Cambodia and Thailand, Week 4
Sunday, July 5th: We boarded a bus this morning in Sihanoukville and headed over to Koh Kong. During the 4 and a half hour bus ride we passed through some very pretty mountainous scenery. It was raining on and off all day, then it started to dump when we got into town. By the time we got there the kids were pretty tired, so we just took it easy and walked around the town a little bit, once the rain let up.
Monday, July 6th: It was really dark out this morning and we could tell the rain was coming. We quickly walked over to a small ma and pa restaurant. As soon as we got there it started to dump. The roads started to flood around town. We waited for a break in the rain, then went back to our hotel to get our bags.
We then caught a bus to the border. By this time the rain started to really come down. Unfortunately, very few places at the border have any sort of covering, so we got soaking wet as we departed Cambodia and arrived in Thailand. We ended up taking a small 12-person van from the border to Bangkok. It was our family and three 20 year old girls (one from Ukraine, and Aussie, and a Brazilian that lives in Bangkok). Our driver missed his life calling of an indy car driver. We raced through traffic for 5 and a half hours. He ended up dropping us off in an area of Bangkok that is touristy that none of us wanted to go to, so we ended up taking a taxi. We didn't end up getting to our hotel until almost 9:30 at night. We ended up crashing in a hotel room with one bed and threw the kids on the floor.
Tuesday, July 7th: Since the night trains were full, we ended up taking the day train up to Chiang Mai. The ride took almost 12 hours. It was nice taking the day train and being able to see the country. The kids started to get a little punchy toward the end, but our car was almost empty, so it was not a huge issue. One nice thing about the train ride was that they did give us free snacks and lunch. Lunch was a red curry and rice that was extremely spicy!
Wednesday, July 8th:
We found a small hotel in the old city area of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is a very relaxed city up in the mountains in Northern Thailand. There are a lot of foreigners here, but it doesn't have too much of a touristy feel. The old city is surrounded by a moat and old wall, most of it in ruins.
Chaing Mai is famous for having the "red trucks" for transportation. Instead of a taxi or bus, you flag down a red truck and they will take you where you want to go for a flat fee (you ride in the covered back on benches). During the evening a lot of the drivers will take their wife or girlfriend with them for some company. Most are very polite and fair, except for one that told us one price and then asked for a higher one when we arrived.
Tuk tuks are common here, but are a different design than the ones in Cambodia. Here the tuk tuk is a small vehicle with the driver up front. The kids all agreed that it looks more like an amusement park ride than a car. Even the driver's seat looks like a ride.
We took a red truck out to the Chiang Mai zoo. We had read mixed review about the zoo, but we loved it. You were able to get real close to the animals, closer than you can at U.S. zoos (probably for safety reasons). For example, we could lean down and look at the hippos which were only a couple feet below us. We could have easily fed one of the kids to them. The kids were able to feed giraffes for about 50 cents. Becky and Marcus also got to feed a Jaguar a piece of raw meat through a fence. The zoo is on a hill, so we spent most of the day climbing and sweating. By the time got close to the end, the sky broke open and the rains came again. We got soaked as we ran back to get a red truck back to town.
We end up walking over to the night bazaar, when it started dumping again. We waited until the rain came to a drizzle to walk back. We stopped and got a rottee, which is a pancake-type treat made with eggs, filled with bananas, and then has chocolate syrup and condensed milk on top. The kids love these and anytime we see a vendor they want to stop.
Thursday, July 9th:
We went out to an Elephant Camp today. Fortunately, our group consisted of just our family and a younger couple from England. Some of the other groups we saw had 50 plus people in them and we definitely did not want that experience. The camp was up in the mountains next to a Longneck Karen Tribal village. The villagers are originally from Myanmar, but are refugees in Thailand. As such, they are considered illegal and cannot get an education or a job. They are beautiful people and were very friendly with us, especially our kids.
After we toured the village, we then went and got to work with the elephants. This was an amazing experience! The elephants are so massive when you are up close and personal with them, but they are also very kind and loving animals. We first fed them and learned a few of the commands. Then we each had a chance to practice riding them. After lunch, we went on a bareback ride (three of us per elephant). We finished by taking the elephants to the river and bathing them. The kids said that this was one of the best parts of the whole trip.
After the elephant camp we visited a place called Elephant Poopoopaper park, where they recycle elephant poop into paper. The kids really enjoyed this, since they usually like anything that has to do with toilet humor.
Friday, July 10th: This morning we took a red truck up to Wat Doi Suthep, which is a famous Buddhist temple on the top of a mountain outside of Chiang Mai. The road up there was very curvy, which did not sit well with a couple of kids' stomachs. You hike up 300 stairs to get up to the temple. The whole area was very pretty, even with tourists everywhere.
Once we got back into Chiang Mai, we walked around the old town and visited some of the Buddhist temples throughout the area.
We then caught a night train back to Bangkok. We had a berth with two sets of bunk beds. The kids insisted that they got to sleep up top, so we let them. Well, halfway through the night, Marcus fell off the top bunk. So we wouldn't have to deal with three more child bombs falling from the sky, we woke everyone up and made them move to the lower bunks. We arrived in Bangkok around 7am.
Saturday, July 11th: We spent time today wandering around Bangkok on foot. We went over to Wat Pho and looked around. One of most famous items there is the giant reclining Buddha. The kids were amazed at how big it was.
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