Bangkok Take 2

Hi everybody,

So like Jared said, we headed up from the islands back to Bangkok as we are now making our way to Cambodia, specifically Siem Reap.

We couldn't get a bus for Siem Reap for 48 hours, so we secured that ticket, found a hostel and had a bit of a power nap after our overnight train trip. It wasn't really a big deal we were 'stuck' in Bangkok because there was still lots left for us to do there. Here's some of the pics of what we got up to with our 2 days in Bangkok:

Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of Dawn. It was at one point the royal seat of power and housed the Emerald Buddha, until that was all moved across the river to the Royal Palace (remember that other blog a while ago?). The temple is decorated with broken porcelain, something that was once plentiful as it was used in Chinese ships for ballasts.

Night shot

Panorama from the top we climbed up

Chao Phraya River

 

Wat Arun in the back, one of the many pics of the king in the foreground.

The next morning I went to a cooking class. Jared actually did not choose to partake. He's silly because it was AMAZING food. The dishes we cooked (pics in this order) were Pad Thai, Papaya Salad with Spring Rolls, Massaman Curry, Mango Sticky Rice:

Yes those were all my individual dishes!! And yes I ate all that food in about 3 hours! Jared was grossed out but I wore my food baby with pride that day. Here are some more random shots of that most wonderful experience:

That afternoon we went to Wat Pho, most famous for the enormous Reclining Buddha housed inside. Use the people in the pics to see how huge this Buddha is!

Final stop of the day: Chinatown

It really got bumping after dark, but there was still an endless labyrinth of stalls in little side streets to explore at any time. Dried nuts, tea, mushrooms, random junk (most of it plastic), sea creatures (yes I saw fricking sea cucumbers), vegetables, dried fruit, whatever! And then repeats of everything over and over. I was sad to see so many restaurants for Shark Fin Soup. Dear China, if you're reading this please stop eating Shark Fin Soup, mmmk? Sharks have no place on land.

So by this point, we've walked a LOT. What's the remedy? Foot massages for 120 baht (just under $5). Let's go! On a hilarious side note Jared's masseuse accidentally slipped off while bending his leg and whacked him in the nuts. I'm sure there's a joke there about Thai massages with not so happy endings but I'll leave it to you.

After that we sat and people watched from a rooftop bar on Khao San Rd, never a dull moment.

The next day we took the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap. It is kind of a weird system because you have to get out of the bus, get stamped out of Thailand, walk to Cambodia customs, get a tourist visa (pay the advertised price plus his bribe) then get in another line to get that visa stamped as you 'enter Cambodia.' There are really no signs marking any of this process after you get stamped out of Thailand, Jared and I walked right past everything the first time! And there's lots of scammers out there trying to make a buck, offering you Cambodian visas on the Thai side, where they basically just overcharge you then run to the same office you were supposed to go to and get your visa for you. And if you're not careful you can take a bus to the border that doesn't go any further and then you have to bugger around to find onward transport. The way we did it (Jared's idea) was very good though because it was basically idiot proof. If you got back to the bus on the Cambodian side without your visa they sent you back until it was right, waited for everyone and then off to Siem Riep-home of Angkor Wat and its complex of temples. Which, if you're wondering, will be the subject of the next blog. Bye for now!

Walking into Cambodia

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Koh Phi Phi

After some consideration, we decided to make Koh Phi Phi our next stop. We had heard mixed reviews from different travellers we had been talking to, but decided we would make our own opinions.

We jumped on a ferry in Krabi and within a couple of hours we were cruising into the harbor. Upon arrival there was the usual 100 people yelling at you trying to get you to stay at their place of work. We had already booked a room, so we ignored them like usual and walked on our merry way. When we got to our hostel, we were told that they were full and did not have any room for us. Not the first time that has happened. At least these ones helped us find a new room that was the same price.

Phi Phi Pier

Once we got settled, we went for a little walk around the place. Koh Phi Phi is kind of a party island with restaurants and bars galore. There aren't any cars on the island. Still lots of people running around, the streets are narrow and everything is just jam packed in. There was a plumbing issue somewhere in the streets that resulted in grey water funnelling down the streets and the aroma of crap in the air. So it was a good start!

Long tail engines

The next morning we headed on a longtail boat out to Koh Phi Phi Lei which is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. Our first stop took us to a beach full of monkeys. People always feed them there so they hang out waiting for handouts. While we were there, there were some dumb tourists that were teasing the monkeys with food that was causing monkey fights and also putting themselves in danger. At one point a monkey jumped on this guys back and one of the Thais had to scare him off. It was kind of a gongshow and we stayed clear of the other people.

Next, we headed over some pretty rough water to Koh Phi Phi Lei. There aren't any places to stay there anymore and it is a national park. The first bay we pulled into was quite stunning except for all the other boats. There were huge cliffs rising up in all directions out of the water. We jumped in for a swim to cool off. Next we headed around the island to Maya Bay aka "The Beach." It was a very beautiful spot but the amount of boats was actually hilarious. Longtails, speedboats, diving boats, and larger passenger boats galore. We stopped a bit away from the rest of the boats and did some snorkelling which was alright. I was definitely on high alert of watching for boats while we were in the water.

 

We had stopped around half a mile from the beach to snorkel, so after that we headed to the actual beach. Once we got closer there was more people and more boats than we could have imagined. It was literally the busiest beach we have come across. So much for the secluded beach that is portrayed in the movie. There are speed boats that come out there for day trips from different towns on the coast so it's a freaking zoo

After dodging the people for a bit, we found a quieter part of the beach to try and relax. I noticed a family come out of the water and walk past us with a plastic bag full of something. We watched them for another minute and then realized that the bag was full of sea cucumbers! Now remember this is a national park and nothing is supposed to be taken out of here. Before I know it, Roberta is up stomping over to the family. Now there was a bit of a language barrier but I could tell by the look on their faces that they knew Roberta was scolding them. A park official came over quite quickly, and the sea cucumbers were returned to the sea. As you can tell, it was quite the relaxing little outing....Not. After both the monkey incident and the sea cucumber incident, we didn't have a lot of hope for humanity.

The rest of our stay was quite uneventful as I was lucky enough to get a stomach bug....again. I didn't venture too far away from any porcelain, but Roberta did go on a little hike to a lookout point.

We did venture out one night to check out the fire shows on the beach which were actually much better than Koh Tao. I also got up one morning to watch the Super Bowl which ended up being quite the game.

Fire Show Koh Phi Phi, Thailand - YouTube

Even though we had about a week left on our visa, we decided that we would start making our way over to Cambodia. We bought ourselves a ferry/bus/overnight train ticket to get us back up north to Bangkok instead of just flying. It was cheaper and we wanted to experience the overnight train as well. We took the ferry to Krabi, then jumped on a bus to Surat Tani, and got on the train there headed for Bangkok. The train was a couple hours late as per the usual. It took around 11 hours to get to Bangkok. The beds were ok and overall it was a good experience. The bathrooms had a pipe curving down to the tracks which was interesting to say the least but other than that it was all good.

We did go into the VIP section on the bus. We blasted our own music and even had wifi. Not to mention the awesome decor.

7-11 Supper of Champions - Chang beer and Toasted Ham/Cheese Sandwich

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Railay

Hey peeps!
So today I am going to tell you about our trip to Railay Beach. It's actually a peninsula jutting out from the mainland but there are no roads to it so everyone arrives by boat and it's a carless island. We took a longtail boat from Krabi town, it was about 45 minutes. Got some great pics as we came into Railay East. The east beach is not as picturesque as the west, but you still see the dramatic karst cliffs looming over you as you come in. These are a sheer cliff face, much higher/larger than anything we had seen before.

We walked up East Railay, turned into the peninsula and ended up near the Phangnagiri Cave. We saw some monkeys, just climbing all over the power lines like crazy. The cave was just so-so, especially compared to our Khao Sok adventure.

We walked to West Railay and were totally blown away by how beautiful it is. There is a long sweeping beach and it is bookended on both ends by huge karst cliffs that the rock climbers really go crazy for.

We ended up back on East Railay for lunch (it's like a 5 minute walk) and then laid on Railay West for a few hours. Went for a swim in the ocean. I pestered Jared until he gave in and we went searching for the viewpoint at the south end of Railay West. We got to the end of the swanky hotels and then there was a little path feeding into the jungle. Sketchy? Maybe. We walked along this for about 20 minutes. We passed some climbers on the way and they didn't seem to know anything about a viewpoint. Naturally we just kept going. We came around a corner and there was a ladder lashed to the side of a cliff going straight up, about 10 rungs. I just didn't look down while climbing it. Then you had to hang onto a rope as you came around a ledge. Once that was accomplished we were rewarded with a rather remarkable view of Railay West, East, and Ton Sai beach.

We spent lots of time up here, soaking in the view, fiddling with the selfie stick, watching the climbers. Jared even admitted the hike/climb was worth the view! And I was glad because I got a little climbing adventure in.....for free! We climbed down (kind of scary) and headed back for a beer on Railay West. I swam in the resort's pool- pretty sure it's for guests only but just act like you own the place and you'll be sweet. We decided to chance it and take the boat back from Phang Na Cave at 6(ish) instead of the main Railay East pier at 5. Our hostel owner had told us her brother would drive us back for 100 baht (instead of 150) and we'd get get extra time on the island. Only issue is every conversation with Thais is fraught with miscommunications as the language barrier is alive and well. So I think that's what she said? So we decided to go for it and if we got stuck on Railay for a night so be it. We headed for Phang Na and found another viewpoint to hike up to along the way. We had just enough time to do it so we climbed like crazy people. The viewpoint here was more over Railay East than West, but still beautiful.The other fork in the climb was down to a lagoon. The climbing was quite a challenge- three tiers where you had to climb down a rope- and back up again :( we didn't do the last tier because we really didn't have time but we could see the lagoon from where we were. It was a really cool jungle adventure. Scrambling over craggy rocks, hanging over tree roots, getting covered in red dirt. So much for Jared's clean white shirt.

We made it back down the cliff mountain trail and made our way to Phang Na Cave. The walkway there was really cool with the overhanging stalagtites as you walk under the cliff edge. When it opens up to Phang Na beach it's just awesome. The cliff face to your left, a sheltered beach, and an island out in the bay shooting straight out.

The cliff contains Phang Na cave, and at the entrance to the cave is a shrine. I suppose it's a type of fertility shrine because there were hundreds of carved wooden penises. They were all different colours, sometimes the head was different from the shaft!! There was a small diameter but very tall island off shore and people were swimming out to it to climb in the caves at the shore line. We found the boat- didn't know it was a food boat (a cousin of the North American food truck) but I recognized the name on the side. Pfewf! We hung out and watched the sunset, snapped pics and enjoyed life.

After sunset we boarded the food boat (so random) and headed back to Krabi town. We went to the night market with some friends we made on Railay and had some yummy food- some of the best Massaman Curry yet. It was a good adventure.

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