bally10

Feb. 18 - Originally we didn't plan to go to Chiang Mai, but after a number of recommendations, we decided to fit it in. The easiest way to fit it in was at the end of the trip, not ideal, but we made it work. Unfortunately it meant losing a full day to travel. Ferry from Koh Phi Phi to Phuket, transfer to airport, flight to Bangkok, then to Chiang Mai. Feb. 19 - Chiang Mai is about 700 km's north of Bangkok and is the biggest city in northern Thailand. Its located right by the country's biggest mountains and is where most tourists come to do jungle treks, elephant treks, and quite a bit of adventure travel. We were not taking in any of that, we came just to get a feel for the ... read more

We had arranged with the tour company to book a driver to take us from the pier at Cheow Lan Lake to Railay Beach, where we had a room booked at the Railay Garden View hotel. The ride was about 3 hours, but was comfortable and fine until the driver stopped in Krabi town at a tour company to try and sell us overpriced hotels and ferry transfers. I think he knew we weren't interested when I told him we weren't getting out of the van. Anyways, we continued on to the pier to catch a longtail boat to Railay beach, as there is no where to get there by land. We arrived at about 5pm, which causes a bit of a problem as its low tide. I had read this before I left but wasn't ... read more

Although Melissa and I have never been big fans of the package tour, we chose the easy route and booked a day trip to Ayuthaya with our hotel for 850 baht each. The day began pretty early with a minibus pickup, then to a meeting point to meet up with the other passengers. Our van was full of a younger Japanese couple and their friend, a Japanese family of 4, 2 girls from Malaysia, and another couple from somewhere in Europe. No details required, but we once again found that some Japanese people really can be quite rude. Ayutthaya was the capital city of Thailand from 1350 to 1767, when it was basically destroyed by the invading Burmese army. The remaining Ayutthaya historical park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1976 and contains some ... read more

The day began early with a 4:30 wake up to meet Puk and drive out to Angkor Wat to catch the sunrise. It was the last day of our temple passes, and we had taken the recommendation of some guidebooks to save the biggest and most well known temple until the last. As with our sunset, we joined the thousand or so other tourist for this event. Another recommendation from the trusty Lonely Planet was to stick around after sunrise to explore Angkor Wat, as most of the tour groups go back to town for breakfast, then come back. Angkor Wat is the flagstone temple, appearing on the national flag and some of the local currency. It was built in the early 12th century by King Suryavarman II as a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu and ... read more

Our Hong Kong to Phnom Penh flight was with Dragonair, who we'd never heard of (Melissa had some visions of a rickety old plane), but is actually owned by Cathay Pacific and was just fine. We even got a meal on the 3 hour flight, which can come as a bit of a shock after spending so much time travelling within North America, where you hardly even get a bag of peanuts anymore. After making our way through customs, and paying our $20 Visa fee (Cambodia uses mostly US currency for large items, the local riel for smaller amounts), we grabbed a cab and headed to the hotel. It didn't take long to realize you're in southeast asia. The cab driver spent the first part of the drive trying to figure out whether he could take ... read more