arewethereyet

Orkiday Angkor Hotel - so gaudy it's almost beautiful!

Saturday October 10th

We arrived at the Cambodia border at 6.30pm. The passports were stamped and we were directed to customs in Poipet. On arrival, we were in informed the customs official was off playing Badminton and would be returning in an hour. We wandered down the main street of Poipet – it was heartbreaking to see such widespread poverty. After a dinner of roadside pancakes we headed back to customs to then be told by a man in his pajamas that the office was closed for the night.

Kaia makes friends with the security card from the casino - next door to Orkiday Angkor Hotel

We crashed out next door (Orkiday Angkor Hotel) after a meal at the downstairs restaurant – 2 meals on offer – fried noodles or rice, complete with small stones and sticky flying things. Kaia’s meal was interrupted by a number of photo sessions and was happy to escape to the room after a short time. I turned on the shower only to see a big cockroach come scurrying out of the drainpipe – executive decision made to save showers for the morning.

Poipet traffic police observes local transport

8.15am we were back at customs -the Carnet de Passage was stamped even though it isn’t recognised in Cambodia – we were free to roam in Cambodia. There had been a lot of flooding in the East so we passed by many flooded paddy fields. As a result, most people had moved their houses and livestock onto the main road. We maintained a pretty slow pace as we dodged children, cows, pedestrians, roadside stalls and erratic drivers. Welcome to Cambodian roads !!!!

Kaia with the daughters of a landmine victim - they are 7 and 8 y.o. - no kidding!

We drove into Siam Reap and booked into the Golden Banana. In our 5 night stay we’ve had to move rooms 3 times due flood related issues. The whole town was underwater only a couple of weeks ago. We bumped into our chums from Singapore at the guest house – very nice to hang out in the evening with familiar and new faces beside the pool.

Angkor

Angkor

Angkor

Angkor

Angkor

Temples are Kaia's ultimate playground

And fun for the grown ups too!

Yes, the van fitted through the arc - just...

Need we say more?

Bayon head

OK, one jungly shot then...

We drove out to Angkor on Monday morning and were instantly in love with what must have been the most beautiful, serene and spiritual centre for the Khmer people. The whole complex stretches out over 80 kms – life goes on around the ruins much as it would have been hundreds of years ago. The buddhas are still acknowledged, new temples and monks have taken residence around the old, thatched huts, rice paddies, cow herds and families still fishing in the moats and living a traditional life. It takes once glance to be transported back in time. Aaaahhh…to fall in love with the land. It’s such a wonderful feeling.

We met this girl at one of the temples - doing some selling after school

Every temple is different making every visit a unique experience. The touts are fairly aggressive and persistent at every stop – but amongst these people there are still kids wanting to chat and share a bit about their lives. We could have stayed wandering for a couple of weeks – but after 5 days we were ready for a new adventure.

Battambang was a real eye opener. We arrived around 5.30pm and booked into the Hotel Royal with plenty of parking outside for the van. The next morning we hired Thon & his Tuk Tuk for a day and headed out to a local fishing village. The villages are small and impoverished – kids & adults with rotting teeth, tiny frames, skin diseases, dirty water to drink, no electricity and the most basic living structures. A couple of locals took us up river on their fishing boat. The river has been overfished using electric currents – fish that used to be as thick as an arm are now as small as sprats. The fish are few in number so the fisherman no longer have good stock to live from. In the dry season, the farmers can plant crops along the river bed – in the wet land disappears as the trees have been removed for building houses.

Our guide and tuk tuk driver Thon with Shona

Cock fight!

Thon spotted a cock fight gathering, so we pulled up and witnessed a traditional sport. A winning rooster can be worth a lot of money if it wins. If it loses it becomes supper for the family. Not really our cup of tea – however, the Khmer are very proud of it.

Thon introduces Kaia to the local kids - note the pyjamas!

Note the rotten teeth of the boy in the middle - most kids in this village had similar teeth

After giving out some treats for the kids – we drove to a Primary School. We were able to visit a classroom and chat with some of the kids. One 11 yr old boy was pretty embarrassed after it was revealed that 4 yr old Kaia was exactly the same height as he was. We left the school and stopped in village that uses a bamboo rail train to transport goods to town. Kai got a haircut with manual clippers and then we headed back to the hotel for a snooze.

The Circus "Phare Ponleu Selpak", Battambang

The Circus "Phare Ponleu Selpak", Battambang

We were picked up by Thon at 6pm and taken out to the local Cambodian circus at Phare Ponleu Selpak. The show was top notch – very funny with super flexible performers. We all loved it! After the show we were invited to visit Thon’s house to meet his family and were treated to a yummy Cambodian dessert. Nice way to end the evening.

The next morning we made our way to Phnom Penh. The roads were well maintained but the traffic unpredictable. There was more flooding close to PP – more houses set up on the roadside and some heartbreaking slums on the edge of the city. Once again we managed to navigate our way to the guest house (Boddhi Tree Umma). For supper we headed out to a contemporary gallery and cafe (Java Coffee) – bizarre exhibition but fantastic to see so much great contemporary Khmer art after suppression under the Khmer Rouge. A number of NGO’s are supporting and promoting the arts here.

Phnom Penh is a clean, well organised city – compared to Battambang. There are fewer cars than Bangkok so the air seems cleaner and the traffic less scary. Bicycles and motos are the vehicle of choice. The food is amazing and the global support for Cambodians evident through a number of ventures to get the country on it’s feet again.

S-21 Torture Camp

I visited the S-21 torture camp (located directly opposite the guest house) – it was very confronting and humbling. Any killing fields, torture camps or other evidence of the Khmer Rouge devastation must be left untouched by law. This law is in place to remind people of what has taken place as a lesson for the future. I doubt the Khmer will forget in a hurry – members of the Khmer Rouge and their families are still entrenched in the fabric of governing the country. There has never been any justice for families affected – that includes every family in Cambodia!

We spent a day visiting the National Museum, Royal Palace, Russian Market and various cafes.

Tonight we are camped out in Kompong Cham – in the morning we will check out the pre-Angkor Wat and the site of another killing field before driving to Kratie.

Pyjamas are very comfortable in this climate, and fashionable daytime wear according to the Cambodians

Coffee and free WiFi at road side petrol stations, Thailand

October 7th – 10th

As mentioned in our previous post, we had to spend 3 days doing a 1900 km round trip from Bangkok to Songklah – and back…  It was a looong road to the border in Songklah starting at 5am in Bangkok the day we planned to leave (Oct 7th). The van had been wheel clamped and during a moment of temporary insanity, Kai decided to pull out the angle grinder and take the law into his own hands. At the very moment that Kai cut the padlock on the wheel clamp, a couple of traffic police on a moto passed by at 4.30am – so he was whisked away to the police station. Kai returned a couple of hours later after paying a 10,000 BHT fine/bribe, and we were on the road again by 7.30am – slightly shaken and very relieved! We got somewhat lost trying to leave Bangkok, but finally found the road south (thanks to some friendly locals) and we were away again – 900 kms of familiar road ahead of us. Travelling on the opposite side offered many new sights along with the familiar journey into the beautiful South.

Roadside accident in Thailand

The accidents on the roads were pretty mind blowing – one container had slipped off a truck, over the rail of an overpass onto the road below. The impact was so great the container had split in half. Another few cars had seemingly flown in an odd angle into the middle drain and the hold of a petrol tanker had come loose and slipped up onto the cab. The last accident we saw, before slipping across the border, involved a hilux that had done a summer sault.  After this, we became pretty conscious about the overloaded utes that zipped past us at great speeds. There were only a total of about 8 speed limit signs during the 1900 km round trip.

That first night we stayed in Surat Thani and headed for the local market for dinner. Kaia loved the banana fritters and we found a good vege snack. The hotel we stayed at was Chinese. The staff spoke absolutely minimal English but were still able to rustle up some marmalade & bread for Kaia.

Nothing's too big to fit on a small truck!

Extended family travels by truck, living & sleeping quarters on 2 levels, fridge on roof, moto's in the back - Nomads?

The next day (8th) we made it to the border at about 3pm. We spent time with immigration at checkpoint 2 – who then directed us to the border control to chat with the Captain on duty. She was an incredibly grumpy character who had just turned a guy away with a suspected false passport before we were seen. We pushed Kaia to the front to see if she could charm an ice queen. It seemed to work – after a small lecture, we had our stamps and we able to head north again. For those wishing to sneak into Thailand – it seems the Songklah border is your best bet. We noticed that very few characters regulate who walks through meaning you can waltz in as long as you don’t try and leave by land or air.

Cabins in Phattalung

We headed north and camped out in Phattalung that night – gate crashing a Thai wedding taking place at the ‘resort’ – (set of cabins slowly sinking into the sea). Kaia made a few friends amongst the guests before we all fell asleep to the very out-of-tune wedding karaoke that went on well into the early hours.

Kai on horse back in Hua Hin

Unloading fish at the fisherman's warf, Hua Hin

The ice truck making a delivery at fisherman's wharf

Kaia fishing at fisherman's wharf, Hua Hin

October 9th
The next night we stopped in Hua Hin at the Sofitel (old Railway Hotel) – the first beach resort in Thailand. The king has his beach house in Hua Hin – it was another indulgent night. Kaia loved the pool and the horse ride on the beach. We visited the wharf to watch the catches being sorted. Kaia was given a fishing rod to try her luck – we left with the fishing rod in 2 pieces stuck on something unforgiving in the harbour. In her mind she had caught a big fish that she couldn’t pull out of the water. I’m sure the owner of the rod had something else going through his mind!

Cambodians carting their goods across the border

October 10th
The next morning we drove through Bangkok and headed north east for the border with Cambodia. It was an easy drive – again great signposting and well maintained Thai roads. Poipet, the border town was predictably filthy and chaotic. We passed through customs, got our passports stamped and we just about to drive through border control when we were informed that once again did not have the right immigration papers for the van. My heart sank – I could see the sweat forming on Kai’s brow – once again we were in discussions with immigration about missing paper work. It turns out that Songklah had failed to provide us with the correct paperwork. A group of 26 rally cars had also arrived at the  Cambodian border without these papers the day before – a big headache for the border officials. To cut a long story short – a very helpful if somewhat frustrated senior immigration official asked us to lodge a complaint about Songklah with our embassy, hoping that this might somehow help improve procedures at the Songklah border, and also informed us that they would have let us into Cambodia without our Thai entry stamps. If we had only know that before our 3 day odyssey back to the south – we live and learn!

The best car air freshner we've had!

27 September – 7 October 2009

Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayama
hadilokphop nopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesma
hasatharn amornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit.

The above is the official Thai name for Bangkok, the longest place name in the world, which translates as: The great city of angels, the supreme unconquerable land of the great immortal divinity (Indra), the royal capital of nine noble gems, the pleasant city, ?with plenty of grand royal palaces, and divine paradises for the reincarnated deity (Vishnu), given by Indra and created by the god of crafting (Visnukarma).

Bull transport

The beginning and end of the first leg of our Thai journey are inextricably linked as we cannot travel to Cambodia without returning to our first border crossing to obtain entry stamps immigration officials failed to put in our passports. We look forward to a 1900 km round trip as there is no one with authority in Bangkok to stamp passports that have not passed through the airport. No surprises from an immigration department that still uses floppy discs and typewriters – the joy of dated bureaucracy.

Monkeys are employed to retrieve the coconuts

We crossed over from Malaysia in Songklah on September 26th. The border town was pretty chaotic, but the calm and simplicity of Southern Thailand soon emerged. A refreshing landscape free of any shopping centres, global chains, and billboards (other than pictures of the King and Queen). Lots of roadside stalls, palm trees, rice paddies, green forests and beautiful wats. We saw utes carrying huge loads of rubberwood, palm oil fruit, coconuts (complete with monkeys) and lots of friendly faces.

Roadside prayer stop

Our first stop was Pak Meng Beach in Trang province. We stayed at Pak Meng Resort for the first night and indulged ourselves the second at Anantara Si Kao. Anantara was a real treat for everyone – huge pool, sea views, beautiful room, kids area & a yummy buffet for the morning. We reluctantly checked out and headed north.

The van had been making a funny noise Singapore – Kai suspected it was another bearing falling apart – so we decided to make a dash for the Mercedes garage in Bangkok and do the Southern provinces properly on our way back to Singapore in January.

We left Pak Meng Beach and headed north – trying to drive as far as possible before sunset. We managed to find a roadside hotel 60 kms north of Surat Thani.

It was here that we watched a documentary about the Thai king – we started to understand why there were pictures of the King and Queen plastered up in every town, on almost every shop as well as bumper transfers ‘Long Live the King’. The King is a bit of a superstar here for all the right reasons. He has devoted his life to improving the livelihood of Thai people through sustainable work and life practices.

We arrived in Bangkok the following night and after turning the map up the right way, managed to navigate peak hour traffic to find our hotel. The porta potti got it’s first test by Kaia en route through the city. We set up camp at New Siam 2 – complete with pool for sweaty girls and boys. Kai and I stayed at New Siam when we were here together 10 years ago – it was here that I felt Lulu move in my tummy for the first time. A special memory.

Bangkok is a fantastic city to hang out in for a while. We have spent the last week visiting the Grand Palace, taking various boat rides along rivers and canals, visiting Chatachuk market – a weekend market with 8,000 stalls and chatting to an inspiring group of women – www.gendercc.net – participants in the Global Climate Forum currently taking place here at the UN.

Market icy pole stand

Lulu getting hair braids

Boat decoration

Market pet division

Kai took the van to the Mercedes Garage in Bangkok, where they took apart the pulley belt assembly to analyse the problem with the noisy bearing. It turned out to be the magnetic clutch on one of the compressors for the secondary air conditioning unit – not critical. They also had a go at re-seating one of the injectors which was leaking some diesel, and identified some cracks in a hose for the turbo manifold which has been ordered in from Germany. After 3 hours of 4 guys giving the van some TLC and no charge for any of the labour, Kai left the garage a happy camper!

Express Boat

Local bus

Lulu

Downsides of a busy city is the usual dose of stomach turning diseases apparent on the beggars, pollution, rubbish, diseased animals, open sewers and tourist touts. It is getting harder to glimpse the original Bangkok through the filth and haze. A shame considering it has only been about 150 years since roads were introduced here. Bangkok was built around the river & canal system with boats servicing all of the houses. There are still stilt houses opening up to canals in some parts of the city – but they look like they only have a few years life before disappearing under the water. It wasn’t until we were horribly lost on the outskirts of the city that we were able to transport ourselves back into the past with clean(er) rivers and stilt houses along the rivers.

We also took an interesting trip to Jim Thompson’s house. An American entrepreneur who introduced Thai silk to the global market and then disappeared without trace in Malaysia. The mystery has been a hot topic since 1967 – there are still numerous theories floating around and our guide also had a definite opinion that he was either eaten by wild animals or kidnapped by the CIA. He was a great collector of Asian Art and his houses are traditional stilt houses that were constructed by master craftsmen without any nails or bindings. Well worth checking out if you’re in town.

touts

Lulu shopping - Khaosan Road

Local character

Last night we said goodbye to our darling Lulu as she winged her way back to New Zealand to spend a few months with her grandparents. Lulu had mentioned a few times that she wanted a break from traveling and also to go back to school. We fully respect her decision but we miss her already. She has called from New Zealand, weary but happy to be having a cup of tea with nana.

THANK YOU ULA FOR TAKING GREAT CARE OF LU ON THE JOURNEY HOME !!

The airport was the place we discovered the absence of entry stamps in our passports. As a result, there was a possibility that Lulu would not be able to travel. Luckily we had a fantastic Thai Air rep. who allowed Lulu to travel as a transit passenger so stamps weren’t an issue. We had conflicting opinions on how to solve the issue. One immigration official told us to return to the Malaysian border. Another woman told us that the immigration official should have been a cleaner, not an official – and that someone in Bangkok could stamp our passports.

Yesterday we spent the day heading to one immigration department (where we were directed by the airport official), to find out it had moved to the other side of town. We shared a cab with another misdirected character and ended up at the new Immigration facility where signposts stating that it only serviced residents of Bangkok. My heart was sinking at this stage. We were directed from Level 1 to Level 2 – then back down to Level 1 – to be told that we definitely had to drive back to the border. A waste of a day. We are hoping not to have the same trouble at the border.