Bangkok to Siem Reap Overland Crossing

I've never really considered myself a backpacker. And part of not being a backpacker is that we value time a little more than money. For example, we'd rather pay a little more for a 2-hour flight than save $20 by taking a 7-hour bus. I've crossed a lot of borders, but none in Asia. We've always flown, which is very simple and regulated. I've heard lots of stories about the Cambodia-Thailand border, and I really wanted to experience it for myself.

Big mistake. We should have flown. Especially today, but we'll get into that in a minute.

We took a $2 taxi to the Mo Chit bus station just before 6am (if you're keeping track from last night, that gave us about 4 hours sleep). We hadn't purchased a ticket yet, and when we got to the booth, today and tomorrow were all sold out (there were still plenty of buses if we wanted to do it in pieces, but we were hoping for a straight trip from Bangkok all the way to Siem Reap, which only has one trip in the morning. Since our visa expires in two days, we couldn't wait. So we went to the window for Arranyaprathet, Thailand's border town, and mistakenly asked for a bus to Siem Reap (we were crazy tired and not really thinking straight). By the grace of God, she said she had two seats available for today. I kid you not, this was a full-on miracle. 750 baht each and we were all set. We found out later from the German guy sitting next to us on the bus that his friends were supposed to be in our seats, but they couldn't make it, so he returned the tickets last night. For anybody researching this crossing, make sure you buy your tickets at least two days in advance.

We killed the three hours in the bus station basically half asleep and glazed over, standing once for the pledge of allegiance to the king thing they do at 8am. Which, America, you should totally do.

The bus left on time at 9am. This is a nice bus with four seats across and a nice bathroom. Just one level of seats, not the premium VIP bus like we took to Chiang Mai, just one step down from there. Comfortable and enough room for my skinny six-foot frame. 

Almost immediately, they hand out snacks: coffee, OJ, and a muffin.

It took a while to get out of Bangkok, and then we drove through a lot of nothing. Finally, around 1pm, we arrived at a government bus station, where they recommended we purchase visas. This is at a much higher price than at the border. You would get to skip the queue at the Visa on Arrival building, which for us took about 5 minutes.

The bus started up again and they fed us a yummy lunch of fried rice and cucumbers.

At 1:45, after inching our way through horrendous traffic, we arrived at the border and were promptly ejected from the bus. I tried to get access to my bag, which was stored under the bus, because I had mistakenly left our passport pictures (which you need for your visas) in there. It was so early when we packed! My bad. Anyway, they wouldn't let me in because the bus was pretty much at the border and it was blocking traffic, so we got off and it kept going through.

We stood in a ridiculous line for our departure stamp. It was here that we found out that this is a holiday weekend. The king's birthday and Father's Day or something. So there were way more people crossing the border than normal. We got no special or preferential treatment for being on a government bus (I had read other blogs that we may). We stood in line and tried to make sense of the chaos until we finally merged into a line that was moving.

After 30 minutes, we finally got through Thailand's departure line and then walked into Cambodia and towards the white building on the side to get our Visas. Since I couldn't get our passport pictures from my bag, there would be an extra fee. We also couldn't change our money to USD yesterday because we got into BKK too late and we left this morning too early, so we had to pay in Thai Baht, which is another fee. Boo for us not being prepared. :(

Normal price for a visa is $20. A sign in the window gave us our options: $20 plus 100 baht (a scam that they were very adamant in sticking to, 100 baht is about $3.25), or 800 baht (about $26). I speak Cambodian, so I struck up a conversation with one of the guards, hoping he'd lower the price a little. He didn't. I asked what the penalty for not having our photos is, and he said 100 baht. So we ended up paying just under $30 each for our visas, mainly due to our unpreparedness. :(

Upon leaving the building, we saw our bus sitting there beside the Cambodian entry point, so we totally could have gotten our passport pics and saved a couple hundred baht. Boo again!

We hopped in line to get our entry stamp for Cambodia. This was a small hot  building with four agents working as fast as they could, but it still took a half hour to get through. I got through a few minutes before Isa, so I started talking to one of the guards outside. He was so excited to talk to a white guy in his native tongue that had a friend bring me a drink. Orange Juice. Yum! Isa came out and we thanked him for the drink and climbed back onto the bus. Exactly two hours had passed from when we got off the bus about 200 meters back on the Thailand side.

We passed through a few more hours worth of rice fields and nothing. Sunset was gorgeous...

We finally arrived at the bus station in the center of Siem Reap at 6:45pm. All together, the trip took 9 hours and 45 minutes, 2 hours of which were spent at the border.

The bus company provides free tuk tuk transport to your hotel, which is only free because the driver will try to convince you to hire him while you're there. We opted to walk, since our hotel was only a block and a half from the bus station (the bus station is by the KFC, on Sivatha Rd around Street Number 5. It's about halfway between the airport road and the Old Market).

So, here are our tidbits of wisdom:

1. If you have a specific date to cross and can book your tickets a few weeks early, FLY. It costs about the same and it's totally worth it.

2. Get your eVisa online. It takes 1 to 3 days to process, they'll email it back to you, and it costs $25. Knowing that there's going to be some scam for just a few bucks, it's worth it for the peace of mind and for being able to skip one line (even if it was the shortest and easiest line).

3. If taking the bus, book it at least two days in advance. You can do this at the station (Mo Chit) or online (for a fee).

4. Take the bus straight from Bangkok to Siem Reap (as opposed to taking a bus to Arranyaprathet, tuk tuk to the border, and then getting from Poipet to Siem Reap). It's so nice to just hop back on the same bus and not have to haggle with any tuk tuks or arrange a taxi. It's also very nice to not have to carry your bags with you through the border, since they stay locked under the bus the whole time. The cost ends up being about the same either way (maybe $2 or $3 cheaper if you do it in pieces and you're good at haggling), but the direct bus is so much easier.

Krabi to Bangkok Rant

Today was an awful day full of travel and wasting time. I'm still frustrated so if you don't want to read a rant, skip to tomorrow. Mainly, all today did was strengthen our resolve to never come back to Krabi.

So we were leaving from Phuket, since we booked a round trip ticket there. Online, we had seen that minibuses run frequently between Krabi and Phuket, so we weren't concerned about getting there. Our flight was to leave at night, giving us the day to spend on the beach or exploring town. We didn't know that for some dumb reason, minibuses and tuk tuks in Krabi raise their fares in the afternoon and evening. So in order to save money, we had to take a morning minibus out from Ao Nang. This took us to the bus station outside Krabi Town at 12:30, where we waited for our 4 o'clock bus to the airport.

We killed time by playing two player games on the iPad and wandering around trying to find a bank that would exchange baht for dollars (we need USD for our Cambodian Visas), but no luck. Krabi. *shakes head*

Our bus still wasn't there at 4pm. Luckily our flight didn't leave until 9:40, and it's only 2.5 hours to the airport, so we had time. I asked the lady and she said 4:30 now, so we continued to wait. 4:30 came and went and the lady told me, "coming soon." Still not there at 4:45, we'd been waiting for over 4 hours in the middle of nothing with nothing to do - definitely no internet - and we were tired, frustrated, and mildly concerned. I made her call the driver, who said he'd be there in one minute. This just doesn't happen. We've taken numerous buses throughout Thailand and they are ALWAYS on time. Krabi.

We finally got on the minibus at 4:50 and set off for the airport. We sat in the way back, crowded with our bags (and everyone else's), in seats that couldn't recline at all, on a very bumpy ride. We were mildly concerned again because the minibus said Phuket Town (not the airport), but we didn't want to yell over everyone so we just sat silently and hoped for the best.

Thankfully, it did bring us to the airport, where we gladly got off and checked in after waiting forever for Chinese tour groups and Chinese tourists who apparently don't understand how to fly. For anyone reading this, please buy your tickets before you get to the airport, ok? And for tour guides, have the members of your group check in by themselves, don't hand the agent 25 passports all at once, especially when your guests are all checking bags. It creates a lot of unnecessary chaos.

Finally, after paying more than a footlong costs in America, the best part of our day was this six inch sweet onion chicken teriyaki sandwich from Subway.

We got back to Bangkok around 11pm and caught the last bus to Mo Chit and then walked 5 minutes to our hotel. We love the familiarity we have now of Bangkok and getting around. No more getting ripped off by tuk tuks and minibuses in Southern Thailand.

Phra Nang Beach

Just a quick longtail boat ride away from Ao Nang beach is Railay, a peninsula cut off from the mainland by limestone cliffs, making it accessible exclusively by boat. We had never been on a longtail boat, and Thailand's beaches are kinda famous for them, so we decided to take it. 100 baht pp, each way. Not bad.

The ride out was fun and the landscape was beautiful! The cliffs diving straight down into the pretty water and the deep greenery of the jungles made for really pretty scenery. We stopped at a few beaches along the way, including Railay Beach, but our destination was the final stop: Phra Nang Beach and the caves.

First things first, we wandered over to the caves. Fishermen believed that a benevolent spirit lived in the cave, and they would seek her blessing for good luck each day. When they met good fortune, they'd return with gifts to thank her. Eventually, it evolved into this:

Regardless of the phallic nature of those matchsticks, the beach remains sacred ground. 

Next to the caves, we found plenty of rock climbers scaling the wall at least 60 or 70 feet up.

Walking back to the center (the caves are at the far end), we found a nice spot and laid out in the sun for a few hours. This was our view.

When the clouds came in in the early afternoon, we caught a longtail boat back to Ao Nang and made it back to our hotel before the rain came down. 

This time I wasn't feeling well, so Isa went out to get a massage while I rested in bed. When she came back, we went out to eat at a place up the street. Mine was spicy and not so flavorful, a poor representation of chicken with ginger. Isa got chicken with sweet peppers, but the sweet peppers were not sweet. They were hot peppers. We had heard that the food isn't great in Krabi, and now we agree.

We went back to Bernie's because they have pastries in he window that looked yummy. Isa felt a little ripped off with her slice...

And mine wasn't a croissant, it was more just bread. But whatever. So yeah, don't go to Bernie's. Or better yet, don't go to Krabi.

Ao Nang, Krabi

Upon returning from Maya Bay, we picked up our bags from the tour company's office and almost immediately bought a ferry ticket to Krabi. Little did we know we should have just stayed in Phi Phi.

The ferry dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, outside of Krabi. Our hotel is not in Krabi either (because there's actually nothing worth seeing in Krabi Town, the beaches are a 20 minute drive outside), but also not near the ferry terminal. Our hotel is just a few minutes walk from the beach, so we paid a ridiculous amount to get on a minibus from the ferry to Ao Nang, where we were staying.

We walked down to the beach, which is pretty, but coming from Phi Phi and Maya Bay, it's not much in comparison. Either way, we just laid out for a while. We were quite sleepy.

We had lunch at Bernie's, which to date was probably the worst Thai food we've eaten in the month we've been here. I'm pretty sure the Phad Thai was made with ketchup, and this fried noodles was virtually flavorless.

We walked around for a little bit, but we're still both dead tired from our very little sleep last night, so that's all for today.

Maya Bay Camping

That was fun.

Maya Bay came to fame by being the beach featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie called, "The Beach." It is ridiculously pretty. Super soft white sand, clear turquoise warm water, protected and surrounded by giant limestone cliffs, and even coral reefs and secluded side beaches to explore and enjoy. It is surreal in every way. The only downside is that everyone wants to be there, so it is crazy packed with boats and tourists all day long. So we decided to overnight there.

We booked this tour months ago, but when we showed up, they didn't have us on the list, and they were fully booked for today. Apparently, an error had switched our 12/1 (December 1) to the Thai version 12/1 (January 12). We were heartbroken and tried to reschedule, but it would only work for us today. Fortunately, they let us on, a little overbooked, but not so packed that there wasn't enough room or supplies for everyone.

We boarded the boat, met our tour guide, Boeung, and set off on our adventure.

Maya bay is on Phi Phi Le, the island just south of Phi Phi Don, where everyone stays. Our first stop was the Viking caves. You can look this up if you want to know more about it.

Then we went to a little bay on the outside of the island to do some snorkeling. It was very low tide, so we couldn't get all the way into the bay, but it was pretty and fun. Here are some under the sea pics.

It started to pour soon after we finished snorkeling. Already wet, I stayed out to take video of our entry and first view of Maya Bay. The rain let up just as we were rounding the bend into the bay.

We anchored our boat and hopped on a small plastic speedboat that took us in to shore.

There were still quite a few boats there from the day, but just as promised, one by one they all left the island, leaving the beach just to us.

Dinner wasn't for a few hours still, so we hiked through the jungle to the other side of the island, where you climb a staircase to see this little island. Another couple from our boat was there so we had them take our picture.

Back to the beach, we found it completely deserted except for our group of 31 people.

After sunset and the beach went totally dark except for starlight, we headed to a clearing in the jungle for dinner. There's a snack bar there with some shelter during the day, so our group takes over the area at night. We set out beach mats and were soon treated to rice, veggies, and Panang curry chicken. All of it was very yummy.

I had two plates. After dinner, they get the party started by giving everyone a free bucket of alcohol.

Boeung introduces a drinking game, which is crazy confusing but ends up being really funny and interactive. It's a great icebreaker. People kept refilling their buckets with various mixtures of vodka, rum, coke, and sprite, which are relatively inexpensive. People got loud, funny, and giggly.

Isa and I watched and laughed and helped explain parts of the game to our new Chinese friends that didn't understand certain things like "truth or dare" or "never have I ever." Things got a little more exciting when the staff brought in some crabs and let them loose in the middle of the group, and then caught them again and positioned them on a tree, where they remained and watched guard over us for the rest of the night.

After a couple hours, we went back out to the beach to look at the stars. It was too dark to focus on anything, so I had to just set the camera on manual and hope for the best.

A little later, they made chicken wings (very good, I had about 10), and people broke off into smaller groups playing different games, the Russians remained in the corner cuddling and chatting away. The Welsh and other drinkers went on to other drinking games. And Isa and I and the Chinese group got into a game of darts. 

Just before midnight, we caught our plastic speedboat back to the boat, staked out spots for sleeping (Isa and I slept on the bow under the stars), and then turned off all the lights and jumped into the water to swim with the glowing plankton. You don't think Maya Bay could get any cooler, but then this is the icing on the top. It's beyond way too dark for my camera, so forget about pictures. Just know that it's an experience you must have for yourself.

We slept under the stars.. More stars than I have ever seen before. It was amazing and wonderful and honestly makes you not want to close your eyes at all. We didn't finish swimming with the plankton until about 1am, and I'm sure it was almost 2 before we finally fell asleep.

We woke up around 6am, just before sunrise. The sun rises on the other side of the island, so no hopes of seeing the sun rising out of the ocean.

We had a small fruit breakfast before being shuttled back to the beach before the tour groups arrived. 

Sure enough, they all started pulling in around 7:30 or 8am, and it was packed before the sun even hit the sand. We got the whole group together and took a few pictures, one of which is the obligatory jump in the air pic.

But wait! There's more! We ferried back to the boat for a breakfast of toast, eggs, fruit, and juice/coffee, and then Isa and I took out one of the kayaks to go exploring.

We parked on a deserted beach and explored a little bit...

...and then paddled out under the cliffs.

Others snorkeled while we kayaked, but when we got back to the boat, it was sadly time to leave the island. 

One last picture before leaving Maya Bay...

Koh Phi Phi

I have been waiting years to be here. My expectations were borderline unrealistic, and at the same time I didn't really know what to expect. I just knew it would be beautiful and awesome. Koh Phi Phi doesn't disappoint.

We arrived yesterday afternoon on an unremarkable ferry from somewhere near Phuket Town. The ride started off beautiful and sunny, and people were laying out on the back deck getting some sun in already.

Clouds and rain came in when we neared the island, but they cleared out just about the time we disembarked.

Phi Phi is unique in many ways. First, it has no cars and no roads. You walk everywhere, and people push goods around in carts, saying, "Beep! Beep!" when someone is in there way. We loved this. Second, the majority of Phi Phi is located in a narrow isthmus between two hills. Narrow as in it took us about 4 or 5 minutes to walk across it from the pier. You can see that here:

We stayed on Loh Dalum Bay, on the far end, which we found out is the party side. Every night, each of the bars plays music and puts on a fire show. It's wildly entertaining and definitely not to be missed.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. When we arrived on the island, we walked with our bags across to the other side and then up the beach to our guesthouse (Dee Dee's Guesthouse, and it was perfect). Isa wasn't feeling well (she threw up all the night before), so she insisted that I do the viewpoint hike alone. I ran up the stairs and hill in about 10 minutes and hung out for sunset. It's quite the workout, and my quads are feeling it today. But it's totally worth it for this view.

Sunset wasn't spectacular, barely even photo worthy, but I waited it out in hopes that it would be awesome for even just a second. It just got darker and darker.

I found Isa back at the guesthouse reading Divergent. She loves it. We hung out for a while until about 9pm, when we figured the party would be getting good. It was. I took mostly video, so I'll embed that here once I make it.

This morning, I woke up around sunrise and went for a jog along the beach all the way to the other side. It was as beautiful as I had hoped.

Now we're hanging out in front of our guesthouse, killing time and enjoying the sun and scenery, until we have to be at our tour for Maya Bay. So excited about that!

Karon Beach

Our hotel is conveniently situated at the north end of Kata Beach. We're happy up here. You don't want to be in the middle of the beach because there's a Club Med that spans almost the entire length of the beach and you can't get through it, so you have to walk around it. The south end has more restaurants and bars, but up here has quick access to Karon Beach for a little change of scenery.

Just a 15 minute walk from our hotel put us at the south end of Karon Beach.

As you can see, today was gorgeous. We laid out for a few hours on our his & hers towels we picked up in Hua Hin.

Then we went to go play in the beautiful warm water. Seriously, so nice. And then the waves started picking up...

I've always wanted to get a picture inside the curl of a wave like the ones you see in surfer magazines. Turns out they're a lot harder to get than I thought. They crash too early or too late or the curl's not big enough or the picture isn't level or there's people in the way or water on the lens. I took about 40 pictures and videos, most of which were examples of all the things I just listed. But I'm really happy with a few of them. I'm really excited to make that video. I'll embed it here later. But here's my favorite picture for now...

After a few hours, we went back over to Kata Beach. We like it better than Karon. The sand is nicer and it's wider and a little less crowded. Laying out here was cut a little short when a 30-minute rain storm came through. We hid out under some trees and then we found a vacant stall tent when it got really heavy.

When we finally decided to call it a day, we stopped to get some rotee, which is a Thai banana pancake. It was surprisingly yummy.

We ate dinner in the same area at the south end of the beach. This time we ate at a place that gave us free garlic bread and minestrone soup. It was called Tomato Restaurant. And it was awesome. Thai food with Italian appetizers. :)