Some final thoughts on southeast asia

Before our flight to Buenos Aires tomorrow here are some final thoughts on Southeast Asia. The next leg of our trip is about three and a half months in South America, which we've spent the last week planning and are pleased to say we now have a vague idea of what we'll do.

The best, worst, and most memorable:

Most taxi drivers per capita: Bali
Least western tourists: Sumatra, Indonesia
Most misleading road name: The "Trans Sumatran Highway"
Best beaches: A tie between Indonesia and Thailand
Most landmines per capita: Laos
Most chickens per metre of road: also Laos
Friendliest locals: Indonesia, Thailand and Laos
Grumpiest locals: Hanoi, Vietnam
Cheapest beer: Vietnam (beer brewed daily for around 10-30c)
Best beer: Laos, and best value too at $1 per 600ml bottle
Best food: So much choice including Indonesia's Rendang, Malaysia's Chicken Rice, Singapore's Toast Box, Thailand's Green & Red curries, Laos' Sticky Rice & Crickets, Vietnam's Hoi An food & Pho Bo (noodle soup), and Cambodia's Amok Curry.

and you know you're in Southeast Asia when.....
...you walk off the beach all sandy and wet and you're invited into every restaurant you pass (Bali)
...a motorbike taxi driver offers you a lift as you ride past on your hired bicycle (Vietnam)
...every taxi seems to have a broken meter which is miraculously repaired when you start walking to the next taxi
...pigs heads, raw meat and vegetables are sold next to noodle soup and souvenirs in the local markets
...you've visited your sixth temple today and there are still two more to go
...the only available guesthouse is next door to the mosque and its 4am prayer calls (Indonesia)
...you can walk right up to the edge of bubbling mud pools, and a walk in the bush turns into hacking your way through the jungle and holding onto vines as you go down a slope (except in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia where a walk in the "jungle" is a stroll along a paved path)
...a local stray dog adopts you and follows you around the temples (Angkor Wat)
...the geckos regularly come out in the evening to eat the insects attracted by your outside light (their bellies bulging if there's been a storm)
...it's always the rainy season! (I don't know how it worked out this way)
...it's always "happy hour" with the fruit hawker on the beach
...the chickens run back and forth in front of the bus trying to get out of the way, while the cows just stare at you as the bus weaves through them
...the luggage weight limit on your flight back is way too low for all the cheap stuff you bought!

Shopping our way through north-west Thailand & Bangkok

It's been three weeks since our last post - yes we know we are getting lazy! We've spent this past three weeks moving slowly and not doing much sightseeing. Our travels took us up to Thailands North west where we visited in Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, Pai and Chiang Rai, staying a few days in each town.

Our main occupation over the past few weeks has been shopping. Chiang Mai has some really great shopping especially the Sunday Walking street and the touristy Night Bazaar - we bought quite a few souvenirs. The walking street is quite a fun thai experience, there were lots of young Thai people out shopping and snacking and as the evening progressed it almost got to the stage where it was too crowded to walk.

We have done our small share of sightseeing in the North west, including visiting the ancient Thai capital of Sukhothai with it brick buddha temples in ruins, though they were a bit of a let down after coming from Cambodia - we were glad we had explored Cambodia last in our trip around south east asia so that Temple sight seeing didn't always feel like it was nothing compared to Angkor Wat. Having said that we were still pleasantly surprised by a couple of the unique temples in Chiang Mai.

Pai is a small town that feels as though it shouldn't be in Thailand, lots of tourists come through the town and must be drawn in by the laid back atmosphere of the town. We spent a day in the town but like the rest of the North west if you don't feel like getting out in the country side there isn't much else to do, which is also the reason we only spent one day in Chiang Rai - we didn't feel like doing another trek in the jungle, without that there is nothing to do but eat the delicious food at the night market (sigh).

After our expedition up north we took a overnight bus back to Bangkok, where we have been for the last 8 days. Yip another long stay in the Thai capital but we actually really like it here. We stay in a place really close to all the big malls, meaning its easy to go out for drinks, movies, food, shopping etc. We've stocked up on essentials to send home (you have to when its so cheap) and we've bought all the necessary things for our next leg of our trip - South America.

The Angkor temples and back to Thailand

Following two long travel days we finally arrived in Siem Reap in Cambodia's northwest. Siem Reap attracts huge numbers of tourists who come to see the nearby Angkor temples. When our bus arrived we were bombarded by dozens of tuk tuk drivers, all eager to take us to the guesthouse that pays them the most commission. Many were offering free rides, and even when we asked them to pay us $1 there were many takers. It was all a bit crazy so we got into town on the bus company minivan, which dropped us at the bus company's guesthouse (not the office in the centre of town as we were promised) and we went on foot from there.

Siem Reap's town centre is dominated by tourists. While the "old market" is still used by locals it's surrounded by souvenir stalls and tourist restaurants and guesthouses. The town itself doesn't have many sights but is a good base to explore the temples. The Angkor temples are actually a number of complexes of temples created by different kings all trying to outdo the last. There are far too many, and they are too spread out, to see in one day. We saw most of them over three days.

The most famous of course is the iconic Angkor Wat, but other highlights were the huge carved faces at the Bayon temple (part of the nearby Angkor Thom complex), and the more remote temples that don't see so many tourists. It can be quite peaceful wandering round the ruins by yourself without the chatter of tour buses. For more details, see our photos.

Ironically, we found that the quieter temples were a great place to buy souvenirs. Without many tourists, there were far too many vendors all keen to sell to you, and kids who approach you touting their wares (so you can shop without looking too interested). We bought much more than we planned to - we thought we had enough t-shirts but when the price went down to $1.50 we bought four more.

After our time at the temples we spent a few hours on a bus travelling to the town of Battambang, for a last look at small town Cambodia before heading back to Thailand. There isn't much to say about Battambang apart from that it was a good place to relax and park ourselves in a guesthouse next to the market where we bought most of our food.

Getting out of Battambang was more difficult than we'd anticipated. We wanted to leave in the morning but no buses come through the town until afternoon. We ended up booking seats in a share taxi to get us to the Thai border. On the way to the border we came to a police checkpoint, and were waved to the side of the road behind a queue of other cars. Our driver got out and gave the policeman in charge some money, and we were back on the road again, making good time to the Cambodian border town of Poipet.

Once we crossed back into Thailand it was like coming back to civilisation. The dirt road turned into a wide open highway, and even the dusty market on the Thai border seemed somehow cleaner than the ones in Cambodia. We had forgotten how efficient the transport is here, as we changed buses seamlessly three times to get to the beach town of Pattaya, a couple of hours southeast of Bangkok. We're staying now with friends of Nic in a fishing village just out of Pattaya.