Saturday 28 January 2012

Bangkok – "Same Same but Different"

We were a little sad to be leaving Cambodia directly after having had a less than impressive stop in Sihanoukville.  It was not hard, however, to remind ourselves that the rest of our time in the country had been wonderful.  Angkor Wat will stand out as one of the highlights of our entire trip as will the people of Cambodia who have truly gone through Hell, came out the other end and still manage to smile each day and share their joy in life with each other and with visitors like us.

Hiring a private car to drive us from Sihanoukville to the border of Cambodia and Thailand cost about the same as four bus tickets so we decided to forego the bus for this part of the trip back to Bangkok.  The car turned out to be on the small size with air conditioning that barely worked so it was a rather uncomfortable 5 hours with luggage piled on top of us before we reached the border at Koh Kong.   Once we got to the border there were lots of touts trying to convince us that we needed their help (for a price of course) to fill out the exit and entrance documents required to leave Cambodia and enter Thailand.  We managed to dodge them all and complete the process ourselves although we did take note of the bribes that were being accepted by the Cambodian officials to speed up the processing of documents received from the touts.

We are getting used to dusty border crossings seemingly in the middle of no mans land where you fill out some forms, get fingerprinted, look into the camera for a photo, have passports checked, exit one country drag your stuff a few hundred meters and go through the process again to enter the next country.  Oh and there is usually some money exchanged somewhere along the dusty path.  Managing border crossings would not be on the academic curriculum in too many grade 6 & 8 classrooms but we are hoping the finesse that the kids develop in this department will come in handy for them at some point in their future. 

Once we entered Thailand we were still not really anywhere.  The border facilities consisted of a small row of typical old style Thai convenience kiosks and small places to eat.   It was a little more difficult than we thought it would be but we eventually negotiated a minivan drive to Trat, the closest town where we could catch a bus to Bangkok.  The minivan took us directly to the bus station where we did not have to wait long to board for Bangkok.  They  ensured us at the bus station that it was an express bus that travelled direct. I don’t know why I still get annoyed regarding deceptions relevant to transportation information but I do.  After about the fifth stop to drop off and pick people up I was ticked and expected what had promised to be a five hour bus ride to be much longer.  We were pleasantly surprised when our bus pulled into Bangkok at the time we had been promised.  After a short cab ride to our hotel we were thrilled to check into a wonderful apartment!  Another 14 hour plus travel day had been endured.

When we arrived in Bangkok in September it all felt so, well, so Asian and quite exotic.  We laughed at how this time so much of it felt so westernized and not exotic at all.  Our perception has most definitely changed.  A common expression over here is “same same but different” and this certainly applied to this visit to Bangkok. The first time around we thought the city was dirty but now the city seemed really clean.  Bangkok – clean? Maybe we are crazy or maybe we have been on the road over here a little too long but clean it seemed….. and modern with lots of cars, pretty organized traffic patterns and excellent public transit.  Were we really in Bangkok?
                  
We were charmed to the max by Cambodia and Vietnam captivated us with its beauty and variety but being rather undeveloped nations meant that we also saw a lot of poverty and travel in both of these countries was tiring in a way that Bangkok isn’t.  I don’t think we realized it until we got back to Thailand.  We really loved that much of the city is so modern yet much of it still so obviously Asian.  There is a fantastic mix of old and new and east and west.

Having the space of an apartment for a change was a treat and it was super cool to be in a truly big city again.  With our view we really felt like we were in the thick of things with bright lights and skyscrapers all around.  The location was great and we could easily move around the city as we were close to the high speed trains that zipped us from place to place with ease.  The energy that the city exudes was fantastic. 


We were only back in Bangkok as a gateway to get into Laos and it felt like a fairly short four  day stop.  Unfortunately much of this time was spent trying to figure out how we could repair Eric’s laptop.   We had to replace the hard drive and face the fact that none of the data from the old one was recoverable.  He had been working on a story throughout the entire trip and had not saved a copy so this was a very sad thing to lose and a tough lesson to learn.

In between visits to computer shops we…

Took in the weekend market which is really the mother of all markets in Asia.  It is enormous and we didn’t have enough time to begin to see it so it will be on our list for when we return (well, it won't be in the kid's list but will be on Rob's). 

One section of the market had all sorts of animals....we felt very sorry for the little puppies who likely came straight from the puppy farms to here.



We also spent a fair bit of time visiting some very cool shopping centers and having fun walking around the bustling streets.





Rob and I took a tour of the canals, went to the Taling Chan Floating market and to Wat Arun, The Temple of Dawn.  All of this was a lot more fun than we had thought it would be. 


Wat Arun is over 70 meters high and covered with beautiful porcelaine and glass.




The photos below are so close yet worlds away from the Bangkok of glittering lights, fast cars, modern malls and shiny transit system.




Care for some worms in your soup? snails? How about some tiny turtles?  You can get it all at the floating market.








We discovered and loved Lumphini Park, a huge green space in the middle of the city.  We thought it was the best city park we have seen on our trip.  It was teeming with people exercising and hanging out and the 2.5 kilometer loop around the park was an awesome place to run and people watch at the same time.






We were not in a hurry to leave but once Eric’s laptop was up and running it was time to make our way to the next country on our agenda, Laos.

Friday 27 January 2012

Sihanoukville – Significantly Sleazy

We had heard good and bad about the country’s premier beach destination, the “Costa del Cambodia”, the town of Sihanoukville.  We had read blogs by families who loved it and found it to be one of their favourite beach spots in South East Asia and we had read blogs by people who hated it.  We were certainly not amongst the lovers but we didn’t hate it quite as much as some.

The lovely sandy beach stretched for miles and we were pleasantly surprised with just how nice the sand actually was.  Most of the developed part of the beach was jam packed with little restaurants, all with the same rattan chairs, the same beach umbrellas and the same menus.  The beer was super cheap and the food on offer was actually really good.  We even had mashed potatoes and BBQ chicken that tasted just like home. Although we love the Asian food it was a nice change to have something on the menu so much like our own homemade BBQ's.  We also had fantastic fruit and treats from the friendly vendors that roamed the beach.  This part was great. 



  




The beautiful view from our hotel room was also great.



The fine sand stretched quite far past the developed area of the beach and it will not likely be long before the vacant land lining the coast gets turned into resorts, shops or restaurants.  Unfortunately, the beauty of the shoreline was diminished by the garbage that is everywhere.  There were also some pretty ugly half built buildings that appeared to have been abandoned and left to the cows and squatters.



It was great to run along the deserted sand and between the various beaches that make up the coastline.





What made us uber-uncomfortable in Sihanoukville was the number of sleazy looking men who were there either alone, in groups (of men) or already with young Asian women. (being a couple of "mixed race" we are obviously not opposed to the Asian/Caucasian component of the equation.  In Sihnoukville it was, however, rather evident that many of the couples we were seeing were not actually couples at all.)  We found the under currents and the outright evidence of the sex tourism in Sihanoukville to be just too much.   This was the first time on our trip where this aspect of South East Asia was so evident and in your face.  It made us feel really sad and empty.  

The sunshine the lovely sand and the cheap food and drink were not enough to hold us long in Sihanoukville.  The town itself held no charm and the sleaziness of the sex tourism drove us away a tad faster than we had anticipated.  This was our last stop in Cambodia which was a shame as we had loved the other parts of the country we had visited.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Kep & The Crafty Caveman

The tiny town of Kep used to be a popular coastal retreat for wealthy Phnom Penh residents.  It was however, pretty much decimated during the war and although there has apparently been a reawakening of sorts we found it to still be an incredibly sleepy place, worthy of a night but not any more. There was a very small strip of restaurants lining one area of the beach front and we had an excellent crab dish at the crab shack there.  It was also cool to see so many local Cambodian families hanging out along the strip of sand they call the beach. 

Many of the houses in Kep have been left abandoned since the war and you can clearly see the bullet holes and vandalism through the tangles of the weeds and jungle that is now growing over things.  We actually found it a little creepy. 





Although we were somewhat underwhelmed with Kep in general there was a beautiful National Park with an excellent trail all of the way around it.  The park offered great vistas and we really enjoyed running the trail.  I think we would have enjoyed Kep a lot more if we had had a nicer place to stay.  There are not a lot of options in Kep and all of the nicer looking places were booked.  It is the sort of location that likely grows on you if you have a nice view and a cozy bed, we unfortunately had neither….oh well, off to Sihanoukville.




On our way to Sihanoukville we stopped at Phnom Sorsia (the elephant cave), a holy cave complex complete with alters, statues and quite a network of caves.  A local lad was leading us through the caves that proved a bit much for the boys (the big one included).  They turned back when the going got a little rough and dirty but I managed to crawl through the tight and dark spots to get a glimpse of the thousands of bats that were flying and squeaking above.  I have to admit that while it was really cool it was also rather loud and stinky.  Unfortunately the camera could not focus as there was just too much movement from the circling bats.







When I got through the caves and circled back to the start I went to get some money to give to the guy who led me through.  I turned around to pay him he had disappeared in what seemed like seconds.  He was not the only thing that disappeared.  Our super duper lightweight flashlight that he had been using disappeared along with him.  I guess he figured it was worth more than the few dollars he would get from me – he was right. Grrrr…..sort of put a damper on the experience.


Phnom Penh Part 2


It was very pleasant to return to the hotel we had previously stayed at in Phnom Penh.  The staff were so warm and the accommodations so comfortable that it we would have been happy to stay for a long time.  We ended up staying for a week and really enjoying hanging out in the city.  Phnom Penh is pretty quiet relative to other Asian capitals.  It is easy to navigate and with the combination of wide boulevards lined with French Colonial buildings juxtaposed with ground level shops and houses, decent parks and abundance of delicious street food, we found we enjoyed it just as much the second time around.

The park across the street from our hotel was wonderful to stroll through, particularly in the mornings and evenings.  As the heat of the day lessened the park came alive with families picnicking and watching their kids play.  Many vendors set up shop offering a variety of street food and other treats.  There were soccer games, Cambodian version of aerobics classes, Thai Chi and lots of other activities.



The night market was another fun place with lots to eat and lots to see.  The “food court” consisted of a variety of vendor carts in an area where mats were laid out on the ground serving as tables. 




The city, similar to most other Asian cities we have visited, also had excellent markets where you could buy just about anything. 


We haven't been quite adventurous enough to try the delicacies in the two pictures below.











I couldn’t drag any of the boys out for too much more site seeing but I enjoyed visiting the Royal Palace the Silver Pagoda and Wat Phnom on my own.....  





  
After 6 months the tangle of wires that seem to piece the electrical system together throughout Asia still amazes us.....as do the safety precautions they take when working on them.

 

Phnom Penh turned out to be an excellent city to get to know and although we were in no hurry to leave we were interested in seeing a little more of Cambodia before our visas ran out so we bid the fair Capital farewell and set off for the southern coast.