Bye Bye TCN

I have been thinking of closing this blog for some time and today is the day!
I'm just in the process of saving my posts though so you have about an hour left

Our 1st Wedding Anniversary

It's Sunday. I woke up excited because Josiah promised that we'd go to the famous Sunday markets tonight. We tried going last Sunday but it started raining heavily. It's very difficult to haggle when rain is dripping down your face and into your mouth.

The rain stopped Monday morning and all week the skies have stayed clear, the weather's been hot and I've been looking forward to our 2nd attempt at the markets.  

I woke up this morning and guess what. 

It's raining. 

Correction: it's pouring.

It's now almost 11:30am and it's been going non-stop since 6:30 this morning.

And do you know WHY it's raining today.

Because it's a Sunday, and I wanted to go to the market.

That's why.

I was pouty for a few hours, but then I decided to think about happier times so I put together this photoblog of our 1st wedding anniversary which we celebrated just last week.

It's all G rated I promise (except for the food porn)

Our anniversary started early when Josiah booked
a surprise stay at the Amari Watergate in Bangkok
The room was nice, but the buffet breakfast was epic!!

Croissants, Blueberry Danishes,  
Cake for breakfast?
Pile them on!

There was also a salad bar (which I completely avoided)

And half a dozen types of cereal

Plus there was an Indian breakfast station (ew); an Asian section with delicious chicken skewers (and other dishes that looked like they were dinner?); a waffle and pancake stand; and the usual egg station. 
I ate so much at breakfast, a woman asked me in the elevator when my baby was due.

Baby? What baby?!

We did leave the hotel a couple of times to do some shopping. 
I can't go to Bangkok and not buy something. 
We saw these (chained) elephants outside a well-known shopping mall.
Quiet sad really.

We saw a disabled man who had chosen to sell wooden bracelets and hair clips instead of taking the easy option of begging. Full of admiration for him, I bought (a rather ugly) clip, and then we bought him some lunch

That's him there. He didn't seem interested in the lunch though, and put it off to the side. Perhaps he really doesn't like charity of any kind? Shame really. I never say no to free food.

After taking a horrid 18 hour overnight train from hell (which deserves its own post), we arrived to the Shangri-La looking and smelling like, well, we'd just spent 18 hours on an overnight train from hell. To their credit, the staff didn't ask us if we were lost. 

The Shangri-La
(taken last Sunday - you can see the storm clouds looming)

Instead we were whisked straight up to the Horizon Lounge and offered a complimentary breakfast since we'd arrived so early (it was 8am). 

Woohoo! Presidential Suite!

I think I was just a little too excited when I saw the note pad next to the toilet.
That's where all my epiphanies occur!
How did they know?

After deciding to go caffeine free last month in Cambodia

I went on a mocha drinking binge  

With drinks that look this beautiful,
there really wasn't any hope for resistance

Free desserts, canapes and alcohol in the club lounge
Or as we call it: The funnest way to gain 15 kilos in one weekend.

Being the heroes that we are, we still managed to find room for the celebratory bottle of Australian wine they brought up

The piano player in the lobby
Poor guy, no customers to play too
Everyone was upstairs enjoying the free booze

After our stay at the Shangri-La we moved across to another beautiful 5 star resort, 
the Siripanna Villa.

At half the price of the Shangri-La, 
I actually thought their rooms were nicer.
No all day free food though :(

the bathroom

I thought these elephants on my bed were really cute
But I'd have appreciated chocolate more

Here are some pictures Josiah took during our stroll around the resort

How unfortunate for that person at the back
Quite a stream

Apparently the Siripanna is set on 6 acres (smallest 6 acres I've ever seen, but ok). They have really put a lot of thought into the landscaping. There are rice fields, ponds and water features behind the resort. 

And in the mornin, I'm makin WOFFLES!!

So that's all I can be bothered uploading. I'm still hoping I'll get my trip to the markets tonight. Doesn't look good though :(

Our Apartment in Chiang Mai

After a wonderful week off to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, we have finally tired of days spent lazing by the pool and stuffing ourselves on 5 star buffets. We're now motivated to get back into work and have found ourselves an airy top floor apartment overlooking Chiang Mai where we'll be staying for the next 3 weeks until our flight back to Australia.

Here's a few pictures I took before we began our favourite ritual called "The Great Unpacking", which invariably involves our stuff being thrown to every corner of the apartment and makes us look like hobbits.

There's also a gym on the first floor which Josiah says we'll make good use of but I'm not so sure seeing as though I'm so lazy I can't even be bothered to get the lift down to take a picture of it for this blog.

Toilet paper, not just for wiping

You know you're really slumming it when your door is full of loo paper.

The luxury room for $10 at Kha Vi Guesthouse, PP

Phnom Penh to Bangkok

"Travelling light" does not compute.
Among other things, in our possession we have 2 pots, a cheese grater,
and 5 half-used bottles of deodorant

We hate to make plans for the future but since our Cambodian visas were just about run, we had to pick a place to go next. So it's back to Bangkok we go, and our flight is tomorrow afternoon!
We only booked 40 kgs which to the average traveler is ample, but for us, well...we were forced to take a long hard look at our current luggage situation.

The problem is we haven't had to catch a plane for almost 2 months and in that time I may have done some shopping.

Ok, a LOT of shopping! Our bags are so heavy I get embarrassed every time we move hotels and the porter goes to lift a bag and can't even get it off the ground. Cue scoffs and/or hysterical laughter from the taxi driver who's been through the experience himself.

I've been hoping that somehow our stuff will magically get lighter, but alas, this hasn't happened and we may actually need to do something drastic.

So what did we do?

The same bloody thing that got us into this mess!!

For once, yes, we actually wanted a tuk tuk

MOAR SHOPPING. Believe me, I don't know how it happened, but one second we were in our room at the guesthouse and the next we were in the famous Russian markets and I was haggling with a store woman over another pair of jeans. In my defense, the clothes are WAY cheaper here than in Thailand. And because they have designer brand clothing factories right here in PP, the clothes that don't quite make the cut for export end up at the markets (specifically the "Russian" Market).

MOAR BAGS!!!

Josiah being the brains in this relationship, cleverly thought that the best solution to our luggage problem would be to simply buy MORE BAGS! (It made sense at the time). Lucky for us there were lots to choose from! Big ones, small ones, leather ones, hard ones, cloth ones, broken ones....take your pick!


Tonight, I've decided to do a good purge of all my old stuff to make way for the new. I'll confess that I am a bit of a hoarder. In fact, the t-shirt I'm wearing right now is one I bought from Tight-Rope in Indooroopilly back in 2006. Now that's quality.

Cambodia. Where a ceiling fan is also a shelf.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Our room while we stayed at Serendipity beach.
It smelt like a damp, mouldy, shoe.
I thought I was going to die.
We left asap the next morning.

Cambodia Day 2: After reading so many positive reviews about Otres beach, we decided to check it out for ourselves. 

A motorcycle ride was the cheapest option so Josiah and I both hopped on behind the driver. To its credit, the motorcycle only sank about an inch. It was an uncomfortable and bumpy ride, with me squished in the middle. Whenever we'd go over a bump, either Josiah would slide forward or the driver would slide backwards. Either way I'd end up with even less space than I had a second earlier.

No doubt all you could see was 2 men on a bike with 4 really white limbs jutting outwards between them.

Otres beach – wow! I'm normally not a beachy person but this made me want to run into the water and forget how the ocean is really just a giant sewage vat for whales.

We spent a few hours there, sipping cocktails and watching the sun set over the sea. The food in Cambodia is the strangest mix of the usual Asian cuisine (curries etc) and Western staples (baguettes are REALLY popular here and they're eaten almost as often as rice). 

The most exciting thing I saw all day though was when we stopped in at the local supermarket: 1L bottle of Grey Goose Vodka for only $25. And Baileys was going for $10. 

$10!!

I'll finish my post here because my guess is you're either writing up a list of the alcohol that you want me to buy for you (I'm talking about you April) or you're booking a one way ticket over.

Ever since I saw 'I am Ledgend'
I always think about zombies when the sun starts to set

I call this photo "Optimistic Fisherman"
Cause even I know there's nothing but rubbish left in the Gulf of Thailand

Cambodian New Year Celebrations

The power cut out just as I was about to post this picture. To my utter and complete devastation, the horrible little concert going on next door continued unabated.

At the risk of sounding like an intolerant tourist, I really can't stand listening to their "traditional-music-meets-electric-guitar" mix anymore.

Wow, it's a full house tonight...

Crossing the border: Thailand to Cambodia

I wrote this a few days ago but hadn't got around to getting all the pics together. 

A summary of our trip overland from Thailand:

Cambodia 2012 Day 1

Bangkok to Koh Kong

We started the day my least favourite way - waking up to Josiah’s ear-drum-splitting, heart-attack-inducing phone alarm at 4am. 

Thankfully, things improved greatly when we went to check out. Luck was on our side and the Filipino man was on night duty. He is the most clueless receptionist ever which, usually, is horrendously frustrating, but this time it meant we got our full bond back, no charge for the electricity or water!

We squeezed our bags into a taxi and off we went to the Ekkamai Bus Terminal for our bus to the border. There were 2 companies offering buses to Trat (the town before the border) and we chose to go with the teller who assured us their bus would go straight there and would only take 4 hours. The price was 241THB ($8). Apparently that's the set price for everyone (foreigners and locals alike) so we paid it and made our way to bus stop number 17 only to discover the air-conditioned super-duper bus we were expecting was instead a rusty old minivan.

My smile turned into a frown.

And buyer's remorse hit when we saw the alternate company's bus looking every bit the super-duper, extra clean, air-conditioned variety I’d been expecting. I looked down at my ticket and saw in big bold Thai-style English: “No Refundable”.

So, while everyone else climbed onto their big bus, we stared at the corroded piece of poo we'd bought tickets for.

As it turns out, we did choose right. Apart from the faint vomit smell in the van, the aircon worked great and we left earlier than the other bus did! 6:05am – only 5 minutes behind schedule, it has to be some kind of Asian record.

Surprise surprise, it didn't take 4 hours and we didn't go straight there. It was 5.5 hours long and we had 4 stops along the way, all of which I actually appreciated.

Villages along the coastline

We had no idea which stop we were supposed to get out at, but the driver seemed fairly organised. He kicked 2 Australians out at a petrol station and they were bundled into another minivan destined for parts unknown. I remember the look of fear and horror on their faces at being separated from our group. When it was our turn, the minivan door flew open and he motioned for us to get out and left us standing with our bags in a cloud of dust. Thankfully we were in the right place and were quickly shown to another minivan which was to take us to the border crossing. It was 120THB ($4) each and we only had to wait for about 30 minutes while the van filled up with other passengers before heading off. Just a side note for anyone else who may have to do this journey – there's a little food court over to the right (when you are looking at the terminal) with cheap Thai food. I ordered off their menu as it was the same price as getting a plate of their pre-cooked food (that look like they’ve been left out for a few hours, most with drowned flies and salmonella, no doubt).

The trip to the border took about 1.5 hours and we arrived just after 1pm. The walk between the Thai immigration booths and the Cambodian was quite pretty if you can bear to turn your face into the scorching sun and look across to the ocean.

Then the fun began. In preparing for this trip, I'd asked the all-knowing oracle “Google” for tips on obtaining a Cambodian visa. Armed with the knowledge of travellers before me, I knew that the Cambodian border authorities were notorious for being very aggressive and charging double the price for visas.

Here are some of the tricks they used to extort money from us:

1) Demanding that you give them your passport so they can fill out the visa forms and “process” it for you – then charge extra for this service. 

A man tried this on me. I said no thank you as I took the forms from his hands and filled them out myself.

2) Authorities lying through their teeth as to the cost of the visa. They were charging 1200 THB per person (about $40) when in fact, it's only $20 per person. I asked the young (and very arrogant) backpackers ahead of us how much they'd paid.

Their reply: “Only 1200THB! That's the standard price. Actually the officials said it was discounted from 2000THB!”

1200THB as the standard price?! Officials giving discounts?! Oh dear. I think they had one brain cell each. 

Frustrated, I turned back to the now closed booth and tapped on the glass. There was no answer. I went to open the door. Amazingly there were 3 men inside and the closest one jumped up to prevent me from coming in. Pushing me out, he said, “1200 baht or no visa!”

We argued back and forth. They said 1200 baht, I said $20. I told them that we'd called the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok and they'd assured us it was only $20, and that we didn't have any Thai baht on us so either they would give us the visa or we would have to wait outside their booth all day.

I was in the process of explaining how annoyed I was to Josiah (like he didn't already know) when a man appeared behind us and said that with an extra 200THB each, he might just be able to convince the authorities to reduce the visa price to $20.

Bingo! Right then I knew that $20 WAS the right price. But now it had gone past just being about the money and we were well into morality territory. I wouldn't care if it was only a 20 cent bribe they wanted, the fact was they were greedy fat pricks who preyed on stupid one-brain-cell backpackers made me furious. I turned the man's offer down and loudly declared that we would be calling the Cambodian Embassy to confirm the price of the visa.

Within seconds, the door swung opened and the man inside stuck his balding head out. “Come in! Hurry up!” he said, pointing to Josiah.

5 minutes later and miraculously the authorities had decided that they could do the visa for $20 but warned us that next time, we should get our visas before we left Bangkok.

Sadly that wasn't the end of the journey. Cambodians in my opinion are FAR more aggressive and loud than their Thai counterparts. Josiah left me with the bags to investigate the cost of a taxi to Koh Kong and by the time he got back I had 5 men surrounding me, 3 were talking about the label on my plastic bag (no doubt there’ll be a flood of clothes sporting the “Fashion Paris” label available soon) and another 2 were harassing me about where I wanted to go next and giving me quotes before I’d even had a chance to answer.

We finally got a taxi to Koh Kong for 300 baht, bridge fee included. Since it was only 1:45, our said we might make the 2:30pm bus to Sihanoukville and completely bypass Koh Kong if we wanted to. Of course we said yes, and he told us the price of the bus ticket was $15 each. The second time I asked the price had dropped to $12 (funny that).

When we got to the bus station, we found out the bus was full anyway so he took us to where we could buy tickets for tomorrow's bus so we didn't miss out. He came into the travel agent with us which of course meant he was getting a commission. $12 came the reply when I asked how much tickets were. And that included a tuk tuk ride from our hotel the next morning so we didn't have to worry about arranging our own ride there. We seriously considered her offer, but were turned off when she got snarky when I asked her if I could buy tickets at the bus stop. “You buy here!”.

I hate it when people tell me what to do.

We said we’d think about it and started to leave. “No! You buy now!”

There was no way I’d be buying anything off her now. The only thing I have trouble saying no to is free food. Sadly for her there was nothing free or food-like about being over charged for bus tickets.

Our room in Koh Kong @ Otto's Guesthouse

Next, we instructed our driver to take us to Otto's. It was the only guesthouse name that I could remember. Plus they were supposed to have rooms for 100-120baht.

So where did our driver take us?

“Somewhere better!”

Sigh.

“Somewhere better”  looked alright from the outside so we went in. A/C rooms for $15/night. Free wifi and a pool. $10 for a fan room. Again, I was interested. I wondered how much it would have cost for walk in rates without having to pay for our driver's commission.

Activities/meals area

“How much are your bus tickets to Sihanoukville?” I asked. I wanted to see how honest he'd be.

“$12”.

“Can I buy tickets at the bus?”

“You buy here!” (Is that all they teach them in English classes?)

As you probably guessed, we didn't buy there. 

Instead, we went to Otto's. 

Their rooms weren't 100 baht anymore. It was 150B and VERY basic. Shared toilets are the worst. Correction, no toilet paper is the worst. 

But on the plus side, they had bus tickets for $8 with the free tuk tuk ride still included. 

We went out for a quick exploration of Koh Kong. Some people say this place is lovely and you should stay a few nights here before continuing onto other parts of Cambodia, but honestly, I'd say one night is plenty long enough.

A walk along the Koh Kong waterfront. The sunset was nice.

Trying to sidestep the mounds of garbage wasn't.

Dinner at Cafe Laurent:

A pretty restaurant right on the water.
Same price for meals as all the other restaurants around Koh Kong but with a much nicer view.

Our month in Bangkok...in pictures

A collection of photos from our wonderful month in Thailand! If you've been following my tweets, you'll know we're in Cambodia now and I'm working on a few blog posts about our very STWESSFUL trip over!

Siam Paragon, the glitzy new shopping plaza on the block. Completely over priced and over rated in my opinion.
I personally preferred shopping at Siam Centre (right next door), Central World or Terminal 21

Terminal 21 Shopping Centre - where every level is a themed on a different city!
My favourite was San Fransico (complete with a giant orange bridge and miniature cars)
This statue was on the way to the cinemas

Our favourite restaurant in Bangkok.
As soon as we discovered it (which was only in our last week, sadly) we ate there every. single. day
Cheap food in an air conditioned environment = a winning formula in Bangkok

 

Ahh, heaven! Best chicken cashew nuts in Bangkok!
Only 79 Baht (~$2.50)

My daily commute into Thai language school
Fast and clean!
A big improvement on the horror trains in India

Can you believe we still managed to squeeze on?!
One big push from Josiah and suddenly there was a whole lot more space!

Josiah's dinner most nights: grilled "moo"
(which confusingly means 'pork' and not 'cow')

I reserve this big grin for special occasions...
like weddings, and birthdays...
but especially for Swensens!!!

25+ flavours - and WHY can't I try them all?
"Because I'll have to roll you home" Josiah replied

Our "Earthquake":
8 balls of delectable ice cream
(including the classic sticky-chewy-chocolate, the almond mocha and a scoop of strawberry cheesecake)
Far too much fake cream
And the worst synthetic cherries ever made.
But it was still bloody MARVELLOUS!

In the background you can see me showing Josiah how I was going to use my hands to scoop it all right into my mouth.

Did I mention I had to share it with Josiah?
A bummer, I know.
While I was distractedly showing him my "scooping" tactic for getting in the most ice cream,
he was busy gobbling it all himself!
Hence the rather satisfied grin on his face.

That wet looking pancake thing is supposed to be an omelette.
And yes, Josiah ordered 6 fried eggs.
All this (plus the foulest sausages ever) for $8/person.
A bargain? Err, I haven't quite decided.

Ok, judging from these pictures, it seems like all we did during our time in Bangkok was eat and go shopping.

Hmm...sounds about right, actually.