All good things come to an end... but will have a sequel!

The 'Big Buddha' of Wat Huay Mongkol

The last few days in Thailand ended with a bit of a bummer.  There is currently a destructive tyfoon going on above Vietnam and that has its consequences on the weather here in the Gulf of Thailand.  The weather is very stormy here, lots of wind, some rain, clouds and no sunshine.  Temperatures are as low as 25°C instead of the usual 32°C.  It actually feels cold due to the wind.

I wanted to visit the Pa La U waterfall near the Myanmarese border, but I'll have to postpone that to a next trip.  The weather is too bad to go up into the mountains and the national park is probably closed for tourists.  My last 2 days I spent driving around a lot.  I drove to Wat Huay Mongkol with my family to do some praying and meditating at the temple.  Wat Huay Mongkol is a temple complex with a very big statue of a praying monk.  The statue was built on demand of Queen Sirikit by my late stepgrandfather (I never knew him, but he's got his own mausoleum on the premises).

Feeding the fish at the floating market

After prayers and meditation we continued to the floating market.  Well... floating market... let's call it shops around an artificial pond.  There's actually nothing much too see, it's a tourist trap.  Except for the boat ride and the "train" ride, there is nothing mind-blowing going on there.  Many of the shops are even empty or just closed.  But my stepsister likes it a lot, because she can feed the goats and fishes there.

Thai boats

The next day I drove all the way down the coast towards Prachuap Khiri Khan, the capital of the province ("changwat").  I found that this part of Thailand isn't as developed for tourists yet as other parts, but development is slowly going on and soon this part will also be under influence of tourism in Hua Hin.  I drove up to a river mouth, which was a natural harbour for fishing boats.  Thai fishing boats are quite nice to look at, they're very colourful.

My last day I did a few things I haven't done yet: I had my stepmom's delicious som tam (spicy papaya salad) on the beach and we had moo ta ka in the evening (Thai barbecue).  Eating moo ka ta was a feast for all, my father, who doesn't like Thai food that much, really appreciated it, my little sister Kai-Mook loved it and it is one of my stepmom's favourite meals.  Thai barbecue is a very simple concept: hot charcoal is placed in a pot in the middle of the table, on top of it they place a kind of lid with holes in it surrounded by a 'gutter'.  Through the holes the hot air escapes, it is there that the meat-baking happens.  The gutter is filled with broth in which vegetables, noodles, seafood, eggs and tofu can be boiled.  They serve it with a variety of spicy and less spicy sauces.  The place where we had it this time is the best place where I ever ate moo ka ta.  Instead of giving a plate with a standard assortment, we were allowed to choose ourselves what we wanted to eat from a buffet, the meat and seafood were then weighed and billed at 300 baht per kilo (7,5 euro for 1 kilo).  This price also included a separate plate with an assortment of vegetables and noodles.

Thai roads

This was a very good way to end my last day in Pran Buri.  Tomorrow I'll be driving back to Bangkok for my afternoon flight to Abu Dhabi.  About that driving, I love driving in Thailand, at first it was a bit stressful driving at the left side of the road in busy traffic with different habits as in Europe, but after a few minutes I really started enjoying driving here.  Most roads are actually in a pretty good state and highways are very straight with almost no curves, gasoline is not so expensive as in Europe.  I actually drove 1343 km here in Thailand, whereas the last year in Belgium I only drove 195 km with my car-sharing programme.  This journey now comes to an end, but I'm already planning a road trip through Thailand next year, after my February trip through Vietnam.

Ready for an enjoyable flight back home (in an almost empty aircraft)

From Cambodia back to Thailand

Preparations for the water festival in Siem Reap

In the mean time I'm back in Thailand.  I spent the last few days with my friend Mark doing some work in the school and discovering the vicinity of Siem Reap.  My readers might wonder why I didn't visit Angkor Wat.  There is a very simple reason: I already saw it a few years ago and the entrance fee has doubled since.  I would visit it again if I were there with someone who didn't see it yet.

The last days in Siem Reap preparations were going on for the water festival.  Actually that is the reason I'm returning to Thailand, as I want to celebrate this holiday with my family there.  In Thailand they put small self-made boats with 3 incense sticks, a lucky candle and some coins in the water.  In Cambodia they perform rowing races in the river.  Totally different and the preparations for it were already very fascinating to admire.

My little stepsister is always happy to see me again

From Siem Reap I traveled on a direct bus to Bangkok, which dropped me off at Hua Lamphong railway station.  On the way back there were no border scams, apparently this is only done in one direction.  I spent one night in Bangkok, had the usual cocktails and foot massage and the next day picked up my rental car from the airport and drove the 300km route to Pran Buri, where my family lives.  I checked in at a very nice guesthouse in Pak Nam Pran: Happy House on the Beach.  Reviews online weren't so positive, but they were very untrue.  I was received as a very welcome guest, got a welcome drink and the rooms are quite alright.  Pak Nam Pran is a small fishermen village near Pran Buri.

This weekend the peace and calm at the village will be quite disturbed for Loi Krathong, the holiday which marks the end of the raining season.  All festivities will take place right in front of the guest house.

Pranburi Dam & Lake

I arrived in Pak Nam Pran in the late afternoon and met up with my family right after checking in to the guest house for dinner.  The next day I decided to visit the Phraya Nakhon cave in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park.  My father wanted to join me, despite the warning of it being a heavy climb.  He's almost 70 years old and isn't as fit as he used to be when he was 20 years younger.  Still I allowed him to join me and take up the challenge.  The walking route to the cave consists of 2 parts: the first part is climbing over a steep rocky hill next to the sea, arriving at an enclosed paradise-like white sandy beach.  From the beach it goes up another steep hill and back down into the sinkhole which is the cave.  When we got to the beach after the first part, his energy was already almost entirely gone, after an already very astonishing achievement.  We decided not to go further to the cave, but to climb back up and down to the car park.  On the way back we were helped (read: my father was carried) by 2 park rangers.

The Phraya Nakhon cave

A monkey near the cave

The next day I decided to return to the cave in the early morning and do the entire trek myself.  The stairs leading down to the sinkhole were guarded by playful monkeys (probably they were on the lookout for tourists with bananas).  The beauty of what I found down the sinkhole is impossible to describe in words, it was a cathedral made by nature.  I was the first tourist of the day down there and it was only me and the sound of drops of water falling down in a billion year scheme to create stalagmites.  High above the sinkhole the wind was searing (there was a storm going on up there), the light of the sun entered the sinkhole and shined bright on the small pagoda.  This is nor God, nor Allah, nor Buddha making you feel small in a huge religious building, this was nature telling us IT is the greatest power on earth.  I was amazed by the beauty of it all.  This is definitely the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life.

View on the vineyards

At noon I picked up my father again and we made a road trip to the Pran Buri Dam and the Hua Hin Vineyards to do some wine-tasting (which is a more suitable activity for a man his age).  The lake which is created by the Pran Buri Dam is used to supply water to Hua Hin and Pran Buri.  From the dam it was a nice 30 minute drive through the mountains and hills to arrive at the Hua Hin Monsoon Valley Vineyards.  We did our wine-tasting at their restaurant 'The Sala'.  For 650 baht (about 16 euro), we got to taste 3 premium wines each accompanied by a small dish.  The white wine came with a crab salad, the rosé wine came with a lobster claw and the red wine came with duck breast.  The wines were actually very good, so I decided to buy some bottles to drink at home.

Loi Krathong boats

After our wine-tasting I drove back to the city-centre of Hua Hin, where we were to meet my stepmom to celebrate Loi Krathong with a good dinner and then put our 'boats' in the water near the local temple for a year of good fortune and luck.

Angkor Tree Project

The flooded street leading up to the school

I'll start this blogpost with some facts about Cambodia I've found online.
Did you know that 22,8% of Cambodians live on less than 1.2 USD per day?
Did you know that 1,500,000 children between 5 and 14 years old (45%) are working to support their family?
Did you know that about 40% of primary schools and 35% of hospitals don't have any safe drinking water facilities?
Did you know that teacher salaries are often very low?

My first morning in Siem Reap I woke up to the sound of children's voices spelling English words: "What is this?  Pot.  How do we spell it? P-O-T.  What is this?  Spoon. How do we spell it? S-P-O-O-N."  At home this would make me grumpy for the rest of the day, but because I'm staying at my friend's place, who lives right above the school, I didn't let it ruin my mood and got dressed and went down to see the activities going on in the school.

The school gates open at 07.30 and the first kids enter at that time, they are served breakfast (which they mostly don't get at home) and at 08.00 classes start until 10.00, in the afternoon a second group comes and get the same courses.  Children are divided by their level of knowledge and once registered at the school they are obliged to follow classes regularly.

Friday is always a special day, because the second hour at school is movie time.  The children get to see an English movie or cartoon with English subtitles and they also get a sweet snack during the movie.  At this school they only get (free) English courses.  After their courses here they go to a normal state school for all other classes (as well as the low-quality English courses they get at the state school).  In Cambodia children only go to school for a half day everyday except on Sundays, so the project is a very useful way for them to fill up the other half of the day.  Otherwise they would be working to support their families or just be spending time outside on the street.

The importance of English knowledge in a country as Cambodia is not to be underestimated.  Most of the children coming to this school will probably have a good job later, thanks to their good knowledge of English.  They are the future of this country, it will be them building on the future economy to pull Cambodia out of its poverty.  Knowing English will help them in establishing international contacts and attracting investors.

Flooded volleyball fields across the school

The project works with local teachers, paying them a good salary, so to be sure of a good teaching quality, but also to be sure that teachers stay within the project rather than changing schools when a better opportunity presents itself.  The project will soon start up a free teacher training as well, as in many public schools teachers don't have the right knowledge to teach English.  They will be thought how to teach English as a foreign language (TEFL) and they will be officially certified upon finishing the course and passing the exams.  The only condition is that these teachers already have a decent knowledge of English as the course is about helping them on how to teach English, but not about giving them English courses.

Currently around 150 children attend classes at Angkor Tree Project.  All children live in the neighbourhood and there is no distinction between rich and poor, everybody is welcome.  This is a very local project and means a lot for the local community.  The school itself has 3 classrooms and currently there are 4 teachers (of which 1 foreigner who volunteers and 3 Cambodian teachers who are paid a fair salary).  The school also has good drinking water facilities and actually produces more drinking water than it needs, so it provides drinking water to the surrounding families who don't have access to drinking water themselves.

The entire neighbourhood of the school is currently flooded due to the raining season.  Some houses are flooded and water comes as high as just under the beds.  Still, the children come to school (sometimes they have to walk through knee-high water), because they are very motivated to learn English and they actually love coming to this school.

One of the classrooms

The school is quite modern, every class has a television screen on which exercises can appear, there are normal whiteboards and teachers have a laptop and use audiovisual content in their courses.  The project is very local and rather small, so it doesn't need huge amounts of money, still every cent is very welcome as there are the fixed monthly costs (such as the rent for the school building, teachers salaries, electricity, food for the children, ...).  There are also one-time and unexpected costs such as buying teaching materials, repairing defective school equipment, etc.

If you'd like to financially support this project, please visit the website www.theangkortreeproject.org.  Gifts starting at 40 euro are tax-deductible in Belgium, which means that for a gift of 40 euro, the Kingdom of Belgium will refund you 18 euro via your income tax declaration (only for Belgian citizens and money should be transferred via the account of SOL vzw - instructions on the Angkor Tree project website).

Note: I decided not to make any photos with children on them, as this is a serious school, not a zoo for tourists.

Auschwitz in Cambodia

A peaceful pond... with still many corpses inside

My second day in Phnom Penh was very disturbing.  I visited one of the Killing Fields (the ones in Chhoeung Ek), where the Khmer Rouge killed about a quarter of the Cambodian population between 1975 and 1979.  Before describing what I saw there, I would like to introduce my readers a little bit into the history of Cambodia, starting at their independence in 1953.  Before 1953 Cambodia was a French protectorate within the Union of Indochina (together with Laos and Vietnam).  From that year on, King Norodom Sihanouk became the head of the independent state.  When in 1955 the Vietnam war broke loose, Cambodia decided to stay neutral, but North-Vietnamese Vietcong troops settled on Cambodian territory so they could attack South-Vietnam more easily from there.  King Sihanouk didn’t really respond to that as he preferred to stay neutral and thus effectively allowed vietcong troops to operate on Cambodian soil.  He also allowed them to use the port of Sihanoukville for their logistical support.  The United States became quite annoyed with this situation and started bombing Vietcong bases in Cambodia.  King Sihanouk opposed to these US bombings, but at the same time complained to the US about the Vietcong bases on Cambodian territory.  Because of this contradictory message, the US didn’t want to overthrow king Sihanouk (as they considered him loyal to them), but just kept on bombing the Vietcong bases in Cambodia.  In 1960 internal opposition against king Sihanouk began to grow and the Khmer Rouge under leadership of Pol Pot started a guerrilla war and slowly got more and more support from the local communities.  During the elections of 1966 though, right-wing parties won and General Lon Nol formed a government.  This government was rather against the monarchy and as King Sihanouk was tilting away from the US and towards China, the general got a good reason for a coup d’état.

Clothes of the victims

In 1970, when the King was in China, the general did his coup and overthrew the king, thus creating the Khmer Republic. He immediately allied Cambodia with the US and demanded that all North-Vietnamese troops would leave the country immediately.   Hanoi refused and the Americans sent military support and material to help the new Cambodian government.  At the same time North-Vietnamese troops launched armed attacks on Cambodia and handed the territory they won to the Khmer Rouge.  The Khmer Rouge received military support from North-Vietnam and at a certain moment the army of the Khmer Rouge grew stronger than the Vietnamese army.  Also, around that time King Sihanouk declared his support for the Khmer Rouge and that caused many more Cambodians to support the Khmer Rouge as well.  By 1973 the Khmer Rouge was fighting without any foreign support and controlled 60% of Cambodian territory and 25% of its population.  At that time North-Vietnamese troops were winning more and more territory in South-Vietnam and were not focussed on Cambodia anymore.  The US continued its bombing campaign on Cambodia until they completely withdrew from Cambodia in 1975 (after a decision of Congress).  5 days later, on 17 april 1975, Khmer Rouge troops entered the capital of Phnom Penh and the government of the Khmer Republic surrendered.  Democratic Kampuchea was declared as the new country.  Initially there was much support for the Khmer Rouge troops and they were received as heros freeing the capital of the US bombings.  But then, only 5 hours (!) after entering Phnom Penh, things changed radically as they evacuated the entire city and sent all population to villages on the country side to start working on the fields.  The ones that refused to leave the city were killed instantaneously.

Killing tree against which executioners beat children

The Khmer Rouge were supported by the Chinese, whereas the Vietnamese communists were supported by the Russians.  This started to create tensions and the Khmer Rouge began attacking the south of Vietnam.  In all territories they controlled (Vietnamese as well as Cambodian), they created detention centres for all political opponents.  And this was a very large group, to them everybody who was educated (doctors, teachers, or even people wearing glasses, …) was an opponent.  Pol Pot once said that it was better to accidentally kill a friend than to keep an enemy alive.  People were kept in detention centres and tortured until they would admit to crimes they didn’t commit.  They then signed their declaration and were sent off to one of the killing fields, where they would be executed.  Of course they were told that they would now be reaccomodated to a new house to make sure they wouldn’t refuse to go on the transport towards their death.  An estimate of 25% of the Cambodian population (including men, women, children) found its death during this period.  Nobody was trusted by the Khmer Rouge, not even their own members or army men, everybody could finally end up in a detention centre.  When there was the slightest doubt of you not being allegiant to them, they would send you to a detention centre to be tortured and executed.  During this entire period King Sihanouk was placed under house arrest in Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge.

Graves were dug open after the discovery of the killing fields

In 1979 Vietnamese troops stroke back and captured Phnom Penh, declaring the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, driving the Khmer Rouge regime back towards the Thai border.  King Sihanouk fled to China in a self-declared exile.  The Vietnamese army installed a puppet-government which was faithful to Russia and Vietnam (not to China as the Khmer Rouge was).  This started the Cambodian civil war, where communist Khmer Rouge troops would fight the communist Vietnam-backed troops of the government in Phnom Penh.  As at this time the Cold War was at its ‘coldest’ point, Western governments and the UN recognised the Khmer Rouge and its allies as the official government of Cambodia, though they didn’t control much of its territory anymore, but at least they were opposed to Russia…  This situation lasted until 1993.  In that year the UN finally intervened in Cambodia and created a new democratic state, organised elections and effectively transformed Cambodia into a democracy (with King Sihanouk reinstated as its head of state).  It would take until 1999 before the Khmer Rouge disarmed and completely surrendered so peace would come back to Cambodia after more than 35 years of war and hostilities.  An international UN-Cambodian tribunal was created in 2004 and the Khmer Rouge leadership was put on trial as from 2008 for the genocide of 1975-1979.  Pol Pot died in peaceful exile in Thailand in 1998, so he was never put on trial and some of the other leaders were already too old to be able to complete their entire trial for health reasons.  Until today Cambodia is still infested with landmines dating from that long period of war (tourist zones are safe though).

Skulls found on the premises

So back to me visiting Phnom Penh.  The killing fields of Chhoeung Ek (actually a former Chinese graveyard) are a very, very cold, macabre place, you can feel death there.  It feels just like a visit to Auschwitz in Poland.  Mass graves were discovered here, as well as in many other parts of Cambodia.  Millions have found their death during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.  The bones have now been dug up and placed in a stupa, but until today, during raining season, bones, teeth, skulls and clothes come floating up out of the ground and are collected by the ground keepers to be placed into the stupa as well.  Many of these bodies will never be identified, though mostly they can identify the way they died by examining their skulls.  The killing fields were no detention centre as Auschwitz was, the killing fields were places were people would be sent to be executed brutally.  As bullets were too expensive and made too much noise, prisoners were killed by a stump on the back of their heads, by decapitation with a machete, …  and all this with loud propaganda or music on the background.

My tuk-tuk driver

This used to be a school: detention centre S-21

After my visit to Chhoeng Ek, my tuk-tuk driver drove me back to Phnom Penh, to an old school, known as detention centre S-21 (Tuol Sleng).  This former school became a detention centre right after the Khmer Rouge evacuated the city of Phnom Penh.  If there was a minor doubt on your allegiance to the Khmer Rouge, they would lock you up here, torture you (but keep you alive) until you admitted to crimes you didn’t commit.  You then had to sign a document to declare your crimes, so they would have a valid reason to execute you.  Cells in this complex didn’t have doors, but you would be cuffed to the ground with your feet so you wouldn’t be able to move, nor to even turn around in your sleep (if you would be able to sleep at all).  In the current museum huge boards with pictures of victims can be seen.  These pictures were made by prison staff, mostly young uneducated boys from the country side.  As with most dictatorial regimes, everything was very-well documented.  This was a very impressive day for me and in the evening I didn’t feel like doing anything anymore, I had the same bad, empty feeling again as I had after visiting Auschwitz.  Things like this should never ever happen again and all human beings should visit a place like this at least once in their life.

The throne hall of the Cambodian King

For the next day I booked a bus that was bound to leave for Siem Reap at 13.30, so that gave me some time to visit the one place in Phnom Penh I hadn’t visited yet: the Royal Palace.  This is a magnificent place and reminded me a lot of the Royal Palace in Bangkok.  During my visit I saw the beautiful throne hall as well as the Royal “Wat” (a wat is a temple complex).  There was even a miniature version of the big temple of Angkor Wat, which actually wasn’t a temple but also a royal palace.  As in Theravada Buddhism the king is revered as a god-like being, calling the king’s palace a temple wouldn’t really be very wrong.  Considering your king as a god-like being is actually not a real Buddhist principle, but is inherited from Hinduism, where kings are considered as beings send by the gods to control peace on earth.  In Thailand this is still a basic principle in the royal reverence, which became very clear when the very popular King Bhumibol died last year and was cremated this week after a full year of mourning.

Detail of the roof of the throne hall

I spent about an hour and a half at the Royal Palace and then returned to my hotel to pack, have a last drink at the bar and wait for my pick-up to the bus station.  The ride to Siem Reap went quite well, a large part of the road was highway.  It took 6h to finish the 320km from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.  I safely arrived at Siem Reap after dark and met my friend Mark at the bus station.

The royal temple

Busticket to Siem Reap

Bus to Siem Reap

Discovering Cambodia’s capital

Wat Langka

On my first day in Phnom Penh, I slept until 10 am, as I was really exhausted after my very early 14h long bus ride from Bangkok the day before.  I had some breakfast at the hotel, took a shower and felt fit enough to make a big walk through the city (14km).  When I arrived at Phnom Penh yesterday, I noticed that it was very different from the rest of the country.  It actually looked more prosperous: the roads leading up to the city suddenly became highways with 2 lanes in each direction, shops were better equipped, there was less visible poverty, …

Independence Monument

I started my walk at the Independence Monument and the nearby Wat Langka. Wat Langka is a Buddhist temple where tourists can train in the art of meditation. This is only on certain days of the week and it happened to be just those days of the week I wasn’t in Phnom Penh.  There wasn’t actually much more to see as in any other Buddhist temple, so I walked on to the Independence Monument and the statue of King Sihanouk. I noticed that the independence monument is not aligned straight with the square where King Sihanouk’s memorial is placed. Is there a reason for this (no straight-forward democracy for example), or is it a coincidence? Maybe Cambodian history can teach me!

Memorial of King Sihanouk

Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship monument

I continued my walk via the revolutionary styled Cambodia-Vietnam friendship monument, taking a look inside the nearby Wat Botum and arriving at the Royal Palace... which was closed at that moment.  I decided to visit it later and continued my city discovery.  Walking through the streets of Phnom Penh, you can clearly see that the French have been here before, just like in Vietnam baguettes are sold everywhere on the street: filled with eggs, vegetables and/or meat.  My walk continued via Wat Ounalom (the name reminds me of a James Bond villain in 'The Golden Eye'), which is the temple where the leading monk of Cambodian Buddhism resides.  This importance reflects clearly in the even bigger than usual overdose of gold used in this temple.

Wat Botum

Wat Ounalom

The riverwalk next to the Tonlé Sap

The next stop was another temple, Wat Phnom, located on an artificial hill in the middle of a roundabout.  I arrived there by following the board walk next to the Tonlé Sap river.  From here I had a clear view on the confluence of the Tonlé Sap and Mekong.  I wonder if Mekong doesn't mean something like 'mother river', mee meaning mother and khlon meaning canal/waterway in Thai.  Wat Phnom is located in the middle of a roundabout in a city full of noisy traffic, thus you would expect not to find any peace nor tranquility in this place.  But guess again, the trees surrounding the hill effectively stopped noise from going up.  When you get to the end of the stairs leading to the top of the small hill, you don’t hear any city noises anymore.  The temple had some nice Buddha statues and behind the temple building, a monk was giving advice to locals.

Wat Phnom

After a short meditation session at the temple, I descended back to the ground and started walking back towards my hotel.  Phnom Penh actually is a very busy city and walking around isn’t easy.  Sidewalks are in bad shape and cars are parked all over them.  At every corner of the street a tuk-tuk driver is waiting and offering you his services (sometimes in a rather aggressive way).  Traffic in the street just doesn’t seem to follow any logical flow or rule.  But then I saw a building behind which I knew for sure a straight, logical traffic flow would exist, no chaos but good organisation: the train station.

Train station

The train station has been built by the French and that is clearly noticeable in its colonial style.  It is a quite simple white functional building and when I got to the platform behind it, it reminded me a lot of the now defunct train station of Tirana (Albania).  Trains only run a few times per week, so I got the chance to thoroughly examine the rolling stock.  The Cambodian railway company is called Royal Railway, in honour of their king.  They’ve got fairly modern renovated passenger coaches and their locomotives operate on diesel.  While I was examining the rolling stock parked at the platform, my attention was suddenly drawn away by something that was standing near the staff parking: there was a very beautiful steam locomotive, built by the Société Franco-Belge (aka a Belgian-made locomotive, because Franco-Belge mostly means 10 French guys looking how 1 Belgian builds it).  After spending quite some time here, I returned to the hotel and freshened up for my Cambodian dinner.

Carriages

Diesel locomotive

Old steam-locomotive

The Quest to Cambodia

I planned my trip from Bangkok to Phnom Penh in such a way that it wouldn’t be any hassle or stress (last time I went there by train and taxi, which was rather a hassle).  I bought an e-Visa on the official government website and also booked my bus ticket in advance on 12go.asia - the only disadvantage was that the direct bus would leave Bangkok Mo Chit Bus Terminal at 5 am in the morning.  So at 3 am I got up, took a shower, made sure everything was packed and checked out so that at 3.45 am I was in a taxi on my way to Mo Chit.  Arriving there only 15 minutes later, I made my way to the ticketing counter of the International Transport Co.  I had to exchange my voucher for an actual ticket.  This went very quick and at 4.10 am I was waiting for the bus at bus platform 106.  At 5 am I got a bit worried as the bus wasn’t there yet, but staff reassured me that it was bound to come any moment now.

My bus ticket from Bangkok to Phnom Penh

The bus which should have brought me from Bangkok to Phnom Penh

Indeed, a few minutes late the bus arrived, all passengers boarded and the first leg of the trip to the border at Poi Pet started.  Underway the bus made several stops to pick up goods that needed to be transported to Cambodia.  They even loaded big car parts (a motor hood for example) and placed them in the bus together with the passengers.  It was very calm in the bus though, I think there was a total of maybe 10 passengers on board.  Arriving at the border a tout came up to me and immediately wanted to grasp my passport.  I asked him what he was up to and he said he only wanted to check if I had a valid visa.  I knew he was trying to scam me, but I was curious what he would say as soon as he noticed I actually already had a visa.  Of course he wanted to scam me for 20 USD and he said my visa was okay, but still needed “an official stamp”.  I told him straight in his face that he was a big liar and that he should stop trying to scam innocent tourists.  I grasped my passport and walked to the border post.

Crossing the border goes in fact quite fast, as long as you know exactly what you have to do.  First step is Thai exit checks: Foreign passports on the first floor, Thai passports on the ground floor.  They stamp your passport to confirm you’re leaving the country, just like they would do at the airport.  Next step is to walk across the bridge into Cambodia.  There are also some official-looking touts waiting to scam you, just ignore them and go to the first building on the right side of the road (so cross the road as you’ll be entering the country at the left-hand side of the road).  The first building is where you can buy a visa, the fee is 30 USD and you’ll need a passport-sized photo.  If you already bought an e-Visa, you can skip this step and go directly to the Cambodian Immigration which is along the road behind the big casino, also on the right hand side of the street.  Enter the building, fill out a small arrival/departure card and walk up to one of the officials there.  They will scan your fingerprints and stamp your visa and passport.  The entire process from Thailand into Cambodia only took me 15 minutes.

Toilets during 'pee-breaks'

I was now officially in Cambodia and free to move around.  My direct bus was waiting for me just opposite the casino (I passed it already to go get my passport stamp) and I could board it another 15 minutes later at 10 am.  Surprisingly I was the first passenger boarding the bus.  And even more surprisingly, the driver started driving toward Phnom Penh before anybody else boarded the bus.  Apparently I was the only passenger going to Phnom Penh, all the others just needed to go to Poi Pet.  After departure in Poi Pet I received a small meal (fried rice with shrimps - the kind they sell at 7-eleven) included in my bus ticket.  The bus continued slowly on a bad road through dense Cambodian traffic.  As soon as we left Poi Pet, there was jungle on my left… and jungle on my right with big sugar palms sticking their heads out above all other vegetation.  And there was also an abandoned railway which was currently being renovated for future use.  I even saw that contrary to the last time I was there, they constructed a railway line going all the way down passing the border posts into Thailand, effectively connecting Aranyaprathet in Thailand with Poi Pet in Cambodia by rail.  On the road to Phnom Penh, I noticed that there were still some parts of the line missing and being constructed.

Cambodia is clearly poorer than Thailand.  Shaky wooden houses are build on concrete or wooden poles to create distance between the ground and the house to avoid flooding during the raining season.  Roads are mostly just made out of dirt and the few asphalted roads are in bad condition.  The asphalted roads are in fact the highways, but they just have one lane in each direction, so nothing near a decent highway.  The roads are also in a very bad shape and irregular roadworks are going on everywhere.  The road to Phnom Penh goes all the way around the Tonlé Sap lake and sometimes you get some nice views of it.  The huge Tonlé Sap lake is located at the middle of Cambodia and during rain season covers a surface of up to 16000 m² (almost 9% of Cambodia’s total surface), whereas outside of the raining season it can go down to a surface of only 2700 m² (less than 1,5% of the total Cambodian surface).  During raining season water actually doesn’t leave the lake, but only runs down into it.  Normally the Tonlé Sap river floods into the Mekong, but during raining season the Mekong river is so full that water from the Mekong actually flows into the Tonlé Sap river down to the Tonlé Sap lake, where it cannot flow away.

The interior of the broken-down bus

When we got to the city of Battambang at noon, the bus driver told me I had to change to another bus as something was technically wrong with the air-conditioning of the bus I was traveling on.  I actually didn’t notice anything being wrong with it, but I presume as I was the only passengers they decided to make me travel in an other bus to save on diesel.  After almost an hour of waiting in Battambang, I boarded the other bus and I saw how they loaded all packages from Thailand in the cargo hold of the other bus.  This bus was almost full and made stops at every small village on the road to make people/packages get on and off the bus.  At a certain point they also stopped to have a guy with a big high-pressure cleaner clean a machine part which was in the cargo hold.

After a very long ride I finally arrived at Phnom Penh at 7 pm, one hour later than promised.  I’m on holiday, so that small delay didn’t really matter.  I continued with a tuk-tuk to my hotel for 3 USD (but at first the driver asked me 15 USD to bring me to my hotel - 15 USD is the price you pay for an entire day of tuk-tuk services, not just for a ride - a ride within the city should always cost between 1 and 5 USD depending on the distance and your negotiating skills).  I was received very friendly at my hotel (TeaHouse Asian Urban Hotel), which seems to be some luxurious back-packer hotel.  The hotel has got good wi-fi, a swimming pool, small breakfast buffet, … the airconditioned rooms are medium-sized with en-suite bathroom and are clean, the bed was soft.

The interior of the restaurant where I had dinner

As soon as I checked in and left my luggage in my room, I went out to find a shop for a sim-card.  It was already 8pm so I was quite afraid everything would be closed.  Luckily for me I found a shop which was still open.  I bought a sim-card for 5 USD (with 5,50 USD free credit) and charged it for another 5 USD (as I had to charge it to activate it).  That way I would be able to easily contact my friend Mark in Siem Reap.  The guy at the shop had a hard time activating the 3G on my telephone though, but after 30 minutes he finally managed to make it work.

I hadn’t had anything to eat after my fried rice with shrimp at 10 am, so I searched the neighbourhood of my hotel for a restaurant.  It was quite dark outside and many things were already closed, but I did find a restaurant which was still open and I had dinner there.  It was called Sleek Chhouk and was rather expensive, but I did have a great meal.  The interior was in a very trendy Cambodian/Asian style with low tables and floor cushions to sit on.  I ordered a Cambodian salad with apples and dried fish as well as sweet and sour fried fruit and vegetables with steamed rice.  Satisfied by this meal (but not really by the bill of 16 USD), I returned to my hotel and ended the day.

The land of the smile

Gate to Chinatown

I always wondered why they call Thailand the land of the smile. Yes for sure, people are very friendly, but when traveling with regular commuters on the Skytrain in Bangkok, I don’t see many smily faces. But yesterday it hit me: it’s not the Thai people smiling, it’s tourists like me smiling on the street, walking around in the sunshine in a nice climate, enjoying good food, visiting beautiful sights, ... hence the land of the smile.

Wat Saket

Royal Pavillion Mahajetsabadin

The last few days in Bangkok have been very busy, but I did manage to make some new discoveries by just walking around in the city. I made a huge 17km walk from my hotel on Silom Road towards Thon Buri on the other side of the river.  I started by walking to China Town and passing through its small alleyways full of little shops selling virtually everything you can imagine.  I had my daily breakfast of fresh-cut pineapple wrapped in 2 plastic bags there.  From Chinatown I continued toward the Golden Mountain (Wat Saket), one of my favourite temples in Bangkok.  The climb up always clears my thoughts and if my mind is not clear enough yet when I get to the top, there’s always the 9 rounds around the peak of the building which will then certainly do the job.  Across the river from Wat Saket lies the Royal Pavillion of Mahajetsabadin, which was closed today, just like many other sights.

Khao San Road

I also noticed in the road that almost all Thai people were dressed in black.  I remembered reading somewhere that their deceased king will soon be buried.  Many roads around Wat Pho and the Royal Palace were closed and regularly cars accompanied by police bikers passed at high speeds.  Probably some important people bringing their last regards to the king.  Near Democracy Monument it got even worse and there were only people dressed in black, I actually stood completely out.  Thus I went to the nearby Khao San Road, where I didn’t stand out.  Many tourists walk there, though at the time of the day I was there, it was still quite calm.

Rama VIII-bridge

Thonburi Locomotive Depot

Back to the mourning crowds near Somdet Phra Pin Klao Road then and across the bridge to the other bank of the Chao Praya River.  From this bridge I had a very good view on the astonishing Rama VIII-bridge.  Thon Buri was much calmer today as Bangkok was.  I continued along Somdet Phra Pin Klao Road and took the turn at Arun Amarin Road.  There I suddenly got surprised by a heavy rainstorm.  Well… surprised?  It is raining season!  Luckily for me I was just next to Magiccoff, a small coffee bar and so I entered and drank a very nice iced coffee.  When the rain stopped and my coffee was finished I followed Arun Amarin Road a bit further down, across the bridge, arriving at what would become the height of my day: Thon Buri Station & Locomotive Depot.

It was unbelievable what I experienced there.  Thon Buri Locomotive Depot is a maintenance depot which is still in service, still I could enter it and make pictures of the 5 very old well-maintained Japanese-built steam locomotives as well as a selection of different thirdclass-cars and diesel locomotives, without anybody asking me any questions.  Apart from a big sign ‘safety first’, there wasn’t lots of safety measures to see.

Safety first?

Even very basic personal track safety rules were not being applied there and so it was no problem that I walked around next to the greasy tracks in my flip-flops not wearing an high-visibility vest.  Well of course I had some responsibility and I always looked well around me to be sure no trains were moving while I was passing the tracks.  While I was walking around there, another heavy rainstorm started, but the depot gave me enough shelter so I could continue my visit.  It was very interesting to see how the very old trains were better maintained than some of the more recent trains.  Reason is probably that the old trains are only used for special occasions, whereas the older ones are used on a daily basis.

Steam Locomotives

Car parked Thai style

Walking towards the station after my visit to the depot, I noticed some other strange things happening on and around the tracks.  For example: a car was parked on the tracks next to a level-crossing!  Anyway, my feet started to hurt so I decided to go back towards my hotel.  I walked to Wat Rakhang (rakhang means as much as “bell”), taking a ferry to Tha Chang Pier across the river and connecting there to the River Express to Tha Oriental, where it was a 5 minute walk to my hotel.

I freshened up and had the usual at my usual bar: a 1-litre cocktail-pitcher.  As I don’t want to be too much of a man of habits, I choose a Singapore Sling today, rather than a Cosmopolitan.  I met a German couple there, we started talking, started drinking shots and…  The next day I had a serious hangover and my head felt like it could explode any moment, so I stayed at the hotel the entire morning.  In the afternoon I met up with a friend at IKEA Bangkok as he needed some help buying curtains and after that I returned to the hotel to pack for the next day.