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Published: February 19th 2008
So this almost 4 week trip has been absolutely amazing! I started off in Bangkok Thailand flying in from Macau and spent there 4 days. the first half of the trip I was with 3 of the other TA's; Ali, Jackie and Megan. We stayed on Ko San Road which is the main backpackers destination... Its sleazy, full of tourists and entertainment and pimps and ladyboys.. Nonetheless dirt cheap accomodation makes it worth it! After 4 days of checking out Bangkok and what it had to offer (The Royal Palace, Reclining Buddha, cruise on the river, floating market, and the sleazy nightlife) we left for Siem Reap, Cambodia. A four hour bus ride to the border with Cambodia, one hour to cross the border, and another 3 hour taxi ride got us to our guest house in Siem Reap.
Advisory: THE roads in Cambodia!!! From the broder to Siem Reap there are only pot holes and dirt roads, although driving at 60-80K"m we were mostly hovering over these potholes which was cool but oh so scary!!! I was certain I would have to help the driver replace a tire... I must say that on our return to Thailand they had
begun paving a real road!
Needless to say we had a delightful experience on the border... The official visa upon arrival fee is 20USD but the immigration officers charge everyone 1000Thai Baht which is around 33USD... Not much you can do about it really though. I guess they all split up the profits... Even on my visa they scratch out the 20USD. Other than that the Cambodian side is fine. And the Thai side is full of scammers who want to take your money and tell you you need a visa before crossing which is complete BS... Ok back to Siem Reap! Soooooooo touristy, mind you it is right by all the temples which include the majestic Ankgor Wat!
This was by far my favourite part of the trip! We stayed at an awesome guest house where the manager was super helpful! And we didnt have to raise a finger. Everything was done for us. The people in Cambodia are super friendly and speak English which was amazing coming from China where no one speaks English. Our tour of the temples were divided into 2 days. Day 1 included the short circuit of temples which is super
packed with them from 830am and ended at sunset up on a hill which was very nice. Then the next morning we returned to see the sunrise over the Angkor Wat temple and continued to do the big circuit. after lunch we left the temple area and headed with our tuk tuk driver to Tonle Sap - the largest lake in Cambodia and hired a boat for a few hours to take us on a cruise out in the lake. We passed by a floating village which was cool and got out to the open water were we all jumped out to swim and refresh outselves... our boat driver were captain Ron and lt. Ron jr. who were brothers... the older couldnt have been over 15 and the younger maybe 10. Very friendly!
the last day we rented bikes and rode out to the countryside which was amazingly beautiful. And everytime we passed a house all the children would come running out and wave and say hello and byebye which was very cute😊 I stopped to give a hi-five to a group of siblings... very cute indeed!
Every night we went out to downtown which had a distinctly
French feel to it. Super touristy, full of great restaurants offering everything you could want! and for great value too!! happy hour drinks were 1 USD and meals were 4-6USD!
Heading back to Thailand we stopped for 3 nights at Kao Yai National Park 2.5 hours north east of Bangkok (2000square K"M park of prestine rain forest!) We stayed at a place that provided us with a guide, and truck, and took us to the park the next morning to trek through the jungle and spot the wildlife! Driving at 30MPH the guide would tell the driver to stop, jump out of the car, jump on a bush and catch a snake! Amazing eyes!! haha😊 We ended up spotting Gibbons, Makaks, snakes which I was holding and playing with, Monitor lizzards devouring a deer carcas, birds such as the horned bill which is a huge bird, very beautiful!!! and last but not least a wild grown male elephant at night that charged us with a log! I have it on video on my cam and will try and post the video! haha😊 The trip also included going to a waterfall where we swam and got some refuge from an
extremely sweaty hike under the evergreen canopy!
The next day we left at 3 for a natural spring followed by a trip to a bat-cave to check out the bats that inhabit it! Different types of bats! The most amazing part was a trip at dusk/sunset to the outscirts of a bat cave where everyday 2 million bats leave their cave in search for food and feast! the hawks were soaring the skies waiting for the endless wave trail of bats heading out to feed! We were there for over half an hour and the black skied cloud did not seace! It was literally a wavy line of bats that spread out into the horizon and filled the sky! Completely amazing! 2 million!!! I have this too on video!
Next day we headed south and stopped on the way for a night in Ayuthaya which is the ancient capital of Thailand! Also a pretty place with temples of the likes of Angkor Wat but not as great! This city was built on and island surrounded by the convulgence of 4 rivers. Leaving to Bangkok we experienced 3rd class train travel in Thailand which was still not bad! fans
on the cieling, thank God, and hard wooden seat, nonetheless, not too bad for short journeys. People would go up and down the carts selling foods and drinks non-stop so whatever we needed was provided.
Arriving in Bangkok midday on Saturday to catch our night train south to Surat Thani, we had a few hours to kill and decided to go to the weekend market which was an interesting experience where the girls shopped till they dropped and I even got swept into a small shopping frenzy (well not really but I bought some gifts). We headed back to the train station and hopped on our car which was a 2nd class sleeper, very comfortable to be honest! 730am the next day we arrived in Surat and transferred to bus and then ferry to get to Ko Pan Gan Island.
A little paradise! I got myself a bungallow 5 meters from the ocean and chilled on the beach for 5 days! We arrived there in time for the Black moon party which is the half full moon party... bought a lot of buckets of alc, danced the night away on the beach to the tunes of different musics
and dj's (trance, techno, and hip hop) and met up randomly with 4 dutch guys that I met in Yangshuo China during Xmas who traveled south via Vietnam!
As part of the night entertainment options on the menu one could chose alc, hash, acid, other pills and a skipping rope and hoop on fire. I picked the alc and fire combo which turned out to be hot!
The skipping roap deal was a piece of cake so when they swithced to the fire hoop I was more than willing... first time easy as pie and the second I miscalculated my jump and burned myself really badly on my right upper calf and left knee... basically I burnt off my skin! and I have a little less hair on my left leg haha! but writing 2 weekslater I am definately healing!
I also went on a boat cruise around the island which included a snorkling dive trip which was a lot of fun although I must say that the Red Sea is way better! But they do say that the best places in Thailand to dive and snorkel are Ko Tao and Ko Pi Pi islands.
I
left the girls on the island and booked myself a ticket further south to Malaysia... Leaving 6am I arrived via Hat Yai in Georgetown Penang Island in Northern Malaysia at night on the 2nd day of Chinese new year friday night in one of the most touristy destinations in Malaysia. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was absolutely no accomodation available anywhere!!!! So I was walking around for 2 hours from hostel to hostel getting rejected until I decided to go to the pricy hotels and still kept getting rejected! Finally I found one hotel that had 2 rooms left! YES PLZ GIVE IT TO ME I DONT CARE WHAT THE PRICE WAS IT WENT ON MY CREDIT CARD!
A nice room, comfy bed, A/C and me colapsing instantaneously!
The next day I went site seeing and did what there was to do going through the colonial sites of G-town which used to be British (as was the whole of Malaysia until '57). I had enough of that place and wanted to get out but of course due to my ill planning still the fiesta of Chinese new year was going on strong and I could not get a single ticket
on a bus to leave Penang island... So I took the ferry to Butterworth's completely caotic bus station which looks like a dump! And could not find a ticket to Melaka which was my next destination... Finally I was able to get a ticket to Kuala Lumpur and then I could connect from there to Melaka which lies further south.
I left at 1AM heading to KL and arrived in Melaka noon of the next day! Here I decided not to take any chances and booked a hostel while I was still in G-town. Although The festing had begun to subside energies were still high and Melaka was soooooo much more relaxed and chill and fun!!! This town has a great vibe! It was a major trading port in previous centuries first under Malay sultanate, then Portugese, Dutch, and finally British... This city has a lot of history and a really cool China town so I was practising my Chinese! And ppl were very suprised indeed!
Malaysia is quite unique in the sense that you have all these cultures and religions living together... Don't get me wrong it is a Muslim country yet there are 10% Indians, and
20% Chinese here! Also the religions include: Islam 60% (mostly Malay but also some Chinese and Indian), Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, christian and apparently Georgetown had Jews living there and they also have a Jewish cemetary... the last recorded Jewish burial took place in the 1970's.
After visiting Melaka I got a ride from the hostel owner who was on his way north to Kuala Lumpur the capital of Malaysia. This city is very vibrant and green! I went up to the tallest building in Malaysia at 452 meters high - The Petronas Towers, and one of the tallest in the world. Then I went to this great Islamic Arts Museum which shows the Islamic development in South East Asia including India and Iran with small bits from the Middle East. It included artifacts, texts, textiles, clothing, furniture, arms, jewlery, and much more. For my last day I headed to the Menara Tower (KL Tower) and was able to get all the way up to the top. It is a broadcasting tower which has a rotating restaurant at the top. Looking down from the hieght of 370 meters I felt quite sick, but looking out at the horizon was beautiful.
The landscape of the city is very harmoneous to the eyes, and also one of the cleanest I have been to.
the food here its really cool... its a mix of Asian foods, and so far Ive been eating a fusion of Indo-Chinese-Malay cuisine! For breakfast try Nasi Le Mak which is rice in coconut milk with spicy tomato sauce with dried fish served with a boiled egg and veggies, or a rotti from an indian shop!
Malaysia is also super easy to get around in because everyone speaks English for the most part and the transport is amazing in this country! Unlike Thailand and definately not backward (potholed Cambodia) here they have supreme highways and subways, trains, monorails, and buses which are from the 21st century!
I was even able to practice some Arabic speaking to a Moroccan reastaurant owner where I had dinner (shawarma and hummus😊)
It was interesting that wherever I stayed next door there was a mosque and right next to the mosque ou had a Chinese or Hindu temple!
I definately want to go back to Malaysia!!
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yan
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amazing trip~~