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Published: March 10th 2008
We have settled well in Bangkok now and got up about midday today (Friday 7th). We needed to get Nick his last Hep B injection that he didn't have time for in the UK. So we started walking towards The Hospital for Tropical Diseases! Tuk tuk drivers along the way said they would take us for 250/300 baht, or 50 baht if we stopped in shops for them. Every Tuk tuk driver does this, they apparently get comission from the shops if they send you in, but sometimes its a deeper scam and you end up buying gems apparently! We eventually got a taxi for 150 baht after walking for 20 minutes or so. The hospital was easy to find and Nick got signed in really quickly and everyone was so helpful. He got his injection for about £7 and it was £20 in the UK, they wouldn't let us leave for 30 minutes after to make sure he was ok, in the UK they couldn't wait to get us out the door! We noticed on the way Bangkok Zoo was close by, so we headed in that direction. It was a long walk past the Army Base and when we
Bangkok Zoo
One of the TIGERS (edit), worryingly closearrived it was 100 baht entry (about £1.50). The zoo was great value and we spent about 4 hours there, it wasn't mentioned in any guides we read, but we saw all sorts of monkeys, bears, giraffes, zebra, lions, tigers, panther, cheeta, crocadille, hippos and loads more. The craziest thing was how close we were to them all, there was a river and wall between us and tigers at one point, no bars or cage! We think he could jump it if he wanted! The highlight for us was seeing a Bengal Tiger up close, it was massive and one of the only animals t be up walking about (it was hot). We then argued a Tuk tuk from 200 to 120 to get to Mcdonalds and closer to our guest house. We went out to update the blog about Bangkok and find out details about travelling to cambodia. Apparently local train, tuk tuk, then 4x4 is the cheapest way. We got our first hint of some rain today, but it didn't last long and was still boiling hot. We went out for a few drinks again in Khao San Road and in an unlicenced bars cocktail menu found a
cocktail simply called 'Gibson'. We tried one and it was good (gin, vodka and dry vermont - we think!). We got hassled by more tuk tuk drivers who wanted to take us to Patpong for the famous bizaare sex shows, but turned them down and got some sleep!
Next day we were up at 9.30am for our last day in bangkok (we will return in a month after cambodia, Vietnam and Laos). First stop today was China Town, it was buzzing and full of street traders and shops. The shops mostly sold fashion and food, and some of it smelt delightful! We saw China Town Gateway and had a nice chat there with a local about Liiverpool and Man Utd, everyone around here supports one of them two. We carried on past China Town to the train station. Outside we were approached by a lady asking what train we wanted to get adn where etc, she said VIP bus would be easier for us. We did our usual and just carried on to the train station, inside we were told the same thing so we went to investigate this bus. The bus was 1000 baht each, and we were
The Market
This was the outdoor section, slightly less stuffy! told it was 1 bus to border, get over the border and get another bus. This was much easier than 3rd class local trains and 4x4s, and only about £5 more, so we booked the bus to pick us up from the hostel. Next we wanted to get to the BTS sky train, this is like the undergound in Bangkok, but only has 2 lines and runs over the top of the whole city rather than under. We knew it was about 30 minutes walk which we were happy to do, a tuk tuk driver said he would do it for100 baht or 20 baht if we stopped in a shop, we said noa nd he said it would be free if we went to the shop, and showed us the 5 litre petrol voucher he would get if we visited the shop. We asked what the shop was and he said fashion, sounded easy to us, after all they couldnt be any more pushy than India. We hopped in and then spent about 5 minutes as requested looking at clothes as requested (the shop keeper was Indian suprisingly). After 5 minutes we said it was all too expensive (and
Fruit and Veg
As fresh as it comes! it was) and left, hopped back in our Tuk tuk who took us to the sky train - all at no cost! It was the easiest free journey ever, but not something we will be makign a habbit of! We then got the sky train over Bangkok to Chatucak Market, we had saved this to the weekend as it is apparently much better. The place was very cramped and sold almost everything possible, even had a pets section with every type of dog you can think of for sale. Seemed a bit too hot for them which wasnt nice. We didn't have much money on us but Adam brought a bargain magic trick, it was a floating card trick and cost a whopping 7 pence! Maybe a video coming soon. We were short on money after buying water, so had a long walk back from the sky train station to home, it was hot today too, hottest we have had so far. We headed out to Four Sons restaurant and had 2 mains each and a few beers, was delightful, plus they had saturday football on! We headed out to buy a few cheap things from Khao San Rd that
Our First bus
The second wasnt so nice! we wanted before leaving. Adam got 3 pairs of socks and some Diesel Sandles for £4 total. Then we washed some clothes in the sink (not so fun) and got some sleep.
We were up at 5am to depart Bangkok and at 630am a nice man was shouting from his minibus ' CAMBODIA CAMBODIA'. He was our guy and the bus was lush, we were first on it and it had aircon and reclining seats. We picked up all the other 10 guests from their hostels and headed for the border, it was a quiet journey and most people slept, but all this would soon change. We stopped just short of the border at a nice restaurant that also sorted all the visas for people who didn't have them yet, being so organised we both already had visas. We we sat on a table with an Austrailian guy (didn't catch his name) and 2 Swedish girls (Emma and Marlin), they were all a bit worried that thier passports had been taken off by these guys, but we all got some food and had some good chats about where we had all been etc. We then got to the border
Monopoly Money!
How can £70 be so many notes!?!?! exit for Thailand, we had not been given a departure card to fill out as we already had visas, so were sent to the back of the que leaving us behing our group a bit (we all had orange stickers and that was as offical as it got). We got out the exit and walked straight on, unsure if it was the correct way, but we eventually found an orange sticker person and got in cambodia with our e-visa no problems. This is where the fun started. We were all put in a new bus and taken about 1 mile, during this time we were told that the next 5 hours would be a very bumpy ride, and that there was no ATMs in Siem reap and only Cambodian Riel would eb accepted as Thai money was used for gambling. They stopped bus all at a rather unoffical looking money exchange, and the whole bus, in fear of having no spending money, proceeded to change large amounts of cash over. They had told us on the bus that $1 was 3300 riel, it turns out that its actually closer to 4000 riel. We only changed half of the money we
Angkor Thom
Second Temple we visited with the large unexplainable heads had due to suspicion, which we figured ment we were scammed about $40, but the whole bus changed money, and some much more than us. Before anyone realized, we were on another bus and driving to Siep Reap, with a whole new bus crew. The guide on this one was called Lee and was more interested in selling everyone his guest house than anything else, he handed out cards for it and suprisingly to us all it had an ATM right next to it. At this point people realized something was up, but it was all to late. Lee spent the next 4 hours trying to befriend everyone and get them to look at his guest house. It turned out we were to be dropped off there and not at the bus stop as expected, as apparently we would be scammed by taxis at the bus stop. This got Adam and some New Zealander quite angy as they had arranged pick up from the bus stop, we got in a bit of an agrument with Lee but decided we would just get off at his and make our own way from there. The journey in Cambodia before this and during
Angkor Wat
The most famous and first temple we saw in Siem Reap was our craziest yet. The roads were aweful and you won't believe how much the bus bounced until you see the video, other highhlights included going on 2 wheels and a big rock hitting the roof! We were on the back row which didn't help and Marlin (one of the Swedish girls) felt a bit sick towards the end, but we made it safely to Siem Reap, and it was fun bouncing for at least the first 2 hours. This Lee guy seemed a bit dodgy and its never a good idea to stay somewhere you are almost forced into, so the 2 Swedish girls asked if they could come with us and see where we planned to stay, Rosy Guest house. Once off the bus Lee refused to tell us where this was, after saying on the bus he knew, this was because apparently us 2 were taking business from him. Adam and him had a nice 'debate' about how no one on the bus even asked to come to his place etc. Anyway the NZ couple, 2 swedish girls and us 2 all walked off in search of our guest houses. The NZ couple went there own way
Adam and Emma on 'stairs'
'Climb at your own risk...' and us 4 and our big rucksacks squeezed into a moto (Cambodias verson of a tuk tuk). Suprisingly he took us staight to where we wanted for the agreed price, what a shock! We told him he has the most honest man in Cambodia and hopefully that made up for the tip we couldn't afford to give hm! Turned out Rosy Guest house had emailed to tell us they were full but the nice British owner recommended 2 other places for us and sent us that way. We soon found Ivy 2 Guest house a short walk away. This place was more down market than what we had staying in so far. We were shown a twin room, with no tv, no air con, and no hot water. But it did have a nice cold shower and some fans, and was a bargain $7 per night for the room, about £1.70 each! We decided to stay and Emma and Marlin took the room opposite us. We all met down at the bar for some drinks and exchanged travel horror stoies and had some laughs about the bumpy bus and crazy day we had. There was a helpful Oz girl behind
Popular spot!
Everywhere was quiet except here, trees all over this temple like this the bar how help us get our head around local prices and told us a bit about the area. We headed off to bed about 11pm and it was seriously hot and humid in the room, the fans did nothing! Adam saw a lizard in the bathroom after Nick fell asleep, but it was only about an inch long, but was still enough for Adam to set up his mosquito net for the first time on the trip.
Next day we got up at 9am and played a game of pool on the free table in the bar to start the day. Emma and Marlin walked past with some fruit from the shops that looked good so we headed out adn got some bananas and water. We got back and met the girls in the bar, they had the same plan as us for today, to see Angkor Wat and the temples of Siep Reap. We asked about prices at the bar and decided we would share a moto for the journey. The guest house ordered us a moto for $15 total for all 4 of us, we were unsure if this was return or just to take us
5 on a Bike
Did well to snap this while we were moving, looks like they posed for it! there. Turns out our driver ' Mr Kheang' would be much like Jimmy in India, he took us to each temple and waited outside, drove us about everywhere and dropped us back at the guest house, all for about £2 each. The main Temple Angkor Wat is stunning, it was built in the 12th century, we spent about 1 hour 30 in the main temple. We managed to actually get both of us in the same photo no we had some friends to take it for us! Then we were whisked off around the other temples, the names will mean nothing to you but the pictures will show the highlights. The second temple had some hugh faces engraved into it. The next was very steep and Adam and Emma braved climbing the 'stairs' while Nick and Marlin watched, and then eventually found some easier stairs around the other side. The next temple was almost as steep and very high, we all headed up the easiest of the 4 sets of stairs right to the top. Marlin it turns out is scared of heights and had some troubles getting down but we eventually made it. We then got some lunch (always noodles here) and headed around some more temples, one which had lot of interesting restoration work on it and the final temple that had trees growing all through it and around it, see the pictures for a better understanding. You can get 1,3 or 7 day passes but we all got 1 day ones, this cost $20 and included all the temples and some good toilets to use too! The tickets also had our photos printed on them so they can't be sold on! We got back 'The Ivy' and had cold showers, on the way we saw a new record: 5 people on 1 moped, and managed to snap a picture as we overtook them! The girls got some food while we went to search for an internet card, we had some wifi signal in the room. We brought some food and a $5 internet card, but due to a mix up with currency ended up with the card for free. Not our fault, but Cambodia's for trying to use two currencies - its madness! Everything is priced in Dollars, but they give small change in Riel, but people paying using either. We both played about 5 games of pool (Nick won most) and had some beers before heading off for another hot and humid sleep, it reached 98 degrees today. Turns our our pet lizard is still in the bathroom, and seems to be quite harmless! Today was one of the best yet, nice weather, nice temples, nice company (Hello girls if you ever read this!).
One more day to go in Siem Reap before we head south through Cambodia by boat to the capital Phnom Penh!
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Adam's Dad
non-member comment
Keep it coming!
I'm sure I can hear Adam shrieking on the bus too. Those stairs on that temple look suspiciously like a wall! Good luck in Cambodia.