People had warned us about the ordeal to cross the Cambodia-Thailand border, but what's a backpacker trip without experiencing the real deal?
The plan was to take a bus to the border, walk over, grab a tuk tuk to the train station, and do the last leg to Bangkok by train. We left our hotel in Siem Reap (the same one Maria had stayed at almost exactly a year ago!) at 6:30 am to wait at a pick up point at 7. We got transported from one location to another and were finally underway on bus around 9. The border took more than 2 hours of waiting in the sweltering heat (insert nice little mental image of Kyle and I dripping with sweat), so by the time we crossed the border, there was no way we'd catch the train at 1:45 pm. Finally got put into a minibus that flew over pot holes like crazy and seemed to stop at every other gas station and made it to Bangkok around 7 pm, where we got dropped off at the skytrain to find our way to our hostel. Success!
[Two] nights in Bangkok. A short stint there, but nothing but extraordinary. Thai people are super helpful. Every time Kyle and I pulled out our map, an elder Thai man would come up to us and ask if we needed help and gave us suggestions of where to go. Two out of those 5 times, we were shoved into cheap tuk tuks after the elder man negotiated a cheap price with the driver (note: if you travel to Thailand, drive with the government tuk tuks... Way cheaper) and taken our merry way to a bunch of attractions. It just so happened that it was a special buddhist holiday while we were there so we got to go into a bunch of wats that are usually not open to the public :) So many wats. I think we saw 5 in one day. Very cool. (Towards the end... "another wat, another Buddha"). Went on the backwaters of Bangkok, ate street food in the back alleys, and saw more wats. The second day we were resting up from a day of walking in Lumphini park (where the Thai like to group exercise) when I noticed everyone had stopped dead in their tracks. A second later the national anthem started playing and after it was over, people resumed their jogging. Interesting, and weirdly twilight zone-ish. Apparently this happens everyday at 8 am and 6 pm. One can even be arrested for not stopping during the song because it's disrespectful. Good thing we stopped walking too. We made a quick beer stop at Patpong, I got pooped on by a bird (that's lucky, right?), and then we caught the night train to Koh Tau.
We arrived in Koh Tau at 11 am after the train/ferry (the latter of which the people's nausea on either side of us couldn't handle). Met up with our French host and during our 4 days, met half the French community of Koh Tau ;) It was the night before my birthday and the Frenchies decided to help me celebrate. Thank you, Kyle, for taking care of the aftermath :) Our last full day on Koh Tau we went diving and snorkeling. Best.diving.ever. (Well, of the 3 places I've been to, but this IS considered a diving paradise). Saw stingrays, turtle, lionfish, baracuda, and other creatures whose names I can't remember :P
Koh Phangan is where we reunited with Kelly :) For the couple of days we were there, we balanced our big habit of eating a lot with a LOT of hiking. A larger island than Koh Tau, but less touristy and more habitable (whereas everyone on Koh Tau was a scuba instructor and an expat).
Two days later, we made our way to the west side of Thailand: Krabi. Definitely a more family friendly destination (and honeymooners for that matter) and understandably so... We took a boat to Railay which so far has my favorite soft sand beaches surrounded by giant cliffs. We treated ourselves to a nice hotel with AC, got upgraded (again, my luck ;), and scoped out the beaches on this peninsula.
Our last day in Thailand we spoiled ourselves with some Thai massages. Oh my God. These ladies worked their full muscles into our bodies, it hurt, but felt so good. Knots? Gone. A very intimate back cracking experience...
Twelve hours of travel (another 6 hour layover in our favorite airport: Singapore, where we explored the butterfly garden and koi pond) and now we're in Indonesia, the motherland :)
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