Journey to Cambodia Day 5 Wednesday

Wednesday was a day of travel. We woke up at 4am to check out of the hotel by 5am and catch the 6am train from Bangkok towards the Cambodian border. Although it was still dark when we left the hotel via taxi, without a hint of light, the market around the hotel was already alive and more bustling that I'd ever seen it in the daytime! After 5 minutes we were at the train station, a dark, sketchy looking place. We quickly walked inside the main terminal, wanting to avoid the bums and dangerous looking people lingering around the dirty exterior. The tickets for the train cost only a few dollars, even though the ride would last for 5 hours. That's because our seats were third class. For the train and route we wanted, third was the only class.

The train was about eight rickety cars long. There was no air conditioning and the windows were wide open. There were simple wooden seats that faced each other. But it was clean and there was a bathroom. Everyone else on the train was Thai, obviously farmers who travel back and forth to the city to sell their fresh produce. Jason and I settled in around 5:40 and waited. We were hoping to run into our friend Brian, who was also traveling to Cambodia by train from Bangkok. We had tried to coordinate with him but with no internet access the last we heard was that he'd try to make the 6am train, but I don't think he got my reply saying we would definitely be on it. We waited anxiously for Brian, looking out the window to see if he was coming. We thought it was a 50/50 chance we'd see him or not. But then no more than 5 minutes before the train departed Brian appeared in the car door! We were so happy to see him, and he us! Traveling with just the two of us was of course fun, but having a friend to travel with made the long day seem so much better, safer and comfortable! Brian also lives in Wonju with us and we met him at our orientation in August where Jason and he were roommates. He's a really nice guy and easy to get along with.

So the three of us settled in for our long ride. Jason and I had our hefty bag of snacks from the market and the breeze through the windows made it really enjoyable. Five hours flew by as we watched the beautiful green countryside creep by. We stopped at numerous small stations along with way, lined with palm trees and brilliant flowers. We were dreading the time we were to arrive in Poipet, the town on the Thai border to Cambodia. We'd read plenty of accounts on the internet of people being swindled into paying too much for their VISA to Cambodia and whatnot. Although Thailand did not require an entry VISA, Cambodia did. It only cost $20 and was good for about a month.

Our tranquil train ride ended and our nerves skyrocketed. To get to the border we had to take a tuk tuk. They were swarming, waiting for us when we arrived. There were over 30 drives just hoping to get a customer. We took the first guy who approached us because the price was good. We whizzed down the street, hoping we were going in the right direction. Suddenly we veered off on a side road, pulled up to a nice looking building were a friendly man in a clean white suit walked up with some paperwork. He asked us if we needed VISA's. We'd heard about this scam, where the travel agency's will charge you double for the VISA and pocket the change. You get a real VISA, at double the price. Luckily Jason and I had bought e-VISA's online so we just said "oh no, we already have e-VISA's." That immediately cut the deal and away we went. This time we arrived at the border.

Well, we assumed we were at the border. All the border consisted of was a road with a gate over it, surrounded by some shops and fencing, with motorbikes parked all over. It was the most unimpressive thing. We thought a border would be a bigger deal. We also weren't sure where the actual entrance was. Again we'd read about scams where there are fake border entrances, or people try to get you to walk the wrong way, etc. We spotted some other foreigners with backpacks up the road and decided we simply walked in. So we did.

To get into Cambodia we first had to be stamped out of Thailand. Although we were part of the way through the border, we still had no idea where to go. The crossing was nothing more than derelict buildings with difficult to find sings. Numerous buildings were deserted, such as "customs" or "health check." We walked around trying to find a building that was actually in use and finally discovered a small, two door entrance to the Thai immigration center. Inside were five officials stamping people out at five desks. This part was easy enough and we knew once we were stamped out we could be stamped into Cambodia and Brian could buy his VISA. After exiting the Thai side, you are dumped into no man's land.

No man's land was depressing. Depressing doesn't even begin to capture the feeling of the area, but its as close as I can come. Following the other foreigners in front of us because there were no signs telling you were to go, we walked the few hundred feet to the Cambodia VISA stamp. The paved road was dry, dusty, ill used. There were a few signs for Casino Hotels, but who would ever want to stay in this horrible place? There were groups of men loitering. There were naked children pressing themselves onto your legs and hands begging for money. There were mothers with babies sitting on the ground. The three of us were on high alert, our nerves boiling over with tension. It was an awful place. The worst place I have ever been in terms of what I felt and saw. I was just shocked this was a border!

We did see a sign for VISA purchasing but didn't think it was the right place because a random Thai "guide" had pointed it out but by that point we were ignoring all the "help" people were trying to give us. So we got in line thinking Brian could buy the VISA at the same time we were stamped into Cambodia. After a long wait we discovered... wrong! So while Jason and I made it through to the other side, Brian had to go back by himself and wait for the VISA. The building we had seen earlier was the right one. Go figure.

Jason and I waited for about an hour, clutching our bags to ourselves, nervously watching everyone around us. We were convinced everyone was out to swindle and cheat us. We were tense and eager to leave this horrible place. Our waiting area consisted of a few chairs in front of a bus stop. There were Cambodian "tourist police" stationed about, but they rarely did much to keep the "touts" (Thai "tour guides") away from the foreigners crossing the border. They would follow people, trying to get them to follow them to a taxi, a tuk tuk, a motorbike. There was a free government bus that would pick people up from the bus stop and take them to the main bus terminal, so there was no need to go with these people. One couple did almost go on a motorbike somewhere but the tourist police stopped them and ushered them onto the free bus instead. Still I also saw the police with passports, filling out paperwork, which was strange because we were outside the border. The tout's would bring them to them, so who know's what was going on. Maybe a money scam? The Cambodian side of things was already drastically poorer and run down the Thai side. Looking back I think Jason and I probably didn't need to be quite so tense, but we'd read horror stories on line and had never been anywhere like this.

Finally Brian emerged, to our relief, unscathed, and we quickly got on the bus. A tout got on with us, we did not want him too. He looked nice and perhaps he was really trying to help us, we don't know. I began to doubt my ill feelings towards him until Brian and Jason said, no I think he was a crook. The bus terminal was nothing more than a building with two ticket booths and no walls. But you couldn't buy bus tickets, only taxi tickets. The only way to get to Siem Reap in Cambodia from the border at Poipet was by bus or taxi. Taxi was faster by far but cost more. There is only one road to Siem Reap from the border. One two lane road. And it was recently paved. Amazing isn't it, to think of?

We wanted a taxi for the three of us, and we wanted to pay no more than $35, and pay when we arrived. But the taxi drivers were all in some kind of ring together and were charging $12 a person for a full taxi of 4 people, paid before you leave. We felt extremely uncomfortable with this, even though they were issuing tickets. Since there were only three of us they said "oh, you can go with the Japanese guy, he is just one!" So we met the Japanese guy, who was a nice solo traveler like us. He looked confused as well even though he had bought a taxi ticket. Quickly he pulled out his translator, typed something in, said to us "I think it is..." and showed us the translator where it said FRAUD. We nodded our head in agreement. He quickly refunded his ticket, which they allowed, and walked away. It was impossible to get the people to leave you alone so you just had to walk away. We told them what we wanted but they said it wasn't possible. I spotted a couple around our age wandering around and asked them what they thought. They were Canadian and also unsure but said they would probably just buy the ticket for the taxi because, what else could you do?

Finally the taxi guys came back to us and said, okay, we found you a taxi for $40 flat rate for three of you and you pay on arrival. That was fine with us. Our taxi was off to the side on the other side of the building so of course we all freaked out a little and thought we were gonna be mugged or something. Our things went in the trunk and Brian wisely said "watch the bags!" We were so on nerve! But our taxi driver arrived and seemed nice and off we went.

The countryside of Cambodia was different than Thailand. It was more bare, with wispy grass and only clumps of trees. (We later learned it had been slashed and burned.) It was dry. Every 10 minutes our so we would come to another clump of houses lining the single road. The houses were no more than shacks built of wood, sometimes on stilts. There was trash everywhere around them. Every home seemed to have a shop in front of it too, selling coconuts, some food and drink, and liter bottles filled with some kind of yellow liquid. There were very few homes and shops. It was very sad to see. And very shocking. And very unnerving. At one point our driver pulled off the road and stopped the car. We all freaked out again! We thought we were going to be mugged or kidnapped! Jason and Brian quickly jumped out of the car as the driver opened the trunk where our bags were. Jason even accidentally hit the driver in the leg with his door. A little boy was standing around outside near the car. But the driver simply needed gas and the tank was accessed through the trunk. We felt ashamed of our illogical fears. Kidnapped? Mugged? What would be the point?

Jason did notice something funny about the gas pump though. It wasn't actually gas at all. It was propane. Somehow our car, which looked like a normal Honda or whatnot from the outside, had been modified to run on propane. We learned that gas is super expensive in Cambodia, so this was much cheaper. When we rolled onwards we could smell propane through the air conditioning for a few miles. Apparently also throughout this time, while Brian and I dozed, Jason was on constant alert. And he was also cursing me thinking "why did she drag me to this awful place?!"

But after only an hour 1/2 we arrived in Siem Reap unharmed. And we passed the bus on the way, seeing the Japanese guy snoozing through an open window, guess he made it too.

In Siem Reap our taxi driver dropped us with a tuk tuk driver who would take us to our two different guesthouses. We didn't have to pay them because our driver did. He actually was very nice and said everyday he drove to and from the border to make some money. Cambodia is a very poor country. He gave us his phone number in case we needed a taxi again.

The tuk tuk driver was also nice. He asked us the routine "where are you from?" questions and when we arrived at our destination, Rosy' Guesthouse, he asked what time we wanted to be picked up in the morning to go to the temples. We declined and he was okay with that and drove away. We were still totally on edge and had expected an angry fight with our driver but there was none. Already Cambodia was different than Bangkok, and we were not used to it, in the beginning we questioned everyone's motives. A little caution was and is a good thing, but were going overboard.

Rosy's Guesthouse was a welcome sight! It was now 4pm in the afternoon! Brian was at a different hostel so he planned to walk to ours at 6pm. Rosy's was on the small river running through the town so it was easy to find. On first impression Rosy's was awesome. (It continued to be awesome throughout our stay.) The downstairs was a large patio area with a small bar, a pool table and lots of chairs for dining. The girls at the front desk were extremely nice, in a sincere, warm, welcoming way, and took us to our room without even going through the formal check in process. She showed us around the room, pointed out the bottled water and told us to clean up and come down to check in when we were ready. Our room was simple and comfortable. The view out our window was beautiful, lush green trees, until you noticed the trash from the neighboring house. Around six we walked downstairs after having showered and chilled on our nice big bed. Soon Brian showed up. Finally we were relaxed and excited to be in Cambodia! Our first impressions of the city and our guesthouse were excellent. Things were starting to slow down.

We decided to eat at Rosy's that night and ended up having some excellent food, both Cambodian and Western, coupled with milkshakes and Angkor beer for only $1! Everything was so cheap and delicious! We were thrilled to keep eating something other than Korean food and the simple, fresh and tasty food at Rosy's hit the spot. We spent the night talking and laughing. We called it a night relatively early, around 10 or 11pm, and planned to meet Brian at 8am the next morning to head to the Angkor Wat temple complex about 10 minutes out of town.

Things were about to get good, very good!


To read more about Cambodia's history check out these pages (page 1, page 2) paying special attention to the French influence and horrible time during the 1970's of The Khmer Republic. A truly devestating past they have not recovered from.  

For some information an Angkor Wat check here. 

Bangkok Day 4 Tuesday

On our final day in Bangkok we decided to taxi directly over to our greatest destination, the Grand Palace. Since we didn't manage to make it inside the day before, we had to go back. As soon as I stepped out of the taxi door in front of the Palace, a man in a white shirt with a badge around his neck yelled "miss miss, you cannot go in wearing shorts, come with me, this way!" I suspected this man wasn't official, although he looked very much so, because he spotted me the second I opened the taxi door and followed me with his eyes until I set a foot on the ground. I had already changed from sandals to tennis shoes for the palace, as our hotel's doorman told me I needed to. I wasn't aware that my shorts (and Jason's) were also a problem. Immediately frustrated by this man I tried to walk in the Palace gate anyway, when another man dressed the same way spotted me and said the same thing. I angrily grabbed Jason and stomped away down the road, just trying to get them out of my hair. I didn't believe them but they did scare me a bit away. I don't know what kind of scam they were pulling because they vaguely pointed away and told us we could get "cheap pants for free" but didn't follow through on anything. Instead we walked over to the harbor and looked across the large river to the Temple of the Rising Sun, an impressive looking place with five looming towers.

Temple of the Rising Sun to the right, me to the left

Although we wanted to check it out, we didn't want to spend the time to figure out how to cross the river and potentially miss one more afternoon of lounging by the pool. We decided it was time to enter the Palace for real. This time we boldly walked by the shouting men in white (you feel so rude not acknowledging them but you have to!) and entered the gate. Inside a women who was actually official directed us to a line of waiting foreigners who needed to rent long pants or skirts to cover their legs. This was out of respect for the Palace and the Buddhist temple located inside. There we saw the below sign that I couldn't pass up:

"Don't Trust Strangers, who offer tuk tuk's, lucky buddhas and boat trips" -- at least we didn't take any boat trips! 

A good warning, one we needed earlier! Anyhow, dressed in our lovely new clothes we finally were able to buy tickets and enter the glorious palace. (The rentals were free.) And boy was it glorious! The complex was HUGE and everywhere we looked there were glittering stone tiles, statues, gilded wall murals, it was magnificent. And it was definitely worth the hassle to get in. Earlier I had been trying to convince Jason to go to the aquarium in Siam Center instead, because we wouldn't have to deal with the scams there. He was a little close to agreeing as the aquarium was his idea originally since he whines he has never been to one. 

Pictures can do more justice to the palace than can my words, although neither can really capture the size and brilliance. 

Large Golden Temple 

Detailed carved warrior

Gold inlaid into the mosaic wall

These murals covered the interior walls of the entire complex 

Jason's new pants, he felt they were comfy, especially that elastic band

Such beautiful detail!

Our wonderful new outfits, mine was a wrap skirt

Me

Huge and beautiful gold wall designs

Inside was the Emerald Buddha

Jason and me

Jason

Mmm hungry! 

The rest of our afternoon was once again spent at the pool. Sadly it was our last day there already. That night we headed once again towards Siam Center, only this time we took the river taxi instead of a car. That was lots of fun once again! This time the stop we got off was full of hustle and bustle. It actually dropped us a little farther than Siam Center which caused us to walk a few blocks through the bustling shopping area. I bought a dress for $7 and sunglass for .50 cents. Score! Again we ate a delicious dinner and then headed towards the large shopping area to look around, something we actually hadn't done too much of. I ended up getting a really nice dress for only $20! Shopping was really cheap in Thailand, just like they say! I wish I could have done more, or could go back. The dress I bought was a Thai brand but was right next to Guess and Dior and whatnot. 

Beautiful dresses!

Some of the glamorous fashion of Bangkok. I did NOT buy a dress like this. 

At the end of the night we planned to go the amazing International Market and do so me shopping, a little to take back to Korea and a little bit of snack for our upcoming travel day. Man that market was great, Jason bought some spices and coffee mate (haha) to take back and we got a whole slew of great treats: organic apples (from CA!), dried mango, Ritz Crackers, Pringles, Kinder chocolate bars, nuts... we were well stocked! We took a taxi back to the hotel and snuggled into bed. We had to be up at 4am the next morning to catch our 6am train ride from Bangkok to the Cambodian border. 

Bangkok Day 3 Monday

Day two in Bangkok dawned a little cloudy, or was it smoggy... either way we were excited to hit the town once again! This time we were determined to not take a tuk tuk anywhere, having realized it was cheaper to use a regular old taxi. (Not only cheaper, but air conditioning and no wind in your hair was an ever better bonus!) As mentioned our hotel was also right next to one of the many canals in Bangkok. These canals are used as transportation methods and have a network of "river taxis" cruising down them. The taxis are long thin boats with simple bench seats. They are super cheap, costing only 9 baht for most rides (pennies) and go long distances. Their design is also really simple, they VERY quickly pull up to the dock, if you want on or off you simply climb in or not, and you have to be fast, or you won't make it where you want to go, they do not wait! There is a driver in the back and two workers who take the ticket money. These workers climb on and hold onto the sides of the boats! They aren't strapped in or anything! But they do wear safety helmets. There was a taxi stop right outside our hotel so we quickly emerged, dodged the tuk tuk drivers and after watching some people get on and off so we could get the hang of it, and climbed on!

Water taxi landing

On the water taxi, the blue tarp can be pulled up to keep water from splashing on you. The roof can also squish down when it has to go under a bridge. Climb on in! 

Our destination was the beautiful Golden Mount. The Golden Mount is a Buddhist temple and monastery. Just off the canal we found ourselves walking into what seemed like a jungle land, containing a hidden temple inside! With no other cultural marker to compare it to, I kept exclaiming that I felt like I was at Disneyland! It seemed like I was entering the Indiana Jones ride, or the Swiss Family Robinson house. Hidden behind the hanging vines and lush green trees were stairs. Up the stairway was adorned with statues of elephants, streams and ponds. As it was a temple it was just as manicured as Disneyland. Out on the first landing were a number of large bells you could ring (plus a cafe where I got an awesome coconut popsicle, hey it was hot!)  As we kept walking we met more stairs and went up, up, up. Finally we reached the top where the main temple icons are kept. Inside there was a beautiful gold leaf statue that a number of people were praying to and leaving flowers for. Up further still we went, to reach the peak of the Golden Mount itself. The name "golden mount" is very appropriate because the very top of the temple is adorned with a giant golden cap, or peak, or I guess, mount. Again many people were praying and leaving written prayers on the mount. The view from the top was also amazing, we again could see all of Bangkok. The place was truly impressive and because it was a little off the beaten path there were very few tourists, which also made it enjoyable. The detail on traditional Thai buildings and Buddhist temples we had so far seen were impressive, so much gold inlaid with bright blues and deep reds.

Jungle! In the middle of city.

Ok maybe a little touristy after all...

Bells are for ringing!

Gold leaf, blowing in the wind

The top! 

It's huge!

Welcome to Bangkok! 

We had reached the end of the canal so our only option to get the our next destination, the Grand Palace, was to walk or take a taxi/tuk tuk. We decided to be bold and walk. We wanted to see more of Bangkok by foot and take our time. We were already sweating up a storm so why not?! As we walked the streets we saw lots of interesting looking shops. The main blvd we were on was interesting too because there were huge signs and posters with images of the king and his family everywhere. Some posters were old, showing the king as a boy, while some more recent showing him as an old man, and everything else inbetween. I guess the king is a big part of life there? Or at least that's how the government wants it to be. Everywhere we went shops and streets had little adornments of the king.

Can you see the Golden Mount in the background?

On our walk, Democracy monument in the middle of a round-about

The ever present King

To continue the story we have a lovely guest post by Jason:

Hello all, Jason here filling in for Madeline because she said that this part of the trip was a little to traumatizing for her to write, but I feel that it was a very important lesson. Let me set the scene; Bangkok  approximately 11am. The sun was shinning heating up the city. Madeline and I felt that we were really getting to understand the city, busy with lots of people around, some that are friendly and some that will try and steer you in the wrong direction. We were confident that we would not be lead astray after the previous day driving around seeing small temples in the Tut Tut. Madeline and I were walking and found the royal palace however we did not know where the entrance was, but we knew that we were close walking around the outside which we now know was the back of the palace. 

As we were walking I thought to cross the street however it was extremely difficult as there were no protected crosswalks, so Madeline and I trudged forward. The street we were walking on was very busy with cars whizzing by and horns constantly honking. At one point a large truck went by and honked at another car causing about 50 pigeons to fly into the air. Again it was a great morning the sun was shinning and the birds were in the air, however those birds would be our downfall. We continued walking and had to walk through all of the pigeons that we had just seen fly into the air, but as we walked through the birds Madeline and I were each accosted by about 6 Thais. Madeline and I tried to keep walking but we were not able with so many people around us. They were shouting at us "take, take". In their hands were small bags of corn kernels, one bag would fill up the palm of your hand. Both of us kept saying no, but they would not leave us alone. At one point I had a bag of corn on my shoulder bag which I grabbed and tried to give back but they refused to take it back shouting, "throw for good luck". I said no over and over, and then one of the street urchins took my hand and put my palm up which I naturally made into a little cup, and poured a bag into my hand.  They kept shouting "throw throw!", so in order to get them to go away I did, as did Madeline. More and more bags were dumped into our hands and thrown. Finally they relented and I was able to take a few steps, but then they started shouting "you pay! You pay!". I reached into my pocket for some change and was yelled that it was 150 Baht, 5 dollars. I was shocked but thought I better not make a scene and just give them the 5 bucks, but I didn't have any small bills only 1000 Baht. One of the thugs grabbed the 1000 saying, "I have change" giving me back 400 Baht. I quickly shouted, "More change!" and was told, "150 a bag you throw 4 bags" where upon 4 empty bags were held in front of my face. I looked up and saw Madeline looking at me saying "Let's go now", so we left. After the incident we were both very upset, each of us out 20 dollars. However looking back we realize that it was only 20 dollars a piece and things could have been worse, but our pride was struck and struck hard. In the words of Madeline "WE WERE SWINDLED!!!" 

Thank you, Jason.

With our spirits understandably low we finally crossed the street to enter the Palace. A tuk tuk driver approached us, wearing a suit and holding an umbrella, he said "oh the temple is closed for lunch, I work inside, I know, I take you to lucky Buddha instead!" We just said no and walked away. Angry at him. And guess what, two minutes later we were inside the temple, it was definitely not closed. Somehow we had entered the exit and "snuck in" for free. We weren't in the palace but instead in the temple of the reclining Buddha called Wat Pho. The architecture was beautiful, detailed and awesome. The structures were huge and impressive. It was hard not to smile and have a good time here, even after the swindle. Inside the temple was, in fact, a reclining Buddha, I read he had just reached the state of nirvana. On the soles of his feet were a beautiful in laid mother of pearl designs and stories.

Beautiful gold

Beautiful mosaic, there were tons of these, at least 10.

My new pose

Reclining Buddha, his head

He's reclined, very hard to photograph. Notice his feet.

After exiting the temple we took a taxi back to the hotel so we could get in some r&r at the pool, finally! There we relaxed in the warm sun, swimming around and sipping Thai beer, for a few hours. It was lovely. You just feel chic when you're on the 11th floor! After that we headed to Siam Center once again to get dinner. We had quickly become obsessed with this awesome shopping and dining center. We decided on tacos and had a delicious and huge Mexican meal. I was so happy I almost cried. (Just kidding.) 

Siam Center

"I'm so happy"

The plan for after dinner was to ride the Sky Train to the area of Bangkok known as Soi Cowboy. The Sky Train was crowded and impossible to look out of, but it only took us a few stops to get to the Soi Cowboy area. Basically we were entering one of the many den's of sin peppering Bangkok. This area is supposed to be a little tamer than others and many tourists walk through just to see it. Hidden in a back alley behind impressive looking office buildings is a sea of neon lights, girls and debauchery. With signs advertising "girls, girls, girls" everywhere the street was home to around 20 different bars/clubs. Outside of each club stood about 20 girls, in tiny skirts, skin tight, low cut shirts, lingerie, boots, fishnets, heels. They were beautiful with long shining hair. Taking it all in was hard to do, you don't know where to look or how to feel. On the one hand its a fun tourist attraction, until you really start to think about the girls and the people who frequent the street. We stopped for a beer at one place, sitting on the outdoor patio. We people watched. There were lots of old, white men. They would walk by with a young, beautiful Thai girl on their arm. Or they sat with them drinking and smoking. The girls would pull at guys as they walked by, trying to get them to come inside. The whole area is a den of prostitution, behind the flimsy curtains and neon lights. Bangkok is know for its not-so underground sex trade and the longer we sat in Soi Cowboy, the more creeped out we became. And not because the girls were rude or we felt unsafe, you just start to feel bad. We couldn't leave without peeking inside our chosen establishment, where bumping music was blasting from. Inside there were girls dancing on polls with mirrors surrounding them, but the place was actually rather small. We saw some more old men, enjoying their new "company" on some leather couches. It was time to go. Definitely a unique experience but one hard to really make sense of. And with that we hailed a taxi and headed home. 

Soi Cowboy, does he look scared?

Soi Cowboy 

Travel to Bangkok Days 1-2 Saturday and Sunday

On February 12 Jason and I jetted away from Korea to the exotic lands of Thailand and Cambodia. As part of our contract as English teachers in Korea we are given three weeks of vacation every winter. We used one week up on my family visiting, but managed to squeeze out another week during the Lunar New Year when we went to Busan, and thus had two solid weeks left. Due to the ambigious wording in our contracts our schools counted weekends as vacation days, which I find super strange as we don't ever work on weekends, but whatever, we still had two solid weeks to soak up the sunshine and warm weather in South East Asia.

Our flight on Saturday morning was so early that we wouldn't have been able to make it in time if we left Wonju the same day, I mean it does take us three hours by bus just to get to the airport. So Friday night we made our way to Incheon and stayed in a cheap hotel that provided a free shuttle to the airport. (Seems like so long ago already!) Saturday morning we borded our flight no problem. Our China Airways flight had a short layover in Beijing where we ate Pizza Hut. Already we were beginning to remark on the differences between Chinese people and Koreans. But our analysis was cut short as we quickly borded our next flight to Bangkok. Mind you both of these flights unloaded and relouded the planes on the tarmack. Meaning we had to get on a bus, on the tarmack, and be driven to the terminal. No wonder we got such a great price on tickets! The flight itself was fine though, still better than United! We didn't check our bags either so there was no worry of lost luggage. We managed to fit everything we needed for two weeks of travel in my large backpacking bag and one small backpack. Go us! I actually could have brought even less because even though I thought I just might, I definitely didn't need my sweaters!

2 Hours in Beijing

Upon disemarking in Bangkok we immediatly felt the heat, the beautiful, humid, heat. We were sweating! And for the first time in months, because it was actually warm, not because we'd just walked a mile in the snow with four layers on and were now overheating. It was glorious. We had to wait awhile to get through immigration and by then it was already 8pm Saturday night. There is luckily on a two hour time change between Seoul and Bangkok so we weren't that tired. We did quickly find a place to eat though. And just like we appreciated the heat, we appreciated the food. Pad thai, a sandwhich and tea never tasted so good! Especially because basically all we've eaten for the past six months is Korean food. Don't get me wrong, there are many excellent Korean dishes, but there is zero variety of flavor or ethnic cuisine. So far Thailand was already awesome.

We had to take a taxi to our hotel and luckily our driver didn't rip us off or drop us off in a bizzare location or anything. I had heard so many warnings about Bangkok and taxis and whatnot that I was already a little paranoid. We stayed at the Prince Palace, a huge hotel on the bank of one of the small canals running through Bangkok. It was a nice place but full of huge tourists groups there for conventions and weddings and the like. It was also filled with lots of Russians and other Eastern Europeans which we were not expecting. We didn't hear English spoken at all the first night, unless it was by a Thai person taking someone's order. English is definitly the universally spoken language, lucky for us. The hotel had a great outdoor pool area located on the 11th floor with a bar and large swimming pool. We enjoyed looking out at the beautiful view of the Bangkok skyline that first night while sipping cocktails.

11th floor pool and bar at night.

Jason with some mood lighting and the Bangkok skyline.

Bangkok, Thailand

Despite my best intentions, we'd arrived in Bangkok without much of a plan. Thus dawned Sunday morning and all we had to go off was a little map we'd grabbed at the airport. After later collecting many more maps, we realized that this map wasn't that helpful. We could locate ourselves on it and saw that we were relatively close to a numer of temples. We decided we would walk out the hotel door and see were our feet took us. Perhaps that was our first mistake...?

The area directly around our hotel turned out to be a sprawling outdoor market. We walked through a few stalls and eventially came out on a bridge crossing the canal our hotel was next to. We were taking in the sights, the busy street with tuk tuk's zooming by, people selling clothes for extremely cheap prices ($1 for tshirts anyone?), vendors, motor boats on the canal, the few large building we could see in the distance. We had walked cities before and walking had always been a good way for us to orient ourselves.

Canal in Bangkok, our tall hotel on the right.

Tuk tuk

 First the man wanted to take us to the tourist shop so we could buy discount tickets on buses, etc. I was immediatly put off and not having it. The lady we talked to was picking her teeth and barely looked at us, scowling the entire time. We told her we wanted to take a train to Cambodia. She said there were no presale tickets for that. I was done. She tried to get us to go to other places in Thailand but I was not interested. Next our driver actually took us to to a giant golden statue of Buddha, hunderds of feet tall, that was pretty cool. Then we drove to see another temple, a "black buddha" statue. There we were ushered inside and told by the nice man working there that they were closing for lunch, but he quickly showed us the buddha, supposedly colored black because of a monk who's body magically didn't decompose after his death. This was also supposedly the temple where the king had previously been a monk. The nice worker told us to check out a tailors shop during lunch as everything would be closing. Suspiciously two other men, obviously tourits, walked upstairs to the main part of the temple was we were leaving. I wondered, and still do, if we could have also done so.

We were under the impression that we were going to a clothing "expo" special that day. We imaginied a large room filled wich cheap clothes were we could brouse at our leisure. Jason actually asked for us to be taken there. We stopped soon on a random street, looking much like the street the tourist shop was on. We we ushured inside a one room studio where they can CUSTOM design your clothes. This was not what we wanted or expected. With Jason as the focus we were seated in a back room were Jason was offered custom made suits, shirts, pants in all kinds of supposudly nice materials from silk to tweed. I feel he was a bit tempted by a custom suit at only $200 but again I could smell scam and was not having it. Perhaps the suit really would have been nice... We met people later in our journy who had bought these wares and were really happy with their purchases. But this was not $200 I wanted to spend, especially in this cheap looking shop. Outside again our driver told us he would take us to a jewelry expo. More and more I was smelling a scam. I was convinved everyone we had met so far, the nice man on the street, the old man at the temple, were all in on the scam. (Now I realize, I was totally right!) The jewelry shop was worse than the rest, it was dingy and old. I thougth for a moment Jason was really going to buy something from the pushy seller, an ugly gold chain or the ugly, misshapen pearl earrings. Far far from my taste. While inside an older British couple came in. They looked amused and annoyed at the same time. The only thing the man said to me was "well, we've changed professions five times today!" I wanted to ask him more, if he thought this was all as scam, but I didn't have a chance. They definitely knew it was all a joke and quickly left the store. The woman kept asking us "why, why you not buy? We give certificate." Jason still believes the jewels were probably real, if not valuaded at their sale price, but I'm not convinced.

Tall gold buddha. It was hot outside!

Lavish interior of the temple

"black buddha"

Cat on car

After that we finally got to see another temple. I believe this one was actually closed on the inside and there was some kind of festivity going on. There we met a nice British man who Jason talked with for some time about Bangkok and what to do there. He too talked of the expos so now I'm not so sure he wasn't trying to help the tuk tuk scam out as well. On our way out of the temple we were greeted by yet ANOTHER nice Thail men who claimed to be working for the government and suggested the jewelry expo or something of the like. Another plant. That's why this sceme was so perfectly orchistrated, everyone was in on it and knew how it worked because they do it every day! Off we wizzed to an even larger jewlery expo where we again had to try to pretend to be interested. The good thing about this one was that at the end there was a soveiner shop where we did buy some cheap trinkets, so at least we got something out of it. At that point it was 3pm and we wanted to go back to the hotel and lounge by the pool. We told our driver and he pleaded "please one more, governement promotion is only today!" At this point I just said fine, one more, and gave him the benefit of the doubt for that split second. This brought us to another custom tailor shop. Worse than the last this guy took us around the ENTIRE store, practically begginig us to by something, anything, even if it was a dumb coin purse for $1. We didn't. What we've realized and found out since is that every stop our driver made, and every store we went in, he got a gas voucher from the store, for bringing customers. He may have gotten more if we bought something, but we're not sure. So in the end our ride did only cost 20 baht, but we'd only seen two temples. At least people were friendly! It was a great joy to have so many people speaking fluent English to us once again, and to be more open, Koreans can be so reserved and follow so much protocal.

Jason was high on life still though, happy with the day, and I have to admit, I've become more cynical only looking back. At the time, it was all pretty fun. Whizzing through the streets of Bangkok on a tuk tuk isn't a bad way to travel, we got to see a lot of random streets and glimpses of beautiful buildings and temples. It was warm and breezy. I left out that we also had a delicious lunch midday that our driver did take us to. I got fried rice in pineapple, and it was served in the pineapple! It was delicous! Sweet, warm, mmm, I miss it already!

When we got back to the hotel we walked around a little more. We saw TONS, hundreds of pineapples on the street! We bought some food off a street vendor, thinking it was grilled pineapple. It turned out to be some disgusting yellow fish, gross. Then it was time to tan by the pool but alas, it was too late by then and the sun was behind some clouds. I thought bitterly of the tuk tuk driver who had wasted our time.

Pineapple fried rice

Pineapples galore. Men gather to watch a boxing match on TV.

Its fish, not pineapple

The British man had mentioned a shopping center earlier called MBK that was a place to go with tons of food. We found it not far on the map and decided to head to MBK/Siam Center that evening. We overpaid a tuk tuk driver to take us (darn their scams!) but once we got there were happy we went! Siam Center was amazing! It was the largest, most luxerious and cutest shopping center ever! I thought South Coast Plaza was impressive, I thought a Seoul department store took the cake, but this blew them right out of the water. Combining opulent shopping with affordable and stylish stores (prices in Thailand were generally lower than the US and Korea) Siam Center was a feast for the eyes. It also boasted an aquarium and the largest "food court" I've ever seen. We love the "food court." Instead of cheap places to grab a bite, it was filled with high end dining, yet none of our amazing meals cost more than $10. We had Thail food, tacos and Italian. It was fabulous. I miss it. There was also a large gourment supermarket filled with ANY and EVERY food type you could want, at home our abroad. We ended the evening buying chocolates for Valentine's Day (I'd already enjoyed a cupcake at the foa-carnival one of the shopping areas had set up.) That area of Bangkok also included the Sky Train and Metro. Neither went far, no more than 10 stops, and both were totally divorved fromt he old area of town, but we decided we had to ride the Sky Train a different night. Finally it was back to the hotel.

Siam Center, the Sky Train

Cupcakes. Mmm the delights of an oven!

More to come...

Bangkok skyline, Day 2