Well the time has come to leave Thailand the days and weeks seem to be going so fast, we really enjoyed our time there and hopefully will return in the future. David enjoyed himself so much at the Elephant Nature Park that he wanted to volunteer at their other animal sanctuary, the Cambodian Wildlife Sanctuary, so we organised this during our last couple of days in Chang Mai and luckily they had space for us to go, starting October the 20th.
We travelled by plane again ChangMai to Bangkok and then onto Siem Reap, the journey was uneventful although we had to wait in the departure lounge with a large amount of Chinese holidaymakers returning home. They all seem to talk very loudly and incessantly, the noise was incredible, there were announcements being made which we couldn't hear, which was even more annoying as it is the only departure lounge we have been in without a departure board. At one point David spoke to me and I couldn't hear him, so he repeated it more loudly, the looks we got for being noisy were incredible, all these disapproving heads suddenly turned towards us, was quite funny!
At about ten o'clock we arrived at our new hotel, this one was quite pricey so we had only booked it for a couple of days. After our hotel nightmare in Delhi we have started playing it safe, we now don't book too cheap or for too long. If we get somewhere and like it we book more days there.
We were picked up as arranged at the airport by the hotel by what we thought was going to be a taxi, but it was a tuktuk, also known as a remork in Cambodia, locals call them tuktuks though. It was lovely not like tuktuks in the other countries we have visited, it is a motorbike with a mini carriage hooked on the back. It is quite slow and sedate and you can see the sights while getting a cooling breeze, I loved it.
The hotel staff were very friendly and we even got a welcoming drink. We had to walk up a wooden walkway over water to the reception and there was koi in the water and plants. Then when we got to our room the bed had flowers on it, I have never had a bed like that, I was so excited I took a photo straightway and sent it home. I had a dilemma when it came to bed time though, I didn't want to ruin the lovely display, but eventually I scooped the petals up and put them into a pot. I felt sorry for the maid who had obviously put a lot of work into the design.
The bathroom was gorgeous too, it even had a bath! I put this running but it took ages as it was so deep. It was late at night but I was determined that I was going to have a bath, most places just have showers, so this was a luxury I was not going to miss.
The next day we started to visit the local temples which are very famous, Angkor Wat being one of many in the area, then we went in the swimming pool at the hotel, I tell you very luxurious, and the pool was just outside our bedroom door. In the evening we went for a walk in the local area and came across what looked like huge cauldrons. These are their bins, each house has one on the doorstep, they are made from tyres which have been turned inside out, very innovative. The base is made of strips of tyres, I think they would make good plant pots. I will need to have a word with a friend of mine, Anne D, as I can feel a enterprise project coming on.
The next day we moved to a new hotel, the last one was lovely but pricey as I said, it wasn't too far away so we decided to walk. So laden down with our rucksacks we set off, then a tuktuk went past , we shook our heads to the driver asking if we wanted a tuktuk. He continued on, shouting "Just one dollar, " that's less than a quid , we hopped on. We were greeted at our new hotel by a nervous looking young girl who tentatively told us the hotel was shut. We just looked at her puzzled as we were standing in the lobby, so it wasn't shut but she went onto to explain that they had three hotels and it was quiet season so they were putting their guests from that hotel into a their bigger hotel which also had a pool. So they organise a tuktuk to come and get us and transfer us over. While we were waiting we saw this sign which we took a photo of sneakily, that's why it isn't very clear but it is saying that handguns, grenades and syringes(drugs) were not allowed. A bit strict! There was also another sign saying no durians, the smelly fruit I mentioned in another blog.
Talking about handguns in two of the airports we have been in there have been areas where you can leave your handguns but you have to take the bullets out first.
One of the receptionists at the hotel thought we were Australian because of our accent, we explained that we weren't but then this sign greeted us in our room!
A picture of a tuktuk, we used this one two days in a row to see the temples. The driver was very nice and spoke good English.
This was also in our hotel room, I have never had a tin of bug killer awaiting me in my room. Should I be concerned? It is lavender scented so at least the bugs go out in style. Haven't had to use it yet!
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