Away Awhile Journal Entry 26

Journal Entry 26

October 26th, 2003

"Variety Pack"

After chasing across Cambodia, I met my brother Steve in Bangkok on September 21. He arrived at the convenient hour of 12.30am. It was fine, though...Bangkok doesn't go to sleep early, so there was plenty to do and eat until about 3am. Steve brought me all sorts of goodies, most notably some of my favorite breakfast cereals, generic poptarts, my mom's special-k bars, and corn nuts. And I was so happy to have new boxers that I felt like walking around without pants on to show them off, but figured this may be socially unacceptable here, so I didn't.

We spent two days in Bangkok, taking boats down some canals and rivers, visiting wats (temples), touring the Grand Palace (again). Walked around, eating curries and fruit. Introduced Steve to pad thai and banana pancakes.

Then we headed (back) to Cambodia. Somewhere along the line, I got $400 stolen. I never carry this much cash, but Steve had just replenished my supply of dollars, half of which I had planned to spend in Cambodia. I'm pretty much always on guard, and honestly cannot say exactly when this happened and how they got it out of a zippered wallet inside a zippered pocket of my shoulder pack, and all back again, without me noticing. I am not ruling out sorcery.

But you roll with the punches...life goes on. We crossed into Cambodia and hopped into the back of a pickup with a dozen Khmers (Cambodian people) and spun off down the dusty road into the dusty town of Sisophon. The next day we continued on to Siem Reap, which we used as a base to explore the nearby ruins of Angkor. This is a complex of ancient Hindu temples from almost a millenium ago, and one of the wonders of the world (or it should be anyway). If you've seen the first 'Tomb Raider' movie, part of it was filmed here.

Anyway, we spent three days there, two on bicycle, and one by hired moto driver. These ruins are spectacular! Lots of people have said once you've seen Angkor, all other temples and ruins are nothing special. I disagree with that statement, as I've much enjoyed the sites of Bagan, Hampi, Belur, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, etc. Angkor is easily the biggest, but each is unique and fantastic in its own way.

Angkor Wat is the biggest and most famous temple. It's huge, and full of bas-reliefs...if you've seen pictures of Angkor, most likely they're of Angkor Wat itself. Angkor Thom is the ancient city whose walls enclose such temples as the Bayon, a temple with loads of huge faces carved everywhere. Banteay Srei is a temple famous for its fine carvings. Ta Prohm and Preah Khan are big temples that have been much devoured by the jungle, with collapsing walls and giant tree roots overgrowing the doorways.

Those are the notables, but the names probably don't mean that much, so I'll stop there. In all, we visited 15-20 temples over those three days. The first two days we were ambitious and raced around seeing as much as we could, hitting all the "must-see" spots. Our last day, we relaxed, revisiting our favorites and tracking down some off-the-beaten path places where we saw no tourists.

Evenings were spent sitting on the second-story balcony of our guesthouse and catching up on each other's lives.

We then hopped on a pickup for the long ride to Phnom Penh. It's a strange city--the main streets look quite modern (lots of NGO's and foreign workers here), but only a few blocks off, you'll still find dirt streets and extreme poverty. We didn't really do much in Phnom Penh, aside from eat at the local market, buy fruit, and walk around.

The only proper sight we saw was the Tuol Sleng Museum (S-21)...of 'Killing Fields' fame. It was a creepy place. Actually housed in an old high school. 20,000 Cambodians were imprisoned and interrogated here en route to their deaths at the killing fields outside Phnom Penh, under the Khmer Rouge. The place looks like it could've been abandoned only yesterday. The school walls were filled with shitty brick-and-board makeshift cells, with doorways knocked out of walls for easy access between rooms.

To get to our next destination, Kampot (150km away), we had a choice: Option 1 was to take a truck and arrive in 3-4 hours. Option 2, same price, was to take the train which runs only every other day. It's reputed to be slow. We took it. There was a single passenger car. Only one class. Over half the benches were broken in half and laying on the floor. Locals strung hammocks from the windows instead of sitting on the benches. The train was an hour late and took eight hours to arrive. But it was great! Watching the countryside go by and what seemed like walking pace. We even climbed on top the train for part of the slow journey, joining some Khmers and admiring the flat green rice paddy and palm-tree landscape.

In Kampot, we immediately rented an off-road dirt bike and headed up the hills to Bokor. How do you rent a motorcycle in Cambodia? Well, you show up. You tell them you want a 250cc off-road bike. You negotiate a price ($6 for 24 hrs). They don't ask for the money up front. They don't ask for a license. They don't ask where you're from. They don't even ask your name. And then you drive off.

Bokor is a hill station built by the French in the 1910's, up above the Gulf of Thailand. The road has not been maintained in half a century, so it's a 40km, treacherous off-road road from hell that rises 1000m (3300'). The "road" ranges from fist-sized chunks of rubble to torn up asphalt to sand and mud, all through jungle encroaching on both sides. And it rained.

The town itself is completely abandoned, aside from a ranger station where you can stay in a simple bed for $5/night. We arrived past dark with frayed nerves, and were the only ones there (aside from the park service guys). No food, but we had brought our own: ramen noodles and sardines. Yum!

Next morning, we explored. On the town's edge, the Gulf of Thailand looms, 1000m down. There is little to see...an old casino, a church, a water tower, a post office, and a hotel straight out of 'The Shining'. Very eerie. All the windows broken. Graffiti. Broken tiles. It's perched on the edge of a cliff (apparently several people had thrown themselves off this cliff following bad nights at the casino, back in the day). Gloomy. Damp. We spent perhaps an hour visiting the 3-4 levels, trudging through rooms and down the hallways. We avoided the basement for the most part, because there was a sound coming from there that sounded like a cross between a pig grunting and the noise a car hood makes when it pops back to place after you dent it. Wandering around this ghost town with no one else around is definitely one of the strangest experiences I've had on my trip.

Some other trivia...during the Vietnam-Khmer Rouge war, there was a shoot out here, with the Khmers based in the church, and the Vietnamese in the aforementioned hotel, separated by roughly 100m. And, apparently part of the film 'Under the Banyan Tree' was shot here, in case you're interested in seeing it.

We headed down mid-morning. Back in Kampot, a bridge that we had crossed the day before had partially collapsed, so we had to pay a boat to take us (and the motorcycle) across. While loading the cycle, I fell through a floor-board of the boat. The bike dropped and we busted a brake lever. Fortunately, nothing on me busted. We returned the cycle (paid $2 extra for the brake lever) and hopped on a van to Sihanoukville, on the south coast of Cambodia.

There, we enjoyed fish 'n' chips (barracuda), and spent a night, before a boat-van-bus-bus combination took us to Bangkok the next day. I've become efficient at dealing with Bangkok: bus #3 from northern terminal to Khao San Road...stay at PC Guesthouse for 60 baht each, down a side alley...get a huge 10 baht fruit shake from the grumpy guy one street over...swap some books at the only sidewalk vendor who'll cut you a good deal...bus #201 to southern bus terminal. And leave Bangkok. Total time: 11.5 hours.

Next up was Chumphon, the departure point for an overnight boat ride to the island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. There, we spent six days. Steve did his beginner's and advanced SCUBA diving courses. I did two dives one day, but spent the rest of the time relaxing and reading and napping (which was welcome after the two solid days of travel it took to get there from Cambodia).

I wasn't lazy the whole time, though, as I made time to go running (an old pasttime) twice...for the first time of my trip! This was not a good experience, as it confirmed that I'm out of shape, a fact that I could at least convince myself out of, until I had proven it.

October 10 was the full moon...and Koh Phangnan, the site of the world famous Full Moon Party, was only one island over, so of course we went! We hit Haad Rin, the party beach, at 8pm, and stayed until 8am, nursing a steady diet of volatile drinks. The most notable was the 'Bucket of Joy'. It's a plastic bucket. They fill it with ice, then into it pour one can of Coca-Cola, one can of Red Bull, and one bottle of cheap Thai whiskey. This was a great concept. But by the time morning rolled around, it'd be better to call it a 'Bucket of Sorrow', in my case anyway.

I slept most of the next 24 hours, after a long night of lights, thousands of people, sand, and music.

Next stop was back to mainland Thailand, where we crossed from the east to the west, ending up on Railey Beach in Krabi province. This is a world-class rock climbing destination. There are 51 areas with 650 bolted climbing routes, most accessible within a 5-30 minute walk from your bungalow. I was ecstatic to be back doing something I really loved, and we spent three glorious days climbing here. The cool mornings were filled with rock climbing, the hot afternoons filled with reading and napping, and the rainy evenings filled with fresh grilled seafood barbeques and movies and friends we'd made.

The highlight was a 25m (80') climb up a challenging route on the Thaiwand wall. From the top of the climb, there was an incredible view of the sweeping bay and the Railey peninsula and the turquoise waters...amazing!

But Steve's time was running to a close and we had to move on...We took a bus to the border, and crossed into Malaysia at 9.30pm. I don't recommend this, as the local buses have stopped by then. And the money changers are closed. So there we were. Dark, penniless, and stranded at a lonely border station. Tried to hitch a ride. No one would stop. Eventually negotiated a taxi ride to Kota Bharu, 35km away, with a stop at an ATM en route to get money to pay the driver. A late night. An an early morning...

Up at 6am to catch the 7am local train to Jerantut, in the middle of the Malay peninsula, entry point for Taman Negara National Park. We spent the next three days in the jungle, hiking and camping. We saw monkeys and wild boars and water monitor lizards. I almost stepped on a 2m long poisonous black cobra as I hopped over a log. And we had a brush with what we believe to be an Asiatic Golden Cat. It was tiger-like, but without strips. Tannish in color, about a meter long. 15m away from the path (into the jungle) we were walking on. It roared at us. Scary...sounded just like in the zoo. We backed off, grabbed sticks (well, what else?), it emitted a throaty growl once more, then it seemingly went away. Pretty cool, cause it's pretty rare to see these. But our most intimate look at the local wildlife was with leeches. Lots of them. They hop onto your shoes, and burrow right through your socks. We each pulled off dozens off leeches every day. Bloody and messy.

Then our final stop: Kuala Lumpur. This city is straight out of the 'Jetsons'. Very futuristic feeling...monorail and several LRT lines. Tallest buildings in the world, the Petronas Towers (well, I've been told that a week ago, a building in Taipei surpassed them). Lots of ultra-modern malls and buildings. Very clean. With all the name-brand stores and franchises, it almost felt more "American" than America.

Shopped, ate, walked, and talked. One last day together, then Steve flew home after a great five weeks. We seemingly did a little of everything...old cities, new cities, temples, diving, parties, climbing, and jungle trekking. Via trains, boats, buses, motorcycle, and pickups. Kuala Lumpur was a nice finish. A chance to recharge and hang out and get great Indian grub before we parted ways.

After Steve left, I departed "KL" for Melaka, a city on the west coast of Malaysia, a bit south of the capital. And that's where I am now. Not much to do here so it's a great place to hang out for a few days.

And now I'm finally up to date.

.....

So there's an island east of here that I plan to check out next. I'm off tomorrow.

"Don't do what you can't undo until you've considered what you can't do once you've done it." (-Robin Hobb)

Away Awhile is hosted by Josh Trutwin.