Cambodia, Chapter 1: Angkor Wat?!

Once again we were conned by a tourist agency about our transportation. We thought we booked a minivan/visa combination package and would be dropped off at our hotel in Siem Reap. How wrong we were! 

Like I said, we hopped on a minivan from Bangkok heading towards Poipet in Cambodia (the border town used for crossing). It was a long old drive, but not the worst I’ve experienced and we had valium to pass the time. The trouble, however, began at the border on the Thailand side. Good Lord it was hell. Firstly, we were told that the price of the visa was more than we had expected it to be and that if we decided to go through the visa office ourselves, our minivan wouldn’t wait the other side for us (despite us having paid for transport all the way). Not music to our ears, and there were other tourists with us who felt equally screwed over. Eventually though (after seriously offending our ‘guide’ and having to deal with the manager of the organisation) we haggled the visa price down to what we had originally expected: 20 USD. So after we had our visas, we were taken to the border itself and after a fairly painful queue to get our passports checked, we were in! One thing I found odd about Cambodia was that it operates on two currencies: the US dollar and Cambodian riel. So both are totally acceptable to use which took a bit of time getting used to!

There it is: Cambodia!
(Walking out after the passport check)

Our stress didn’t end there though unfortunately. After passing the checkpoint, we had to wait (again, not told how long for) for our bus to come in which would then take us to the bus station where we could get transport to Siem Reap. However, when we arrived at the bus station we were told that the bus we had paid for wouldn’t leave for another two hours or so, and not wanting to arrive that late in Siem Reap, we (along with a handful of other tourists) decided to book another minivan to take us. Getting INCREDIBLY frustrated and tired by this point, but the driver we booked with was to drop us all off at our respective hotels so that would be alright right? WRONG! Once again, we were conned. Instead of taking us to our hotel, we were taken to what I think was the bus station just outside of Siem Reap. Outraged we were! All tired, confused and sick of being taken advantage of, we refused to get out of the minivan until someone told us what was happening. The fact that our driver immediately jumped out and ran off without saying a word was the icing on a very stale cake. It got pretty heated with raised voices flying from a lot of people (including a nosey tuk tuk driver) and although we wanted to complain to someone/anyone, steal the minivan keys or even just start throwing punches we begrudgingly hired two tuk tuks to take us to our hotel and be done with this long day. Bloody conmen. So needless to say, our impression of Cambodia at this point was not a very good one at all. There was only one thing for it: go out and get drunk. One positive to come out of it all though was that we had chosen a cracking hotel; really friendly/helpful staff, very comfy rooms and a rooftop pool!

Outside Angkor What? bar in Siem Reap

Siem Reap from our hotel roof. Very flat town 

My first taste of Cambodian food: Fish Amok Curry.
Yum yum for my tum

Putting our traumatic journey aside, we focussed on the present and Siem Reap is, of course, famous for its use as a base to explore Angkor Wat. We decided to leave a day for relaxing and wandering the town after that awful journey so postponed Angkor Wat until our last full day. And what a long day it was! We wanted to see the sunrise over the temple so were up and about at 4am, arriving on site at about 5.15am. No queue for tickets at this time so we nipped in, had our photos taken (to avoid multiple people using one ticket I guess) and tickets printed! Seeing as we were on a bit of a tight schedule, we went for the one day pass which was $20. To be honest, I think if you don’t want to see every single temple in the complex (and there are a LOT) you can easily do it in a single day – we were all Angkor-ed out by 11am, having spent a good 6 hours there. We had hired a tuk tuk driver through our hotel who took us to Angkor Wat, drove us from temple to temple (as walking would have taken a lot of time) and then took us back to the hotel after we had finished – costing $20 between four of us. Obviously pictures here will be a lot better than anything I can say, so here they are!

My ticket!

Sunrise - not the most magnificent, but still a stunning sight to behold

Me!

Entrance way

Inner Angkor Wat

One of the little structures about -
don't really know what it is

Angkor Thom and the Bayon - one of my favourites.

Love it!

More from the Bayon

The Elephant Terrace (left) and great relief detail on the outskirts of Angkor Thom

Not sure what this is. Sorry

Ta Prohm

In the first Tomb Raider film right...

... here!

More from Ta Prohm

Another shot from Tomb Raider

Voilà!

Random structure en route to Ta Som

And again

Ta Som

Fantastic relief detail!

More trees growing over the stone at Ta Som

Initially, I was a little underwhelmed by Angkor Wat. I don’t know why, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. But, retrospectively, it was an amazing place to visit. I loved all the stone carvings and the detail was fantastic. Very glad we went and spent a decent amount of time there too!

Next stop on our Cambodia tour: Phnom Penh!

xoxo

Thailand Part 6: The Last Stop

Once again, we had to endure a ferry followed by a really, really long coach journey from Koh Samui all the way up to Chiang Mai. Luckily we were able to get it out of the way in a 24 hour period: after the initial ferry we got on our first coach up to Bangkok (we had to change here) then were able to jump straight onto another coach heading to Chiang Mai. We arrived in the morning and then had the classic search for affordable but not horrible accommodation. Thanks to the organisation of a member of our party, we got a tuk tuk to one of the hotels on a short list and liked it, so stayed there the whole time! There was just one thing that puzzled and amused us about this place…

The keys were shaped like this too...

On our first full day we wanted to take full advantage of the time we had left, so visited a tourist agency trying to find out what the ‘best’ things to do in Chiang Mai were. We settled on moped hiring and heading to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep – the highest temple in Chiang Mai atop Doi Suthep Mountain. As it was a fair distance from the city centre itself, it took the better part of the day to get there, look around and get back (especially as we got a little lost and confused at one point).  The journey up the mountain was for sure one of my personal highlights; granted, it was a bit terrifying at times, but my driver did a splendid job on those steep uphill climbs and the Disney/musical singsong definitely boosted the mood. We stopped halfway up to admire the view of the city and what did we spy? A portrait artist! If I remember correctly he was a Chinese guy and spoke pretty good English. The results however, were not pretty good. Rather, there seems to be no differentiation between faces, or even genders particularly. But you be the judge - check it out below! Doi Suthep temple itself was very grand; like other Thai Buddhist temples it was all bejewelled and shiny, which I really like. While up there though, it started one of those tropical torrential downpours so we were stuck for a while. After the rain passed we went back to our ‘peds, which luckily hadn’t been washed downhill by the rain, so we began a slow and careful descent back to town.

Racing around

Chiang Mai

I'm on the far right! Yes, really. A for effort though!

After climbing a reaaalllyyyy long staircase
up to the temple

A few shots from inside

And again

And here are some more

Our second day began with an unconventional massage at a ladies prison. As part of the prisoner reform programme of the prison, it’s aim is to teach the inmates useful skills in order for them to get a job once released – so the prisoners doing the massages had therefore nearly completed serving their sentences. It was my first massage and I thought it was fantastic! A friendly but not hugely talkative old lady was doing mine. The parlour felt and looked just like any other massage parlour I would imagine, so it was hard to believe these women had committed crimes of any kind! Anyway, after this (and food) we headed to another temple – this time within the city – called Wat Chiang Man, the oldest of Chiang Mai’s temples. Then after this, I headed solo to Wat Chedi Luang which had a lovely and heavily decorated interior. I sensed the rain coming on though so headed back to the hotel before I got caught in the rain or could explore more of the city’s temples.

Prison massages! 

Three on a 'ped!

Outside Wat Chiang Man

Inside!

The 'Elephant Chedi'
Loved this!

I think the little dolls on the right are offerings

Outside Wat Chedi Luang

Interior

Then this was pretty much the last touristy day in Thailand! We had a night out in Chiang Mai before getting on yet another coach, Bangkok bound. We then had a night there which we used to visit a very odd, but enjoyable restaurant: Cabbages and Condoms. Great food and very interesting décor! Would definitely recommend!

'Cops in Rubbers'

What fun!

Morning after, we were a man down but well on our way out of Thailand and to Cambodia! Another very long, uncomfortable, distressing and frustrating journey ahead of us before reaching our next bed in Siem Reap!

xoxo

Thailand Part 5: The Full Moon

Excited to head to our next island, we boarded yet another ferry to take us to Koh Phangan. Unfortunately, the accommodation waiting for us here (we were organised this time and already made reservations, fearing that the Full Moon Party would mean lots of places would be booked up) left a fair bit to be desired…

From the outside, I felt it looked quite charming! And was situated right on a lovely little beach (if quite pebbly). But alas, once we entered our teeny tiny ‘cabins’ we were all in shock. I definitely saw the funny side. It’s one of those things you’ll look back on and laugh at how dismal and grimy it was to stay there for a few nights. At the time it was just funny in a painful sort of way. Anyway, pictures are much better here:

From the outside. The cabins on the left look cute! Ours were the ones on the right.

Our beach

The interior - a double bed and this:

Bathroom, also seen Saw

We made the best of it though!
Creating a sort of nest with what we had
(And throwing in a few candles for mood lighting)

So after the shock of our living quarters, we decided to explore the nightlife! Our first night – the day before Full Moon – was spent predrinking then heading to a supposedly fantastic pool party. The party itself may have been pretty good, but the one we ended up was actually a copycat party with about 25 other guests. We stayed a bit then gave up and headed to the beach and the bars down there. And we found a great scene! Groovy music, lots of people and great value buckets! I had a fab night!

Then I honestly don’t know how we passed the time until Full Moon. Eating and shopping for florescent paint I think. But anyway, Full Moon Party! I’d been looking forward to/dreading this ever since we decided we were going to meet in Thailand. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed! I thought it would be much more epic than it actually was. It was still a good night with all the florescent clothing you could imagine, but it was pretty much the same as the previous one, but with a power cut and a rainy spell thrown in. 

Painted and ready!

So much alcohol and so little mixer

The next morning we bid farewell to almost everyone, leaving only 4 of us to head back to Koh Samui (and Go Samui) for some much needed comfort and English TV! 

Next was onto our last (new) stop in Thailand before leaving! Chiang Mai, here we come!

xoxo

Thailand Part 4: Once You Go Samui, You Will Go Back

Koh Samui was pretty uneventful to be honest! Unfortunately a bug (pretty convinced it was the dengue) hit most of our travelling group pretty hard and I was no exception, so the majority of the time we were there was spent in the loo. But we did manage to squeeze out a couple of good nights out and some moped renting and riding which was super fun. We only spent a few days here, mainly just waiting for the big one on the next island, Koh Phangan: the infamous Full Moon Party (discussed next time!).

One thing definitely worth noting was the hotel we stayed in, called Go Samui. After the dank hostel rooms we had during our stay on Koh Phi Phi, the luxury of Go Samui was incredible. We never wanted to leave! In fact we loved it so much that after Full Moon we went back to Go Samui for a whole lotta r and r. Just what the doctor would have ordered had we seen one. Comfy beds, the (AMAZING) Lotus TV channel, friendly staff, a pool and only a minor red ant infestation – we were in absolute heaven. And if those things weren’t enough, because it was low season, we got a family sized room for cheap! 

Part 1 of our family room

Part 2, complete with sofa. We spent a LOT of time in front of that TV

Anyway, after our first stay in Go Samui we were to head over to Koh Phangan (on yet another ferry). To say we were disappointed with our accommodation there would be a grave understatement. HA.

But that’s it for now! Only a little one today!

xoxo

Thailand Part 3: Pure Shores

Arriving on Koh Phi Phi after all that fuss was like some kind of miracle. Even from the first glimpse, I knew this place would be paradise… And it was!

After paying the island ‘entry fee’ (of 20 baht) and having not pre-booked accommodation, we followed the crowds off the pier and towards the action! Seeing as there was a pretty large group of us (11 now!) we were hounded by representatives of numerous hostels. We finally settled on the one offering us the best deal and let them lead the way. In hindsight, it was probably the wrong choice. Colour scheme aside, it was pretty dank in there…

Dank, sandy little room. With weird beds.

But despite our iffy digs, nothing was raining on our parade! The beaches were absolutely beautiful, the sea was clear and warm and the coconut shakes perfect.

Paradise!

And once again we organised a little tour! Koh Phi Phi – or at least an islet nearby – was used in that Leo DiCaprio film The Beach. So first stop on our all-day tour was The Beach beach. We met at the port in the morning and (along with about 12 other tourists) climbed aboard our boat for the day. Other than fearing seasickness, I was feeling pretty good about the day ahead, but that then took a turn for the absolute worst when I suddenly realised I have a dreadful fear of water I can’t stand in. We were told there was only one way to get to the beach, and that was to swim across about 20 metres (maybe – I’m not good with distances) of treacherous water. And that moment is when I had my first (mini) panic attack. Needless to say, I passed on that part of the fun and stayed safely on the boat.

Next was snorkelling. More deep water; terrific. But this time I was determined to at least try to conquer my fear, so I decided to get off the boat. I strapped on a life vest and climbed down the ladder. Hanging on the end, the panic attack feeling came back and I really thought I’d have to climb back up the ladder, but once (after a lot of reassurance from my friends) I let go and realised that life vests do actually keep you afloat, I had the time of my life. It was so much fun swimming around and having the occasional look under the sea. Didn’t see too many fish, but who cares?! The feeling of triumph I felt made it all worth it.

I'm doin' it!

Ah, the sweet taste of victory.

And the third and final stop was Monkey Beach – so named for the, well obviously, monkeys living there. And not friendly ones I can tell ya!

The one on the right reminds me of the Lion King. Am I right?

Then we topped the day off by watching the sun setting over the ocean. Beautiful.

We spent the next couple of days on this wonderful island paradise, going out at night with lethal (and VERY cheap) alcohol buckets then relaxing and tanning during the day. Absolute heaven! One afternoon, a few of us did decide to climb up to the viewpoint near our hostel. Fantastic view of the island! I then – possibly foolishly – decided to try and head down to another beach. 45 minutes and an awful jungle trek later (I may be exaggerating, but only slightly) I arrived, covered in dozens of new mosquito bites of course. It was practically deserted over that side! 

Koh Phi Phi from the viewpoint

Empty beach

 A positive to my solo exploring was that by the time I made it back to the viewpoint, the sun was setting and the whole scene was breathtaking.

A few parting shots

And again

Then that was it for Koh Phi Phi! Next on to Koh Samui – and one of the best hotels in the world. 

再见!

xoxo