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Just Phuket

Phuket (really “poo-get”) is a bit of dive compared to our beachside bungalow in Ko Phi Phi. Although our room is quite a bit bigger with air-con and tv, it is no substitute for the sound of the ocean. Regardless we found our way to Kata beach which is a beautiful sandy beach dotted with hairy fat men in speedos and topless saggy seniors, who wouldn’t want to come here!

We did a bit of shopping and took a stroll on the beach remembering to wear our jacket lift (life jacket) before swimming. Phuket has some interesting sign postings. We also stumbled across armies of fiddler crabs with their funky one big claw.

In our opinion one wouldn’t miss too much if they choose a different Thai destination unless your into Ladyboys, prostitutes, or old foreigners.

The Pee Pees!

Actually spelt Phi Phi, these tropical islands were featured in the movie The Beach. Arriving by ferry from Phuket we took a long tail boat around the island to our beach side bungalow. We are our own castaways in our tree house room with a mosquito net and the gentle crash of the waves right outside the window.

We spent our couple days sleeping, reading, snorkeling in the crystal aqua waters, and laying on the flour like sand. After diving we weren’t expecting too much from the snorkeling but were impressed on our morning trip to Phi Phi Ley, spotting lionfish, crown of thorns, and plenty of little Nemos. Another day we hiked up the 186 meter viewpoint to see the sand inlet between the turquoise seas that had been destroyed during the 2004 tsunami.

We didn’t want to leave our quite island oasis but the bustling nightlife of Phuket is waiting.

Manta Madness!

Dive! Dive! Dive! We boarded the Dolphin Queen out of Khao Lak for our 5day/4night liveaboard to the Similan and Surin National Parks off the west coast of Thailand. Our routine for the next 4 days was dive, eat, sleep, and repeat as we made 14 dives in total. We started off diving the Similan Islands which were filled with schools of marine life and plentiful soft corals. Our first dive to the last was amazing, despite some current. We found everything from ghost pipe fish to funky crustaceans.

After a few dives we were in the routine and headed north to the outer islands of the Similan, Koh Bon and Koh Tachai. Koh Bon was our first encounter with a Manta Ray and one that we are not likely to forget. It’s majestic watching such a beautiful creature with a 5m wing span cruise effortlessly past us. We saw them on all three day dives in Koh Bon and on our last dive they came within several feet. Our trip was extremely lucky as previous trips dove the site 4 times without any sightings.

The furthest north was to the current mixing pinnacle of Richelieu Rock in the Surin National Park. The nutrient rich site was covered in purple soft corals and lavender sea anemones leading Jacques Cousteau to name the site after Pope Richelieu who wore the purple robe. There was a pair of Harlequin Shrimp, a yellow seahorse, several mantis shrimp, large schools of yellow-tail, and many more. A resident barracuda about the length of Jenny was hanging around a cleaning station watching as divers swam past. We named him Cudda-saurus.

As our trip came to a close we were sad to leave our friends. We enjoyed spending our surface intervals playing cards and telling stories and hope to see our fellow divers on a future trip, but until then, we’re off to Ko Phi Phi to do nothing but lying on the beach.

Lives of the Rich and Famous

Or backpackers with reward points. We arrived in Khao Lak a day before our liveaboard departed so we decided to take advantage of our hotels.com reward points and stay for free at the 2010 #1 luxury hotel in Asia as ranked by tripadvisor. The Marriott Khao Lak was perhaps the nicest hotel we've every stayed at with the largest swimming pool in SE Asia, and most likely the nicest one we will stay at for a long time.

We spent our day relaxing on the beach taking in the sun followed by drink at the pool and a swim around the whole resort back to our pool side room. As we watched sunset we settled in for our Meditteran dinner on the beach. It's nice every now and then to splurge and live it up; however, it's time to return to our backpacker style of life as we leave for our liveaboard.

Year of the Tiger, Mreow!

We're back in Bangkok celebrating the Chinese New Year and Valentines Day together. Streets are filled with people in red and stalls selling everything from ice cream served in a coconut to plastic dragons. We couldn't resist the temptation of the dragon so we got one of our own to dance.


Aparently the prince of Thailand was around as people lined the streets waiting for him; however, we didn't get a glimpse. Rather we purused a few more stalls trying different foods until we had to depart for our bus to Khao Lak. Unfotunately we didn't get to see a dragon dance or too many tiger decorations, but it was still neat to experience. Next stop Khao Lak for diving in the Similian Islands!

Bridge on the River Kwai

“Slower than the speed of smell,” It was a long 13 hour day on 4 different busses crossing from the Cambodian border back into Thailand. We spent a day in Bangkok before making our way to Kanchanaburi, where the infamous Death Railway is laid.

In 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma from Thailand and seized it from British control. In need of a reliable transportation method the Japanese decided to build a railway between the two countries. Construction began in June and was to be completed within 14 months. Approximately 60,000 prisoners of war were used to construct the railway including 30,000 British, 18,000 Dutch, 13,000 Australians, and 700 Americans. 200,000 romusha or Asian laborers were forced or recruited under false pretenses to help build the railway as well.

In April 1943 the conditions worsened as the deadline for completion was closing in. The Japanese implemented the “Speedo” campaign. Laborers were forced to work 15 to 18 hour shifts day and night. This resulted in the notorious naming of Hellfire Pass. At night bamboo torches illuminated the sickly shadows of the emaciated workers on to the stone walls of the Konyu Cutting. Many POWs and romusha died during this period from harsh labor, malnutrition, poor weather, and disease. Others died from Allied forces bombing the railway. Several camps were set up along the railway and since POW’s were not allowed to dig shelters or mark the huts with POW camp symbols many perished as a result. 12,800 POWs and 90,000 romusha died during the 15 months of railway construction. 258 miles of track was laid between Bangkok to Rangoon and portions are still used today for transportation.


Our visit through Kanchanburi also included a more pleasant visit to the Erawan National Park which is full of waterfalls, crystal blue pools, and foot sucking fish! After a hot walk through the jungle a dip in the cool ponds were refreshing. The fish “massage” was an extra bonus, though a bit more ticklish that relaxing. After our exploration we spent the night in a river bungalow with a waterfall view.

Temples of Angkor

Lost from the world in the jungles of Cambodian lay the ancient capitals and temples of the Khmer Empire between the 9th and 15th centuries. Brought to light in 1860 by a French archeologist it has since been declared one of the “eight wonders” of the world. The wats were originally built as Hindu shrines to the god Vishnu and were later converted to Buddhist temples; some are still used today.

We spent three days exploring the 400 sq. km. archeological park by bicycle giving us the freedom to go at our own pace and see some bizarre sites like a hog on a moped who was very much still alive. Being such a large complex we focused our time on the main temples exploring Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm.

Angkor Wat’s distinctive image brings about a sense of awe as you enter the complex walls. Its five towers in the center represent the mountains sounded by a lower mountain range (complex wall) and the ocean (a large 190m moat). The walls are filled with detailed bas-reliefs depicting Hindu epics of Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The baroque style of the Bayon contrasted the traditional Khmer architecture of Angkor Wat opening a different perspective into the Khmer empires. 216 faces of the king (believed to be Jayavarman VII) bear watch of the temple as we weaved our way through the site. The lower terraces are covered with an interesting collection of mythological, historical, and mundane bas-relief scenes of battle and celebration.


Our favorite temple of them all was Ta Prohm, the strangler fig tree temple made famous as the set of Tomb Raider. However, our peaceful scenes of the crushed ruins from the film were brought back down to earth with swarms of Laura Croft posers atop the all too convenient platform. Throughout the day though we found some quiet among the maze of relics. We spent much of our time wondering around the massive structure admiring nature’s roots slowly take back the ancient rubble.

Phnom Penh

For a country with a tumultuous past and a still bumpy present, it is bewildering how warm and friendly the people of Cambodia are. Corrupt government, UXOs, and abandoned / trafficked children are all problems that have plagued this country. The most infamous, however, were the mass killings brought on by the communist Cambodian party, the Khmer Rouge. Led by Pol Pot, it is estimated that 1.5 million people died under his regime as a result of forced labor, famine, disease, and horrific executions in attempts to create a pure agrarian based communist society.

Many actions led to Khmer Rouge overtaking, but the largest catalyst was the war being fought in Vietnam and the civil war within Cambodia. Initially, it was thought that President Nixon was covertly conducting a bombing campaign over “neutral” Cambodia along the Vietnam border, but later declassified, it was proven that the secretive bombings had began under the Johnson administration. While North Vietnamese bases were the target, many deployments were dropped over civilian Cambodian villages killing an estimated 100,000 – 300,000. This left many desperate and looking for new hope. Another major contribution occurred in 1970 when Prince Sihanouk was removed from power and exiled by the Premier Lon Nol. Sihanouk made an alliance with the Khmer Rouge and became the nominal head of a Khmer Rouge-dominated government-in-exile. Much of rural Cambodia remained loyal to the prince and believed that their acceptance of the Khmer Rouge would lead to the restoration of Sihanouk. The poorer agricultural population also related to the new communist movement as it praised and promoted their way of life. Therefore, it created a huge following among peasants and increased the power of the Khmer Rouge.

In 1975, the capital of Phnom Penh was defeated by the Khmer Rouge and the creation of the Democratic Kampuchea began. City residents were told that they had to evacuate because of “threat of American bombing.” Though in reality, this was the initial purging of the “new people,” the intellectual elite, in order to create a classless society. Schools, hospitals, and banks closed. Religion was outlawed, books were burned, and those even resembling an educated person were murdered. People were forced to work 12 hours a day without adequate nutrition, families were separated, and western medicine was replaced with traditional folk remedies.

In Phonm Penh we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21), once a high school; it was later used as a security prison by the Khmer Rouge where heinous torture and executions were conducted. Cruel punishments were preformed on the prisoners to illicit names and associations of others who had a city life past. Over the four year reign an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned and of these there were only 12 known survivors. All that is left at this hollow, soulless site are the photos of emaciated prisoners, fractured remains of skulls, and rusty shackles scattered on the decaying white and yellow checkered floor.

The United Nations backed the Khmer Rouge as the official government of Cambodia until 1991.

On April 15, 1998 it was announced that the Khmer Rouge would turn Pol Pot over to an international tribunal. However, Pol Pot conveniently did not survive the night. Cause of death was ruled as heart failure though an autopsy was never performed. Many have suspicions that he committed suicide or was poisoned.

On February 17th, 2009 a UN backed Cambodian court was scheduled to try “Duch”, the former commandant of Tuol Sleng prison, with crimes against humanity, war crimes and murder of atleast 14,000 people. The trail remains ongoing.

We recommend reading First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung if you are interested in a firsthand account of what life was like during this time that has deeply affected every Cambodian still today.

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