Bangkok, Siem Reap, The PLF, Battambang and PP.
Feb 17th, 2012, 01:50 PM
#41
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No, not as much as I'd like, lin. Just nice memories. Just commenting because I of those and that I know doing reports can take a lot of time and it's good to know that someone is seeing and enjoying them. For some odd reason, we often seem to end up spending more time hanging around and talking to people but forgetting to sightsee, lol. I think I learned a bit about how things were going around BB but while reading your report, regret again not seeing the bats and the bamboo train!
Feb 17th, 2012, 07:53 PM
#42
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The bats were just 'ok"..it is amazing how many there are but the bamboo train is a hoot. In fact, I read a report and saw a short documentary of people who took it for quite a long distance with their motorcycles on top.. not just the one village jaunt they do for the tourists for $5/person!!
Thanks for reading. at this point, I still have two more days to post but think I have made this so long and have lost a bit of the intensity of it all... I'll give it a try this weekend so i can actually call it complete!
Thanks for reading. at this point, I still have two more days to post but think I have made this so long and have lost a bit of the intensity of it all... I'll give it a try this weekend so i can actually call it complete!
Feb 21st, 2012, 09:34 AM
#44
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I am going to try to make our last two days readable for those who have endured this long report!
Our last day in PP was filled with activity. We enjoyed a relaxed, late breakfast ( you can have breakfast at any time you wish at the 252!). We later accompanied our son next door to his substitute hotel (Frangipani) for his last two nights since the 252, unfortunately, was completely booked.
We left our luggage there for our later flight and took off with our loyal driver, John, to do some last minute shopping, get stamps at the post office, take a leisurely look at the lovely Artisans of Angkor shop and take in what is left of the colonial architecture.
John mentioned that one of the best massages is right across the street from the P.O. Our son kept that information for later and told us it was the deepest massage he had ever had.
We made a quick trip to Wat Phonom, with an unnecesasary advisory from our always informative driver to 'watch out for the bad (aggressive) monkeys".
I was hoping to see some, of course!, but they must have been entertaining a group elsewhere.
We went to the Blue Pumpkin for a pleasant lunch before we headed out to the TV station to see some boxing matches John told us were being televised today, just like they do in BKK.
We had wanted to catch some Thai kick boxing in BKK but never got around to the free Sunday matches I was told about here by a poster, and the prices for tickets at a stadium were around 30E in BKK, which we decided to decline.
Our driver had wanted to come in and join us here, but like many other times when he parked and we invited him, he declined, deciding to stay with his tuk tuk. He would only leave it if it were in clear sight, which most of the time it was not. I guess he has a pretty nice motorcycle compared to many. He lives quite far from the city so a bigger motor must come in handy.
Going to this TV station was a lot of fun. I counted 6 obvious foreigners, including ourselves, in a crowd of probably 500 hundred on the bleachers. We had as much fun watching the coaches/trainers as the reactions of the crowd.
Families were there with young kids. A small group of curious very young buddies moved close to me to try to see what I was filming and taking pictures of.
We then started having a smiling continuous photo sesson of themselves. The other spectators near us showered us with smiles. It was just an all round fun experience not only watching the different levels of boxing, but also interacting with the crowd, cheering together and clapping for the winners and laughing at some of the spectators who didn't agree with the referees. (That, actually, was the best part!)
John took all three of us back to our son's hotel when we decided it was "time". After a quick shower we said our teary goodbyes to our son, whom we would not see until much later in the year.
I normally would not weep, but I think I was so filled with the sorrow and sadness that we had experienced together, that partially the tears were of gratitude for having been able to have this experience together as a family, but also of the impotence and realization that how we had helped is a drop in the bucket compared to what needs to be done.
One can give a driver a generous tip, help pay some of his education, but in the end he will need to compete for his job against many other determined youth. We wish all our drivers the best of luck and hope they all have a lot of work this year to help get them established. I will do my best to spread their information around.
It seemed appropriate to take a tuk tuk to the airport as the finale to our Cambodian adventure so John drove us. We then said our goodbye to him, too. He is a great guy, very discreet and a safe driver.
Check-in was easy and we were informed of the VIP lounge for all Bangkok Air passengers, so we headed there after calling the states at a mobile phone stall for 15cents a minute and checking out the few gift shops.
The mobile phone stall girl gave me back the totally wrong change in riels.. but she rectifid it with a smile and "oh..you're right" when I brought it to her attention.
The lounge came in handy since the flight was delayed for over an hour and a half. The TVs entertained us all with the tennis matches after a much enjoyed professional golf tournament.
We were looking forward to spending our last night at the Peninsula but our dinner plan had been now defeated so we had a heavy snack at BKK when we arrived.
It's funny how the ride in the taxi now seemed like familiar territory. How the skyline was recognizable. How going back to visit a place we now felt we knew so well was comforting and not mysterious any longer. It felt good.
Ahhh. The beds and view from our room.
Breakfast along the river..our last one, while a light Thai rain drizzled, an atmosphere we had not yet experienced during our stay. It hadn't rained a drop if I recall, and definitely not while we were in BKK.
Howwever, this prevented us from hanging out at the pool.
I decided to do a huge shopping marathon without DH while he relaxed and started getting in "long overnight trip mode".
I jumped on a shuttle boat then the train to some malls, looking for some items people had recommended getting. I picked up some Haarn hand cream and spent a lot of time looking for a clothes stand I later realized was in a DIFFERENT mall!
Oh well. So much for that. That particular bit of info was NOT on the note paper I had brought with me.(this is a frequent situation with me).
I thoroughly enjoyed the gourmet supermarket in the basement of Paragon mall. There should be no complaining expats in BKK for want of food items. My goodness! And I thought El Corte Ingles was way up there on the gourmet food market list!!
Back to the hotel to get my husband for some touring. We went to Mr. Kukrit's house, an ex-Prime Minister and seemingly charming, animal-loving man. His delightful, tranquil complex has a group of authentic Thai houses similar to the idea of the Jim Thompson complex but not as ornate, nor as focused towards tourism. It was the perfect low key place to spend time reading up again on the local political situation during his short term and the local culture.
We realized we had walked in this neighborhood the first day we were in town.
Our Bangkok stay was also coming to an end. No tears. In fact, we were quite excited not to be alone and to be going out for our last dinner with Hanuman and Kuranosake which you can read about here.
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...last-night.cfm
New friends, here and afar..new concerns, new foods, new sights to see, and much to plan for another time.
Thank you all for all the ideas I gathered from your numerous posts and rhkkmk for your detailed restaurant guide. A big thanks to www.theplf.org for all you are doing. Thanks to Hanuman for arranging such a lovely dinner and Kuranosake for coming!
Last but definitely not least, thank you all for reading this terribly long report. I hope something in it has been of use to you.
Our last day in PP was filled with activity. We enjoyed a relaxed, late breakfast ( you can have breakfast at any time you wish at the 252!). We later accompanied our son next door to his substitute hotel (Frangipani) for his last two nights since the 252, unfortunately, was completely booked.
We left our luggage there for our later flight and took off with our loyal driver, John, to do some last minute shopping, get stamps at the post office, take a leisurely look at the lovely Artisans of Angkor shop and take in what is left of the colonial architecture.
John mentioned that one of the best massages is right across the street from the P.O. Our son kept that information for later and told us it was the deepest massage he had ever had.
We made a quick trip to Wat Phonom, with an unnecesasary advisory from our always informative driver to 'watch out for the bad (aggressive) monkeys".
I was hoping to see some, of course!, but they must have been entertaining a group elsewhere.
We went to the Blue Pumpkin for a pleasant lunch before we headed out to the TV station to see some boxing matches John told us were being televised today, just like they do in BKK.
We had wanted to catch some Thai kick boxing in BKK but never got around to the free Sunday matches I was told about here by a poster, and the prices for tickets at a stadium were around 30E in BKK, which we decided to decline.
Our driver had wanted to come in and join us here, but like many other times when he parked and we invited him, he declined, deciding to stay with his tuk tuk. He would only leave it if it were in clear sight, which most of the time it was not. I guess he has a pretty nice motorcycle compared to many. He lives quite far from the city so a bigger motor must come in handy.
Going to this TV station was a lot of fun. I counted 6 obvious foreigners, including ourselves, in a crowd of probably 500 hundred on the bleachers. We had as much fun watching the coaches/trainers as the reactions of the crowd.
Families were there with young kids. A small group of curious very young buddies moved close to me to try to see what I was filming and taking pictures of.
We then started having a smiling continuous photo sesson of themselves. The other spectators near us showered us with smiles. It was just an all round fun experience not only watching the different levels of boxing, but also interacting with the crowd, cheering together and clapping for the winners and laughing at some of the spectators who didn't agree with the referees. (That, actually, was the best part!)
John took all three of us back to our son's hotel when we decided it was "time". After a quick shower we said our teary goodbyes to our son, whom we would not see until much later in the year.
I normally would not weep, but I think I was so filled with the sorrow and sadness that we had experienced together, that partially the tears were of gratitude for having been able to have this experience together as a family, but also of the impotence and realization that how we had helped is a drop in the bucket compared to what needs to be done.
One can give a driver a generous tip, help pay some of his education, but in the end he will need to compete for his job against many other determined youth. We wish all our drivers the best of luck and hope they all have a lot of work this year to help get them established. I will do my best to spread their information around.
It seemed appropriate to take a tuk tuk to the airport as the finale to our Cambodian adventure so John drove us. We then said our goodbye to him, too. He is a great guy, very discreet and a safe driver.
Check-in was easy and we were informed of the VIP lounge for all Bangkok Air passengers, so we headed there after calling the states at a mobile phone stall for 15cents a minute and checking out the few gift shops.
The mobile phone stall girl gave me back the totally wrong change in riels.. but she rectifid it with a smile and "oh..you're right" when I brought it to her attention.
The lounge came in handy since the flight was delayed for over an hour and a half. The TVs entertained us all with the tennis matches after a much enjoyed professional golf tournament.
We were looking forward to spending our last night at the Peninsula but our dinner plan had been now defeated so we had a heavy snack at BKK when we arrived.
It's funny how the ride in the taxi now seemed like familiar territory. How the skyline was recognizable. How going back to visit a place we now felt we knew so well was comforting and not mysterious any longer. It felt good.
Ahhh. The beds and view from our room.
Breakfast along the river..our last one, while a light Thai rain drizzled, an atmosphere we had not yet experienced during our stay. It hadn't rained a drop if I recall, and definitely not while we were in BKK.
Howwever, this prevented us from hanging out at the pool.
I decided to do a huge shopping marathon without DH while he relaxed and started getting in "long overnight trip mode".
I jumped on a shuttle boat then the train to some malls, looking for some items people had recommended getting. I picked up some Haarn hand cream and spent a lot of time looking for a clothes stand I later realized was in a DIFFERENT mall!
Oh well. So much for that. That particular bit of info was NOT on the note paper I had brought with me.(this is a frequent situation with me).
I thoroughly enjoyed the gourmet supermarket in the basement of Paragon mall. There should be no complaining expats in BKK for want of food items. My goodness! And I thought El Corte Ingles was way up there on the gourmet food market list!!
Back to the hotel to get my husband for some touring. We went to Mr. Kukrit's house, an ex-Prime Minister and seemingly charming, animal-loving man. His delightful, tranquil complex has a group of authentic Thai houses similar to the idea of the Jim Thompson complex but not as ornate, nor as focused towards tourism. It was the perfect low key place to spend time reading up again on the local political situation during his short term and the local culture.
We realized we had walked in this neighborhood the first day we were in town.
Our Bangkok stay was also coming to an end. No tears. In fact, we were quite excited not to be alone and to be going out for our last dinner with Hanuman and Kuranosake which you can read about here.
http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...last-night.cfm
New friends, here and afar..new concerns, new foods, new sights to see, and much to plan for another time.
Thank you all for all the ideas I gathered from your numerous posts and rhkkmk for your detailed restaurant guide. A big thanks to www.theplf.org for all you are doing. Thanks to Hanuman for arranging such a lovely dinner and Kuranosake for coming!
Last but definitely not least, thank you all for reading this terribly long report. I hope something in it has been of use to you.
Jun 20th, 2012, 12:15 AM
#45
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Re-reading this report I have just realized that i never posted our Siem Reap driver's email.
Here it is in case anyone can use it.bHe calls himself Vuthy ( pronounced Voo-TEE, I THINK)
[email protected]
Here it is in case anyone can use it.bHe calls himself Vuthy ( pronounced Voo-TEE, I THINK)
[email protected]
Oct 18th, 2012, 05:29 PM
#47
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How funny. I just re-read this a couple hours ago, looking for the name of the bicycle company in Bangkok. Then I see it is topped and I thought I might have accidentally done something to top it. Glad to see you enjoyed it!
Reading it again made me want to seriously think about the next trip!
You have gone back, haven't you?
Reading it again made me want to seriously think about the next trip!
You have gone back, haven't you?
Oct 20th, 2012, 06:52 AM
#50
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Just got an email and our Siem Reap driver's email has been compromised so he has two new addresses now
[email protected] and [email protected]
[email protected] and [email protected]
Oct 21st, 2012, 12:46 PM
#51
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and here are our other two drivers.. they had tuk tuks
in quaint Battambang we used Kim, recommended from the PLF.
He also took us to a very nice simple new hotel .
[email protected] tel 012654427
In PP we also used a recommendation from the PLF
John tel: (855) (0) 99817225 email: [email protected]
in quaint Battambang we used Kim, recommended from the PLF.
He also took us to a very nice simple new hotel .
[email protected] tel 012654427
In PP we also used a recommendation from the PLF
John tel: (855) (0) 99817225 email: [email protected]
