Bangkok to Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Palace of gold, riding in a tuk-tuk, and $4.50 a night hostel!

Tuesday was my last day in Bangkok.  My flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia was at 13:20 so I had time in the morning for siteseeing.

The Grand Palace, Wat Phra, and Wat Pho are the number #1 and #3 attractions in Bangkok in my 10 ten guide book.  Luckily they are both close to each other and to my hostel.

Joy, the hostel receptionist, advised me to take a metered taxi to the Grand Palace to save time.  She emphasized metered because taxi drives in Bangkok are notorious for ripping off tourist when they don't use a meter.  Some taxis even have faulty meters that still rip you off!

When I got to the entrance of the Grand Palace, a lady told me I would have to change because of my "shorts".  I was really wearing capri length nylon pants that reached below my knee.  Joy had warned me that they might not let me into the Palace with that dress.  The reason is that the king is really respected in Thailand so you have to dress modestly when entering the Palace.  To digress, I have never seen a country with so many pictures of their leader.  It seems like on every corner there is a huge, larger than life size portrait of the king, or his wife.  I wish President Obama could decorate the U.S. like that.  :D

As it happens, the Palace provides free skirts and shorts for people like myself who arrive inappropriately dressed.  I changed, then got a ticket and an audio guide.

I was not prepared for what was to come.

Gold.  Tons and tons and tons of gold, everywhere!.  I have never seen so much gold in all of my life!  "This must be what heaven will be like!" I thought.  Everything was covered in gold or precious jewels. It glistened in the sun.  It made Buckingham palace look like Cinderella's dungeon!

Large Guardian Giants greet you as soon as you walk in.  They are probably 5 times my height and are covered in jewels of all color.  It was a site to behold.

Though I followed along in my audio guide, I couldn't help but want to skip ahead to the bell like structure in front of me that was again covered in gold.  Its the Phra Si Rattana chedi which holds relics of Buddah.

I climbed up the the chedi and walked around to get views of several structures:  Hor Phra Nak, which is a mausoleum that has the shes of prices; Phra Viharn Yod with Budda images inside; Hor Phra Mopnthiem Dharma which is a Buddhist library; and Phra Mondhop.  There even was a model of Angkor Wat in the center!

I've come to learn about the close relationship between the Siamese (or Thai people) and the Cambodians.  The Siamese were so impressed with Angkor Wat in Siem Reap Cambodia, that the king wanted a replica built in his Palace!

I made my way around the palace and admired the Phra Asada Maha Chedi or the eight prangs which are dedicated to different Buddhist precepts.

Then I got to the Rolay Chaple which houses the most revered Buddha image in Thailand, the Emerald Buddha.  Like at other temples, I took my shoes off outside, and took of my hat.  Suspended high above the floor, sitting on a throne, was a tiny image of Buddha.  It looked about 1 foot tall and to me ghastly since it was eerie green color.  No photography was allowed.

Several people were on the mat in front of Buddha, sitting down, never with their feet facing towards the Buddha, praying with their hands clasped, and bowing down until their face touched the floor.

Its amazing to me being Christian with only one God to see people bow and dedicate so much time and energy to man made Buddhas.  One temple can have hundreds of Buddha images!

I exited the grand palace, and walked to the Wat Pho, famous for its reclining Buddha, over 150 feet long!  I quickly walked though the palace because it was nearing 11am, the time Joy said I needed to leave.

Joy told me to take a ferry across the river, and from there take the sky train to the hostel.  I went to the ferry, paid 3 bhat, and quickly crossed the river.  I realized that I was in the wrong place.  I needed to travel down the river and not across it.  So I took another ferry back, and then was directed to the correct ferry.  It was about a 20 minute ride down the river.  Most of the stops along the way were at large luxurious hotels.

I got to central station and made it to my hostel to pick up my luggage and take a taxi to the airport.  I was so exhausted, I fell asleep for during the 1 hour ride.

The flight to Phnom Pehn was just over an hour.  I booked a bus to Siem Reap at the airport, and on my way to take a taxi, saw a sign with my name!  A driver had come for me from my hostel!

Most roads in south east Asia are populated with tuk-tuks.  A tuk-tuk is a small carriage that can hold 2-4 people, pulled by a motobike.  Most tourist get around in tuk-tuks.  Then the people drive motobikes, smaller than a motorcycle, but similar.  I've seen what looks like children, girls or boys maybe 14 or 15 riding these motobikes.  People squeeze on motobikes such that behind the diver is a mom holding a baby in front of her, and another passenger behind the mom.

Look at the little baby!

Young girls driving a motobike

The drivers in Cambodia follow no traffic rules.  Interestingly, their stoplights have digital clocks that countdown how long a light is green or red.  Even as the clock reads 0 seconds, and then switches to red numbers to indicate how long the red light will remain, the driver will still pass through the light.  Who cares if there is a tourist on board!

The other interesting thing about Cambodia traffic is that drivers drive on the right hand side of the road, just like America!  This wasn't the case in Thailand or Japan.  Skipping ahead to Wednesday when I met a girl from Siem Reap, she explained to me that its because several years ago, Cambodia imported cars from a few countries which had the driving wheel on the right side of the car.  So at this time drivers drove on the left side of the road.  Then as Cambodians developed their economy and could import cars from more places, they started importing cars with the driving wheel on the left side.  Fascinating.

I'll digress once more to say that all ATMs in Cambodia give out US dollars.

I got to my hostel, U-Baan Guesthouse, and couldn't believe the looks of my $4.50 a night dorm room.  It was a large room with mats spaced about a couple of feet from each other, each with a mosquito net and a fan.  I couldn't believe that there weren't any beds!  That's a first!  Then there was only 1 shower on my floor for, oh 10 or 12 people.  And the shower didn't have hot water.

The next day I joked with my hostelmates that I couldn't believe the hostel had a rating of 82% on hostelworld.com.  It deserved a 60% !  Still it was clean.

Martin, the manager, gave me a quick introduction to Phnom Phen.  "Don't walk around with your bag.  They will grab it and drag you with it.  Otherwise, its rather safe" he told me in his Brtish accent.  He told me that the Riverside was a 5 minute walk from the hostel and had great restaurants and bars.

It was about 8pm at this time and I was starving so I put 10 dollars in my bra, and made my way to the river.

Along the road, I saw several street venders who sit on the road.  They had large containers in which were hundreds of fish.  One of them even flopped out of the container!  Now that is fresh fish!  I even saw what can only be chopped up snake for it was slender and had scales of a reptile.  I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any pictures.

Martin suggested that I try Amok, which is a classic Cambodian dish.  I found a restaurant and was shocked at the prices!  $2.50 for an entree!

It also happened to be Christmas Day.  A couple of restaurants had Christmas decorations out.  But it did not feel like Christmas at all.

I'm living on the edge

I call this living on the edge.  I'll be staying with a couchsurfing host in Hanoi with no references.  But I think it will be okay.  She sounds nice in our correspondences and she looks nice based on her profile picture.  In my experience communicating with people online from craigslist about my room for rent, I think I always got a "funny feeling" or "red flag" from strange people which turned out to be correct.  I don't have any funny feelings with Hang, just a bit of nervousness from hoping everything indeed will be okay.

Today I realized around 4pm that I am going to Vietnam tomorrow, not Laos like I originally thought, and that I needed a visa to Vietnam before arriving in the country!  This was such a shock!  I looked up the U.S. embassy website which clearly states that people that arrive without the proper documentation will be "immediately deported".

So I frantically went to two travel agencies to see if they could arrange a visa application form for me by tomorrow but since tomorrow is Saturday and they don't work on Saturday, the soonest they could arrange it would be Monday.  Well, I have a flight to Hanoi on Saturday, a Halong Bay tour booked for Sunday, and a flight from Hanoi to Luang Prabang Laos on Monday.

The manager of my hostel called another company for me which said they could get one for me on Sunday.  Then I could change my flight date to Hanoi from Saturday to Sunday.  I went online to check the change policy and realized I in fact didn't have a flight booked to Hanoi like I thought I did!

The confusion with the flight is because I had booked one though a Vietnamese travel agency which was double the normal price, and emailed them immediately after to cancel it.  Then I never booked the flight I actually wanted.

Imagine me showing up at the airport tomorrow for a flight not scheduled, trying to go to a communist country without a visa.

Yes, I'm living on the edge.

God keep me safe.

Bangkok-- Biking in Ayutthaya, Thai massage, and really spicy soup

Monday was my second full day in Bangkok.  I spent most of the morning in bed writing emails to couchsurfers to try to find a host in Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

I decided to visit Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand.  I took a taxi to the Hua Lamphong Railway Station, and purchased a ticket for 15 bhat to Ayutthaya.  I walked right passed monks as I made my way to my train.

The journey was about 2 hours and was relatively comfortable.  When I got on the train, I walked towards the city and quickly found a bike rental shop.  It was by coincident that I brought my passport with me since I needed to go to the bank and withdraw money.  I was lucky since they needed a photocopy of my passport in order for me to rent a bike.  It was 6 baht to rent the bike for the day.  The lady gave me a map of Ayutthaya, and pointed out the several different temples. She instructed me to bike straight until I got to the ferry, then ride the ferry across the Pasak River, then bike along Naresuan Road.  I bought a hat and a water bottle and set out.

I first went to Wt Mahathat,the most famous of the temples in Ayutthaya National Park.  Its astonishing to me that such a temple was built to house a relic of Buddah!  The city was sacked by the Burmese army, who held the city for 15 years, before they were over run.

 Budda's head in the Bodhi tree

I then biked to Wat Ohra Si Sariphet, another temple.  The temple is impressive for its three large "chedis" or 

a Buddist stupa build to hold relics.  Each holds the remains of three of Ayutthayas's kings.

I biked back to the ferry and took the train back to Bangkok.  I then got a nice Thai massage.   I had Tom yum shrimp soup, which is a really spicy soup made from lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, and a lot of chili.  It was so spicy I couldn't eat it and had to have the chef add more broth to water it down.

Bangkok-- Markets, food that blows the westerner's mind, and Buddahs!

I arrived in Bangkok Saturday.  When our plane flew into the city, I couldn't help thinking how much it looked like West Palm Beach below!  Tons of palm trees stood out on a flat landscape.  It was quite different from the hills and mountains of Phuket.  I took a taxi to my hostel, U-Baan Guesthouse, which I booked for just 8 something a night!

The hostel owner is well loved.  People who come back to Bangkok revisit this hostel and bring her stuff from all over the world.  As soon as I got there, she offered me Cadbury chocolate someone brought from Germany.  She told me I had just enough time to make the weekend market, Chatuchak.  I told her I was exhausted and I would be okay with not seeing it.  I told her about the tours I had booked for Sunday, Ayuttaya in the morning and a cooking tour in the evening.  She said, "Why not book with me?" which made me immediatly distrust her after my expereince in Phuket.  I politely declined.

I later decided to cancel all tours I booked, and ask my credit card company to dispute the payment.  I was going to tour Bangkok by myself, and save a fortune.

Sunday I took the BTS skytrain to Chatuchak.  I was expecting the market to be cheesy but I thought it was super cool!  Its a large area of vendors selling food, fruits, clothing, shoes, bags, toys, art, etc.  The food blew away my imagination.  I had no idea what some of it was.

 Strawberries from Chang-Mai, so fresh they are still on the vine!

 This isn't a beef burger!  It's fried chicken blood!

I was hoping to find someone from Thailand to join and introduced myself to two girls walking in front of me.  "Hi!  Are you from Bangkok?" I asked.  "No, we're from Bali".  Another Indonesian!  "Oh, do you mind if I join you?"  They didn't and I spent the next couple of hours with them, shopping, eating, and chatting.  

The two girls are sisters.  The oldest, Eka (in yellow) is 21, and medical student who also wants to do pediatrics!  Her sister is 18 and didn't speak English very well so I mostly talked with Eka.  I told her how I wanted to go surfing in Bali and couldn't resist not showing her the video of me surfing in WPB on my phone.  She told me I could go with an instructor friend of hers for only $50!  I was prepared to pay over $100!.  She also said that I could go diving with her brothers when I get to Bali.  I still have to get certified though.

Of note, we passed by the realest looking fake poop I have ever seen!  It was so real, I had to sniff it to see if it smelled.  In all honesty, I wouldn't have been surprised if it was real.  I just saw fried chicken blood!  "I can't even bring myself to touch it!" I told Eka, and we started laughing.  I touched it with the end of my nail.  I pretended to eat it!

After we parted ways, I went to Amphawa, a floating market.  Honestly, it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen on my travels!  I was really lucky because its open only on Saturdays and Sundays. Its like Venice meets supermarket.

When I got there I walked along the canal and again the food for sale blew my imagination.  I didn't know what most of it was but I took a lot of pictures.  One of the very cool things about the market is that the vendors let you sample the food!  I tried a coconut pancake.

A friendly man asked when I was from and stated a conversation with me.  I asked him what the was in the bowl that was being sold at the stand next to him.  He said something I didn't understand so I said, "Oh!" and smiled.  "Try some!" he said back.  "Wait, what did you say it was again?"  I asked.  And I still didn't understand him.  His friend took out spoon and scooped up one of the things into the spoon.  It was reddish/brown, and looked liked a small sea creature, or an organ of a creature.  I nervously started laughing.

"Just give me a minute" I told the man as I worked up my courage.  If Samantha Brown can eat ant larvae and eyeballs, surely I could eat whatever this was".  I decided I was just going to swallow it, and skip the chewing part.  I tilt my head back and with a big gulp got the thing down as fast as I could.  It was salty and tangy, like vinegar  I don't think he thought I was brave enough to do it!  I asked him to write down what it was I ate and he wrote "Sheel Salt".  I've googled it and can't find an answer on what it is.  For all I know I ate marinated fish brain.

I pain 50 baht for a river and temple tour on a canoe.  I began to learn that this is not something a lot of tourists do.  First, the canoe had already left the dock when the operator had me join.  He took out a wooden plank and bridged the gap between the canoe he was in which was several feet from the dock but right next to the canoe tour I was to join.  "Is he kidding?" I though.  I stepped on the plank and walked several feet over the canal into his canoe and then climbed into the touring canoe.

But what really told me that not a lot of tourist did this was that as we approached the first temple, the canoe driver spoke in Thai but gave no English translation.  Luckily a man sitting behind me knew some English and said to me, "We have 15 minutes at this temple".  "Thanks!" I told him.  I tried to start a conversation with him by asking how often he comes to this market to do his shopping, but he didn't understand.

Then I had my first Buddist temple experience.  I took of my shoes outside the temple.  I paid 20 baht for yellow flowers, incense  and a candle.  I was going to copy what the people in front of me did.  Then the monk who was reciting their incantations, stopped talking.  I realized he stopped because of me!  I was having difficulty lighting my incense stick and he came over to me, lit it for me and lit my candle.  I wanted to say, "Really, its okay.  You don't have to stop your praying because of me!"

 Then as I sat in front of the budda and he sat next to me.  He looked at me and said something in Thai.  "I'm sorry, I only speak English" I said.  Then he started speaking in Thai again, but this time louder.  I figured out he wanted me to repeat after him.  So he said something, and I would repeat, deliberately mispronouncing words because I had no idea what I was saying.  It was a bit uncomfortable for me.  It felt like it lasted 5 minutes.

 After it was over, we put my candle on a stand.  Then he took out 3 small pieces of folded paper I got with the flower.  Inside each piece was a small, maybe 1 x 1 inch, piece of gold paper.  He walked me over to the budda and showed me how to put the gold leaf over an exposed part of the budda. I never understood the meaning of gold leaf until then!  To realize that most of the gold buddas are covered and recovered with gold leaves by his followers was really cool!

After that, it was over.  I collected my shoes and immediately prayed, "Dear God, I didn't mean a word of whatever I just said!"

We got back into the canoe and went to 4 other temples.  Along the way we passed by people's homes, right on the water!  We also saw a couple of people bathing in the canal.

I was asked at least twice by different people in the canoe where I was from and if I spoke Thai.  When I said no, they put their finger to their ears and said "Thai?" as their way of asking if I could understand Thai.  I said no.  They seemed so shocked that I didn't understand Thai!  I was surprised by their surprise!   "Do you really think a black girl from America understands Thai?!?"  I thought. Then I realized, most tourist don't do this!

In fact, that is true.  The main floating market tourist go to is Domnoen Saduak floating market.  Its more touristy and picturesque.  But I learned from tripadviosr and travel blogs that a lot of people didn't think it was a good experience because it felt like a show put on for tourist   It lack authenticity.  There are companies that offer tours of the market but I strongly believe they use their own canoe and not the local one I took.  That's why the locals were so surprise to see me in their canoe!

I am really happy I decided to do the tour on my own.  I paid 20 bhat for a bus from Victoria Monument in Bangkok to Amphawa.  Then 50 baht for the canoe and temple tour.  That is a total of 90 baht.  The company I was going to book with charges 850 baht for the same exact thing!  That is $2.70 vs $25.50 USD!