Ko Samui mui muy muy muy caro!!! ¡Ay, caramba!

We had a deadline to get to Ko Samui by February by February 27th to make it to my time share week we booked 6 months ago. When we went to the train station in Bangkok to book the overnight sleeper. They were our of 1st and 2nd class sleepers. They were sold out of 1st and 2nd class SEATS (which recline). So, as desperate as we were we booked THIRD class seats. Hard seats. I didn't know you could pin point the uncomfortable feeling of these seats as third class. It was pretty terrible for an overnight train. What saved us was the netbook we have from Costco. We watched 3 movies which got us from the boarding time of 7:30pm to about 2am. At this point Kevin was actually falling asleep. We were both getting sick as the lack of sleep continued. Oops.

We feel in and out of 7 minute intervals of Stage 1 sleep, never reaching stages 2 through 4 and especially REM. I set my ipod alarm for 6:15 and found myself alarmed by the tiny sound coming out of my pocket. We put our large backpacks on and thought we were getting off at the next stop. This was misinformation in our hazy lack of clarity. We waited right by the train doors. We were being bounced around in these tiny doorway compartments with backpacks on both our back and front. Finally, we were released.

The overnight train was to Surat Thani, we then got a "minibus." Actually ended up being a 2 level super bus and it still couldn't fit the insanely large amount of backpackers. Kevin and I have become insanely competitive in a sense. We are very quick to get seats, we are aware of more things than others. For instance, when Kevin and I were in line to get our luggage underneath the bus we noticed seats on the lower floor. When you enter the bus the stairs go directly up. I snuck past the bus toilet and we made our way to the only last 8 seats on the bus. Lucky us. The 6 people in front of us were already coming back down the stairs as they had just discovered there were no more seats at the top. We anticipated this and man did this save us from being late to the ferry dock.

The ferry dock was filled with the highest concentration of backpackers I have ever seen in my life. They were all just sitting and waiting. This large amount of people could only be explained by the Full Moon Party.

2 hours on the ferry and we had NO CLUE how to get to our hotel from the dock. Taxi cabs on this island are quoted at 5 km for 15$. This is demented. Who is paying this? It was almost 40km from the dock to our hotel which would rack up to $120. Not going to happen. So what they also have in Thailand is a form of transportation called Songtaews. A Songtaew is a pick up truck with two long benches in the truck bed that accommodate two rows of people and more that that for locals. We still haven't figured out how much they charge tourists for this. Luckily we were approached by a minibus company rep who offered us hotel drop off for 200 Baht each which is about 6$ per person. We asked for a discount since every price we are quoted is highly inflated. He said he could do 2 of us for a total of 300 Baht (about $9). He then told us not to tell the other passengers because they all paid more. I was obviously fine with that.

We waited for the check in at the timeshare private residency called "Q Signature" We paid for what would be our only meal at the hotel and it was pricey. Everything on the island of Ko Samui is priced like it is at home or MORE. But, we aren't in the U.S. It's Thailand and where is all the money going anyway?

We checked in to our 1 bedroom place and it was wonderful. By this point Kevin and I were coughing and blowing our noses with an even higher frequency and we were planning on 18hours of sleep or something ridiculous to catch up on our health.

So we slept from 4pm to about 10am. Feeling better but not 100%.

Day 2 we took the free shuttle to the Chaweng Beach. Before relaxing at the beach we actually had put together a plan. We would look for a grocery store to stock up on food for the next week and we would book our transportation to Ko Pha Ngan: Full Moon Party. So we did all of that.

Success.

Funny part: At the grocery store we considered getting a few beers but noticed the sign saying it is mandated by the government no alcohol sales shall be made today to honor the Buddha holiday. Pretty impressive. Strange how countries will actually have this old fashioned prohibitionist law to ban alcohol We understand Buddha promotes purism but we thought that would be more optional than mandatory. Especially in the laid back country of Thailand.

Day 3: March 1st: we feel better and we are preparing for our 7pm departure to the Full Moon Party.

I love falangs: Bangkok, Thailand

After an annoying morning which included scattered transport to a full bus we were taking from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand. The wonderful turn in events happened after the Thai border. As promised we actually take a minibus to Bangkok. A rest stop leads us to our first meal in Thailand: Pad Thai! My favorite. Delicious and guess what? Only 1 USD.

The air conditioned bus was refreshing and 5 hours after leaving the Thai border we arrived in Bangkok.

The tuc tuc transportation bargain has turned into the taxi negotiation. We don't discuss price we go from metered taxi to metered taxi and ask "Meter?" "Do you use meter?" if "Yes." we show the hostel address to the driver and at this point some drivers will see it's far and suddenly they attempt to negotiate aflat rate after agreeing to use their meter. Fail. Repeat steps.

So we found a driver who I'll take us to our far hostel and use his meter. Which he turns on before we enter the vehicle (which is hot pink).
Surprise! Charged 1.50 for the toll on a freeway. In the end after thedriver got lost we still didn't miss out on too much Baht (local currency).
Our hostel called the Wanderlust. It is cozy, homely and only holds 16 people. We don't have to lock up our backpacks. Everyone is friendly and interesting. We all went out tonight for a drink at the "Roof" bar in the popular part of Bangkok: Khao San Road.

Angkor Wat What in the ....

We have finished a 3 day tour where we visited tons of sites.
It was incredible. I continually leave these historical, archeological sites in awe. The effort put into building these stone complexes is nothing like anything I could imagine. Thankfully Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the many other sites survived the terrors of Khmer Rouge.

Siem Reap: ANGKOR WHAAAAT?!?!

Parts of our three day visits among Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the sites in Siem Reap:

The map of Angkor Wat and surrounding historical sites.

Angkor sites sign.

A bumpy carnival music overnight bus ride to Siem Reap and I arrived as groggy and grouchy as ever. We were let out of the bus and tons of tuk tuk drivers were there ready for business. The guide books actually mention the overnight buses purposefully making your journey terrible so you arrive to town desperate and lackthe energy to negotiate or argue. That is what I call awful. We somehow got a $2 ride which was the listed price from our out-dated Lonely Planet. Good deal. The driver, named Tola arranged a plan for us to use his tuc tuc driving services for a three day tour around Angkor Wat.

We settled on $53 for three days including sunrise and sunset days on certain temples. Tola is a good guy.


Angkor Wat is an “archealogical site” full of temples, a few pagodas and mainly mini CITIES or old ancient communities all within the outskirts of Siem Reap. Angkor Wat was listed on the World Heritage List in the 90’s. It is amazing and Kevin and I have only explored for one day thus far. We have a three day pass which is $40 per person and printed with your photo on it. The tourism Angkor Wat brings in allows for a lot of financial support. Most of the areas are surrounded by paved roads and employees keeping everything tidy, including bathrooms across the whole stretch of sites.

Today we started at 7am and saw the Roluos Group which includes: Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei (pagoda).


At 10am we spent TWO HOURS at Preah Khan which is in the Large circuit. At 12pm we had lunch at “No. 9 “ stall I enjoyed a delicious sour soup with pineapple and other good things. Kevin had a beef dish. Sweaty and already quite exhausted but well hydrated we headed to Neak Pean, Ta Som and East Mebon. On our way back to the hotel the driver Tola left his badge at a site so he dropped us off at Prasat Kravan which we also thoroughly enjoyed. Not sick of temples. They are all so different. If not obviously they have listed significance in a $5 book we picked up. Amazing how important, special or unique each one was. The dates of erection, the colors, the carvings, the size, the architectural design/layout and purpose for each of these sites differ.

ROLOUS GROUP

Preah Ko




said goodbye to the site and the little girl trying to sell us postcards.


Bakong

the entrance door with a square window revealing the top of the temple

walking up towards the main temple

view from walking up more and more steps

made it to the top of the main temple within this site

me with the broken elephant statue

Lolei (and the pagoda next to it)

what this new small site looks like. It is falling down and help together with wooden panels.

The morning sunrise over the structure.

what was inside what they call the "library."

the view of the side of the pagoda from Lolei.

Little local kids playing around the site.

A funny little boy who really wanted to be in my photos. Sneaky little smile. :)

Entering the pagoda (shoes off)

Incredible paintings covering absolutely every inch of wall.

A very kind monk posing for me with the beautiful Lolei site in the background.

close-up.

adorable tiny kids feeding each other

breaking up candy and eating little bits.

Preah Khan

This tiny little boy was a part of a musical group. This group of individuals were victims of land mine explosions, leaving them with missing limbs. The boy was healthy and he was an amazing musician.

Neak Pean

Ta Som

East Mebon

Prasat Kravan

Sihanoukville: Operation 'Try not to get ripped off'

--THE "TUC TUC"--

Here are photos from the view out of the bus window...

Bus ride to Sihanouk Ville

We got a little ripped off and pretty consistently in Phnom Penh.
SOooooooooooooo. We are on point and not putting up with anything.

From Phnom Penh we took a day bus to Sihanoukville. A neat beach town once you escape the touristic center. It was a hassle to get to this relaxation zone. We were told the 7:30am bus was booked so we arranged for the 9am bus. But, when we got on the bus there were 3 people sitting in seats 11 and 12 which were the seat numbers on our tickets. We tried getting information. Were they going to kick the locals off the bus? Would they honor our tickets? Do we now take our backpacks out from under the bus luggage compartment? They assured us we’d take the 10 o’clock bus. Not the case, at all. We waited and waited. I let off some steam with the owner. ? “Why are you over booking?” “Can we have a discount?” – Of course not. He had to buy us new tickets with another company. So the SEVEN misplaced tourists wait from 9am to 1pm with a lot of comossion and tansfers around town to finally get on a bus where the driver looked at our tickets thinking “what are these tickets?” We just went straight to our seats and ignored his expressions.

Instead of arriving in Sihanouk Ville at 2pm we got there at 6pm. NO RESERVATIONS. Everything was booked so we were overcharged for a room. Checked in and the only place available was called Beach Road, which was nice but too pricey for us.
So we utilized the swimming pool for the 30 minutes before closing the pool at EIGHT pm! We went to a restauarant that served a set menu of Mexican food for 5$. Not bad for the overpriced town. We ordered and sat ourselves. When a woman came to take our drink order we asked “was the order put in for the mexican special?” And her reply “we don’t have that anymore, too late” At this point we had such a displaced crumby day Kevin actually walked straight out the door. The inconsistencies drove us nuts. I followed him in support and laughter. We were pretty hungry by this point. We made our way to a completely empty restaurant called “CASA” and ordered the local KHMER (Cambodian) food. When we arrived we saw a sign saying happy hour (which actually included the food happy hour) and it ended at 9pm. We asked him (I think the manager or owner) what time it was. He said “I will extend happy hour for you.” We knew we were in the right place. Such a refreshing change of course. A kind local man. And the food was good.


The next day we woke up early to specifically hunt down another hotel or “guesthouse” as they are usually called here. They had some beach bungalows available, ONE room left. We took it at a price of $10 at Cool Banana. We then headed out to get breakfast and found a nice American Breakfast place at “New Sea View Villa” They had a great iced coffee there too. Most Villas, guesthouses, bungalows, Hotels and Hostels (whatever they call it) double or triple as a restaurant and/or massage parlor. At breakfast we ran into a great gal we met on the Mekong Delta Tour (Who reminds me of Molly F.). We chit chatted and planned on meeting later that night. Finally! To the beach!

To the beach!

Instantaneously, I was surprised by the lack of open beach and free space. There was a non-stop line-up of beach umbrellas all belonging to different bars or places you lounge for free. But it took us a 30 minute walk to find open beach and a sand plot of our own. On this 30 minute walk one could see floating trampolines in the water, along with inflatable obstacle courses all for both children and adults. Amazing!

Fun stuff

We then passed by tons of adults and children selling fresh fruit, post cards and bracelets galore! Non-stop “hey lady, you buy something” “HEY LADY!!” etc. The ocean water here was wonderfully warm and the sea was calm. Uninterrupted swimming for me.
The next day we explored Otres Beach. Such a neat beach community. This was a 20 minute bumpy tuc tuc ride to the beach. We had pizza at a suggested place “Cory’s Place” which was owned by a woman from Virginia, USA. Two hours after dinner we came right back to the main town.

The following day we woke up early with the intention to transfer to a place in Otres Beach. We were actually offered a room at Cory’s BY Cory for only $6. We took it. She was a wonderful woman who had made her way here and stayed 2 years hanging out, enjoying the ocean breeze and making pizza for everyone.





We stayed at this beach town for a few days before having to rush out of town and head to Siem Reap. Movin right along!