Siem Reap at Night

Other than the new safety precautions, the temples seem to have stayed pretty much the same over the last decade. Siem Reap, however, is completely new. And it's great.

Eleven years ago, Siem Reap had one major hotel, the Intercontinental, and a lot of guest houses. Now there are literally hundreds of really nice hotels, with beautiful landscaped grounds, pools, and luxurious rooms for relatively cheap.

There was also no nightlife to speak of then. Now, Siem Reap has Pub Street and several night markets. Tonight, we went out for a fun date night. We rode our bikes down and meandered through Pub Street first. We decided to eat at Temple, since they have a traditional Khmer dance show every night.

They did four or five different routines, including the coconut dance which is one of my favorites.

Temple also has some of the best deep fried chicken spring rolls we have ever eaten. Ever.

Isa got the Khmer curry, which tasted perfect. It brought back a lot of memories with just one taste. I got the chicken ginger, which was a little spicier than I would have liked, but it was still delicious.

After a long day of wandering the temples, Isa convinced me to get a foot massage with her at one of the night markets. It was $2 for half an hour, and it came with a lady boy show. It was probably the most fun we've had since coming to Asia. 

We laughed so hard throughout the show (whether it was supposed to be funny or not, I don't know, but seeing those guys dressed up like Beyonce and Shakira and shaking their booties and lip synching their hearts out so passionately and enthusiastically, we loved every second of it), and the foot massage was wonderful. Yes, even I enjoyed it (and we know how much I hate massages). The whole night made us really love Siem Reap.

Exploring Hua Hin

So first things first we rented a scooter at the place right next to our hotel. One day, 200 baht (about $6.50 US). Good deal. What we didn't realize is the gas gauge was not broken - it was empty when we got it. :( That will come into play in a minute.

We drove directly out to Wat Huay Mongkol.

This is a giant statue of a famous Thai monk (Luang Phor Thuad) that sits on a hill about 20 minutes inland from Hua Hin. Apparently this monk is well known for his enlightenment and for performing miracles and his mere presence (even as a statue) guarantees your safety. Which may come into play in a minute. :(

The whole thing is free - free parking too. I'm not sure if we would pay to see this, but it's definitely worth seeing for free.

As you walk around the statue, you find other images and statues covered in gold. We found out that you could purchase these little stickers and pay your respects by sticking them on the statue of your choosing.

They're like little gold post-it notes.

At the base of the hill, on both sides, sit exquisitely carved elephants with three trunks.

We left just as seven coach buses arrived together, so it was a good time to take off for sure. We drove for about two or three minutes and then stalled. Weird, right? I got it going again, only to stall a few seconds later again. :( I thought it had died, but when I opened the gas tank, it was dry as a bone.

Out of Gas. Middle of Nowhere.

So here we are, 20 minutes outside Hua Hin, with no idea where to go or what to do. No phone. No ability to communicate. Stuck.

So we said a prayer. Because that's pretty much all we could do.

So I start pushing the moto down the road in the direction of town, and barely a minute later, a kid on a moto stopped to help us. He had zero english ability, but using hand gestures and foot gestures, he got Isa on the back of his moto and me on ours. We're so grateful he was patient with us because we had NO idea what he was trying to accomplish. We knew he wanted to help us, but we couldn't figure out what he could do without a rope or a truck. Then he managed to get behind me just to one side, he put his foot on my back foot rest and he started to move, pushing me along. We started slowly, then quicker and quicker. We drove for about a mile or so, crossing a large intersection that we just prayed wouldn't have any cars coming so we wouldn't have to stop - we didn't, whew! - and he pushed us into a gas station.

If you were ever wondering if God answers prayers, now you know. My goodness were we grateful for that kid. And it looks like Luang Phor Thuad's statue indeed helped guarantee our safety. :)

With a full tank of gas, we took off toward the beach.

Khao Takiab

We parked in the dirt parking lot leading into the beach on the far side of the hill and wandered out onto the sand.

We decided not to hang out here because we wanted to go up monkey mountain (that's the other side of the hill in the picture above - it's actually called Chopstick Mountain, but everyone calls it monkey mountain because, well, you'll see).

You can drive most of the way up the hill and park in the lot just below the temple, right next to this sign.

Which is serious, because if you do decide to feed them, they swarm and it's crazy.

But if you keep your food in your bag, they just hang out with you.

We hiked up the stairs to the temple on top (well, it's actually about half the way up - I couldn't find a way to get to the peak).

But even if it's not the very top, the temple still gives you a pretty good view of the coastline.

We returned to our moto and drove around to the backside of the mountain and found a vacant platform with a few pagodas and statues. It was interesting and photogenic, especially on a nice day like today.

There were a few rogue monkeys down here, one of which tried to run off with my water bottle after he stole it from my backpack. I chased him down and he dropped it and ran off. I need my water when it's this hot!

At the base of the hill, we stopped by a cute little fishing village. We were going to grab some fresh food because a friend of ours said it was delicious, but none of it looked quite right and so we chickened out.

From here, we drove north of Hua Hin toward Cha-Am in search of a better beach. We failed. So we returned to Hua Hin and set up camp near the town center.

Hua Hin Beach

We watched people playing games, horses strutting by, and the sun setting. (Well, kinda. It set behind us, but the sky was still cool.)

That's monkey mountain and the temple in the distance.

For a pre-dinner snack, we stopped and got Rotee, a Thai favorite. It's like a crepe with bananas or nutella and fried crispy. It was yummy.

Then we headed over to the night market. Full day. Good day.

Chiang Rai Black House

It's hard not to compare the White Temple to the Black House. It's almost as if they were deliberately created as opposites - opposite colors and locations - white is south of Chiang Rai, black is north; white is surreal, black is naturalistic; white is enlightenment and life, black is death. But once you experience each one, you realize that they're not in competition at all. They're both in their own little worlds, seemingly oblivious to their "counterpart" on the other side of town.

The Black House or "Baan Dam" in Thai (บ้านดำ), sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Black Temple, is the creative estate, grounds, and galleries of Thawan Duchanee, a local artist. Because it's his house and not intentionally designed as a tourist destination, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, local bus drivers know about it. Go to the old bus station in the center of town and go to platforms 5 and 6. Tell them you're going to "Baan Dam" - that's literally "Black House" in Thai. It's 18 baht. The bus driver will drop you off in the middle of nowhere. Trust them. I had looked on Google Maps, so I trusted it a little more.

If you're following along, you'll pass the airport road on your right, then a few minutes later you'll pass the university ("CRU") on your left, and you'll know it's coming up soon.

We just walked across the little boardwalk and through the open field and came in from the back side - not an entrance at all, but it worked.

Don't you just love exploring? We love Thailand!

The estate is a collection of a bunch of buildings in various architectural styles, almost all painted black with a few exceptions. So it's hard to say which one is "the" black house, although I guess we'd have to assume it's the first one you come to (if you enter from the front like you're supposed to).

Most involved some type of animal skeleton in the art.

It's creepy at times, interesting at times, but you can't help but look in every doorway and check out every building because it's so random that you just have to see all the things his weird little mind has created. Like this bathroom.

The detailwork is every bit as intricate and amazing as the White Temple.

Keep an eye out for donkeys, snakes, birds, and other random animals he keeps as pets (we heard there's an alligator, but we didn't see it).

Bangkok Temple Details

Today we visited a lot of temples around Bangkok. You can read all about them on Brian's post [here]. The temples are amazingly detailed and intricate. Here are a few pictures of pretty parts.