Bangkok to Cambodia

02 June On my last day in Bangkok, I went to see the grand palace complete with with long shirt and trousers and closed shoes.... I was baking. It was lovely and all that but im Budda'd out of it. Headed down the town to the financial district where all the money is and went on the sky train, the huge MBK shopping centre (A huge place that sells everything) which i had trouble finding my way out, i guess its designed that way. I went to the cinema to waste a bit of time and all the blockbuster are in English with Thai subtitles... i found my self roaring laughing at stuff and nobody else were getting the jokes.... must have thought i was a bit mad. Walked around the parks and saw a few embassies but it was time to leave.
03 June Finally left Bangkok and got the bus to Pattaya, a town on the coast of the Bight of Bangkok, a popular tourist area for locals and foreigners. The bus cost me E2 about 50 cent per hour. Met up with Francis Murray ( a freind from Galway) and we travelled around in a rental car taking in the coast and living it up. We met lots of great people from Galway, Milan, Glasgow, USA, Israel, England and Drogheda.
09 June After 5 days R&R I took the train to the Thai/Cambodian border. I caught the Bangkok to Cambodia train half way along its route from some small little town that had no English staff or signs. Fortunately as i was sitting at the station contemplating my next move along came this Buddist Monk wrapped in an orange wrap around thing.. i smiled at him and he sat down beside me... low and behold he spoke good english and sorted me out with my 80 cent ticket. he was heading in the same direction and we sat and talked the whole way. he told me not to kill anything including mosquitos. Ive murdered about 20 since. Got to the border town of Arunya Prathet at about 6.30pm was was told by the local motorcycle taxi touts that the border was closed and Id have to stay for the night. Smelling a rat i said 'take me to the border for look' it was about 4 km away. along the way he stopped at an agency where they told me that they knew someone that could organise to get me through for E30. I declined their kind offer and proceeded to the border and sailed though with no bother. On the other side, the Cambodian border town of Poipet was a complete dump. Taxi tout were all over us like bees on a lollipop, i joined forces with 3 indians and negotiated our passage by shared taxi for $35 USD in total for a 160 km journey to Siam Reap. We were being harrassed into agreeing to paying $100, but told them to Foxtrot Oscar. Well we finally escaped the onslaught and we got going. the road to poipet was beyond dreadful. take the worst road you can imagine and divide by 10, then take away the tarmac. we did this in a car and should be limited to 4WD. The road was daft, full of cars, bikles, trucks, buses, homemade car thingys with people hanging off them. After all that i checked into the same hotel as my indian freinds.... exhausted.
June 10 Again with the help of my new freinds we hired a 4 seater Tuk Tuk for $15 USD for the whole day and proceeded to take in the sights, Siam Reap is the home to Angkok Wat, the biggest and most famous Temple in the worls. It took all day to see them all and it was amazing. My gut again was brimmed up with temples. That night I went into town for some dinner and a look around. I was approched by this tout a young lady wanting me to eat at her familys outdoor street restaurant. I looked at her menu and laughed at the price, $3.50 for a main course, and quick as a flash out came the 2nd menu with the same meal for $1. i said ok and was put sitting beside this young lad. He was a local, 19, and had paid the same. I was delighted with myself. we got chatting and it was great to chat to an english speaking local that was not looking for money, sadly something most tourists don't experience as they are ever so freindly when the situation allows.
June 11 Took the bus to Phnon Penh (the nations capital) today. Its an unusual city as it was designed by the french with beautiful wide tree lined boulevards and lots of period french buildings. However as Cambodia is so poor, it has fallen in a state of disrepair and dont look good. Rubbish piled up on the street and the stench in some parts have people going around with surgical masks on. The few footpaths are full of stalls, car parked on them etc, so one finds oneself having to walk on the road with bike and car driving all aroun you. Quite mad but exhilarating at the same time. I had to laugh today as a truck was reversing up the road and the warning tone for large vehicle is usually a beep beep sound, here it was an electronic version of 'Santa Claus is coming to town' I hired a motorbike taxi for the whole day yesterday to take me around all the sights for $10. The driver was very good, spoke good english and told me his name was 'Jake Bullshit'.... i wasnt too sure about the 'Jake' bit. With him I saw the Infamous Killing fields where 1000,s of cambodian were murdered and buried by Pol Pots regime, the prision museum where they were tortured, and the grand palace and national Museum. I am staying at the 'TAT gusthouse' but should be renamed 'tatty guesthouse' but the place is poor and the room is cheap so what the hell. The owners are very nice and is family run with all the sons and daughteres working in it. After 10pm, the mother and father go about their business in their Pyjamas and the fathers office is bang in the middle of the dining/ sitting area. Heading to a seaside town of Soukaville today for a look around the coast of Cambodia.