Out of Bangkok and the real Thailand

(sorry few photos- the internet is too slow here)


We left Bangkok on the 22nd but not before visiting Wat Pho the center of Thai Buddhism. The Temple is an enclosed area filled with the typical structures found at Buddhist sites: shrines, stupas, colonades and statuary everywhere. The style is distinctly Thai- the gables and glitter give it away.
Next we caught the bus to the northern bus station where the real adventure began. Arriving we found that the romanized names were missing from the signs. This proved to be rather disorienting but we located the lone english speaker in the station and got a ticket to Ayuthaya. The bus lacked foreigners but after a few hours we were in Ayuthaya, the old Thai capitol. There we ran into the wrong kind of Thai. While we were becoming oriented to the street names and figuring out where to go first a man offered to help. He was a tuk-tuk driver and said he would take us around for what we thought was a fair price and we agreed verbally. We went to some ruined temples and palaces trying to mind the time. At the first temple there was a woman and her children begging for money and selling incense when we explained we did not want anything she hounded us until we gave her five baht and explained we sought the quiet. When we went from place to place the driver would stall by running in to buy cigarettes or taking off course to somewhere we did not want to go. After the central temple: a tall prang (temple tower) surrounded by four smaller prang and various courtyards, he was drunk. This was not noticed until we were on the way to the guest house. He brought us to a guest house though we specifically asked for one by name and we had to goad him to go there. When we arrived he pulled a laminated sheet the said we agreed to pay him 200B per hour (which is thrice normal rates) and would agree to leave when we offered the original price. Besides he was tracking time on different watches to make it seem longer. The lady who ran the guest house helped us out and called the tourist police at the driver's insistence. She told them that he was drunk and more. So he left.

We tried to relax but I was a bit flummoxed at the whole affair and began to rethink Thailand. Later the driver came back with the tourist police and his wife and children. He had sobered up and was playing the sympathy line. I think he and the police were in it together because he tried to settle at 200B but we finally went for 160B (still two to three norma) just to get him to leave. The guest house lady talked to the police about it but I an not sure it did any good. After this fiasco we decided to skip Phimai (a Khmer ruin further north in Thailand) and head for Cambodia in the morning.
The old lady at the guest house was very kind but talked in a funny slow manner. She gave us advice about the bus. We had breakfast then walked to the bus station a few blocks away. The driver was there and we got a photo of his tuk-tuk to post online and warn others. The bus went down to the northern station, then we boarded another for the border. The trip cost about $15 for both of us and was nearly 6 hours. They dropped us in Aranya Prathet and we rode a tuk-tuk to the border station but had to steer him away from the travel agencies who wanted to sell us visas. The area near the border was crawling with travel agents trying to sell us a visa or a bus ride to Siem Reap.

Leaving Thailand was as easy as entering- they looked at us and stamped the passport and we were gone. Entering Cambodia though the visa should cost $20. Because we did not have photos they wanted $25 each and some baht to make it easier. They never did take a photo but with a "tip" they went in the back and set it up. We were in Poi Pet, Cambodia. Poi Pet is the kind of border town that makes Tijuana look nice. The drivers were on us like dogs on meat again and we were bargaining away stating at $40 then to $20 and finally to $7 for passage to Siem Reap. Before we paid we boarded the bus and got our sticker "BKK-SR" to go on our shirt and blend into a pre-paid group.

More to come and fill in.... I want to keep this chronological..... but now things are good, I have spent two days at Ankor Wat so far. Need to seek food.