Nightlife in Marrakesh

Morocco is great for doing quirky things, like hiring a cart to carry out luggage back to the bus station, or taking a mule plus guide for a couple of pounds to carry to carry ten people’s bags up a mountain side. Much more fun than a Heathrow baggage trolley. Anyway yesterday afternoon we took a public coach back to Marrakesh, which was quite a leisurely affair, with a twenty minute break at a cafe, followed by a frantic hammering on the horn to which we all piled in. I watched the desert pass us by and various settlements with shepherds herding small flocks of sheep, in a fruitless search for grass.

We had come back to the hectic pace of the city, with hordes of taxi drivers swarming around us, saying things like, ‘You want taxi? how many? I take you there.’ Our tour leader negotiated a price and we set off back to the hotel.

A quick change of clothing and everyone emerged for our final group dinner, in their recently purchased glass bead necklaces and silk scarves as we made our way to modern Marrakesh, with its boutiques and stylish eateries. Our restaurant was no exception, with a cascading wall of water behind us and sparkly red fairy lights in-twined in the green foliage above. The meal was wonderful, olives and fresh bread plentiful as we enjoyed various tagines, and a selection of decadent puddings.

Deciding to continue in the same vein we visited Monty Crystal, a stylish bar where the walls are draped in dark red silk, the seats made of soft leather and the lighting atmospheric, with traditional lanterns adorning every table. A mint sheesha pipe was ordered, and expensive cocktails with badly mixed ingredients. Satisfactory drinks here tend to be a novelty!

A man in the corner played tribal beat music, as his group sat around, entranced. As the evening drew on a disco started, where Moroccan women danced to the latest Euro pop hits. Everyone seemed to be having fun so we joined in as well. Music videos were played on big screens, people smiled and joked, it was like one big party. By half past one the music got worse and the dance floor became flooded with uncoordinated men, so we thought it was time to leave. Ten minutes later a little fiat taxi had dropped us back at the hotel, after what had been a lovely night with great memories of a beautiful venue and friendly people.

Essouira, Morocco

The sweet sounds of ‘Castle made of sand’ ran through my head, as I walked along golden sands, with creamy stone buildings and white washed walls. This is the paradise that inspired Hendrix back in the sixties. Essouira is a beautiful seaside town, with a relaxed pace and cult hippy following.

Huge waves crash into the rocks, as sea spray dances high into the air. There is a constant breeze and a perfectly clear aquamarine sky. Fishermen bring back a fresh catch twice a day, in tiny wooden boats, much to the delight of hundreds of seagulls that swarm over head. A few are lucky and sit along the concrete walls, squabbling over a freshly bleeding Herring.

The heart of the town is the market squares and mini souks. A vibrant and chaotic mix of crafts, spices and fish stalls. Everyone seems to be buying or selling something, from the flea market auctions to the patisery, with various cinnamon and almond cakes sold by the weight.

The architecture is beautiful, with many adorned doorways and decorated tiles. Moroccan interiors are another interesting concept, with many clashing patterns and colours, which all work together in creating a design that challenged our senses. The last two nights have been spent in a riad, with a small garden and water feature in the middle and a terrace at the top. Our riad is next to a temple, but I no longer hear the prayer calls that happen throughout the day.

The bars and restaurants here are quite stylish, with coloured lighting, live bands and strong cocktails on the roof terrace, surrounded by lucious plants and comfy garden chairs. I have sampled a variety of cuisine from traditional tagines to omlettes and Italian pasta dishes, while catching up with the rest of the group, followed by the occasional chocolate cake or apple tart.

I have really enjoyed my time here and hope to return to this laid back fishing town, full of interesting things to see, and places to be enjoyed. It’s a lot more friendly than Marrakesh, with clean costal air and empty beaches. I have done much shopping and shall return home in a few days with lovely hand made wooden boxes, silver bracelets and rows of glass beads. This afternoon we leave, and head back to the medival city of Marrakesh by public bus, where I shall enjoy the delights of Djemaa el Fna.

The Atlas Mountains, Morocco

The Atlas mountains were incredible. I went on a four hour trek, high into the clouds and up to a remote shrine. Just staying in the village of Armed was an experience in itself. We lived with the locals, and saw how they survive in a fairly unforgiving environment. Every day the women use a communal oven to bake the bread, and prepare a tagine of couscous and various meats. I’m in Morocco during the religious festival of Ramadam, where fasting takes place during the day and then food is eaten after darkness. For this reason people seem quite wiped out during the day, but I have a feeling that the pace is petty relaxed here anyway.

The mountain people of Armed were truely warm and friendly, and made us feel very welcome in their village. We stayed on the top floor of an old house, with sofa style seating around the edge that we slept upon at night, and a balcony that looked out upon jagged mountain scenery. The family cooked us three meals a day, of the freshest most beautiful produce. Lunch consisted of a wide variety of veg, with cheese, eggs and fish. Evening dinner arrived in the form of a spicy soup followed by a communal tagine, brimming with rich flavours, carrots, sweet potatoes and chicken or mutton, as well as a large selection of bread. Fresh oranges or melon was provided for dessert. Every meal was followed by the most aromatic sweet mint tea. Even the smell was moorish.

An hours drive followed two nights in Armed, where we hired a mule to take our bags back down the hillside. We took a mini bus to Ouirigane, where we stayed in a really lovely Moroccan countryside hotel with beautiful pink walls covered in lucious green vines, a spacious garden and pool.

That afternoon we had lunch in a traditional Berber house, where we were invited to see how the bread was made, and were shown around the house until we settled in the living room and were served a delicious three course meal. The tables here are very low down, with soft padded cushions to sit on and lots of colourful fabric to adorn the room. Our hosts were wonderful, and we sat around chatting for a couple of hours.

Later that afternoon most of us went on a walk into the hills, across to neighbouring villages, with a local guide who pointed to new electricity pilons, and proceeded to tell us that electricity had arrived for these people just two weeks ago. There were many very old mud brick houses, set against furtile red soil. The villages resembled an ancient civilisation, unchanged for centuries, and was like nothing I had ever seen before.

That evening we had a meal at the hotel, which was lovely but we were surrounded by many tiny cats who fought each other over scraps of food. We later found out that cats are sacred here, as there does seem to be more of these wild ‘cat like’ creatures than people, many of them in a bad state. Anyway the meal was particularly satisfying and after a few rounds of cards I went off to bed, ready for Essouira the following morning.

Marrakesh and the Souks

Yesterday I encountered the delight of the souks, magical and maze like. I walked around slowly watching people, seeing other photographers and how the locals reacted to them. After a while I got use to the new environment and managed to take many photos without offending anyone. I would upload them here, but despite finding an computer new enough to have a USB port in the back, it still refuses to let me access my camera, so it’s looking like photos will have to wait until my return, and then they shall be uploaded.

By midday the dappled light was incredibly dramatic, as it made its way to the mud floor. The air was thick with the pungent smell of spice, and something else that I was unable to identify that wafted through the souk.

The touristy part is full of all the usual crafts and clothing, but the further you go the more authentic is becomes, with less white people and more reasonable prices. There was also stalls of delicious Moroccan pastries and freshly squeezed orange juice, which was so refreshing.

In the evening I met the Intrepid tour group that I shall be joining for the next few days. It seems like everyone is greener than me, in terms of travelling so in the evening I led them through the Medina. There are only three out of ten of us that can speak any French. The people seem mostly nice though, and come from all corners in the globe.

The Moroccans here are truly friendly. Even in the souks I was able to have a laugh with the store holders, and deflect any hassle. People respond well to a smile. Unfortunately my travel partners weren’t so lucky or diplomatic, and seemed to have a rough time with it. Thankfully I’m not having that problem.

Marrakesh, Morocco

I’m looking out upon dusty pink buildings, seperated by concrete walkways and chunky palm trees. In the distance the glow of floodlights attracts groups of teenage boys as they sing merrily in loud voices. I later find out Marrakesh are playing Casablanca at the city stadium.

So far Morocco has been a lot easier than I expected. The airport resembled the chaos sampled at The Queen Alia, in Jordan, with disorderly queues and hours of not much happening with little explanation, but this should be considered normal when visiting such places. A while later I found myself outside the airport trying to suss out the best option of getting to the hotel. I was a little wary of the taxi hustlers, mostly due to my experiences of trying to get a taxi just about anywhere in Bangkok, to which the drivers had their own agendas.

Here the price agreed at the start of the journey was not only fair but stuck to. The driver also knew where the hotel was and took me straight there, which is always a bonus! He also made jokes about ‘un cadeau pour moi’ which he recieved due to my relief at not having to suffer any scams. And with the most dreaded part of my journey over I arrived at Hotel de la Minara, with its beautiful Moorish decor and tranquil courtyard.

Still feeling a little apprehensive, I wandered down the main street looking for somewhere to have dinner. I stopped to ask a white couple who turned out to be French and they pointed me in the direction of a Pizza hut. Ironically it isn’t somewhere I would normally go at home and as much as I laugh at English people who go abroad and eat at McDonalds, the prices were cheap and it was starting to get dark.

The familiarity of the French language is comforting, as I am able to communicate on a basic level. It is a lot less scary than being in remote parts of Asia where no common language is shared. I like the Moroccan people. So far they have been warm friendly, and show definate humour.

I have barely encountered any of the hastle I read about, as a single female. It is difficult not to respond to a friendly bonjour in the street, but with the knowledge that once conversation is started it is very difficult to escape, I just keep walking. I have been careful to adopt the mannerisms of Moroccan women and in many ways I look quite similar with my dark hair and long floating kaftan. Here the men would never approach a woman on the streets if they respected her, yet tourists in their inappropriate tank tops seem fair game. I try to walk purposely, which is always difficult when you are lost, as not to attract hastle, but so far it’s working and I feel that I am starting to gain an insight into Moroccan culture.

***

This morning I had breakfast at the hotel and started talking to a group of travellers who are at the end of their Intrepid tour, and gave me lots of tips on bargaining, the various places they visited and seemed to have thouroughly enjoy it. I headed out and in the general direction of the main square, walking alongside noisy roads and sandy pavements, spotting my first internet cafe. I am told there are many. Anyway I shall continue exploring, and post again soon, with hopefully many exciting tales…

Rennes, France

The moment I stepped outside the airport the difference was noticeable. Just an hours flight from Southampton and I was in the provincial city of Rennes, struggling to remember my French as I ordered drinks and bought various items of clothing. After a freshly squeezed apricot juice and a brief catch up with my parents, sitting in a colourful outdoor cafe, I wandered off to the alternative part of town. The streets are lined with old timber buildings, as music plays from the floors above and stylishly dressed people pass below, the place is alive with energy. The atmosphere is relaxed as locals shop and chat, and the cafes are filled with smiling faces and joyous conversation.

I continued to the interesting ethnic shops that I visited the year before, as I absorbed the sense of decoration displayed in the jewellery stands, and cave like layout of never ending shops, filled with tables of loose beads in every size, shape and colour, bowls of swirled glass rings and rails of earth coloured sarongs. The shop assistants were genuinely friendly and helpful as tribal beat music played in the background and the subtle smell of incense wafted through the air.

As the afternoon drew to a close we gathered in the old square and ordered delicious crepes filled with spinach, cheese and salmon, as waiters bustled between the tables and an accordionist serenaded the diners with lulling French folk music. As the evening went on, families, friends and couples gathered together chatting merrily, displaying a contentedness that becomes apparent when observed by an outsider, from a world of deadlines and demands. Here the emphasis is on family and friends, where people take time to enjoy life and appreciate its pleasures. Rennes is an inspiring city of both beauty and culture, mixed with its easy going street vibe and affectionate heart. Its a place that I like a lot and shall probably return to many times for its uniqueness and just for being Rennes.

Final thoughts and recommendations...

The morning after we got back it was snowing, and having been back in the UK four days now I’ve nearly got used to the temperature and waking up at the right time. I’ve been looking at all the photos I took in Thailand and Cambodia, 2500 of them, and feel quite amazed at some of the things I saw and did.

The photos will be bigger than on here and there are more of them. At the moment I’m trying to fight a bad cold. Looking back at the trip, it does feel like an amazing journey where every day I experienced something new. I’m really glad I saw Cambodia and such a different way of life. I want to travel again, and will probably go along to Destinations 2006 for inspiration (2-5 Feb). It has been such an amazing experience and I want to see more of the world.

Recommendations and Advice

During our visit to Thailand and Cambodia we stayed at some great places, as well as some that weren’t so nice. I think that choosing a good guesthouse or hotel can play a large part in the enjoyment of a place, as we found out in Bangkok.

Bangkok:

I don’t recommend staying in the area Downtown of Thanon Rama IV, it’s fairly grim. Sukhumvit is a much smarter and more expensive area. We stayed at the SV Guesthouse (Tel. (0066) 22 531747) (just around the corner from the metro) which was 600 baht a night for a double room with ensuite. All the hotels in that area seem more expensive than other parts of Bangkok, but its definately worth it for the great public transport links and for a street free of rats and rubbish. Khoa San Road looks a fun place if you’re young, into hostels and willing to stay in the same place as all the other tourists. Chinatown looked another fun option, definately worth investigating.

Sukhothai:

We stayed at the Ban Thai guesthouse in New Sukhothai (Tel. (0066) 55 610163) which was the most enchanting guesthouse we came across in Thailand, and I completely recommend it to anybody. They have beautiful wooden bungalows with ensuites based in a pretty garden for 250 baht a night, and dorms in a separate building for less. There is also a lovely restaurant area which has a brilliant menu of thai food at good prices. We really enjoyed staying here.

Chiang Mai:

I don’t have anywhere to recommend for Chiang Mai, as the place we stayed was fairly basic and provided small, grotty blankets for the bed and wanted to charge extra for sheets. Despite being Western run they kept a poor dog in a cage and the staff weren’t overly friendly. However there are lots of nice looking guesthouses in Chiang Mai, so I think it would be easy to find somewhere that looked good when you get there rather than booking in advance.

Krabi:

The KR Mansion Hotel (Tel. (0066) 75 612761) was ok, but not brilliant. I booked it over the phone and they had said 300 baht a night for a double room with ensuite, but when we got there they were saying 350. They did accept 300, but I’m sure for their new price you could find a nicer place to stay. The food wasn’t great either.

Siem Reap, Cambodia:

I completely recommend The Two Dragons Guesthouse to anybody going to Siem Reap and visiting Angkor. Our room was lovely and clean with nice bedding and a hot shower. The guesthouse is Western run, with a helpful owner and friendly staff. They have a clean restaurant with lovely Thai and Khmer food at good prices. Our room was $12 a night for a double bed, air con and a hot shower ensuite. This guesthouse is popular and gets full quickly so I recommend booking in advance. Also we met our tuk tuk driver Sot’lar at the entrance when we arrived, offering to be our driver, and he was very likeable so I would highly recommend him also.

Queen Alia Int. Airport, Jordan

We arrived in Jordan in the evening and found out that we had a free transit hotel already arranged, which I was surprised about. It seemed like half the people from the flight knew about it and the rest didn’t, and like myself had already booked accomodation in Amman. We were lucky, as a lady at the hotel phoned up the hotel where I had a reservation and cancelled for me and thankfully they won’t charge my card. The hotel itself was ok, really large and included a free evening meal and breakfast. Neither were much good though!

The organisation at the airport the following morning was terrible. We arrived at 9.00am for our 11.00am flight and were pointed in the direction of a transit desk where no one was there to serve us. After a while we were moved on to a different desk where there was one woman between two lines of about fifty people, and it was so slow. As people from our flight neared the front she started calling for passengers for flights to Tunis and then New York. Eventually every time she called out New York we all screamed back London. After standing in a queue for over an hour she told us to gather round and started reading out our names. Of course with the number of people for our flight and how quiet her voice was, nobody could hear a thing. Thankfully a loud man from our flight took the cards from her and read out our names. It astounded me that after getting to the airport so early we then had to stand in a queue for an hour and a half, only for another passenger to read out our names and give us our boarding cards. With half an hour to spare we proceeded to the boarding gate.

Bangkok, Thailand

Last night we were collected from the hotel and taken to Krabi bus station, where we waited an hour before boarding a coach. We were fairly tightly packed but for our 550 baht each to go from Krabi to Bangkok I hadn’t expected much else. The toilet on board was tiny and had no light, which seems a common feature of Asian busses, so for future reference always travel with a pocket torch!

Three hours later the bus pulled in at a little place with palm trees and a ‘cafe’. We thought it was just a toilet stop, but our luggage was being taken off the coach and everyone got out. Nobody knew what was going on or why we had been dropped here, but we had to go over to a desk and write down our names for Bangkok. Eventually we managed to get out of one of the drivers that we were going on a ‘big coach’. All of a sudden there was shouting of ‘quick’, ‘Bangkok’ and ‘coach one’ but for some reason that coach wasn’t for us and we were allocated on the next one.

We found a Canadian couple to talk to and waited for about an hour, in this swamp like, coconut plantation, surrounded by bull frogs and moths the size of birds. Eventually our coach did turn up, and it was more spacious with aircon, comfy seats and blankets. I was slightly concerned and puzzeled that for such a nice coach there were no toilets on board and we had ten hours ahead of us! However as it happened the coach made three stops at various service stations for us to get out, buy food or use the toilets, so that was a relief! I just found it difficult with the lack of communication from the drivers, that we didn’t know what was going on or whether we would have to sit on the coach for the entire journey and if so I shouldn’t drink any water, and after we did stop I wondered if we would stop again. However I managed to get some sleep and it was fairly comfortable - just a bit cold!

We arrived in Bangkok at six am, despite all the delays. The difficult bit was finding a taxi driver that would use the meter to take us for a short journey to the train station. The taxi drivers in Bangkok can be such idiots, as we said Hua Lamphong station, and the driver asked where we were going after, and we said the airport this afternoon and he seemed genuinely puzzeled as to why we wanted the train station if we were going to the airport, so we walked off and had similar experiences with a few more drivers, until finding one who would use the meter and take us where we wanted to go. We did have to tell him we were going to take the train to Chiang Mai, which he seemed happy with, as if our journey had to make sense, rather than us deciding where we wanted to go. The train was slightly delayed but we’re here now, having checked in with an hour or so before our flight.

Krabi, Thailand

Our last day in Krabi and we awoke to more monsoon rain. We walked down to a restaurant for breakfast which looked fine, except for the fact that when getting to the bottom of my fruit juice I noticed a worm! I was fairly horrified and we promptly left and went somewhere else. I suppose in all likeliness I probably didn’t drink any more worms as they are heavier than water and float to the bottom and it could have just been a worm from the fruit, but either way it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

At a restaurant we knew to be fine I drank a cup of boiling water in the hope of killing anything bad followed by breakfast. After that Al suggested vodka, which wasn’t particularly nice either, but hopefully it sterilised my stomach, and I’m currently drinking lots of bottled water. So its just a case of waiting to go to the doctors when I get back and maybe taking some antibiotics. As its so hot here I just though that a glass of tropical fruit juice would be nice, but in future its just a can of coke or bottled water!

We have a coach booked overnight back to Bangkok, which arrives early tomorrow morning and then our flight back to Jordan. I’ve enjoyed Krabi, it’s a relaxing seaside town.

Krabi, West Railey, Thailand

So much for our plans this morning to get up early and take a boat to the nearby beaches. We awoke to the sound of the South’s monsoon rain. A few hours later it had passed so we walked down to the pier and waited, for ages. The guys that ran the boats said we’d have to wait for 8 to 10 people but after sitting by the river for a long time we decided to walk upstream to the famous Krabi crags. We took a pathway through the mangroves and eventually ended up at a pier opposite one of the huge limestone crags. A local guy was offering boat trips to the crag and back for 100B for the two of us, and to start with I was a bit scared of the thought of going on this tiny wooden boat, but it was only 50 meters or so in calm water, and I even enjoyed the boat ride! We were really low down in the water, and it was amazing to see these big limestone crags towering above us. We arrived on the island, which had a small sandy area and explored a cave with interesting stalagmites and stalactites.

We walked back down the Krabi river passing the pier where the longtail boats go from, and this time we were in luck as there were enough people to leave for East Railay beach. Again the sea was fairly calm, as we followed the coastline around, passing interesting looking islands on the way. It probably took about half an hour. When we arrived at East Railay the boat came as close as it could to the sand and then we had to jump!

The beaches were beautiful. I felt really excited to see turquoise blue sea. However the weather still wasn’t that great and it spend most of the afternoon being cloudy. We had food at a restaurant looking out onto the beach when we arrived and then walked across to West Railey. The beach was very crowded and more popular than the guidebook suggested but it was still good to walk on lovely white sand and look out at limestone crags in the sea.

There were lots of stalls selling various beach clothing and jewellery and I bought an interesting bracelet with shells threaded on and some rings. We walked back to the bay where longtail boats were leaving to head back to Krabi and had to wade out quite a way into the sea before climbing onto the boat! At that point it was looking fairly stormy and soon after it started to rain. The journey back was fine and we had the boat to ourselves as the owner wanted to get back. When we returned I felt really pleased that I’d managed to do the boat trips today, as normally I’d do anything to avoid going by sea. I took a travel tablet and wore seabands which worked well. I quite enjoyed the experience of being on a longtail boat in South Thailand.

Leaving Cambodia, to Bangkok, then Krabi...

I’m currently hiding in an internet cafe from what feels like a semi-monsoon. The clouds started to go dramatically dark and all of a sudden it started. Our first afternoon in Krabi.

…

It’s been a long journey to get here. We left Siem Reap (Cambodia) at 6.50am in a taxi, and passed beautiful rice fields and palm trees glowing in the early morning sun. We were well on our way to the border, when in front of us was a long queue of cars. Our driver overtook them and got near the front. It was at this point we found out that the bridge was broken and there was a huge hole, where one of the metal plates had fallen in. Soon after the vehicles had caused gridlock in about three rows of cars on either side of the bridge for as far as you could see, so even if they did mend the bridge we were all blocked in!

It was really hot by this point and lots of people were trying to find shade behind cars. The dirt road covered us all in browny orange dust. Several hours passed and eventually people managed to botch up the bridge and eventually people moved their vehicles to let the other direction through. Some cars from our side tried to go across and it took a further half an hour of arguing before they decided who should go first and we were finally on our way again! I think I should be thankful that it was only five and a half hours to the border and not longer, considering what chaos the bridge was.

We passed through the border after a lot of queuing, and only just made the 1.30pm bus to Bangkok. We arrived at six and were in quite a hurry to get to the train station for 7.15pm. We must have looked confused but were very thankful when a German guy offered to translate for us and got us on the right bus to the nearest metro. From there it was another twenty minutes to Hualamphong station and we just made in time to buy food before the journey and get on the train!

I put my earplugs in and slept really well in the train. I woke about six am, and the bunks were made into seats. Soon after it got light and we started passing dramatic scenery with forests and limestone crags. From Surat Thani we got a coach to Krabi bus station, which was a further three hours, and finally a songthaw to our hotel.

It was really hot when we arrived here. After a lunch of fried noodles, veg and chicken we walked down to the river, from where the boats go to the Railey beaches. It doesn’t look to bad, and tomorrow we’re hoping to make a trip out to the beaches. Unfortunately there’s thundery showers forecast for the next day or so, and then its sunny when we go back home! I like the feel of Krabi, the atmosphere here is relaxed and quite different from other parts of Thailand.

Siem Reap, Tonle Sap Floating Village, Cambodia

Our last day at Siem Reap has mostly been a relaxing one, exploring the town and countryside. We hired our friendly tuk tuk driver for one more day, and started off in the busy part of town, watching the rush hour happen around us. People here mostly travel by bicycle or scooter, often with at least three people on the back of one. Everything is transported on the scooters, from pigs, both dead and alive in cages, huge bundles of fruit and veg, long lengths of wood, pipes to sheets of glass.

We headed out towards the floating village of Tonle Sap lake but drove through several small villages on the way and stopped to photograph interesting houses and water buffaloes. As we got out lots of children followed us around, and I took their photo. They seemed to have lots of fun seeing images of themselves on the playback screen on my digital camera.

Next we drove to the lake of Tonle Sap, and although I didn’t take the one hour boat ride to see the village, Al did. Instead I wandered around the narrow strip of land with floating houses on either side. I dídn’t like the place very much. To start with I was plagued with children asking for a dollar, without any small goods to offer, and I thought it was a shame that in the past enough irresponsible tourists had done so for them to expect it. Instead I practised a few new phrases of Khmer and took their photographs.

The area was incredibly dusty and the people lived in very basic conditions - although they had houses, and casual stalls selling food and veg, as well as a primary and secondary school, so they weren’t living in complete poverty. Their way of life appeared very demanding. They didn’t have anything to offer tourists, apart from the boat rides lower down the road, and I recieved a lot of stares and felt the locals wondered what I was doing there. The people weren’t as friendly as other parts of Cambodia, but in a way I felt they weren’t use to seeing tourists in their community, apart from further down the road in boats that visit a floating village 4km away, so most tourists probably ignore this part. While I was there I bought a whole bunch of about 20 small bananas for $0.25 and was then followed by small children who kept asking for one, so I gave most away. It surprised me in a way that when the children saw I had a bag of bananas they stopped asking for a dollar, as I suppose they could eat it rather than giving the money to their parents to spend.

After lunch we went to the old market which was full of local goods at reasonable prices. The market was huge and filled with colourful stalls from Cambodian silk to fresh fruit and veg. I spent over an hour or so looking through the stalls and bought a patchwork bag, several scarves with varying silky textures and wooden beaded bracelets. The women at the market stalls were friendly although some were understandably keen that I bought from them, as most of the stalls sold similar silk scarves or bags.

We came back to the hotel and thanked the tuk tuk driver and paid him for the last four days. We thought he was probably about 25, and chatting to him earlier I found out that he had three children, two young boys and a girl. For western standards he seemed so young to have a family, but he appeared proud to talk about the subject.

We had a nice meal at the guesthouse and settled up for our food and accomodation. As I’ve been writing this post we’ve had very heavy rain outside but its finally stopped. We plan to go out for a cocktail to celebrate the New Year, followed by an early night. We have a taxi booked for 6.30am tomorrow morning. Happy New Year.

The Bayon Temples, Cambodia

We went to the Bayon temple early to photograph the soft yellow morning light on some of the 37 stone heads. The heads depicted figures from Buddhist mythology and were very striking to look at. The temple comlex itself was also architecturally impressive. After wandering around we found a monkey sat on one of the stones and several people were having their picture taken with it so I did as well! It was quite old, and just relaxing in the sun.

We went around Angkor Thom and saw the Terrace of the Elephants which included several walls of sculpted elephants. The time and detail it must have taken was amazing. On the drive back we saw lots of monkeys sitting around by the trees which were funny to watch. The baby monkeys were quite cheeky and came right up to me looking for food. We also saw elephants carrying people to and from the temple.

After lunch our tuk tuk driver took us out to Bakong (13km east) - one of the older temples of Angkor. Other than a tourist bus which came and went, we practically had the whole temple to ourselves. It was set in a really beautiful location with palm trees and a huge moat around the outside. There was also interesting brick buildings around the outside of the temple with big holes in for cooking and a tall chimney. The outer wall was covered in funnel webs, which was interesting to see.

It was another really hot day today so by this point we were both quite tired, but stopped off at Banteay Kdei to take some pictures of stone carvings and then briefly onto Ta Prohm, where the surrounding jungles contain nearly deafening birds, that make a continual high pitched, shrieking sounds. It took us ages to work out the strange sound was birds, we heard it on and off for the last few days. We returned back to our guesthouse for food after a long and exhausting day.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Another early start this morning as we drove to the temple of Banteay Srey. There was a beautiful sunrise and I could feel the warmth of the sun as it rose into the sky. The 37km journey was lovely, and I felt so happy as we drove alongside fields of water buffaloes, villages with palm trees and wooden houses, with people cooking and children happily playing in the gardens. They all waved at the tourists and some tried to sell us things or asked for pens or sweets but I just smiled and said the Khmer for no thank you.

We arrived at Banteay Srey at about 8am and were surprised to find tourist busses arriving at this remote temple just after we had. However, the temple was beautiful and I took some photos. Next we went to Banteay Samre and although the temple was nice, I was too hot and tired to appreciate it.

After lunch we went up in the Angkor balloon. To start with it kept moving awkwardly upwards in semi circles which was quite scary, and we were told to hold on. After I got over the initial fear and was able to let go of the sides to take photographs I enjoyed it. It was tethered to the height of 200ft, looking out across Angkor Wat. It was amazing looking down on the land and once up there I was fine. The decent was so gradual I didn’t notice to start with.

We went back to Angkor Wat to take more photos and found some kids playing in the lily ponds infront of the temple.

We decided to stay for sunset but I couldn’t find anywhere to frame it against on the lower level without the trees getting in the way, so I decided to climb to the top of the inner tower. The first time I tried I got half way up before deciding it was too high and went back down, but after walking around and I knew the sun was about to go down and that we wouldn’t be here again for sunset, I told myself to just keep going and I climbed 25m of steep, semi eroded stone steps. There was probably over a hundred people on the top level, watching the sunset so I found a level part to stand on and take photos.

As soon as the sun set temple staff told us it was time to go back down at which point the height really got to me. Thankfully one of the guides carried my things and I went down one of the stairways with a hand rail. This took several minutes as going down backwards I couldn’t see the steps and had to feel them with my feet first. Also it got dark really quickly. It was quite a relief to get back to the guesthouse.

Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm, Cambodia

Angkor is amazing. The scale and complexity of the temples built nearly a thousand years ago is stunning. Nothing compares to these structures. As the tuk tuk drove closer and the track to Angkor Wat was in sight I felt a sense of excitment and suspense as to what I was about to see, and felt really excited when I recognised the silouette of these famous structures from pictures I had seen.

I have been reading about Angkor for months and it felt quite surreal to begin with, being in Cambodia and seeing it with my own eyes. I instantly loved Angkor Wat, which reminded me of a lavish castle, except on a much bigger scale, and in a very different style to anything I had seen in Europe.

Angkor Wat is beautiful and very complex, with several layers of dark stone monuments before accessing the central part, combining the outer and inner walls with the main temple, which included its own courtyards and corridors. It took around ten minutes to walk from one side to the other, through the middle of the temple (1 km), although I spent several hours exploring every corridor and pathway. I even came across a monk who was my age and asked me where I was from and that sort of thing.

By late morning we were both hungry and our tuk tuk driver dropped us back at the guesthouse for lunch. We were glad to rest for a while as it must have been at least 30 degrees today and was really sunny up until midday. Thankfully the only part of me that’s burnt is a small strip where my mosquito wristband was, as I didn’t put sunscreen there, but nothing too bad. We enjoyed a nice noodle and chicken lunch.

After lunch we were going to have a balloon ride over Angkor Wat but it was too cloudy.

Our next destination was Ta Prohm, a temple filmed in Tomb Raider, famous for its intricate stone monuments build in 1186 and forgotten about. The area is covered by jungle where many of the temples are swallowed by tree roots and the stone carvings are so old looking. Just to see the way nature has taken over, I found Ta Prohm equally as impressive as Angkor Wat as it felt so abandoned and I felt like an explorer, viewing something lost for such a long time.

We’ve both decided that we like it here so much, that we will stay an extra day and return to Bangkok on the day of our train to Krabi as opposed to the day before. This means spending New Years Eve in Siem Reap, which is definately a good thing. I feel happy about an extra day here. It’s a really nice place, a lot more relaxing than Thailand. I’m enjoying it.

Thailand / Cambodia Border

If the journey was easy perhaps I wouldn’t feel like I’ve achieved much, and in this case I feel like we’ve achieved a lot!

We woke at about 5am this morning in Bangkok, where the rain was torrential. Apparently it had only been raining three hours and some of the roads were covered in nearly a foot of water. We grabbed a metered taxi and asked to take us to the skytrain, which was just around the corner, but as usual we found a stupid driver who tried to take us to the train station which also had the skytrain. Eventually he turned around and dropped us at the nearest station, so we payed him for what it would have cost had he gone there to start with, and onto the sky train. This was the straight forward part as Bangkok does have a great metro and skytrain system. Clean, efficient and signs in English. We got off at Ho Chit, near the nothern bus terminal.

The guidebook says go to the northern bus terminal and there are busses every hour to Aranyprathet, the Thai border to Cambodia. So we carried the heavy luggage down the stairs and to the bus stops. It was all very complicated and different people told us different bus numbers. Everything was in Thai and nobody could speak particularly good English, and at one point I thought we were never going to make it. However eventually someone pointed us in the right direction and we got a bus to the bus station and bought a ticket for a bus to Aran.

We left at 7.45am and arrived in Aran at about 12.00. We didn’t have any problems getting a tuk-tuk to the actual border and were met on the Thai side with English speaking officials, specially to help tourists. I got the Thai exit stamp and have a Cambodian stamp in my passport. I was pleased as I got the visa for $20, no scams or ‘tea money’ requests. After taking another tuk-tuk to where the taxies departed from we found a German couple to share 3 hour ish taxi ride with.

As soon as we were driving out into the countryside I had a really positive feeling about Cambodia. I think I like it more than Thailand. Our guesthouse (Two Dragons) is luxurious compared to what we’ve been used to, and I’ve just had a lovely meal of freshwater fish with lemon grass and an orange sauce. Despite it feeling like such hard work to get here and travelling for nearly twelve hours it feels good. Tomorrow we shall see Angkor.

Ayuttaya, Thailand

After the previous post we took a tuk tuk to Chiang Mai’s train station and stocked up with bottled water, crisps and generous slices of banana cake which was only 10 baht! We got there early and found some seats to sit down on and were shortly joined by a couple from South Africa who were catching the same train as us. They had travelled from Singapore, up through Malaysia to Thailand, and told us about the lovely beaches and diving in the south.

As the time came for our train, we walked down the platform to where the sleeper carriages would be (the trains are very long) and sat down next to an American couple travelling with a young child. It was beginning to get quite cold by this point and the train still hadn’t turned up, and then there was an annoucement that the train was delayed and wouldn’t get in until after midnight. Somehow we chatted and waited for another three hours until the train eventually did turn up and they attached the sleeper cars.

Instead of getting to Ayuttaya mid morning, we didn’t arrive until early afternoon. At the station we were constantly hastled by tuk tuk drivers wanted to charge huge amounts to drive us around the temples. Instead we followed a map walked a km or so to Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol. It was so hot and Ayuttaya felt like just another modern city with ancient temples hidden away, around the edge of the old capital. The parts we saw were cleaner than Bangkok, busy and not particularly pretty.

The temple was interesting. Built in 1593, it was huge and well kept. I climbed to the top level of the main tower and looked down on rows of Buddahs and other temples. There seemed to be lots of local people who lived on the edge of the park and maintained the grounds. The temples were covered in pretty, blue butterflies.

In the evening we ate at noodle stands alongside the station and I even found a stall with cakes and tried some tasty coconut bread pastries. We took a train back to Bangkok and stayed at the SV Guesthouse in Sukhumvit. The area was a lot nicer, but more expensive and was filled with big tourist hotels and shopping malls.

Doi Inthanon, Rice Terraces and Hill Tribes...

Today has been amazing. We went on a tour to Doi Inthanon, about two hours to the west with a few other people. It started off in the normal fashion with half an hour at a huge waterfall, and then back in the minibus and up to the highest mountain in Thailand. It was quite cold and misty and all the Thai people were shivering although we found it quite mild. Our minibus driver was a lunatic and did some really doggy blind bend style overtakes but the roads were just about wide enough for three cars to pass! It was very scary though. The roads themselves were in good condition and no horrible sheer drops too close to the road.

We saw the King and Queen Pagodas which were each based upon a mountain with jungle in the surrounding area. It was very beautiful. After this we went to a village for lunch and had lovely Thai food. They brought out lots of nicely flavoured meat and vegetable dishes which we shared, followed by slices of fresh pineapple and melon.

Our next destination was The Royal Project, which was an agricultural place, with a pond, good view, pretty waterfalls and funnel web spiders webs on the trees! I wandered off ahead and saw several monks in bright orange robes gathered around one of the viewpoints, so I walked up and asked if they could take their picture too. After which they pointed me to a stone to sit on and gathered around asking if I could be in theirs! One of the monks was given four digital cameras and proceeded to take the photos. I found this so amusing. They were from a fairly remote part nearby and I suppose they didn’t see many white girls with curly hair!

Finally we got back into the minibus and drove to a Hilltribe village. We saw some girls weaving and they were selling beautiful scarves and drapes. I thought this was a really positive thing, as they were selling their products directly, which would encourage the local people not to grow opium if they could make money by other means. So I bought a gorgeous woven scalf. At this point I started chatting to an Australian lady on our tour, and we walked around the village.

The huts looked like wooden tree houses, except with TVs. We saw a path out into a rice field which was amazing. We asked the guide what time we were due back and he said it was the last stop and as long as we wanted, so we walked probably for fifteen minutes along the paddy fields, and said hello to the local people working on the land. They were polite but it’s hard to know what they thought of foreigners. I don’t think they cared too much. The paddy fields were huge, and we walked along raised areas with small sections of rice below and then followed a trail along the hill. Forested mountains covered the background and it was an incredible experience to see. I have really enjoyed today. Only a few times have I rememberd that its Christmas. Anyway we have a night train in a few hours and will be in Ayuttaya tomorrow morning, followed by Bangkok in the evening.

Doi Suthep, Thailand

After having a lie in this morning we took the songthaw to Doi Suthep, just out of Chiang Mai. The journey itself was a bit scary as we climbed a mile up along twisty roads and the drivers tending to go for the middle in either direction! But it was worth it as we went into the temple and took a lot of photos and saw monks and asked them if I could take their photo which I did. There were a lot of locals there making offerings of flowers and incense, practising Buddism.

A few hours later we walked along a steep road on the edge of some jungle which was amazing!

Last night we booked a tour for tomorrow, so I shall be spending Christmas day on the highest mountain in Thailand, as well as seeing hilltribes, waterfalls and countryside. I’m really excited. I never thought I would be doing something like that for Christmas last year. I shall write about that tomorrow as we will have a few hours to spare after getting back, before our night train.

Al got bitten on the night train when we came here so I hope that doesn’t happen again. Anyway Happy Christmas, will write something tomorrow…