Back in Thailand...

We just spent the last two weeks island hopping in Thailand with Matt’s Mom and her friend Stacey. They arrived on March 15th and we spent 2 days exploring Krabi; taking long-tail boats to Railay Beach and kayaking to the local islands from Ton Sai Bay. We then went straight down to our favorite island in Thailand, Koh Lipe. It was great to be back again and see friends from our last visit. The weather in Lipe has changed dramatically since we were last here. On Koh Lipe, when the low season begins (end of April - October), the winds move in opposite directions moving from the south-west instead of north-east. This changes the currents on the surface and underneath the water and for 3 days it was clear and very hot during the day while at night there were powerful thunderstorms. We went to Jack’s Jungle Bar (appropriately named for it’s location in the middle of the jungle) one night when a storm was at its peak. Their generator was broken and with no moon, the place was completely dark, which made for an amazing show of lightening that evening.

As luck would have it, Matt contracted a bad ear infection after his first swim so diving and swimming were out of the question for the following week. Luckily, Karma bar is situated on our favorite sandbar beach so while Matt was staying out of the sun, the rest of us went snorkeling and swimming. Stacey had a rare experience at the beach, getting stung in the ankle by a stingray which almost pierced through the other side. Her leg immediately started to go numb and a helpful bystander picked her up and carried her to the only health clinic on the island. After an anti-venom shot and soaking it in hot water, she felt much better but it was still a bit of a scare. We thoroughly enjoyed our last days in Lipe, swimming out to the sandbar at low tide, unforgettable sunsets and great seafood dinners.

Time passed by too fast though, we all had heavy hearts the night before we had to leave and were contemplating extending our visit even longer (we had already extended our stay by 3 days). We left for Koh Lanta and enjoyed just 2 days there before going back to Krabi. We spent our last day touring Phi Phi Leh, Maya Bay (made famous by the movie “The Beach”), Monkey Island and Bamboo Island. The tour stops for snorkeling and swimming and we all saw some beautiful fish and coral.

On March 28th it was time to say goodbye to Matt’s mom and Stacey, although I have a feeling they’ll be coming back sooner rather than later… We’ll be in Ton Sai Bay for another few days while we wait for our Vietnam visa, then we’ll be heading north to Bangkok. Close to 4 months in Thailand and I have yet to see the capitol city so it should be interesting!

Siem Reap to Sihanoukville

We hired a driver to take us through Cambodia, only an 8 hour drive from North to South, passing amazing scenery along the way; monks wandering streets collecting alms for the poor, slaughtered animals being taken to local markets and rural village life scattered in a jungle landscape along the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers. We drove through Phnom Penh, at the convergence on the two rivers, with no plans to stop and sightsee. Neither of us had much interest in seeing S-21 and the mass graves within the Killing Fields, the stories are chilling enough.

We arrived in Sihanoukville, a beach town along the undeveloped southern coast and found a place to stay on Serendipity Beach. The crescent shaped beach is lined with restaurants and bars and the atmosphere is extremely relaxed due to the lawlessness of the area. We found our spot on the beach with comfortable beach chairs, good music and friendly staff and spent the next 6 days not moving much. During the day, people stop by to sell just about anything; manicures, massages, jewelry, sarongs, fruits/vegetables, drinks, meats, fish, etc. You literally don’t need to move from your beach chair as the entire market comes to you. The kids are especially hard to say no to but will usually just sit down hang out once they know you aren’t going to buy anything.

The week went by rather fast and we were flying back to Thailand on March 14th to meet Matt’s Mom.

Floating Villages

We spent our last couple of days in Siem Reap going to the floating villages and floating forest. The floating villages are a sight to see, to get there you take a local boat which slowly takes you down the river, passing children on their way to school, men fishing in waist deep water and tending to alligator traps. The floating villages are separated into three sections; the Muslims, Vietnamese and Khmers, although it’s almost impossible to see any differences. All of the homes/boats are the same with a handful of schools and temples/mosques scattered around the lake. Life for the people living on the lake is very primitive, everyone using the natural resources to survive. Most homes have bamboo cages with pigs, chickens, fish (mostly bottom feeders), and alligators. All of which are used for food while the alligator skin is used to sell back to the markets in Siem Reap. Mostly, fish is sun dried with salt and other seasonings as a preservative. The fish can last for months without rotting; needless to say the process has a strong odor. Tonle Sap Lake is pretty eerie, there is absolutely no visibility and an abundance of alligators and snakes.

The second day we went to the floating forest which is similar to the floating villages but on a different section of the lake. During monsoon season, the rivers rise and flow over the banks allowing you to take a small boat through the forest which seems to be floating. There aren’t many tourists at the floating forest, probably due to the long process of getting there. You take a tuk-tuk about 15 km outside of Siem Reap down dirt roads and passing by rural villages. You then need to hop on the back of a motorcycle for the rest of the journey as the dirt roads are in bad shape and cars/tuk-tuks cannot pass over them.

The motorcycle ride was longer than expected, about 20 minutes and down eroded paths, sand beds and at one point a flooded out section of road (where Matt’s motorcycle went down). It was an interesting ride to say the least! When we reached the river we watched our boat pull up, the driver shoveling out buckets of water before letting us on.

Life here is much like that of the floating villages,On this side of the river, you see stilt villages built to withstand flooding during the monsoon season. very primitive. After our tour, we went back to Siem Reap with one day left to do absolutely nothing. We’ve seen so much in such a short period of time, we’re both exhausted.

We’ve moved on to Sihoukaville, a beach town along the coast and about an 8 hours drive through the middle of Cambodia, where we’ll relax until going to Phnom Phen to fly back to Thailand.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

We arrived in Siem Reap in the early afternoon, stepped off the plane onto the tarmac and completed a short visa process to enter the country. We pulled money out of the ATM and it was strange to see US dollars again. The official currency in Cambodia is Riel but since so much US currency was put into the country after the war, it’s used for everything. Siem Reap is a beautiful place with friendly people and a great atmosphere. Although Matt was here last year, this is my first time in Cambodia and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. So far this place has surpassed all expectations and I find myself not wanting to leave.

Since we arrived early, we had some time to walk around the local markets, such a colorful place with fruits, vegetables, meats, clothes, jewelry, crafts, etc. We are staying in the heart of the old market at Molly Malone’s, which has a great restaurant and an Irish pub downstairs. We’ve met some fascinating people sitting down at the pub with incredible stories. We met an American doctor who has been providing care for people in Cambodia for next to nothing in the rural villages, trying to setup an ambitious telemedicine project to provide better care. Cambodia has a tragic and recent history, in 1969 it was bombed and invaded by US and Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam conflict during which time there were between 4-6,000,000 landmines laid, most of which are only found today when someone steps on one. So far only 90 sq km of the country has been cleared leaving over 3,000 sq km left so it’s important not to stray even a few steps from a path or main road. You see so many people with no limbs and it breaks your heart, especially when you see the children. One of the things immediately noticed when coming here is the almost non-existence of anyone over the age of 50. During the Pol Pot regime, one-fifth of the population was tortured to death or executed (mainly those who were educated, spoke other languages, or even wore glasses). Between 1975 and 1979 over 2 million out of 11 million Cambodians died as a direct result of the Khmer Rouge and almost everyone you meet will have suffered directly or indirectly as a result. Today over 40% of the population is under the age of 15 which is a depressing statistic considering their education system is extremely poor. Cambodians are a happy and proud culture though who live for today rather than tomorrow, understandably considering their horrifying past.

Cambodia’s pride and joy are the Angkor Temples, built between the 9th and 13th centuries, there are 1000’s of temples scattered in the country-side. We spent 3 days touring the Angkor Temples, which are truly awe-inspiring. We visited many temples over the course of a few days but our favorites were Ta Prohm, Bayon and of course, Angkor Wat. Many of the Angkor Temples have long standing preservation projects but officials wanted to leave at least one temple in Angkor as it was, as an example of the “natural state”. They chose Ta Prohm and it is one of the most beautiful sites in Angkor. The temple contains a maze of narrow corridors and crumbling stonework, which is literally being pulled down to the ground by massive trees growing overtop and endless roots coiling around the stones. The Bayon has 216 massive faces and elaborate carvings of over 11,000 figures inside depicting life in 12th century Cambodia. Angkor Wat is simply amazing; no other words to describe it. It is the largest religious building in the world and it’s spectacular.

While seeing the Angkor Temples was an amazing experience, we are both a little “temped out” and relaxing back at our guesthouse. Next will be the floating forest and villages.

Leaving Thailand...

We are currently in Koh Samui, spending our last night in Thailand before we fly to Cambodia tomorrow. While we are both excited to start traveling again, we’re not quite ready to leave paradise. We spent the last 10 days on Kao Tao, a small island north of Koh Phangan. Upon arrival we were met by Sebastion, Matt’s dive instructor, who showed us around and invited us to dinner that evening. We met the rest of the dive group over dinner and had a great night. There was a large group from Poland and a few others from Germany and Sweden who were staying at the same resort and taking dive courses.

Matt completed his advanced dive certification as well as his rescue diver and emergency first response course. We spent most of our free time with our new friends from Poland and Sweden. It was a great end to our time in Thailand, lazy beach days and steak/fish barbeque every night. We’re really going to miss it here but we’ll be back soon to meet Matt’s Mom in Krabi in March.
Our next post will be from Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Koh Phangan

We arrived in Koh Phangan on February 1st and we stayed at a beautiful resort named Sarikantany on Leela Beach. It has beautiful bungalows, great restaurant, beach-side pool and a big screen TV room with unlimited DVDs (most movies still playing in theatres). Leela has a beautiful stretch of beach and is extremely quiet in comparison to the beach next door named Haad Rin; the party beach known for their full moon parties, buckets and DJ’s. It was nice to be able to walk to Haad Rin to party on the beach but come back to the peace and quiet of Leela. Our friend Josh flew out from China to spend some time with us again. We had a great time, probably too much of a good time as there were a couple of days spent recuperating from the night before. We met a lot of other travelers from all parts of the world and had a great 2 weeks there. Below is the dog we've been hanging out with; he has a lot of personality and likes to chill at the beach during the day.

It was hard to leave the comforts of Sarikantany but with Koh Phangan being so large, we wanted to spend some time on the other side of the island. We decided to come to Mae Haad Cove, an hours drive from Leela Beach, which is in a marine park and known for its snorkeling/diving sites. There is a coral reef just 150 meters offshore and if you simply stick your head in the water on the beach, you’ll see hundreds of fish. There is also an island called Ko Ma which is just a short walk along a sandbar which connects it to Koh Phangan, depending on the tide you may be walking through water. We’ve been extremely lazy for the most part, spending our days on the beach or lounging on our deck. We walked 2.5 km to town yesterday to use the ATM and stop at the store which we considered to be an extremely productive day.

I’m not sure how long we will spend in Mae Haad Cove, maybe just a couple more days and then move on to Koh Tao for a week. Then we’ll more than likely spend our last week in Koh Samui. We are now down to our last 2 weeks in the Thai islands and it will be hard for us to leave. We are both ready to start “traveling” again though and we’ve booked our flight from Koh Samui to Siam Reap, Cambodia for February 29th (when our visa for Thailand expires). We’ll more than likely spend a couple of weeks in Cambodia, traveling through the entire country and then moving on into Vietnam.

Similan Islands

We’ve arrived in Koh Pha Ngan after spending 5 nights in Khao Lak; our jumping off point for the Similan Islands. The Similan Islands are about 50 km from Khao Lak and consist of nine islands with beautiful beaches of fine talcum powder-like sand and great snorkeling/diving. We spent the first day snorkeling off of Ba-Ngu Island, then on to Koh Miang to spend some time on the beach and Koh Payu before heading back to Khao Lak. We saw the most beautiful fish at the first spot, schools of brightly colored damsel, trigger, parrot and unicorn fish. The boat crew were excellent, always offering snacks and beverages and helping us with our things.

The following day Matt went diving at “West of Eden” and “Elephant Head”. The Similans are famous for their many dive sites and are rated one of the top 10 scuba diving spots in the world. It has 2 different types of diving; the east side consists of gently sloping coral reefs with sandy patches and the occasional boulder in between while the west side is known for its huge underwater granite boulders and numerous swimthroughs. Elephant head rock is a famous spot with a maze of swimthroughs and the reputation for spin-cycle like currents running in every direction.


Matt saw sea turtles, box fish, grey tip reef sharks, scorpion fish, stone fish, large bright parrot fish, a giant barracuda and a large morrey eel named Emma which comes out when divers approach as she is so used to being fed (one diver recently lost a finger when he came too close and pointed at it). Matt also saw a clown trigger fish which is shown here, not from our camera though as it couldn’t go below 15m..

On our last day in Khao Lak we had to do a visa run to Burma; which would allow us to stay another 30 days in Thailand. We have 10 days left on our existing stamp but since we are heading to the Gulf of Thailand which isn’t close to any border crossing, we decided to just go 3 hours north to cross the border in Burma before we left. Our bus was due to leave at 8am and we woke up in a panic at exactly 7:57. Luckily, everything in Thailand runs a little late and we were on our way at 8:15. It was a full day with a three hour drive to Ranong where we officially departed Thailand, took a longtail boat into Burma, stamped our passport on arrival, then back on the boat to Ranong to stamp our arrival into Thailand. We arrived back to our hotel at 5pm, had dinner and called it an early night as we had to travel to Koh Pha Ngan the following day.

Traveling to Koh Pha Ngan was long process, everything is organized under one ticket from point to point (mini-bus/transfers/ferry/etc) which makes it extremely easy but it was a long day. We left at 8am and didn’t arrive here until 10pm. What can you do though, we’ve arrived and it’s absolutely beautiful. We have nothing to complain about! Koh Pha Ngan is a large island very close to Koh Samui; known for their full moon parties on Haad Rin beach. We are staying on Leela Beach; quiet and peaceful but a short walk to Haad Rin. Our friend Josh is back out here visiting from China and we may have a few other friends coming here as well. We may stay here for a month but may move to the quiet end of the island after a week in the party atmosphere. Koh Pha Ngan is dotted with picturesque beaches and bays on all sides of the island so we may just rent a house for a month while Matt does his dive master course. The diving/snorkeling here is supposed to be great; mainly around Koh Pha Ngan and Ko Tao.