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Published: February 13th 2007
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Kayaking in Phuket
The caves were amazing! After leaving Pai, we decided to make our way down the coast to Phuket. We started our long journey by bus to Chiang Mai down the windiest road any of us had ever seen. It was a beautiful ride through the mountains despite the cramped conditions of our bus. After ariving in Chiang Mai we took a tuk tuk to the the bus station and got our ticket to Bangkok on an over night bus. While Andrew and Nathan were sleep deprived, Trevor was being hit on by a gay bus attendent. All in all it was not a great bus ride. After our 12 hour haul we made it to Bangkok and opted for a more confortable sleeper train down to Surat Thani. The train ride down the coast was a great break because we got to lay down and sleep. Although Nathan still had difficulty sleeping. After 12 hours of training we arived at two in the morning in Surat Thani. From the station we made our way to a bus station that was not in a nice part of town. We then waited for 6 more hours to catch the bus to Phuket.
We arived at noon
Trev and Nathan!
In a van, down the windy road to Pai and found a guesthouse. After some searching we found a cheap place with a nice warm shower but decided not to sleep because we all wanted to go to the beach. The beach was amazing. Although we were tired it was worth the walk down to the beach. Phuket was a great vacation from our vacation and it gave us all a chance to recooperate from our previous sicknesses. While in Phuket we ate great food and played in the waves giggling like school childeren(haha). We even did a tour one day, which included sea kayaking throuhout caves, going to see James Bond Island where the Man With The Golden Gun was filmed, as well as did a short elephant trek. That night we we had to say goodbye to Phuket and made our way back up to Bangkok to see Nathan off. We could not let nathan leave without stopping at Trev and I's favorite town of Prachuap Khiri Khan.
There we met some local kids who showed us around a temple and taught us how to deal with the mischievious monkeys. The next day we did our favorite hike so far with Nathan and a couple from
Vancouver. We had previously made great friends with a very dear old woman that cooked us great meals. She charged us ridiculously cheap prices and always gave us extra food. We gave her hugs as we left and she told us that she was our mother in Thailand.
Our trip up to Bangkok was uneventful and comfortable. Once again we went to MBK shopping center so Nathan could shop and so we could buy warm clothing for China! The following morning we said our goodbyes to Nate. The next day we bought two bus tickets to Siem Reap in Cambodia. The bus ride to the border was great and air conditioned. At the border we waited in line for about an hour in the heat of the day then discovered that we were suppost to have arranged our visas before-hand. We talked to a border guard and he got our visas for us but we later found out he ripped us of 15 dollars each. After our upsetting border experience we were shocked to see Cambodia.
The difference was day and night from Thailand! We had truly entered a third world country. We heard the main road from
the border to Siem Reap was worse than BC logging roads, and it wasn't a lie. The bus was over seated and arrived four hours late. After a ride like that even the most uncomfortable rides beforehand were a walk in the park. We were shocked at how poor the country was and the cheapness of everything. Our roor was very nice and clean, it even included a no guns and grenades sign. We only payed 5 amarican dollars a night. The following morning we hired a tuk tuk driver for the whole day from 8am till 6pm for ten dollars and went straight to Angkor Wat. We were both amazed by its size and the amount of area the ruins covered. We explored 7 ruins by the end of the day. We were amazed at how little restrictions there were on where you could go, you could climb and go pretty much any where. We even by accident got within a few feet of the Vietnamese Prime Minister and got pushed away by his personal guards. It was a great place to see and we both loved exploring it. The number of poor here is staggering and there are
many people especially childeren missing limbs because of the many land mines still scattered around the countryside. We had even read not to step off the road just in case. We are slowly getting used to this new environment and are really enjoying ourselves here. We are now in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. We are shortly off to Vietnam and then on to China.
Miss you all loads, and always love to hear your comments. Thanks for reading! Trevor and Andrew.
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Granny Pat
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Cambodia
Fascinating pictures of Angkor Wat. Impressed with your guest house in Siem Reap. I think you were lucky to get over the border even for currency exchange. Happy to hear you are planning on warm clothes for your Long March to China. See lots of Viet Nam. Love to both. Granny Pat.