Saturday, September 29, 2007

Back in Nongkhai



As soon as my computer was fixed I took the night train to Nongkhai. Surprisingly the train arrived with a delay of only 5 minutes (usually there's a delay of 2 or 3 hours), so I was at the Mut Mee Guesthouse at 9.30am. It is nice being back here, as it feels a bit like home. My old room was already taken but I got another one that is even better...
I'll be staying here untill a few days before the end of my trip (6 nov), so I can work a little bit, make some stock illustrations and make a new portfolio. And I'll be able to keep on doing my yoga practise and go to the free meditation sessions.
For me Nongkhai is probably the best place to stay for a longer period of time. It is a very relaxed place, the locals are friendly and there are not too many tourists, but enough to have a nice conversation once in a while. There are also a few foreigners staying here longterm. There's a nice market and there's an interesting Buddhist sculpture parc. And of course it's on the banks of the mighty Mekong...

Zodra mijn computer gemaakt was, heb ik de nachttrein naar Nongkhai genomen. De trein kwam verrassend genoeg aan met maar 5 minuten vertraging (meestal is 't 2 of 3uur vertraging), en dus was ik om half 10 in de Mut Mee Guesthouse. 't Is leuk om terug hier te zijn want 't voelt toch een beetje als thuis aan. Mijn oude kamer was wel al bezet, maar de kamer die ik nu heb is nog beter...
Ik zal hier tot een paar dagen voor 't einde van mijn reis blijven (6 nov) , zodat ik een beetje kan werken aan stock illustraties en aan een nieuwe portfolio. En ik kan hier ook mijn yoga blijven doen en naar gratis mediatie sessies gaan.
Nongkhai is voor mij de ideale plek om iets langer te blijven. 't Is een heel relaxte plaats met vriendelijke locals en er zijn niet te veel toeristen, maar toch genoeg om af en toe een interessant gesprek mee te voeren. En er zijn ook een aantal buitenlanders die hier langdurig blijven. Er is een leuke markt en een interessant buddhistisch beeldenpark. En 't ligt natuurlijk op de oevers van de Mekong...

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Thursday, September 27, 2007

New Photos !!



Yeah, finally some new photos! I know you all have been waiting for new pictures... And I will be uploading some more during the next few days.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Computer troubles

The morning after I arrived back in Bangkok, I took the bus to the train station to buy my train ticket to Nongkhai for the 24th. But unfortunately my computer decided that I should stay in Bangkok a little longer. As I told you before, my parents took my laptop to Cambodia, I asked them to do this so that I would be able to work a little bit when I return to Nongkhai, where I will stay until the end of my trip. But when I used my laptop last week it was incredibly slow and when I was back in Bangkok I discovered there were some serious problems with the operating system, and possibly the hard disk. Luckily there is an Apple Service Provider in Bangkok, so I paid them a visit and they agreed that there was a problem and would look at it. I went straight to train station and delayed my departure for 2 days. This morning I phoned the Apple shop and they had good news, they were able to fix the problem by reformatting the hard disk, off course this means I lost all my software, but I shouldn't have too many problems reinstalling them. All my documents were on an external hard disk so I still have them. And I'm happy that it was all fixed relatively quick and cheap (it cost me about 25 euros). And if all goes to plan I will be on my way to Nongkhai tomorrow evening...

Sunday, September 23, 2007

That notorious bustrip from Siem Reap to BKK

Yesterday morning I took the bus to Bangkok. This bustrip is quite notorious because of the state of the road between Siem Reap and the border, I wouldn't really call it a road and definitely not a highway like they do in Cambodia, it's a bunch of potholes in the dirt. And there are a lot of scams they try to pull on you, during this trip, especially when you do it in the other direction.
They picked me up at 7am, and after picking up enough other tourists so the bus was completely stuffed with people and luggage they started their trip towards the border. For about half an hour the road was still quite good. But then it got worse and worse and worse and... But eventhough we were being shaken alover, we were proceeding at a more or less decent speed, because the road was in a 'good' shape as it didn't rain. After stopping for lunch and driving through a lake in Sisophon, the road seemed to get better and I started to think that maybe we would be able to make it to the border sooner than expected. Off course about a minute after that thought we heard a strange noice coming from underneath the bus, and yes, it had broken down... We had to get out of the bus and the driver started to work on it. A French guy who had taken this bus many times already said that it would most likely take about 2 or 3 hours before the bus would be fixed. But the gods decided to be kind to us and after about half an hour we were back on the road continuing our journey. The road got worse again, off course and after another 2 hours we finally reached the border in Poi Pet. It was 3.30pm by now, it took us about 8.5 hours to travel 150 km. Crossing the border was easy and on the thai side we got another bus, true luxury compared to that Cambodian bus. For some reason the busdriver didn't want to drive fast though, saying that he wanted to drive 'safely' and we didn't arrive in Bangkok until 8.45pm. It was definitely an exhausting trip, but I was happy to be back in Bangkok in one piece...

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The temples of Angkor

Monday morning I hired a motorbike taxi to visit Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in the morning. We left at 6am, hoping to beat the crowds. But at Angkor Wat that is simply impossible to do. You have to approach the temple on the west side, and according to the guide book 'there is nothing to prepare you for the majesty of Angkor Wat'. But I found that slightly exagerated. To be honest I was not that impressed by Angkor Wat. Yes, it's a big temple, and there are a few beautiful carvings, but I felt a bit let down and I'm not sure why. Maybe I got my hopes up too high after hearing all these wonderful stories. After visiting Angkor Wat we went to the Bayon inside Angkor Thom. The Bayon is probably one of the most interesting temples inside Angkor Complex. The temple has 54 (if I remember correctly) towers with 4 huge buddha faces each. All those faces looking at each other and at you, they're great. After visiting a few other smaller temples inside Angkor Thom I retuned to Siem Reap as my parents would arrive around lunch time.
It was nice seeing them again after being on the road for about 3.5 months. We spent the afternoon in town and decided to rent a car with driver and guide for the next 3 days to see the temples. This was a very nice way to see the temples, and I wouldn't have been able to afford it on my own. It was quite exhausting visiting al those temples. Sometimes it was really hot and sometimes it was raining. And most of those temples were built artificial mountains, which means off course that there is a lot of climbing involved. But after seeing almost all the temples in Angkor I have to say that eventhough Angkor Wat itself didn't really impress me, the whole complex did. It's absolutely worth seeing the temples.
Thursday evening my parents left again, continuing their trip to Phnom Phen. I stayed 1 more day in Siem Reap, so I could visit a few temples again where it was raining the first time.

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Sunday, September 16, 2007

Siem Reap

Yesterday I took a bus to Siem Reap. I arrived at about 3pm at the bustation and was welcomed by a big group of shouting and touting men, trying to get me to come to their guesthouse. It reminded me a bit of Jaisalmer in India. I decided to go with a tuktukdriver who said he was rom the buscompany and would give me a free ride to my choice of guesthouse anywhere in town. Of course after I settled into the tuktuk, he said the ride was only free if I would promise to use his services as a tuktukdriver the next day to visit the temples of Angkor Wat. Since I was planning to go by bicycle I didn't need his services, so he said he would take me to my guesthouse for 1$, which was fine or me. But suddenly he couldn't bring me anymore, his friend would bring me. After driving about 2km, the tuktuk driver stopped and said that that was only as far as he would go for 1$ and that my guesthouse was at least 5 km further. If I still wanted to go to my guesthouse I had to pay 2$. I told him that I wasn't going to pay more, because he knew very well where my guesthouse was when we agreed on the price. So he said that I should pay 1.5$. I said he should drive on, thinking that I wasn't going to pay him more than 1$ anyway. After 500m he drove into a small dust road and stopped. He talked to some people and I assumed he wanted to say something to a friend before resuming the journey, but he said we were there and that my guesthouse was around the corner. I was a bit suspicious,'cause a minute ago he was telling me that my guesthouse was still 5km away, but decided to follow him and indeed he was right, there it was, my guesthouse. I gave him a dollar bill and when he asked for half a dollar more, I shaked my head and laughed very loud. It seems wherever you go tuktukdrivers are never to be trusted :-))

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Phnom Penh

After a short but turbulent flight I arrived in Phnom Penh 2 days ago. My first impression of Phnom Penh is that is very wet and chaotic. From the airplane it looked as if the whole of Cambodia was flooded and it was raining when I arrived. And the traffic in the streets around my guesthouseis crazy, Bangkok traffic is nothing against this. Yesterday morning I woke up to discover a bright blue sky and after switching to another guesthouse across the street with better rooms and a nice outside sitting area, I made my way to the national museum. Walked around a little and in the afternoon and went to the Orussey Market which is close to my guesthouse. This morning I visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. But I have to admit that I was not very impressed by it, I guess I've already seen too many realy beautiful palaces and temples before...
Tomorrow morning I will take the bus to Siem Reap, where I will visit the temples of Angkor Wat and see my parents in a few days.

Na een korte maar turbulente vlucht ben ik eergisteren in Phnom Penh aangekomen. Mijn eerste indruk van Phnom Penh was dat het ere erg nat en chaotisch was. Vanuit het vliegtuig leek het wel of heel Cambodia overstroomd was en het regende bovendien keihard toen ik aankwam. Het verkeer in de omgeving van mijn guesthouse is superdruk en chaotisch, het verkeer in Bangkok is er niks tegen. Gisteren was er een stralende blauwe lucht toen ik opstond en nadat ik naar een andere guesthouse ben verhuisd met betere kamers en een fijn terras buiten, ben ik naar het nationaal museum gegaan. Ik heb een beetje rondgelopen en ben naar de Orussey markt vlak bij mijn guesthouse geweest.
Deze ochtend ben ik naar het koninklijk paleis en de zilveren pagoda geweest, maar ik moet eerlijk toegeven dat ik niet erg onder de indruk was, ik denk dat ik ondertussen al veel te veel mooie paleizen en tempels heb gezien...
Morgenvroeg zal ik de bus naar Siem Reap nemen, waar ik de tempels van Angkor Wat ga bezoeken en over een paar dagen mijn ouders ga zien.

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Saturday, September 8, 2007

Two days ago I came back to Bangkok. I managed to get here from Ayuthaya for only 25 Baht (about 0.5 euro) and using 4 modes of transport (my feet, boat, train and bus). I decided to go for 'luxury' this time and went straight to the Rambutri Village Inn Hotel. They have single fan rooms with private bathroom, window and some space around the bed for 290 Baht. And best of all, they have a swimming pool on the roof. Ususally I stay in a depressing 150 baht matchbox room with shared bathroom and no window.
The problem is that getting a room at Rambutri Village is difficult, the single fan rooms are almost always fully occupied. Luckily I arrived at the right time, check-out time, and after waiting for about an hour I managed to get the only fan room that became available :-)
I've been doing some shopping yesterday, enjoying the airco at the malls around Siam Square and trying to find a laptop backpack, because in about 10 days I will be travelling with my own laptop :-), my parents are taking it to Cambodia...

Monday, September 3, 2007

Ayuthaya

I know, it's been ages since I've written anything really interesting. But there wasn't much to write about when I was in Nongkhai as I was only relaxing and reading some books.
Anyway, this morning I arrived in Ayuthaya. I wont be doing to much today because I'm still quite tired from the train trip and arriving really early in the morning and having to wait for another 3 and a half hours before I got a room...
Tomorrow I will rent a bycicle and visit the old temples around town. Hopefully the weather will be a bit brighter than today because it's quite grey today. It's been raining a lot the last few days, which is sometimes really nice as it cools down a lot after the rain, but I'm here to take photos so I wouldn't mind some good light...
In a few days I will go to Bangkok again before flying to Phnom Phen on 12/09/07.