A tuk tuk to the temples (12 -15 March 2015)

If I am walking each day it makes sense to do it in the huge Angkor Archeological Park rather than the random streets of Siem Reap so I have invested in a seven day ticket to the temples. I catch a tuk tuk into the park which gives me the equivalent of an early morning Pilates session as I strengthen my core trying as hard as I can to actually stay in the thing as it rattles along the uneven roads and speed bumps. Why do I always get the maverick driver but perhaps they're all the same, I've not met a slow careful one yet!



I've just done day three so am becoming a bit of an expert on my bas reliefs.... Well not really but they are nice to look at! The whole complex is really busy. It's funny how your mind remembers things differently though. Both Ant and I seem to remember the place where you buy your tickets as super efficient with barcode controlled Disneyworld type entrance gates. If that were ever the case I can only assume that it broke down and they replaced it with the usual melee of ticket booths and the scrum of tuk tuks as they wait for their passengers to get said tickets. Certainly not the efficient machine I thought I remembered. And funnily enough walking round the park I seem to be the only person ever stopped to have their ticket checked.... I guess they assume that big tour groups are automatically honest... Or I look like some hippy wandering around on her own, a more likely explanation. The parade of coaches, taxis and tuk tuks into the park is relentless, and the tuk tuk queues forming at the pinch points like going through the narrow gates into certain temples are reminiscent of the Dartford Crossing in rush hour.


And the snake of people going into some of the more popular temples is like the Bejing ring road during rush hour.... I am really surprised by the small proportion of Western tourists about and amazed at the huge number of Chinese. But the sheer size of the place overall and individual temples means that they absorb so many people it really isn't too crowded. So far I have concentrated on the places Swanley Travel will recommend on their forthcoming escorted tour.... Angkor Wat, the main must see, Angkor Thom, the one with the faces and Ta Phrom of Tomb Raider.



Swanley Travel clients are not known for their sightseeing patience, indeed one of the Company's specialities is speed sightseeing, so I think this will be more than enough! I also paid a visit to the National Museum here to see if that was worth a recommendation, but again, Swanley Travel clients base their liking of most museums on the quality of the gift shop, so this one probably won't make the cut... But on my times when I m just wandering the streets in town I am beginning to see where all the new development is. The east bank of the river is filling up, I remember it being empty, with cool new chic hotels and restaurants as is the French Quarter where the FCC is located. They are certainly giving the FCC a run for its money. But I see that the FCC is about to go through a complete renovation as well as an extension with more hotel rooms across the road. It's probably time, it's still very stylish and always smells amazing as the oil burners are always lit but is slightly on the tired side now. There is a new Hard Rock Cafe just opened as well as a Costa Coffee, but both very sympathetically designed so fit in very well. And no sign of any Golden Arches... There are some new, extremely stylish shops and spas too with other buildings still going up. But it looks like none of them are going to be nasty high rises, I hope not.
Yesterday was a very busy day in town. There was a huge procession with thousands and I mean thousands, of people going through early afternoon. Traffic was at a standstill for almost an hour. But a la Thailand if the roads were at a standstill, the bikes just took to the pavement! It started with the uniformed local school kids band, followed by lots of women in white crimplene (never good in this climate...) suits, followed by older school kids carrying the national flag followed by what looked like loads of office workers carrying the national flag followed by hundreds and hundreds of orange and maroon clad monks then followed by what looked like all the women in town in white blouses and black skirts followed by all the OAP women in town in white shirts with shaved heads followed by a mix of other I assume, less mobile people in a huge parade of tuk tuks and cars. There were a few floats in between, one of of flower covered elephant. Everyone was carrying lotus flowers and most had a picture of a man wearing orange monks' robes and glasses.








It was such a big production I assumed every one would know exactly what it was all about. The girl in the bar I repaired to for a cool drink (diet coke, honest) had no clue. The hotel staff when I got back had no clue apart from it must be a Buddhist Celebration... even I could work that one out. The nearest I got was a waiter I asked at the side of the road. His English was pretty bad (but better than my one word of Khmer) but he seemed to be saying that it was a celebration of the guy in the picture wearing the monks robes that everyone was carrying who many many many years ago had discovered the Khmer language. Frankly it seemed improbable, the guy was wearing glasses so it couldn't have been that ancient! But improbable or not he was pretty close. The joy of Google found this:
Samdech Sangha Raja Jhotañano Chuon Nath (Khmer: ជួន ណាត [cuən naːt]; 11 March 1883 – 25 September 1969) is the late Kana Mahanikaya Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia. Amongst his achievements is his effort in conservation of the Khmer language in the form of the Khmer dictionary. Nath's other contribution to Cambodia include the current national anthem, Nokor Reach. Nokor Reach was written to correspond to the motto of the nation, "Nation, Religion, King" as well as demonstrate the grandeur and the mighty past of the Khmer nation. This phrase is on the Cambodian visa.


Amazing what you learn whilst travelling, just a pity most of the locals didn't have a clue! I assume the parade was today as it was the nearest Saturday to his birthday.
And then while trying to understand all about him whilst drinking my Diet Coke, it was all lights, camera and action as what looked like a music video was being filmed in the streets.



And on the way back to the hotel early evening I discover mass aerobic dance sessions. On the next block to the hotel is a big building extolling the virtues of the Cambodian People's Party. Each evening it appears to get taken over for the good health of the people.... while Hun Sen, the long serving leader looks on benevolently...
Prices here are ok too, even with the appallingly weak pound against the dollar. All transactions here are in dollars, with your change, anything less than a dollar is given back to you in grubby Riel notes. No coins circulate here. Interestingly water is much more expensive than in Thailand, but in a balance that suits me, wine is much cheaper and better! I am living high on the hog, eating at the expensive FCC where last night's dinner eaten under the stars was of smoked salmon and tomato bruschetta, FCC Salad of chicken and Parma ham and two glasses of a good Chilean Rose and it came in at just £12.20... Result!


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Location:Siem Reap, Cambodia

What's Wat in Siem Reap... (10 - 12 March 2015)

If you have two weeks holiday and want to decide where to spend it, two weeks in Siem Reap may not be an obvious choice, but that's exactly where I've rocked up for almost a fortnight. But don't worry I haven't gone temple crazy, I do have my reasons! My Thai visa, even though for a year still meant that I needed to report in to immigration after 90 days. I had heard stories that this could take all day as the new tourist visa rules meant that all those people who previously were whizzing about doing visa runs to the border were now crowding out the small immigration office on Samui. They are building a new one but it isn't finished..... I also needed to get to Cambodia ahead of time and needed enough time here to get a Vietnam visa. So all in all it made sense to get out here a couple of days ahead of when I really needed to be and also do an advance Swanley Travel recce for my VIP visitors expected soon. So am happily ensconced in the FCC Angkor and am equally happy wandering the streets and walking along the river. I am re discovering Pub Street, a great place to people watch and enjoy the pleasure of a glass of decent why why (I don't say thanks to the French very often, but this time thanks for the wine legacy...) and at only £2. Can't say I am missing Mont Clair wine yet... I am also just getting my bearings from the last time I was here and whilst I can't see any big developments it is definitely busier. But there is still that old charm of dirty streets, broken pavements, markets, backpacker children and backpacker adults. The bottom seems to have fallen out of the photocopied book business though I guess Kindle finally put paid to that although you can now download them cheaply at ROGUE, as you can download $2 movies there as well, creating another business failure out of the copy DVD market too! Big tour groups, although they will be here, are, I think tucked away in the bigger tourist hotels on the airport road when they are not "doing Angkor Wat". Most people just drop in here for a couple of days, do the temples and then leave. I seem to be doing the opposite..... And I am having to get used to the new traffic.



Unlike Thailand who drive on the left, I now have to remember to look the other way. Crossing the road is impossible at times until I recalled my old Vietnam training - take a deep breath and go, the sea of motorbikes should part around you.... So far so good... And the drivers here do seem a little slower than the Thai's. There are a few sets of traffic lights here too even sporting little green men at the crossing and unlike the Thai's the Cambodians do actually stop at red lights, a real novelty... On the way from the airport the driver explained the police stopping some motorbike riders who were being fined "one dollar" for not wearing their helmets. No mirror on your bike is also "one dollar" and not obeying a red light is also "one dollar". I wonder how many "one dollars" end up in the police pockets?
Yesterday I walked into the Angkor Park in the rush hour, all tourist life was in the traffic. Big coaches of Wendy Wu type Chinese tourists jammed into big coaches, streams of ten tuk tuks with groups of Travel Indochina type posher smaller group tourists, gorgeous independent travellers (as you find with Swanley Travel) in their own tuk tuks, rich American's wafting in from Raffles in their aircon limo's and the Germans and Swiss on their push bikes.... and me bringing up the rear in my flip flops. And that reminds me, my Jawbone UP told me recently that I had completed my thousandth flip flop mile in 88 days, way ahead of my 100 day target. I am now trying to pat my own back...
Today I walked through a bizarre sight in the park in front of the a Royal residence. I have never seen so many brides in my life. All being attended by cameras, video cameras, make up artists. Some looking graceful in traditional Khmer dress but most looking far from that in pretty bad Western ones. I do feel the poor girl below was rather badly advised.... Perhaps "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" is on tv here... I think it's all about getting the pictures, I think the ceremony itself follows on weeks if not months later.






But Siem Reap itself, although it has brash places like Pub Street, it also has lovely little lanes with some great shops and restaurants.



Oh and of course some big temples... I made my first visit this time this morning and unlike last time, about seven years ago, there was some water in the reflecting pool and here's the pic to prove it!


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Location:Siem Reap, Cambodia

From one party town to another (28 February - 4 March 2015)

I think I knew it was time to move on when I got my invitation to the third returning guest party at the Florist.... I asked how often they had them and they said "as we collect many returning guests" - I think maybe that lost something in the translation. So frock on I join the Brits group, Trevor and Gill from last year who have been here a few weeks and Sue and Tim who've been here a few days. Free drinks on offer but as usual no why why so I spend an evening on the Sang Som and Coke, the local rum. All I can say is I felt lots better than I deserved to the next day, still up and out walking by 8 am! It was quite a lively evening as this time many returning guests had been "collected".






But time to move on. As I have had a nice restful time at the Florist Resort I have decided to move to party central for 10 days, Chewang. There are beaches all around the island, each with their own style, some quiet, some isolated, some local, some six star. Chewang is the mad one, lots of bars, restaurants and shops. I am at the Briza Beach which is about a 10 minute walk to the start of the Chewang "strip" so I can safely say I can avoid the party but it will be nice to have a change of scene and a bigger choice of places to eat. And more importantly I am within a twenty minute walk of Tropical Murphy's and today is Sunday.... Roast dinner here I come!



The hotel is an interesting one. Most rooms here are built in blocks of two, one upstairs and one downstairs. Each is like a stand alone villa with big bedroom, indoor and outdoor bathroom, huge open air living room with daybeds, a plunge pool and even a separate outside loo. But it's a bit weird having one villa on top of the other! I am on the top floor so even manage a bit of a sea view. The rooms would have been the very latest in chic boutique hotel fashion at one time but now are slightly on the tired side, lots of dark wood and sandstone square sinks. But I had, after all those weeks in the Florist, forgotten the joy of hot water in the hand basin... One website describes the Briza as "One of the earliest fine design boutique resorts in Koh Samui, built in 2006." Damned by faint praise?



But it is so nice, even though I had pool access at the Florist, to have my own pool. No nappy less babies in this one.....









But I am being a bit picky here, had it retained its former glory I may be paying a bit more... I've got acres of my own space with sunny bits and shady bits and it's really quiet.
But why oh why do hotels still not provide decent wifi. The one here is a nuisance, if you don't use it for a while it goes off and you have to faff around logging in again which is never straight forward and can take ages. You can only have two logins at any one time so have to juggle between laptop, phone and iPads and i Touch. And the signal is so low most of the time as to be useless. One of these days they might realise that the background niggle you get from this messing about leaves a nasty taste and puts you off booking here again. Especially as the smallest little bars and restaurants have much faster much simpler access. It will all be on Tripadvisor...
Anyway, rant over!
Chaweng is a bit of a plane spotters paradise though, and as the odd American might ask "why did they put such a nice beach so close to an airport?". In the mornings it's like a ghost town. Mae Nam even at 8am was bustling with all the little food stalls open for business. Here everything is shut after their late night partying. Can't imagine the planes taking off every so often can be that welcome! Over the main beach they look so low sometimes.



But I can see why this beach was the first to be developed, it's a long sweeping, sheltered bay with fine powder white sand and shallow seas. The turquoise water makes it look postcard pretty. There are local women in the water quite a way out, waist deep with fishing rods catching someone's dinner. It is pretty well developed although most resorts are hidden by the palm trees and unlike other parts of Thailand such as Pattya and Phuket they are not allowed to build any tall buildings so it hasn't suffered the same "let's build ugly condo's for the Russians" development.
It's been interesting going on my morning walk as there is less easy access here to the green back roads and hills as there was in Mae Nam, they're all a bit further away. So my walks tend to be past closed shops and restaurants until I go up the back streets where all the local Thai population live and work with local shops and markets - they at least are open early morning.
The shops are all still here, very good fake designer bags, trainers, DVD's, you name it but now with a Central Department store in a sparkly new, surprisingly well designed for the environment shopping mall, everyone now has access to the real designer stuff as well as the fake... But there is always the delight of the 100 Baht (£2) shop for new togs...


Not everyone here is as hangover free as me though in this party town, this little fellow looks either spaced out or just dead as I nearly tread on him at 8.15 am just a little way along from Tropical Murphy's in the Main Street...


And my plans for partying every night won't be fulfilled today (4 March) - it's one of those Buddha Days today when no alcohol is available, could be a quiet night...


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Location:Thanon Chaweng-Choengmon,Bo Phut,Thailand