Some more photos in the Cambodia album. Our first proper four wheel driving experience in the countryside near Siem Reap.
www.facebook.com/4guysinacar/photos
Monday, 21 May 2012
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Day 55 - Friendly Cambodians, Currency confusion and a day at Angkor Wat. (Cambodia)
We were really surprised at the high quality of roads throughout Thailand, but were expecting that once we got to Cambodia they would deteriorate drastically. Again though, they're really just fine. The road from Poipet was a bit more hectic perhaps than what we're used to, but the road itself is no worse than most main roads through the Australian countryside. Having expected it to take four or five hours, we were pretty happy when we managed to cover the 150km to Siem Reap in a couple of hours.
We stopped for lunch on the way, at a street kitchen in a town we don't know the name of and were immediately struck by how friendly everyone was. The ladies in the restaurant weren't hassling us or ripping us off, and despite their complete lack of English and our complete lack of Khmer, we negotiated a price and had a good meal. When I felt an arm around my waist I thought either one of the boys was being a bit inappropriate or someone was trying to steal my money. I turned around though to find that the arm belonged to a smiley old lady, much shorter than me, who just wanted to say hi.
The currency situation in Cambodia is a bit confusing. They use both US$ and their own currency, the Riel. Although we're well aware that we'll be dealing with this a lot over the next few months, it is our first experience of it so we're still getting used to it. Most things $1 or over seem to be priced in $, and anything less is dealt with in Riel, but the two are quite interchangeable. The exchange rate is $1 = 4,000Riel, so for example if something is 75c you can pay with $1 and get 1,000Riel change. Or if something is $1.50 you can pay 6,000Riel. What we've noticed though is that things seem to be much more expensive because of this. We had expected Cambodia to be much cheaper than Thailand, but this isn't the case at all. It will be interesting to see what it's like when we're not in a tourist town next to one of the biggest attractions in the world.
We spent yesterday at the famous and magnificent Angkor Wat, only a couple of km out of Siem Reap. It certainly is a huge complex of temples and buildings, and it was a big relief to have our own car to be driving around in. The whole circuit is over 30km and there are things to look at the entire way. Most people seem to hire a tuk tuk and driver for a day, at a cost of something like $20-$30. We had hummed and hawed about whether to get a one day ticket for $20 or a 3 day ticket for $40. We decided in the end we'd spend the $40, which was just as well because we spent about six hours at the site and by the end we were completely exhausted and still had not even seen 10% of the whole place.
It's incredible to see how well preserved so much of it is after hundreds and hundreds of years, yet the bits that have been left to ruin were so interesting to climb around and explore. It was ridiculously humid though, despite quite a cool breeze and we got very very hot and smelly walking around the various buildings. There were several very steep staircases for us to climb that were made out of the original stone, now worn and uneven, each step upto my knee and sometimes barely wide enough to place a foot on. They must have been incredibly fit.
Our favourite temple was actually the one where Tomb Raider was filmed. The trees seem to have grown out of the stone, and now the roots are consuming the walls. The building is a maze of doorways, passages and clearnings, surrounded by both walls still standing and ruins of walls and roofs that once were. Every way you turn, there's another nook or cranny with something to look at. While we were inside this temple it started to rain. It never became more than a light drizzle, but it was enough to scare off all the tourists. So as we explored the ruins, we were by ourselves and the silence made the whole experience so serene.
It is very easy to see why Angkor Wat is considered one of the most culturally significant and interesting sites in the world. We bought three day tickets so we can see a bit more of it, but today we decided to have a chill out day and we'll resume tourism tomorrow.
We stopped for lunch on the way, at a street kitchen in a town we don't know the name of and were immediately struck by how friendly everyone was. The ladies in the restaurant weren't hassling us or ripping us off, and despite their complete lack of English and our complete lack of Khmer, we negotiated a price and had a good meal. When I felt an arm around my waist I thought either one of the boys was being a bit inappropriate or someone was trying to steal my money. I turned around though to find that the arm belonged to a smiley old lady, much shorter than me, who just wanted to say hi.
The currency situation in Cambodia is a bit confusing. They use both US$ and their own currency, the Riel. Although we're well aware that we'll be dealing with this a lot over the next few months, it is our first experience of it so we're still getting used to it. Most things $1 or over seem to be priced in $, and anything less is dealt with in Riel, but the two are quite interchangeable. The exchange rate is $1 = 4,000Riel, so for example if something is 75c you can pay with $1 and get 1,000Riel change. Or if something is $1.50 you can pay 6,000Riel. What we've noticed though is that things seem to be much more expensive because of this. We had expected Cambodia to be much cheaper than Thailand, but this isn't the case at all. It will be interesting to see what it's like when we're not in a tourist town next to one of the biggest attractions in the world.
We spent yesterday at the famous and magnificent Angkor Wat, only a couple of km out of Siem Reap. It certainly is a huge complex of temples and buildings, and it was a big relief to have our own car to be driving around in. The whole circuit is over 30km and there are things to look at the entire way. Most people seem to hire a tuk tuk and driver for a day, at a cost of something like $20-$30. We had hummed and hawed about whether to get a one day ticket for $20 or a 3 day ticket for $40. We decided in the end we'd spend the $40, which was just as well because we spent about six hours at the site and by the end we were completely exhausted and still had not even seen 10% of the whole place.
It's incredible to see how well preserved so much of it is after hundreds and hundreds of years, yet the bits that have been left to ruin were so interesting to climb around and explore. It was ridiculously humid though, despite quite a cool breeze and we got very very hot and smelly walking around the various buildings. There were several very steep staircases for us to climb that were made out of the original stone, now worn and uneven, each step upto my knee and sometimes barely wide enough to place a foot on. They must have been incredibly fit.
Our favourite temple was actually the one where Tomb Raider was filmed. The trees seem to have grown out of the stone, and now the roots are consuming the walls. The building is a maze of doorways, passages and clearnings, surrounded by both walls still standing and ruins of walls and roofs that once were. Every way you turn, there's another nook or cranny with something to look at. While we were inside this temple it started to rain. It never became more than a light drizzle, but it was enough to scare off all the tourists. So as we explored the ruins, we were by ourselves and the silence made the whole experience so serene.
It is very easy to see why Angkor Wat is considered one of the most culturally significant and interesting sites in the world. We bought three day tickets so we can see a bit more of it, but today we decided to have a chill out day and we'll resume tourism tomorrow.
Our friends in Bangkok (Thailand)
While we were in Bangkok, we had a meal with family friends who live there. One of the things I haven't been doing as much as I would like to is trying all the tropical fruits that are sold all over the place. Partly it's because the company I'm holding isn't overly interested, and partly it's because I don't really understand how to buy it or eat it. So when they pulled out the fruit bowls for dessert I was over the moon and filled myself up on lychees, mangosteens, watermelon and some others I can't remember the names of.
Mike and Jane and their two daughters have lived in Thailand for years doing all sorts of good work in various areas of the country. At the moment they are stationed in Bangkok where Jane is working on an AIDS project and Mike works with children who have been abused or exploited. If anybody is interested in finding out about their work or would like to help in any way you can look at these links, or we can put you directly in contact with Mike or Jane.
A powerpoint about the AIDS project:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/40177633/AIDS%20project%20PowerPoint.ppt
The English website of Mike's child project:
http://childprotection.cct.or.th/en/index.html
Friday, 18 May 2012
Day 55 - A disgustingly luxurious night spent in No Man's Land. (Border crossing Thailand to Cambodia)
We had expected the drive from
Bangkok to Aranya Prathet/Poipet (Thailand/Cambodia) border to take a couple of
days, but we managed it (thanks to the surprisingly good condition of the Thai
roads) in one. The Thai side of things ran pretty smoothly – they checked our
Carnet (even though Thailand’s not in the Carnet system), stamped our passports
and on we went. We paid the 25Bhat (80c) “fee for our car” and went onto the
Cambodian Immigration office where we were asked for US$20 + 100Bhat each for
our visas. We paid the US$20 that the visa actually costs and told them we
wouldn’t be paying their “service fee”. They weren’t overly happy with this,
but it was just a matter of sitting it out until they got bored.
At this point we were struck by
what can only be described as South East Asia’s Las Vegas, located in the No
Man’s Land between the two countries. Between the humble towns on either side
of the border there were a dozen or so casinos. We were one of the very few
vehicles on the road that wasn’t either a brand new, unregistered Humvee,
Escalade or other type of luxury 4x4, or a hand-made wooden push cart, piled
high with cargo and being pushed and/or pulled by its hot and dusty owners.
We had been advised by our
friends in Bangkok that these casinos can be a good place to look for cheap
accommodation because they’re for Thais who want to gamble, and not at all for
tourists. So we thought we’d have a look, and sure enough we found that each of the casinos was offering different deals. The one we found to be the cheapest was offering double rooms for 1,000Baht (approx $30), but they gave you 500Bhat in chips on arrival. The chips were "promotional" so couldn't be cashed in straight off, so we sat at a baccarat table for a few minutes, hedging each other's bets, until we had real chips that we could exchange for cash. So in the end we got
a proper 5 star hotel room for 250Baht each(approx $8).
Being in the awkward location of No Man’s Land, we weren’t sure until we arrived what currency they’d be using though, so we thought we’d just have to use a credit card or withdraw from an ATM. We had not foreseen however that they wouldn’t accept a credit card, considering the magnitude of these businesses, and after asking in almost every casino we discovered that there weren’t even any ATMs in No Man’s Land.
Being in the awkward location of No Man’s Land, we weren’t sure until we arrived what currency they’d be using though, so we thought we’d just have to use a credit card or withdraw from an ATM. We had not foreseen however that they wouldn’t accept a credit card, considering the magnitude of these businesses, and after asking in almost every casino we discovered that there weren’t even any ATMs in No Man’s Land.
Uh oh, by this time it was almost
7pm, already dark and we were stuck with no money. We realised we were going to
have to enter Cambodia to get money out, then try and re-enter No Man’s Land.
This could be a tricky thing to get past Cambodian Customs, but we had no
choice. Ben waited with Trevor in No Man’s Land (just in case we couldn’t get
back in and he’d have to drive into Cambodia), and we approached the
Customs Officials to try and explain our situation. They told us it was fine,
we just had to leave one passport with them which we could collect on the way
back. So on we went to the border town of Poipet, from where we could still see
the lights of the casinos. Carrying nothing but our bank cards and two of our
passports, we walked along the dirt road, trying our best to avoid the
children’s hands grabbing at our pockets and the insistence from everyone that we
either give them money or buy their goods. The only light on the streets was that from the casinos, and the contrast between rich and poor has never been more evident to me. Eventually we found an ATM and took
out the money we needed, and on our way back to the border, just hoping that
we’d get my passport back with no bribery or patting down involved, we passed
the confronting sight of a cattle truck driving into the police station, stuffed to the brim with people.
Back at Customs I was returned my
passport with no problem, until he then decided I needed to get it stamped into
Cambodia. We couldn’t be sure if he understood that we were crossing back into
No Man’s Land, and the fact that he only wanted my passport stamped was curious.
And we were carrying a very uncomfortable amount of cash. Eventually some more
people came and said stuff and yelled at each other, and we decided it was best
if we all got our passports stamped then.
We had a great night, living up
the luxury of our hotel at what for us is a very affordable price, knowing it would be a long time before we stayed somewhere that comfortable again. All the while though, aware that just outside this climate controlled paradise, there were people on the street, homeless and starving.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Day 53 - The sewage boat, bathroom design, and some time in a Thai prison. (Thailand)
As we had been driving north to Chiang Mai and Pai, we were really enjoying the gradual but definite lowering in temperature and humidity. But now that we've driven back south again to Bangkok, the tropics are once again taking their toll on us. But we've pushed through and have spent the last two days wandering the streets of the city.
We took part in the important cultural experience yesterday of catching the river boat, or as we have fondly nicknamed it, the "sewage boat". This is a small vessel that travels the narrow canals or "open sewers" at a pace most of us would be uncomfortable doing in a car on an open road. As we found out the hard way, the splash from the river into the boat is quite hefty as you're travelling along, so there are tarpaulin walls operated by a rope. Unfortunately the onus is on the passenger next to the rope to lift the tarpaulan, and we were that passenger. So everyone got a nice splash before we realised what we were supposed to do. This is where we're glad we had the foresight to be immunised against things such as hepatitis.
As we're travelling, we are continuously baffled by the bathrooms. Squatting instead of sitting, and squirting instead of wiping, and lack of hot water and soap are all things that we would expect and can to some extent understand, and certainly deal with quite easily. But the thing that we just can't fathom is that even when a bathroom is reasonably spacious or we're in quite a Western establishment, the shower is invariably located above the toilet. It's great if you need to relieve yourself whilst showering, but for the vast majority of us (Ben being one of the few exceptions) this isn't actually ever an issue.
The Prison Museum sounded exciting and was recommended to us by our friends who live in Bangkok, so we headed there this morning. At first we were a little skeptical when the guard with the gun told us to follow him down an alleyway, in the opposite direction of the arrows on the signs, but we did as we were told and he took us to an old prison building. Then he unlocked the huge bolts on each of the doors, showed us in and closed it all behind us. We weren't entirely confident that we weren't locked in, but we did what the man with the gun told us to. The museum was actually very interesting, if not a bit spooky. There were all sorts of torture devices and objects prisoners used to make and use such as dominoes for gambling and pipes for smoking. And there was information on all the different methods of execution, accompanied with pictures and life-size models. As it turns out it is a free museum, so that added to the overall enjoyment of the experience.
When we left we were all quite thirsty so resolved to stop at the next 7-11. Usually they are within 200m of each other (sometimes literally across the road) so we just walked in the direction we wanted to go. We realised it was actually the furthest we have travelled in Thailand without passing a 7-11 and decided to ask someone for directions. We still couldn't find one and even started walking around in circles a little bit. This is the land of 7-11's and the one time we were actively looking for one, we just couldn't find it. Needless to say we bought drinks elsewhere, and around the next corner we found one.
We took part in the important cultural experience yesterday of catching the river boat, or as we have fondly nicknamed it, the "sewage boat". This is a small vessel that travels the narrow canals or "open sewers" at a pace most of us would be uncomfortable doing in a car on an open road. As we found out the hard way, the splash from the river into the boat is quite hefty as you're travelling along, so there are tarpaulin walls operated by a rope. Unfortunately the onus is on the passenger next to the rope to lift the tarpaulan, and we were that passenger. So everyone got a nice splash before we realised what we were supposed to do. This is where we're glad we had the foresight to be immunised against things such as hepatitis.
As we're travelling, we are continuously baffled by the bathrooms. Squatting instead of sitting, and squirting instead of wiping, and lack of hot water and soap are all things that we would expect and can to some extent understand, and certainly deal with quite easily. But the thing that we just can't fathom is that even when a bathroom is reasonably spacious or we're in quite a Western establishment, the shower is invariably located above the toilet. It's great if you need to relieve yourself whilst showering, but for the vast majority of us (Ben being one of the few exceptions) this isn't actually ever an issue.
The Prison Museum sounded exciting and was recommended to us by our friends who live in Bangkok, so we headed there this morning. At first we were a little skeptical when the guard with the gun told us to follow him down an alleyway, in the opposite direction of the arrows on the signs, but we did as we were told and he took us to an old prison building. Then he unlocked the huge bolts on each of the doors, showed us in and closed it all behind us. We weren't entirely confident that we weren't locked in, but we did what the man with the gun told us to. The museum was actually very interesting, if not a bit spooky. There were all sorts of torture devices and objects prisoners used to make and use such as dominoes for gambling and pipes for smoking. And there was information on all the different methods of execution, accompanied with pictures and life-size models. As it turns out it is a free museum, so that added to the overall enjoyment of the experience.
When we left we were all quite thirsty so resolved to stop at the next 7-11. Usually they are within 200m of each other (sometimes literally across the road) so we just walked in the direction we wanted to go. We realised it was actually the furthest we have travelled in Thailand without passing a 7-11 and decided to ask someone for directions. We still couldn't find one and even started walking around in circles a little bit. This is the land of 7-11's and the one time we were actively looking for one, we just couldn't find it. Needless to say we bought drinks elsewhere, and around the next corner we found one.
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