Sihanoukville, Kep and beer

So we me and Phillip left Phenom pen as filip was leaving for sweden again.. the buss was $5 and we got dropped of at the sihanoukville buss station. We got attacked by moto drivers and sucseeded in haggeling down the price from $2 to $0.75 (we later found out that the standard price was $1, but as...eee.. I? say: many small bricks builds a house (or an extra beer:)) for the ride down to the beach.









We meet up with our friends Jocke och Olle who where staying for free at a beach shack. Of X we joined in. The Acomodation was on the second floor of the shack and was consistent of a thin matress, a mosqito net, a pillow, a blancet and some shared fans.. Not bad for being free..




The cach?? Well if they don't like you they'll trow you out... (We gave them a marketing advantage since people tend to go to places where ther's already sitting people and we spent most of our days reading and drinking beer at the shack)..









The prices was virtually the same at every shack (pooling?) so we figured we might as well eat at our shack.. $2 for a breakfeast baguette with tuna salad and a mango shake started my day.. The afternoon was spent drinking $0.50 draught anckor beer.. sometimes as many as 5 (Wonderful). and then I ate (Now a classic since I ate it every night) BBQ tuna steak with french fries and sallad (and some more beer ofcourse)..









One day we rented a scooter to go to the Viet-nam consulate to get visas (witch we payed $40 for and later found out that people with swedish origin dont need visas for vietnam.. AAAArrrrrrgggg) but we drove around exploring the area.. The weird dragon in the picture is located at one of the seemingly many luxury resorts in sihanoukville and was located from the little moped scoter..














We kontinued to Kep since we felt the need to moove around a bit.. We caught a moto from the beach to the buss station and found a guy with a car that was going to Kampot (close to kep) and agreed to pay $4 (Each!! the guy saw two walking atm's and would not go lower). we got cramed in his car (7 people in a 5 seat car, a toyota camry if you wonder) and two hours later we got dropped of in kampot. from here we had to pay $4 each (again) to go with two motos all the way out to Kep. Kep is Super small (only 4200 inhabitants since Pol pot's regime Killed everyone in the 70:s) and was a semi disapointment. We spent two and a half hour looking for a hotel an ended up paying $7 a night for a shitty dubble room.. Atleast we're used to sharing bed now.. I've promised Philip I'm going to buy underweare and not sleep in a towel anymore..









we chilled in kep for two days. one day we spent walking around Kep national park (not much to see but we felt we had to move around and do something, walking 12km is more than something) and the other day Reading. I finished "when angels cry" by Whilbur smith (a recomondation)..









Soon we're going to cross the border to Viet-Nam..

Much love

Phenom Phen and the herritage of the Red Khmers

We left Siam Reap for the 'great' kapital of Cambodia, Phenom Phen.

Here we got a Giant room for $20 (still high rollers with Filip in the visinity)

and made ourselfes cofortable.

Filip only had two days before he was heading home and we would continue to Sinoukville.

We choose to deepen our knowledge in the Pol pot regime and the atrocities that were comitted.

S-21....

.... was once a school but was abandoned when Pol Pots regime emptied the cities in his dream of creating a rural society. It got trancformed in to a "Correction facility" or to be more acurate, a prison for political prisoners. Thousands got tortured and when they were deemed usless by their gards they were sent to the Killing fields.

After S-21 we continued with Tuck tuck (a motorcycle with a wagon behind it) to...

...The Killing Fields...

...Is the place were aproximately 20'000 people got executed in various ways and burried in mass graves. It was as you might imagine, HORIFFIC..

In the middle of the field they had a monument 20 meters high built as a reminder of the atrocities that once went down.. It contained most of the sculls found during the exavations of the fields.

I encourage every one to learn about the Genocidal Pol Pot regime. This will help empathy be the future (I hope)..

The tree seen in the picture have seen a lot of things (read the sign by clicking on the picture)...

Bugs (wich i did not try, would you?) is sold on the street in Cambodia.

A new entry to the "how many people can fit on one moto during rush hour trafic" contest..

Ankor Wat and M-16

Some how this day magically started at 4:30 am when our alarm rang.. probably the only time this trip I was the last out of bed after both the Phills (might have been the sleep deprivation and beer the night before that they choose to skip). We got ready had some night toast and jumped in a MC tuck tuck we arranged yesterday. Half and hour later (about 5:30 am) we arrived to the temple sight and payed $20 each (this country is SUPER expencive... Darn the dollar system crap and luxury tourists raising the prices) to gain entry to all the temples for one day..

For you who might not know there is a coupple of 100 temples and sight to se scattered across 300 scuarekilometres, so ther is quite a lot to see.. We decided to only visit 4 locations wich we thought were optimal..






In the sunset outside the Ankor Vat main complex.

The Ankor What was amazing.. Extramly big say a lot of it!



































We Visited the Ankor tombs.. Lot of Faces of buddha and Giant temple buildings.. Great Civilization once up on a time..


The Tomb raider ruins (that's what I choose to call them).. Laura croft walked theese paths.. or at least Angelina Jolie when they shoot the movie.. Amazing senery!! The second most amaxing place after the Ankor Wat..









Reclaim the Jungle - "The jungle that fought back"












































Lets not forget the Giant Kings Library.. Giant structure gave you a feel of the might and knowledge once possesed by the khemers....








This place was said to once up on a time contain unimaginable treasures in gold and knowledge. It sure looked amazing a couple of hundred meters long..
















The land mine museum was a quite shaking experience considering people get blown away every week.. the estimate a total of 30-60 million landmines laying around cambodia wating to be disarmed.. .
















On the way back from the landmines museum we stoped at a temple ruin looking like a pyramide.. We scaled it and I feelt like Indiana Jones as I gazed out into the jungle..







The Big shooter Filip payed our driver extra to go to a shooting range.. They had a vast selection of armory that could be fired if you payed the right price...










The shooting range was locataed next to an army base making sure there would not be any wanna be Rambos going baersek.. We got the prices of the diffrent firearms and Filip choose to shoot with the M-16 (a peice of plastic). I think I would have gone for the AK-47 if I would have considered paying $40 for 20 rounds...

Going to Cambodia... The Thai Border Scam!!!

I got scammed and I knew it!!!

How could this happen???

We payed 600 baht each to go to Siam Reap in Cambodia (close to the Ankor vat).. before leaving we checked the prise of the visa. $20 at the border.. This is something we were sure of..


SOMEHOW our minibus managed to drive us to an EXPRESS VISA PLACE where the visa was $35.. not at the border.. Philip was worried since it was his last day so we ended up paying the overprice after a 20 min argument with the Cambodian lady responsible for the scam...

We crossed the border and got our thoughts confirmed.. We got scammed..
Our buss guy eaven tried to scam uss again at the border testing our patience to see if we instead would take a taxi, surprisingly he knew all the drivers..

He also explained thers ATM's in cambodia nad that we should withdraw a ll our cash for cabodia in thailand.. Big surprise he knew all the monychangers across the border...

I promised myself to camp outside the scam office for a week next time I'm in poi pet.. ANGRY RASMUS.. ANGRY LEO...

When we arrived to Siam reap we got to a nice guest house but Filip (the two week big spender wanted a place with a pool so we ended up staying for $40 a night instead of $7.. 'loads of tears'.. O well..



The pictures and vidos is from the journey over here...

Koh Chang, Paradise?

So after seven hours on a buss (Luxury ac one) with a Hannah in pain, we arrived to the ferry..


The Taxi transport they got here is Tuck Tucks.. Basically a Pickup truck with seats in the back and a roof. They are smart here and have gone together and set a fixed price making bargaining impossible.. Man it makes me mad.. They wont go under 50 bath..

We went to a bungalow village on Thai bay mentioned in Philips guidebook, PORN BUNGALOWS!? Apparantly Porn is the last name of the brothers running it.. Hmm.. Accommodation was 350 bath per night for a double bed bungalow with attached bath..

The worst about Thailand I figure (It's beautiful and hassle free, if you wanna pay (you cind of have to since ther's no cheap alternative) is that the portions is to small unless you wanna pay a fortune.. Goodbye 20 rps thali..

350 baht is 'Only' (hrmmm) the second most expensive accommodation we have had so far this trip (only Goa was more expensive)..







I rented a scooter and took Filip to a shooting range so he could fulfill his dream of firing a gun..
He chose the Glock and payed 1500 baht to fire 20 rounds (Jesus!) (or Shiva). It only took 40 minutes to drive there... (see him fire it in the video)

I quite liked this bungalow (Real luxury was my exact thought) but Filips' back hurt tho the Bed was to hard (I didn't mind) so Phillip and Filip went on a hunt for a softer bed..

They found a RESORT.. I thought I had luxury and suddenly we were moving to a resort with soft beds, hot shower, big Bungalows, BREAKFAST BUFFE (you heard me) and Pool...

HALELULEA!!! (hare krishna, hare rama!!)

Since Filip is on vacqation and not Backpacking he's on a bit higher budget so he pays for most of it (I would rather sleep on the beach then pay a thousand bath).. Thanks!!

The best about this place (K.B resort) is (you might have guessed it) not the pool (second best) but the Breakfeast buffe!!!

Halelulea!!!


We (me, Hannah, Philip and Filip) decided to go on a snorkeling trip and payed 600 baht (I wanted to cry) for a full day baoat trip visiting 4 islands snorkeling.. (buffe food included (how did I get persuaded???) ).. poor Hannah did not feel good in the morning and decided to stay home, she told uss she would get a massage instead..

We got picked up and brought to the boat.. It was uss and 200 thai people (guess some vacation started recently or something??) on one boat..


I Got to steer the boat for an hour (Of X this meant me being the Captain bossing people around! O hoy, raise the ankor, swab the deck maggots.. Arrgh)...
I sang songs and entertained the crew for a while.. Some how the looked at me like I was nuts.. Wonder why? might have been the dancing I did...




We saw fish and a lot of Thais in lifevests (about 400 since a lot of boats went to the same place, poor reefs) and got to dive of the boat!! We also meet some Nice Americans. Carter and Grace!
Carter is a forest fire fighter in Washington state and after talking to him for about 5 minutes about it (more like 5 seconds) I decided it is something I want to do for a season or two..

Some forrest guy is going to get a lot of calls about filling out papers for work permits and stuff.. Actually I might just go to the states and deal with it there..

We were semi disappointed about the snorkeling but had a very nice day..



We spent the next two days chilling by the pool (if you pay for it you might as well use it) and the evenings chilling with our new friends! We managed to hitch hike back from one beach we went to one of the nights saving 100 baht each (night rate, wtf??). we did have to walk the last kilometer and a half but I picked up some noodles (10 baht) at 7/11 so I managed..


















Nice!! we basicly got attacked by rain.. 5 min before it was sun..




Witch Filip did just arrive and witch one have been traveling for 3 month??


O well last day on ko chang todayof to Cambodia In the morning.. Siam reap it's called.. the town next to Angkor What the 8th wonder of the world!!

Bangkok, Thailand.. A diffrent world...

I landed at Bangkok airport... I only say one thing HOLY SHIT!! That airport must be the 37th man made wonder of the world.. I payed a fortune for the buss (150 baht) and got in to this VERY clean city (in comparison to India I can almost eat (literally) on the street).

Everything is so different and I kind of miss India (a lot) already and I haven't yet spent 48 hours here.

So far noticed differences:

• It's not so friendly as in India. they are much more used to tourists here (tourists with FAT wallets).
• Bargaining don't work.. I say 30 baht, he say not possible and then he turns his attention somewhere else. In India they would follow me two blocks down until the would offer it for a price where they almost wouldn't have a margin (the sad truth a lot of the time)..
• Vehicles are not recycled monsters from the 60s but modern things with working turn lights.
• They actually seem to have traffic rules like lane driving, speed limits and shit. I India the horn was the only rule. the louder gets there first.
• I have so far seen more tourists than Thai people (slight exaggeration, but you get the point).
  
• Stuff works when you expect it to (WHAT?!?).
• It is much less hustle. (they have figured out how to get money out of you in easier ways.. "O cheep ticket to this island.. O, the the return ticket is five times the amount.. How interesting")
  
• People aren't as nice.. (not surprised tho there is as many tourists as Thai people in this country.. At least it feels that way. OK, they're still nice but not in comparison.. They wont fall in love with you like in India.)

I love animals..














They got clouds in this country!

















Hannah getting a pirceing at Ko san road..


















Filip (whom is joining us for two weeks) is quite the poser.. Photo here.. O wait one more in this angle... haha.. gotta love him. This is him posing at an expensive boat we took with Vickan a mate from back home and some of her friends and Hannah the Brit who tagged along from Rishikesh (Lovely group)



Vickan herself was not posing as good.. ;)

We'll see how it turns out.. Apart from it being really expensive I quite like it...


Next I'm of to Ko Chang (island close to the Cambodian Border) (buss 220 bath)