I know it's been a while since I last updated this but well nevermind.
Leading up to Christmas we overlanded it through Malaysia stopping off at Melacca and Penang for a bit of colonial history and KL for the modern towers. In KL we stayed in Chinatown and Dave was in his element bargaining away at the night market. I'm not quite so into it - I always end up translating into pounds and I feel stupid when it turns out we're arguing about 10p... We ate very well in Malaysia, the food halls are fantastic and I think I have a slight addiction to steamed wontons.
Malaysia was a pleasant place but a little dull and we were really excited to get to Thailand. We stayed in Krabi town for a couple of days, and where we very rashly dedided to climb to a mountain top temple in the middle of the day. Those 1237 steps were tough and we had to take a few little breathers but the views at the top were spectacular and I for one was very proud of myself for making it up there. Christmas Eve we caught our pickup tuck to the port then our packed ferry to Ko Lanta (anyone would think that Christmas in the sun is a good thing!) Ko Lanta was great and a beautiful place to relax - we found a friendly beachbar for the evenings and the best spring rolls we've ever had! It is strange how amazing food turns up in unexpected places but who are we to grumble, we'll just eat it and enjoy. We also got to swim in the sea on Christmas day, a unique experience for us.
Then on the 2nd we started our epic journey out of the country - as Thailand had changed the rules in December so those arriving by land only had 15 days to stay we only till the 4th to get out. We ferried it back to Krabi at 8am in the morning - a lot quieter onboard this time - thencaught our overnight bus at 4.30pm. The bus was pretty comfortable apart from the air con - everyone ended up sleeping with their blankets over their heads to minimise the effects of the blowers and try and be a little warmer. That said, we were fairly refreshed when we got to Bangkok at 6.30am and after booking our onward travel went to explore. As the Royal Palace had been closed for the king's b'day last time we were eager to explore it but it was Saturday so we couldn't go inside any of the palace buildings but as we could explore the rest we thought we'd make the best of it. It is a beautiful and amazing place and very, very busy!
The next day it was another early start - we caught ones of the scam minibuses to the border (it was easier and similar price to the taxi and bus combo we would have had to do - plus it left later so we could get our free breakfast). After a couple of random halts, we stopped for lunch 10 mins from the border so the scam guys could get everyone's visas for them - it wasn't too bad they only charged an extra 15 dollars to take care of it... We already had visas from Oz so managed to avoid that. They then took us to the border and guided us through the queues while putting the hard sell on everyone to skip the bus and get a taxi instead. We'd only paid up to the border so avoided this too and infact they saved us money by finding us people to share the cab. The raod to Siam Reap is interesting and a rally experience but we made it 4 hours ahead of the bus - did something right!
Off to the temples tomorrow which should be great!
Love,
Sarah
xxx
