The khlongs of Bangkok

Since we spent nine days in Bangkok, we had a lot of time for sightseeing and decided take a longtail boat to explore the western side of the Chao Phraya river. Originally, the city was located on this side of the river and was called Thonburi.
Thonburi actually was the capital of Thailand for a couple of years before King Rama I made the decision to build a new city on the opposite riverside because it was easier to protect this area against the Burmese.

Thonburi is still much less developed than the modern Bangkok and you can still find the traditional waterways called khlongs here.

All guidebooks tell you to prepare for a very fast ride which will get you soaked and we looked forward to that adrenalin rush. Only to discover that our boatman clearly had not read these travelguides, his idea of a khlong ride was very different from ours and it took us at least ten minutes just to cross the river to the Thonburi side. But once we came into the more remote parts of Thonburi, he finally got the speed up. The trip took an hour and a half and was really worthwhile.

On weekends, a visit to the floating market of Taling Chan is included in the price. This market is only open Saturday and Sunday, but is worth a visit. The food you get here is wonderful and it is quite the adventure to see the dishes being prepared in the boats on the canal.

High up in the sky

Bangkok has some really impressive rooftop bars offering beautiful views together with very expensive, but very good, drinks (or food if you feel like spoiling yourself).

Since we went to the Moon Bar at Vertigo (Banyan Tree Hotel) for my birthday, we decided to try Sky Bar at Sirocco (Lebua at State Tower) this time.
Sky Bar was featured in the movie Hangover 2 (which I still haven't seen...) and they actually have something called Hangovetini on the menu. Not the best name for a cocktail, but I guess it works for them.

In comparison to the Moon Bar, the Sky Bar is a bit more expensive. Drinks here are 450 Baht excl. 10% service charge whereas you pay 350 Baht excl. service charge at the Moon Bar. I found the Moon Bar cosier since they actually have sofas and tables where the Sky Bar only offers its guests standing room. It felt like the Moon Bar was a bit bigger as well, but I can't say for sure. The views from both bars are truly spectacular, so there is not a huge difference there, except that you have got better views of the Chao Phraya river from the Sky Bar.

Here are some pictures from our visit to the Sky Bar:

A shopper's paradise - Chatuchak market

If you ever find yourself in Bangkok on a weekend, visiting Chatuchak weekend market is something I would recommend strongly. But only if you have plenty of space in your luggage. The market is only open on the weekends and there are more than 8000 market stalls here selling anything from souvenirs and clothes to food, textiles, furniture and even pets.

Section 2, the place to shop for wearable, cheap and hip clothes

The puppy section. They are so cute that you really want to take one home with you.

Whatever you may be looking for, you can find it at Chatuchak and if your bargaining skills are good, it can be very cheap. We did not really intend to buy a lot, the plan was just to stroll around and take a look at this piece of shopping heaven. After two hours of looking around, I found some really nice handbags which I just had to have and then we found some nice things for Matthias as well. In the end we left with a quite large plastic bag full of bargains.

Shopping at Chatuchak might not be as comfortable as shopping in the malls of central Bangkok, but it definitely pays off to go here and seek out the stands where the product are not sold in bulk. We found a number of stalls where they only had one or two pieces of the same item.
The downside of the market; it is hot and can be crowded. We went early in the day to avoid the masses and it worked quite well, especially when we visited the stalls further away from the main road.

It is easy to get to Chatuchak market, just take the BTS to Mochit station (end of the Sukhumvit line) and you will see the market from the station. If you don't actually see the market, just follow the masses and you will get there! It is possible to get there by MRT and get off at Chatuchak Park.

Cats we met in Asia

I was just sorting the pictures we have taken so far and found that we have taken photos of quite a number of animals. Particularly cats.

This is not really strange since we both love cats and we have met some really nice ones during this trip, here are some of my personal favorites.

Kitten in Kuching (which means cat in Malay), Malaysia.

This little tiger wanted to get into our hotel room at Borobodur, Indonesia.

Hungry and playful kitten in Vietnam

This was truly amazing to see. Hoi An, Vietnam.

This cat decided that Matthias' lap was a great pillow and stayed there for over an hour.
Phonesavanh, Laos.

Our best friend in Seaview Resort, Koh Tao, Thailand

She spent hours sleeping on my lap when we spent one rainy day in the lounge.

This was the largest and heaviest cat that we met. He was just massive!
I had just sat down when he came and lay down beside me, cuddling my legs.

Sianoukville and its beaches

Since we really liked the beaches and islands of Thailand, we thought we should give Cambodia a chance to show us its recreational possibilities as well as the cultural ones and headed for Sianoukville.


This harbour town really has potential and could have been a lovely place if it wasn't so dirty. The beaches and the sides of the streets are just full of plastic and rubbish. There are beaches that are fairly clean, but since the rest of the town isn't much of the magic of a beach town is gone.

But we were determined not to give up on a few days of lazy beaching and found out that there are a number of islands off the coast, about 2 hours by boat from Sianoukville.
After trying three different resorts which were all full, we hit gold when a travel agent told us about Lonely Beach, a new resort on a very private beach on the island Koh Rong.

And nomen est omen, Lonely Beach is really lonely. When we arrived we were the only guests and the entire resort has four bungalows in total, but they hope to expand in the near future (depending on if and when they get the permissions from the local government and the land owner to build more huts...).
The bungalows are very basic wooden huts with open-air bathrooms and solar panels for the power supply.
Our stay at Lonely Beach was great and we spent a couple of lazy days reading books in the hammocks on the beach. We tried laying in the sand the first day, but got so badly bitten by sand flies (my legs are still full of red little dots that are slowly turning into scars!) that we took the flight to the hammocks for the rest of our stay.
The sand flies was not our only wildlife encounter on the beach, we had a friendly crab watching us for hours. Well, he was very curious and tried to pinch my back through the hammock but after I chased him away, he decided to keep his distance.

This little fellow was very curious and watched our every step

Riding the Bamboo Train

After Siem Reap, where we visited the famous ruins of Angkor Wat, we decided to do a short stop-over in Battambang on our way to Sianoukville. Why? Because of the famous Bamboo Train! 

This train - well, to be precise it is not a train but a draisine - is a simple construction consisting of weels, a bamboo plattform to sit on, and a small twin-stroke engine to animate it! All out of the simple reason that after the Khmer Rouge regime resources were scarce and no trains were operating in the region (and still do not operate on this particular route). But people had to get to the local markets to sell their goods, so they invented this magnificent means of transportation.

And it had to be kept simple and to be easily disassembleable for one good reason: there is only one track! So if two bamboo trains from two different directions meet each other, the one that is heavier loaded stays on the track, the other one is disassembled quickly and put aside the track to give way. A great way to solve the problem!!!

Unfortunately, the Bamboo Train is not as heavily used by locals as a means of transportation anymore, it is kept alive mainly to make tourist dollars. Feels quite odd to be driven for 7 km from one station to another, only to be hassled by people who want to sell refreshments to you...
However, riding the Bamboo Train was heaps of fun and exciting, and watching the operators dismantle their rides even more! 

Additionally, we have heared rumors, that local authorities plan to revitalize the track and that the Bamboo Train will come to the end of its existence. So be quick and catch this very special train as long as you can!

Angkor's ruins - The stuff of legends

Of all the old capitals in Southeast Asia, Angkor is truly the jewel in the crown!

We bought the three day pass and went around the ruins by tuk-tuk.
Even though the temples of Angkor feels strangely familiar because you have seen them in films, on photos and in books, the real thing is incredible impressive. Just the size of the core temple area makes you marvel at the achievements of the Angkorian kings (and feel very bad for the poor workers who had to carry stones and build it all).
Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century, a couple of years before the construction of the Notre Dame began in Paris. The capital city of Angkor Thom was founded in the late 12th century and the ruins cover an area of about 9 km².

Angkor Wat is of course the heart of the area and the main attraction, but the ruins of the temples in Angkor Thom are very spectacular as well.

I will spare you a long history lesson and just go straight to some of the highlights of our Angkor tour:

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm - you might know this one from Tomb Raider

Ta Prohm

Our tuk-tuk driver napping

Terrace of Elephants

Recognise this one?



"It wasn't me!"

Some thoughts on Cambodia

Our first impression of Cambodia was not a very good one. Anyone who has been to the Thai-Cambodian border at Aranyaprathet/Poipet can probably understand why.
Poipet is one of the most heavily trafficed border crossings between Thailand and Cambodia. Since gambling is prohibited, but very popular in Thailand, a lot of Thais go to Poipet to visit the casinos there. The casinos are located between the Thai and Cambodian border control, so Thais can gamble without having to actually enter Cambodia. We have been told that Cambodians are generally not allowed into the casinos as paying customers, even though they make up most of the work force.
Our hotel in Siem Reap had warned us about the border being corrupt, they told us not to trust anyone, not even the police. Apparently, the taxi drivers and all transport companies have formed a cartel with very high fixed prices for transport. You would have to pay 48 US dollars to get from Poipet to Siem Reap, a two hour drive. We arranged transport through the hotel and payed 40 dollars.

8 dollars might not seem like a lot but here in Cambodia 8 dollars will get you quite a long way. For $ 5 you can go by bus from Siem Reap to Battambang (a four hour ride) and $ 8 will get you a three course lunch in Siem Reap. So the eight dollar difference is not really a small one.

The price quotes brings me to Cambodian currency. Officially, the currency in Cambodia is Riel. 4000 Riel equals one US dollar and almost every shop (even the smaller shop at the market) quote their prices in dollars. Here in Siem Reap, you only get dollars out of the ATM (it is probably the case in all major towns and tourist areas). The US coins are not used, so you always get small change back in riel.

I thought it was a bit curious that an entire country starts using the US currency just like that, but the explanation was very logical.
Between 1975 and 1980, Cambodia did not have a monetary system since money was abolished during the Khmer Rouge regime. When the riel was reinstated in 1980, the people did not really trust the currency and many preferred foreign currencies or gold.
No wonder, I would not trust banknotes to keep their value if I had lost all my savings once because the money turned out to be worthless.

One more thing worth mentioning: every other car in Siem Reap is a Toyota Camry. I have never seen so many Camrys at the same time before. It almost makes me wonder if Toyota had a major charity project and sold off all their excess Camrys really cheap to Cambodia in the 80's?

Ayutthaya - yet another city of ruins

After the visit in Sukhothai, we felt that the ruins of Ayutthaya, the kingdom succeeding Sukhothai, was the logical next stop. Since it is located between Bangkok and Phitsanulok (well, a lot closer to Bangkok, but still on our route), this was a convenient stop over.

We went by train again, trying the 3rd class this time. Travelling third class in Thailand is really cheap, we payed 130 Baht (about 3 euro) per person for a five hour ride. It is an adventure to travel with the locals, but the fun ends just about when your back starts aching from the hard wooden seats. The difference to 2nd class is huge (and the price different is not big). It was a nice experience, but really not the best decision. Since trains always seem to run late in Thailand, our 4,5 h trainride turned out to last for almost six hours.

The biggest difference between Sukhothai and Ayutthaya is that the latter still is a functioning city and not just monuments from times long past. The ruins in Ayutthaya are a bit more ragged than the ones in Sukhothai.
For those of you interested in a brief history lesson:
The Ayutthaya Kingdom existed between 1350 and 1767, when the city of Ayutthaya was destroyed by the Burmese army. This was the 24th Burmese attempt to capture the city, which was the home to about 1 million people at the time.

Ayutthaya Historical Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

The city was hit pretty badly by the flood in November and December and you can still see some traces of the destruction caused. Most of the temple ruins however are fine to visit.
We spent two days exploring the city and the ruins by bike and here are some of the highlights:

This little fellow and his brothers and sisters were playing among the ruins

Evening light over Ayutthaya Historical Park

One of the most photographed sites in Ayutthaya