Turkey in Thailand ... not

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This is a bit later than expected. Sorry to those who are patiently waiting for an update. Most was drafted pre Christmas, so we've added a ps about the Philippines though there will be a full update on that at a later stage. While the titles say Thailand, this covers Cambodia (and Malaysia) too.

So, as 2009 draws to a close (told you we wrote it pre Christmas) it's time to take stock of nearly 5 months of travel. The passports tell us we have visited 10 countries (3 of them twice) requiring 8 visas and collected 36 stamps in the process.

It's been manic and we don't think we have spent enough time in any one of the ten to say we have truly visited them or got to know their culture. There are a lot of return journeys to be made to Asia.

Since we last put fingers to keyboard, both Nic's birthday and Christmas (and now New Year) have passed. The former celebrated with lasagne and red wine (fast becoming our staple treat), the latter with more food than a Roman orgy owing to Paul's parents having a non budget conscious bank balance. Any reduction in our waistlines before 27th November had been overcome by 27th December.

Our first stop in Thailand was Chiang Mai. It was expected to be cool, owing to it's proximity to the mountains but delivered nothing less than 30 degrees. Popular for it's outdoor pursuits and the centre of the country's hiking industry we trekked as far as the old city walls and its night markets. We had no idea Tiffany & Co had so many outlets on one street in Thailand and that Kevin Kline underwear would be available on every other stall. The real low blow came not from the stalls, but standing on one corner of the crossroads with the other 3 corners being frequented by MacDonalds, Burger King and Starbucks. The indigenous market was much less crass, had great food stalls, and some proper bargains.

We chose to stay in a reasonably upmarket hotel for Nic's birthday. The irony was that Paul received the present, not Nic, as someone had left a Ralf Loren polo shirt in the wardrobe ... the right size too!

Sukhothai proved a bit of a gem in an otherwise tedious country. Boredom of overcrowded cities and tourist meccas is easily achieved in Thailand, so the reward of tuk-tuk drivers charging reasonable rates and genuinely helpful staff at the Garden House hotel was fantastic.

The old town, the original capital of a truly Thai state, is divided into 3 parts, all accessible by bicycle within one day. Mainly ruins, there has been some considerate restoration and you get to enjoy it all in the company of at least 30 or so other tourists. In a site covering the area of Bluewater and Lakeside put together, that's fairly peaceful. But nowhere near as quiet as Si Satchanalai. We must have bumped into at least 10 other tourists here and got a preview of what was to come in Angkor with some Khmer architecture.

Keen not to get templed out, we moved onto Bangkok. Images of the sultry Sylvia Krystal traipsing round the cities balmy canals and riding tuk-tuks (among other things) are blown away in our first bus journey. Subsequent forays into the public transport system prove no better, sometimes taking 2 hours just to get 5km across the city ... on top of that we arrived during the build up to the King's 82nd Birthday celebrations. Roads closed due to street parties just added to our bus related woes. So it seemed a good idea to leave before the real party got started, until we found that we had woken at 4am just to be standing in a 3rd class train carriage for a 5 hour journey to the border.

We did manage to get a seat, to share, after about 3 hours, and by then we were in no mood for the scam-meisters at the border. However, if you ignore the 'help' on the Thai side (immigration rarely work out of wooden huts even in this part of the world) and hand over your visa application with $20 at Poipet, the officials there seem to have tired of trying to scam a few dollars more. They will still tell you it is $25 if you happen to ask though!

All of which brings us to our first major excitement of the trip. Don't get us wrong, it has been a brilliant trip so far - even the rubbish places - but Angkor is the sort of place you just get tingles with the anticipation.

Regardless of how many people you share the experience with (about 2000 for sunrise at Angkor Wat), it delivers.

The magnitude of Angkor Wat is awesome. The Bayon with its eerie faces peering at you from all angles is humbling (as it was meant to be for Jayavarman VII's citizens). Banteay Srei is a masterclass in how to restore ancient monuments. Ta Phrom is a perfect argument for leaving the ruins as nature intended.

We expected lots from Angkor, and in 3 days got just that. And still left plenty unexplored.

As a sideline to one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world, Siem Reap have drafted in legions of tiny cleaner fish to help you over a hard day walking the ruins. Nic was mightily taken by the feel of having her feet immersed in a kiddies paddling pool, beer in hand, while the little fellows nibble away the dead skin during the most unusual pedicure on earth. So much so, she went back for more.

Phnom Penh was never going to impress after this - it is a pretty poor excuse for a capital city. It is not frantic enough to compete with Hanoi or Bangkok. Like Vientiane it is based on the banks of the Mekong but has none of the charm of its smaller counterpart. So after 4 illness induced days here, it's off to the beach.

Krong Koh Kong is on the border of Cambodia with Thailand and fast becoming a gateway for eco-tourism. We ventured to Kor Pow, a picturesque set of waterfalls and to Koh Kong Island. The island is being touted in Lonely Planet as 'the' place to go before it gets busy. You can't stay on the island (or even venture inland of the beaches) and there are locals living there so it is not as if you get a castaway paradise ... what you do get are sandfly bites. Lots and lots of sandfly bites! As for the eco-tourism, everyone we met got driven to the forests of the Cardamon Mountains and only hiked for a couple of hours tops. Give it 5 years and these fantastic mountains will no doubt be served by better eco-tourism (currently still in its infancy) but we would give the island a miss.

Back in Thailand we headed for some diving in Koh Tao. It's the wrong time of year for perfect visibility, but it was good enough to see the Bull shark just 20 feet away! Having dived with sleek looking, smallish reef sharks (and at a distance, Hammerheads), this was a totally different experience. For one it was about 8 ft long, not the usual 4 - 5 ft, but the real difference was its bulk. Nothing slender and soft looking about this shark ... pure muscle. Like getting in the boxing ring expecting Manny Pacquiao and getting Mike Tyson instead. Fair to say Paul crapped his pants. But that was 4 days later on dry land and a totally different story.

A short hop to Koh Samui and we found Paul's parents waiting in our hotel lobby. Not exactly a surprise, but brilliant to see them in the flesh. bearing gifts of clean clothes from Nic's mum - excellent! Our Christmas present from Ma & Pa Birch was food. All week. Perfect! Unfortunately something spicy that Paul ate had a rather swift effect on him (Tim Clark will relate to this!). On the way back from a restaurant on the beach Paul's pace quickened but not enough to get back to the beach hut before that ill fated passing of wind and the dawning realisation of cloth touched. Nic was all sympathy when she stopped crying and managed the strength to get off the floor ... but these things happen when you are traveling and all was well again by breakfast.

Christmas dinner was the traditional seafood grill of lobster, prawns, mussels, white mullet and clams followed by a few cocktails during the Queen's speech. Not exactly the Raleigh Winner Paul got when he was 12 but a pretty fantastic Christmas present nonetheless. Relaxing on the beach or by the pool, eating whatever you want, is the way forward when it comes to Christmas! But reality bites after the tearful farewells and a 24 hour journey to Kuala Lumpur, whilst choosing the cheapest meals en route, soon reminds us that it isn't all cocktails and caviar. Two days in KL, our only stop in Malaysia if you exclude a forgettable evening stuck in the traffic of Penang, and it's off to the Philippines for New Year.

So, just to bring you up-to-date ... we arrived on a tiny island called Malapascua a few hours ahead of the New Year celebrations, dumped our bags, grabbed a beer and partied for several hours in an open-air basketball court ... but more of that in the next blog. Now we're off to find the biggest sharks in the world.

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Photos

Happy Birthday
Lasagne, red wine, tiramisu and a candle - perfect.

Monks at Ta Phrom
It's amazing what modern technology can do for amateur photographers.

Pedicure anyone?
After the initial tickle it was really relaxing ... honest!

Christmas Lunch
Nothing like a bit of tradition.

Petronas Towers
Pretty much all we saw of Malaysia.

New Year's Eve posse
We may have had a drink or two by the time this was taken ...

Comments

[Tim Clark]

Touching....cloth
Nic...I feel previlaged to be mentioned in your travel blog...although I'm not sure about the subject! Paul...glad it was only a temporary issue.