So, we've been a bit MIA since leaving Wat's. Since we know that dozens upon dozens of you read this blog daily, waiting with, as they say, 'bated breath for our sporadic missives, I present to you the following summary of the week and and a half since we left Wat's:
Jan 30-- We left Wat's in the morning, taking the mini-bus to Hua Hin. Wat was quite nonchalant about the bus schedule, even though there are only two city-bound buses a day, at 8:00 and 8:30 AM. We had missed the 8:00 AM bus, and were in the middle of a breakfast of Thai tea with milk and coconut-fried bananas when I asked what if the gaily colored truck heading for us was the second bus. He looked at it lazily and then suddenly perked up, and Aud and I dashed to stop it, catch it, and say goodbye hurriedly.
After spending an evening with Nikki, a rambunctious, off-color, and very drunk Canadian ex-pat who dragged us out (with her indifferent husband and his buddies) for a dinner of "the best fish and chips in Hua Hin" for the "dirt-cheap" price of 510 baht (like, $15, or roughly 5 times our normal food budget for a meal), we apologized for being too tired to party all night and headed to bed.
Jan 31-- We lazed around Hua Hin. Our guest house had a serene courtyard conducive to reading quietly, and we each plowed through a book. A trip to the beach was a treat, though it resulted in my getting an odd rash covering a large amount of my feet and ankles (which has since been defeated with some knock-off Claritin).
Feb 1-- We finally figured out that touristy restaurants were not the way to go, and we subsisted solely fruit and various fried goodies (banana & egg crepes, squid-on-a-stick, and Thai mini-waffles) from street vendors. Steamed bean paste buns were also a favorite. Yum! We basically entertained ourselves the same way: some beach, some reading, wandering the large night market but finding most of the stuff undesirable. That said, they have Louis Vuitton and Dolce and Gabbana coming out of their ears here! Who'da thunk it? [Wink]
Feb 2-- We caught a mid-day train from Hua Hin to Chumphon, two hours south and on the east coast of Thailand. A travel agency secured us tickets on the night boat to the island of Koh Tao and also drove us to the fishy pier out in the boondocks, which was worth the $1.50 surcharge. We even got to shower at their place, which was a godsend. The nightboat was pretty sketch...The air was thick with the aromas of stagnant water, rotting fish, and sea-rusted metal. We followed a path of low doorways and steep stairs to a large bunk room lit by fluorescent lights and furnished with bunks lining the walls. The engine roared once we took off on the six-hour trip, but I'm a deep sleeper and Aud had her earplugs so we slept OK.
Feb 3-- We saved $10 the hard way by refusing all offers for taxi service on our trek across the 3 km by 7 km island of Koh Tao, headed for the eastern shore of Aow Tanote. With the precision guidance of a tourist map of the island, we found a path that took us from west to east over the second highest point on the island; we ended up climbing 1,000 vertical feet over 1.5 km. Aud's ankle was still a little on the weak side, but you wouldn't have known it. At one point we had to crawl on all fours to get up a steep, sandy hill where the road had been scarred by deep washouts that would have made vehicle access impossible. We finally came down, luxuriated in some cold water and iced mint tea at a man's tea shop, and perused the lodging situation. We ended up finding a bungalow at the Poseidon resort for 300 baht a night, which we snapped up.
Feb 4-7 -- This was a really sweet time. Aud used the word 'romantic,' which actually nails it pretty well. Less in the chocolate and flowers and Macy's jewelry kind of way, but like this: four days of cheap lodging, tasty food, fantastic snorkeling, reading in the sun, Scrabble in the shade, gin rummy with dinner, and not a worry in sight.
Feb 8 -- My 23rd birthday! We celebrated by heading back to the pier via an easier path: a longer but much flatter, mostly paved road that delivered us to Freedom Beach, which is the compromise between Aow Tanote's serenity and Hat Sairee's party-all-night scene. We gnoshed on some fruit smoothies (their tangerines here are great!) and did some book trading at a European ex-pat's shop. We sold some books we'd both read: "Same Kind of Different as Me," a book about a couple of born-again Christians in Texas whose lives intersect with that of a man who grew up in modern-day slavery in Louisiana (it was not what I'd expected when I bought it on a recommendation, but it is worth a read if for no other reason than to see how some people find glorious ways to act out their faith); "Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha," a fun memoir of growing up in 1960s Ireland in which the author (Roddy Doyle) nails the voice and perspective of a young boy; and "Three Cups of Tea," the improbable story about Greg Mortensen, who is singlehandedly doing more to prevent terror by building schools at $12,000 a pop than the US government has managed with some trillions of dollars. We got some cash for these and Aud picked up a copy of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Ubervilles," which is a period piece whose dramatization she'd only seen part of. I'm simultaneously reading Steven Millhauser's collection of short stories called "Dangerous Laughter" and the Old Testament of the Bible. (We also gave my copy [actually, John Carrico's...] of Paulo Coehlo's "The Alchemist" to Wat when we left. It is a beautiful read about chasing one's dreams.)
Anywho...we had a nice dinner and played cards for several hours before catching another night boat that proved to be cleaner and better equipped.
Feb 9-- We got in to Chumphon before dawn, when a pallid moon still fought inky clouds for control of the blank, starless sky. The mini-bus we all piled into was full, so I had the thrill of hanging off the back on a wooden runner while Audrey watched me, concerned. Some German women were dropped off at a bus station, and we decided to follow them, which ended up being a good call. For half the price of train tickets, we got a bus direct from Chumphon north seven hours to Bangkok. Once we got to Bangkok, we had to get to another bus station to get to the Cambodian border, so we spent a night in Bangkok in a cheap guest house. Again, the luxury of a private bathroom and a shower is never so evident until you've been traveling all day.
Feb 10--We trekked up to the northern Bangkok bus station to catch the 10:30 bus to Aranya Prathet, on the border of Cambodia. Or should I say Scam-Bodia? We knew things were going to be dicey, so we did our best to be vigilant about getting tricked. A tuk-tuk driver took us from the bus stop to near the border, but he pulled off onto a street a mile or so from the border market, which is where we wanted to go. When we stopped at a small storefront, a tout approached us and welcomed us to the Cambodian Consulate, where for only 1200 baht we could get our visas in five minutes. Audrey, whose research had shown that we could get visas at the border market for about $20-$25, insisted that they were full of it, but they kept insisting that visas at that price were only available in Bangkok with three days' notice. I noticed that we were 20 meters from the street corner, while the sign the tout had pointed out (as proof of his station) said that the Cambodian Consulate was 100 meters away. I walked down the street a bit and saw the embassy, tucked behind some trees.
We still got had there, a little. At the Consulate they charged us 1000 baht a piece; we believe the trick there was to not offer us the chance to pay in US currency ($20) so that we would necessarily pay the baht-conversion fee, bringing the total to 1000 baht. Nice, guys.
Our tuk-tuk driver took us to the border market, where a man showed us his lame ID badge, explained that we could trust him because he is "Cambodian people," and began escorting us around to show us the ropes. We walked right by several "Visa Express US$20" stands. This "guide" insisted that we take out baht at the ATM, saying something illogical about ATMs in Cambodia only spitting out US dollars, though it was not clear what that had to do with Thai baht. We were suspicious but didn't quite connect the dots, so we complied. He shepherded us through customs, and then told us about the free shuttle bus to the bus station where we could get buses to Siem Reap. The immediate area showed no promise for finding a bus station, and the shuttle came in about 90 seconds, so we went for it. I asked the guide if we could really catch a bus to Siem Reap for $10, and he answered enthusiastically in the affirmative.
Next thing we know, we are dropped off at the "bus terminal," an empty, high-ceilinged room with no ticket counter but only a restroom and some cheap tables and chairs on the perimeter. The guide then insisted that we turn our baht into riel, and we complied. (We didn't get ripped off bad, but the trick is obvious now--85 riel equals 1 baht, and the money changer gave us about 84.8:1. So they get to make a small profit from misleading us, but they are not guilty of any egregious wrongdoing.) We now had 334,900 riel in paper notes...one US dollar is worth 4000 riel.
Then our guide informed us that, oops, we'd JUST missed the last bus of the day. What a shame! But his friend was happy to take us to Siem Reap by taxi for only $50. At this point I dug in my heels and began to harangue our smug, khaki-clad, pock-marked "guide." I expressed my deep surprise to find that at the young hour of only 4 PM the last bus to the biggest city in the region had already left. I asked when the buses ran, and he sputtered for a while before explaining that there were two per day, one at 2 PM and one at, um, 3...no, 3:30 PM. Ah, now I understood! It must have just slipped his mind when, at the border, I'd asked if we could take a bus and he said that we could. It was after 3:30 then, but he must have just forgotten the bus schedule.
Meanwhile, Aud went out one side entrance to buy a beer from a cooler that the taxi drivers all shared. (Really.) She came back in and told me that our taxi fare was now down to $33. Still pissed, I explained to the driver and our guide that I was quite content to sit in the cool, clean "bus terminal" until some other foolish tourists showed up to share a cab. Audrey said that she, too, was quite comfortable, and dug around for her book.
Within a couple of minutes the price had fallen to US$30, on the condition the the driver pick up some passengers en route. The ride was uneventful: the road is infamous for its poor condition, and we had to drive down into ditches to get around several bridges. The poverty of the countryside was evident, and Audrey made the observation that Cambodia simply has a drier climate than, say, Thailand, which explains the less lush farmland, and some of the poverty. (Of course, Pol Pot and the landmine problem are other culprits among many.)
Finally, at something like 9 PM, we got into Siem Reap. Another tout hopped in our tuk-tuk and recommended a cheap guest house that we've enjoyed. He was very charismatic and wanted us to hire him as a guide for the temples at Angkor Wat. We struggled over that for a couple of days, but ultimately decided to follow our original plan and see the temples by bike. I'm still trying to decide if that was the Right Thing to do...
--OK. That was exciting, yes? We'll give some more updates soon. Tomorrow we head back to Thailand, but it should be less scammy as we've found a direct bus.
XOXO,
Kyle
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