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.

And so the journey begins

Welcome back on my blog.  It's been a while since I wrote my last travel report, but for this trip I decided to start again.  I'm traveling to Cambodia to visit the school project I've been supporting for a few years now (visit www.theangkortreeproject.org for more on that) and Thailand to visit my family for Loi Krathong (the celebration at the end of the raining season).

Aircraft ready to board

At Brussels Airport I got the chance for the second time in my life to use the eGates for EU-passports.  The gates didn't work well this time, I put my passport twice in the device and each time I was being refused, I was following the instructions, but still I thought I was doing something wrong...  Until the police officer came to assist me: the guy behind me was so anxious that he wasn't waiting behind the red line, but was actually blocking the first gates behind me from closing.  That way the eGates couldn't let me pass the border.  The rude police officer made the guy very clear that the red line was there for a reason and not just for decoration.

I learned something for those who are fond of priority boarding.  If you choose a seat rather at the back of the airplane, you're likely to be called for boarding with the first flow of passengers as they now board per zone in the aircraft.  The disadvantage is that you'll be disembarking the aircraft as one of the last passengers.

As usual I traveled with Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi.  There are actually two possibilities to travel from Brussels to Bangkok, one with a 2h30 overlay at Abu Dhabi, the other one with an overlay of 4h30.  Since I recently became Etihad Guest Silver again, I decided to choose for the latter option as to be able to take maximum advantage of the lounge facilities offered at Abu Dhabi Airport.

I'm always very satisfied when flying with Etihad, even though I notice every time that they are cutting back on their on-board service to get their finances in order.  I noticed that the café service has been cancelled and only the hot meal is being served, together with drinks.  There's also just one drink round, whereas before you would get two rounds (one with your meal and one during the café service).  Still, for the price of my ticket I get great service and I shouldn't forget that I'm actually just paying to travel from point A to point B and that for the biggest part of the trip I'll just be sleeping or watching movies (this time I saw Alien Covenant, The House and Good Will Hunting, a film which made me think about my own life).

The Al Reem lounge at Abu Dhabi made up for the missing café service: a small buffet with warm and cold food, as well as a range of delicious sweets (such as bavarois and baklava) and a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks made it a more than enjoyable stay.  There was even a shower in case I wanted to freshen up in between flights.

Al Reem Lounge at Abu Dhabi Airport

Leaving Brussels at 10h55, I arrived on time in Bangkok at 9h10 the next day, a very comfortable time to start the day.  I got my luggage, changed into some lighter clothes at the airport and took the Airport Express City Line to Phaya Thai, where I changed to the BTS Skytrain to my hotel on Silom Road.  Working for Eurostar gives me some great advantages, for example: I can stay at luxurious Accor hotels for a very low price.  That's exactly what I did this time (and for that matter almost every time I travel to Asia): I booked the Novotel at Silom Road.  Arriving at the front desk, a silent alarm went off with all staff hearing my name.  With twenty "our apologies" and thirty "we're sorry's" I was for some reason immediately taken to the Priority Check-In desk as my key was prepared there and my room was ready (funny, because while I was queuing at the "normal" front desk I overheard staff saying to other guests that they were too early and the rooms were not ready yet).  I got many many many many many "thank you's" for being member of their loyalty programme as well as for coming back to their hotel.  I paid and got my room on the 17th floor, with a nice view towards the north of Bangkok.

In the room they had something new this time: a smartphone with free unlimited 4G internet and free unlimited national and international calls.  I was even allowed to take the phone out of my room into the city for the duration of my stay.  This added value actually impressed me a lot and probably is a good reason to keep coming back to this hotel.

I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth and went out for a foot massage.  My legs were swollen and my feet were sore after 14h of airplane.  So I walked down Silom Road towards Soi 2 and 4 (well-known for their gay venues) and entered a massage salon which looked serious (by which I mean: the not-happy-end-kind of spa).  Well... I must say, I had a great massage.  A typical Thai foot massage always ends with 5 minutes back, neck and shoulder massage.  Since a few weeks I have had some heavy aches in my spine and after the masseuse gave me 3 neck and 6 back cracks, all the pain was completely gone.  Obviously I've tipped her abundantly.  Actually, I would call this a real happy end!