LastTraveL2006

to the island KohSameT
started the 23.12. with my brother from Bangkok ..
The way to the island Koh Samet from Bangkok which was easy&relaxed ..
we took the bus from the Eastern bus station
„Ekkamai“ and arrived at the Peer
where the ferry leaves to Koh Samet
after two hours at around 19:00.
It was dark and all the people already left to the island..
So we and two couples (one of Japan and one of the UK) had to pay something more to get a ferry to KohSamet. Ok we did so and we were driving in the dark with the slowest and oldest ferry i ever saw to this small island (13 Km²)..
We arrived and took a jeep further on to a Guesthouse which my French study-colleges recommended me. The japanese couple had already booked something else, so we grouped us with the couple from Uk to reach the Guesthouse "Sea-Breeze“.

After taking the „simple“ rooms we went with them to have dinner and some drinks... Through the time the drinks got more and more ... and more
and i was F**kinG drunk at the end.
Caused by the SangSom-Whiskey (really the worsT stuff i can imagine.. MehKong is GoLd in comparison !!!!)
We talked a lot drunk more and more and at 4:30 we tried to walk back ;-)
The two (Marc and Susan) are working in Vietnam and wanted to have some holiday for Christmas and NewYear... we had really a great time together this evening..

Sunday 24.12.
The day started more or less early (respect the previous night) and we said goodbye to them, because they wanted to search a Guesthouse for the next ten days (to celebrate even NewYears Eve there) and we searched something for two nights, because we wanted to continue our travel to Cambodia ... but we should meet them again...
We searched and found a another nice Bungalow near the beach (because the recommended „Seabreeze“ of the French friends was „mierda“).. The day was relaxed, we hang around at the beach and in the evening we had a nice christmas-dinner directly at the beach and experienced really a different Christmas! We called to the family at home and went to bed to get some more sleep than the last night.

Monday 25.12.
This morning we rent a motorbike and tried to drive over the island, but it was
the worst road i ever drove!!
Impossible to enjoy and to drive more than 15 Km/h fast..
bumpy and sandy...
so we tried to reach the southside of the island
and found a really nice place --------->
We took the way back as soon as possible, before it would get dark .. Johannes and I went to the beach to have dinner and for the reason that we wanted to travel further to Cambodia the next day, the evening should be not full of drinks like the first one when we arrived to Koh Samet.

We were sitting and talking and after one or two hours we met Susan and Marc again. We had some drinks together and after a short time it was clear that we would spend the evening with them.. ;-)
We went to the same beach-bar from the first evening and had 3!!!! bottles of Mekhong at the end... So for sure we won’t start early the next day ;-) There was a great fireshow at the beach this evening .. .. and with the Mekhong inside us more impressing

Tuesday 26.12.
We woke up too late at 11:00 and checked out from the Bungalow, went to the peer and took the boot to the mainland. There the last bus to the cambodian border left the city already and so we had to decide what to do...
Stay there, take some different busses from one town to the other to come near the cambodian border and stay there, take a very expensive taxi and all this with an incredible big head from the last night OR Just go back to Bangkok and go to Cambodia the next morning with a fresh mind and relaxed...
We decided for the last possibility and went back to Bangkok... arrived ... went early to bed in our ABAC-Residence and the next morning we wanted to take the bus at 07:30.

Wednesday 27.12.
Woke up 06:30 and went to the station and the bus had already left! We were not to late .. the bus left earlier at 07:00 this day ... so we went through all the morning traffic of Bangkok to reach the other bus station in the north..
There we found a bus that left at 09:00 and we took it directly to reach the border of cambodia early enough to travel on in Cambodia...

After the succesful border crossing and paying a bribe about 100 Baht for not having the necessary photo for the visa, we took a old, „really finished“ Minibus to start the way to Siem Reap, the place where AnGkorWaT is located ..
The road was no road ..
it was a sandy,
stony, bumpy way of dirt and dust and
all the passing vehicles left a big cloud of sand and smoke behind them...
It was a uncomfortable but really interesting TraveL,
because we could see a lot of
the reaL cambodian style...
the houses, the people, the vehicles – All „a little“ different to Thailand -
We arrived after 5,5 hours of this horrorble road at Siem Reap and took the first Guesthouse that the bus was targeting and stayed there for 6 Dollars the night..
The Hotel stuff was really „working“ on us that we should take HIS tour the next day to AnGkorWat (for 18 $ each), but we decided to leave this Guesthouse the next day and search „our luck on the street“.

28.12.
After getting up, leaving the Guesthouse and 5 minutes later on the street a cambodian TuKTuk driver stopped and asked us to hire him as a guide through the temples of AnGkorWaT (for less than 50% of the Guesthouse price ;-)
We entered the big ANGKOR WAT and it was really incredible ...

Angkor Wat is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture . It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.
Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temples. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the gods in the Hindu mythology within an outer wall 3.6 km long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west - In the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. The largest and best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre and is known as the biggest temple-area in the world.

Wanna know more ??? click: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_wat

All the big and very old temple, the huge area and the thoughts that all this was filled with life thousand of years ago.. The driver (with the registration-number 6007 –
so we called him James Bond ;-))
took us around and showed us and informed us about all the temples..
Was a amazing and very impressing tour !!!!



















After we finished our tour (10) hours through Angkor Wat and went back with our „special agent“ we invited him for dinner in an cambodian restaurant and talked about our problem - that we wanted to go to the north of cambodia (to cross the border to thailand again) and that all the taxi-driver in the town said something about 100 – 130 $, because of the bad roads.. (worth than this which we took to arrive ?? i couldn't believe it ;-)
He promised us to care for us and wanted to us from our Guesthouse the next morning.

29.12.
007 was really there the next morning and took us to the public place where the Cambodian people meet to share a Taxi, Pick-up, Bus ...
He bargained with the driver of Jeep and so we went with 20 people on the back and 6 inside the car the way to the northern part of Cambodia (Choam) where we wanted to cross the border to Thailand again..

After crossing the border at the lonliest place i ever saw for a border, we were back in Thailand...
But what to do now ...?? there was nothing ...
No TuKTuKs, Motorbikes or Buses to reach the next town – NOTHING –
I already saw myself sleeping in the sand near the border, when i saw a family with a big Jeep..
I asked them how and where we can reach the next town, road or whatever and they invited us to come with them! In the back of their Jeep (which was 10 times more comfortable than the cambodian TraveL) we passed more than 100 km together with them.. They brought us to a place (which was more than we expected), that was only 80 km away from our next city we wanted to reach. There they cared for the train ticket and even invited us to stay with them, but we thought that they really helped enough and took the train to UbonRatchthani..

For this 80km we payed 17 Baht (35 cent) in the third class train and had a good impressionable trip to Ubon.

In Ubon we found very fast a cheap Guesthouse for this one night and went to bed very early... full of cambodian impressions and a long journey...

30.12. in Ubon RatchaThani
The town has an own character... it’s the eastern part of Thailand and there are nearly no tourists.. All the signs are in Thai (not like everywhere else in English as well) and the people can not really speak and understand english well.
So my „Thai ning noi“ was really usefull ;-)) to
We walked around in Ubon, visited temples and a big park..
market and finally took the tuKtuK to the airport to get our walked over aflight back to Bangkok...



There we spent (although there were bombings in the city) our new years Eve in a Club in Sukkumvit - drunk a bottle of whiskey and had a really relaxed enter to 2007 !