Sobering Up in Phnom Penh

Following another incredible day of touring the glorious temples of Angkor (the 8th wonder of the world), including Ta Prohm where the jungle is overtaking the ancient temple (and where Tomb Raider was filmed), we departed Siem Reap for Phnom Penh, a 6 hour bus trip.

Here we have been reminded that life is not always fair. The capital city and former headquarters for the Khmer Rouge has been to hell and back. We have toured both the Killing Fields (the largest of over 300 in the country) and the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (former school turned into a detention and torture chamber), and thought both places did a very tasteful job of depicting their haunting past (just over 30 years ago) although it was a very sobering experience. While history often reflects events before our time, the Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, tortured and killed over 2 million of their own people (in less than 4 years....1975-1979) during our lifetime. The stories of survivors at these sites, who are our own age now, was chilling. More incredible perhaps is that none of the leaders have yet been convicted for their war crimes with trials for the remaining top 4 leaders plodding along (Pol Pot cheated justice by dying earlier). This may be reflected in a very interesting conversation last night over dinner with an ex-pat married to a Cambodian woman who indicated that the Khmer Rouge influence still remains within the current coalition government, who operate in a corrupt environment. He didn't approve but also didn't have a major concern.......he just understood that pay-offs to gov't officials at different levels (commune, district, province, country) was the way to get things done, and more quickly depending on high up the ladder you were prepared to pay.

On a more pleasant note we have enjoyed our time in Phnom Penh. The Cambodian people are very friendly, living in the moment and trying to forget their horrible past. They are thankful for even the smallest tip since the average person makes less than $100 per month. They especially love us since we don't bargain quite as hard as other tourists........the inexpensive prices don't justify finding their 'give-up' point in our minds. On our first day we walked to the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda and the Central Market. Last night we walked around the Independence Monument and the Tonle Sap Riverside areas and they were both very busy with local families playing, eating and generally enjoying the park areas available to them. It was wonderful to see how happy they were considering their history.

Tomorrow morning we will leave for Vietnam. Our original plan was to travel to Ho Chi Minh City via the Mekong River but the trip we researched and wanted was fully booked so we decided to travel by bus (6 hours) and then do a river tour of the Mekong Delta when after we arrive in HCMC.

Expelled from Thailand

Well not really. But I still don't understand why foreigners who arrive overland are only allowed to stay for 15 days while those flying in can remain in the country for 30 days. We could have applied for a Visa extension but it seemed like a lot of paperwork and extra expense since it wouldn't have been valid for our re-entry into northern Thailand at the end of our trip in April. So after enjoying the southern islands a bit too much, it left us only two full days to spend in Bangkok before taking our tourist dollars to Cambodia.

Our Bangkok orientation went very well. Our hostel was down a quiet lane but still close to the action and the Skytrain making it easy to get around the city. We also used the river taxi to go to the Grand Palace and then walked to the nearby Temple of the Emerald Buddha and Wat Pho, home of the Reclining Buddha. The night markets and evening entertainment venues awakened the senses but we avoided the invitations from the touts. During our time there we also went to the MBK mall, a huge shopping experience where we identified many items for purchase when we return to Bangkok for our flight home.

From Bangkok we took a combination of taxi/bus/tuk tuk/shared taxi/tuk tuk to cross into Cambodia and arrive in Siem Reap, our current position. The trip took most of the day (6:30 am until 5 pm) but other than a slow time clearing the border on the Cambodia side, there were no issues. We stretched our legs in the evening walking around our part of town near the Siem Reap River and the Old Market, stopping for dinner on Pub Street where every bar and restaurant was offering .50 cent Angkor beer, our new favourite. It was also nice to discover reasonably priced wine again with some French and South American labels even less expensive than back home.

The next two days were spent visiting the many temples around Angkor Park. On the first day we hired a tuk tuk driver from our hostel for the day so that we could venture to the more distant temples of Banteay Srei and the Roluos Group (Lolei, Preah Ko and Bakong) which were both about 35 and 15 km's away respectively, and in different directions. They were also some of the oldest temples dating back to the 9th century so it seemed like an appropriate place to start exploring. Yesterday we rented bikes for the day and went to the amazing Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom (8 km north of the city) and finished the day at nearby Phnom Bakheng where after a 15 minute hike up a mountain you were rewarded with not only a temple but a lovely view of Angkor Wat in the setting sun. Today we are taking it easy....another short walk around our district and a few clothing items purchased from the Central Market. Tomorrow we will hire a tuk tuk again and visit up to 10 more temples on the eastern side of Angkor Thom. Another attempt will also be made to find a second geocache after not having any luck yesterday near the Bayon in Angkor Thom.

Beach Paradise

Ko Samui, an island in southern Thailand, on the east coast, has turned out to be our favourite beach paradise on this trip. We have spent 3 days on Lamai Beach which is located on the south-east coast. Our first bungalow was 100 metres from the beach with a lovely, quiet tropical garden to read and relax in but when their internet system conked out we switched over to an even better spot, a little further down the beach. Our last day and a half have been spent in a bamboo hut on the edge of the beach. It has been difficult to leave the deck with the nice ocean breeze and shade acting as cooling agents. When the mood changes it is a hop, skip and a jump to the ocean for a quick swim. It will be hard to leave this oasis but our beach time has come to an end and it is time to start exploring the local culture again.

The town of Lamai is a 10 minute walk away, either by beach or the road, and we ventured in for two evening meals. Our first trip was for the Night Market and we had a fabulous time. Beyond the hundreds of stalls selling items, there seemed to be an equal number offering up inexpensive and tasty food and drink. We helped support many of the vendors.......$3 rack of bbq pork ribs, $1 bbq squid on a stick, $1 chicken somosas, a large cup of fresh, sliced strawberries ($1) complemented by many $1.50 mojitos. There was also a stage with live music and street performers. It was a wonderful introduction to Ko Samui and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

On our second evening trip into Lamai we had a wonderful seafood dinner (shark and tuna steaks) while taking a bit more time to notice the "interesting" night behaviours going on around us. Fortunately, we are staying further south down the beach where it is much quieter and the Thai massages are done in the shade on the beach. Rhonda had a 1 hour oil massage yesterday with one of the smiling Thai ladies on the beach a few metres from our bungalow. At $10 an hour she's back for another round today (while I'm stuck writing this blog, and drinking $1 beers).

Later this afternoon we are heading into Bangkok. We will take a sawngthaew (pick-up truck taxi with bench seats) to the pier, then a ferry over to the mainland before getting on an air-con luxury (?) bus which will include an overnight 10 hour trip northbound to Bangkok.

Ferry Tales

We arrived in Phuket earlier today. Our ferry trip was an exciting one and we didn't have to pay more for the adventure. There were already passengers on the ship deck when we arrived at the dock this morning (from Ko Phi Phi to Phuket) and after storing our backpacks we decided it was probably safer to remain on the deck for the 1.5 hour trip rather than to go into the crowded cabins and find single seats apart from one another. The first half of the trip was fine and then we started noticing deck water coming over to our side of the boat (where we were sitting with our feet hanging over the edge of the boat) because people started realizing that we had a bit more shade than they did in the cloudless sky. Apparently the ocean spray knew where the low point was on the deck! Shortly after that we hit a 'rogue wave' (personal neighbourhood joke) and the boat listed significantly over to our side causing a 'Hail Mary' moment. Several minutes later, one of the crew members was quickly moving passengers over the the other side of the boat and shifting the on-deck luggage over the starboard side. It was a happy ending....I'm writing this.....and we have now landed in the site of the 2004 Boxing Day tsumani so what could possibly go wrong.....especially on my 59th birthday :)

Prior to arriving here we were in Ko Lanta which we really liked. The limestone cliffs surrounding all of the south western Thailand islands are breath-taking. It is less crowded than the other southern Thailand islands. The beaches were wonderful and from our hostel (close to the beach where we watched the sun go down) there was a 2 km path over to Long Beach (an even better beach) which was worth the trek. And the following morning I was able to follow the NY Giants Superbowl victory on the internet......no cable at the bars at 6:30 am :(...... but it was worth the effort while sitting next to the beach.

From Ko Lanta we took another ferry to Ko Phi Phi, another island with fantastic beaches. We took a full day boat tour around the island, and surrounding islands, which was only $20 pp. There were 3 snorkelling stops (good, but not Hawaii benchmark), a stop at Monkey Beach (filled with you know what), another stop at Maya Beach where the The Beach was filmed (and it felt like walking in butter......vs. grains of sand), and finished at 7 pm with the most perfect sunset that you could imagine (the full sun disappearing slowly into the ocean). The next day we had another trek over to Long Beach (their version........but I suppose every time you have a 2-3 km white sand beach......you probably use names that entice the tourists).

The seafood continues to be wonderful.......white snapper, squid, shrimps, prawns, barracuda, kingfish and more.......all at riducously low prices. But white wine continues to be very expensive because the SE Asian countries (so far) heavily tax alochol that is not produced here.......and this is not a grape growing region........so $1 beers are the norm but not always the preferred option.

Tomorrow we will leave Kata Beach, where the 2004 tsunami damage has disappeared and visitor traffic has increased, and head into Old Town Phuket where we will be well positioned for our full day travel over to the east coast of Thailand to the island of Ko Samui. We decided to skip the east side of Malaysia because of the monsoon season but that is now over so we want to experience that coast before we head further north.

Terima Kasih Malaysia

One more evening in Malaysia before we depart for Thailand in the morning. We have really enjoyed our time here. The people are friendly, the food is wonderful and it is a beautiful country. We are currently in Langkawi, an island in the north-west corner of Malaysia. Our hostel is a rather lively one so we have been having fun with the other guests while we are here. On our first night we played Ring of Fire, a drinking game, and we held our own against ten other 20-somethings in the hostel bar. Beers are only $1 / can so it was very cheap entertainment. We're still not sure how anyone wins the game (last person standing?) but after the bar fridge quickly emptied and the replacements were 'warm', the game lost it's energy for us around 1 am (some of the others continued until 3 am......but we didn't see any of them for breakfast the next morning). Yesterday, a young couple from Louisiana and a BC girl working in China, joined us for a day trip further north on the island. We started with a 2 km+, 20 minute cable car ride up to the second highest peak on the island which then had a suspension bridge over to another peak. The views were outstanding as we could see most of the island along with many of the 99 small surrounding islands that make up Langkawi. After that we hiked over to the 7 Wells Waterfall and after a steep climb to the top we were able to relax in several of the wells (small pools with refreshing cascading water) that cooled us of for the journey back down the mountain.

Today we had a lazy day, opting for the pool rather than the beach across the road, since we had a few very minor clashes with tiny jellyfish on our first encounter two days ago. Tomorrow we take a couple of ferries and a mini-van with our Louisiana friends into Thailand where we will spend a few days on the island of Koh Lanta (where hopefully I will be able to find Superbowl coverage to watch my beloved NY Giants).