Back in Thailand! Sawadee ka!
After the intensity of Phnom Penh, we headed to Sihanoukville and, from there, the tiny island of Koh Rong, for a few days of R&R after four weeks of non-stop traveling. We had a couple of days of beautiful weather, but the rainy season made for a rather wet beach vay-cay; Joe kept morale up by drinking copious amounts of alcohol on the wettest of days…
After 4 nights, it was time to hit the road again, and we caught a pretty grim night bus to Siem Reap – definitely the most cramped and uncomfortable night bus we’d caught thus far; only the boys slept! Upon arrival, at “stupid o’clock in the morning”, we found a tuk tuk, and struck a deal with the driver, Ra (Terry), effectively hiring him out for the two full days that we’d be spending there. After a sleepy day spent at the guesthouse watching Extras on DVD (so ace!) we arranged for Terry to take us into the town to the night markets, which sell traditional Khmer crafts and souvenirs. We really liked the old town, there are loads of funky bars and restaurants on ‘Pub Street’ that cater to backpackers wallets! This was also our last night with Sophia before she left for Phnom Penh the following evening, so we had a tasty Khmer tea and a few interesting cocktails as a send off. With Terry due to pick us up at 5 the next morning, so that we could see the sunrise over Angkor Wat temple, we were forced to turn in relatively early!
After a pretty shaky start (a cattle prod would have been useful), watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious site, was breathtaking. We were lucky to have a clear, beautifully sunny morning, and we spent the first cool hours wandering around, taking breaks to sit at different parts of the ruins as the light began to infiltrate the whole site.
Considering how many people had arrived for the sunrise, the following few hours were so quiet and peaceful, and there was a strong smell of lemongrass that was really refreshing. We had breakfast at Angkor Wat, and then visited two other temples, Bayon and Tha Trohm, the latter of which was used to film Tomb Raider (it’s the one covered in roots in the Gallery). After a good 8 hours of sightseeing, we all came down with a terrible case of templus fatigus, and headed back to the guesthouse to see Sophia off on her journey back to Oz – and then there were three! That evening, the guys gave me an extensive pool lesson (I now have at least a 2% success rate!) and we headed into town for a couple of Three Musketeers beverages and to do some last minute shopping – a quick heads up; some lovely authentic Thai ornaments are probably headed your way!
The next morning, after another vile 5am alarm, we began our 30+ hour journey to the North of Thailand, and our favourite place in the world, Pai! Luckily, we had an easy peasy border crossover, which made the following, hideously cramped, minivan to Bangkok a bit less pooey. Keen not to have to stay another night in “Bangers”, we hastily booked a sleeper bus up to Chiang Mai, which was not too bad and did actually involve sleep! The last leg of the journey involved an interesting ‘local bus’ through the mountains to Pai; by this point we were all so overtired – none of us can even really remember it!
So here we are in Pai! We’re staying until the 16th with Brad’s stepmum and his 11 month old baby brother, Phoom, who is insanely adorable and provides great entertainment! It’s great that we get the chance to hang around here, as both Brad and I have a lot of friends to catch up with, and Joe has many to make!
Next stop is Chiang Mai on the 16th for a couple of nights, before returning to Bangkok to catch our flight home! Time flies when you’re having such an incredible adventure – we hope you’ve enjoyed reading about them as much as we’ve enjoyed reliving them through writing them down. Thanks for all your messages, they keep us going!