In Siem Reap, the best way to visit the temples IMHO is by hiring a Tuk Tuk for about 15$ a day. The Tuk Tuk driver will take you to each temple complex, drop you off there (IOW he is NOT a guide), wait for you and drive you to the next temple complex. Very nice. In the individual temples you still will do a lot of walking and climbing and so, but in between complexes - you really do not want to do this by foot. Sure - you could rent a bike. But by the time you get to the bike rental place, you will already have sat in a Tuk Tuk....
Plus when it rains (and it does rain there) a Tuk Tuk provides you shelter from the rain. Which means you stay (relatively) dry, whereas the cheapskates get wet (very wet). So up to you what you want to do. Sure as a backpacker you have a limited budget, but if you do not have 4$ pp for this, maybe a few pints less will get you there too.
If you want a guide you need to hire a taxi and guide, which has the added benefit that you travel in an air-conditioned car between temples, so giving you some reprieve from the heat. But each time you get out of the cab you die from the diabolical heat.
Which brings me to the next finding : quite a few blogs say, go really early to enjoy the temples. So does everyone else ! Which means reduces enjoyment. I went in the sweltering midday heat, which was a bit unpleasant at first. But I for once will not have to edit that many people out of my photos via Photoshop. They were not there. Only Ta Prohm was quite crowded (but mind you this was later in the afternoon too).
As there are numerous stalls at each exit of the complexes (where your Tuk Tuk will be waiting), you can always get fresh, cold, bottled water at 1$ a bottle. Bargain hard and you even get the big bottle at this price...
Yes this is a travel blog too, so you may want to apply the same caveat on my rantings than on all the other ones. Just go there with your eyes open, your wits about and you will be fine.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Posted with Blogsy
My thoughts on Travel Blogs and transiting to Cambodia
As part of all modern day travel, we inform us about all the choices, things to do, dangers and so on via travel blogs, TripAdvisor, WikiTravel and God only knows what else.
Sometimes this can be a good thing, mostly it can add layers of complexity to your journey. I guess this has best been illustrated by Michael Macintyre in this YouTube clip, when he talks about TripAdvisor (yes I am a reviewer on TA too).
Sometimes the stuff you read just get you hyped up beyond belief, meaning that you can not make a controlled judgement anymore. Or stuff is just plain right wrong. We had a couple of both on our journey and some of them got me into a wee bit of trouble too...
The transit from Bangkok to the Cambodian border was described by (in)numerous blogs as something really horrible. It probably is, when you try to do this on 5€ a nose. If you -however- book an entire cab/minibus yourself, it will set you back about 90-100€, but as the minibus holds 6-7 people, I leave it to your creativity on how much this will actually cost you on a per person basis. We used the services of a chap called Sompoach, Cell phone number +66 81 901 7292. And the ride could not been better. OK I first met him under rather dodgy looking circumstances in Bangkok near the Victory Monument for the down payment. But in hindsight the trip could not have been better. Smooth, stopped whenever we wanted to. Asked us whether we wanted to go to the market in Aranyprathet (no thank you) and carried straight to the border. he literally stopped 50m from the Thai emigration post. He even warned us from the porters 'Not nice people'
OK the small journey between the Thai post and the Cambodian post in Poipet, where you walk through 300m of No Man's Land with casinos and dodgy creatures is not my most memorable stroll. But just say No to anyone NOT in a uniform and you will be fine. If you have an e-visa got straight to Immigration but DO NOT forget to get one of the immigration card distributed by the officials (they are free). If you do not have a visa, go to the VOA booth WITH two passport photos and 20$ and then proceed as above. You will be fine.
Afterwards they will try to usher you to the free bus that takes you to some dusty outpost of Poipet from where the busses to Siem Reap leave (9$ pp) or the official taxis (48$ per taxi or 12$ pp). Now some may argue that this is rip off and all this. Fact of the matter is that some people we met along the route did not go to the terminal but into Poipet and negotiated hard (really hard) and paid 10$ pp in some cab, sharing it with locals.
Quite frankly, you are halfway around the world in a country where people die of hunger and you start being stingy on what - 3$ ???
The ride between Poipet and Siem Reap is nearly 160 km and takes 2.5 hours. Even in Cambodia petrol prices are linked to on how the Crude Oil prices are doing.
So just take a bus or a cab (or organize your own transportation for marginally less), but whatever way you choose is fine. There is no mafia and dodgy people. Just people doing their job. Maybe they work for some corrupt person, maybe they don't, but they do work to feed their family. So respect them. I didn't really, as I was quite hyped up by all this crap, so I shouted at random at people. And they do not like this. At all.
Sometimes this can be a good thing, mostly it can add layers of complexity to your journey. I guess this has best been illustrated by Michael Macintyre in this YouTube clip, when he talks about TripAdvisor (yes I am a reviewer on TA too).
Sometimes the stuff you read just get you hyped up beyond belief, meaning that you can not make a controlled judgement anymore. Or stuff is just plain right wrong. We had a couple of both on our journey and some of them got me into a wee bit of trouble too...
The transit from Bangkok to the Cambodian border was described by (in)numerous blogs as something really horrible. It probably is, when you try to do this on 5€ a nose. If you -however- book an entire cab/minibus yourself, it will set you back about 90-100€, but as the minibus holds 6-7 people, I leave it to your creativity on how much this will actually cost you on a per person basis. We used the services of a chap called Sompoach, Cell phone number +66 81 901 7292. And the ride could not been better. OK I first met him under rather dodgy looking circumstances in Bangkok near the Victory Monument for the down payment. But in hindsight the trip could not have been better. Smooth, stopped whenever we wanted to. Asked us whether we wanted to go to the market in Aranyprathet (no thank you) and carried straight to the border. he literally stopped 50m from the Thai emigration post. He even warned us from the porters 'Not nice people'
OK the small journey between the Thai post and the Cambodian post in Poipet, where you walk through 300m of No Man's Land with casinos and dodgy creatures is not my most memorable stroll. But just say No to anyone NOT in a uniform and you will be fine. If you have an e-visa got straight to Immigration but DO NOT forget to get one of the immigration card distributed by the officials (they are free). If you do not have a visa, go to the VOA booth WITH two passport photos and 20$ and then proceed as above. You will be fine.
Afterwards they will try to usher you to the free bus that takes you to some dusty outpost of Poipet from where the busses to Siem Reap leave (9$ pp) or the official taxis (48$ per taxi or 12$ pp). Now some may argue that this is rip off and all this. Fact of the matter is that some people we met along the route did not go to the terminal but into Poipet and negotiated hard (really hard) and paid 10$ pp in some cab, sharing it with locals.
Quite frankly, you are halfway around the world in a country where people die of hunger and you start being stingy on what - 3$ ???
The ride between Poipet and Siem Reap is nearly 160 km and takes 2.5 hours. Even in Cambodia petrol prices are linked to on how the Crude Oil prices are doing.
So just take a bus or a cab (or organize your own transportation for marginally less), but whatever way you choose is fine. There is no mafia and dodgy people. Just people doing their job. Maybe they work for some corrupt person, maybe they don't, but they do work to feed their family. So respect them. I didn't really, as I was quite hyped up by all this crap, so I shouted at random at people. And they do not like this. At all.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The way back home
All good thing must come to an end. And so did this holiday.In true Indiana Jones style, we travelled from Bali to Kuala Lumpur, stayed the night, went to Doha, stayed the might and the eventually went home to Brussels.
KL was good as ever and the Pan Pacific at the airport was hotel like out of the Soviet era in the eighties but really good. Apologies for using their airco to dry our swimming gear.
What followed was the trip to Doha and a day in Doha during Ramadan. The heat was incredible. At 19.00 when we could finally eat it still felt like we were standing behing an exhaust pipe or at the outlet of airco - just on the wrong side. How they are going to have football world cup is beyond me. the heat is atrocious. Plus NO BOOZE. Whatsoever. I had my Red Johhny confiscated upon entry into Doha (got it back when leaving though). And beer cost 12.50 euro a can. So football fans will live very healthy I guess.
Doha International airport was a hellish as ever. Do not fall for the Qatar Airways shit fo 5 star airline and all. It sucks. Not enough food, not enough drinks...
But we are happy back home and the weather is nice too.
So let see where our travels will take us to next, but you will find out here anyway.
Last days on Bali
On the penultimate day I wanted to go jet skiing and thought it was good idea to drop off Lourd at the Melia resort in Nusa Dua. Too good of an idea as it turned out. She loved the idea of a beach resort and putting the feet into the white sand so much, that on monday I did not go jet skiing, but rather to reception and negotiated a good rate for a room for two days.
So we had a nice villa and a nice room in the Melia. Things could be worse I guess and it was the only luxury.
I went jet skiing the next day and it was a blast. On Bali you are not allowed on your own on the jet ski, but need a guide. God knows why - but the good thing was that Max got his own jet ski (with guide) and he had a total blast as he was in control of the jet ski.
Poor monitor on mine had to live with me doing high speed donuts all the time and changing directions more than a rabbit that tries to escape a fox.
Other than that not much to report. It was time to go home and leave Bali and its lovely people behind. Let's hope that Max will stay in contact with his mate Zen from Bali.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Day 5 in Bali - Eat - Prey -Blog
5th day on Bali. After a slow start we finally managed to drag our bones out of what Lourd now refers to as the 'Hacienda'. Don't get us wrong - the villa is still lovely and everything is just fine. But when you travel a lot (and we do), you do start to take a biassed view on things. But more after the holidays in my debriefing and rant. Suffice it to say that Europe is not that bad either...So we went to Padand Pandang beach - as made famous by Eat-Prey-Love. I have not seen the move so I have no clue on how the beach ties into the movie. But as it is a small beach it must have had a minor role. Or it is the same story as James Bond Beach in Thailand, which is a small strip of Krabi coast. Nice beach though, t too many hawkers and some decent (yet expensive) food stalls. Plus the person running our food joint needed a personality transplant. She must have been one of the few people around here not able to smile. At all.
Afterwards I set off to the temples of Uluwatur (Lourd and Max were not motivated). Nice. Bali as you expect it from the postcards. Usual apartheid going on with the entrance prices - Locals pay half. Imagine the uproar if in Europe we would apply this too. Here everyone is cool with it....
Anyway nice temple, nice sunset nice scenery. And once again the travel blogs were wrong. The monkeys wer tame. See for yourself. What you DO want to do when you get here is leave early, as after sunset is done, all the hire cars set of in one HUGE traffic jam. So get a car, cause a car will get you far. And do not listen to travel blogs who tell you that driving here is lethal. It isnt't.
One thing I found mad though is that I saw the same kind of architecture and design back in Angkor Wat. Freaky - when you think that there is about 700 years between those temples. But for a moment I thought I was back in Cambodia (no - not quoting Kim Wild here, even though the whole trip has been one trip down memory lane of songs of the 80ies.
One Night in Bangkok, Lost inside Cambodia and Fields of Gold. KL was Entrapment...
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Day 4 in Bali - Waterbom park in Kuta
Our hostesses son Zen, a lovely 11y old kid, tagged along for the ride. In other words I had 2 kids to coordinate. The slides at the park are amazing, pure thrill, yet having a lovely part for really small kiddie winkels too. It is a bit pricey, but at this stage what does it matter ? It's great and it is safe.
Afterwards we set of to Jimbaran beach to eat some freshly grilled fish. The fish was great, so were the prawns. It was very pricey though, when you take into consideration where you are. I doubt that at the Med' they charge you substantially more. Ok the setting straight on the beach was sublime, and would it not have been for the clouds we would have seen a lovely sunset.
But is all this worth a european price tag in a country where the average post grad salary is 700$ ? I somehow do not think so. I am not negative, but I find it sometimes a bit upsetting, when you get charged through your teeth in an area where two road row down, people live in shacks like shanties.
But anyway - it was a great day and we all had fun and this is what counts. So Waterbom plus 1, Guido like this.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Day 3 in Bali - lazing at the beach
Not much to report today, we took it easy. First we slept in and the it was time to hit the town for breakfast. Yes you read right : food cooked by aliens is back. Mainly as I was too lazy to cook. Pancakes were really good, so was Max's smoothie and croissant. My Nasi Goreng was nothing special par contre.Then back to the House, where it dawned on me that the lads of Top Gear were right. In their outing to the US they all commented on how they first hated their cars, but how -warts and all- they grew on them. The same is happening with me and my POS. It is a POS, but it is MY POS. And now I know how she behaves, I know how to adapt. Funny how cars grow on you. Same about the parking. As the husband of our hostess is gone, I could have his parking spot in the garage. But I prefer my parking spot under the tree outside the gate. Why ? It is "my" parking space.
After lazing on the sofa, we decided to hit the beach and went to Finn's Beach Club, part of the luxury Semara resort. You basically pay 2.500.000 rupies (25e) per adult as an 'entrance' fee, but as this completely redeemable against F&B in the bar/restaurant this works out to be a good deal, as the food is excellent - even by my standards. Plus you get sunloungers, towels and smiles from the staff. And afterwards you get to use the infinity pool up at the main Hotel. This pool has such a perfect view - it is to die for.
How anyone can be mad enough to pay between 900$ and 2500$ A NIGHT is -however- beyond me. As the way there leads you through some back shanties, where you really want black windows so you do not see it, for you are afraid where they are taking you. NO DANGER though as the locals are ever so friendly there is not danger whatsoever. But other than the -predictable- russians, we had oodles of brits and french. Most of them taking business calls all the time. What's the point paying >15000$ for two weeks of vacation if you still work ?
Diner was outsourced as well. But if I ever hear Bob Marley in the next two month, I do not now what might happen next...Food from the place I bought it was OK, but no more. Neither were the portions. Fortunately I had a Mahi-Mahi filet in the fridge, which together with some yellow curry paste, Tamarind, palm sugar, chili and lime proved to be one of the best plates I cooked this year. and I have Thailand and Malaysia and their balance of spice to thank for.
Oh yeas and we share the House now with Gordon the Gekko. See for yourself (even though he is not that visible behind the fridge)
For a day with not many photos this was a lot of text. Thanks for staying with me
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Day 2 in Bali
Time to hit the legendary terraced paddie fields of Bali. Which according to the SatNav were 50km away, so I thought one good hour should be enough getting us there, as we set off at 12.45.Could.Not.Have.Been.More.Wrong!
It took us a solid 2.5 hours to cover 50 km. The traffic here is factor 10 mad and factor 20 dense. God knows what will happen, when they all can afford cars. It is bad already now. It makes Brussels during the day look like a deserted city...
So we arrived at 15.30 at a lovely resort in the middle of the jungle (how can you stay there for a week or longer w/o car is beyond me) and I thought, let's have late lunch. Do you take AmEx ? No, only Mastercard or Visa, sir. Which card was back at basecamp ? Mastercard. What did I not have with me ? Enough cash for a 5* resort. So I dropped off Lourd and Max and headed back to Ubud. Realizing that I left the SatNav behind with Max. It is on the iPad. So not only did I not have enough funds, but I dropped off wife and kid at a Resort, which name I had not memorized, in the middle of nowhere with no SatNav. And neither of us had the phones with us either. Oh and petrol was running low too.
I did find them again and the food was excellent, but as it gets dark quick and early (try 18.20), it meant we had to head back. So if you are ever going to go to Bali and do a selfdrive - leave early, take cash and Mastercard.
So please appreciate the photos, as they took some effort in the making...
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Day 1 in Bali
Mr Avis gave us his worst (or best ?) car ever. Its a Toyota Innova Minibus with 115000km on the teller, which sputters if you give a bit too much gas. Freaky.
Driving here is like factor 8 on the Richter scale in the daytime, going a close 9 at night. It is insane. But having driven in Thailand prepared me well for this experience. Just more mopeds and insanity. But by all means and accounts, get a car, as a car will get you far.
Our house is just as nice as shown on the promotional photos, plus it comes with Troy the watchdog and Zen, Max's buddy, the owners son. a lovely 11y old boy, who loves to hang with Max (and vice versa). Ever since the gastro Lourd's gone mental on hygiene though. Surprised the surfaces do not get cleaned with alcohol to disinfect them. Oh hang on we drink the alcohol ourselves.
Max learned how t ride the wakeboard today and was quite good at it. Water was surprisingly cold, when compared to Thailand actually. Nice island, nice water, nice food. More to be explored tomorrow.
Day 3 in KL
Oh one last thing - if in KL, got eat at Souled out. Best indian I ever had. And best western burger too.
Day 2 in KL
offer to kids big and small.
In Petrosains we found just that. Located on the 4th floor of the big mall below the towers, it is a science exhibition, themed around - you guessed it- Petronas and the good it does to society. But Guido got to play on a digger and so did Max.
Highlight of the day was the trip up the Petronas Towers at sunset. And -yes- you CAN buy the tickets for the towers in advance. I even threw in the premium package, which meant sandwiches at the Oil Baron's Club of the Twin Towers. I felt the breath of JR in my back :-)
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Going to KL
What a day of contrasts ! You would not believe what two hours (not even) of flight can do.
But first things first : after L having a bit of a sick day yesterday (very very bad case of food poisoning),
we somehow managed to set off this morning circumstances non withstanding and -to a great deal- thanks to the German pharmaceutical industry !
We saw people working on paddie fields, driving to work as a salesman for dusters made out of chicken feathers and lone fishermen throwing out their net hoping to catch something to eat that day. Four hours later I stand in a shopping mall with Gucci, Prada and Boss fighting for our money. How bizarre is this ? How unequal is the wealth of this world distributed ? Makes you think...and we as tourists even pumped some money into Cambodia -and we did not stay at a european/American whatever hotel chain. Okay probably some wealthy Cambodian, but what are you going to do.
Having said that you do understand why the the more average person on the streets touts you all the time...
Anyway - one smooth AirAsia ride later and one -shall we say- adventurous taxi ride later we eventually arrived at the hotel. Mental note : do not believe anything that travel blogs say (this one excluded). They said that there was almost no difference between premier and budget taxis. There is ! the first one probably knows the way, has a fully functioning airco and does not nearly run out of gas. Ours did not. None. In the end my OpenStreetMap based sat nav on MY ipad told him where to go. While his car was on the last breath of gas (it ran on LPG) and L nearly fainting in the back. 36 degrees with a failing airco is no fun if you recover from a gastro...
Hotel fine, just fine. Actually could not be better. Nice view to the Twin Towers. Where travel blogs say you can not get tickets in advance but have to be there at 06.30. Total BS. I went there to do a little reccie for tomorrow, already dreading getting up at 06.00 like a ticket to the towers is the next iPhone. You see Petronas only lets about 600 ppl a day up their towers. Well I managed to get tickets for 19.15 tomorrow which is just during sunset. How about that travel blogs ? Turn out they stopped giving the tickets for free two years ago. I do not know if that has to do with the costs of the F1 engagement, but whatever.
Afterwards a nice swim, with probably the best pool view ever, followed by the nicest lamb curry ever, followed by the nicest night swim ever. Time to hit the sack.
But first things first : after L having a bit of a sick day yesterday (very very bad case of food poisoning),we somehow managed to set off this morning circumstances non withstanding and -to a great deal- thanks to the German pharmaceutical industry !
We saw people working on paddie fields, driving to work as a salesman for dusters made out of chicken feathers and lone fishermen throwing out their net hoping to catch something to eat that day. Four hours later I stand in a shopping mall with Gucci, Prada and Boss fighting for our money. How bizarre is this ? How unequal is the wealth of this world distributed ? Makes you think...and we as tourists even pumped some money into Cambodia -and we did not stay at a european/American whatever hotel chain. Okay probably some wealthy Cambodian, but what are you going to do.
Having said that you do understand why the the more average person on the streets touts you all the time...
Anyway - one smooth AirAsia ride later and one -shall we say- adventurous taxi ride later we eventually arrived at the hotel. Mental note : do not believe anything that travel blogs say (this one excluded). They said that there was almost no difference between premier and budget taxis. There is ! the first one probably knows the way, has a fully functioning airco and does not nearly run out of gas. Ours did not. None. In the end my OpenStreetMap based sat nav on MY ipad told him where to go. While his car was on the last breath of gas (it ran on LPG) and L nearly fainting in the back. 36 degrees with a failing airco is no fun if you recover from a gastro...
Hotel fine, just fine. Actually could not be better. Nice view to the Twin Towers. Where travel blogs say you can not get tickets in advance but have to be there at 06.30. Total BS. I went there to do a little reccie for tomorrow, already dreading getting up at 06.00 like a ticket to the towers is the next iPhone. You see Petronas only lets about 600 ppl a day up their towers. Well I managed to get tickets for 19.15 tomorrow which is just during sunset. How about that travel blogs ? Turn out they stopped giving the tickets for free two years ago. I do not know if that has to do with the costs of the F1 engagement, but whatever.
Afterwards a nice swim, with probably the best pool view ever, followed by the nicest lamb curry ever, followed by the nicest night swim ever. Time to hit the sack.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Angkor Wat Baby
Angkor Wat Baby !
What a highlight ! Everything I had hoped for, imagined and then some more. I set off on my own this morning as the rest of the gang wanted an easy day and not necessarily walk for miles and miles in the blistering sun. But they will come tomorrow for an abridged version
My Tuk Tuk picked me up at exactly 10.30 and we drove off. Best 15$ I ever invested (today that is). It was a smooth and lovely ride and I really did not feel sorry for the cheapskates who paid north of 1000e on tickets getting here, but were too stingy afterwards. Cant do the time, dont do the crime. Hiking 25km in sweltering heat is no fun. Walking maybe in through the temples, par contre, is. And your Tuk Tuk driver will take you from temple to temple and then leave you to your own devices. Just what I wanted.
When I first saw Angkor Wat, it was 100% what I expected and then some. See for yourself. What followed afterwards was the temples and ruins on Ankor Thom and Tha Prom.
It is so weird to see all these ruins in the middle of the jungle, imagining that several hundres years ago, when London was boasting 40.000 people and us germanz were probably still hitting each others with clubs, there was a civilisation that had the first mega city, as it is thought that at its height more than a million people lived in Angkor.
It is like steping right into an Indian Jones or Tomb Raider movie. Hang on - Tomb Raider had Tha Prom as a backdrop. It is so mythical it is unbelievable. One of those places where you can actually feel history.
Back tomorrow...
What a highlight ! Everything I had hoped for, imagined and then some more. I set off on my own this morning as the rest of the gang wanted an easy day and not necessarily walk for miles and miles in the blistering sun. But they will come tomorrow for an abridged version
My Tuk Tuk picked me up at exactly 10.30 and we drove off. Best 15$ I ever invested (today that is). It was a smooth and lovely ride and I really did not feel sorry for the cheapskates who paid north of 1000e on tickets getting here, but were too stingy afterwards. Cant do the time, dont do the crime. Hiking 25km in sweltering heat is no fun. Walking maybe in through the temples, par contre, is. And your Tuk Tuk driver will take you from temple to temple and then leave you to your own devices. Just what I wanted.
When I first saw Angkor Wat, it was 100% what I expected and then some. See for yourself. What followed afterwards was the temples and ruins on Ankor Thom and Tha Prom.
It is so weird to see all these ruins in the middle of the jungle, imagining that several hundres years ago, when London was boasting 40.000 people and us germanz were probably still hitting each others with clubs, there was a civilisation that had the first mega city, as it is thought that at its height more than a million people lived in Angkor.
It is like steping right into an Indian Jones or Tomb Raider movie. Hang on - Tomb Raider had Tha Prom as a backdrop. It is so mythical it is unbelievable. One of those places where you can actually feel history.
Back tomorrow...
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Transiting to Cambodia
Today was a big travel day.
We traveled by car from BKK to Siem Reap in Cambodia. After a late start from Bangkok we set out to a very smooth ride in a hugely oversized (for the three of us) Minibus to the Cambodian border. The journey was organized by our lovely hostess in Bangkok, who's great apartment we were renting. Going native is really the thing, as you do not end up in some 5* Hotel that could be anywhere but get to share the life with real people. As rides go this was the smoothest and safest ever, so a big shout to our host in BKK, Mam, for choosing this one for us. To be recommended !
He dropped us right off at the border, so all we had to do was dodge the two/three scammers on the Thai side and get our passport stamped on the way out. So top tip, when you do this yourself - get a private hire from BKK and safe all the hassle with Tuk Tuks and other shit.
Once emigrated from Thailand you have to walk towards Cambodia and basically ignore everyone talking to not wearing sand colored uniform. If you do not have an e-visa you have to go to the Visa hut and pay 20$ for a lovely sticker in your passport. Do not forget a passport photo ! Or get an e-visa (5$ extra), skip that queue and queue up for Cambodian Immigration. Do not forget to get an Arrival/Departure Card from the officials (sand uniform).
You do walk through some no man's land with Casinos and Hookers and mostly unpleasant elements. But if you ignore all of them you're fine.
There was a lot of buzz and hype on blogs and forums on how unpleasant and dangerous (scamming) this place is. Stay focussed, stay calm, say a POLITE NO to everyone (unlike me at some stage), basically just say no but in a polite way and you will be fine. Hide your valuable though. I was totally freaked and stressed out at the beginning, over stressed as it happens. yes - it's not a very friendly place. No - you ain't going to meet Jack Sparrow or Black Beard. Unless you want to. Remember that this is where first world meet third world. You probably make three to four times as much in a month that they do in a year. They just want their cut.
Keep a level head and your wits and you will be fine. It is not as hostile as Wikitravel et al. make it out to be. Do be careful, but do not be spooked.
Once cleared immigration you are herded onto a bus, that takes you to the International Tourist Transit Center, a place where you get your onward traffic at set prices.
9$ on bus to Siem Reap (3h), 48$ for a taxi with 4 PAX max. Not cheap but the cab is money well invested, as it only takes two hours. In Thailand I used to think that there was a lot of overoptimistic overtaking - there is even more in Cambodia.
Once in Siem Reap the cabbie stopped to introduce us to his 'brother' (from a different set of parents by the looks of it) who will be our Tuk Tuk driver for tomorrow. 15$, going rate.
We ended up in 120m2 of splendor (only 120e a night), the Karavasara Hotel. Jaysus - if someone said I had to live here for six months in this apartment, I'd say OK. It is FAB. The daughter that stayed behind due to illness would have loved it here.
Off to bed now
Slideshow time
We traveled by car from BKK to Siem Reap in Cambodia. After a late start from Bangkok we set out to a very smooth ride in a hugely oversized (for the three of us) Minibus to the Cambodian border. The journey was organized by our lovely hostess in Bangkok, who's great apartment we were renting. Going native is really the thing, as you do not end up in some 5* Hotel that could be anywhere but get to share the life with real people. As rides go this was the smoothest and safest ever, so a big shout to our host in BKK, Mam, for choosing this one for us. To be recommended !
He dropped us right off at the border, so all we had to do was dodge the two/three scammers on the Thai side and get our passport stamped on the way out. So top tip, when you do this yourself - get a private hire from BKK and safe all the hassle with Tuk Tuks and other shit.
Once emigrated from Thailand you have to walk towards Cambodia and basically ignore everyone talking to not wearing sand colored uniform. If you do not have an e-visa you have to go to the Visa hut and pay 20$ for a lovely sticker in your passport. Do not forget a passport photo ! Or get an e-visa (5$ extra), skip that queue and queue up for Cambodian Immigration. Do not forget to get an Arrival/Departure Card from the officials (sand uniform).
You do walk through some no man's land with Casinos and Hookers and mostly unpleasant elements. But if you ignore all of them you're fine.
There was a lot of buzz and hype on blogs and forums on how unpleasant and dangerous (scamming) this place is. Stay focussed, stay calm, say a POLITE NO to everyone (unlike me at some stage), basically just say no but in a polite way and you will be fine. Hide your valuable though. I was totally freaked and stressed out at the beginning, over stressed as it happens. yes - it's not a very friendly place. No - you ain't going to meet Jack Sparrow or Black Beard. Unless you want to. Remember that this is where first world meet third world. You probably make three to four times as much in a month that they do in a year. They just want their cut.
Keep a level head and your wits and you will be fine. It is not as hostile as Wikitravel et al. make it out to be. Do be careful, but do not be spooked.
Once cleared immigration you are herded onto a bus, that takes you to the International Tourist Transit Center, a place where you get your onward traffic at set prices.
9$ on bus to Siem Reap (3h), 48$ for a taxi with 4 PAX max. Not cheap but the cab is money well invested, as it only takes two hours. In Thailand I used to think that there was a lot of overoptimistic overtaking - there is even more in Cambodia.
Once in Siem Reap the cabbie stopped to introduce us to his 'brother' (from a different set of parents by the looks of it) who will be our Tuk Tuk driver for tomorrow. 15$, going rate.
We ended up in 120m2 of splendor (only 120e a night), the Karavasara Hotel. Jaysus - if someone said I had to live here for six months in this apartment, I'd say OK. It is FAB. The daughter that stayed behind due to illness would have loved it here.
Off to bed now
Slideshow time
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Day 3 in BKK
3rd and last (full)day in Bangkok. Royal Palaces on the menu.
After a later start, we eventually made it to the Royal Palaces. Really nice place, shame that that its precinct is crawling with the scum of this earth and the best con artists that Bangkok can offer. Thank God for the grumpy germanz, who a/ pointed us to the right direction (which our almost honest cabbie had done too) and b/ shouted they are all liars. Which they were.
I had a sudden change of clothes to do, as I was wearing shorts. Instead, and to show my respect, I had to wear trousers strait out of the Thai Department of Corrections and you won't be seeing them either. On the grounds you still have to be on your guard as Thai (and thus some thieves - I am not generalizing here) enter the grounds for free. So obviously if you are a Thai pick pocket...
Place itself underwent major renovation works, so most temples were shut.
Afterwards it was off to the cinema and The Dark Knight Rises. So did everyone else in the cinema,as this is what you do around here, as after the ads and before the show, they play the National Anthem.
Photos
After a later start, we eventually made it to the Royal Palaces. Really nice place, shame that that its precinct is crawling with the scum of this earth and the best con artists that Bangkok can offer. Thank God for the grumpy germanz, who a/ pointed us to the right direction (which our almost honest cabbie had done too) and b/ shouted they are all liars. Which they were.
I had a sudden change of clothes to do, as I was wearing shorts. Instead, and to show my respect, I had to wear trousers strait out of the Thai Department of Corrections and you won't be seeing them either. On the grounds you still have to be on your guard as Thai (and thus some thieves - I am not generalizing here) enter the grounds for free. So obviously if you are a Thai pick pocket...
Place itself underwent major renovation works, so most temples were shut.
Afterwards it was off to the cinema and The Dark Knight Rises. So did everyone else in the cinema,as this is what you do around here, as after the ads and before the show, they play the National Anthem.
Photos
Monday, July 23, 2012
Day 2 of our adventures
I cooked with Poo (and I liked it).
No - not with a number 2, but with a friendly lady called Poo, who runs a local charity/cooking school for do-gooders like me. After getting up at 07.15 (earlier then when going to work), I set out on my own -and the 5 million commuters in Bangkok.
Taxis are out of the question. When you are here, take the Metro or walk, as in a cab you will endure endless traffic jams.
Anyway prior to the cooking school a trip to the markt was involved. Basically Thai people seem to eat everything but a proper steak. They do not know what they are missing. But from living fish, eel, frogs and bugs everything that you can possibly imagine was eaten.
Cooking school was fine too. Now I know what went wrong with my Tom Yums : mental note - do not use stock, just water is fine. The other people where proper do gooders, the type you take an instant disliking to and keep it throughout the experience.
Anyway : afterwards we set out to discover posh Bangkok and went to the aquarium in Siam shopping mall. Amazing ! Much better than any of your sealife's in Europe.
Tomorrow : Kings palace and TDKR in the evening. That is Batman for the non nerds. Max needs to be kept happy too.
Here are some photos
No - not with a number 2, but with a friendly lady called Poo, who runs a local charity/cooking school for do-gooders like me. After getting up at 07.15 (earlier then when going to work), I set out on my own -and the 5 million commuters in Bangkok.
Taxis are out of the question. When you are here, take the Metro or walk, as in a cab you will endure endless traffic jams.
Anyway prior to the cooking school a trip to the markt was involved. Basically Thai people seem to eat everything but a proper steak. They do not know what they are missing. But from living fish, eel, frogs and bugs everything that you can possibly imagine was eaten.
Cooking school was fine too. Now I know what went wrong with my Tom Yums : mental note - do not use stock, just water is fine. The other people where proper do gooders, the type you take an instant disliking to and keep it throughout the experience.
Anyway : afterwards we set out to discover posh Bangkok and went to the aquarium in Siam shopping mall. Amazing ! Much better than any of your sealife's in Europe.
Tomorrow : Kings palace and TDKR in the evening. That is Batman for the non nerds. Max needs to be kept happy too.
Here are some photos
Sunday, July 22, 2012
1st day in Bangkok
After a long flight and a few very politically incorrect things to do (try whisky and Doha...) we arrived in Bangkok. Smooth taxi ride to the condo, probably as guns and drugs were forbidden in the cab.
A long night sleep later we woke up, some more jet lagged than others. I (Guido writing) was the Energizer Bunny as usual...
Eventually we set off to the temples of Wat Pho, first by Metro and then by Taxi. Nice old taxi driver, who scammed us out of the double fare. As it was either paying 2.5 euro of 4 euro, I decided not to kick off in one of my usual rants. Temples were great and the investment into the personal tourist guide (300THB) was worth every Baht. Shame he struggled on the zoom though.
The temples were quite an amazing experience. See for yourself. After a hearty lunch we decided to take the bus back to the Metro, only to end up in a Taxi again (the bus never showed up and we were at the correct stop). Taxi was a death trap on four wheels, having to stop at a gas station to refill...the tires with air !.
Guy was honest but useless, as he dropped us off at the wrong end of Lat Proa Road. we were told to tell the taxi driver to go to Big C (a supermarket) on Lat Proa Road. Only that there are TWO Big C's...
Ah well - a few bahts later we aere back safe and sound and off to the roof top pool (wait for the pictures....).
Here are some photos of the day
A long night sleep later we woke up, some more jet lagged than others. I (Guido writing) was the Energizer Bunny as usual...
Eventually we set off to the temples of Wat Pho, first by Metro and then by Taxi. Nice old taxi driver, who scammed us out of the double fare. As it was either paying 2.5 euro of 4 euro, I decided not to kick off in one of my usual rants. Temples were great and the investment into the personal tourist guide (300THB) was worth every Baht. Shame he struggled on the zoom though.
The temples were quite an amazing experience. See for yourself. After a hearty lunch we decided to take the bus back to the Metro, only to end up in a Taxi again (the bus never showed up and we were at the correct stop). Taxi was a death trap on four wheels, having to stop at a gas station to refill...the tires with air !.
Guy was honest but useless, as he dropped us off at the wrong end of Lat Proa Road. we were told to tell the taxi driver to go to Big C (a supermarket) on Lat Proa Road. Only that there are TWO Big C's...
Ah well - a few bahts later we aere back safe and sound and off to the roof top pool (wait for the pictures....).
Here are some photos of the day
Sunday, June 24, 2012
TW Classic
Thanks to our friends at Belgacom, we got some discounted tickets for TW Classic. Weather held up just fine, but Hannah learnt that Belgian audiences can be a bit hard to crack - unless you are some local combo, where all over sudden everyone got up. Thing they did not do for The Kaiser Chiefs
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Singapore
I did not have too much time in Singapore - just one day. But the impressions were lasting. here are a few
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Khao Lak 2012
Khao Lak - what a beautiful place. Bitter and sweet. Tragic and Heavenly. It is so hard to imagine that this beautiful place got completely destroyed in 2004. It took the resort owner where we stayed 6 years to rebuild his place Lah Own's Resort. But if this trip did anything to us - since then I do not want to stay in large corporate hotels on beaches if I can avoid it. Here our money goes straight to the local people. Not that the local people who own such places are poor. But if you do not boost the local economy, what is the point - uniform Accor hotels that could be anywhere in the world.
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