without any forewarning.
After a shower and dodgy breakfast we went for a peaceful drift down the river on a bamboo raft, then went back to visit the Elephants for a Jungle trek. The jungle trek was really cool, Prue commented that she felt like an English princess or Lord for me conquering the land as our driver Chai led Mukhun our Elephant through the jungle.
After the Elephant riding we headed over the “Hellfire Pass” just near the border to Myanmar/Burma. Hellfire Pass has a museum setup by the Australian Government, and we both walked out of there with massive lumps in our throats after reading the letters sent by the POWs building the railway and seeing footage of the malnourished prisoners in the camp. Walking down through the pass itself was a very sad experience. The sheer size of the cutting made for the train must have been a painful and soul breaking experience for the POWs and really emphasised the strength and courage of those that did survive.
We returned for lunch at the river guest house (lunches and dinners were buffet style and very good, but breakfast was just an egg and dry toast) then headed off to Tiger Temple. We approached Tiger Temple with a bit of mixed emotion as we had heard reports of it being under investigation for doping the Tigers to keep them placid. If that is the case I think the tigers looked quite happy to be doped. Seeing the way they behave gave us the impression that they weren’t doped at all as once or twice one would get a bit agitated and let out a roar, and we were told on the previous day that one of the tigers had swiped a guys shirt leaving a muddy paw print. He was happy though as he had a souvenir and wasn’t going to wash his shirt again.
We were lucky enough that after posing for photos with the bigger tigers and then heading down to the cubs, we were actually locked in a enclosure type area with the cubs as they led the larger tigers past. During the time they were separated, the Monks let us play with the cubs, Prue got to hold the leash for awhile, and as I was scratching one of the cubs head you could see how like cats they are as it threw its head back just like any pet would.
We spent another night at the river guest house and chatted with more travellers, this time some Germans girls, an Elderly Aussie couple from Mornington and a solo Aussie girl. Our tour was a bit hectic and for t he last day we were supposed to go and visit a place called Erawin Falls, but as it costs 500Baht to enter the falls we decided to just chill out at the falls we had already been to which were nearby and didn’t cost anything to enter so we spent the 500 Baht bathing with the Elephants again. It was just as much fun the second time, and as soon as we saw Tun and Samboon we ran over and climbed on before anyone else could. Simone the Aussie girl also came to the waterfall with us and it was nice to just relax and go at our own pace, as the pace of the tour thus far (to quote one of the German girls) felt like school camp, with a very angry and bossy teacher/tour organiser.
After we headed back to Bangkok we decided just to hit the pause button, we spent the rest of the night chilling out again, having dinner on KhaoSarn Rd and getting a Thai Massage. The next day pretty much followed suit, but was a bit of a fuck around as we had to collect our visas for Vietnam and find out about the train to Cambodia. We missed the morning office hours of the Embassy by fifteen minutes so we went to the station by taxi, but the traffic was too bad so he dropped us at the subway, when we got to the station we found out there was no pre-booking for tickets and only 3rd class was available, then took a tuk-tuk to MBK again for absolutely no reason other than to kill time until the embassy reopened. Then after a short stint shopping on KhaoSarn Rd again we got home tired and overheated and hadn’t really accomplished anything. Aaargh Bangkok.
We managed to catch up with our mate Karina from Darling Towers on Friday in Bangkok, funnily enough we sat down to eat dinner and kept an eye out for her in case she went by, funnily enough it wasn’t till after we finished dinner and Prue went of to get a massage that I found her sitting right across from us on the other side of the road. Was good to catch up with her briefly, but a 4:30am wakeup call meant we had to hit the sack.
Oh well, we will be off the train soon and into Cambodia, and I guess if you read this message that means we made it somewhere that we could upload it to the web…
(After note: In Cambodia, the border was a interesting experience, details later, at Battambang, more free wireless at out Hotel WOOP!!!)
When we last posted we were about to head into the Jungle on a three day, two night tour. Our first day heading due west from Bangkok took us to the War Cemetery at Kanchanaburi, the cemetery is one of five that contain the graves of Allied soldiers that where killed while being held as POWs by the Japanese during the second world war. There was a large section dedicated to Australian soldiers and reading the inscriptions on the grave stones was really moving as they‘d had personal inscriptions from the families added. When you think about these young men working on the Thai-Burma railway and never coming home it’s hard, but when you read ‘sleep now my son, daddy is proud of you’ or ‘put of flower of his grave for me, mum’ it makes it that much harder.
We then went to the “new” bridge over the river Kwai, the original bridge was actually 300meters upstream but as they bombed the shit out of it towards the end of the war, no trace of the original bridge remains. Was still pretty cool to go there although the museum at the location was poorly arranged and other than seeing an Ex Japanese Military BSA and a Triumph painted “Triumphn” we were pretty disappointed.
After the museum we rode the “Death Train” along side the river and through the jungle to Sai Yok. It was a little unnerving getting on something called the “Death Train” but it was actually pretty nice. In case you are interested it was called the “Death Train” due to the 100,000+ people (POW’s and local forced labour) who died building it.
After riding the train we were dropped off at Sai Yok Noi waterfalls for a two hour swim. The falls were beautiful and was the first time we had seen clean water since leaving Australia. The whole place is full of tourists and locals alike, although we kinda felt it was only us and the locals actually swimming at the falls, as most of the tourist just spent their time posing for the camera in various different positions.
Our accommodation for the two nights was a guest house floating over the river Kwai. It was a fairly basic room with two firm beds, an aircon that didn’t work and our bathroom had a view of the river through the floor boards (Just to remind you that all the water ends up in the river. Yes shit too). The guest house was really relaxing and had a nice dining area that was great to just chill out with a beer and watch the river run by, floaties and all. We met a few Pommie travellers and swapped stories about Bangkok and our itineraries.
We were offered the chance to go and bathe with Elephants before breakfast the next day. Seriously it was the most fun I’ve had so far. Our Elephants name was Samboon and our driver was Tun. We both climbed onto Samboon and Tun led him out into the river (Yes the same river our shit goes into) then Tun shouted various commands and Samboon would either spray us with water or dive to the left or right trying to throw us off. It was so much fun I think we laughed the entire time. Samboon was really cheeky and seemed to be having a ball as sometimes he’d dive or spray without any forewarning.
After a shower and dodgy breakfast we went for a peaceful drift down the river on a bamboo raft, then went back to visit the Elephants for a Jungle trek. The jungle trek was really cool, Prue commented that she felt like an English princess or Lord for me conquering the land as our driver Chai led Mukhun our Elephant through the jungle.
After the Elephant riding we headed over the “Hellfire Pass” just near the border to Myanmar/Burma. Hellfire Pass has a museum setup by the Australian Government, and we both walked out of there with massive lumps in our throats after reading the letters sent by the POWs building the railway and seeing footage of the malnourished prisoners in the camp. Walking down through the pass itself was a very sad experience. The sheer size of the cutting made for the train must have been a painful and soul breaking experience for the POWs and really emphasised the strength and courage of those that did survive.
We returned for lunch at the river guest house (lunches and dinners were buffet style and very good, but breakfast was just an egg and dry toast) then headed off to Tiger Temple. We approached Tiger Temple with a bit of mixed emotion as we had heard reports of it being under investigation for doping the Tigers to keep them placid. If that is the case I think the tigers looked quite happy to be doped. Seeing the way they behave gave us the impression that they weren’t doped at all as once or twice one would get a bit agitated and let out a roar, and we were told on the previous day that one of the tigers had swiped a guys shirt leaving a muddy paw print. He was happy though as he had a souvenir and wasn’t going to wash his shirt again.
We were lucky enough that after posing for photos with the bigger tigers and then heading down to the cubs, we were actually locked in a enclosure type area with the cubs as they led the larger tigers past. During the time they were separated, the Monks let us play with the cubs, Prue got to hold the leash for awhile, and as I was scratching one of the cubs head you could see how like cats they are as it threw its head back just like any pet would.
We spent another night at the river guest house and chatted with more travellers, this time some Germans girls, an Elderly Aussie couple from Mornington and a solo Aussie girl. Our tour was a bit hectic and for t he last day we were supposed to go and visit a place called Erawin Falls, but as it costs 500Baht to enter the falls we decided to just chill out at the falls we had already been to which were nearby and didn’t cost anything to enter so we spent the 500 Baht bathing with the Elephants again. It was just as much fun the second time, and as soon as we saw Tun and Samboon we ran over and climbed on before anyone else could. Simone the Aussie girl also came to the waterfall with us and it was nice to just relax and go at our own pace, as the pace of the tour thus far (to quote one of the German girls) felt like school camp, with a very angry and bossy teacher/tour organiser.
After we headed back to Bangkok we decided just to hit the pause button, we spent the rest of the night chilling out again, having dinner on KhaoSarn Rd and getting a Thai Massage. The next day pretty much followed suit, but was a bit of a fuck around as we had to collect our visas for Vietnam and find out about the train to Cambodia. We missed the morning office hours of the Embassy by fifteen minutes so we went to the station by taxi, but the traffic was too bad so he dropped us at the subway, when we got to the station we found out there was no pre-booking for tickets and only 3rd class was available, then took a tuk-tuk to MBK again for absolutely no reason other than to kill time until the embassy reopened. Then after a short stint shopping on KhaoSarn Rd again we got home tired and overheated and hadn’t really accomplished anything. Aaargh Bangkok.
We managed to catch up with our mate Karina from Darling Towers on Friday in Bangkok, funnily enough we sat down to eat dinner and kept an eye out for her in case she went by, funnily enough it wasn’t till after we finished dinner and Prue went of to get a massage that I found her sitting right across from us on the other side of the road. Was good to catch up with her briefly, but a 4:30am wakeup call meant we had to hit the sack.
Oh well, we will be off the train soon and into Cambodia, and I guess if you read this message that means we made it somewhere that we could upload it to the web…
(After note: In Cambodia, the border was a interesting experience, details later, at Battambang, more free wireless at out Hotel WOOP!!!)
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