Bangkok to Chang Mai

We arrived in Bangkok late on Sunday night after a really, long and dreadful bus ride. The road from Siem Reap to the border of Thailand is among the worst we've ever been on. 6 hours of dirt roads, no A/C and pot holes (if you can call holes the size of cars, potholes). We went straight to our friend Lisa's house in Bangkok and had a great sleep in her king sized bed!!

We've since spent 4 days exploring Northern Thailand, Ayutthya and Chiang Mai with our old buddy from Taiwan. They old, historic sights in Ayutthya were nice to see and the outdoor treks of Chiang Mai were refreshing! After a couple hill-tribe villages, an elephant ride and a ride on a bamboo raft we exhausted. We got our second wind at the Night Bazaar and after Lisa caught her flight home, Mark and I took part in a cooking course just before catching the night train. The course was better than we both expected and I am now a certified Thai cookery grad.

After Chang Mai we missioned South (24 hr mission) and are now in Phuket. The damage caused by the Tsunami is hardly noticable, it's amazing to see how this place seems to have bounced back. We have been soaking up the sun and exploring, enjoying the beginning of the last 2 weeks of our adventure.

Tomorrow we head to Koh Pee Pee, made famous by the movie 'The Beach'. We will spend a couple days there and then head to Koh Lanta, followed by Krabi and finally back to Lisa's house in Bangkok.

<-- Exploring the ruins at Ayutthya.
--> What's left of a Buddha, it's at ground level, buried in a tree, amongst the ruins.
<-- Our favorite Wat at Ayutthya.
--> Evidence of the ancient wars between Burma and Thailand. The Burmese managed to decapitate just about every Buddha in the city.
<-- The view from the top of the mountain on our hike in Chang Mai (that's Lisa). We visited a hill tribe there.
<-- Crossing danger-bay bridge to the elephant camp.
--> Elephant ride! These guys took us up and down steep hills, so steep we were holding on for dear life.
<-- A well earned snack. It was very cool to feed them, piggy elephans.
<-- At a the Karen hill tribe.
<-- We spent a good hour frolicking in these powerful falls. The rocks were like black ice, very good for rock sliding.

<-- A picture of a picture that Lisa bought of us on our Bamboo raft.

<-- The cooking class in Chang Mai was awesome, I sucessfully made 5 dishes and am excited to experiment with them and more when I get back.


Last night's sunsets on Patong Beach, Phuket.










<-- The nightlife in Phuket is unbelievable, this is the main party street, you'd swear you were in Florida or something... a little loud for some.

<-- A view of one of the many cove-beaches we explored today. The water was crystal-clear aqua-blue and the waves were perfect for body surfing.

Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodia

Cambodia was a new, different experience from what we had already seen in Taiwan, China and Vietnam. The poverty in Cambodia is much more prevalent and victims of war, homeless children and beggars are very common sights no matter where you are in the city. The city roads are paved but 1 minute outside of it, you find yourself on red dirt, pot-hole filled roads. A few minutes in a tuk-tuk on these roads and your skin is turned to an off red color.

Hanging out outside "Herbs Happy Pizza", in Phnom Penh -->

The tourist sites we went to were not the happiest of places by any means. We visited 'The Killing Fields' where the mass graves of over 9,000 Cambodians were found. These people were the victims of the Khemer Rouge mass genocide that happened in the late '70's. We also went to the prison where thousands of Cambodians were held, beaten and tortured, prior to being killed and taken to the 'Killing Fields'. The prison was actually a school, that the Khmer Rouge gutted and transformed into hundreds of awful holding cells. A tour of these places, leaves you feeling sick to your stomach. However, despite these sadnesses, the people of Cambodia are incredibly friendly and the city is filled with beautiful architecture and amazing Wats. (temples)

<-- The site of the "Killing Fields". Walking around this place, you simply see big holes everywhere that served as the mass graves. At the front entrance is a big structure holding the skulls of all those who were found buried.


The old school that was transformed into a Tuel Sleng Prison by the Khmer Rouge.-->


















ANGKOR WAT


The typical postcard shot of Angkor Wat



Following our days in Phnom Penh, we bussed it up to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat - the old capitol of the Khmer Empire, ruling over S.E. Asia. I'm sure many of you have heard of Angkor Wat, but for those who haven't, it is considered an architectural masterpiece. It is huge, full of intricate detail, and breathtakingly beautiful. Surprisingly, we learned that it was only used for religious purposes and that noone ever actually lived in it.


<^--We had a 5 a.m start to catch the sunrise on Angkor Wat.

<-- The intricate detail of 'The Terrace of the Leper King'. Detail like this is absolutely everywhere, all over every wall, brick and door way.

From far, The Bayon Temple looks like a pile of rubble.

Up close, you can see much more amazing details. The whole place is covered with these different faces...super cool.

<-- A steep climb up the so-called 'steps'. Imagine doing this everyday...?


This temple was amazing because these HUGE trees had grown over and on top of the existing walls. Seeing how big these trees are, and knowing they are younger than the temple itself, gives you a great idea of just how old these temples really are. -->


^^ All the trees, and their giant roots, have ruined many of the walls and structures. The rubble still lies around the grounds giving it a very natural, and real kind of feeling.-->

Mekong to Cambodia

We are now in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. We had a fabulous 3 days on the Mekong and look forward to visiting Ankor Wat in a few days! Here are the pictures!

<-- A view of Ho Chi Minh City from our dinner cruise... $10 for everything, not too bad!

Mekong Day 1:
<-- As we were getting on our bus we spotted our friend Ron from Taiwan on vacation! What are the chances?
<-- On the Mekong, and a perfect day for it.

<-- Houses on the flooded Mekong. During wet season the Mekong is flooded about 3 months every year! People use bikes or boats depending on the season!


Where's Waldo? (On a 'monkey-brigde' on the Mekong, used by people, not monkeys.) -->

<-- Me and a Python outside a candy-making, picture embroidery, honey-bee rasing, traditional folk music shop we visited.


<-- Eating Cobra in Can Tho.
<-- Baby Crocodiles! Too bad they are being raised to become purses.









Day 2:
<-- A boat in a vegetable market on the river. They advertise by tying what they sell on a stick.

<-- Hiking up Sam Mountain, the mountains in the distance are in Cambodia.

<-- We were invited for dinner at our guide's family's home. We ate snails and clams and drank beer and rice wine. It was all very tasty.

Day 3:
^-- You can see the whole area on the left is flooded, the rest of the year it is filled with rice paddies.

<-- Another picture of the flooded Mekong. That should be a full tree and power line next to a road.

At 9:30am we boarded the first of what would be a series of boats to get to Cambodia. We then transfered to a 1.5hr bus ride across a very bumpy road to arrive in Phnom Penh at 6pm. The architecture here is very different, our favorite so far.
<-- Pagodas around Phnom Penh.

Mui Ne & Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

"Fill'er up!"


The sand dunes and landscape around Mui Ne fishing village was very unique. We rented a motorcycle and explored the beaches and red sand dunes.

<-- Where's Mark??? Ya, it's not as fun in the desert.


<-- Isn't that how it always goes in the desert?

It was the closest thing we've ever seen to the desert, but very neat because plant life seemed to be able to grow out of it.
We moved from our first night to another beach side resort with a much cleaner beach. The fishermen littering in the Bay caused a lot of garbage to wash up on the inside of the Bay. Our second spot was much better, and closer to town. At night we spoiled ourselves with seafood and relaxed.

Next, we were off to Ho Chi Minh City. We spent the first day exploring and on the second we went to the CuChi Tunnels, 1.5 hrs North of the city. We have learned a lot about Vietnam's history in HCMC. The amount of dedication, the kind of tactics and the ingenuity of the VietCong (guerilla soldiers) during the Vietnam War was extraordinary. Although only one-third of the 15,000 VietCong soldiers survived they still managed to win the war.


<-- Reunification Palace, where the North Liberation Army crashed through the front gate, ending the Vietnam war and unifying the country.







<-- Helicopter landing pad on the top of the Reunification Palace. This is where the American soldiers evacuated from at the end of the war.



<-- Very old radio equipment used during the war.


One thing we hadn't realised was that the French had given the North of Vietnam to Russia after their own war with Vietnam, and it was the Russian's communism that the Americans feared (or so we have been told). The Americans worked together with the 'dictator' in Southern Vietnam to try and stop the reunification of the country for fear that if it occured, communism would spread through Asia and India, which would be 'A direct threat to American National Security'...? Though the Americans had bigger guns the VietCong won in great part due to the system of tunnels they built, over 250kms long, running under American bases and controlled territories. The tunnels had three levels and included kithens and living quarters. They were built 1.5m high by 90cm wide and rigged with traps. They also used systems of chambers and bamboo pipes to filter cooking smoke out and disguised air vent holes by using pepper and American soap to make it untraceable by dogs. Anyway, enough detail, as you can see we were very impressed, here are some pictures!


<-- This is the would-be hidden entrance to the tunnels. The VietCong were the only ones small enough to fit into them and able to find them.

<-- This is how the cooking smoke looked when it finally exited the tunnels. Hard for the enemy to see from above.

<-- Exiting the tunnel modified for tourists.

Finally, tomorrow morning, we are leaving for the Mekong Delta region to explore the Mekong river and it's small river systems that you would have seen in any and all Vietnam movies. The itinerary involves boat rides, coconut candy making, snakes, crocs, mountains, sunsets and walking through plush lands. The 3 day trip has us ending in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We'll post pics of our Mekong trip next time we're on.