I woke up full of energy today and went out to find a
mountain bike and breakfast. Soon I was set to go and left for Fishing Island;
as the name explains this island is full of fishermen To get there I had to cross the very interesting old bridge, the bridge has quite some history and has been rebuild in 4 different styles as you can see on the picture.
I took some random roads
throughout the island and soon got stuck: the path was only used in dry season
I think but then I estimated that the water from the creek would not be that
deep. I emptied my pockets and just drove through, it was a bit deeper than I
expected and I had to stand up on my pedals to make sure that my backpack would
not get wet. The only thing of my bicycle sticking out of the water was the
seat and the handle bar Refreshing is the correct word for this. A bit further
I got stuck again, but it was stuck with a wonderful view! The creek in front
of me was a bit deeper so I didnt give it a try, I saw some boys at the other
side and signed that I wanted to get there but didnt know how. The boys signed
that I could just ride through the dried salt fields and some more creeks. 10
minutes later I caught up with them and they lead me to a small village of salt
farmers. Balance after 30 minutes: completely soaked but for the first time nor
from the sweat nor from the rain, lots of beautiful sceneries and friendly
people. The boys invited me in for some tea and I dug out my Khmer phrasebook
to start a conversation.
Time to get going again as I continued my tour around
the island I spot a very small hut in pretty bad shape, it was going to rain
and I felt sorry for the one that lived there. The first drops were already
falling and I really appreciated it, a nice breeze an even better view, some
kids were running through the rain while shouting hello! Hello! Bye bye!
Hello! and they went in the hut that I just described. It wouldnt help them
much for shelter: the plastic on top was full of holes and badly attached so
one side was completely loose. A bit later the mom came past and she told me to
get in since it was starting to rain quite hard. Out of respect for her and to
make sure my backpack wouldnt get too wet I went in, as I though it didnt
help much. The hut was in a really bad shape and I saw that it really was a
house, I had to sit on her blanket (= bed) supposedly for my comfort but I
liked it because this way I could keep it dry As soon as it was over I thanked
them with words and some candy and took off before it would start again. After
2 minutes it started again but this time I kept driving regardless the many
invitations into their huts until I saw a waterproof house. Perfect for
shelter! I got some honey on a stick and some tea. Hmm delicious, this is what
I call fresh honey Now it was time to go and climb the hill of the island,
(only 40 meters high) but it gives very nice views if the sky is clear. It was
misty now I drove around for another hour before heading back to Kampot.
24th of september was a transport day from Sihanoukville to
Kampot. Since I still wasnt feeling very well and had a very nice room in
Sihanoukville I left quite late: I took a shared taxi at 11.00. The ride to
Kampot takes about 2 hours and we arrived at 4 pm. For those that are wandering
how that is possible, let me explain: A shared taxi is a car (Toyota camry)
that waits until its full before it leaves. Full means 6 passengers + the
driver. So I waited and waited until more people showed up, finally there were
4 others and the driver was satisfied. The others first treated me for lunch
since they didnt ate yet, aint gonna say no to food Once we arrived in
Kampot I asked to go to Bodhi villa, a backpackers place about 2 km north of
town. I just arrived there to hear that it is full for the rest of the week. I
wasnt in the mood to hop around guesthouses all the time so I just asked the
driver for a clean and relatively cheap place. In the evening I went for a
stroll down the very charming town towards the river where there is an amazing
sunset. The town consists of a lot of colonial style buildings who are rotting
away.
I also checked with the tour operators if I could do a two
day trekking to the Bokor national park with the famous bokor hill station. The
price was pretty overwhelming so that was out of the question. A one day tour
was still in debate however also pretty expensive for what it is. I told myself
that I would check out a different guesthouse tomorrow and rent a bicycle to go
to the countryside.
25th of September was a rainy day, I found a nice
guesthouse: blissful. The room is very basic but there is a mosquito net and
the sheets are clean, they have wifi, a video room and a dutch girl behind the
bar. I didnt do much because of the rain and took my time to do some research
about whats next: the bicycle trip! In the evening I treated myself with a
nice pasta on the riverside, while I was enjoying my beer I met another dutch
girl. She was interested in accompanying me to the monthly concert of the
traditional Khmer music school for disabled and orphaned children (I got the
flyer from the tourist office). So of we went looking for the school, when we
arrived there it was completely empty so I checked the date again: 25th
7.30 pm thats now. We looked around but besides some kids playing hide and
seek there was nobody around Finally someone showed up who spoke some English
and told us that the flyer is from June! Why does the tourist information gives
me a flyer from june! As far as I know I cant time travel yet and I have quite
a lot of travelling experience Anyway instead of a concert we just went for a
drink and talked a little. She advised me to go and check out the crab at Kep
which is supposed to be really good. She also told me that the tour to Bokor is
quite bad: a lot of car and waiting in different places, way too small lunch
and not enough time to walk around and see everything
first of all sorry for the late update but I didn't really feel like writing something so...
During these days I've been busy for the school and some cycling: in the morning I got on my mountain bike and drove into town for breakfast. After that I had a drink in a bar/hotel where they had internet access and then I asked to let my laptop there while it was downloading. It was never a problem as soon as I mentioned that it was for the Goodwill school. Then I got on my bicycle again and went for a ride of mostly about 3 hours along the beach or into the hills with the quaries... Totally exhausted and sweaty I went back to my guesthouse for a shower and then picked up my laptop and went to the school. They have two 'good' pc's: a 2.2 Ghz processor with 512 Mb of memmory, which should be able to run windows xp pretty smoothly... But that is not the case, the pc's are running badly: one of them simply stopped working after one month while the other one had no sound.
For the rest they have a 220 MHz pc with 64 Mb memmory and a few laptops which all are not working...
I'll have some work, because they had some requests of which I never heard and had no clue how to do it. Most of it was a software list and all pc's had to run xp. The two 'good' pc's wheren't that hard but I had to do it slowly because they wanted to learn how to do it. And they only have one windows xp cd so we had to wait a lot. The last day when I came there for the finishing touch I got to hear that one of the screens exploded. So we took the screen from the old pc and that is working now. The laptops are way beyond fixing: one of the laptops' screen isn't working, the other one has an ancient model of a hard drive of barely 1.5 Gb and the keyboard has a lot of characters missing. They said it's ok when I told them that that's not worth fixing.
Lundy (the one that teaches computer class) was really satisfied and he can now install windows + the software that I put on the pc's.
thursday in the evening I had a conversation class, which means that I had to teach them how to make small conversations. The first group were kids of 17 till 21 years old and it went pretty well however the girls were really shy and didn't dare to ask a lot of questions. With the necessary laughter the class ended. The second class was identically the same however with smaller children: 5 till 16 years old, their pronounciation is a lot better and they listen very carefully. After half an hour the class was suspended due to a power cut in town. I was left in the dark classroom without any means of light and bumped into almost everything while making my way out the door. Overall the experience was amazing! The children are so respectful, I will never forget this school!
I completely support the project, I've been there for quite a few days, sometimes without appointment so I know the way they work. They teach the children English, computer, Khmer, ... but most important is that they teach them values. In a school in Cambodia morals are not taught, but this school takes that task: they teach the children to think about their future, to clean up the littering, to create a sustainable environment,...
so today I had to get up at 6.30 which really hurt after the beers of last night, but anyway I told them I would be there and it is an hour drive from the guesthouse. On the way I had a delicious breakfast, it was rice with grilled vegetables, crispy pork and steamed tomatoes. I wanted to get another one but time was running out so I continued, after 5 minutes I got of the map so I was going with my memmory. From time to time I was doubting and I didn't think I would make it but then I saw the house and I was still 5 minutes early. These 5 minutes I used to drink some ice tea and to sweat, I was as wet as 2 days before but this time it wasn't from the rain... The youngest boy lead the procession as we followed trail after trail but then it seemed that we were further than he had ever been so I asked and they said he'd been here once before. The oldest now took the lead but the road was broader so we could walk next to each other, he also put some music on: the most popular English song here in Cambodia, I know you want me from the pittbuls. I know it by heart by now and still have 2 weeks of Cambodia left... We stopped at an old structure that was overgrown by nature and they explained it's one of the remains from Pol Pot. Seems like nature is finally trying to grow over the cruelties...
We continued past some rubber and tree plantations while they were treating me all kind of fruits and explaining me some herbs that they use in their daily life, I had to repeat the Khmer name and then adapt their pronounciation of the English name. It was a nice walk and back at my bicycle another meal was awaiting our presence. I wasn't allowed to pay anything, they said it was an honour to talk to me and guide me around the hills, it was a bit uncomfortable but they are oh soo nice!
On the way back I stopped to take a picture of the men beating the stones, this scenery is everywhere in Sihanoukville province. In the afternoon I went to another beach and in the evening I got a very nice spot for sunset and met some local students who were enjoying their sunday fishing.
the 17th was a rainy day so I didn't do that much: I practised my photoshop skills in the morning and downloaded some software for the school. In the afternoon I was tired of sitting still and getting wet in these temperatures is not so bad so I went mountainbiking and after 10 minutes I was soaked! I got a lot of strange looks while I was passing by... In the late afternoon it stopped raining and I stopped at a beach to get a drink and a swim: I was already wet so it didn't matter anymore. Not such an interesting day but it was relaxing.
The 18th I got up with a lot of energy at 7 am so I went for breakfast in town (everything is sleeping and closed until 9-10 am). I drove randomly up some dirtroads and around until I hit dead end after dead end. I was getting tired and thirsty so it was really nice when I heard: 'hey mister, you want beer?' If I wanted a beer, of course I did, I had been driving for 2 hours in the hills and it was bloody warm. The people at the shop/bar/restaurant were very friendly and we started a basic conversation in their best English. Since we got stuck pretty soon, we both took our phrasebooks (mine = english-> Khmer, theirs Khmer -> English) and pretty soon we were teaching each other. Time flew by and they asked if I wanted to join them for lunch, I gratefully accepted the offer and together with the boys I started eating. Every person got 2 plates of rice and there was a bowl of soup with some bitter vegetable stuffed with pork, there was a plate of fried fish and there was this meat that isn't meat (gebakken boterhamworst). The girls were allowed to eat the leftovers as soon as we were finished. Our conversation was so nice that they invited me to come back tomorrow morning (8 am) to go somewhere. I didn't understand where they wanted to take me, but they were so friendly and didn't look like people who would rip me off that I decided to come back. In the evening I went to town and found some different beers than pils, I found stout which is a nice variation. Back in the guesthouse I couldn't sleep because of the music which is always very loud until 3 am, the internet wasn't working and beer is just 0,25 $ put this together and you know that I was at the bar...
This morning I stayed in bed a little longer since there is
literally nobody awake before 9 am and that also means that you cant get breakfast
within a radius of 4 km. When I woke up, I left for the port. Halfway I passed
a nice beach so I took a rest there while enjoying a piece of true paradise! I
walked along the beach before taking a rest in one of the hammocks with of
course a view on the paradise! I even fell asleep for a bit and woke up from
the sound of kids playing. They were rope skipping with a rope made out of a
lot of rubbers (elastiekjes), excellent for taking some pictures as you can see
below. Then I continued to the port of Sihanoukville, which is a big
containerpark and doesnt allow curious visitors like me. I went to a very poor
neighbourhood/ suburb (similar to what you see in movies about big
South-American cities). It was nice biking around the bad roads and I ended up
at a deserted quarry with lots of great mountainbike trails! Oh I had fun
driving around and I kept passing the same road to go up so the locals from
there were really looking strange at me
Time to go back, take a shower and go to the school where I
would start volunteering. I got a tour around and got introduced to the
problems they are having and the possibilities for me to help them out. Most of
it is PC related so its not really a problem Tomorrow Ill go back to fix
some of the pcs and to give some pc training.
this morning I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so I drove around the beaches and into town where I found a phrasebook. Finally I found one and it isn't even a very good one: it's one from 1991 and it has no phonetics but some kind of English way of pronouncing it which mostly is wrong. I already changed a lot of the pronounciation and now I can say a few sentences in Khmer. Geared up with the book I went to a local non touristy restaurant and it took me only 5 minutes to order a noodle soup with everything on it. I had to specify the type of noodles, the meat, whether or not I wanted soyabeans,... It tasted great so with a happy tummy I went back to the guesthouse. It was only 8 am and everything around here was still closed so I couldn't leave for my trip yet.
Luckily there is internet and I studied some photoshop basics and tried them out. By 9.30 the bicycle shop finally opened and I returned the bad bicycle, went a bit further to another rental and got a good one. I also got a map of the neighbourhood with it so I was set for a trip to the waterfall. The guy at the rental gave me bad instructions which cost me a detour of 5 km through the hills but with a brilliant view on the port. Half an hour later I was so sweaty that I stopped for a fresh coconut and started a conversation with the locals (now that I have a phrasebook I better use it), they declared me crazy that I was going to the waterfall by bicycle: that is at least 15 km further he said. He even offered to take me there for just 2 dollar but I was determined to stick with the bicycle. After about an hour cruising through the oh so beautiful countryside and protected forest I arrived at the waterfall. It was huge which should be visible on the pictures...
I found a nice shelter with a hammock and view on the waterfall where I relaxed for an hour. When I got up I felt like reborn and jumped around some rocks to get better views on the waterfalls (there are more than one). For anyone who is going to Sihanoukville and can appreciate a nice waterfall you definately have to go there! The entrance fee is just 1 dollar and you should be able to arrange a motorbike with driver for about 7 or 8 dollar. On the way back I stopped for lunch in a local restaurant where I got treated like a king: I asked for some local dish with round rice noodles. The size of the plate was definately ok and then I got a big bowl of soup, some tea and a beer with it. Another interesting conversation with in the end the entire neighbourhood (at least 30 people came to look how I was enjoying my meal and trying to talk to them).
The ride back went a lot faster since I took the shortest route now, It was only 4 o: clock so I did some research about what to do tomorrow. I found a volunteering school and I went to the manager of the school to see if she has some kind of job for me. She wasn't there so I hanged around in town, I got a snack at this restaurant then main course at another one and then dessert at yet another one to kill the time and of course to enjoy the food. I went back to see the manager and we had a nice talk. I have to go to the school tomorrow to fix some pc's and to see what else I would be interested in... Sounds like fun to me.
Right now the guesthouse changed into a giant party but most of the people are stoned so I don't really feel in the mood to join them. Maybe I'll have a drink in a bit.
today I changed city: I went to Sihanoukville, THE beach of cambodia and that you can see. I entered tourism again; there are so many western people here... I checked in in a guesthouse for 1.5 $ a night with free internet, it's pretty cheap... They also have free internet which is the reason why I could update my blog again. When I arrived here after a comfortable busride the first thing I did was get a bicycle so I could explore the neighbourhood. The beach that is really closeby is not really nice and way too touristy but there is a beach about 4 km away that is quite relaxing so I'll check that one out in a few days. Then I arranged a ranger to guide me around the national park tomorrow and I headed for a late lunch. At the market they serve big dishes for almost no money. After exploring some more and updating the blog I started talking with some people from Ireland which was pretty fun, then I made some phonecalls to Belgium and went for dinner. After dinner I met some local cambodians who kept refilling my glass of beer and treating me delicacies from around here. Some of which were really nice! Now it's about time to go to bed however nothing seems to be open before 9 am so I can sleep long...
yesterday evening I got a phonecall from the tour arranger in town that there were 2 more people interested in a trip and asked if I wanted to join. It concerned a trip to a 'wonderfull' waterfall as he called it. I took a look at the pictures and agreed to join. So in the morning I woke up early to find a local breakfast which I found next to the guesthouse: rice soup with chicken. It wasn't really chicken, it was a mix of chicken skin, chicken fat and chicken intestines. The liver tasted quite good, but the fat, the skin and the feet I left in my plate while enjoying the rice and vegetables. I bought a sandwich for lunch and then I got picked up to go to the boat. The speedboat that he told we would be using was actually a small plastic boat which barely fit 4 persons with an engine attached to it. It went faster than in looked and soon we were jumping over the waves while wishing that he went a bit slower. We passed the same type of boat filled with at least 10 locals and wondered how they could fit. After an hour my ass and belly were happy that we arrived and we walked over the rocks passed the waterfall. There we went for a swim and some floating in the stream. The guide signed that it was about time to go to another waterfall closeby; it was a very beautiful one of at least 30 meter high but there wasn't that much water comming off. When we turned around we saw two more waterfalls of about 5 meter high, 20 and 40 meter wide. One of them had very clear water while the other one had the same sandcolor as the river we came from. When we asked whether we could go to the one with clear water he said he didn't know so we tried. After crowling under, over and between rocks we made it to the one with clear water. The water was very cold and had a lot of force.
We hanged around for about 3 hours before returning to the boat. On the way to the boat we saw a path leading to the mountains so we took it and ended up at a small, but nevertheless beautiful temple with a great view. The way back by boat was even bumpier than the way to get there: I had to hold on to not hop over the edge. Another great trip!!!
In the evening I wanted to call my grandmother to wish her a happy birthday but my luck ran out: the internet of the entire area was out.
today I went kayaking since I couldn't find anyone to go on a trekking with me . There are not that many tourists here besides the sex tourists... I don't want to go on a trekking with them... The concept of the kayaking was pretty easy: cross a river, go through the mangroves to a small river comming from the mountains, leave the kayak and start climbing up towards some rapids for swimming. This all under the all-seeing eye of a cambodian who can't speak nor hear... After crossing the river he let me know that he was tired and wanted a rest, ok the river was pretty wide but still... He knew his way around the mangroves pretty well and soon I lost all sense of direction. Then at once around a corner there was a small river comming down a mountain and after avoiding some rocks he parked the kayak and led the way up the mountain. Now I had a pretty hard time to catch up, he jumped from one slippery rock to the other! great sense of balance but I couldn't do it, I always had to find some place to hold on to. It was sooo beautiful! Finally a place without trash and it was so quiet, that's the advantage of someone who can't speak. I enjoyed a little swim in the rapids. Then we had to go back and again he was so fast on the land so I used a little more speed on the kayak. This time upstream and there were waves now which made it pretty difficult to go and the kayak got a lot of water. In the middle of the river he got out of the kayak and told me to do the same, luckily it was only half a meter deep. We emptied the kayak and continued. It was high tide so we could go trough the maze of creeks to make a final tour. A great trip, but kayaking at 35 °C makes you sweaty...
Another travelling day: the plan was to get
up pretty early, leave with the cousins to Mo Chit BTS station and then go to
Ekkamai where I could get on a bus to Trat. It went pretty smooth: I woke up at
5.30, left the house at 6.45, took the bus at 8.30 and arrived in trat around 2
pm. The busride was really comfy: it was only 1/3 full so I got plenty of
space, there was free water, cookies and coke, I got a blanket and I could
sleep pretty well. Once in Trat, some people were arranging a taxi to the
border so I changed my plans and went with them. The e-visa that I got a few
days before, works perfect and is pretty cheap compared with all the extras
you have to pay the officers if you dont have a visa. So if you ever want to
go to Cambodia,
check out the e-visa! I got dropped of at a nice guesthouse where I am still
staying: they have free wifi but it aint working and I am not allowed to fix
it There is also a nice swimming pool and they have a good banana pancake for
breakfast. I found a bicycle to rent for the next day and I got pretty tired so
I went to bed early.
The 11th of September
After a good night sleep and a morning swim
I picked up the bicycle and went to the mangroves: they have the second largest
mangrove forest of Asia here! I got some
directions where to go, how vague they are I still managed to get there through
deserted land. It was beautiful but damn hot and I got to the mangroves all
sweaty! I went on the elevated walkway but it wasnt quiet: I was being
followed by a group of Chinese who (as always) make a lot of noise and pose
everywhere. After a while they finally went on another route and I could enjoy
the quietness of the jungle. There were spiders, crabs and birds everywhere.
When I was on the watch tower I heard a big splash and when I turned around I
saw the splash. I asked the locals what it was and they signed it was a
crocodile that caught a fish. I went to take a closer look and yes there was a
crocodile, but I didnt see any fish. I was happy to be on the elevated walkway
and to be sure I quickly got away. I finished the walk and went on my bicycle
again. This time I took a detour through the fishermen village, a lot of
children said hello and it cheered me up. I tried to hire a fisherman and his
boat to go through the mangroves, but that was more difficult than it seemed.
Apparently during noon they prefer to take a nap instead of making some money. No
problem, I just kept on driving through the deserted land and made another
detour so that I didnt have to go the same way back. On the way I met a bunch
of boys who were picking shells and then washing them so I stopped to look and
they invited me to join them. I helped them a bit and then they started a fire.
The roof was broken down to make a grill and the shells were fried on top. The
boys had some sauces with them and I got a private servant who taught me how to
see when the shell is ready and which sauce goes with which shell. Different
sizes have different taste It was delicious but I think I will have some digestion
problems in a few days
At night I went to Paddys bar, apparently
the place to be if you are not looking for sex tourism and more into
ecotourism. A couple of English speaking locals can arrange any kind of trip
for you. I had a nice chat and some cheap drinks 50 cent for a 33 cl beer
The 6th of September Patchara
had to apply for her visa again so we got up early and left for the center. We
were there before opening hours, but there were already quite some people
queuing. When the application was finished we went to siam museum,
once we were there we found out that it is closed on Monday After a quick
brainstorm about what to do, we decided to go to wat Arun (aka the temple of
dawn), a ferry brought us there and up the temple we went. We got hungry so we
went looking for a restaurant, on the way to the restaurant we saw an arrow
pointing to another wat. We still had some time so further on we went, exploring
the western bank of Bangkok.
We passed a temple for king Taksin. A ferry brought us back to the eastern bank
where we had some dessert and then met up with Kamrob to go home.
The 7th of September we went
again to siam
museum, this time it was open and well it was worth it! One of the best museums
Ive ever visited: it is interactive, every room has a different theme and it
uses state of the art technology. We had quite a laught and enjoyed doing all
the different suff such as controlling a story by hitting on a drum, dressing
up in traditional clothes, pretending to present the news in black and white,
posing in an old car, We spend a couple of hours there and then finished our
trip with a refreshing drink.
The 8th of September we went for
a swim and relax at the intercontinental hotel but first we enjoyed dim sun for
lunch. Damn it tasted amazing! The swimming felt nice too and after the
swimming I quickly enjoyed the yakuzi kept at a constant temperature of 42 °C
and a massage shower. Too bad there was no time to try out the sauna and
vapour-bath, but thats ok. On the way back we stopped to buy Milo, a little doggy. They also bought diapers for the
dog; its so strange to see him run around with a diaper. He could barely walk
and he doesnt like to pee in it so he tries to get it off when he has to go
and then he just goes on the carpet :(.
The 9th of September
Today
we took the songthaew to the supermarket together with the cook. I needed new
sandals because they were breaking down. And yes, there were sandals, they even
were in sale! We saw an ice-skating rink in the mall and wanted to go, but we
were not wearing the right clothes so we first went back home to change. On the
way home we met up with Patcharas mom to have lunch The ice skating was really
a lot of fun and Patchara is getting better at it, the funniest was that it was
full of really good skaters and then we were trying to avoid falling. In the
evening we had to pass by the vet for Milo, he
had a bad cough and needed a check-up
This morning we woke up late and didnt want to get out of the way too comfy bed, but then we wouldnt be able to go swimming so... The pool was rather cold but in a city as Bangkok that is quite ok. After swimming we enjoyed a little work-out in the fitness centre and by the time we were done, we got picked up by Patchara and her mother. We had a small lunch at Paragon and then went for a tea/ dessert buffet in another fancy hotel. Afterwards we went to check in at intercontinental (yes the hotel from the lunch buffet the day before). At night Patchara joined us to go clubbing, pretty interesting to see how the Thai dance while enjoying a cocktail. After a while we wanted to go back but we couldnt reach Kamrob (the driver), we looked around in the street, at nearby parking lots, Patchara called her mom who then also tried to call Kamrob without any success. As a final attempt we walked to the back of the club where we found the car with a sleeping Kamrob inside. I hope he didnt get punished for it, I found it pretty amusing. Halfway we took a taxi to our hotel where we enjoyed a night in the comfortable beds.
Saturday 4th of September
In this hotel breakfast was included, it was about the same size as the lunch from 2 days before but then with breakfast dishes. I enjoyed it to the fullest, 2 hours later I was really full and wanted to go swimming but I was too full for that. So I decided to take a rest and then I could go swimming! You can already imagine that lunch was not necessary In the afternoon we went to MBK so that Kevin could finish his shopping and then we went to Piampongsant residence for dinner. Kevin freshened up and then we brought him to the airport, I got a room at their home for a few days so I went back with Patchara.
We woke up early today so that we would still be able to go wakeboarding before the ferry left. After a pretty bad breakfast and a very expensive taxi, we got to the store that organised wakeboarding. They had to wake someone up and he told us that the water was too low to put the jetski in the water so we couldnt go wakeboarding. Kevin took a class of kiteboarding instead: he learned about the wind, the setup of the kite, how to control a kite and finally how to bodysurf with a kite. Soon it was time to go to the ferry, this time not the speedboat but just a dirty old slow boat. On the mainland we were pushed in a bus, half an hour later we had to leave at a travel agency. Everyone got picked up except for us, but when I started to think that something went wrong, a driver showed up and off we went. He picked up a few boys on the way and finally stopped at a house in a suburb. We had dinner, played cards with the locals and then got on our VIP bus. The bus was slightly overcrowded so we had to sit with 8 others in the karaoke room (without light or karaoke) With a painful ass we reached Khao San road in Bangkok around 6 in the morning and went looking for a bus to Piampongsant residence. There was not much traffic so after about 1.5 hour we reached their home and Sup was waiting for us, we freshened up and then left for the airport to say goodbye to Sup.
We were getting hungry again and that was a good thing because for lunch we were going to a buffet at Intercontinental (a very fancy buffet with a lot of yummie stuff). After lunch we checked in at another very fancy hotel with a nice 5 star ranking ;-). Then it was time to do what we were in Bangkok for: shopping! In the evening we enjoyed a movie with some whisky and chips, dinner wasnt necessary after such a lunch.
Today we split up: I would go mountain
biking while Kevin will try some diving. We got up around 8, which was too
early to get breakfast in our resort and so we looked around for a different
place. The bamboo restaurant was the first one that we saw open and thus we
went there, the price/quality is really bad so I was still hungry but I would
have another breakfast on the way. Back in our resort there was some life going
on and I got a lock for my bike. After just 3 minutes biking I realised that
the beach is the lowest point of my trip and that the hills are really steep
around here but up I went! A bit further I went off the road towards a hotel
with a beautiful view, again I realised that viewpoints are always on the hill
and thus up I went. This time it was really steep and long, I needed a break I
almost gave up but then I saw the first house and well I have to say it was
totally worth it: up there I had an amazing view over the private beach of this
resort (I wouldnt go there, you are all sweaty if you have to climb all the
stairs up to this hotel), an island only attached to the main island at low
tide, some mountains that are a bit higher than the one I was standing on, Time
to go down and go to the next town, this one is a bit bigger so I found a nice
local restaurant with a special dish. It was boiled noodles with 3 different
sauces, but the sauces had to be mixed. They didnt understand the word spicy
and just said no to all of them. Well there was one which was really, really
spicy, so my mouth was burning while I continued further into town. A seven
eleven caught my eye and I went in for yoghurt to cool down my burning mouth
and bought some water. My legs were getting lazy so it was time to get up a
hill again; there was a sign to Khao (mountain) Ko viewpoint and bar: looked
interesting so I followed the dusty path which became a rocky path which became
really steep, which ended in the middle of nowhere so I left my mountain bike.
A small trail covered by plants lead further upwards and after another 20
minutes walking I saw a bar and yes there was someone who served me a cold
sprite. The bar had indeed a nice view over some beaches and some other small
islands. Enough rested and I could go down again, I dont like going down with
a bicycle, it was pretty scary but I made it. The next stop was a Chinese
temple with another nice view. I went further but after a while I got tired of
the main road and turned left onto a small trail. Bam, the sound scared me a
little, but made me curious so I went towards the sound, bam, I drove a little
faster, bam Then I saw it: an old woman was picking coconuts and the bam was
the sound of them falling on the ground. I asked to take a picture and she
agreed with a smile, a bit later she asked if I wanted one. Well, a fresh
coconut never killed someone (or maybe if it would fall on my head) so I agreed
and she threw one to me. I said I couldnt open it so she yelled to someone who
came running towards me with a big knife and cut it open. Then she gave me a
straw and oh it tasted good, when I asked how much I owed her she just replied
free for you, you need water for cycling. I gratefully accepted and finished
my coconut before moving on. I drove around on different trails trough the
jungle for a bit more than an hour before ending up at a dead end with a house.
People were eating there and asked if I were hungry, well I was and they
invited me to join them for lunch. It tasted very good and when I asked how
much I owed them they replied free for you, coincidence? I was happy and
continued to a national park, no vehicles allowed so I went further on foot.
The first stop was a waterfall, but it didnt rain the last couple of days and
thus there was no water, pretty strange to see a sign waterfall and then just
see rocks without any water. Next stop was another waterfall and yet again it
was dry so I moved quickly to the viewpoint, this was the best viewpoint of the
day. A couple of rocks created an open space from where you could see half the
island and the maritime national park (something like Halong Bay in Vietnam).
Impressive! After the national park I went to the two busy beaches where I
asked for information about kitesurfing, wakeboarding and how to get to Bangkok
tomorrow. It was now around 5 and I was 10 km and a couple of mountains away
from our room so I had to go back I had an amazing day but I am very exhausted
now!
When I got back, I found Kevin having dinner in
the restaurant here. He also had a very nice day. Kevin: I started my day
asking around where I could go diving today, after a long search there was one
diving school (Pirate divers, I like the name) that could give me a lesson in scuba
diving in the afternoon. The other ones didnt want to use their boat for one
guy, but that wasnt a problem for this one since they dont use a boat, they
start from the beach. The diving was at 3 pm and it was still a bit after 10
am, so I asked if I could do something else besides diving, like kiteboarding
or something else. But he said there wasnt enough time, the only thing I could
do was swimming or snorkling, so he gave me some snorkling equipment and off I
went. After an hour or so I was a bit hungry, so I went back to the restaurant,
waited a bit and went back snorkling for another hour, once I got back I still
had a bit time left so I took a small relaxing nap. Once 3 oclock I went to my
diving instructor, he explained me the equipment and what we would do. After
that we took our equipment and walked to the beach (it was only 5 minutes
walking). First he started explaining some basic skills I had to master before
diving: How to inflate and deflate my BCD (the jacket were I can put air in);
How to clear my mask if its full of water; REG clearing and recovery (REG is
the thing I breath with); equalisation techniques.After showing me these techniques once and
doing these techniques once, we went off diving a bit. It was great, the reef
was beautiful, with a lot fishes with all kinds of colours (blue, yellow,
black, white, sandy colour, ) and different sizes, I didnt find any fish that
was bigger than 1 meter Ive also seen a little seasnake, at least I think it
was a seasnake, it looked like one (one big swimming tail). Suddenly there was
this jellyfish and without further hesitation I started using a special move I
call the matrix move to avoid the jellyfish hitting me, it worked! On the
ground there were these holes, didnt know why they were there, but while
checking them out for a while, I found a hole with something in it, after a
closer look I saw a shrimp!, he was quite scared, after he saw me he jumped
back in his hole, poooof At a dept of about 5 meters I started to have
problems with my ears, so we went slowly back up again, it was time anyway.
Once up I was sad it was already over, so he gave me a few more minutes, within
those few minutes extra I also saw a little eel, which was quite adorable.
Anyway I went back to the beach and received a little paper called dive log.
After all that diving and snorkling I was hungry again and went to the restaurant
At 4.30 am our bus arrived at Chumphon where we had to wait
until 7 to board the boat to the islands. We had a speed-catamaran which flew
over the water while passing some small islands. After about an hour we arrived
at the first island but almost immediately we left again for the next one: Koh
Tao. Here it took a bit longer since there were a lot of people getting off and
other people getting on the boat. After a bit more than an hour we arrived at
our island: Koh Pha Ngang, there were less people getting off here but enough
so that we could bargain for the taxi. On an island everything is more
expensive, especially transport: normally a songthaew is between 20 and 80 baht
each for a ride of 10 km. Here they all said 200 baht and it was very hard to
get a discount until we were with 6 people going to about the same part of the
island and he wanted to go for 100 baht each. The driver took a racing class
when he was young: with our backpacks just lying loose on the top of the car he
was driving crazy. Every turn I though that the backpacks would fall off, but
no, he even went faster because nothing happened. Soon we arrived at Haad
Salad, where we found a cheap resort with nice rooms called Smilebeach resort.
With that name there can never be a problem and so it was: the rooms are basic
but clean with a fan and a decent bathroom. After lunch we went to some shops
where I reserved a mountainbike for the next day, Kevin bought swimming pants
and together we bought a Frisbee to play in the water. And then it was time for
swimming! The beach here is amazing, the water is sooo clear, the sand white
and it is refreshing. The beach could be taken directly out of a commercial,
the only problem is that the water here is really salty and your eyes hurt
after a while. Kevin was really tired and took a nap before dinner for about
1.5 hour and directly after dinner. He was not feeling well I had time to
catch up with the diary for the blog and could then go to bed as well.
The 29th we crossed the border again into
Thailand, this wasnt as easy as it was supposed to be. The 28th we
booked a bus ticket to Bangkok with pick-up at our guesthouse. Apparently the
one that had to pick us up didnt know the guesthouse and just went back so we
were waiting. Finally we called to ask where the pick-up had been and they told
us to come to the office so we would leave from there. The bus we shouldve
been on was already gone and we were pushed in another one, for us not really a
problem. We met a nice Cambodian woman who was studying for her drivers licence
while she was on the way to the Bangkok hospital. She gave us each a fireball
(candy) to try, the name isnt stolen: it was a spicy candy and Kevins face
showed weird shapes and turned red from time to time. At the border we had to
wait for quite a while and after we were trough we had to wait for some more
people from another bus. Then after a short walk we were pushed into a
songthaew with way too many people. But it was just for a short ride: after 10
minutes we were dropped of at a restaurant where we had to wait for yet another
group but at least we could have lunch!
The second bus was rather slow and it took us really long to
get to Khao San road in Bangkok, in total we travelled 12 hours while the ride
from BKK to Siem Reap was only 8 hours. We went back to our previous
guesthouse and were followed by 6 more people who needed a guesthouse. I didnt
get any reduction for bringing them there :(.
The 30th was a morning to plan the next part of
our trip, we chose to go to Koh Pha Ngang by bus and boat. We would leave the
same evening but for lunch we had an appointment with Supinya and Patchara. We
had barbeque at BarBQ in Siam and for desert we went for 2 big ice-creams, in
total 17 scoops and chocolate fondue and some fruit + whipped cream of course.
Kevins favourite meal from the entire trip Then we went to a barber shop to
get me a new haircut and afterwards we sang Karaoke! A fun day in Bangkok but
we had to rush through traffic jam in order to get to our bus in time.
After a long night sleep we decided that we were going to
the landmine museum 30 km outside of Siem Reap. We arranged a good Tuk Tuk
taxi: he took over a lot of other tuk tuks and we got there in about 30
minutes. The museum itself is impressive, educative and shocking; very
shocking. It was established in 1997 by former Khmer Rouge child soldier Aki
Ra. After fighting for the Khmer Rouge, he changed side and fought together with
the Vietnamese and Cambodian army. After the war he began to de-mine, he is now
very skilled and the museum has 50.000 decommissioned weapons. All cleared by
himself, he says that he had cleared around 300 mines in one day. There is also
a video that shows how he defuses mines and other explosives; he uses a wooden
stick and a knife, very impressive and completely crazy! Another part of the
museum contains army stories and stories from children that live in the relief
facility which is part of the museum. There are stories that are really
chocking but I wont go into that much detail here; if you want to know them,
youll have to go and visit the museum or you can send me an e-mail and I can
share some of them. There is a sketch of the wooden stick method on photo.
After the museum we went back to Siem Reap where
we visited a butterfly garden where I enjoyed a coconut, Kevin didnt like it
that much but he went crazy with the camera. A few of his creations are shown
below.
the plan for today is a temple marathon: we got up (Kevin: way too early) at 4 am to go and see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, it was way too crowded but the sunrise was very nice. The pictures mostly failed, but I blame the camera, all the others had very fancy cameras. We continued past Ta prohm kel, which is totally not impressive at all but had a nice view and it was our second temple so ok, to Phnom Bakheng. Phnom Bakheng is a hill with a temple on top, it's THE spot for sunset watching but this means that it's way too crowded at that time. We took the long way up, it took for ages and Kevin was complaining that it was way to early. When we went down we found the elephant path without elephants which was a lot faster.
Baksei Chamkrong means 'bird with sheltering wings' if it's supposed to look like that, it totally failed. This temple looks like a square piramid with a typical Khmer Sanctuary on top, the stairs are quite steep and erosed which made it hard to climb. We biked further to Angkor Thom, but on the way we passed a little temple called Bei Prasat, Kevin asked me to take a picture of every temple we passed so that we could say that we've visited them all. This one was not worth a long visit, but there was a nice prao on the river which looked photogenic. Next is Angkor Thom, the biggest complex!
We entered trough the south gate and arrived first at the Bayon, this was pretty nice because the temple gets very crowded during the day. This temple is the one with the many four faced towers, one of the most amazing temples in Angkor. After walking trough the alley's for a bit more than an hour Kevin was sick of it and wanted to go to Baphuon. Baphuon is a huge square temple with a declining Buddha figure in the back, currently this temple is under reconstruction by the French which makes it impossible to visit. We decided to make a little detour in the jungle to visit Phimeanakas. This temple is only accessible from the backside so that it's less touristy and very nice to visit. It was also the perfect time for a break to drink and eat a bit, the view was astonashing if you didn't look at the reconstruction which is everywhere. You had to sacrifice a bit to get the nice view: it was really hot and there was almost no shadow. We finished our detour while passing some reconstruction in progress, which was apparently restricted access... :o but we didn't see any sign. The reclining Buddha was not very clear due to the reconstruction, Kevin only saw some rocks but it was there!
It was getting time for lunch so we continued passed the terrace of the Elephants and came into an area full of souvenir sellers and girls with menus for the restaurants. Time to buy a lonely planet, some water and to go and eat. This was the first Thai souvenir experience for Kevin and he didn't really like it. Maybe it was because he didn't have enough sleep (that's just his excuse, a guy of our age should be ok with 3 hours). After lunch we went to some temples that aren't touristy, they had something mysterious about them. I had to take the lead since there were quite some spiders around but Kevin had to take the lead when we strayed of the path since I'm afraid of mines :p.
Now it was time to get on our bicycle again and go discover some more! For this we stopped at Krol Romeas, something completely different: it looked like an arena but it was actually an enclosure for animals. The explanation made it less impressive than we thought! Next we went to another big complex: Preah Khan, one of the most inspiring carvings to be found in Angkor and some nice trees for Kevin. He also had fun photographing some butterflies while I was checking out the visitor centre. The carvings illustrate many wars and victories of Jayavarman VII to impress his people and to be remembered in history. I have to say that he is being remembered so good job Jayavarman!
We went off the road onto a small dustroad going to Banteay Prei and Prasat Prei. They are two less touristy complexes but still in good shape and they give a nice impression on how the ruins are without restoration. But not as impressive as the big ones! So off to again something completely different: a complex of 13 pools of which 5 have been restored. The one in the middle houses a small sanctuary surrounded by 2 nakha's with strangled tails and the pool in the west still has an elephant fountain which looks really cute!
Next was a 'normal' temple complex: Krol Ko, we now say that it is normal, but if this would be the only temple around here, we would think it is amazing and brilliant! Next one was Ta Som, which features nice devata sculptures in the Gopura's. So after a short visit we went to East Mebon: a giant impressive structure with elephant and lion ornamental statues in the corners. Also the Frontons were nicely ornamented with detailed carvings. On the top we finally had a nice breese to cool down, it almost felt like air conditioning.
Now it was time for a long bicycle ride to Banteay Samré, the bicycle ride drove us through a nice village and beautiful rice paddies! At the temple we got overwelmed by souvenir salesmen (mostly children and some elder women). According to me and the book, this temple almost reaches perfection: there are a lot of carvings which I decyphered using the guidebook. I really liked the dancing shivas in a fronton on the western gopura of the second enclosure. I was taking quite long and Kevin already went back by bicycle (he was really slow since he was getting tired). I met him again at Pre Rup: another giant square piramid like temple however not that high. There are almost no carvings on the walls but the structure itself is amazing on its own.
We were running out of time and we still had to do Ta Prohm: the famous temple with the trees from Tomb Raider. A paradise for Kevin (with a capital K!) who took a lot of pictures of lots of trees. While totally discarting the brilliant carvings on the walls. On the way back we wanted to take a different route so we went of the track while following a trail and when we got back at the entrance we had to climb over a rope which said 'No Access' on the other side... Strange to say the least. The second time this happened to us and people looked really strange at us but we didn't know!
We passed Banteay Kdei while on our way to buy paintings at Angkor Wat. My mom made a reservation for 2 Buddha faces and thus we took our time to buy them. It took us more than an hour, so that the sun was already going down and it was completely dark when we got back in our guesthouse.
early in the morning the train arrived in Bangkok (5.50 am), the plan was to find a travel agency as soon as possible and get to ArranyaPrathet to cross the border with Cambodia and from their on to Siem Reap! We took a tuk tuk to Khao San road since there are the most travel agencies, none of them were open before 8 am and you really should leave before 8 am if you want to get to Siem Reap at a decent time. The border can be a bit time consuming and staying for the night in Arranyaprathet is not that much fun. So we asked around and there was one guy with a private taxi that could take us to a TAT (tourist authority thailand) near the trainstation... Let's say everyone makes mistakes. Anyway, when we got there all of them were closed so he called them and they opened the door in their pyjamas. They arranged us a minibus that would take us at 7 am so a bit later we were on our way.
The boarder crossing here is really corrupt and very crowded so we followed the group and arranged our visa at a specialized restaurant. The same one I used last year. After 10 minutes they came back with our visa and everything was ready, normally if you do it on your own you have to wait at least 2 hours and on average 5 to 6 hours. I will try this the next time I cross the border...
Two german people joined us to cross the border (they were also in the minibus) and everything went smooth, a bit later we were stuck in the bus station again. I asked him several times if the bus would be ready and we already paid for it, he always said yes but when we got there he said we had to wait for more than 2 hours and that the bus would take about 4 hours. This would mean we miss a free evening in the Angkor ruins. The germans agreed that we should try to get different transport and we arranged a taxi by paying a bit extra. The taxi was a fast ride: he never drove slower than 110 km an hour, in these countries that is unusual.
Once we arrived in Siem Reap we checked in at Baca house: a guesthouse that is owned by a dutch guy who is also doing development work in a village nearby. We also arranged a tuk tuk to bring us to Angkor wat for sunset and finally got something to eat. Breakfast was cornflakes without milk, lunch we didn't have so I was really hungry. Kevin ordered a hamburger and french fries but he said something was wrong with it so he barely ate.
For the sunset most people go to a hill with a temple on top called Phnom Bakheng, but we didn't want to go to the crowded place. Instead we went to Angkor wat, which was really nice because it's always very crowded except for the sunset. We first looked around a bit and when we were at the inner site of Angkor wat some kind of a tour guide approached us and said with a wink: 'You want to go up?' We replyed that of course we want to go up, but that it is restricted for tourists and that it is a real pity. He replyed: 'You pay me little money, I know police, I can take you up to go and look.' With that sentence he got my attention so we started negociating about the price and when we were both happy we went up. He first put out his shirt that said he was an official from there and then he ducked and walked past some fences and lead the way up. We had to duck too, it was exciting, of course we followed the reconstructed stairs and were careful not to break nor touch any carvings or stones. After an amazing tour we went back down and sat and a quiet spot with a nice view on the sunset.
In the evening we actually planned to go to bed early and get up and 4 to see the sunrise in the temples again. This plan changed when a chinese showed up and we started talking and after a while we made plans to go for a drink in town. We found a nice cocktail bar and it was getting late before we knew. Next morning 4.00, that will hurt.
the 17th was a rainy day so I didn't do that much: I practised my photoshop skills in the morning and downloaded some software for the school. In the afternoon I was tired of sitting still and getting wet in these temperatures is not so bad so I went mountainbiking and after 10 minutes I was soaked! I got a lot of strange looks while I was passing by... In the late afternoon it stopped raining and I stopped at a beach to get a drink and a swim: I was already wet so it didn't matter anymore. Not such an interesting day but it was relaxing.
. There are not that many tourists here besides the sex tourists... I don't want to go on a trekking with them... The concept of the kayaking was pretty easy: cross a river, go through the mangroves to a small river comming from the mountains, leave the kayak and start climbing up towards some rapids for swimming. This all under the all-seeing eye of a cambodian who can't speak nor hear... After crossing the river he let me know that he was tired and wanted a rest, ok the river was pretty wide but still... He knew his way around the mangroves pretty well and soon I lost all sense of direction. Then at once around a corner there was a small river comming down a mountain and after avoiding some rocks he parked the kayak and led the way up the mountain. Now I had a pretty hard time to catch up, he jumped from one slippery rock to the other! great sense of balance but I couldn't do it, I always had to find some place to hold on to. It was sooo beautiful! Finally a place without trash and it was so quiet, that's the advantage of someone who can't speak. I enjoyed a little swim in the rapids. Then we had to go back and again he was so fast on the land so I used a little more speed on the kayak. This time upstream and there were waves now which made it pretty difficult to go and the kayak got a lot of water. In the middle of the river he got out of the kayak and told me to do the same, luckily it was only half a meter deep. We emptied the kayak and continued. It was high tide so we could go trough the maze of creeks to make a final tour. A great trip, but kayaking at 35 °C makes you sweaty...
