Ecstatic Pizzas, Cult Temples and the Killing Fields, Welcome to Cambodia! (Part I)

We had six days to go from Si Phan Don in southern Laos to deep inside the Cambodian jungle. All we had to do in that time was see everything that Cambodia's two largest cities have to offer, check out a temple complex that's way off the tourist trail, pay our respect at the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre and Tuol Sleng (S21) Museum, sort out visas for Vietnam within a day, squeeze in 24 hours of travel, keep you needy lot updated on our movements and sleep, eat and have the odd beer. 

We arrived in Siem Reap way beyond beer o'clock and broke one of our main travel no no's - eating dumbed down local food at foreigner prices at your guesthouse. However, after thirteen hours of travel a cold Angkor was a slice of heaven and helped to soften the blow.

After less than a day in Siem Reap we were nailing it. We'd seen markets, eaten some great street food, organised a tuk-tuk to go and see that little temple the following morning and had bus tickets to get us to Phnom Penh the day after. We were nailing it until this guy sucked us in. 

It was mid afternoon and we had time up our sleeve to squeeze in a pizza, chill for a bit and then head out at night. Unfortunately for us the restaurant owner had different ideas. He took a bit of a liking to us and wanted us to be happy that day. EXTRA happy in fact. "Have good sleep", he beamed as we began the journey back to our guesthouse.

6pm came and went. 11pm came and went. 4am came. Oh no, 4am!! Time to get up, time to get up, time to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. "Nix? Nix!! You getting up?" A little green monster rolled over and stared back at me and I knew Angkor wasn't happening. You go back to sleep my love, I'll go and have a conversation with our driver and try to explain that you're not well, at four in the morning, through extremely broken English.

Time to reconsider that grand plan. 

The temples of Angkor would have to wait until the following morning. They haven't gone anywhere in a long, long, long time so that was fine. But Phnom Penh would need to be compacted down into one very hectic afternoon and night. 

So, we again woke at 4am and this time it seemed infinitely easier to get out of bed. And safe in the knowledge that we were getting up for this -

it was a breeze.

And we pretty much had the sunrise to ourselves so that was nice.

After witnessing one of the world's most famous sunrises we spent some time wandering around Angkor Wat taking it in in the cool morning air where despite the grandeur of the temple, it was the macaques warming up to a day of mischief that stole the show.

Oh the pleasure in watching a tourist with no understanding of the type of monkey that they had on their hands steal their Oreos from their unsuspecting, weak as a wet hankie, grip. 

Next stop was Angkor Thom and Bayon - the one with all faces

We found our fearless tuk-tuk driver, Mr Dorn, amongst an ocean of tuk-tuks and off we went. The approach to Angkor Thom is quite surreal with 54 gods and 54 demons facing off on the bridge over the moat and it was made all the more surreal by the elephant sauntering along alongside as us we crossed.

Here are some pictures of serene Bayon.

Final stop was Ta Prohm - the jungle one. The one that was used in Tomb Raider

Ta Prohm has been left to continue its battle with the jungle to the point that some trees within the temple are the sticky tape and chewing gum that hold the place together. Some of the roots of the centuries old trees have more heft about them than most other trees can ever aspire to.

It's a lovely, green temple and was a nice one to finish on. Those three epic temples are part of the Small Circuit and to temple buffs it's pretty much sacrilegious to only do those three and to only spend a day at the complex but to us non-temple buffs that was enough. "The Eighth Wonder of the World" (hmm...) had lived up to its billing and we were more than satisfied with our experience. Time for another ice cold Angkor.

CLICK HERE for Phnom Penh and the Killing Fields.

No Reservations in Chiang Rai

Unfortunately our time in this wonderful country is coming to end. Before heading to the border we had a couple of nights relaxing in the riverside town of Mae Sariang, drinking Leos on the Yuam River, and then made a dash across the north to Chiang Rai.

That dash however was not so much of a dash and more of slow jog. We've become accustomed to rocking up at a bus station with a rough idea of the minivan or bus that we want to get on and then heading to a cheap guesthouse with one maybe two places in mind that sound cheap and decent. The travel gods had a vastly different plan this day.

We got to the Mae Sariang bus station with enough time to buy a ticket on the 8am minivan and squeeze in a quick noodle soup. Against the grain of all previous experiences, every minivan for that day was booked out and we had to take the bus leaving an hour later, that would take twice as long and cost the same price. 

Four and a half hours later we made it to Chiang Mai with the expectation that we'd be able to jump on a bus to Chiang Rai within the hour and would still get there at a decent time. However all buses were booked for the next three hours so it was time for another noodle soup and a little wait before hopping on said bus. Despite heavy rain and some erratic driving we made it and had just a short walk to the two guesthouses we'd earmarked.

First place - NO ROOM FULL

Second place - NO VACANCY

It was now closing in on 9pm and the expensive looking Wang Come Hotel was looking like a real possibility but fortunately option three, a $7 a night dive had beds (albeit seemingly made of concrete). A few beers put us to sleep nicely.

Anyway, Chiang Rai. We'd stopped in so we could head out to Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple. This is no ordinary temple. 

You really can't get anymore unconventional. It was designed by a guy called Chalermchai Kositpipat and he's received quite a bit of flak from the purists however f*ck the purists. This is an amazing, amazing complex and comparisons to Gaudi are not misplaced. 

Enough from me. Enjoy.

In May this year the temple was quite heavily damaged by an earthquake and it looked as though it may be demolished. Chalermchai's instead stated that he will rebuild it to it's former glory and will devote his whole life to it if that's what it takes. Sound like anywhere else you know?

We thought that it gave it more of a lived in feel anyway.

Final stop: Chiang Khong

High on Chiang Mai

After years of dreaming, we'd finally made it to Chiang Mai. I can't put my finger on exactly what it was that made us become so obsessed with making it there but after just 24 hours in the city anything we'd ever hoped for had been realised.

Just 15 short hours of travel got us there and the first port of call was a bowl of noodle soup followed by a few beers on the moat that rings the city, watching rats crawl in and out of drain pipes and a father and son attempt to hook a few of the fish that the moat is loaded with. They told me the name of the fish but I don't seem to be able to write or translate Thai.

The next morning we headed off and fed our temple addiction before walking out to Akha Ama. 

Coffee is a big, big deal in Chiang Mai and these guys are one of the main players. I started off with a decent espresso and Nix a cold drip, or 'Black Juice' if you will, and we shared a shakerato (a double espresso shaken with ice) which presents like a Belgian brune and has been added to the home recreation list.

We stopped at a couple of other nice thirdwave outlets and it never ceases to amaze me how impressive these coffeeshops in places like Chiang Mai are. A lot of what we saw in Chiang Mai wouldn't be out of place back home.

The rest of our time was spent lounging around, plotting our next moves, reading and refining backgammon strategies before heading out at night to one of the many, many markets that make Chiang Mai so famous. There is some very cool stuff on offer and good food. There's also a f*ckload of swanning.

We've just come from the east where people move through markets in a clockwise direction and it's one of those moment in your existence where you go, 'wow! People can operate together in a logical manner and not defy rational thought'. In Chiang Mai though? Throw a few tourists in the mix and all that rational thought goes out the window.

People go against the tide, across the tide, whole groups stop in the middle of proceedings and people just generally become disgustingly selfish and outside of what they want in that exact moment, nothing else matters.

So yes, the markets were cool but god people can be shit.

Our market highlights were the morning Warowot and Dok Mai markets. We started off with breakfast in an alley tucked beside Dok Mai that consisted of Crispy Krullers and pandan Kaya with two steaming hot glasses of sweetened soy milk on the side.

After that we wandered through the Dok Mai market seeing someone else's breakfast writhing about before I let Nix loose in Warowat market.

She passed the Thai wife test acquiring some Chiang Mai style sausage, Nam Prik Noom and pork rind, and some coconut jellies. Second breakfast of the morning was served.

Of course there were some other food highlights too. Khao Kha Moo from the cowboy hat wearing lady at Khao Kha Moo Chang Phueak, Northern Thai style Laab at Sorn Chai and a pomello Som Tam at Huen Phen were all very memorable and have left a very nice Chiang Mai flavoured taste in our mouths...

Part of the Isaan 1%

After Bangkok the real travel began again. On a rickety old train, with the wind in our hair, we headed northeast into a part of Thailand that not many travellers go, unable to pull themselves away from the islands and beaches of the south. There's always time for lazing around on beaches though, we wanted to see a side of Thailand that not many tourists do, only 1% of travellers to Thailand in fact.

Northeastern Thailand or Isaan, as it's called, is an interesting melting pot of Thai, Lao and Khmer people where the culture, food and language take influence from all three. It sounded interesting enough to us so from this point on it was all squat toilets, fan rooms and ring burning helpings of chilli. Oh, and amazing hospitality, like a lady and her son sharing their lunch with us on the train. Do we really look that destitute?

First stop was Korat and first stop in Korat was the nightly food market. We sampled some regional speciality Isaan sausages (an amazing sausage made from fermented pork, sticky rice, chilli and a heap of garlic) that came with a handful of birdseye-like chillies, som tam (papaya salad), pork scratchings and some little tapioca ball things that we've grown to love. It was a good intro to fiery Isaan cuisine.

Then the next morning the strangest thing happened. We went out of our way to go and do something that wasn't food or drink related. Crazy hey.

Prasat Hin Phimai is one of the biggest and most important religious sanctuaries found in Thailand and, rather uniquely, reflects Hindu and Buddhist influences. The main tower inspired some of the work at Angkor Wat and the overall complex is believed to be the end point of an ancient Khmer route from Angkor. All of that aside, it's a pretty spectacular site and one of those places that you can hardly imagine being constructed these days, let alone during the 11th century.

Our next destination was Khon Kaen. Only a four hour bus ride sat next to the biggest Thai man in existence stood in the way of us getting there. This guy would cradle you like a newborn, MM.

First stop in Khon Kaen was again, another market. This time the Saturday Walking Market which is a cracker. We wandered through the non-food bit and were tempted to drop a few thousand baht on the pug and beagles pups we saw and I asked Nix if I could buy all of the sugar gliders and set them free but unfortunately we walked away animal-less so decided to eat some instead.

We followed the lead of the rest of the locals and grabbed a heap of food and ate ourselves stupid at a little squat table. Highlights being a rotisserie quail (check out that rotisserie!), more Isaan sausages and a pandan flavoured sugar syrup drink.

The following morning we were back on the temple trail this time the nine storied, and very spectacular, Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon. Each floor becomes more spiritual the higher you ascend up the stupa starting off at depictions of rural Khon Kaen life (including those of a very obvious ladyboy with breasts and a young girl blowing a fart at an opposing tribe) up to the ninth level which houses relics of the Lord Buddha. We could actually get into this temple thing if they can keep this up.

Look out for the next post on the final stop of our Isaan adventure.

Pug Sightings - 6. It appears that Isaan love its pugs.