On to Phuket and Cambodia

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Rented a car in Phuket from Avis and drove an hour and a half to Khao lak

Marie and I caught a cold which sucked

The City is pretty old and non descript

Most tourists stay at the beach resorts.

Awesome beaches. Huge and mostly empty

Best coffee in town is MacDonalds must have a car as everything is a long ways away

Checked out after 3 days and drove 2 hrs to South Phuket

Nice apartment in Rawai beach area 5 minute drive to the beach. It was a 1 bedroom condo. Practically new with daily maid service. Close to nai harn beach which is really nice

Water is warm and clean

2 Beach chairs and umbrella rent for 200 Baht a day ($6)

Nice powder sand. Easy to park right next to beach

Lots of kids as it is really kid friendly

Mostly Eastern European/ Russian people, very unfriendly folks

Good shopping at village market by HomePro 20 minutes away reminds me of a smaller Whole Foods

Rawai beach area is kind of a quaint beach town. Lots of beachfront restaurants and little shops. It pays to bargain, easy to get a 50% discount.



Took a short flight ti Siem Reap Cambodia

Went thru immigration for about an hour and a $75 visa fee

Hotel sent a Tuk tuk to take us to the hotel

Traffic in Cambodia is way less stressful than Thailand

Plus traffic drives on the right side of the road

The Hotel Tara Angkor was very nice. Excellent staff, scrumptious breakfast and very nice rooms

Our first room faced the front of the hotel and. Was very noisy

I complained and we got a quieter room near the rear of the hotel. Plus the manager gave us a free 1 hr massage each in the spa and a free dinner. That was nice.



Went to Angkor wat the next day and took the short walking tour. 5 miles later we both saw enough ruined stuff. The most impressive part of the temple was the hundred yard wide by 3 mile long hand dug moat using crude shovels and removing huge trees. Unreal. Most of the temples. (There are several) are built with 1000 lb stones. Probably way over a million of them. The stone contractor probably made a bundle. Moat contractor had to have lost his ass.



Next day Went shopping and rode around in the tuk tuks. Marie bought several nice shirts for $2 apiece then we hung out by the pool and talked to a bunch of British dudes.



Well off to Singapore next.

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Comments

[Mark Kaufmann]

Awesome beaches
Those beaches look so nice.