Day Sixteen - Bangkok - Thailand

We left our hotel in Siem Reap and went to the new airport just outside of town which felt like a brand new national trust wildlife reserve hug. We flew Cambodia Angkor air to Bangkok which took just over and hour. You could see below exactly where the Cambodian border is with Thailand because of the differences in the way the land is farmed. On the Cambodian side there are small fields, all in different shapes, split up with palm plantations. On the Thai side the fields are a lot more grid like and a lot larger in size.

We arrived at Bangkok's airport mid morning and got a taxi into the centre of town to our hotel. This city is unlike any other place we have been too on our journey so far. Huge wide roads packed with traffic jams line the way to the city centre with the brand new sky train link weaving above it all. High rise buildings and sky scrapers make up the city's skyline and stretch for miles. You instantly get the feeling that this is a massive city with lots going on.

We arrived at our hotel to find that the room I had pre booked and paid for hadn't actually been booked! After a quick internet search I booked a more luxurious hotel which was in the Sukhumvit area of town maybe five kilometres east of the old town. We got a Tuk Tuk there which was a lot more 'pimped' our than the Tuk Tuk's we had been on in Cambodia. This one had neon flashing lights inside, cushioned seats, football stickers and it ran on gas making a sound like a teenagers ford fiesta in Southend on a Saturday night!

Once we got to this hotel the lady said we had got an upgrade to a suite as the normal double that we had booked were all taken. We ended up on the ninth floor with an apartment looking out over the high rise skyline of Bangkok. After exploring the hotel and watching a massive rain storm from the hotels sky walk to the second tower we headed to one of Bangkok's super malls to have a look around.



We arrived at the mall that was about seven floors tall and so wide it would take days to cover the whole thing! There was all the usual designer stores you would expect to see on London's Bond Street as well as all the usual high street names we are used to seeing at home too. We wandered around for a bit and decided to head back to the old part of town.





We arrived at the Grand Palace just in time for closing then decided to do a walking tour that is recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. Jamie navigated the way and we didn't really see that much - I don't know if this is because of Jamie's bad map reading (don't worry he doesn't read this) and we didn't go the right way (this is the most probably reason) or if the city just felt too familiar and the things we passed wouldn't feel out of place in London? Ever way I lost interest hence the lack of photographs covering this part of the trip!

Jamie then navigated us to Sirocco Sky Tower which was made famous by the Hangover Two Movie. We decided to go to the top to watch the sunset with a glass of wine. We got to the top then the elegant Thai lady at the top said that we were not allowed in with Jamie's oil stained top and chubby knees showing! We descended and as it was peak rush hour we decided to get the sky train back to our district. This train is amazing towering meters into the air taking you from one side of town to the other in a matter of minutes.

We got back to our hotel and after smartening up a bit Jamie chose a restaurant nearby our hotel called above eleven which is on the 69th floor of a hotel and looks out over the whole of the city. Up here you got an idea of the huge scale of the city and could easily believe you were in New York. We ordered some sushi which was the best I had ever tasted and watched the city lights twinkle in the night.



After dinner and a couple of gin and tonics we made our way back to out hotel falling into a bar with great live music then into a VW camper Paul Frank pop up bar along the way before dragging ourselves back to our hotel post midnight and numerous glasses and buckets of gin and tonic later!

Location:อ.เกาะพะงัน,Thailand

Day Fifteen - Angkor Wat - Cambodia

We woke up early, like usual, to avoid the crowds making their way to the nearby ancient city of Angkor. We arranged for our Tuk Tuk driver who picked us up from the Port in Siem Reap the day before to take us around the old cities. We begun by making our way north out of town stopping first at Angkor Wat before carrying onto, Ankor Thom and the temple Bayon and ending at Ta Prohm.



Our Tuk Tuk arrived on the road to the east of Angkor Wat. The first thing we were staggered by was the huge moat that surrounds the temple and old city. At this point you couldn't actually see the buildings inside the island through the trees but the moat alone is amazing. Spanning nearly 200 meters in width and enclosing an area measuring 1.5 by 1.3 kilometres. It's truly inspiring and unimaginable to think this was all dug by hand back in 1125 when building commenced on the city. Even the banks of the moat are lined with huge stone blocks helping to preserve it after all these years. We turned around to the front side of the temple and the giant stone bridge that leads you into Angkor Wat city came into view.















Our Tuk Tunk driver dropped us off and pointed to where he would wait for us until we finished exploring. We had arrived early but there was already a decent gathering of other tourists here too. We made our way over the giant bridge which is paved in massive stones with beautifully caved stone statues sitting on either side lining the way to the grand entrance. Some of these statues are in better shape than others but there are enough surviving to give you the feel of the magnificence of this place and the huge intricate detail that has gone into sculpting each individual stone laid.






We arrived at the grand front entrance and made our way inside. Once you get into the entrance hall, long corridors go off to the left and right and lead you to either end of the front facade. Small shrines with fragrant incense sticks burn along the corridors and monks line the way in prayer. Stepping out the other side you enter onto the grass island of Angkor Wat with another giant paved path leading you to the front of the main temple. You can hardly see the end of the path that leads to the main temple as it's so long and the main temple is but a silhouettes in the distance.









As you walk along the raised pathway to the temple you pass other small buildings along the way that if they stood anywhere else in the world would have a huge impact yet here they are dwarfed by the unbelievable size and grandure of the main temple here. The sound of xylophones and chanting of the monks that still reside here filled the heavy air as we walked in anticipation towards the main building.









We climbed up the steps into the main entrance that again has corridors off each side that surround the main temple in a square shape forming a courtyard around it. We looked back along the path we had just crossed to the dot in the distance that is the front entrance. We carried on inside to the main temple and looked up at the huge towers that form the main temple. Unlike the other temples on this area, Angkor Wat remains in good condition as it is still in use by over eighty monks that still live here. It's amazing when you look at all the giant stones, each with individual engraving, and imagine how they got here and were places so high. The original stones were quarried over fifty kilometres away and floated down the river on rafts to the site of the temple.























We carried on thought the temple and out the other side of the corridor lined courtyards to the other side of the moated island. At the far side where we met the moat again another entrance lies which we looked around before walking the whole way back though the temple and its paths back to out Tuk Tuk driver.






We drove north to Angkor Thom which is home to the Bayon temple. This temple is slightly less in tact than Angkor Wat but the main building is still accessible. There are just a few stones and statues in more of a state of decay than Angkor Wat. We wandered around navigating through the tourists that had started to pile in for the day before moving further north to other smaller ruins in the ground and finally passing over the terrace of elephants before meeting our Tuk Tuk again.
























We then drove to our final temple of the day Ta Prohm which is a lot more neglected than the other two and is famous for the trees that's roots hug it's walls. There is a lot of work being done on this temple at the moment by an Indian company that are restoring a lot of it that can still be saved. As you walked through you could here these workers vigorously chipping away at stone creating an image of what it must have been like here hundreds of years ago. We wandered around before getting our Tuk Tuk back to our hotel to escape the heat and humidity of midday.












You could explore the huge amounts of temples in this area for weeks as they cover such a huge amount of area and there are so many separate ones. This place definitely holds the most amazing pieces of ancient architectures I have ever seen.

We returned to our hotel and relaxed by the pool and enjoyed dinner out before our flight to Bangkok the following day.

Location:ถนนเพชรเกษม,Nong Kae,Thailand

Day Fourteen - Battambang to Siem Reap - Cambodia

We woke at six at the Delux Villa in Battambang to get our tuk tuk down to the river to catch our boat to Siem Reap. We had the choice to either get the bus to Siem Reap or the boat and after the recent bad experience with a bus we decided to take the boat. The boat takes much longer than the bus and has a reputation for being long and uncomfortable. The up side is that you go through all the beautiful river lined countryside through floating villages and ending crossing the Tonle Sap lake before reaching Siem Reap.
We boarded the boat which was already quite busy and within five minutes there were twice as many other people joining us on board again. We were all siting shoulder to shoulder with each other and many other people were on the roof along with piles of luggage. There were also bags of baguettes, vegetable, fruits as well as a large wooden shrine loaded on board. This made me nervous about how long this boat journey would last and how little we had prepared with two bottles of water, some chocolate cakes and crackers!
We had read that depending on what time of year it is (wet or dry season) the river can change in depth and width having a dramatic impact on the length of the journey. In wet season, which we are just entering now, the journey is supposed to take between six and nine hours. In the dry season however it can take up to twelve hours as the boat can keep grounding out.
We set off and realised that the boat was far too big for the river and that we were way over weight. Every corner we took we were pushed by the strong current of the river and the weight of the boat to a sharp angle that often felt like we were going to tip and capsize. I decided at this stage that getting around in Cambodia from one destination to anothe depends entirely on luck! I just hoped we would make it to the next destination as we had two days before on the bus!












The first part of the river meandered heavily and there were so many twists and turns it made this part of the journey three times as long! After a short while we pulled over and collected even more people. After five more stops the passengers must have increased by another third not to mention the bags, vegetables and other produce put on board too. The river at this point was lined with floating villages and fishing nets. It's incredible to see how people conduct their lives from these small put ups and shelters on stilts. Even pigs in cages, cows and dogs float on pontoons. Schools and temples are also set on be banks in more permanent looking structures placed on stilts too. Smarter drinking water and generator pontoons for electricity and clean water are also seen in the larger settlements often donated by charities such as UNICEF.
















As we carried on, the banks of the river became more and more overgrown with less and less settlements. As you looked out to the flat countryside all you can see is dense bush with the odd palm tree sticking out. Every so often you would reach another village and then back to bushland. After a few hours smaller boats pulled up to our boat and collected local passengers and relieved us of some of the the big bags of produce. At the last stop a small family got off and took the shrine and final bags of baguettes and vegetables. Now it was just us tourists left on our way to Siem Reap.




By this point in the journey we were all suffering after six hours of being cramped and squished. People kept fidgeting to try and get into a more comfortable position without succeeding and we all knew we were probably just over half way. Jamie and I started to tuck into our lunch (or what was left of it after Jamie ate the crisps while I must have closed my eyes for a second) Our delicious lunch now consisted of melted chocolate cakes and crackers.
As the journey carried on everyone tried to get some sleep now there was more space but no one could however hard you tried as there was nowhere to rest your head. Instead we all looked like nodding dogs in the back of cars as our heads grew heavier with the weight of our tiredness and kept bobbing.




After another hour our narrow snaking river suddenly opened up into an area of water that you couldn't see they end of. We had finally reached the Tonle Sap lake! Everyone's faces lit up as we let go of the claustrophobic feeling of the river and started to enjoy a ride without any bends!




This lake is truly amazing - it's the largest freshwater lake in south east Asia and we had been traveling along side it and it's tributaries as well the land that survives due to its existence for the past six days since leaving Saigon in Vietnam. The lake provides fish and water for irrigation to half the population of Cambodia as well as a home for 90,000 people who live in the 170 floating villages around it.








The lake links with the Mekong river in Phenon Penh (how we arrived in Cambodia) forming a 100km long river known as the Tonle Sap river. During the June to October wet season the rains raise the Mekong river level backing it up to where it meets the Tonle Sap river in Phenom Penh. This actually makes the Tonle Sap river start flowing in the opposite direction as it can't filter water quick enough into the Mekong. During this time the lake increases in size by four or five times from between 2500 and 3000 square kilometres to 10,000 to 16,000 square kilometres. The depth also increases from two to ten meters in depths - this explains why at this time of year you can leave the banks of the lake and ride miles on tuk tuk's and still see house on stilts sitting on scrubland that will flood in the next few months! Twenty percent of the Mekong's wet season flow is absorbed by the Tonle Sap. In October, as the rains leave and the level of the Mekong decreases, the Tonle Sap starts to flow into the Mekong again and out into the South China Sea.
The process makes the lake an excellent habitat for wildlife not that we saw much if it unfortunately today. The lake is home to a huge variety of animals including birds, snakes, turtle and many varieties of fish. Experts believe that that fish migration from the lake help to restock fisheries as far north as China. The source for this delta also goes back as far as the Tibetan mountains giving an idea of the vast amount of land these rivers and lakes drain!
Just over eight house since we left Battambang we finally arrived at the port of Siem Reap just after three int he afternoon! Exhausted from our uncomfortable but beautiful journey that really made you appreciate this river and lakes impact on the local area - Jamie has gone to sleep and I'm off for a massage. Tomorrow morning we will be up early to explore the amazing temples that make this towns surroundings so famous!

Location:Wat Bo Road,Siemreab,Cambodia