Thursday 21 March 2013

Siem Reap to Sihanoukville

There are at least three companies that do a Siem Reap to Sihanoukville route but from talking with other travelers the best one is the $12 night sleeper.

This bus had air con, WiFi, nobody sitting (lying) next to me so I could stretch out. We did stop once for food and a smoke which helped me sleep till we arrived in Sihanoukville, a $4 tuk tuk (3 people) and we were at sea horse hostel. $10 for a fan room which is often subject to power outages but otherwise in a good spot with friendly staff.

Monday 18 March 2013

Bokator (Muay Thai) in Siem Reap

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After having an awesome day training in Ao Nang (near Krabi, Thailand) I decided to do some training in Siem Reap, Muay Thai was the Thai interpretation of the original Khmer fighting styles, but became famous due to the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot banning any forms of entertainment and killing many of the fighters.

I found a Bokator gym and got a Tuk Tuk there and back $4 and he waited for the 90minutes or so, and $5 for the training, the Tuk Tuk could have been cheaper but I think $4 is a fair price.

The training was vastly different to Muay Thai and definitely more deadly, some of the guys training here were doing backflips kicks from the walls, incredible to watch.

Saturday 16 March 2013

Thailand to Cambodia

Fly.

Simple, for the sake of saving $30 and taking the overland route, you will have to deal with 30+ hour bus and train rides, on poor roads in possibly cramped conditions.

Book a week ahead and you can fly and enjoy an extra day. You might have to fly through KL but this is still better than wasting a full day and being uncomfortable, when looking for flights you will have to do individual searches on Air Asia, as they don't do combination flights.

Krabi Beach (Ao Nang)

Update: My blogs are now moved over to a new travel site http://www.nomadsblogs.com/ you can submit your own stories of adventure there or read mine and other peoples.

Direct link to this post: http://www.nomadsblogs.com/rock-climbing-railay-krabi-thailand/

Krabi doesn't really have a beach, unless you are into mangroves, but for a 50THB on the public tuk tuk (white with Ao Nang - Krabi - Etc - Etc) written on the side you can head to Ao Nang.

This would have once been an amazing beach but the constant stream of long tail boas kind of ruins the serenity (I am picky when it comes to beaches), it is also a 200THB round trip to Railay beach and jumping off point for a multitude of rock climbing adventures.

The far end of the beach (away from the longtail boats) also has some monkeys that you can feed, always be careful around wild animals.

While the other end is a bit noisier and crowded.

We had 5 people in a hotel room for 400THB each, some cheap street food can be found, and there is a small collection of bar's in a plaza that is opposite the beach, no where near as wild as Koh Phanang, or Ko Phi Phi (see my other posts) it is enough for a night out and a few drinks.

Koh Phi Phi

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So your looking for a picture perfect beach to relax on with cool water. Unfortunately Koh Phi Phi Don is no longer the greatest spot for this, there are some nice beaches at Long Beach (15 min walk from the main area) but the main beach is shallow, filled with rubbish and sewerage.

We did find a nice secluded beach just before long beach that had clear water, and plenty of corals that were still alive.

If you do an island hopping trip then you will find some amazing beaches, snorkel with sharks (small harmless reef sharks), see coral, caves, and incredible sunsets.


Incredible fish and sharks can be found at some of the islands.

As can incredible beaches:




If you came for the party's then you are definitely in the right spot, this place has everything, fancy fighting a friend or random drunk person in the Reggae bar for a free bucket of booze, Phi Phi has that.

Maybe dancing drinking and smoking all night at one of many beach bars, or relaxing with a smoke at Banana Bar's rooftop lounge area (great by day and night).


We stayed at Flower Hostel in the dorm room for 300THB per night, the crowd in this hostel was incredible with cheap beers at the hostel we made some great friends here and partied all night.
Thailand also has easy access to prescription drugs which have been known to be used to increase your energy for those who really want to take partying to the next level, of course drugs are dangerous so I do not recommend you take them.

Buckets start at around 200THB, up to 400 depending on what and where you buy them. Beers are 40 for a small Chang and 65 for a large. Tiger and Singa are about 20THB more.

Ao Nang to Koh Phi Phi

A 2 hour ferry can easily be organised from Krabi at any of the travel agents for 300THB, if leaving from Ao Nang a public Tuk Tuk (will likely beep if your with your bags and has Ao Nang - Krabi written on the side) should set you back 50THB but drops you away from the pier so either organise in advance to pay extra or negotiate a taxi for 100THB.

If you get there early enough I would recommend getting on the roof and relaxing, like this:

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Rock climbing Krabi

This post has been updated and is now shown on a fantastic travel website www.nomadsblogs.com

One of the world's best rock climbing destinations, free climbing (no rope) is an incredible experience falling into the ocean when your body is too fatigued or jumping from the top of a climb 20m into the water below is an exhilarating experience.
We paid 1000thb each for a yacht to take us out to two climbing spots, lunch, water and a few smokes included, others we spoke to paid the same for a long tail boat (see boat in pic above) which is way crowded and nowhere near as pleasant as sailing.
We booked through Ao Nang Climber, run my a German woman sorted is out with our boat and legendary captain Luang who I would definitely recommend, for the same price you get a yacht with music, water, food, and an incredible captain or you can find him in the afternoon at Railay beach, as he lives on the yacht (pictured above).

 A stop was also made for a little bit of snorkeling and exploring a cave on a secluded beach. This was easily one of the most memorable days of my trip and an incredible workout with most muscles aching today, we had 2 experienced climbers but the rest of us were novices but still had fun and made a few fun climbs.

Muay Thai training at Ao Nang Stadium, Krabi

This has been updated and posted on http://www.nomadsblogs.com here http://www.nomadsblogs.com/muay-thai-in-ao-nang/ 

A 15 min walk or cheap tuk tuk from Ao Nang beach is the Ao Nang Stadium with Ao Nang gym on the right hand side (pictured)
400Thb for an hour long lesson (ended up being 90 minutes), this is one of those things that most people will be scared of doing but is well worth it, they also had group classes every morning and afternoon.
Beginners get a good work out and learn some basic punching drills, I had done some training previously in Australia (only 2 months) and the trainer here was so much better than any I had in Australia and incredibly friendly also.

Me practicing my kicks.

Warming up before some technique work:

Friday 1 March 2013

Koh Phanang to Krabi

For 700 THB ($25) through our hotel in Koh Phanang, we booked a:
Taxi 11:00
Ferry 12:30
Bus 14:00
Arriving Krabi 18:30

The actual trip involved 4 taxi's, 2 buses, 1 ferry, and arrived in Krabi at 21:00, with numerous stops along the way to change modes of transport at various noodle shops (none of which were very good) and also so we could swap our ticket for a coloured sticker that lets the operators know where you are going, once we even swapped red stickers for white ones with Krabi written on them, and others swapped blue for white with BKK written on them.

I am hoping there was some method to the madness, but despite the absurdity of the whole affair we managed to get a good laugh out of it, and woke up to this view from the restaurant making it worth the trip:

Pine Bungalow for 600 THB a night between 2, is 30 minutes from Krabi and is the ultimate relax on the beach in a hammock location to wind down after Koh Phanang.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong for Chinese new year is an experience that I had too see.

With a spectacular footwork's display that lasts 26 minutes to a parade through the city with the most bizarre assortment of floats. Estonian roller skaters, people in Australian grasshopper outfits and of course 1 or two Chinese dragons. If you do not like crowds you should definitely look for somewhere else, this photo is taken at the fireworks display:

But I think the view is worth the crowd:

No Chinese New Year is complete without an Estonian rollerskating team:

An incredible floating dragon display during the CNY Parade:
  The bar district of Lang Kwai Fong parties every night with the hottest bar being outside the seven eleven drinking $15 HKD ($1.7 US) on the street.

 Accommodation is around $200 HKD ($22) staying in a "hotel" that is inside a residential apartment building that has been converted into as maze of hotels shops and some residences. The infamous Chungking mansions (see the Wikipedia article Here) is worthwhile staying here for a day just to explore the bizzare maze and continuous offers of "copy Rolex, copy handbag, hashish, marijuana, cocaine"  Food is cheap if you look for it for a meat dish with rice expect to pay $30, however there are a multitude of more expensive and sometimes (sometimes not) nicer options.



Langkawi

Langkawi is an island off the west coast of Malaysia, it was granted duty free status to promote tourism so cheap alcohol, gadgets, tobacco, etc are plentiful.

A 1L bottle of absolute vodka is around 40RM ($13). However the price in some bars is still expensive. Partying starts at Babylon, a reggae bar then moves south down to SunBar which party's all night. While this is nothing on some party spots in Thailand it's still sports nice beaches (not amazing) and a laid back vibe, it's also dry season when the east coast of Malaysia is typhoon season. Meeting people at Babylon:
  Gecko Guesthouse is my recommendation for a chilled out vibe and dorm from 18 RM, private room with own toilet 40RM or 30RM without, an excellent place to meet other travellers. Langkawi is also the fastest way to get to Koh Lipe in Thailand 50 min ferry if you want the amazing beach chilled out vibe and clear water. Note that crossing into Thailand via sea/land you only get a 15 day visa instead of the 30 at airports. 30-60 day visas can be obtained in Georgetown, Penang in 12 hours.