Bangkok

Once again, our rail travel plans were thwarted, we had planned to got to Bangkok from Chang Mai via train, unfortunately when we went to book it was booked out, so we flew instead.  This took is to Don Muang Airport, which is a lot rattier and run down then the main Suvarnabhumi International Airport that most people are used to in Bangkok.  From the airport it was a B350 taxi ride to the hotel, the Astera Sathorn.

our Hotel Room

 We checked in and then set off to explore the local streets a little and find some thing for dinner.

The next day we grabbed an all day Ferry Pass, jumped on and headed up the river,

A typical river ferry

jumped off at a the Chinatown stop, wandering around taking in the sights and sounds

Chinatown, Bangkok

before having lunch and then heading back to the ferry to explore the river further.

Cooking in Bangkok
From Chang Mai, Toni had booked a 1/2 day  Thai cooking course, she was very much looking forward to attending and as an eager student headed off to the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System or Sky train) to go the two stops to be met by her teacher.   I will let her elucidate further on how much she enjoyed the experience.

Toni, Gabby & Grace at "Cooking" School

I headed off on the BTS as well,

BTS Train pulling away from a stop

to try and find Pantip Plaza, the IT extravaganza, as well as sort out a Thai massage, I was unsuccessful with the former and successful with the latter.

The BTS is a great way to get around those parts of Bangkok it services and I would recommend anyone going there to ensure their accommodation is not to far from a stop.  We were only 2 minutes walk from the Saphan Thaksin stop.

BTS Route Map

I did find Pan Tip plaza the next day (not far from the Chit Lom stop, I had gone the wrong way the day before), wandering through the 5 floors of computer related extravaganza while Toni was clothes shopping.

Ordering lunch at Platinum Fashion Mall

We met up for lunch which was an experience in itself, figuring out you had to buy a voucher, before you bought lunch, then cash the voucher in.  It seemed oddly convoluted to me.

I wished I had her at Pantip plaza, I needed her there to run interference for all the guys thinking I wanted to buy porn, they don't approach if you;re a couple.   I don't think these guys were aware it was available on the Internet.

and then we were heading back to Australia.

Chang Mai

we had planned on getting to Chag Mai by train but it seems every attempt was thwarted.  I had assumed you could travel by train to Chang Mai from Pattaya but apparently this is not the case, so we flew  Royal Thai Airlines after catching a private taxi up from Pattaya, again with Mr T I slept the entire way apparently and it seemed we were back in Bangkok in 15 mins, instead of the 1hr 45, door to door.   You can't beat that after being screwed around with bus services dropping us in the middle of no where !  Then an hour on Royal Thai airlines, sweeeeetttt, after hours on a bus on previous journeys and Royal Thai where an eye opener after the dreadful experience on Jetstar getting to Thailand !  We grabbed a cab (B200) to the hotel Toni had organised, Na Thaphae, in the middle of Chang Mai, near the wonderful Sunday night markets, these are on every Sunday and are HUGE, definitely well worth attending.

Tha Phae Gate, dividng the old city from the new

Next day we chilled out a little, then spent time organising a few trips, including a trip to Tiger Kingdom,

Playing with Tigers
This was to be a treat for me especially, to see the largest land predator on the Planet up so close you can touch them.  Tiger Kingdom was recommended by one of the local travel agents here in Chang Mai (of which there seem to be 100's), who's to say if it's because it pays her the best commission or is the best tiger attraction as she claimed.

Listening to him breathe

Regardless, it is quite the surreal experience to be in with an animal that could kill you if it wanted to.  None of the Tigers are from the wild, they are all grown there on the farm itself, reared from birth with human contact, so this kind of lessens the experience, none the less, you do kind of catch yourself when they open the door for the first time.  Seeing those massive beasts laying there, they are so well fed they laze around like all cats do, sleeping away most of the day digesting their food.  When they do look around and look you in the eye, it's truly a magical experience,

Magnificent to be so close !

feeling the great cats flank rise and fall under your hand, magical..

Walking with Elephants
Toni is entranced with these wondrous beasts and is off today on a one day Mahout course, to be more in contact with them, wash them, ride them with no saddle, lead them into the forest to find food etc, I will let her tell that story at a latter date,

Food
On the whole the food in Chang Mai has been superb, one caveat to that is they seem to do western food badly, very badly.  Toni has tried a couple times for something a little different, pizza on two occasions and pasta on another.  The pasta experience was diabolical, a slice of processed cheese on top of some boiled pasta, the pizza's where underdone, nearly no toppings and those they had were bad.  They see to have little or no experience with fresh milk based products.  The local cuisine on the other hand, superb !

Cycling Around Chang Mai
We decided to hire a couple mountain bikes for the day, brave the heat, pollution and traffic

Braving the traffic !

and head off to explore some of the City of Chang Mai on bikes.

Urban MTB ridin' in Chang Mai !

While we enjoyed cycling, the bikes themselves left a little to be desired.  My bottom bracket was on it;s last legs as was the front derailleur and the front form moved about 1" of it;s supposed 4"s of travel.  None the less, a great time.  We even managed to find one of Toni's favourite coffee shops while cycling around and dropped in for a beverage !

Toni loved the short blacks !

How to wear your helmet !  Instructions at the bike shop

one of the other reasons to come to Chang Mai was to meet with another NGO that helps with English language skills to Burmese refugees.  Our friend Catherine and organised with a cohort of hers, Gretchen, to meet with Toni and let her know what they were doing and how Toni could help put.  Toni just has to figure out now how she wants to help out and what works best for her and then which organisations she can help out with the most.

and now for something completely different
While out having dinner last night, we went through an Earthquake !  A novel experience for both of us, one I would rather not do again, especially coming on the wake of the disaster in Japan, not sure if this was related as the epicentre was in Burma, north of us

This earthquake was felt in its neighbouring countries such as in northern Thailand, particularly in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, parts of China, Laos and even in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Pattaya ... redux

From Siem Reap we had decided to head back to Pattaya for a couple days.

Infamous city sign

The bus was full, so full the driver put plastic chairs in the middle of the aisle, kind of cracked me up

Bus was so full, plastic chairs were placed in the aisle !

Waiting at the Cambodia/Thai border, Thai side for the Pattaya bus.

After being dropped at the Cambodia side of the border at Poipet, we had an interminable wait for the bus to Pattaya.

Teh min bus fiannly arrived and luckily was fairly empty, Toni managed to catch a nap in the back seat

Cacthing a few Zzzzz's in the bus

We both liked it in Pattaya, aside from the grumpy Russians, it's a wonderful place for Adults. Toni took in a show at Tiffany's, a famous Ladyboy cabaret extravaganza.  She managed to buy a ticket outside from a group where two people didn't turn up, getting the VIP section for the same price as the normal section, getting free drinks and snacks to boot !  While I can appreciate the spectacle, a Ladyboy show is not really my scene, Toni however, enjoyed it thoroughly !

Heiniken available at KFC Pattaya !

Hustle and bustle of Walking Street at night

We had managed to to arrive back at the Pattaya Music Festival, a giant 3 days musical extravaganza for Thai's but e took advantage of the goings on to indulge in something different and enjoyed eating local food on Pattaya Beach one evening.

Dinner on the beach, Pattaya Music Festival

Friend Quail Eggs, at the music festival, yummy !

Temple of Truth
This is an amazing structure at Nakula Bay, worth a visit but relatively expensive for the entrance fee, for visitors, Thais get in quite cheaply apparently !  The temple is completely made from wood, even the joints etc are all made of wood, some amazing work and the structure is massive.  They are constantly working on expanding and maintenance work, being right on the shoreline it suffers a bit from damage from the ocean breeze.

Temple of Truth

Intricate wooden carvings

Intricate wooden carvings

Koh Larn
We visited Koh Larn again, for B30 per person one way, why in hell not ? !  We hired two scooters as Toni was keen to ride herself, after having a taste last time we were there.  The Island is one of the few places i was comfortable with her riding, anywhere else has been either organised chaos (Thailand) or disorganised chaos (Cambodia) on the roads. We also had one set of snorkel gear this time and we both enjoyed doing some snorkelling at Monkey Beach, there are plenty of rocks at the end of the beach,

Monkey Beach, Koh Larn

with fish of all sizes swirling in the azure water, further out soft corals where in abundance.  While not a Great Barrier reef experience, it is certainly something wonderful to do. 

Plenty of pretty Russian girls !

The snorkelling and all the monkeys near the beach

Wild Monkeys on the beach

had Toni enthralled for many hours !  As Toni was new to scooters, we explored all of the Island, visiting the beaches we had missed first time around and taking in some of the views as well.

View from near the cop shop on Koh Larn

More photo's here...

Angkor Achelogical Area

There is nothing that can prepare you for this.

Entrance to Angkor Wat, after a rain shower

Sunrise over ???

I have never visited any of the other remarkable feats of early human construction achievement; Aztec and Inca in South America, early Egypt, Petra in Jordan or even the Roman or Greek architecture, so I have no real basis for comparison. The sheer scale of the building in the area is overwhelming.  I vividly remember approaching Angkor Wat from the Siem Reap in a tuk tuk, seeing what I believed to be a river and being told it was the moat around Angkor Wat ! Moat ? ! The thing is 187m wide and completely surrounds Angkor Wat itself.

We had hired a Tuk Tuk for the day, complete with driver for the princely sum of $15, he took us from site to site and advised what to see and when.  While this was one of the reasons I wanted to visit Cambodia, Toni had done most of the research investigating what to visit and when and then checking with the driver, I loved her for doing that, I was overwhelmed and unable to process  this magnificent example of human architectural achievement, leaving me mostly dazed and wondering how the mighty Khmer empire, like so many before it had fallen from such giddy heights to end up in the mid 1970's with the despotic Pol Pot led Khmer Rough  regime, from which there once mighty nation is still recovering.

We started at the South Gate of Angkor Thom, I was mesmerised by this edifice, thinking how grand, this is just a gate. 

South Gate, Angkor Thom

To the magnificence of the Bayon Temple within the "city" of  Angkor Thom

Bayon

Words truly do fail to do this complex justice, and I struggle with my photography to be able to similarly communicate it's grandeur.

 From the 10 sq km giant site of Angkor Thom, through the Terrace of the Elephants to the genuinely awe inspiring and largest temple on the Planet, Angkor Wat.  Everything you have ever heard, even as whispers about the place, do it justice.  You will need at minimum 2 days just for a brief tour, and that's all day, each day. Walking and climbing, then climbing and walking, I could spend a week there, let alone going to see some of the temples further away !

The temples are still used for worship and lots of Cambodians live and work around the temples.

The only downside of course is the incredible number of people wanting to view it all.  I struggle to justify the dichotomy of us being there wanting to enjoy some solitude vs everyone else of course wanting the same thing.

For anyone interested in history, this is a must see.

Here is a link to the rest of the photo's I have uploaded

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the famous town in North West Cambodia, the home of the incredible complex of Wat's from the Angkor Empire, which once stretched across Thailand, Lao, Vietnam and Cambodia.  The most famous of course is Angkor Wat.  While the city is on the Tol Sap river, which flows through to PhonPenn, the only real reason to come here is the Angkor Archaeological Area, the town itself has been engulfed by the resultant tourism.

The main street

The bus trip from Phnom Penh was as uneventful as it can be in Cambodia, dodging scooters on the right side of the road, buffalo and trucks passing three wide.  We arrived in Siem Reap, late in the afternoon, heading straight to the room of our guesthoue the Tanei Guesthouse, near the middle of Siem Reap township, several km's from the Wat complex.  We had a shower and headed down to the markets

Markets, markets everywhere

to have a look around before coming back to the Guesthouse to have dinner  One thing that seems to hold true is the ordinary quality of the meals in the hotels and guest houses we have stayed at.  We  normally get great meals at superb prices at the little roadside stalls and eateries.  Just around the corner fro the Guesthouse, we had a wonderful meal at a little roadside eatery on the last night for all of $5, including drinks.

Pub Street, packed with westerners in the evening

Trying frog at a restaurant on "Pub Street"

If you are into markets the ones in Siem Reap are worth a visit, Toni picked up a handmade silk top and matching hand bag silk bag for about $15, the lady who made it was also selling it and adjusted it for her on the spot.  Superb service.

Toni getting her top adjusted

The Cambodia (Khmer) People
The Cambodians on the whole were an incredibly likeable people, the invariable question of where you were from was often answered with the embarrassing, "G'day Mate", do we really speak like that ? Perhaps Kath 'n Kim was more documentary then comedy ?.I found myself saying it a few times and started self admonishing myself over it.  While you are assailed by touts, you need to keep in mind they are only trying to make a living and learnig a little Khmer to speak to them was nearly always rewared in smiles from them, even if we were rushed.  Most Cambodians we dealt with spoke good to very good English and it seems to be one way for them to get a better job by learning the English Language, which is one of the reasons Toni wants to go back and work with the Orphans, to give them a better start in life..  Toni took to the Khmer language incredibly quickly and was soon starting to converse with the locals and improver her linguistic skills by having them engage her in conversation, I was content to simply learn from her hardwork.