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Cambodia…back to the 3…

Friday, December 14th, 2007

Okay, I really hate that term 3rd world, but if the shoe fits…

We kind of started things out with typical fashion. We slept in the airport. By choice. We had a 7 am flight to Cambodia and we just decided it was easier to sleep in the airport than get up at 4 am, having to find a taxi and all that. Plus, we were just being cheap – if we went the night before we wouldn’t have to pay for accomodations that night and we could take cheap public transport instead of I’m sure a lovely taxi that would jack up the price since it’s 4 am. It really wasn’t so bad. We had stayed at the airport previously but we were inside the departure area. This time we couldn’t check in until the following morning so we were outside – there were tons of restaurants open late and some really uncomfortable chairs but it was only for a few hours anyway…

Anyway, we took a flight on Air Asia after hearing the horror stories of going overland from Bangkok to Cambodia – I’m sure they aren’t as bad as they sound but the plane ticket was pretty cheap so we went this route. Our guesthouse, Sunday, came and picked us up in the slowest tuk-tuk. I mean the Thailand ones go way faster. When you’re being passed by bikes you know you aen’t going very fast…I’m sure it has nothing to do with there being 5 of us stuffed into it!

So, being without a guidebook, we picked up a cartoon map at the airport and found this tourist throwaway which actually had a pretty good map in it – these would be our guides for the time we’re in Phnom Penh…

But first things first – we had to get a visa for Thailand. Because we kind of didn’t plan very well. And we were going to stay 35 days. For Americans we automatically get this visa-exempt 30 day thing but we’d be staying 35 days. And we didn’t really want to have to do a visa run since we’d be in the north (I guess they’re pretty common but it just seemed like it would cost more to do the visa run then just go get a 60 day visa). If we’d be in the south we’d go just visa run to Malaysia but it seemed a bit shadier going over the border to Myanmar. Little did we know what a pain in the butt it would be. We go to the Embassy armed with our passports, our plane tickets out of Thailand, our receipt for accomodations in Thailand…and after an hour of waiting and watching all these Cambodians cut in line…the lady looked at our e-ticket and said it didn’t look like an e-ticket – so we pull out our connecting flights to Argentina…and she still looked at us like we were criminals and told us to come back at 3 pm to see if the e-tickets would work as our exit out of Thailand. We went back at 3 pm where she said like 2 words to us besides “give me $70 for the visas.” We are hopeful we have a lovely sticker in our passports at 3 pm 6 December. Which would have been 5 December (3 day turnaround) except for the Thai king’s b-day which of course they have off. Wonderful.

So after all that running back and forth between the embassy and our guest house we found a place in the tourist throw-away called Friends that said they had good margaritas. Okay, we’re sold. It actually ended up being a restaurant that trained street kids. Very cool. And very Ro (which I thought was funny after I reread her e-mails about her trip to Cambodia and she mentioned this restaurant). And very good margaritas. We had a couple of drinks and tapas and then headed to an Indian restaurant that had been mentioned in the throwaway and I had seen in the lonely planet (yes, I had written stuff down in a bookstore – so sue me). It was run by Indian people (always a plus!) and was very good. After that we went and crashed since we hadn’t slept in a while.

The weirdest thing so far about this country is that things are paid for in both US dollars and Cambodian Riels. You go to the cash machine and it gives you US dollars. Which is semi-convenient considering the Riel is 4,000 to 1 and so you’d be carrying around a huge stack of bills. But it still is really strange. But they don’t use the US change. So you’ll get something at the grocery store and it will be $1.25. So you’d give them $1 USD and 1,000 Riels. On street food you use the Riel and in local restaurants; but otherwise you use the US dollar.

It’s quite a jolt back to reality since you actually know how much you’re spending. I mean, when you have to convert it from whatever currency it makes it seem kind of unreal – I mean, we track our spending at the end of the day but it isn’t as real as when you say something like that pirated DVD is 2 USD. Even though in Thailand they’re like 100 Baht (3 USD) it seems cheaper since it’s quoted in Baht. Yes, it’s totally psychological but hey, this whole journey we’re going through is pretty much psychological…

Beaching out…

Friday, December 14th, 2007

which goes to both Koh Jam and Koh Lanta – mid-trip the ferry stopped and we were transferred to long-tailed boats.

Koh Jam is definitely a bit rustic – not a ton to do and there is electricity from 6 pm to 12 am. I think most people just sleep here. This one girl that got off the boat with us must have slept like 15 hours a day. So we stayed a couple of days and all we really did was sleep, drink, walk the beach, take a couple of dips in the water and chat with the other people there. We would have stayed longer but the beach was really rocky. Like, we were going into the water with our Tevas on. And that’s not very fun. I mean, we’re picturing the Thailand beaches like in the pictures. So off to Koh Lanta we go…

So we got back on the long-tail boat and caught the Koh Lanta ferry the rest of the way and found our way to the Red Snapper – a restaurant that has rooms for rent in the back that was recommended to us by a couple we had met in Krabi. It was run by a Dutch couple that was really nice – nice rooms and fairly close walk to the beach. And the sand here was much better. So we did what you do in beach towns – lie around a lot. And caught up on some movies – like Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – kind of confusing in my personal opinion…

We headed back to Krabi after several days and went to Ao Nang one day, which is the closest beachy town and then on a snorkelling trip with like 50 of our closest friends. We went on this 4-island deal which turned out to be pretty lame, but what do you expect for 450 Baht. It’s so funny how different people are. I mean, most of the “Westerners” strip-down to your bathing suit, grab some snorkelling equipment, jump in the water and start snorkelling. While the Thai people went in with t-shirts and shorts, life-jackets and stayed in a clump pretty close to the boat. The next island was a bit-better since we were in deep water so you pretty much had to snorkel but the next one you could get to the beach so the majority of the people headed to walk on the beach while we were left to look at the beautiful fishes in fairly shallow water. Let me just say that John, well, he doesn’t really like the deep water. The next island had the most gorgeous sand where we had lunch and the last one was your typical island.

We think next time we’re going to hire out a long-tailed boat and just tell him where we want to go. But we didn’t know – that just means we have to come back!

Anyway, we headed back to Bangkok the next day and stayed at the Asha Guesthouse which was on the Skytrain line so we were able to take a local bus to the Skytrain and then headed to the guesthouse from there. It was pretty cool – we made reservations to stay there again when we come back from Cambodia…

On to Thailand…

Friday, December 14th, 2007
So after our trip to Taiwan and it being kind of cold, we decided after a few days to hit the beach!  And since it was the beginning of high season we figured in order to miss some of the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Really shouldn’t…

Friday, December 14th, 2007
Put off writing this blog. And really shouldn't sell the Taiwan book in exchange for the Thailand book before you have gotten all the places we've been out of the Taiwan book. Because, now, I have no clue ... [Continue reading this entry]

Back home…to Taipei

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

We're not really sure why, but we have felt really at home in this country.  And now that we're about to leave it's becoming really weird.

The people are sooo friendly here, the food is really good, and it's reasonably cheap.  ... [Continue reading this entry]