Thailand-Coastal South

We made several stops as we travelled south from Bangkok. The first place stopped was at Prachuap Khiri Khan. Looking out to the bay, it appeared that the rain was following us:

We hired the hotel's only two bicycles at 200THB/day; the same price as hiring a motor scooter and went around the district for the couple of days. We went south on one day ... and north the next. ..

Prachuapkhirikhan was not a very touristy town and a great place to eat seafood. They dried squids along the beach front. On the third night Tim, Cheryl and Corrie cooked a seafood dinner. Everyone enjoyed the meal, even for those non-seafood lovers for they had fried chicken instead.

After the seaside town of Surat Thani, while others headed off to the islands and other resorts for some R&R, Le and I decided to travel south on our own and meet up with the group in Penang (Malaysia) about 6 days later.

Like Surat Thani, Krabi is another launching town for tourists to go to west coastal and off-shore resorts. Once again, we were caught in heavy rain while in Krabi. We did manage to visit the Tiger Cave (big tree outside Tiber Cave) and went up the Wat Tham Suea, all 1272 steps, on top of limestone knoll. (taken from top of the knoll) Here is a photo of Khao Kharap Nam, the landmark for Krabi.

Ao Nang when we visited was full of tourists. I hate to see this place in peak tourist season or during better economic times. I was glad we did not plan to stay over there. It was just too crowded for a small town. Photo taken at Ao Nang.

We took a bus to Hat Yai and stayed there for a couple of days and enjoyed the traditional Thai body massage. We wanted to enter Malaysia a couple of days early to avoid the mad season to celebrate the end of Ramadan: all public transport would be booked weeks ahead and most services would be closed, etc. So, we caught the minivan to Penang on Friday 18^th Sept, two days before Hari Raya.

Thailand – Bangkok and surrounding

We were in Bangkok for a few days. From my perspective, it is another large Asian city. It is also a shopping paradise to some of us. The group bought a total of 4 netbook-computers in a day. What impressed me most this time around; the city was relatively traffic jam free and a lot cleaner – both in the streets and river/canals. We stayed in the old part of the city and we walked everywhere we went, except one evening we were caught in the very heavy rain.

If you are visiting Bangkok for the first time, you would have visited at least one of the Wats or some structure closely resemble a Wat, and here are some photos:

We walked through the flower market at the southern end of the old city. It was very colourful. Even along the main roads, purple coloured orchids (Thailand's national flower) sprouted over the footpath.

Just south of ChinaTown, ladies were still practice the old method of "waxing" using threads. Here is Le having hers done – for the experience. Other photos from ChinaTown:

This is Khao San Road first thing in the morning. By evening, it will be full of stores and tourists:

These monkeys look docile, but they can be very vicious.

Here is a young calf with big ears, almost unreal:

And here is one for the environmentalist: a big ceramic pot, which looks rather nice, for collecting rain water:

Cambodia-Angkorean Temples

Some of us arrived by boat from Battambang. Here is the welcoming party –Tim – at the boat ramp just outside Siem Reap. He was obviously delighted to meet up with the group again.

Needless to say, visiting the Angkor Wat was just another one of those childhood dreams come true. I think there is enough written about the Angkorean temples elsewhere that what I say here is not going to add any value.

We all got up early, very early, and went to the park at 4:30am, to see sunrise over the Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, it was another rainy morning. So, we didn't see the sunrise and we could not get a decent photo of the Wat at that time of the morning either. We went back to the hotel for breakfast and return a bit later in better day light.

For the one-day tour, we could only visit three of the temples. Each of the temple or Wat we visited has its own characteristics. Here are some photos taken in Angkor Wat:

Here are some photos taken in and around Bayon Temple: It was a huge Hindu style temple. The restoration work was not as advanced as the Angkor Wat, but massive.

The last one we visited, by no means the least, was the Ta Prohm temple. This one is famous for the huge trees taken roots on the buildings themselves: The picture of a monk entering one of the entrances of the temple was taken during a David Attenborough's filming. The root of one of the massive tree growing on the wall: what does that look like to you? Here is a figurine embedded in amongst the roots:

The archaeological park covers a very large area and includes some very lushly forest country. Here we capture a lone cyclist going in amongst some mature trees on the wet morning:

One day we cycled up to the Western Lake. There was a Wat by the lake side. It was such a warm day that even the monk needed a siesta.

From Siem Reap, we travelled across the border into Thailand....

Cambodia – S-21 and Killing Field

We visited the prison, generally called the "S-21". It was a school that got converted into an interrogating and torturing centre where "prisoners" were processed for the Cheoung Ek Killing Field just outside Phnom Penh. Our guide told us that about 14,000 people were processed through this centre and only 14 survived the execution because they were the last - just before the regime toppled.

One could be mentally prepared for such a visit; one could have read about the atrocity; one could have seen TV footages of the genocide, etc., but it would still hit one right in the heart of emotion when one was taken through the display or through the actual Killing Field site.

Photo of the exterior of the class rooms – more akin to a concentration camp. High voltage wires surrounding the compound (not shown).

This is a photo of the 1^st Class cell (for high value "prisoners"). This cell is large - the size of the class room. The commoner's cells are about a tenth of this size (see photo further on). This cell has been left in the original state.

This photo shows a regular cell for the "prisoners". Not very big, is it? But large enough for the torturers to go in and abused the daylight out of this inmate. The blood stain in the middle of the floor is original:

More blood stains along the corridor: Unfortunately, these blood stains are not protected and over time, with visitors troddening over them, they will soon fade and lost.

This photo is actual pieces of textile materials recover from the Killing Field placed in a picture frame. The display is now in the museum in S-21.

This photo depicts the quiet suffering of the Cambodians during Pol Pot's genocidal regime. This obedient young woman stood posing for a photo for the "prison's" official record. Quietly, she stood there with her baby in her arms. One single tear drop running down her cheek was the only sigh of protest. Heart wrenching. (Notice the reflection of a skull in the glass of this photo?)

A couple of photos of the exhibits at Cheoung Ek Killing Field:

Human remains: Human bones on footpath at the Killing Field. And clothes that were dug up – just left by the side of footpath.

A mass grave of women and children. You can read the plaque yourself.

It is too ghastly to describe here how little children were killed off. Anyway, this is the tree where it was done.

Cries of the victims were drowned and masked by a loud speaker that was hung on this tree – dubbed as the "Magic Tree".

A lot more mass graves will not be opened up. The authority has decided to leave them undisturbed. But, here is a photo of those graves that have been opened. This caption shows at least 10 such mass graves.

....next blog ... the infamous Angkorean temples...