Thailand/Cambodia-Day 16-Ko Chang to Siem Riep

Daniel, Peter and I got up early for what we knew would be a long day of vacation. Peter, originally only planning on being in Thailand for a short bit before heading back to the States, ended up deciding he couldn’t miss out on Angkor Wat, so he switched his flight and would stick with us for a few days. Sean and Sarah headed south to get some serious beach action.

Our day consisted of the following: tuk-tuk to the pier, ferry back to the mainland, tuk-tuk to Trat, bus from Trat to Chanthaburi, lunch and some waiting in Chanthaburi, bus to Sa Kaew, bus to Aranya Prathet, tuk-tuk to the border (with the obligatory stop at a fake consulate/visa center…we got out of there very quickly, keenly aware that it was a scam), cros

sed the quite porous border to Cambodia on foot, took a private taxi to Siem Riep(after some really sketchy and high pressure negotiations-including one police officer that seemed intent on walking away with Peter’s suitcase). We got on the first tuk-tuk at 08:30 and arrived at a random street corner in Siem Riep at 22:45.

As I alluded to before, the Thai-Cambodian border wasn’t exactly what one might expect from an international border. It was pretty active at 20:00, considering that was when it closed. After going out of the well-guarded and organized Thai exit center, we walked for quite a long way before getting to the Cambodian entrance center. It included a walk across a bridge that covered not water, but trash. On each side of the road were huge casinos. As gambling is illegal in Thailand, and these casinos were conveniently located before the entry point for Cambodia, it was clear to me they serve Thai gamblers, yet allow the border officials to save on a lot of stamps and forms. The border also provided my first image of Cambodia (naturally, I know) that was a pretty poor impression. There were numerous barefoot kids running around, begging or kicking cans (literally), the moto-taxi drivers as well as private taxi drivers were relentless, the ground was covered in litter, there was a big traffic circle that featured a half demolished statue in the middle of it, as well as plenty of casino and hotel vans milling about. In contrast, the casino inter-border area was pretty nice, as the casinos were well kept, and nobody hassled us.

Our taxi ride was pretty eventless, which was great, as we got into a taxi with a guy that had communicated to us nothing more than the name of the city and typing 35 into his cell phone-to represent $35, the cost of the ride. We stopped once, went to the bathroom-I mean hole in the corner of the gas station. After getting dropped off at a seemingly innocuous corner, we grabbed a hotel, and had dinner at an outdoor café down the road (child sized picnic tables in a parking lot-I don’t want café to make Cambodia sound romantic). We paid for dinner in Thai baht, then went to get money out of the ATMs, and were a bit surprised to find US dollars coming out when using our Chinese bankcards. When we stopped by the convenience store on the way back, it became clear that the US dollar is the de facto currency of Cambodia-a fact that the book alluded to, but didn’t make too clear. The Cambodian riel is really just used for change to US dollars, as I guess messing with quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies is too much of a hassle. We made the border closing by only a few minutes and didn’t get a bag, wallet, or passport stolen. Considering the trek we made, I’d call it a big success.

Thailand-Days 13-15-Kho Chang

I will now use we instead of I, as the five of us made a pretty solid traveling crew. We fortuitously arrived at the bus station five minutes before a bus to the Kho Chang pier left. With some Dunkin' Donuts in hand, we took the calm five hour ride to the pier. Upon arrival we followed the tourist wave from truck taxi to ferry and crossed (slowly) over to Kho Chang, a popular island off of Thailand's southeast coast. This wasn't the main, and famous, area for Thai beaches and islands, which is much farther south, but Peter, Danthemanstan, and I had scheduling reasons to not stray too far from Bangkok. After dinner at the other pier, we hopped into a sorngthaew where we witnessed maybe the worst negotiation I have ever seen (or rather, a very good swindling). There were the five of us, two Western girls, and two European (assumption) guys. The sorngthaew featured a poster with inflated (but clearly listed) prices for a trip to each place on the island. The two girls were going further than the rest of us, so should pay more. The driver of course asked for more than the sum of the appropriate fares. I was trying to politely convey this to the girls without sounding too stingy (which I admittedly am) and was offering some low negotiating numbers to the driver. Apparently, the Europeans either didn't understand what appropriate prices should be, didn't think it important to talk to the rest of the passengers, or were most likely on a short vacation and thinking in Euros (a luxury I'm often jealous of) when they not only accepted the price the driver offered, but gave him a tip (for fleecing us?). It was all that Peter, Danthemanstan and I could do to not burst out in laughter the whole ride.

Either way, we got to where we wanted, checked into a nice hotel just across the street from the path to the beach (and the 7-11!). We grabbed some beers, jumped in the water before the sun went down, and spent the evening enjoying some beers and walking along the beach (this was on January 19th-think about what you were doing then).

We started the day off experiencing what is part of the touristy island experience: getting taken advantage of practically, but not technically. This happened as we took a taxi to another town on the island to see some of the interior forests. Instead of the main street at the center of town, the taxi took us to the city limit sign and then turned around to go grab another fare. If it wasn't perfect weather and we weren't on a beautiful island, we might have minded. We didn't. On our way up to the waterfall we intended to see, we stopped to let two elephants pass. Well, elephants are pretty alluring when you come from Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, DC, or, well anywhere in America. So we followed them and had an awesome experience taking an hour ride through the thick forest and calm ponds nearby. The fairly steep hills we rode through were gorgeously green. We continued on to the waterfall, which was quite pretty, but even more relaxing and refreshing. We swam around amongst old Russian tourists, other backpacker-esque Westerners and young Thai couples (the main patrons of Kho Chang).

In the evening we had what Sarah called in her blog a JSTU honeymoon-a delicious dinner with beachy drinks at a beachside restaurant, followed by a walk along the beach. I don't think many people were confused by our group, but maybe they thought that Sarah was from some strange branch of Mormonism where the wife gets to be polygamous.

Our third day on the island was spent in true island fashion. After sleeping in, we all headed to the beach, reading, taking dips in the water, writing postcards, and sipping beer or a fruit smoothie. Sean, Sarah, and Peter took a spin around the island on a scooter. I had already had my dose of over-turning into opposing traffic on every left turn (Thais drive the wrong way) on my motorcycle adventure in the Golden Triangle, so stayed at the beach. Kho Chang was really pretty not just because of crystal clear water and shell laden white sand, but because from out in the water, the lush green hills of the hills in the center of the island rose right up from the water. While messing around in the water, the numerous sand dollars and a few leaf-imitating fish were entertaining enough. We grabbed dinner together for the second time at a restaurant with good food and a great atmosphere-a live band playing sweet classic rock covers. Generally I like traveling because I can see new and different things and people, but Kho Chang was a blast even as it was just straight beach vacation.

Thailand-Day 12-Bangkok

Unlike the cuisine I had encountered in the northeast and north, my lunch (and the dinner the night before) were fairly mediocre. They lacked the smooth sweetness with a kick of spice that the other food had, and were considerably more expensive. I'm not saying it wasn't still great food. The bulk of the afternoon was spent with Danthemanstan and I wasting some of Peter's time and lots of ours by making it all the way to the Cambodian embassy only to have both forgotten our passports. Peter didn't join us on our second trip, and we successfully obtained visas to Cambodia. Now, traveling in southeast Asia, and especially countries like Cambodia or Laos that score pretty low on any corruption index always requires a bit of reading. I had read to buy the visa with US Dollars, as the Thai Baht price was well above conversion (this later made sense when we realized that the Dollar is the de facto currency of Cambodia). This saved us about $10. But, these shady governments are always one step ahead of the international tourist. Thus, when we asked how much the visa was (we knew it should be $20-a loose "should") we were told "express visa is $25." I'm not sure that we wanted, or needed, or filled out the form for the express visa but this guy was the only one working the counter, so we paid $25. Either that's the price (unlikely) or that guy makes $5 off every tourist that doesn't want to argue (highly likely).

We met back up with Peter and visited Jim Thompson's House, a beautiful and architecturally intriguing former home of an American silk businessman (well worth the visit if you have the time). We were in a bit of a hurry, so when we got off the Skytrain, we grabbed a tuk-tuk and didn't negotiate very much. On our way out of the house we realized that we overpaid the tuk-tuk driver by about 95%. Of the big cities I have visited, Bangkok didn't impress me too much with its public transportation. The Skytrain system is really convenient, it's a light rail system that is quite elevated. It has a fairly extensive network that gets to most of the outlying areas. The metro is really nice and clean, but doesn't have very many stops. Put it together with the Skytrain and it covers most of the city, but transferring between the two is easy enough, but consumes lots of time. It seems that the city planning wasn't very cohesive, as two different rail systems operate above and below ground with poor integration. The biggest pain for tourists, and boon for tuk-tuk and taxi drivers is that neither system goes anywhere near the old part of town and the central government/palace area. Combine that with the guarantee that if you're not Thai you won't be paying anything near the actual price (the first question to a cab driver is whether he'll use the meter or not) and paying exorbitant tuk-tuk prices is part of the Bangkok experience.

We topped the night off in true Bangkok fashion. The three of us met up with Sean and Sarah to only be short of Jordan to recreate the JSTU foreign teacher crew in Bangkok. After another dinner at the outdoor cafeteria along with plenty of Singha beer we headed to Soi Cowboy. Fun fact: during less than two hours at dinner we received 37 visits from the lovely hawkers selling random tourist paraphernalia. Soi Cowboy is supposedly becoming the new main red light district as Patpong is becoming more show-oriented and less pure sex trade. Bangkok could, from what I understand, just be considered one big red light district. It was just a short walk from our hotel, so we couldn't not make the trip. It was pretty much exactly what you expect: a street lined with bars, each featuring scantily clad women in front trying to pull you in, as well as big billboards advertising all sorts of drink specials. We actually stopped at one bar, as Danthemanstan spotted an NFL playoff game on its TV.

truth in advertising

Peter and I took a brief trip inside this bar to check out epicenter of the sex tourism industry. I think the most telling thing of what was the real business going was that each girl dancing, (clothed-don't worry) had a number pinned to her skirt or top. Peter and I also proved true the theory that everyone wants what he can't have. We continuously neglected the flirty insinuations that the girls making small talk with us. As we headed outside after seeing enough of the "sexpat" and "prostitourism" scene, another patron came up to me and said that I shouldn't leave because the girl making small talk with me was really interested. I said thanks for the advice, as I doubt he would have believed that I have a girlfriend and was here mostly just to watch the men in the crowds-not the girls on stage.

now, that's convenience

Most important, what I learned from the walk around Soi Cowboy, was the next time a friend of yours says he is going to Bangkok to see the temples-make sure to see pictures for verification upon his return.

Thailand-Day 11-Chiang Mai-Bangkok

I made the trip from Chiang Mai to Bangkok overnight-on one of the few train routes in Thailand. It was a manageable journey, but made me realized how spoiled I am in China with its rail network. It's odd to say spoiled when referring to an aspect of living conditions in China, as busy, crowded, dirty, unpleasant, and rude generally describe most aspects. But, as my seemingly easy trip from Chiang Mai straight south to Bangkok showed, the trains in China are (albeit crowded and difficult to book) a great experience. The train left over an hour late, with no real reason given...but the Thais waiting didn't seem bothered at all. It was also delayed at a stop in the middle of the night as a monk (or a man dressed as a monk) hopped on during a stop, and then wouldn't come out of the bathroom, most likely trying to sneak around buying a ticket. I was unable to get tickets for a sleeper, so had a seat, which reclined enough to be fairly comfortable. I realized soon after the train started that I probably wouldn't be getting much sleep. I generally can fall asleep in most places, if it only takes me awhile. But this train was so outrageously shaky that sleep wasn't going to happen. I'm always a much bigger fan of trains than buses (they have bathrooms, you can walk around, there's often a dining car) but in Thailand buses are so much more popular, that the sleeper buses definitely superior to the trains.
Peter (my colleague at JSTU-not my brother-who was enduring some nasty snow in Decorah at this time) called my cell phone just as planned, and I met up with him, checked into the hotel, and we headed out as soon as we could-as to not waste another gorgeous day. We spent the entire afternoon visiting the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Krew, an important temple nearby. The Grand Palace was an amazing, ornate, gorgeous, overwhelming set of structures. I'd write amazing in all caps if I didn't find that a little too obnoxious. There's a reason that I had trouble getting pictures not half blocked by another tourist, because you'd be a fool to be anywhere near and not visit the palace. Hit up my Picasa gallery for all the pictures. Peter and I are both big fans of leeching off guided tours, and we oscillated between a few of the English ones as we went through. Wat Phra Krew (or Wat Pho) had very cool, older looking stupas, which looked great against the afternoon sun. We wandered alongside the reclining Buddha, its main attraction, while Peter most likely got quickly annoyed at my continued questions (he studied religion in college).

We creepily hung around the overpass near our hotel scouting out Danthemanstan, who had arrived, but in his short pay phone call from the airport, received only marginal directions about the hotel's location. We met up with him successfully and got some late dinner at an outdoor cafeteria that Peter had spotted the night before. Later that night Peter and I went to engage in a cultural experience across the street from our hotel (which was right in the middle of the tourist district along Soi 3, Soi 5, and Soi 7 on Sukhummvit Road). Now, don't get all excited, yes we went to a go-go bar, but not quite as normal customers. We posted up at the bar, and did our best to surreptitiously do some close up people watching. During our time there, we were the only customers of the bar, as the other more adventurous (or one could say driven) customers headed to the couches belowe the dancing poles. The girls dancing were dressed, although not in a way that would have me bringing them back to meet my mom. The sex trade is an incredibly interesting, ever-present, historical industry; and even knowing that I was in Bangkok, the industry's flagship city, it was still a bit surprising just how clear and fast the path back to the clearly marked VIP room was. It also made me realize just how much more beers were going to be costing me in Bangkok compared to the north and northeast.

Thailand-Day 10-Chiang Saen to Chiang Mai

Despite the gracious invitation to stay longer with John's roommate's parents, we headed out in the morning to Chiang Mai. Once we got there, we pulled out the guidebook and spent a nice day (in gorgeous weather) visiting some temples, had more amazing food, and walked through some different markets. I think it's a telling sign that I am still ranting about the food although it's my tenth day in Thailand. It takes some effort to mix so many different flavors into one dish, and the Thai put in the effort. Chiang Mai was a really nice, calm, touristy town. As we entered the main temple, the large number of special event vans were a sign that something was happening. The giant float like structures adorned with pictures of an elderly monk made it clear that there was a memorial ceremony/celebration going on for a deceased monk from the temple. So extensive were the floats that it was hard for me to walk around without walking through a group of Thais paying homage or making merit in the monk's memory.

What I found most interesting about the temple (which featured amazing sculptures of elephants on its own) was that there were multiple tables set up around the memorial area offering free food and drink to all visitors. Buddhism is the state religion, carries weighty importance to Thais personally, and is very prevalent around the country. From what I gleaned in the few conversations I had, Buddhism is not as doctrine oriented as other religions and focuses very much on serving others or society by making merits of many kinds. It helps explain the free food for visitors. Nonetheless, it surprised me that the restaurants or groups providing this free food made sure to have English signs along those in Thai announcing the free food. Having just had a big lunch, I did not partake of the gracious offer, but found it very impressive.

At the end of the day, and our travels together, John and I ended inconveniently at a night market that was great to walk around, but offered only infrequent food vendors in a sea of clothes and shoes. So, we quickly crossed the river over to the side lined with riverside restaurants. Unfortunately for us, they all had riverside prices. We saw a restaurant sign on what looked like a trendy art studio. Luckily, the sign was right. It was a restaurant that was completely decorated with products from a home decorations company. The food was great, the atmosphere even better and we enjoyed a great meal to end our little trip around northern Thailand together.

Thailand-Day 9-Chiang Rai to Chiang Saen

Another morning meant another bus ride, this time to go visit John's roommate's parents' house. His roommate comes from Chiang Sean, a town north of Chiang Rai about 20 km south of the Golden Triangle. We went there to see a more traditional, somewhat rural lifestyle. With the directions from his roommate, we simply told the driver to stop as we approached their house. As they live on the main road through town, this was pretty simple. They actually live a short distance outside of Chiang Sean. The road is lined on both sides with houses or shops, and behind the houses on each side are rice paddies, rice paddies, more rice paddies and some other crops. We began the day by just helping out with some gardening-as the father of the household was already out in the fields (and had been since the break of dawn). We helped water some plants-which was apparently all we were qualified for, and other wise just sat around. John enjoyed chatting with the mom and his roommate's sister, who was home for the weekend. It was a very peaceful setting, as the mom was very calmly and slowly splitting bamboo reeds for basket weaving.

After lunch (delicious), the dad returned, and he was quite springy and chipper for his age. He took us out to the rice paddies, where John and I both got really muddy desperately trying to manage a mechanical tiller. It was quite an experience for me, apparently all the skills I learned as a youngster on Grandpa Max's tractors are long gone. I'm not sure if we were able to slip and slide our way to any productive work, but were told at the end of the day that it was good enough that he wouldn't have to re-do it. Not sure if that was a compliment or insult.

Later in the day, after our "help" was no longer needed, we took one of their motorcycles up to the Golden Triangle. I was most excited to see Burma-as entering it as a tourist isn't so easy, and now have seen (but not entered) both North Korea and Burma, two of the world's rather more interesting (and oppressive) countries. More exciting than all the kitschy handicraft vendors was the fact that on our way there I suddenly got worried as it seemed the steering was going out-but I soon realized that we had a flat, and was able to successfully (if not smoothly) pull over. We walked the bike along (assuming that a bike mechanic would be on side of the road soon enough). Some nice girls passing by told us to turn around, as the closest was behind us. You know, the thing about Thailand, is that the sunny weather and palm trees make walking a motorcycle up the road pretty enjoyable. We chilled on some stools with some errant chickens while the motorcycle was quickly fixed.

It was a truly great visit, and one of my favorite days during the Thailand trip. I loved just hanging around with the family, seeing them go about their daily duties. The house had an awesome set-up, with an open air kitchen, dining table, and sitting area in what might be called a giant patio. The mom was very methodical in all her tasks, but never showed a bit of urgency or haste. This was incredibly different than the 100 miles a minute pace of life in China (albeit not my life). They were quite kind, and John was again a very helpful translator. We had a fantastically scrumptious dinner with the mom, dad, sister, and a niece and her boyfriend, who go to college nearby, and were visiting for the weekend. We ate traditional Thai style sitting on the raised platform, eating with our hands and sticky rice from a big communal plate. I actually felt a bit guilty, as some of the barbecued beef was so good I couldn't help but eat much more than my share. John's roommate (who I never actually met) had quite a nice family, and his dad-between helping me teach him the names of fruit in English (we got stuck at orange) and ardently inviting us to stay in the morning-was a true character.

Thailand-Day 8-Lampang-Chiang Rai

We had come to Lampang not to wander through what promised to be interesting, but not too unique temples-but to go to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. I picked this among the many, many elephant riding facilities, because it at least seemed in the guidebook to treat its elephants reasonably well, I figured it was the least I could do. It was amazing how quickly after we hopped off the bus I was on top of an elephant. If you've never ridden an elephant-I'd highly recommend it. Why? Because it's riding an elephant. It was a great ride-me in the seat, with a mahout crouching on the elephant's neck directing it along a nice trail through very peaceful and green forest including two dips in ponds. I have no problem being obvious in saying that the thing that most struck me was that elephant's are big. Giant. Huge.

John met up with me after my ride, and we caught the elephant show. Apparently, the conservatory has a bunch of elephants that are retired from the outlawed logging industry, and with not much else to do, has taught them to paint, play music instruments, and do all sorts of little tricks. The show featured the mahouts and (mostly foreign) tourists who were mahouts-in-training as part of a three day package. I'm pretty sure that the elephant in this show played the xylophone better than anyone in my third grade music class. It was on the move after the elephant park, a bus back to town, then another to Chiang Rai.

We arrived in Chiang Rai, and got a sweet ride into town from a contact (and her friend) John had there through the teahouse. We had a delicious noodle dinner at a streetside restaurant. I downed an ice cold Beer Leo with my noodles and was quite satisfied with the meal. We wandered around the streets of Chiang Rai, through some of the handicraft markets and restaurant and bar streets. It was my first time in Thailand to see how many tourists are really in Thailand, as Chiang Rai is a pretty popular destination in the north. On some streets, the only people you would see were white tourists and Thai wait staff and most signs were in English, with the occassional German or French (but not Thai). The Lonely Planet guidebook always seems to castigate any tourists that aren't totally adapting to the local way of life, don't carry a backpack, or come with package tours. Contrarily, my view is that Thailand significantly benefits economically from the tourists, the tourists love the beaches and the Buddhist culture so it seems to work out pretty well. I was once again thankful to John, as his contact let us stay in an apartment above the cafe she runs.