2018 and back in Thailand

14th January 2018
K Guesthouse, Krabi
A very pleasant 27c

2018!!!! Happy New Year! Thank goodness I don't have to write cheques any longer having to scrub out 2017 EVERY time, for at least 3 weeks!

We left Cambodia on 29th December, with none of the 'intimidation' issues we encountered on the way into the country.  I just wished we had remembered that NOT following the crowds is sometimes a good idea and instead of going with all the 'Jonny Foreigners' to get stamped into Thailand we had gone with the vehicles and saved ourselves at least an hour of queueing.  Next time.

After Battambang we hopped on a bus (2 separate buses actually, seeing as the bus company made a really big thing about only carrying one bicycle per bus) and saved ourselves 2 days' ride (AND some backtracking to get to Thailand) in order to get to Siem Reap for Christmas.  I took the early bus and felt like a right Gringa sitting in shorts and T shirt on a bus with the a/c blasting out freezing cold air.  All the other farangs had their hoodies and blankies to keep them warm, the women beside me was clearly not in a sharing mood.  Dave arrived 2 hours later with another English girl, also with her bicycle; so much for the only allowing one bicycle per bus!

Central Market, Battambang

I couldn't resist .....

'big boys' on small chairs

'little girls' on big chairs

We settled into the lovely Po Residence (a VERY nice hotel) and on Christmas Eve visited the temples.  Getting up at 0430 really is like getting up in the middle of the night, although the market just around the corner from the hotel had been in full swing for 2 hours by that time.  We cycled out to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise, along with eleventy billion other people with very sharp elbows.  We met a guy later in the day who said he had gone to the west gate where there were only 6 people, maybe we should have done a bit more research. Not having a tripod seriously impedes getting any really good shots of the temples with so little light, but, it's still a beautiful time of day even if you are sharing it with the world and his wife!

We both got a little bit carried away with the detail.  I loved the Apsaras and Dave loved the 'hall of mirrors' effect within the temples.  By 10am the sun was really hot, and we were both starting to feel tired, so by 1230, we had had enough.  We hadn't even been into Bayon (the one with the faces), just passed it by on the way back to the city.  Oh well, maybe next time we come to Cambodia (and we WILL be back) we will come back to Siem Reap and take a different approach.  A three day ticket, a tuk tuk driver, no 0430 starts and I may even go on my own!

Angkor Wat - not the greatest photo

Apsara

Apsara having been 'petted' and made shiny over the years

Buddha

Doorway detail

'Hall of mirrors'

Angkor silhouetted

Polishing off leftover coconut

Getting up at 0430 to see the temples means lots of packed breakfasts,

these children knew that plenty of hard-boiled eggs and pieces of fruit would be thrown away, but still perfectly edible

Pineapple seller

On Christmas day we treated ourselves to a very delicious thali, in one of the many Indian restaurants in Siem Reap.  We had also bought some wine (chilled to within an inch of its life) which we quaffed and basically spent the day doing very little.  We really liked Siem Reap and with plenty of time on our visa moved from Po Residence to a cheaper spot in town, and stayed a further 3 days, lolling around on Pub Street and the surrounding area drinking cocktails and eating nice food.  Life ain't so bad really.

In 1988 we flew to Bangkok and cycled through Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.  It didn't enter our consciousness to go to Cambodia because it was so off the radar, as was Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.  As far as we knew these countries were closed to tourists so we didn't even consider them.  We used to hear horror stories of cyclists crossing into China and being either escorted everywhere, or, simply being deported at the first opportunity.  One guy we met managed to get where he was going by telling the authorities, when asked, he was going in the opposite direction, that way they thought they were sending him back to where he had come from (he was then another district's problem) but actually he was going where he wanted to go!  He was also shot at (yes, with a gun) when he ignored a request to stop on a railway platform.  Remember, this is a time of no internet so we couldn't just 'Google' the latest FCO advice on travel in these countries, even if we had been allowed in. 

So after 30 years we finally made it to Cambodia.  We had avoided coming to Cambodia in 2009 because the rainy season was about to begin and we had heard horror stories of roads being washed away, dirt tracks or washboards for miles and miles, nah, we didn't fancy that at all.  Fast forward to 2017 and what we found couldn't have been more different.  Our route: Koh Kong - Sre Ambel - Kampot - Kep - Phnom Penh (via H3, not recommended) - Kampong Chnang (south of Tonle Sap) - Battambang - Siem Reap - Poipet.  The roads weren't that bad at all.  OK, so Thailand does the road thing better but we had stretches in Cambodia that were good, and most of the time they were perfectly adequate.  The road from Koh Kong through the Cardamom Forest was wonderfully scenic.  We didn't venture to Sihanoukville but that road is supposed to be quite spectacular too.  Highway 3 was a bit of a traffic nightmare, so wouldn't recommend it but much of the time it was extremely pleasant to be riding in Cambodia.  Drivers are very courteous, in the towns and villages everyone drives quite slowly because it's all a bit haphazard, the rules about entering traffic and who gives way to who is all a big vague, so if you go slow enough then everyone gets to where they are going, eventually.

The people are absolutely delightful, despite what they have been through historically and all in all we felt incredibly safe.  It's a very pretty, unpretentious country which we liked very much and it is one of the few countries we have decided we will come back to in future. People are industrious and business seems to be done at a micro level.  For example, one guy has a large truck and several very large plastic containers (probably 200 litres each).  He goes to the petrol station and purchases a lorry full of fuel.  That fuel is then decanted into smaller, jerry cans, and sold on, it is then decanted into used 1.5 litre bottles, which is then dispensed to motorists at the side of the road. There are plenty of petrol stations in Cambodia (almost as many as Albania) but this model of doing business seems to work and everyone makes a little bit of money in order to survive.  I saw the same thing with charcoal, rice, peanuts and just about anything edible you can think of. 

So, here we are back in Thailand.  We spent New Year in Bangkok, enjoying a bucket of Gin and Tonic at Khoa San Road, but before you get too excited about us having a whooping all nighter, we were back in our hotel and in bed by 2130!  However (at 7pm), there was a great atmosphere, everyone was having a fab time and I'm sure the evening went off with a bang at midnight.

NYE but a bad hair day for me!

Rambuttri Village

Return to Thailand highlights so far:

• An encounter with Mr Chew (sp) on the train from the border.  A larger than life individual who couldn't resist the opportunity to practice his English on us.  He learned two new words; beautiful and excellent, his pronunciation and spelling were impeccable.
• A troop of Dusky Tail Monkeys that came to visit us (to feed in the tree under which we were camped actually) on the beach.
• Indian Rollers, Kingfishers, Brahminy Kites (what magnificent birds) and many other birds, I can't identify, have graced our skies
• The baby otter I got to cuddle at a roadside stall (I don't condone cuddling wild animals but while I was trying to identify what it actually was - a stoat, a weasel? - I got a little closer and it was thrust
  into my arms) it was VERY cute.  I have no idea of the circumstances surrounding the otter (I tried to get information through Google Translate, but it was a bit hit and miss) and they appeared to be taking good care of it, however, I know that pups cannot survive without their mothers and to prevent imprinting humans need to be disguised, this clearly wasn't happening. 
• The Royal Coast Road and the slow, back roads route from Hua Hin, has been an absolute delight.  Lovely road surfaces, very little traffic, fantastic wildlife, gorgeous beaches and overflowing jungle made it a very pleasurable several days' cycling.
• We have stayed in a variety of accommodations with price tags to match.  The cheapest was 200 baht and a 'lurv motel' (we think) with pink walls, electric blue curtains to match and mirrors down one wall.  It was, however, spotlessly clean.  On the very scenic route between Surat Thani and Krabi we stayed at the lovely Green View Resort, where we had a delightful, detached bungalow, in what can only be described as a Ramsey Street-type cul-de-sac, for 500 baht.  The onsite restaurant was excellent and had room for more than 100 diners, but sadly both times we ate there, it was only us.
• Lovely spikiness in the form of Pineapples (5p each or 12 for a £1), Jack Fruit and Durian.  We didn't see any Durian being sold at the side of the road, it's such a prized, and therefore expensive, fruit most of it is exported.

Dusky Leaf Monkey

We've had a few days' rest in Krabi, having cycled almost 800 kms since Hua Hin, but ''there's no rest for the wicked' as my old dad used to say.  You can run (or in our case, cycle) but you can't hide from the taxman.  So the last two days has seen us sharing the laptop in order to complete said task and you'll be pleased to hear we don't owe the government any money, hurrah!

Is it a bee or a wasp?

Wat in Krabi

Krabi graffiti

Onto the next leg, the plans for which have changed slightly (they are always changing but I just don't mention them usually).  We have ditched the idea of going to Phuket and have decided to go to Koh Lanta instead, which is on the way but a slight, well, quite big actually, diversion off to the west.  We are heading south to Malaysia, we may go to Langkawi (I'm updating this entry on our 3rd day in Koh Lanta and think we may have had our island fix for now) or head straight into Malaysia the scenic route, and down to one of our favourite places, Penang.

Some numbers for you:

8668 kms so far (not including the times I've forgotten to put my computer on)

122 kms the most cycled in one day (this trip)

16 kms the least cycled in one day, ever

28 kph, the fastest speed achieved on a flat road (by Lynne) maintained for 15 kms, with a tailwind :)

6 months 2 weeks on the road

7 punctures (I have somehow managed to completely trash a tyre which may not be recoverable)

4 wipeouts (me x 2, Dave x 2, although I'm the only one who has bled profusely)

3 haircuts (me Croatia and Cambodia, Dave Cambodia)

3 massages (Lynne)

1 Food poisoning (Lynne, pesky pizza in Albania, still can't stomach the thought of eating one)

Several items lost (Dave)

0 days unwashed (a record)

Tomorrow we set off bright and early towards Koh Lanta.  We've experienced rain lately, and there's some forecast here until Tuesday, but it's warm rain so it doesn't count.  Also, here we call headwinds 'breezes' as they cool us down and we don't mind them.

Peace and grease, as our Aussie mates Therese and Nick would say!

Laters

17th January 2018 Koh Lanta update - tomorrow we backtrack to the mainland and head south towards Trang, there's a couple of National Parks en route to Malaysia, we may swing by on the way. Hasta luego!