Chiang Mia

Chiang Mia, cold wet and miserable.  We got there and they were experiencing the coldest day of the winter I think. Our home stay Chiang Mia House of Dreamers is out of the old town a few miles and our taxi driver had a hard time finding it.  When we got close I talked out ahead with a flash light to find the sign.  It's a nice place ran by a single lady who is very nice.  The place was cold so we had to sleep in our thermal under wear and coats and two blankets.  The next morning it was raining so we waited to 11 to head out to explore old town in the rain.  We were dropped of by tuk tuk and I showed the driver a map to find out were we were and headed for the market.  After about an hour following the map things did not look right so we asked a shop keeper were we were on the map and found we were a ways from were I thought we were.  From the map I followed the mote did one turn followed the mote again and was looking for the road going to the market, all in the rain and cold.  What happened is the tuk tuk driver showed us the wrong spot she dropped us off at. We headed back into old town and got a bite to eat and warm up.  Visited a museum that was warm inside then headed for the market again.  It finally stopped raining around 5 pm when we got to the day market that was closing up.  We then headed to the night market that was just opening and shopped there and had dinner.  The food was from street vendors were each one sold something different. So I had a whole barbaqued squid and shiska  bobs, fried spring roll and Alicia just had a fried spring roll.  We then headed back to our cold room for a Luke warm shower and hot tea.  The next morning we caught the bus to Sukhothai.  Chiang Mia might have been nice if the weather was better.

Phuket 2

I don't know what all came through on the last part.  But we finally made it to the boat and headed to a new spot and did some water rescues with Andy ( he is a certified kayak instructor ). Then paddled back to the main town on the island were we were staying.  Had a shower and headed back to the airport via fast boat taxi and flew to Chiang Mia.  The Phuket airport is the most crowded I have ever been in.

Phuket

We crossed the Cambodian Thailand border after leaving Seam Reap at 6:30 in the morning to avoid getting caught at the border for hours when the toirist buses show up.  We had only a short wait.  But were caught by a tout (some selling minibus services) and ended up paying more than we should have to get to Bangkok and the airport.  I should have written down the rates before hand when I read about them.  He also sold us a taxi to take us from down town Bangkok were the minibus dropped us off to the airport and we ended up paying double.  Then the taxi driver said they did not pay and we had to pay him, I saw some money Bing exchanged but I did not know how much so we ended up paying 3x the normal rate of about 4 dollars.   Any how we made the plane to Phuket on time and arrived in Phuket about 8:45 pm and stayed in a hotel near the airport.  In the morning we were picked up at 7:30 and taken to a fast boat taxi and taken to the island of Ko Yao to begin our kayak tour.  We changed in our bungalo and boarded our kayaking mother boat ( about 30 foot long) this boat carried the kayaks to the different areas we were to kayak in.  It was powered by one of the engines that is mounted on a swivel and runs to the propeller.  We did a series of island straight out from our resort.  We got there late as we did not realize we were supposed to have been dressed to go kayaking straight from the water taxi, the other couple in our group were not ready either.  When we arrived at the island there were a lot of other people there already.  We paddled around then had lunch on the beach, good Thia food. Then paddled to some other islands, then back to the resort fro dinner.  Dinner the first night was sort of bland so we asked for more spices for the other meals.  There was the other couple in our group and another man.  The couple was from England, about 65 years, Andy and Barbra, real travelers and the man Sigmand, was from Australia and had just

turned 60.  All were experienced Kayakers.   The next day we headed up the bay to the mangrove swamps and it was really pretty and no other tourist.  The next day we did another set of islands and a fish farm, again no tourist.  The last day was real windy, but our guide tokes out to an area he thought would be calm but when we got there the wind changed and it was blowing straight into us.  We gave it a try but we're forced to turn around as were not making headway plus it was getting a lot rougher.  The mother boat came back for us and tried to anchor but the anchor was dragging and they were heading fro the rocks. Our guide Burt went out to help and tied his kayak to the boat and when the boat was dragging the anchor the boat ran into a small piling and smashed the guides kayak. It had a good crack on top of the kayak, we later found out it was totaled. When the boat skipper tried to back up he got the anchor rope rapped around the prop shafted.  We had to grab the forward anchor line to try.

Seam Reap

We made it to Seam Reap and were picked up by our Homestay.  I thought we were closer to center of town but we were out on the edge.  I was not real happy at first but we loved the place.  It's Bun Young Homestay.  Bun and his family have two adopted boys, whom he adopted before he was married, he was married last year an they are expecting their first child.  Bun lost his dad when he was10 to the civil war.  His family was split up like most families under the Kemer Rouge.  Bun was able to stay with his mom, his siblings went with other family member and the were able to unite after the war.   Dinner was included in the price so we eat with the family and other guest on the mat in a little covered area, the food was good.  Our other guest were from Germany and Hungary.  After the Germans left 3girls from Australia arrived.  They were two 17 year olds and a 16 year old traveling by them selves.
We also got an American couple the male was Vietnamese and they were heading for Vietnam next to meet his relatives who stayed behind after the war.
For the next two days we toured the ruins with a guide and tuk tuk driver.  Our guide lot both parents to the Kemer

Rouge and two siblings.  We toured Angkor Tom first then Angkor Wat. I liked Angkor Tom the most as it had more carving.  It was a mixture of Buddhism and Hindu.  We also visited the Jungle Temple were Tomberarador was filmed.  We liked that temple a lot with the trees.
We also walked the slums with Bun as they were right down the road from us.  No one sees them or knows they are there.  Wells were donated to the slums and have the donors name on them.  Our tuk tuk driver had his 700 dollar to tuk tuk donated to him by a guy from Ireland.  We also went to town on the first night to we Pub street and other tourist streets. We then toke a taxi to the Thai border.

Phnom Penh

We had a nice boat ride up the Mekong to Phnom Penh with a short stop at the border. As soon as we passed the border the river traffic dropped significantly as did the number of buildings along the river.  Arriving at PP we grabbed a taxi for a short ride to the hotel Fancy Guest House.  The hotel is located right down town which made it good for walking.  There is a lot less traffic here (2 million people).  We walked around the center of town after we arrived, but were to late to see the Imperial Palace.  The next day we hired a tuk tuk for the day, with driver for $20.  We went to church first, it was the International Branch, with people from all over.   Then we headed to the Killing Field Memorial and toured those grounds.  About 20000 people were killed here at night. They were bludgeoned to death as bullets were to expensive.  Children and babies were slammed against a tree.  The tall Stupa is a memorial to all killed by the Khmer Rouge who killed around 2 million in a little over three years.  Bones and clothing from the dead still appear

on the Killing Field. We then toured SS 21 were they had tortured people before they sent them to the Killing Field. Only 12 people survived SS 21.
We tried to tour the Palace grounds on the way back but just missed it again.  Tomorrow we are off to Seim Reap and the temples.  I also need to find a new plug in for the iPod as the old one is not working and the iPad is nearly dead.

Mekong Delta

We were picked up by our guide and driver from Water Buffalo Tours at our hotel in Siagon and we headed for the Delta around 7:30.  This was a private tour so it was just Alicia and I.  Our guide was a 26 year old girl by the name of Hung or English name of Lizzy.  She was very funny and fun and short.  Her granddad was a helicopter pilot for the south during the war.  We headed to a local market out on the delta and Mom bought her Vietnamese hat (now she has to hall it around for the next two weeks.  After the market we drove down by the sea and toured rice fields and local homes by motor bike.  Then it was on to a seafood lunch by the ocean, prawns, clams, fried spring roles and soap, again all very good.  Then we headed inland an took a boat a crossed part of the Mekong then a smaller one through a small canal which was pretty.  Then drove about 3 hours to Can Tho the biggest city in the delta were we had a room on the 8th floor over looking the river.  We did not go out to eat as we were to full from lunch.  The next morning we left the hotel at 5:30 to tour the river floating market by boat.  There was a small small boat floating market were locals along the river shopped for fruit, then a larger whole sale market with larger boats.  Between the two markets we toured another canal that was prettier than the one the day before.  After the boat ride we drove about 4 hours up to the border with Cambodia, with a stop at a Cao Daism temple to watch them sing and pray, apparently they have fused a bunch of beliefs together.  After that we had lunch at a local home out in the country side.  Again a big lunch with prawns, a carmalized chicken dish, a veggie dish and a chicken soup dish all very good and again we skipped dinner as we eat around 2 pm.  Then we went for a walk and a boat ride in a forest reserve to see what the area used to be like.  Most of the area is rice fields now.  Then on the our hotel located on a hill side over looking the whole area, it was a nice place.  In the morning we headed into Chou Doc and caught our boat to Cambodia.