Temples, Beggars and Cockroaches

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On our last day in Bangkok, we spent quite a bit of time formulating a plan to cross the border into Cambodia. We learnt that we had various options to choose from but only one way was going to keep us away from the scammers, and not break the bank. We found an amazing website that gave us step by step directions on getting to and through the border in true backpacker style.

We woke up at the crack of dawn the next morning to make sure we were at the Bangkok train station before 5:30 am. We purchased our economy car train tickets (for about $1.50 a piece) and were rolling down the tracks before 6. The train ride was another hot and sticky, bum-numbing 6 hour ride. We spent the time admiring the beautiful scenery of the countryside, while listening to music and taking breaks watching the locals getting on and off at every stop along the way.
 
When we made it to the border town, Tuk-Tuk drivers were lined up ready to overcharge all of us Westerners for the quick ride to exit customs. We managed to bargain one of them down to $3 and made our way down the dusty, smelly streets. The driver dropped us off at the scammer visa-on-the-spot shop, just as our research had warned us. We grabbed our packs and walked right through the
parking lot, past the shop and continued down the dirt road on foot. The scammer shops charge $45 US for a Cambodian Visa, while official customs will give you one right as you enter for $20 tops. Once we got our visas and stamps and walked across the border, there was a free shuttle bus waiting, to take us to the bus station. There, we got into a group van that took us the rest of the way to the Siem Riep city centre. Despite the smog, dust, heat and exhaustion, we made it into Cambodia with much more ease than we had expected.



During the 3 days we spent in Siem Riep we hired a driver (for a very affordable price) to take us to all the temples in and around Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the largest Buddhist temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world. While there, we got hassled by large groups of young kids to buy bracelets, books, and postcards but the temples where immense and beautiful.







One night we took a courtesy ride from our hotel into the downtown area, to check out the night market. We shared the ride with another couple from our hotel and ended up joining them for dinner, drinks and trivia night at the local "Irish" Pub. They were also doing a charity raffle, and we won one of the grand prizes, a tour for two to some local villages, but as we were leaving the next day, we donated the prize back to the pub and they auctioned it off. The busy streets downtown were filled with beggars like the ones we saw at the temples. We even caught one of the kids giving us the finger when we refused on camera!

 On our 4rth day, we hopped on a day bus to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia and our next destination. The city was only 300 km away but it took us 8 hours to get there driving through the one lane dirt roads the whole way there. We made a big mistake booking our hotel through Hotwire's blind hot $10 deal of the day. As it didn't ended up being as 'hot' as we had been led to believe, as it was way outside of the touristy area. We decided to make the best of it, however, and set out to walk the local motorbike packed streets. We found a great restaurant with spicy beef soup and enjoyed our time watching the locals hustle in the streets. When we got back to our room however, we were welcomed with a big fat cockroach right at our door. It took us a while to locate it, after it made a run for it and hid under our bed. But Dave was able to catch it eventually while Alice yelled and screamed standing as far away from it as she possibly could.




The next day we set out to learn about the horrific history of Cambodia's past. We hired our favorite Tuk-Tuk driver to date, "Ricky Bobby", to take us to the Genocide Museum in an old Cambodian prison, and the killing fields where the prisoners were eventually taken to be killed. The prison was an old high school that was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979. Over 20, 000 prisoners were housed, tortured and executed here during the rise of the Genocide killings.



At the killing fields we were given a head set at the entrance which acted as our personal tour guides while directing us from station to station marking the significance of each spot. After each station you could choose to listen to a short story by one of the genocide survivors which really gave us a feel for the events that happened there. Everything that we saw and heard that day was horrifying. We saw the prison cells the prisoners were crammed into, the weapons used for torturing them and mass graves they were thrown into when it was all over. It was a very uneasy day, but we were happy that we were able to learn as much as we did no matter how unimaginable the events may have been.

On our second last day in the country we made our way to the Vietnamese embassy to apply for our visa's and booked an afternoon bus for the following day to the whole land border crossing all over again.


To our loyal and loving readers,
With love from the dusty, historical streets of Cambodia,



D'Alice

 

Island hopping in south Thailand

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After our tour of northern Thailand, we made our way back to Kao San Rd. in Bangkok. It was another over night bus ride, which we later found out officially broke our 'not being robbed yet' streak. We never usually leave anything valuable in the luggage we stow under the bus. This time, however, we had more to lose in the stowed luggage than we realized. We had been collecting a few dollars here and there from each, country as a keepsake in our red North Face wallet (thanks to Kenny and Mel). We had some valuable dollars from Fiji, NZ, Australia, British pounds, and Euros, along with money from all the other countries we had previously visited in Central and South America. Whoever robbed us was smart enough to only take the money that was worth something, along with our fairly expensive head lamp, a total of about $150 worth. Boo. We were hoping we'd be able to make it home without the notorious robbery story. So much for that.



We were going to take another at making it to the Grand Palace, but skipped out (and broke poor David's heart) as we hadn't gotten much sleep on the bus that night. So, we headed straight to the train station instead and hopped on the economy train to our next destination in Hua Hin. The train ride was almost 6 hours long, in a car with no air conditioning, hard wooden seats and filled with locals. It was a long, hot and sweaty ride, but we were at least able to enjoy the amazing lush scenery along the way.

Hua Hin is a beach town half way from central Thailand to the south and islands. We figured it would be a great way to break up another 12 hours of travelling and avoid 24 hours on the road. The beach was nothing to rave about, but we did get to benefit from some luxurious pool time at Esther and Oren's super swanky resort.

After 2 days in the small town, we hopped into Esther and Oren's rented car and made the 8 hour drive to a southern province called Krabi. It was late when we rolled in and we got lost trying to find the hotel in a place called Raylai. It wasn't until 10:30pm that we realized we had to take a boat over to get there, as it was on a remote peninsula. Thankfully, there happened to be a local man at the 7 -11 where we stopped for directions that was willing to take us over at an inflated price.

The next morning we woke up to the pouring rain in Raylai. We spent the morning relaxing under the shelter of our hotel restaurant, and by early afternoon, the sun began to peak through the clouds. Our side of the peninsula was a small strip of restaurants, hotels and bars. The beach, although beautiful, looked like it had been washed away by a tsunami. We walked up and down the strip and wondered what all the hype was about this 'super spectacular' place that everyone had recommended we check out. That was until we found the pathway to the "real" beach. The pathway went alongside a tall rock formation on the far end of the strip. There were long hanging rocks drooping down, hovering over the path and forming a cave-like ambiance that was truly beautiful. When we first reached the path we ran into a family of monkeys hanging out on a fence. They were really curious about us and hopped around as we walked beside them exposing two mommy monkeys cuddling their babies. We were in love.

The path seemed as if it went on and on, and just as we thought maybe we were going the wrong way, it opened up into the one of the most breathtaking site we'd ever seen. Crystal blue waters crashing up against the tall rock formation we had just walked around, white sandy beach and mind-bending rock islands shooting out from the middle of the sea in the distance. The only unfortunate part was that it must have been close to 40 degrees that day, and we couldn't stand the heat for very long.

 

We only had a couple of hours the next day to enjoy the magical (but ridiculously hot once again) beach, before we had to check out and take the boat ride back to Krabi as we were on a tight schedule if we wanted to see all the other beautiful islands. We sadly said goodbye and packed into the car again for another 6 hour drive to Phuket.

We weren't sure if it was the blazing sun and dehydration or not, but Alice was in really rough shape by the time we pulled into the busy island town of Phuket. We got Esther and Oren to drop us off at any random hotel and there we stayed, for the next 3 days. David ventured out for food runs and water, but all Alice could do was sleep and pop Tylenols to break her fever and relieve her aching muscles.

 

On our 4rth day in Phuket, Alice woke up feeling a little bit better so we decided to book the bus - boat trek out to Koh Phangan island, infamous for their "full moon parties" where tens of thousands of travellers come to get stupid. Esther and Oren had already headed out the day before and we were anxious to get reunited with them. The 4 hour bus ride was super bumpy and when we got the port we had to wait 2 hours in the scorching heat for our ferry, sending Alice 10 steps back to how she felt 4 days prior. It wasn't easy but we finally made it Koh Phangan before dark.

Esther and Oren were nice enough to take their motor bike that they rented 25 minutes down the island's mountain to come and check on us. Thankfully Esther with her one week shy of a Dr's diploma was able to roughly diagnose a simple virus and recommended lots of water and rest. We missed the beach, the jungle party, the full moon party, and the last 2 days with our very best friends, but we were happy to say that by the end of the next 3 days, Alice was back to life and in great health again.

We wrapped up Thailand with a 4 hour ferry back to the mainland, followed by an 8 hour bus back to Bangkok. We stayed in the busy city for 2 more night to give yet another shot at making it to the Grand Palace. It was a mission that was once again unsuccessful thanks to a scamming tuk-tuk driver that convinced us it only opened after 3:30pm. However. we went to see the reclining Buddha instead and ended up having a wonderful afternoon after all.




With love from Bangkok again,
D'Alice

 

 

 

Bangkok with the Besties

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When we arrived in Bangkok it was almost 10pm, still blazing hot, and the air was sticky. As soon as we walked out of the airport we hopped on the free shuttle to the bus station and looked for the 556 bus that would take us to the Victory Monument close to Khao San Rd., our hotel destination. There were signs for bus numbers 550, 551, 552, 553, 555, 557... all the busses except for the one we were looking for, of course. The lady at information told us that bus had been cancelled 3 years ago and therefore our intricate directions we'd gotten off of the internet were very outdated. At this point, we had two options; either wait unknowingly to see if a minibus would come to take us on a similar but different route, or take the shuttle back to the airport and hop on the metro train. We opted for the latter and by 11:30 we were well on our way to our destination.

 

 

We found a white person who had been living in Thailand for a few months and hopped into a cab with him, as he was able to speak the language and was headed in the same direction as us. We took a 15 minute cab ride that cost all of $2, and at that point we knew we were going to like Thailand. When we first pulled up to Khao San Rd. the streets were littered people walking around holding buckets of alcohol, vendors selling fried bugs, food and clothing etc., and bar after bar blasting music of all kinds with people having a great time.

 

 

We were happy to find out that our gem of a hotel called “Rikka Inn” was tucked away in a quiet hallway down the street and we were a little bit out of the craziness. After we dropped our bags off and checked in we headed out to walk the crazy street and had some street Pad Thai to fill our starving bellies.

 

At 9am the next morning we were pleasantly woken up with a phone call from reception to let us know that our best friends Esther and Oren from back home had arrived and were waiting for us in the lobby. We quickly threw on some clothes and ran downstairs for the big reunion. It was so amazing to see such great friends of ours after being out on the road without a familiar face for almost 6 months (with the exception of meeting Cheffina in Argentina). It took us an hour before we stopped our chatter and realized how exhausted they must had been spending over 24 hours of travelling to us from Israel. We let them take the afternoon off to nap and get settled into their room, while we headed out for breakfast, found a place to drop off our laundry, and walked the market filled streets while shopping and bargaining for some cheap new clothes. Dave was able to find 6 new things for under $50 and Alice picked up a new bathing suit, sunglasses and a beach dress for $25.

 

When Esther and Oren came back to life, we headed out with them for an authentic street dinner on a quieter but still happening street called Rambutta around the corner. We then spent some time at our rooftop pool, while Esther and Oren headed to the city’s hospital to visit one of Oren’s friends that lives in Thailand and was being let out after a recent motor cycle accident. We stayed up into the wee ours of the morning that night, drinking too many cocktails and catching up with our friends, waiting for this friend of Oren’s to show up and join us.

 

We woke up well into the afternoon the next day, had a late lunch and did some more walking up and down Khao San Rd., as there was just so much to see! In the evening Oren’s friend Chris took us to an Authentic Thai street restaurant outside of the touristy area. The food was delicious and so spicy that it gave Dave and Oren the instant hiccups and brought tears rolling down their faces! Unfortunately, our dinner was later disturbed by a few cockroaches that decided to join our dinner fiesta and all of us except for Oren got up from the table and wouldn’t sit back down. It didn’t do much, but Chris spent a good 30 minutes arguing with the waiter (in Thai), ashamed to have given us a bad impression of Thailand. As unpleasant as it was at the time, we realized we were eating on the street in a 3rd world country and should have expected the outdoor critters.

 

The next day we booked a 3 day jeep tour to Chiang Mai and Pai in the north of the country through “Red Brick Tours”, an Israeli/Thai organization. Before leaving on our bus the very same night we had high hopes of visiting the Grand Palace, a very big temple that is still used today and open to tourists to visit from all over the world. When we got there they wouldn't let us in because we were wearing shorts and tank tops, and therefore inappropriate attire. Instead, we ended up taking a long cut Thai style speed boat out to the floating market near by. We had boats coming up to us selling food, drinks, and many different types of souvenirs on our way down.

By 6pm we were walking over to our overnight bus to Chiang Mai, a city in the North of Thailand, to the “Red Brick Hotel” (arriving at 5am) where we waited for our jeep driver named Shy, to pick us up.

Our first stop was at a limestone waterfall, where we started at the bottom and walked our way up to the top. The water was so cool and refreshing, especially in the dead heat and the scorching sun of the Thailand Spring. We later jumped back into the jeep and drove off road for a few hours to a zip-lining spot in the jungle, where we all enjoyed an exhilarated afternoon followed by a great lunch.

 

That night we stayed at a gorgeous resort by the bay. Even though we were exhausted, we still managed to spend hours over dinner and downed an entire bottle of Sansung (made in Thailand) whisky between the 5 of us (including our driver Shy).

 

At 7am the next morning we all gathered together again for breakfast. It was Game 7 day in the NHL playoffs, Leafs vs. Boston. We had the volume up high on the live radio feed from back home, cheering them on as the score was 4-1 in the last period. We almost turned off the radio as we were being rushed to leave and we were pretty sure the game was in the bag. It was a good thing we kept the radio on in the car, as we would have been devastated (even more so) to find out later that the leafs did what they do best, and buckle BADLY under pressure at the last moment.

 

Our itinerary for the afternoon took us to the Elephant Farm, where we got to watch an amazing elephant show and were given elephant and oxen rides. We felt like little kids at the circus, oooooing and aaahhhhhing at the elephants as they did tricks like hand stands, dances and even painted pictures.

 

Later in the afternoon we went "white water" rafting. Because it was dry season at the time, though, the waters in the river were pretty low and the rapids' grade was reduced to a 2 as compared to a 5 or 6 in rainy season. Regardless, we enjoyed our slow ride down the calm rapids, and our rafting guide was a lot of fun. After another delicious lunch we headed up the mountain on a 3 hour winding drive to Pai, a hippie town in the north. Our resort had a great view of the lush greenery in the mountains and we spent a couple of hours enjoying it poolside before dinner and a walk into town.

 

Our last day on the tour took us to a snake show (where Esther and Alice almost ran out in the middle with fear), Orchid Farm, and the Long Neck/Big Ear Village, where we met some local villagers that traditionally stretched their ears and necks. It was a great first week experiencing the loud and crazy Bangkok and the lush, quiet greenery of northern Thailand.

To our loyal and amazing readers,

With love from Bangkok,

 

 

D’Alice

Singapore!

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On May 5th we landed at Changi International airport in Singapore. Well dressed people of all nationalities were hustling and bustling in the huge, modern, and clean airport, and we quickly blended ourselves into the craziness. We made our way down to the metro system and followed our intricate step by step directions through the clean and well organized metro system to our hostel called ‘Footprints’ on Pekar Rd. in Little India.

 

After a long day of flying from Melbourne with a stop over in Darwin, Australia we were famished and regardless of the fact that it was almost 1:00 am we ventured out to find some food. The streets were packed with people and authentic Indian and Asian restaurants. It didn’t take us long before we found some amazing cheap food and a fellow backpacker to eat with, who we later went out for $13 pints with, as well.

 

Our first full day in Singapore was hot, humid, and difficult to breath, but we headed down Arab St. in search of an adventure. We stopped to eat outside at the ‘Yummy Punjabi’ and indulged in the most delicious Indian food we’d ever had. We ended up walking for 4 hours in the intense heat, checking out prices on day trips to Kuala Lampur (the capital of Malaysia, just next door), walked to the Sky flyer (the largest observation wheel in the world), and through the Millenium Mall (one of the many many malls in Singapore, and we were later told that shopping was the “national sport” of Singapore) before we made our way back for some relaxation time.

 

When it got dark we headed back out, taking the metro this time and took a quick ride down to China Town with another fellow traveller we had met, from England. We walked through the market and then headed down to Marina Square close to the downtown area. The square was a closed off area near the bay surrounded by restaurants and bars where you could sit and watch the tourist boats go by. Another 10 minutes of walking took us to Marina Bay where we got a great view of the Marina Bay Sands’ Hotel and Mall, the business district with various tall skyscrapers, and the super modern art/science museum.

 

We got there just in time for the nightly light show, where they blasted music to flashing laser lights coming off the very top of the hotel. The hotel was comprised of 3 skyscraper buildings with what looked like a cruise boat laying over top of them. The show was amazing and we managed to take enough pictures to last a life time. By the time we made it back to our hotel we tallied up another 4 hours onto our walk, making it a grand 8 hours total for the day. We were exhausted and it didn’t take much for us to get right to sleep.

 

The next day we hopped on the world’s best metro again, and took it to Orchard Rd, the mall district. The street was filled with mall after mall where you could walk either above or below ground to get around. One of the most recent malls in the area cost 2 billion dollars to build and was massive! It didn’t take us long before we started wishing we had thousands of dollars to spend in all the amazing high end stores, so we made a quick exit and headed back to our place for a lazy and rainy afternoon.

 

We found ourselves back on Arab St. and back to our favorite little Indian restaurant the next day. We spent some good time walking around the Arab village that day, looking into every nook and cranny of the area. 

 

That night, we went back to Marina Bay to try to catch the light show again and to look for the Bay Gardens. The gardens were just that, a beautifully landscaped garden on the other side of the famous hotel. At night, the garden was lit up by sky scraping pods that changed color every few minutes. Unfortunately we didn’t make it for the light show, but we did manage to find the garden and the pods and snap another few good pictures.

 

 

On our last day in Singapore, we walked to the Bugis Market about 10 minutes away from where we were staying. We spent a good part of the day walking up and down aisle after aisle of clothing, watches, accessories, shoes, food and bubble teas! Before we knew it, the day was coming to an end and we had to say goodbye to our favourite city thus far.  We made our way to the airport for our 7:30pm flight to Bangkok, Thailand!

 

 

Thanks for keeping up with us,

With love from the end of western civilization for a while,

 

D’Alice