Cambodia

We tried updating the blog in Cambodia, but internet access was problematic! :) We have moved though Cambodia via bus and are now spending out first night in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) ready to start our volunteer stint with the Oz-Quest group tomorrow. (already scoped out our meeting point - Being the intreppid exploreres we are, we found it without needing a map!!) All very exciting!

I guess the Cambodia story starts from the early morning in Bangkok. Up at 6 to get to the Travel agents office for the 7am bus to Siem Riep (Cambodia). At 7:15 with no sign of a bus we knocked on the door and asked when the bus was likely to be there. "The Bus isnt until 9am" was the reply.

We didnt even get an apology when we showed them our hand written reciept that said 7am. (not to mention we confirmed it the previous day!) So we waited around some more (as we have got used to) and come 9:15 and no sign of a bus still, enquired again. They said they would make some enquiries and at 10:00 we were told. "Sorry - the bus was at 7:00 we just forgot to organise the shuttle to the bus terminal for you."
...right...
Recommendation for this agent..... NOT!

We then pretty much had two options: Stay another night in Bangkok (which we had already had enough of, and catch the 7am bus the next morning), so when we told them we would rather not we were pretty much handed 1800 Baht (~$70) (which was the price of the tickets - and didnt include the agents fees that were added on the top) and told to make our own way! :o/

So since we are going back to Bangkok to fly out we couldnt be bothered arguing any more at that point, took the money and found the nearest taxi to the public Bus terminal. No-one really spoke english and the booth we were ushered to listed a town we couldnt find anywhere on any of our maps. When assured it went to Cambodia we decided to jump on and pray it was the right one! I followed the major highway numbers which seemed to be right until we turned off, went about 2 kms off the highway and stopped at another terminal of which we couldnt find on our maps either! The ticket collector from the bus told us to sit and wait here. What for we didnt know. Eventually another bus came, she told us to get on that and we headed off towards the border. YAY! :)

We needed a Tuk-Tuk ride from the final bus station to the border check point - and he diverted us twice! We said the border, but he took us first to another travel agent! After strongly insisting we wanted the border and nothing else! he took us almost to the border - through all these markets, then dumped us at the end. We had to walk back through all the markets, then no probs walking through the checkpoints to Cambodia.

The instant we were there we both noticed how much more genuinely friendly everyone seemed. (Thailand was generally friendly, but usually it seemed a bit forced - understandable I guess with the numbers of tourists they see every day.) We jumped on a bus to Siem Reip which was about 120kms away. 6 hours down a very bumpy gravel road (with potholes half the size of the bus at times) and tacked together bridges that you would be scared to walk across! Was still more fun than the night busses around Thailand as we could see the countryside!

Siem Reip had two main attactions that were both fantastic. The temple ruins (build in the 10-13th centuries) around the "Ankor Wat" area were impressive enough, but it would have been mindblowing to see then when they were new! Almost every wall is intricately decorated with carvings and statues. And the buildings are huge! The main temple "Ankor Wat" has surrounding corridore wings of almost a kilometer square and the centre towers about the size of an eight storey building! We spent a whole day and saw about 10 temples. - Less than 1/4 of all the ones built in the 20 km square area. We even wandered around the one hidden amongst the jungle that they used in Tomb Taider and Indianna Jones! Fitness was pushed with the amount of climbing we did.




So Kai (?dont know the spelling) our Tuk-Tuk driver for the day. Couldnt speak a lot of english but had the most contagious and wonderful smile and was very friendly. Helped make the day even better.




As much as you can see in one photo of the kind of decorations all along the surrounding corridors of Ankor Wat. (3m tall carving in the walls!)

Below is the main "Ankor Wat" from the third floor of the central area. You can see the surrounding corridors in the distance after the interior lawns/gardens!



The second main attraction was the floating village. About 1000 families (mainly fishing people) all with their own house boats - but more impressively - supporting floating schools, shops and even things like basket ball courts! They shift the whole town around the massive lake depending on the seasonal water levels and fishing conditions.

Had to include the cute little kid who was paddling around the tourist boats begging for money ...in his wash basin! When we first saw him he was at the big cuise ship in the back ground - about 300m off shore!


Continued on to the capital Phnom Penh. The guesthouse we stayed at for the last two of the three nights (TAT guesthouse) was a wonderful atmosphere owned and run by an extended family. Really good food and you felt so at home with the little kids and the cute dog and puppy! this also helped make the Cambodia experience a wonderful time.

We saw the infamous Khmer Rouge "S-21" security prison and interrogation grounds - now turned into a museum about Cambodias not so distant dark past. Didnt take any photos as you dont want to remember it in too much graphic detail. It wasnt a pleasant experience - but we were there for the history and deepening of understanding - not the Disney theme park.

Just two pictures of Phnom Penh to show how good the price of fuel in Perth is.... and how good it is to have road rules! :)


*pssshhhht* Over and out from Tim and Renee!

Ko Samui (Thailand)

It was only a short 1 hour boat trip to Ko Samui where we found it very similar to Ko Phangan - except the roads were in better condition and the island was almost double the size. In a similar scenario we were on a smaller, isolated beach (which we prefered) and it was only a short walk to the second most popular beach (Lamai). We walked to "Lamai Centre" a few nights as they had a nice night market with very nice (and cheap!) food once we were brave enough to try them! :)... (still wasnt brave enough to try the grasshoppers, silkworms or earthworms!)

Hired a scooter for one of the days and toured the island, but only made it 3/4 round before we ran out of light.


An "interesting" jetty on the north side of the island.


Trecked up a 2km(+) rough trail up one of the mountains to check out some nice waterfalls that were almost deserted since it wasnt easily accessable. We were a bit dubious when trying to find foot holdings... especially when the only people we met coming back the other way was a rescue team with a stretcher'ed person who had fallen somewhere along the track! :o0


A community of seaside houses Renee took a photo of. About 6-7 families in this "set of units". Corrugated iron and wooden pier structure holding them up when over the water.


This was the "floating lotus" temple. (because of the lotus leaf style pad it was built on) It had the big Ganeisha(?) statue next to it. (Goddess of hitch hiking. ...just kidding :D )



Exploring and relaxating on the Island was nice. Much nicer than the 12 hour boat/bus combination back to Bangkok! (which involved being dumped several times by the side of the road in the middle of no-where with a bunch of other back packers and being told... "just wait". (up to 3 hours later!)

In Bangkok we got back our passports from the travel agent... and I gently raised the point that what they charged us was well over twice the price of what we could have got it for just rocking up and organising it as we went. They seemed a little shocked that we could work it out ourselves.... and were probably hoping to fob us off. When explained we didnt even have hot water on Ko-phangan they shifted some of the blame to the resort that we were meant to stay at. After 45ish minutes of gentle negotiation and insistance they offered us about 10% of the cost returned. I managed to get a little more back in the end (about 15% maybe >( ), but it wasnt worth stressing too much, so we confirmed the bus to Cambodia was 7am the next morning and left.

Koh Phangan (an Island of Thailand)

As you may have guessed, we didn't get thrown into a Thai gaol as suspected drug dealers by customs for bringing the super first aid kit provided by Ayesha into the country... let's just hope we get out alright!

We have both developed an addiction to SCUBA diving after an incredible experience off the coast of Koh Phangan. Tim claims to have some difficulty swimming (something to do with incomplete paralysis of his legs???) that makes it necessary for both myself and the sexy French diving instructor to hold his hands under water from time to time.

The famous full moon party was on Saturday night - basically an excuse for all the tourists to take drugs, get drunk, hook up with a local Thai girl to take home as a wife or alternatively have all their belongings stolen while they are in a wasted state... just our scene!!! As Tim reckons he has a BYO girl he didn't need to go shopping for a wife so we stayed at the bungalows that night instead.

Big highlight for this week is having a hot shower. I've gone from having three showers a day to having three showers in 8 days...

First real post ... now with photos

This is the leaving party at Perth Airport - minus Sophie the photographer for this one (Thanks!)

Wasnt too many tears, apart from maybe when we left sight of each other through the customs doors... ;)
Thanks for all your support and friendships guys. *sniff* *sniff* Its great to get going, but we will look forward to seeing you all when we get back!

Spent Day 1 in Bangkok pretty much sleeping. In the evening we wandered up and down one of the main streets (Silom- which means windmill) and just settled for a hot chocolate and moccha at Starbucks. (sad I know... :( and turns out it cost more than 3 main meals at a nice find we made later in china town! :/ Live and learn. (doing lots of that the hard way)
Day 2 was wandering around more of Bangkok. Booked trip south to two islands (Ko Samui and Ko Phangan) at T.A.T.
Could have been mega ripped off, but to be continued... see what happens when we get back to bangkok. >(
Had a fun "Tuk-Tuk" Ride (called that because of the sound of its 2-stroke) through all the hussle bussle and polution. (see sleeping driver picture for an idea. Now add 20,000 cars and bikes and other Tuk-Tuks and a pinch of dodgem cars.)


Day 3 Wandered more.. (legs are definately getting a work out)
Took a river Taxi to "Wat Pho" Temple and the outside of the Kings (old) Palace.
Lots and lots of gold leaf... and buddah style statues... and more gold leaf everywhere....

Had a good laugh watching traditional monks walking past in robes and hand-made sandals - only to have the latest Western polyphonic ring-tone blare out and all of them scramble and rummage through their robes to pull out their mobile phones! :D

Caught an overnight 7pm bus (fairly nice, luxurious double decker) to the place to catch the boat to Ko Phangan.... 12 (over airconditioned / freezing) hours later... :o
2 hours waiting in the middle of nowhere at a shelter with no signs and about 60 confused back packers who had no idea where they were or what was going on, then 3 hours on the boat and we were on Ko Phangan.
And this is where we are now. (for 5 days)
So far we have done a bit of lazing on Salad Beach, (no relation to fresh veges)

Went hunting for cheap(er) food and today hired a scooter and went round the island. Very scary roads and even scarier drivers.

Clammered up a very washed out mountain trail to see some nice waterfalls and a good view from the top.

Saw the touristy towns and now we know what to avoid in the future! ;)
Tomorrow is booked for a days SCUBA diving instruction and a boat trip to try out the theory.
Stay tuned for more rivinting updates :)
Love you all, Tim and Renee.

PS - sorry for rubbish layout... will sort out another time when I'm not annoyed how long this takes (and how much its costing)

Hi all...

Survived our first day in Bangkok.

Largely did our own thing... wandering around the VERY busy streets with airpolution to match.

I'm still trying to get my head around the currency exchange and making sure I dont get ripped off. Renee is a bit more experienced, so at least I have a backup! :)

Heading down south to the Islands of Ko Samoi and Ko Phanang (?) with a 12 hour bus trip to look forward to tomorrow night...

No interesting photos yet... Cya soon,
Tim and Renee.