Bangkok and Chiang Mai

I should explain... Thailand wasn't part of our original plan, but the owner of Sweet Basil, Ana Thai and Sum Tom Thai is from Bangkok, and a frequent patron of the Black Cat, who insisted Chris must go there. Art arranged everything for us, and even though he didn't arrive to Bangkok until the 19th of Feb., he did make sure that his friends here in Thailand took care of us. It was beyond generous.

After a couple of days in Bangkok with Art's friends Tang and Vit, we moved on to Chiang Mai, which is the large Northern City in Thailand. We flew in and were picked up by the people of Insda Resort, just outside of the city. The resort was gorgeous, nestled in the Hills with a pool, private villas, and as it turns out, with just 2 visitors... us. The resort is in the final stages of its construction and we were lucky enough to be able to stay there while the finishing touches were being completed.


Sunrise from our balcony overlooking the hills


The pool view at Insda

The drive up was nice... calm, if you can believe it, and we almost considered renting some kind of transpo, but the roads are steep and curves are sharp. In the end, we didn't have to since someone from the resort was always willing to drive us wherever we wanted or needed to go.

They took us to all the sights. We went to the beautiful Royal Summer Palace (though the King is 91, ailing and has not visited in years). We went to the Golden Pagoda, a Hmong hilltribe village, some waterfalls, the highest peak in Thailand, more temples, a creepy cave with bats and bright green grasshoppers hiding in the stalactites... the list goes on.


Sari making in a White Karen Hill tribe village


Waterfalls on the way to the highest peak in Thailand


Orchids take the top, dangling from the trees upon the highest peak


Monks decending the steps from the twin Pagodas


Grasshoppers dangling from the crevices in the Taktan caves


Caves


These are the trees they dig from the forests and plant in urban landscapes. They are absolutely massive. I don't know how they do it...

When we weren't touring, we were lazing around by the pool or on our balcony. Chris helped them to develop a cocktail list (with a Thai twist of course), and we'll have yet to see if the Bloody Insda (a strange twist on the Canadian Caesar) becomes a favorite in Northern Thailand. We even did some Karaoke, though maybe we shouldn't have for the sake of all those around us...


Karaoke at Insda

After 6 nights and a truly memorable stay in Northern Thailand, we took the overnight train back to Bangkok. I really liked it, though Chris's opinion is somewhat different. We went 2nd class with no A/C, which was a bit hot, but I was just happy to lie down. Chris didn't sleep very well, and the train could have been better set up, but it's over now so I won't dwell upon it.

We got back to Bangkok and returned to meet Vit and Tang in the Chinese Business area we had stayed before, but they were called away on business. We stayed a night in that neighborhood. It's very modern, very organized, (yet eerily filled with massive massage parlors). It is a neighborhood meant really for people who know Bangkok and Thai, not poor low-budget tourists. We decided to spend a couple nights in the backpacker ghetto of Khao San road. We found a hostel with a pool and a sprawling terrace restaurant. You'd hardly know you were in the old part of busy Bangkok tucked away in there, though the pool are had a slightly pungeant sewage odor.


The hostel on Khao San Rd.

That night in Khao San, we met up with Vince Wienecke (another Gleber)who had been traveling Thailand for a month. We went out with him and it was nice to see a familiar face.

We went back to the original neighborhood when Art arrived in Bangkok to meet up with him there. We were taken out for wonderful meals and really shown around the town. We used the super efficient and magnificantly clean Bangkok subway system, and on our last night took a boat tour dinner around the old city. The guide was Thai, but Art, and Tang helped with the important translations.


Incredible bridge in North Bangkok

Thailand was a more expensive for the day to day items than Vietnam/Cambodia, though the convenience (Hello 7-11... how I've missed you!), organization and surprising calm of Bangkok make it worth it. Thailand is also stricter than it's poorer neighbors. It has very modern anti-smoking laws and controls alcohol sales at very strange times of day.

We also found there were fewer beggars and hawkers in Thailand... maybe it was the company we kept or the places we went, but it seemed that not everyone was looking to get your tourist $$. Even cabs wouldn't pick us up at times because it would take too long to get there.

All in all, our trip to Thailand was worth it beyond what I could have imagined. We didn't have the normal Thai experience that travelers on our budget would have. We saw and did so much more than we could have on our own. We saw things that aren't in the tour books and it was a really memorable experience.


Thanks Art!

Anyway, beep beep beep... we're back in Vietnam, where the traffic is insane again. It's cooler here in Hanoi (about 20C) which seems great to you polar bears at home, but it's very damp, which keeps you colder. It's nice to be back on our pre-planned trip, and out of the heat.

Hanoi is a nice city. It's busy, but not like Saigon. It's easier to navigate and people seem a little more private here, though tourists are harassed a bit. The men who fix shoes on the street seem absolutely incenced by the small rip in my heel and I've had my feet frantically poked at and even grabbed. I don't even know how they can all spot it! I can't way it's the friendliest place I've ever been to, but our hotel staff are helpful and we've gotten around a lot in just a couple days.

We're heading on the good overnight train to Sapa near the Chinese border tonight for a few days in the hills. Hopefully the weather will clear, as it is supposed to have magnificent vistas. Anyway, this was along post, so I'll end it here and update more as it happens...

Late news on Cambodia

So finally... a post about Cambodia. We spent almost a week there, and it's been a week since we left so I'm sorry I hadn't posted sooner. Wifi is everywhere, so real computers are a bit harder to come by, and as much as it's really handy to use Chris's iPhone for certain things, I hate writing out long text on it. I know I'm so behind the times!

Anyhow, we spent 3 full days temple-going over the course of one week to Angkor. The town of Siem Reap outside Angkor can't really be described as Cambodia - It's jam packed with tourists and really catered to Western needs and wants. We ate a lot of Western food, and some Khmer food, but really didn't get in to the culinary delights of Cambodia as you may in other parts of the country. But the town was fun and easy and much less chaotic than Saigon.


Chris gets a million little kisses from a million little fishes at fish massage in Siem Reap

The temples were quite fascinating. We built ourselves up over the 3 days, starting with the smaller and older ones, and moving on to the newer and more impressive ones. The temples are quite spread out... very few are within walking distance of each other. We took the same Tuk-Tuk driver all 3 days. His English was limited... he'd barely gone to school as at the age of 14 he began fighting the Khmer Rouge. He wasgood though and detoured to places which weren't on our list so we could see more.

Cambodian people were very friendly. Despite their recent history, they have a wonderful sense of humor with both the tourists and each other. It's a very laid back place. It's somewhat behind the times and lacks some important infrastructure, but I suppose that's what makes it charming.

Here are some of the pictures from our touring (I have hundreds of pics, but here's a little taste).


Parkour! (Not really though...)


Ta Prohm temple - one of my favorites.


One of the older and taller temples


Cambodia's crowning glory: Angkor Wat at sun-up.


Bayon temple of Angkor Thom (the best one, I think).

The temples were packed with tourists of course. It's not that there isn't a lot to do in Cambodia, but without the temples, it's hard to know what the tourist industry would be in Cambodia. It's their proudest achievement and Angkor is breathtaking. The tour groups got to be a bit much however. There were bus loads of Japanese, Korean and Russian tour groups who clogged up the main arteries of some temples, dulling the experience a bit, but we learned to get out really early to beat the buses and the heat.

I can't say that I'll ever go back to Cambodia. The temples were nice, but I feel they will only get worse. There are major reconstructions going on, which in a sense is great, but it means that the old stones get replaced with new (and very different looking ones), the carvings become replicates of the originals, and the area loses it's appeal. Part of the beauty is the crumbling, steep and wild nature as it has eroded over centuries. It also doesn't help that many temples are covered in graffiti-style markings. Why anyone feels the right to carve his or her name on such a beautiful sacred place is beyond me. I don't care that Kevin or Chin or Linda was there in 2006 - it's a disgrace.

Anyhow, after our week there, we'd had our fill. We decided to book a bus to Bangkok to meet up with some friends of friends of Chris's in Thailand. The food in Siem Reap was sometimes of questionable digestive value, so we tried to book a bus with a bathroom, just in case. We were assured the bus had a bathroom. The shuttle would pick us up at the guesthouse and ferry us to the luxury bus which would take us to Thailand. Sounded great.

The rickety shuttle showed up late, and wasn't really a shuttle, but the bus! But once you've packed and checked out, it's hard to back out (plus getting your money back can be a hassle). The bus took us near the border, where a man came on board, took our tickets, slapped a plain white sticker on our shirts and pointed us toward the border. So we walked. We waited in lines, walked some more, got some stamps, walked some more, got more stamps and waited on the other side for someone to tell us what the hell was going on. A man came, told us to follow him and we did. A converted pick-up truck with row-seating in the back came along so we climbed in and held on tight. We drove for about 30mins to a quiet, shaded restaurant in God-Knows-Where Thailand, and waited for a couple hours. A shuttle finally showed up. They said Bangkok, so we said hell ya. It was cramped, the A/C didn't work (nor did the windows open) and when we finally made it to Bangkok, we felt like dirtbags.

However, aside from that bus trip, our Thai experience has been wonderful. We've been put up by some lovely people and we've been far from the dirty backpacker trail since our arrival. We've eaten delicious foods (yes... I ate duck tongue, jellyfish, and all kinds of other weird stuff I'd have never tried if I knew what I was eating). We've stayed in gorgeous hotels and resorts and been on very personalized tours. I will write more about it when we are finished here in Thailand next week.

Saigon to Cambodia

We finally arrived in Saigon late on Friday night. Our hotel was easy enough to find, though down a narrow alley. Saigon is a beautiful city. As Tet begins tomorrow, the city was in preparation for the biggest celebration of the year. Flower markets were popping up just about everywhere, while trucks with crews of men worked to put up lights, streamers and flags along all the city's major scenic streets. It's a very clean city and people take a lot of pride in that.


Flower market by our hotel

The motorbike-crazed culture took a bit of adjusting. Apparently, the best way to cross the street is simply to put your head down and walk at a steady pace. Traffic here is organic, and never stops. Like a well organized ant colony, everyone works their way around everyone else, with seemingly little effort, though I find it a bit unnerving. Failing the guts to cross at times, a kind Vietnamese will take us across with them.

We walked around a lot, visiting the zoo and botanical gardens (Bonsai and Orchid heaven... though the zoo should be shut down). We visited the Jade Emperor Pagoda and walked all around the French quarter. It is very hot though and by about 11am it is hard to be outside walking for long. We take frequent afternoon breaks. The food is good and fresh. The coffee is wonderfully strong and the beers are generally cheap.

World's saddest Orangutan


Strange Topiary

In general, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was a pleasant place, though the seedy side did seep through. From blatant prostitution provided for the Western male tourist to the occasional scam (first one's free, second costs 3X the price; an intricate billing system that makes your head spin so you just put down cash and say f%#* it)... Then again, we're less than a week in and have a lot to learn still so sometimes we will be taken.



Ho Chi Minh City streets

We left Vietnam yesterday, after only 4 days, to avoid Tet where prices soar and transport becomes scarce over the Holiday. We arrived in Cambodia and took the bus straight across to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat, which we will begin touring tomorrow. Cambodia is a bit more decrepit that Vietnam. The roads are noticeably more crumbling, garbage disposal borders on the Indian system (toss anywhere or burn), and the people seem more impoverished, but we still have much to see.

I'll post more interesting pictures once we see the temples of Angkor...