A True Adventure

On Tuesday 27th April, we got a Tuk Tuk from our hotel (Ta som) to the Angkor Check Point, where you buy your tickets. This is about 3 km from the city and shouldn’t cost you any more than $2 for a Tuk Tuk. They tried charging us $5, but I bargained them down to $2, and they were more than happy to do this. You will need to go back to the check point every day you go to the temples, to get your ticket stamped.

You can hire a Tuk Tuk out for the day, for about $10. This will include being driven around to all the temples, for the whole day. If you want a guide on top of this, be prepared to pay around $15 for the day, or $3 individually for each temple, on top of transport costs. This can either be arranged before you set off, through your hotel, or when you get to the temples. It is cheaper to wait till you get to the temples to get a guide, as the hotel takes a commision on top of the guides price.

The other option is to hire out bicycles and bike around the temples. It is about 6 km from the city to the Angkor Wat Temple and a further 3 Km to Angkor Thom.

We hired out bicycles for $1 each, for the day. You can pick the bike up early in the morning and drop it back off around 10 pm.  We found this a great way to get around, as you have the freedom to stay or leave the temples as you please. Plus you can explore some of the other temples, close by, that tour guides will not include. Just get yourself a map of the Angkor area, a guide book, a bicycle and your off. This will cost you no more than $4 dollars each and you will have all the freedom you want! Plus it keeps you fit:) Just one tip, bring water in a thermos flask if you can. This will save you a lot of money, as they will charge you a lot more for water around the temples. However I managed to get 3   500 ml bottles for $1. They will try and charge you $1 a bottle.

Entering Angkor

The ticket price for all the Angkor Temples is $20 for a 1 day pass, $40 for a 3 day pass or $60 for a 7 day pass. We got a 3 day pass. Most people told us that a 1 day pass would not be long enough. They were right. 3 days will give you a good glimpse at most of the temples, however if you want to explore them all, at a more relaxed pace, I’d say get a 7 day pass.

What you need for your day out at Angkor

• Money for your ticket and water.
• Good walking shoes, as the ground is uneven
• Plenty water
• Transport (Tuk Tuk, walking, bike, tour bus)
• Compass
• Map of Angkor
• Guide book/Tour Guide

Map of angkor

We will write about our experience at the Angkor temples in our next blog,

Ruth and Paul

We took a bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap on Sunday 25^th April. Our Thailand visa ran out on this day, so it was important to leave, otherwise we would get charged 500 Baht (£10) for each day we over stayed our visa.

We organised our bus with our hotel. It cost us 950 Baht (£19) each. We were in a rush to get a bus as our visa was running out. We later found out, that if we had got our bus ticket from Khao San Road, that we would of got it for a lot cheaper. It should have been about 300-400 baht (£6-£8) each. So it is best to shop around. Also remember if you get it with your hotel they will be taking a commission, so it will cost a lot more!

We were picked up by a taxi from our hotel at 7 am and dropped off on Khao San Road. We had a guy following the taxi on a moped. He works for the bus company, to make sure we get on the bus. We were told we would be getting a coach, but we were led to a small mini bus, seating 12 people. We weren’t happy about this, as the mini bus option was a cheaper price; we purposely paid for the coach.

We set off at around 8.00 am. The journey from Bangkok to the Poi Pet border, took around 4 hours. We were dropped off at a travel agent shop, near the Poi Pet border. We were all greeted by 3 members of staff, who gave us an arrival card to fill out and a visa form. You can apply for your Cambodian Visa on the border, so we were confused as to why we had stopped here. We soon realised what was happening. The bus company drop you off at this travel agent, where they tell you that you need to get your visa here. They charge you 1200 Baht (£24), and they drive to the border with your forms and passports and get your visas for you. We were all confused and at one point everyone from the bus, stood up and said ‘This isn’t the official place to get our visa’s’. A man from the UK was amongst us, and reassured us that it was ok as he had done this many times, and got his visa through them. He explained that they charge you a little extra, for the service of going to get your visa, but that he felt it saved a lot of hassle at the border.

In the end we just decided to go with it, as the guy had reassured us. Well we got our visa ok. The guy came back on the bike with all our passports, with the visas inside.

Once everyone was ready, they walked us to the border. We were told that it was too busy at the border and that’s why we have to fill our forms out with them. Well we still had to queue when we got there, and would have had plenty time to fill out two forms in a queue that we have to stand in anyway.

Although it worked out fine getting the visa with them, we wouldn’t do it again. When you get to the border you can pick up the forms you need for your visa. You just need to fill in an arrival and departure card, and a visa form. You need to make sure you have two passport photos for your visa. Also take some dollars with you. The price of the visa on the border is $20 or 1100 baht .They were charging us 1200 baht . So when they tell you they are only charging an extra 100 baht it doesn’t seem so bad, however 1100 baht is $35 Dollars. So if you pay at the border with dollars, you save yourself 450 Baht ($15).

These agents make sure they pay in Dollars. So in total they are making 550 Baht per application.

On top of this they try to get you to take out 10,000 Baht (£200) on the Thai side of the border, we didn’t fall for this but many in our group did. They will tell you that cash machines in Cambodia only give out Dollars at a bad exchange rate. When you get across the border, they get you to change your 10,000 Baht into Cambodian Riel (at a very bad rate). They will tell you it’s the best place to change it. However Cambodia mostly deals in US dollars. Everything in shops and restaurants is priced in Dollars and all cash machines only dispense US Dollars. You will get a more competitive rate when you change your Dollars in the country and not at the border. The travel agent must be getting a commission for persuading us to change our money at the border! They were very persuasive and when I told him I was going to wait till I get to Cambodia, he said but there are hardly any cash machines and you will get a bad rate. These were all lies. There are loads of Cash machines in Siem Reap!

The bus journey from Poi Pet to Siem Reap took about 4 hours. We stopped half way at a café for about 45 Minutes. We were told we had to get off the bus. The only place we could sit was in the Café where you are pressured to buy food and drink. This must have been another commission stop!

We arrived In Siem Reap about 6pm. We were dropped off in a field (apparently Siem Reap bus station) where there were 5 Tuk Tuk (Taxi’s) waiting for us. The host on the bus directed us all to our Tuk Tuk. The host had been talking to us on the bus, telling us that when we get to the bus station a Tuk Tuk will take us to find a hotel and also organise a tour of Angkor Temples for us. We didn’t fancy paying for a Tuk Tuk and being hassled like this. So we decided to try and make our own way. We saw a sign saying Siem Reap Centre so headed towards that. We were in a built up area within 20 minutes of walking. We finally found our guesthouse and checked in to our room.

We are staying in Ta Som Guesthouse in Siem Reap. It costs $12 a night. The room is a good size and very comfortable. It also has Wifi and breakfast is included.

It was hard work getting here, with all the hassle from people, however Siem Reap is a very nice city and the Angkor Temples are more than stunning. We will write all about our adventures around the Angkor Temples in our next Blog.

What you need for your Cambodian Visa

2 Passport photos

$20 or 1100 Baht (£24)

500 Baht (£10) for everyday you have over stayed your Visa

Will power to not give in to touts and people who will try and con you!

Smile and patience

Paul and Ruth

We left for Bangkok on Wednesday 21st April. Ning took me to get our bus ticket from Chiangmai to Bangkok a couple of days before. We got our ticket for 600 Baht (£12) each. This is 250 Baht (£5) cheaper than we paid getting to Chiangmai from Bangkok. You get charged more when you go to a tour office, as they take a commission and will charge you as high as they can. Our mistake was that we didn’t look around more. When you are rushing to get a ticket it’s difficult though. Most of the time they will always drop their price, so there’s no harm in trying!

We left Chiangmai at 7.00 am and arrived in Bangkok at 5pm. The bus was really comfortable. We were served food and drinks throughout the journey and stopped half way to get a meal in a restaurant, that was included in the price. They didn’t have any vegetarian option though so I just had a plate of rice.

We stayed in the @Hua Lamphong hotel. We stayed here last time we were in Bangkok and were really happy with it. The staff are so friendly and helpful and the rooms are beautiful and very comfortable. The hotel has wifi and a Cafe. The staff in the cafe are extremely friendly and give you the best service! We were really impressed with this hotel and would definitely stay there again, if we return.

We only stayed in Bangkok for 4 nights. It is quite crazy in Bangkok at the moment because of the protests, so it wasn’t worth risking anything by going out. A lot of the streets are blocked by baracades made of car tires and sharpened bamboo. We were there when the blasts happened, just around the corner from our hotel. Luckily we were safe in our hotel that night.

We took a bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia on Sunday 25th April 2010. We will write about that journey in our next Blog.

Paul and Ruth

We had a fantastic time in Chiangmai. I have always wanted to go, after hearing many stories from my Dad and I was more than impressed. The people are so friendly and Chiangmai city has so much character. It is both modern and cultural at the same time. There is so much to see around Chiangmai that we were unable to do everything in 2 weeks. We definitely want to return! We would of liked to see Chiang Rai and more of the surounding areas. We also want to return to the Lisu Village to spend more time there and maybe stay over in the village.

It was especially good having Suriya and Ning to show us around. You really get to see a more ‘real’ side of a place when you are with locals. They took us to local restaurants, local super markets and local attractions.

We went out for dinner with Ning and her family one night, to a large local restaurant. You all get a heater in the middle of your table and you go and select what meat, vegetables, noodles, sauces ect that you want and cook it on the heater. This is a really nice way of lengthening your meal out and socializing at the same time. There was so much choice of meat and fish, so that wasn’t so good for me, being a vegetarian, but it was still fantastic! We really enjoyed being surrounded by the locals and eating like they do, and tasting Thai food in it’s true form. Ning was explaining that alot of the Thai food in the tourist restaurants is nothing like traditional Thai food.

You could eat as much as you wanted at the restaurant. You just keep going back and cooking more food up! The total of the food for all 8 of us was roughly the same price as a meal for 2 in a tourist restaurant. So it’s best to eat with the locals or at least in the local restaurants! If you can find them that is. They are never in the tourist areas, you need to go a little bit out.

Summary of Chiangmai
Average price of a Budget Hotel- £5-10
Average meal cost- £2-£3
Favourite Day out: Hill Tribes, Elephant Riding on Mae Ping River.

On Friday 16th April 2010, we went to visit some hot springs with Ning and pi Toiy, a friend who works with Ning. Alot of locals go here to bathe their feet into the hot springs, and some even get fully in. This seems crazy in the heat! I managed to slowly put my feet into the water, but I found it too hot to keep it in their for too long! We looked around for a while and then went for lunch together.

Hot Springs

On the way back we went to visit some shops. We went to see where Silk is made. First we went to a demonstration room, where you can see them making the silk on the machines. They have to concentrate so much as they have to count how many of each colour they have done, and keep count of the changes in the pattern. After watching them weave scarfs we went to look around the shop. You can purchase several things like scarfs, bedding, clothing, table matts and small sovouneirs.

We then went to see where bamboo umberellas are made. The umbrella frames are made completley of bamboo and the cover is decorated with different paintings.

Bamboo Umbrellas

We saw many beautiful things in the shops, but we had to resist! We can’t carry that much backage around! Plus we would soon run out of money if we kept buying.

Ruth and Paul