October was another busy month and I still haven’t posted our vacation photos from Pattaya or Chiang Mai, but I’ll get around to it soon (right after we move back into our Vancouver apartment, I buy a new computer, and finish catching up on work). Anyway, over the last few weeks we’ve been busy packing up our Bangkok apartment and selling the stuff we can’t bring back with us. In about 14 hours we will begin our 18 hour journey through progressively colder places from Bangkok to Tokyo to Vancouver. If all goes well we should be landing at YVR on flight AC004 around 11:30am, Thursday, October 25. We’re both looking forward to being back home, but at the same time we’ve grown to love many things about Bangkok and Thailand during our 6 months here, and we will miss it. See you soon!

Well September has been a busy month for Fiona and I, but we are almost through it.  Last weekend our landlords kindly invited us to spend the weekend with them in a beautiful company condo on the beach in Pattaya.  We have a few interesting photos from that trip that I will add to our gallery when I get the chance.  Today was officially Fiona’s last day at the university and she had a nice send-off from her students who gave her various gifts in appreciation of her excellent teaching.  Tomorrow Fiona leaves for Hanoi, Vietnam for a much deserved break and a chance to renew her visa for our last month in Thailand.

My parents, John and Joan, will be visiting us in Bangkok on Monday next week.  They flew into Hong Kong yesterday and just sent me this update:

We are here in Hong Kong, safe and sound after a long 13 and a half hour flight.  Actually, the flight went very well since the plane was only about half full and we each had 2 seats to ourselves. We’re getting adjusted to H.K. time by trying to get to sleep at the regular times here.  That meant being up for more than 24 hours yesterday.  This morning we were wide awake at 3 am.  Today, we went on an all-day tour of Hong Kong.  It was very good, so informative and we saw a lot of very interesting sights.  Our tour even included lunch.  Hong Kong is an amazing place–so many people and traffic all the time.  It is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with over 7 million people living in 1100 square kilometres.  The stores are open until 11 or 12 at night so we have been out exploring the markets in the evenings.  We took a lot of photos and movies today.

Tomorrow we are planning to do some exploring on our own, doing some walking in Kowloon, and taking the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island. 

It has been very warm here about 34 degrees today with very high humidity.

That’s all for now, hopefully there will be more updates in October.

-Mike

Photos from the second half our trip around Krabi on Thailand’s west coast. We stayed in Ton Sai and Koh Phi Phi and had a great time rock climbing and relaxing.

Slide Show link

We’re back and had a wonderful trip to the islands in the gulf of Thailand and the west coast of Thailand. The first set of photos is of our time in Koh Tao, Koh Samui, and Angthong National Marine Park.

Here’s the link to a fullscreen slide show of the album

At last, Fiona and I get to share somewhat of a significant vacation together.  This is the trip we have been looking forward to while in Thailand.  Tonight we leave on a train to Chumphon, and will then take a ferry to the island of Ko Tao which is supposedly a diver’s paradise.  From there we plan to go to Ko Samui, and then we will make our way to the west coast of the peninsula to Krabi, which is a climber’s paradise.  We will end our trip in Phuket, and then fly back to Bangkok on the 17th of August.

Every now and then we get to thinking about all the things that people who spend two weeks in Thailand have seen that we haven’t. Like the Reclining Buddha of Wat Pho, or the (in)famous Khao San Road. So we decided to head on over to the area most popular with tourists and check it out. We started with Wat Pho which was, as expected, rather spectacular. Even with all the snap-happy people from tour bus groups crowded into the barely-big-enough hall that houses the Buddha. And the constant tinkling noise from people dropping coins into the row of brass(?) pots just adds to the atmosphere.

After wandering around the grounds a bit we ventured out with no clear destination in mind. We eventually decided we were near enough the ‘giant swing‘ marked on all the sightseeing maps to go check that out. We really weren’t expecting all that much and were rewarded with…not much. There’s a reasonably big arch, painted red. I guess it used to be used in an impressive ceremony but nowadays it just presides over a roundabout. Our walk through the enormous candle and golden Buddha statue seller district was rewarded, however, when we happened on the wat across the street from the giant swing.

Wat Suthat is much smaller than some others, but really not a lot less impressive. And the THB 20 entry fee is far less than foreigner prices elsewhere. It was starting getting late in the day so the lighting and quiet atmosphere made everything seem a bit more…something. something good. There’s a pretty large Buddha statue inside, with the usual high ceilings and elaborate decoration but you feel a lot more at leisure to just sit and experience the atmosphere than you do when there’s a queue forming behind you…

Our other project for the day had been to figure out how to take a so-called ‘local bus’ to/from the area, and this was a most successful venture. A very affordable mode of transportation, if slow, and it helps to know where you are going.

Khao san and it’s backpackers can wait for another day.

Click on the album at the top of this post to browse our photos or click here for a fullscreen slide show.

Emily, who I’d met the night before, had arranged with our guest house for a driver to take her on a tour of the Floating Village at the Tonlé Sap River and was kind enough to allow me to join her. This was a nice change of pace from temple tours, and was an amazing opportunity to get a look at a unique Cambodian lifestyle outside the city. We appeared to be the only tourists visiting today which was especially nice because of the lack of pushy food and souvenir vendors that surround all the temples of Angkor. The rows of homes sitting high above the river on stilts were incredible, as were the floating homes on the river itself. As our tour boat passed by the homes, the children would run outside and wave a friendly “hello” and “good-bye.” We saw several fish traps along the banks of the river and eventually went out into the huge Tonlé Sap Lake where fishermen sell to villagers on floating markets.

Tonight Stephanie & Jenny, two friends traveling from California, joined Emily, Bruno and I for a little pub crawl in town that ended at the cleverly named ‘Angkor What?’ bar. All of us but Emily were planning to return to Bangkok the next morning, so we shared a taxi back to the border. It was a long slow journey back slowed by rainstorms and a flat tire but we eventually made it back to the city of angels. I was very happy to get back to our apartment with Fiona, who had just finished a busy week of work.

Here’s a link to the slide show of my photos of the last 2 days in Cambodia, or you can click the album above if the slide show doesn’t work on your browser.

On my first full day in Siem Reap I opted to buy a $40 3-day pass to see the temples. You might think I’d have had enough after touring though no less than 16 temples and monuments in the previous 2 days, but I wanted to get my money’s worth from the pass so I arranged to start the day early with the same tuk-tuk driver from yesterday. He suggested a longer drive to some of the further out temples and attractions, and they were well worth it. Today we would drive over 150km.

The first stop was a unique highly detailed sandstone temple called Banteay Srey. From there we went to see the River of 1000 Lingas which involved a very enjoyable short hike through the jungle, ending at a sacred waterfall. On the way back we would stop at two more temples, Banteay Samré and my favourite of them all, Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm was especially spectacular as large Silk Cotton trees have invaded the temple over the years and blend in with the rock ruins creating a kind of mystical feeling. I was very disappointed when my camera battery decided to die just a few minutes after entering Ta Prohm, but I still managed to get a few decent shots.

While eating dinner at the guesthouse, I met two friendly solo travelers, Bruno from Melbourne and Emily from New York and living in Paris, and we decided to check out the night scene and caught an entertaining band as well as some traditional Khmer dancing at the quirky Dead Fish bar while sampling local brews.

Click on the album above for today’s photos or click here for a fullscreen slide show.

I was planning to rent a bicycle and ride to the main attraction, Angkor Wat today, but after a bit of a late start and a sky full of threatening rain clouds I decided to hire another tuk-tuk. Angkor Wat certainly lived up to the hype, it was pretty spectacular. I also saw much of Angkor Thom which contains The Bayon, the Baphoun, Prasats Suor Prat towers, and the Terrace of the elephants. After that I still had time for Thommanon, Ta Keo, and the sunset at Phnom Bakheng.

Click on the album to browse today’s photos or click here for a fullscreen slide show.

I arranged with my guest house for a tuk-tuk driver to take me to the ruins of Angkor today. My driver suggested starting with what they like to call the Grand Tour Circuit, bypassing the main attraction of Angkor Wat and doing a loop that passes several other amazing ruins in the area. Today I would see 7 temples plus a man-made rectangular lake:

Prasat Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, Pre Rup, Banteay Kdei, Sras Srang baray and Prasat Kravan.

I took hundreds of photos and was exhausted at the end of the day. I decided to check out of the first guesthouse when I got back and moved to Two Dragon’s, which I found much more enjoyable, and cheaper to boot.

Click on the album image above to browse the photos highlights, or click here for a fullscreen slide show. (Requires Java, just click ‘OK’ if any warnings pop up - don’t worry, nothing bad will happen)