The Long Road (and Border Crossing) to Cambodia!

November 18-20.

What would have been an hour or so flight took nearly 24 hours by overland travel. My friend Peter, when we were in French West Africa, had said he enjoyed seeing the landscapes and meeting locals, it was more enjoyable than flying, blah blah blah. I could see his logic but frankly, I think I’d rather fly next time HAHA. From the islands of southern Thailand, I took a ferry/bus to the mainland and the train back to Bangkok, where I stayed overnight. I met up with two of the French guys I’d met in Koh Lanta, one of whom lived in Bangkok and the other trying to, swam in the rooftop pool and we had a fantastic dinner in Chinatown.

The first train to the Thai border town left at 6 a.m. and cost less than US$2. I love Seat61.com (best guide for worldwide overland travel) for all the detailed information it provides! Leaving Thailand, I realized that I had accidentally overstayed my visa by a day and was fined 500 baht (about US$15) by the Royal Thai Police. Oops.

The entry into Cambodia was filled with scams and it didn’t seem to end once we entered the country. (= overall opinion of Cambodia.)

1. Taxi from the train station to the Thai border took us to a fake Cambodia embassy fit with “Welcome to Cambodia” sign (before we had even left Thailand – how do people fall for this?). We simply walked to the Thai border ourselves.
2. To get our visa on arrival, the officials wanted a 100 baht (Thai currency) “processing fee” despite the sign saying it should be exactly and only US$20. I told him no a few times and then he finally turned in my paperwork. One of the girls on the train just gave him the evil eye. It took less than 10 minutes to get a ghetto handwritten visa back on our passports.
3. Bus to the Passenger Transit Center was free, but once at the center, you were charged an exorbitant (by Cambodian and Southeast Asian standards) amount for bus or taxi to the city of Siem Reap. I’m told it’s run by 3 different mafias and they alternate days.
4. The taxi we took that said we would be dropped off at our hotels actually dropped us off at a taxi station somewhere outside of town and we had no choice but to pay for another taxi to get into town because it was getting dark out. They said the taxi ride was free unless if we booked them there and then for US$15 for a tour of Angkor Wat the following day. Grrr. Also casually asked the efftard taxi driver about SIM cards, he said they were US$10 for foreigners but as a local he could get them for US$5. (Every other SIM card in SEA I’ve had has been US$0.25-2.00.) Evil eye.

I was rather cranky by the time I checked into my guesthouse and didn’t really leave my room much (do I feel like being wary/annoyed about constant scams/ripoffs/misinformation and suspicious of everyone I encounter today?) The outside world was hostile and I couldn’t be bothered with it. Not liking Cambodia at all. It was so unpleasant compared to every other Southeast Asian country I’d been to this year, which was pretty much all of them.

However, my NYC best friend Sri and his wife Nipa were arriving the following evening. Yaaaaaaaay! Excited to see them after a year! :D

The Emerald Cave (Morakot Cave) Near Koh Lanta!

November 18.

Now this is cool. 

Since I had my handy Petzl headlamp (which I later realized the hard way was not actually waterproof haha), I got to be the first of our snorkeling group to swim-traverse through the 80 meters of pitch-black cave tunnel to the awesome Emerald Cave.

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Pirates used to hide their stash in here!

Andrew had an app called Photosynth that did a 360 view. Click to expand! :D

The Emerald Cave was the highlight of a 4-island snorkeling tour (negotiated down to 600 baht/US$20 per person).

The first two sites were shite in terms of fish and coral. I swam around and tried free diving instead.

Stopping for lunch on the 4th island.

It rained. I LOVED ALL THE COLORS OF THE WATER!

Group photo! Andrew from Canada, Brandi from US, Krystoff from Germany (he’s a brew scientist!!)

It was beautiful out here!

Andrew took another 360 of us the beach. Click to expand! :D

Good day.

Loy Krathong in Koh Lanta!

November 17.

Loi Krathong is a festival celebrated annually throughout Thailand. The name could be translated “Floating Crown” or “Floating Decoration”, and comes from the tradition of making buoyant decorations which are then floated on a river. Loi Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. – Wikipedia

The festival is most incredible in Chiang Mai, which was in Northern Thailand. Everything was going to be very expensive and booked out by the time I learnt about this festival so I stayed in Koh Lanta.

Loi means ‘to float’, while krathong refers to the (usually) lotus-shaped container which floats on the water. Krathong has no other meaning in Thai besides decorative floats, so Loi Krathong is very hard to translate, requiring a word describing what a Krathong looks like such as Floating Crown, Floating Boat, Floating Decoration. – Wikipedia

The Chill Out House had a decoration-making activity. I didn’t partake. I wanted to buy a floating lantern and let one loose. A songthaew was organized for everyone.

It was a fun ride.

At the municipal area, there was a platform to release your floats. It was too windy for them to stay lit.

Mmm, what can I eat? I found some (poorly cooked) market pad thai.

Andrew found POPCORN!!!

YUM. I’d been craving popcorn the other night. I hadn’t had any in ages.

Add Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai to bucket list!

(borrowed from Wikipedia)

My Favorite Place! Koh Lanta!

November 5-19.

I lived on Koh Lanta for two weeks. It was my happy place! :D The original intent was one week for travel burnout rehab, but I was cured within the first two days and I just loved this darn Thai island so much I ended up staying until my visa expired (and then one day more, oops!).

Every day began with a morning swim on my nearly-private beach.

For most the time, I had my own bungalow for US$10/night. When I was in French West Africa for a month, I had been daydreaming of it haha.

It was basic, clean, comfortable, and ALL MINE! The beach was a minute’s walk away.

I almost felt domestic, keeping it tidy inbetween hammock sessions.

Scooters were US$5/day and the same for a full tank. (FREEDOM! JOYRIDING!) Sam, the owner/manager(?), was really sweet.

Blog for a few hours, long leisurely lunch, floating meditation in the afternoon in the ocean, hanging out with other (interesting!) travellers who also fell in love with the place… There was such an absence of any stress at all, it was blissful. The biggest concern was deciding what I wanted to eat for dinner.

Part of the reason I love Koh Lanta was all the fun/amazing/interesting people I met.

Everyday was a new story.

Sunset was a social event.

There were beach bar parties but I never went to them.

Chill Out House was a treehouse-idea community that my travel best friend Kenan had recommended.

His sixth-grade ex-girlfriend, who owns the place, said that he had ended up staying about three weeks.

I could always go there to meet people or hang out.

There was a group of five French guys who had gone to uni together and met up periodically. They were super fun! I met up with Julian and Stephane when I passed through Bangkok on my way out of the country.

Rawy had fallen in love with Koh Lanta as well. He and I were kind of the last ones left of the original group when I left.

Skinny dipping team!

Other days I would just ride around the island to see what I could find. A super cool girl from Los Angeles named Diana joined me for this particular day. We had a lovely date together hahaha.

I forget what we ordered but I went back to this restaurant/cooking school that Emilio and Simon introduced me to several times.

Some days it rained in the mornings or evenings.

My buddy Phil who I had met way back in the beginning of my trip back in January was finishing his travels and stopped by before he went back to the UK.

One snorkelling tour took us to the Emerald Cave, which will require its own blog post. It was remarkable.

One of the other islands on the snorkelling tour.

Definitely a place I could return to. <3