Asian Adventure (Part IV)

Our exit from Thailand was not quite straightforward: the plan was to catch the overnight sleeper train south from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and then catch an early morning bus from the capital to the Aranyaprathet-Poipet border crossing. Unfortunately when we arrived at the train station it became clear that the rains which had plagued our stay in Chiang Mai had been more widespread across the country. This had cause flooding of the tracks about 120 miles south of Chiang Mai so our train was cancelled... After half an hours mild panic and half formed plans we purchased tickets for an overnight bus to Bangkok. We almost certainly paid vastly over the odds (unable to access the information as to how much we should pay we were sitting ducks) but as this was still less than our train tickets, we simple chalked that one up to experience.

The journey was reasonably comfortable and at 5am we alighted onto an already warm and sticky Bangkok street. We made a rapid exit, this time on a public bus for the 5 hour trip to the  Thai-Cambodian border at Aranyaprathet. We were dropped at Roang Kluea market, a vast warren shops selling literally tons of every imaginable ware (from shoes to electric fans to fruit to engine parts, I could go on...). We eventually wound our way to the border area, here we were met by men clutching signs with my name on, the hostel which we had booked in Siem Reap had arranged for us to be met by 'reliable' taxi drivers who would take us the 2 hour trip down fro the border for a fixed price. While they kept up that end of the bargain, they still tried to fool us in to going to one of the many "Visa express" or fake "Cambodian consulate" operations who promise to organise your cambodian visa for a premium from the Thai side of the border. Luckily forewarned is forearmed and the marvellous www.talesofasia.com site had described the crossing process and the various traps in painstaking details, so we were able to dance through the various immagration procedures, acquire visas (refusing flat the requests for 100Baht bribes from the notoriously corrupt Cambodian immigration officials along the way) and entered Cambodia within the hour.

Upon our eventual arrival at Hak's House in Siem Reap we were greeted by the eponymous owner and quickly helped to settle in. That evening Louisa and I wandered in to town and  enjoyed exploring the night market.

Siem Reap has a preponderance of "Dr. fish" shops, similar to those which have recently sprouted up in many UK shopping centres, while we didn't try these out we were reassured by the signs promising "no piranhas". The night market was beautiful and had plenty of souvenirs for sale, however at times the storeholders were overly aggressive. The response to "sir, you buy something?! Sir!" gradually went from a polite "no thank you" to a grumpy "No!".

We had an early-ish night because we had to be up sharp in the morning to travel onwards to Phnom Penh...

Asian Adventure (Part III)

As I take the bus back to Siem Reap I will endeavour to finish off the stories of Thailand. We take up the story as we catch the early(-ish) morning train to Ayuttya, the old capital of Thailand. It was quite different to Bangkok, much more open and with a lot less traffic! Ayuttya's attractions are mainly many many temples, see the photos below.

That evening we took the night train north to Chiang Mai. We rode second class enjoying comfy seats, dinner and breakfast, blankets and some of the politest and most helpful staff I have met and despite travelling half the length of Thailand it only rushed us the equivalent of about £10!!

We arrived in a rainy Chiang Mai and headed to the Green Tulip guesthouse who kindly let us check in early and take advantage of their shower facilities and wifi. A wander to get some lunch as well as our bearings and people started to crash out, despite the comforts of the train, energy was low. Susie and I took refuge in a juice bar, while Fred and Louisa enjoyed a massage and Max and Wis took a nap at the guest house. Much later and suitably refreshed we headed out for dinner at a vegetarian place (yummy but slow service) and then mounted an assault on the marvellous night market in the rain. There were some magnificent wares on sale and flexing our bartering skills we were able to negotiate some deals (whether these were bargains is hard to tell but we were satisfied).

Throughout this day there had been much discussion over where to go next; various plans had been proposed which basically boiled down to whether to go to Laos or have more time to spend in Cambodia and Vietnam. At time these debates became a tad heated, probably because everyone was a little tired but we kept focussed on ensuring everyone was satisfied with the arrangement and was not dragged somewhere they didn't want to be but also didn't miss out on their priorities. The eventual conclusion was that the group would briefly split: Fred and Susie would head north to the old capital of Laos, Luang Prabang, while the rest of us would go south to Siem Reap in Cambodia, max and Wis to spend longer at the world renowned temples of Angkor Wat and Louisa and I so we could go on to Phnom Penh to see the legacy of Pol Pot and the Khymer Rouge.

Chiang Mai is a common destination for backpackers (thus it's provision of juice bars and vegetarian restaurants) but other than the markets, it was a little thin on the ground for things "to do". It's main purpose seems to be as a hub from which treks and tours are organised, sadly due to our hectic schedule of countries we were unable to fit such an outing in, nor had we particularrly planned to. We had one more day in Chiang Mai first however so we took the opportunity to visit a nearby temple, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, on a hill a little wayout of town. We shared a taxi (a.k.a. a songthaews) with a lovely Spanish couple and were soon deposited on a cloudy hillside, to climb the steps up to the temple. While the views over Chiang Mai were not present it did make for some fun photography nonetheless...

I will this here and can only promise that the account of our escape from Thailand and times in Cambodia will follow as swiftly as possible.

Asian adventure (Part II)

So last time I left you, dear reader, the story had wound it's way as far as Bangkok, and I was writing from Siem Reap in Cambodia. This post is composed on a bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.
On our first day in Bangkok (we had arrived the night before) we found our way to the river and thence took a river taxi up in to the old town, a journey costing a mere 14Baht (~30p). Now due to an unfortunate misreading of the map of the guidebook we actually ended up a little further North than we had intended, but no problem there was still stuff to see and we were happy to walk back in to the centre. We saw the old houses of parliament and Bangkok's UN headquarters on our way back to town.

We had almost made it when a tout persuaded us to take a Tuk Tuk tour of a series of temples as it was a "special day of celebration" so the fare would be a mere 5 baht each... Now sure enough they did take us to a series of temples with some rather impressive Buddha statues but we were also taken to two tailors and a travel agents. It had become clear this tour was in fact being funded by commissions from the aforementioned establishments, but we had not shelled out a penny and as we exited the Golden Mount (fantastic views over the city) our Tuk Tuks had disappeared and we had not even paid the 5 Baht each! So a free tour for a few hours and the travel agent had even given us food thought about our route through the rest of Thailand and on into Laos and Cambodia.

Having abruptly finished our Tuk Tuk tour we headed for Chinatown at Wis' bequest to wander the markets and to seek out dinner. Eventually we made it back to the hostel for a few beers, chatting, chilling and touching base with loved ones back home.

Our second day in Bangkok had a late start, clearly the travelling had finally caught up with us, so though the alarm went off we simply turned over and had a few hours more. Eventually, however, we did surface and headed up the river again to the correct Royal District this time. We stopped for a late brunch at a street market then headed in to the royal palace to see the Jade Buddha. Our visit was enhanced by a wonderful free tour with a jolly English speaking guide who helped to explain what we were seeing.

After the palace we headed for an amulets market for a brief wander before we had to set off to the train station to buy tickets for our onwards travel to Ayutthaya and beyond the next day. This was a painless experience courtesy of the marvellous english speaking assistants that the Thai railway employ at the station to help puzzled travellers with their purchases. At last we walked back to our hostel for an earlyish night in anticipation of an early start on the 'morrow.
Post Script
That will have to be all for now but fear not, other posts are mostly written and should come soon. My rate limiting factor has been internet connection speeds holding back my photo uploading. I'm currently in Hoi An in Central Vietnam having enjoyed a couple of days R & R , but that's a story for a future post.

Asian adventure (Part I)

This post comes to you from a mildly sweaty blogger sat at a haltingly slow PC in Hak's House hostel in Siem Reap in Cambodia. Unfortunately this computer lacks modern amenities like an SD card slot and I'm lacking a USB cable; so the only two photos gracing this post are those which I uploaded in a spare minute in Bangkok last week. Hopefully my next lodgings will provide better in this respect.
So the story so far:
Last Tuesday 6 of us (Fred, Susie, Louisa, Max, Wis and myself) set off from London Heathrow for a Southeast Asian Summer. The first part of our journey was in somewhat style, enjoying the hospitality of Qatar Airways who lived up to their 5 star tag line with great food, friendly service, generous legroom and good in flight entertainment, making two 7 hour legs, literally fly by... (sorry, couldn't resist the pun). This brings me to the first photo, sun rise at Doha airport during our 8 hour stopover.

Our first hostel of the trip was Saphaipae in Bangkok, a modern set up, we stayed there 3 nights and while the facilities were great (PCs with SD card slots!) it was a little on the pricey side (by SE Asian standards) at $11/night for an aircon dorm. It was well positioned for riding the river taxi in to the old town however, which segues me nicely to the second photo, this fancy temple standing on the banks of the river.

Anyhow that will have to be enough for now, (hopefully) coming soon will be "Asian Adventure (Part II) - Let's Deux Thailand" with more photos...