Day 8: Island arrival, Ko Phangan

Our morning flight was from Don Meuang airport down to Surat Thani province. This quirky little airport had been our gateway to Phnom Penh. It has a golf course right off the tarmac - odd! It was a quick jump down to Surat Thani city, which is mostly a transportation hub town. We found a bus/ferry combo at the Raja Ferry kiosk and were quickly whisked onto the bus. You have to travel to Donsak pier first to get to any of the islands.

The whole process, while utilizing three separate transport means (air, bus, boat) was actually very easy and enjoyable. And, aside from the gross-out sounds of a woman puking her guts out from seasickness on the ferry, it was a seamless process and we were at our next hotel by early afternoon.

Ko Phangan is the so-called "middle child" island, between Ko Samu and Koh Tao, and also between them in size. With white-sand beaches and waterfalls, it also hosts occasional parties on Haad Rin beach like the famous full-moon party. We had reserved a beach-side bungalow at V-View on the southwest side. It was a dreamy, relaxed atmosphere and really the highlight of the whole island for us. The staff was friendly and the travelers were in full chill mode.

We relaxed in the hammocks and swam in the ocean for a couple hours. Then, perhaps to Nicole's dismay, my restless desire for more activity-based fun soon took hold and I asked to rent a motorbike from the guest-house. Soon, a woman and her two children showed up with two motorbikes. We told her we only wanted one, she charged 200 baht for 24 hours, and made me sign a paper and hand over my passport in exchange. Her little one was cute running around with a helmet.

We were soon on our way to explore the island after putting a couple of liters in the tank. Many little shops by the roadsides in Thailand sell recycled bottles full of gas. But, while getting the feel of the bike and its turning style, I misjudged a turn and went into some sandy, bumpy road. We slid onto the bikes side, scraping the side up and popping a mirror off. My right arm was road-rashed along with my right knee and Nicole's hand. Shaken, we got back on and continued. We tried to make it up through the middle of the island but Nicole didn't like the elevation and curves of the road (she had a point) so we decided to turn back, filling the tank on the way.

note my stubborn determined look

We grabbed some Mexican food and margeritas for dinner at a place called Ando Loco which was excellent and a nice break from Thai food. Relaxing on the beach at night was awesome and we could watch movies playing out on the beach at the place next door to us. We went to bed and, after laughing at some lines from "Tropic Thunder" drifting their way into the bungalow, fell asleep.

- C

Day 7: Taking it easy in the Thai capitol

My stomach was better in the morning, but not back to normal. Nicole and I decided to take it slow and make use of the laundry option to wash our clothes at the hotel. We agreed that we were glad we had already hit some of the main sights in the city on our first day there. We talked about trying to see a floating market but realized that even early afternoon would have been too late in the day for them. Most are located outside the city anyhow.

We transfered hotels, but had some difficulty finding a taxi that wanted to take us near that part of the city due to the protesters who want to shut down the government. They believe that the current prime minister is just part of a corrupt cycle of family connections and not a representation of true democracy, so they want to install their own people. They are in the minority for supporting this change, however, as there is much support still throughout Northern Thailand. Walking through the streets where the protesters were, we were able to see and buy patriotic items from street vendors while watching a speaker talk on a big screen. We just hoped nothing turned violent while we were there.

Our next hotel, The Viengtai, was just one street over from popular Khao San Rd. - a moderately sized hotel with a basic, but charming feel. We decided to grab lunch across the street (an appropriately bland one for myself) and head over to Wat Arun, located to the southwest of the Grand Palace.

You have to take a ferry across Mae Nam Chao Phraya river, which costs 10 baht, or about 3 cents and it takes just a few minutes. Wat Arun is a spectacular temple, Khmer style, with incredibly steep stairs leading up to the second and third tiers - even steeper than those we encountered at Bayon and Angkor Thom. Visitors gripped tightly to the railing on the way to view the sunset and the surface of the temple, glittering with broken ceramic, colored tiles, and gold. Truly a breathtaking panorama of Bangkok from here, and even prettier when the sun went down and orange colored lights turned on to wash the whole temple in a golden hue.

We made our way back and tried searching for a place called Ranee's, which was supposed to be a good restaurant. Walking down the backroad, we were approached by a European-looking dude, who softly said, "Hello guys... are you looking for... anything?" We said we were not. We joked later about saying, "We're not looking, we've already found Jesus. Have you found Him?" and launching into a tirade that would have caused his smirk to fade pretty quickly. We found the restaurant, ordered an Italian noodle fusion dish, a fish burger and a large Chang beer. It was a tranquil end to what was a somewhat mellow day. But we could feel our anticipation rising for the next morning when we would fly south to the gulf side islands!

- C

Day 6: Return to Bangkok, Sukhumvit

We left Siem Reap early to catch a direct bus to Bangkok. It was supposedly the only one in town according to many of the travel websites, though many other agencies in town were advertising similar trips. It was a bit pricey and they told us it should take about 6 hours. We enjoyed some of the Western Cambodian countryside before arriving a couple hours later in the border town of Poipet.

Neither of us could remember the last time we did a land border crossing. It was odd walking through the small town, trudging up some stairs to the border office, and waiting in line for over an hour just to climb down another flight of stairs into Thailand. As we waited for the bus to proceed, we chatted with a British man and marveled at the two wheeled carts, piled to the sky with goods, crossing the border with just one or two people pulling them by hand. There was almost a slow-motion accident involving one.

Finally, we were on our way again, for not 4, not 5, but about 6 MORE hours. All in all, we agreed, we would not have done that again. We lost a good part of the day to travel when a bit of money more would have bought us a quick hop by plane.

Tired from the ride, we checked into the Phachara Suites, which is an outstanding modern hotel in a ritzy area of Bangkok known as Sukhumvit. It seemed to be geared towards business travelers with extended stay, as it was essentially an apartment complete with stove and washer/dryer. Hooray Wells Fargo rewards points. We ventured out for some dinner at a Chinese noodle shop in the heart of town. The meal was spicy, but delicious.

Walking through Sukhumvit is like a strange science-fiction version of the future, where every imaginable culture is represented in some small way, crammed into neon-lit streets. A bit what I imagine Hong Kong to look like. A predominant influence was muslim Arabs, some of the women wore a full niqab. Nicole was greeted by a man, saying "Welcome madam" in a sultry voice. We saw a couple of women wearing what we later found out to be called a batula/batoola: a gold face mask covering the nose area as a kind of "veil", similar to this one:

We stumbled onto an area that we had heard about as being the "red light district" of Bangkok known as Soi Cowboy. The bars, bathed in red neon light, were filled with scantily dressed women (and a few ladyboys) beckoning businessmen and tourist-looking single men in to play pool, have a drink, etc... They didn't seem to quite know what to do with Nicole and I, so we just strolled through. These startling contrasts to the women a few streets over decreed by their religion to cover head to toe, were interesting to see.

The night took a turn for the worse as I came down with a case of food poisoning. Damn that cheap, delicious Chinese food. I slumped into bed as Nicole tended to me.

 

- C

Day 5: Angkor Wat

Chris and I awoke at 4:30 am in order to see the sunrise over the majestic ruins of Angkor Wat. We also woke up that early to give us enough time to ride rented bicycles to the ruins. We rented the bikes for two dollars each from a very tired hotel worker who also let us out of the gated-up guest house we were staying at. We rode in the darkness and through the jungles to get to the ruins. While I was initially skeptical, I quickly discoverd that this was best way to go. There is something very viseral and honest about riding bikes. We had to stop half way there to buy the tickets to the ruins. Once purchased, we headed up to Angkor Wat. We entered the Wat in almost total darkness but could plainly see the rising towers and the impressive moat. 

We watched the sky lighten and decided to start looking around. While waiting for the sun to rise I also bought a few silk scarves for some of my friends! 

After Angkor Wat, we decided to bike to Ta Prohm. We got mixed directions and ended up taking the wrong road. It wasn't really a problem as the detour we took led us to this beautiful little village with beautiful scenery. We got to ride past rice paddies, water buffalo, and people working the fields. Chris eventually asked directions and we turned back and found the right place. I'll let the beauty of the ruins speak for themselves. 

After Ta Prohm, we went to forage for food. Unfortunately, Chris' bike got a flat tire. He was able to refill the tire enough to get to a little restaurant off the side of the road. I was feeling adventurous and picked something random off of the menu, which turned out to be a delicious soup. Chris got a noodle dish and we also ordered a coconut to drink. Everything was amazing! 

As we headed out Chris had to refill his tire again, which was a little worrisome. The air lasted only about half way to Angor Thom, the next ruin on our trip. At this point we were about 3km away. He ended up having to walk the bike for a bit. When nearing one of the gates to the ancient city of Angkor Thom a little girl selling post cards said she could help Chris fix his bike. We figured this was doubtful, but decided to follow her. She led us to her family's little hut slightly off of the road. She called out to her grandfather who then proceeded to patch the wheel and fix the hole. It was really cool and interesting. He involved all four of the small children who were very interested in the process and in us. On a side note, the children of Cambodia are ridiculously cute. It was hard not to take them home with us! We were so grateful and tried to give them all the money we had, which was in three currencies. As we were leaving the smallest child, who was around 4, gave me a big grin and said, "good luck to you in your life." We didn't take any photos of this exchange, but it was a really nice memory and a good anecdote to the level of kindness we were shown in Cambodia. 

We then went over to Angkor Thom, which also housed the ruins of Bayon, my favorite of all the ruins. Angkor Thom is a sprawling campus as it used to hold an entire city of royalty, religious leaders, and others who lived in the kingdom. Again, I'll let ruins speak for themselves. 

After we finished climbing around the ruins we started our biking treck back to the guest house. On way out of the gates of Angkor Thom, we sang the Indiana Jones theme song. It was really fun and silly. Almost immediately after, we ran into some elephants quickly followed by monkeys playing on the side of the road. I was beside myself with giddiness. It was just so cool! 

Once we got back into Siem Reap the roads were much more crowed than they were at 5 am. You would think that it would be scary to ride around with the motorbikes and the tuk tuks, but honestly it was really fun. I also felt really connected to the city and to the people while riding in Siem Reap. There is a pulse in the streets that is hard to feel unless you are in it. 

When we got back to the guest house, my legs and my behind were very tired and bruised from riding over 20 miles! We rested for a bit before heading out for dinner and buying some gifts to bring home. Overall, this was one of the most exciting and fun days of my life. I feel so privileged to be able to experience such beauty. I really fell in love with Cambodia and would very much like to come back for an extended period of time. I half thought of quitting grad school and moving to Siem Reap!

- N