Well, it’s been a couple of weeks now so I've got a few things to talk about I think. When I left off we were on our way to Railey beach. We didn't actually stay on Railey we stayed on a beach called Ton Sai which is cheaper both for sleeping and for climbing. I may as well just say it, "We did not go climbing." This is the third time I've been to this damn place now with the hopes of climbing but once again things were working against me. All four of the girls decided that they didn't want to go climbing at the last minute. Now before you start calling me a pussy it's not as easy as just going by myself. If I went by myself I would be put into a group of people I didn't know and have to wait for my turn to climb. The group thing is actually a great way to meet people but not all groups are fun. I could be in a shit group and have to not only wait for my turn but then stand around and wait for others to climb. I'll make it up the damn mountain one of these days. Maybe I'll be able to talk my buddy Viz into it. His brother doesn't like heights so I think it's a no go for him. Although the girls didn't go climbing they did decide to go kayaking for "one" hour. lol Remember my last blog when I was having such an incredible time on the beach. Well, that was my only day on the beach. I tried but it's just not in me. Sand everywhere and in everything, the sun beating down on you and I just can't lay on the beach for hours on end. That one beach day with the girls turned into every fucking day being a beach day. I'll say it right here and now. I very quickly came to the conclusion that girls in their early twenties and a 30 year old guy have very little in common. I think we only stayed on Ton Sai beach for two days but we did have one fun night. The girls went to the bar early for a couple of drinks while I stayed in the room to read for a bit. The bar was having some Thai Boxing that they wanted to watch and I had already seen my share of it. This fighting was rigged anyway since they do it for the tourists every night. By the time I got to the bar the fighting was done and the girls had had a couple of buckets (micky of rum, two cokes and a red bull in a bucket). It wasn't long before all four of the girls had gloves on and were having a free for all in the ring. Not much actual boxing or even wrestling but the girls were having fun and the crowd enjoyed the show. The girls exhausted themselves and made way for the next batch of people who wanted a go at each other. After that it was pretty much it for the night. The next day we woke up and where on our way. We left for Krabi in the morning and went back to the Chan Cha Lay which we all liked. They had two rooms for us. Mandy and I shared one and the other three girls got to share one of the big rooms. It was really a very nice room. One of the best we've seen. The women who run the place really love to decorate and really seem to be good at it. Definately some style at this place. After a couple of days we decided to catch a night train back up north to Bangkok which is actually some fun and the beds are not bad compared to riding on a bus. They have a guy who walks up and down the train with a bucket of cold drinks and I took it upon myself to have a few beers so the ride was actually quite nice. At the little stops on the way up north you can quickly jump off the train and grab some food from the stalls if your fast enough. When we got to Bangkok I decided that I would get my own room instead of sharing. The girls were looking for something a little swanky and I just wanted cheap. I found a room for 120 baht ($4.50) and the four girls decided to share a room for 1200 baht ($48). They felt they needed a pool and somewhere to suntan. You can see what I'm saying about every day a beach day. I had been craving some butter chicken with naan bread and there was an Indian restaurant on Khoa San Rd where I found some. It turned out that they had rooms upstairs so that is where I ended up staying. We stayed for a couple of days before heading off to Kanchanaburi and the Bridge on the River Kwai.
KANCHANABURI
For only 60 baht ($2) each we all climbed into an air conditioned mini van for our two hour ride west of Bangkok to Kanchanaburi. Not only did this place have the Bridge on the River Kwai and the Erewan National Park with some amazing water falls but it's also the cheapest place I've been too in Thailand. The five of us and two Austrians in the van all decided to stay at a place called the Jolly Frog. It's very popular with backpackers and it's were I stayed the two other times I'd been to Kanchanaburi. The people are nice, the rooms are big and cheap and they have a huge, cheap menu. Steaks, pasta and everything. Melissa and Mandy got their own room, Jessie and Rhiannon got theirs and I got my own. I didn't realize how much I was missing my own room till I got my own in Bangkok. Although Melissa and Mandy are pretty young they still go to bed early every night and up by 7am damn near every day. I was always feeling bad when I would come home at around 1 - 2am, sometimes drunk, and they were fast asleep. They assured me it was no problem but I still felt a little dinky. Anyway, from this point on I had my own room. My room was only 200 baht and it was a pretty good size with a huge comfortable bed and my own bathroom. Still having to deal with diahrea by this point it was a good thing. It just so happened that when we got to Kanchanaburi it was the last night of a celebration that had to do with the Bridge so we all bought tickets for later that night. Since we got there relatively early that day the girls all decided to go to an animal sanctuary where there are full grown tigers to pet and other animals to feed. I had my picture taken with a tiger a couple times on Ko Samui so I decided to skip this trip. The girls loved it. They fully enjoyed themselves while they got their pictures with the tigers and fed the other animals. For the rest of the day they relaxed and got massaged before the show that night. At 7 pm we all met in the common area of the guest house and waited to climb into the van. We arrived at a little place about 100 meters down river from the bridge and were walked out onto a platform just above the water and about 100 feet from shore. Here we sat and waited for about an hour for the show to start. I tried to take some pictures but my camera isn't that good in the dark. The lights went out and the music started and the show began. On the far side of the river was a little village built along the shore. A movie was projected onto the first two pillars of the bridge and it looked pretty interesting except that the angle was a little off to get a good view and the whole damn thing was in Thai. No english and no good view. When the sound of planes were played and the first of the huge fucking explosions happened we were all caught off guard and it scared the shit out of the lot of us. The search lights in the village along the shore went on and the guns started firing with tracer bullets going off into the sky. After a bit it quieted down and the movie went on again. Next came the train. The headlight came into view and then the train, slowly trudging along the tracks. Along behind the train as it crossed the middle of the bridge came more explosion. The train moved on and the movie started again. If only we could see or understand. Something to do with the Japanese I would think. Here come those fucking planes again. This time a direct hit. The bridge and water around it exploded... parts of the bridge collapsed. The village retaliated... more gunfire... more shelling. The village was taking some direct hits; explosions, bright lights, fires... every thing was F.U.B.A.R. With the village burning and the bridge in disrepair the allies were winning. The movie started again and the song from the Movie Bridge on the River Kwai was being whistled. Those who know the movie know the song. With the whistling fading and the village burning the lights came on and the show was over... or so we thought. Then came the fireworks. Only about 5-10 minutes but pretty good. And with that the show was over. Along with the celebration for the bridge there was also a huge festival going on right near. Despite my best efforts the girls all just went back to the bungalow. I was left to wander the festival by myself. This was another indication that the girls may even just be a little bit boring. Yes I said it, boring. It was an odd night when the girls would stay out to do anything. The festival was great. Tons to eat and see and lots to buy. I restrained myself from buying anything but I ate lots. So cheap. Under a dollar for a whole BBQ chicken breast and sticky rice. How could I not eat it? Either way it must not have been enough because when I got back to town around midnight there was a place called the "No Name Bar" which I like that serves english food. On their menu they had roast beef with yorkshire and mashed potatoes. I ordered it and ate as much as I could. The yorkshire was soo good I went back the next night and ordered four more of them with a plate of mashed potatoes and gravy. God i was stuffed. Anyway, after the festival and too much food I went to my room smoked a little weed and read for all of two minutes before I was in la la land. The next day we woke late and just lazed around for a bit before we had some lunch and made our way to the Erewan National Park... the most popular national park in Thailand. The five of us hired a mini van for the day for 120 baht ($4.50) each. The park is home to the Erewan Waterfalls. These falls are a series of 7 falls with pools for swimming in all but one of them. The last time I came it was on a weekend when the park fills with locals and tourists alike. This time we were there on a Monday and aside from a few locals and the odd tourist we could basically swim were we wanted and just take our time getting to the top. At the bottom waterfall, the first one, Jessie took out a bag of chips she just bought and after the girls ate a few she folded the chip bag and put it away. Before you knew it there was a flash of brown fur and a momma monkey and her baby had snached it out of Jessies bag and were up a tree. Unfortunately the monkey opened the bag upside down and lost most of it anyway. That little shit was fast. Probably would have snached it right from her hands if it wasn't in the bag. Besides that little episode it was a beautiful day and the water was so clear and refreshing. Little bit chilly but very much needed. We spent the day climbing and swimming and just having fun. It only took us about 1 1/2 hours to reach the top and then we started on our way down. We left the park at around 5 pm and headed back to town. After a good dinner and a movie it was time for bed for the girls. They had decided to go to the city of Ayuthaya the next day and were off to bed early, nothing new. Ayuthaya used to be the old capital city of Thailand when it was called Siam about 300 - 400 years ago. There are lots of ruins to see in Ayuthaya but once again I'd seen Ayuthaya and decided to stay in Kanchanaburi for one more day. The plan was to meet up with the girls back in Bangkok on the 10th of December for Rhiannons birthday. I do have to say one thing though. With the history that is in this place and as close as the girls were to it I was really dissapointed that they never took the time to actually go and see the bridge or the museums that are here too. So close to something this big in our history and no effort to go and see it. Melissa took the time to read a little book on it but then didn't even go see it. Oh well, to each their own. Anyway, with the girls off to Ayuthaya I set off for a day of moped riding and checking out the Allied cemetary, the new museum and the old one. Last time I was here I was a little rushed so this time I took the whole day and read as much as I could. Very interesting and shocking. Makes me want to learn more when I get home. I returned the moped walked up to the No Name Bar and had some drinks with the guys I met a couple nights earlier. My mini van didn't head back into Bangkok until 2pm the next day so I could sleep in, which is what I did.
BANGKOK
Now normally I wouldn't write about Bangkok because mostly it's just the same thing. Head to the mall or see the sights during the day and then hang around Khao San Rd. and email or drink at night. This night was going to be a little different. First of all when I got back into Bangkok at around 4pm I just went to the guest house above the Indian restaurant, cleaned up and dropped my stuff in the room. I went down to the street and headed out. I sent the girls an email saying that I was just going to let them do their thing that night. First because it was Rhiannons birthday and second because the girls had been getting closer and closer and it was even getting hard just to get in on the conversation. I headed out after sending the email and happened to find a TV with some Ultimate Fighting on where I could just sit, watch and have a beer. I started chatting with a guy from Santiago, Chile and we just talked and drank until the fighting was over. I'd tell you this guys name but fucked if I can remember. Juan Juis or something close to it I think he said. Anyway, after the fights we headed to a bar at the end of Khao San called Gullivers. This place has a full size tuk tuk over the door and it's a great place for drinking and playing pool. Wouldn't you know it but we ran into the girls coming out the front door. After some quick hellos and introductions they headed down to a place called Lava's where we decided to meet them a little later. We went into Gullivers for a couple of beers and pool games and then headed down to Lava's. The girls were well on there way and had hooked up with some Australians when we got there. While they danced us two guys decided to do a little more drinking. The price for a beer in this place was 110 baht for a small (regular size) beer. It's only 90 for a big beer anywhere else so we decided to leave and meet up with the girls later. We just went to the 7-11 grabbed a big beer each for only 60 baht and just wandered Khao San. Somewhere along the way I lost Juan Juis. We were pretty shit faced by now and lost each other in the crowd. I headed back to Lavas and met the girls coming out with the Aussies. They were all heading back the The Grand Guest House where the guys were staying to play some pool and so I joined them. When we got there we ordered about a dozen big Calrsberg for 9 of us and drank and played pool. The girls puttered out around 1am and the guys were left to play pool. We finished the beer and a couple more games and left to wander Khao San. Me and two Aussies went back to my room and smoked a shit load of weed. Too much in fact and when the two Aussies staggered out of my room at about 3am and I roled over and went to bed. Now here's where it gets funky. About 10am I woke to find my room a mess. I was so fucking hung over it took me a good 5 minutes to realize what the hell I was seeing. When the Aussies left my room I left the light on and the door unlocked. Someone had come into my room while I was passed out and had gone through all my shit. My bags had still been closed from showing up earlier that day. No shitting you but my bags were both open and eveything I had was scattered around my room. Whoever it was had gone through everthing. Every pocket and every zipper had been opened. My travelers cheques worth 500 US were gone and so was a nice little portabel short wave radio/alarm clock that I had. These people even went into my pockets of the shorts I was wearing and took the last of my baht from there. For whatever reason they left my cameras, my hard drive full of pictures and music, my passport, my credit card. They had handled it all but left it. I went downstairs to tell the guy who ran the guest house but he did nothing. I crawled back into bed and suffered through my hang over and the weirdest feeling of having someone in my room and sleeping through it all. That night at 11pm, which was 8am back home, I called my mom for the numbers to my travelers cheques and went through the whole process of getting them refunded. Police station at 1am and the whole bit. By the time I got off the phone with the Thomas Cook people, and their reasurance that my travelers cheques would be refunded to me in Bangkok it was 3am and I had a bus to catch to Cambodia at a quarter to 7. Still feeling hung over I went back to my room packed up all my stuff again and fell asleep for a grand total of 3 hours. This time my door was locked and my light was out.
CAMBODIA
I met the girls in front of the Sugar guest house, where we had bought our tickets, at 10 to 7 in the morning. The girls, a couple of whom had been as hung over as I was, looked about as worn out as I did. The girls who regularly got up at 7am were now looking decidedly worse for wear. lol We waited around till about 10 after 7 and then walked about a block away to catch our bus. We loaded our bags under the bus, found ourselves some seats and waited for other groups of people to join us. Talk about a small world. Kirk and Miguel, the two guys from Abbotsford we met in Lanta, climbed on the bus as one of the last groups. Kirk sat a little ways behind and Miguel sat with me. Nice to have somone other than a stranger to sit with. With the last of the people on board we set off for Cambodia, the city of Siem Reap and the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat I believe just so happens to be one of the seven wonders of the world but I'm not too sure so don't quote me on that. The first part of the journey is a four hour bus ride to a city about 15 minutes on the Thai side of the border. Here we go to a restaurant where we can get our Visas done and exchange some money. Now there are three currencies used in Cambodia. There is the US Dollar, the Thai Baht and the Cambodian Real. I exchanged 4300 Baht into $100 US dollars. It should have been only 4000 baht with the proper exchange rate but since this was the only place we could do it we were screwed. The currency conversion we all went by was 1US = 40Baht = 4000Real. As easy as that seems when your trying to figure something out and there are three damn currencies to work with it gets a little frustrating to say the least. We waited around for about an hour and a half while our Visas were done and so we ate and checked our emails. With the Visas done we all climbed back on the bus and headed for the border. Once at the border we all grabbed our bags and following our travel guy we made for the crossing. I don't know why but I have to be one of those people that gets there first. Whenever I'm travelling I'm usually the first one ready, first on the bus or boat, first over the border and so on. Don't know why I just like to get it done fast and with no hassle. So the first one through and out of Thailand I get to a bridge sorta thing where we can see the Cambodian border. Here we wait till our whole bus full of people gets through and then we move on. Here is where we start to see the poverty. Children asking for whatever they can get, mothers nursing kids sitting on the sidewalk.... it's not even bad yet. We walk past big casinos with rich white people ignoring the beggers and then through the Cambodian border. Once on the other side and now in Cambodia the little town is disgusting. Poverty, dirt and garbage are everywhere. We wait for all the people on the bus to pass through the border and then wait in a group to be led onward. After about 45 minutes we are led about two blocks away to sit in a travel agency and wait some more. Here we are systematically separated into groups to be put onto smaller buses and mini vans. By now we have a group of 9 people who have joined up. It's the four girls and me, Kirk and Miguel and two Aussie girls Sarah and Josie who are sticking together. As the last batch to go we finally get onto a smaller bus and are on our way. The paved road lasts for about an hour and then it turns into the most hideous of dirt roads for about 4 hours and then paved for another hour. Just at the end of the paved road our bus pulls up to a restaurant and we pick up 5 more people. We thought we were loaded but there were 4 fold down seats into the aisle. I moved back into one of those to make room and it was a very stupid mistake. I should have just kept my seat and let one of the new guys take the fold down one. The fold down seat acted more like a fucking spring board while we moved down the dirt road. Instead of being just bumped around I was flung all over the fucking place. Having come to Cambodia last year, and having had to take this journey on the back up a little pickup (broken down bus they said) with 11 other people and 7 in the cab I knew how bad these roads were. The roads were as bad if not worse this time around. Along the way we all chatted and made friends. We took pictures and the nine of us met two others, Matt (American) and Michelle (Canandian). Every two hours we stop too eat and stretch our legs. Most times we don't even want to stop we just want to keep going but it's the way it goes when traveling in South East Asia. Everyone has deals with everyone and the drivers had deals to stop for food at these places. With about 23 backpackers on this little bus the whole back of it was full of backpacks that threatened to avalanche on the back row of people, Kirk, Miguel and Matt and Michelle, whenever we hit a huge bump, which was always. Along the way one of the Aussie girls, Sarah, used her cell phone to call ahead and make reservations for the 9 of us at a guest house. However, when we finally pulled into Siem Reap at 9:30pm and the whole bus taken to one specific Guest House we all, the whole bus, decided to stay there. The place was new, the rooms were big and it was close. We were so tired we all just wanted somewhere to clean up and eat. My room with a big comfy bed and my own bathroom was only $3 US a night. Not too bad. The group of us which now numbered 11 people all met in the restaurant and had a few beers and ate while we made plans for the next day. It was told to us that it was impossible now to rent mopeds in Cambodia and we would all have to have a moped with a guide for $7 US a day. Even though I had rented mopeds last year the people assured me it was impossible. We made plans to leave for Angkor Wat at 10am the next day and continued chatting until eveyone slowly headed off for bed. I had a much needed shower and passed out around midnight.
At 10am we were all up and raring to go. We had 9 mopeds with guides and Kirk and Miguel had a Cambodian style Tuk Tuk with a driver for the two of them. We had our own little guide driven motor cycle gang. About 10-15 minutes outside Siem Reap are the gates to Angkor. We each bought a 3 day pass for $40 US and when everyone was through we all started off on our days adventure. Now I'm not going to go too much into this place because my words just couldnt do it justice and because there would be way too much to talk about. Needless to say we saw a huge number of temples, statues and ancient places. We climbed and ran and took picture after picture. The 11 of us stayed together and had a most incredible day. I'll try to post pictures of the group and the ruins. We started our day at Angkor Thom and the last place we went to that day was Angkor Wat itself. The place is stunning. We spent a couple hours there and near the end a bunch from our group talked with three young buddist monks. When the group and one of the monks moved on Miguel and I stayed and talked with the remaining two monks and for a bit. The monks spent a part of there day at the temples and sometimes talk with people to get a little help with their english. These two monks were only about 25 years old. Miguel and I somehow conveyed to them that we wanted to see a place called the Hall of Echoes. They took us there and it turned out to be a little square alcove where if you bang on your chest the sound resonates upwards like a big fleshy gong. Words don't echo but a thump on the chest makes a big hollow sound. Very impressive. We left soon after and once we found the rest of our group we made our way out of Angkor Wat. The group had plans to watch the sunset that night from the top of a huge hill with a temple on it. It'a basically the only hill, small mountain, we had seen on our whole trip into Cambodia. A couple of us suspected that this small mountain may have been the earth that was removed from around Angkor Wat when they built the huge moat. After a whole day of walking, running, climbing and jumping around, and of which halfway through the day a couple of the girls were worn out and had contemplated going back to the Guest House, it was not a nice prospect to be climbing this damn big hill. We all made it, found some good vantage points on top of the temple and waited for the sun to go down. The two young monks happened to be on top at the temple and showed me where a nice place to watch from was, where no one could get in the way. The wait wasn't long and the sunset was marvelous. Well worth the climb. It made the sky a bright red and yellow while the bright orange ball of the sun slowly decended beyond the horizon. The sky glowed orange and slowy got dark. With that everyone headed home. Miguel and I stayed a little longer talking with the monks and checking out the temple on the hill in the dying light of that day. We stayed a little too long actually because we had to climb down that damn hill in the dark which was a little adventure in and of itself. We made it down and headed for home. The group of ours was already downing some beers and talking about dinner. Our guides had told us of a place with grilled beef and soup and karaoke which we all decided sounded like fun. At about 8pm after getting cleaned up the whole group got together again and we started heading to dinner. Instead of heading into town the guides took us out of town to a Cambodian restaurant. We were the only tourist and certainly it seemed we were an oddity. A few tables were put together for us and we sat down to start our evening. We were all treated to Angkor beer which was very good and some traditional Cambodian soup. The soup was made right at the table on three burners that were set up, on for each table. The beef in the soup took some getting used to because it had some bone, grissel and fat to chew around but the taste was very good. On the side there was a plate of lean strips of beef mixed together with one egg. We were to take the beef with chop sticks and dip it into the soup to cook and then eat. Enough people lost their strips of meat into the soup that the last couple of bowls were very meaty and good. After the meat was gone there was more broth added to the pots and after it heated up there were noodles added to our bowls and then broth poured over top. All in all very good and very filling. We were all pretty full and getting a little drunk so the grills weren't added to the burners for grilling any of the meat. Dinner was put away, more beer was downed and our Cambodian guides sang some Karaoke for us. After enough beer was had, three of the girls, Melissa, Mandy and Sarah got up to sing a few Britney songs. We were the last group at the restaurant, maybe it was the singing. After dinner our guides took us to a Cambodian night club where the locals go to. The beer was expensive but the atmosphere was great. To begin with when our group arrived they were playing tratitional Cambodian music. The people crowded onto the dance floor moved in a slow circle and slowly moved their hands, waving them back and forth kinda like a hoola dance. We all enjoyed ourselves and did our best to join in. Just when we thought this would be the way the dancing went for the night the techno and rave music started up which really reved everyone up. It was funny seeing everyone, including the Cambodian people, go straight from the traditional dance to the much more upbeat and wild dancing. This lasted for a while and then went back to the traditional, back and forth all night. We closed down the bar, most of us pretty plastered but at least we had our guides to drive us home. I should say that the guides drove us to the restaurant and the club without charging us anything. They were just showing us around and having fun. We really enjoyed our night out and our little look into the lives of Cambodian people. I must say and I think that my fellow travelers will agree that Cambodian people are really very beautiful. They love to have fun and smile a lot. Our guides were a lot of fun. We all headed for bed none the worse for wear and decided again to meet at 10am in the common area.
Again at 10am our group was up and ready to go. Today I had a new guide because as my last guide told me the day before, today would be the day his girlfriend would become his fiance and within the month his wife. So with that I had a new guide and with it this day a new price. Our guides today were going to cost us $14 dollars US because they were going to take us out aways from Angkor to show us some different ruins. It was a very neat set of ruins and the ride out into the countryside was spectacular. Small stands of trees interspersing the huge fields of rice and grain with huts and homes and the Cambodian people all along the way. On the way back from the temple towards Angkor we stopped at a families home on the side of the road and were shown how they make Palm Sugar. They start by climbing palm trees and cutting phalic looking fruit, not fruit really but pods, off the trees and then crushing them to get the liquid out. Like sugar kane. The liquid is boiled down, stirred as it cools and then poured into molds which are then put out to set. It's very sweet and tastes kinda like when brown sugar goes hard. We were all given some to try as we watched the process and were set upon by children selling everything from the Palm Sugar (3 wrapped packets for $1) to wooden boats to bracelets... everything. The kids were very cute and I got a picture of a bunch together. I'm afraid they thought if they let me take their picture all together I would probably be more inclined to buy more things but I didn't. I bout one $1 bunch of Palm Sugar but that was it. I was already getting fleeced by the kids at the temples and had already boughten one of almost everything else. Two t-shirts, two books, postcards, wooden mouth twangy instrument like the hill billies use and a few other things. They were suckin me dry. We all stayed for a bit, took some pictures and were on our way. With that we went to see maybe four or five more temples around Angkor and then headed for home. No god awful hill for the sunset this night. We stopped at the market on the way home a did a little looking around and exploring. The four girls I was with were leaving early the next day to head back to Thailand and I was getting an early night because Kirk, Miguel, Matt, Michelle and I had decided that we would be up early the next day to watch the sunrise over Angkor. I wanted to get my three days worth out of my ticket to Angkor so I decided to stay for one more day.
Up at 5am and on our way by 5:15. My first guide was back which I liked because me second guide spoke very little english and he had this way of sliding back on the moped seat which made me a little uncomfortable. One too many nudges if you know what I mean. lol Anyway, we set off for Angkor and right away we realized why it was called the winter season. My guide says they only have three seasons in Cambodia; hot, cold and rainy. Their cold season is only mildly stipheling during the day to us but it gets a little chilly at night. It was still dark of course and I wore a t-shirt and my tear-away pants which might as well have been underwear. We froze on the way to the temple. We got there finally and to our relief realized that we didn't have to climb the big damn hill to watch the sunrise but only had to go into the grounds of Angkor. We left our guides, battled the little kids, and went past the first part of the temple and into the inner grounds to watch the spectacle unfold. There weren't too many people so we got a pretty good spot, got out our cameras and waited for the event to amaze us. Well there was no event, no amazing sight or spectacular vision to revisit in my minds eye in the years to come. It just got lighter out. We could have shown up a couple hours later and seen the same damn thing. One good thing did come out of it though. We were able to pretty much do what we wanted around Angkor Wat. With only about a couple hundred people we were able to take pictures without people all over the place and climb stairs and explore where we wanted. Luckily soon after the sun comes out the tempurature rises by a good 20 degrees. We spent a solid 3 hours doing what we wanted before wading through the little kids again and finding our guides for the return home. I should say that these little punks are pretty fuckin brazen in their selling tactics. If you say you have no money they call you a liar, if you say your sorry but no thanks they tell you that does them no fuckin good and ask how will they eat. Not to mention the damn puppy dog eyes. As I mentioned before, they could spot a sucker like me a mile away. Anyway, we headed home for a nap and then made plans for a night out. I had bought my ticket for $10 US for my ride back to bangkok over that god awful road. Rumour has it that Thai Airways owns and won't fix that road so that people will fly instead of drive. It almost worked too damnit except that I'm too cheap for that. Kirk, Miguel, Sarah, Josie, Matt and Michelle had all made plans to travel south to Phenom Phen the next morning. So as we were all traveling the next morning we all decided to go out for a nice dinner and then for some drinks and dancing. We all stuffed ourselves and I even found a nice big fresh salad which I had been craving for a long time. In Thailand they don't put lettuce in their salads but cabbage. I sometimes buy a salad thinking it will have lettuce only to once again get cabbage. Sometimes they fool you by putting the whole thing on a single lettuce leaf and covering the cabbage with other veggies. Finally I found a nice big salad and it was sooooo good. That and a really good Hawaiian Pizza. After we all ate we went to a place called Laundry and it had a good pool table, some great music and a really cool atmosphere. It actually looked like a classy little bar you'd find back home. There were some very pretty young ladies there doing shooters where they had to lick salt off each others necks and then kiss as they took the lime out of another girls mouth. Great entertainment while it lasted. Matt was nicely pissed so he was right in there. We stayed until about midnight and then hired some moped drivers to take us home. We all said our goodbyes, traded our email addresses promising to stay in touch and then headed off for bed. The others were leaving at 6am and I was leaving at 7am. Them on a boat and me in a bus. I think we all really enjoyed Siem Reap except that for me I spent about an 11 day Thailand budget on 4 days on Cambodia. I packed up my bags which by now are getting pretty damn full and then fell asleep thinking of the road ahead, literally and figuratively.
BANGKOK
My bus got into Bangkok at around 8pm. Since the place above the Indian restaurant is so cheap I just decided to head there. The girls had one of my walkie talkies and so it was easy enough to track them down. They were once again staying at the D&D Inn which they all really liked. By now it was the 16th of December and the Kiwis were taking the train down south on the night of the 17th for a few days before heading home on the 24th. This being their last night we all went out for dinner at a nice restaurant. At either end of Khao San Rd. they close it off at night now and there are taxi, tuk tuk and motorcycle taxi guys who hang around trying to get you to take their respective vehicles. The tuk tuk drivers are the most relentless and they always ask if you wanna go see a ping pong show or get a special massage, "Fun for you, pretty girl." Anyway, tonight the girls were actually a little interested in the ping pong show. So for only 10 baht the tuk tuk drivers drove us to dinner and because we showed the slightest interest in a ping pong show they waited outside the restaurant the whole time. For those women that don't know what a ping pong show is I'm not going to tell you here. Ask a man you know and he'll probably tell you. Anyway, dinner was very good. Salmon steak for me with a great garlic dill butter sauce. mmmmmmmm We all ate way too much which we always do when the food is good. We took some pics of the girls last dinner together and headed out. Over dinner the girls had decided that they wanted to go see a ping pong show with a little warning from Rhiannon that she might just kick every guys ass who was there and whisk the woman off stage to safety. The ping pong show was not to be however. The tuk tuk guys neglected to tell us that it would be 500Baht for each of us. We were all for it when we thought it was free, just buy drinks and watch the show, but when faced with that much money we all backed down. We went back to Khoa San Rd. for a beer and then all the girls were off to bed. The next day I slept in because the girls were on a shopping rampage. The Kiwis were leaving and Melissa and Mandy had until the night of the 19th, two days, before they started on their way home. The girls shopped all day and after going to the Thomas Cook agency in Bangkok to pick up my new travelers cheques I just spent the day being lazy. At 6pm I met the girls in the lobby of their hotel and we all walked to the end of Khao San. Jessie and Rhiannon, with hugs and forced smiles, said their goodbyes and climbed into a cab. They had all gotten really close and with a final "Be Strong!" from Rhiannon, they were gone. With that it was a couple of laps of Khao San for the girls to look at things before they were off to bed. For me it was one last McDonalds run and then bed. I had decided that I wanted to get my bottom lip pierced and so on the girls last day I did that around 1pm while they shopped. I had an appointment to get the piercing done but was still nervous so I had a couple of beers and was on my way. Just as I was getting to the piercing place I ducked into the tattoo parlour to stall for time and almost ended up with a tattoo instead. I left the tattoo shop and before I knew it I was in the piercing shop and in the chair with a stud through my lip. No pain and a new resolve to maybe get another one. Soon after I met up with the girls and with their help bought a couple of pairs of jeans. Two pairs of Diesel jeans for only $50, damn good price. They're shopping had worn off on me. Being their last night and being shopped out they just wanted to go to the mall and watch a movie and have dinner. I treated them to The Outback Steakhouse where we once again stuffed ourselves. Pasta for Melissa, Big ol' chicken burger for Mandy and a grilled chicken ceasar for myself, not to mention the two portions of garlic mashed potatoes we had for appetizers. Damn it was good. The first real western meal in ages. There was no movie we wanted too see that night so we just wandered around the mall before heading back to Khao San. Once there we wandered some more and then stopped by the place I usually stay at called the My House Guest house. Here we just sat and relaxed until the girls had to leave. They were playing a movie I wanted to see so this is where we said our goodbyes. Hugs and take cares and see yas back home. And with that I was alone. Besides having different ideas of what fun is the girls were really great and traveling with them was very easy. Although it's a little sad to see everyone you get to know leave it's still feels good to have some time alone. And so with that I've just been wandering and keeping busy cruising around Khao San Rd. chatting with people, trying to think of what to do next to pass the time. I was going to keep this a secret but I've bought myself a little Christmas present. I went to a place called Panthip Plaze. If there is anything electronic you want to buy then this is the place in Bangkok to do it. I was actually only going there to pick up a couple movies and some computer discs. I was thinking of buying a new camera too but the one I wanted used memory that my harddrive wasn't compatible with. Anyway, I wandered around and checked out all the little stores and shops. I found the adapter I wanted to turn Memory Stick into Compact Flash to use in my harddrive but for some reason I didn't buy it. I wandered around some more and ended up in some computer department store. And here I found myself... standing in front of the display with all the brand new Laptops. I was in a trance. I couldn't break eye contact. I checked every brand and looked at every model. After about an hour I had decided on the one I wanted, the Acer Aspire 2003 LWMi. So what if it was the most expensive one there I told myself. It's in Baht, 89,900 baht only sounds expensive. Add to that the 7% tax and it's only 96,193. I don't know what to say. Impulse buy... of course. Now the truth be told I was going to buy a laptop anyway when I got home but I just couldn't help myself. Now before you think, "What a dick." I did at least look around at the other shops. I finally found a shop that had the same model in stock and I was able to get them down to 84,900 tax included, which I get back when I leave the country, where as the other shop wouldn't budge from their price at all. To tell the truth I don't really know what the price I finally paid is because of the exchange but I did look online at the prices back home before I bought and by buying in Thailand I saved myself around $700 Canadian. This thing is top of the line and I can get any program I could ever want here in Thailand for only $4. So guess what I'm typing this blog on. The amount of money this blog would have cost me to type out in a little computer shop around here would be tons. And the time I spent working with my pictures and MP3s on my harddrive was expensive too. Now I do everything in my room or while sitting down near the beach and then sign on for only 10-15 minutes with my own computer. Anyway, Merry Christmas to me. I took the bus down to Krabi on the 22nd and here I sit. I went straight to the Chan Cha Lay, waited for a room to free up, broke out the laptop and proceded to play with it when who should walk up to me but the Kiwis, Jessie and Rhiannon. Their little trip to the islands of Samui and Phangan was rain soaked so they just headed to Krabi till they went home. They had one more night but we did our separate things. They had a ton of stuff to pack and an early trip in the morning and I just wanted to stay in and watch a DVD. In the morning they were off to Had Yai to catch a train down to Kuala Lumpur so that they could fly home on Christmas day. As for me I've just been lazy the last couple of days... last night was Christmas Eve so I went into Ao Nang and met a few people and got a little drunk at the Pirates Den pub, arriving home at 6am this morning. I woke up at 1pm and by 2 I took the moped back to Ao Nang for a turkey dinner (lunch) at an Irish Pub I found. Unfortunately you have to book ahead for the turkey dinner but as I was by myself they saw fit to make an acception. Being here is the best Christmas present I could get (besides my new toy) so I'm doing just fine. No plans for New Years yet but since every day is a party day I'll just make the most of it. Thats all for now, hope this blog made sense and was interesting enough for you. Usually I read over my blogs and fix mistakes or add things but this one is just too long so you'll just have to take it as is. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. You are all in my heart and thought of dearly this Christmas season. Save me a buttertart please...
