New year in Thailand

Total distance: 7194 km
Pang Nam Ron - Chanthaburi - Laem Sadet

Our first days in Thailand were full of little surprises. After the border we arrived in the first bigger town, Pong Nam Ron. Since we have entered Thailand, we are again in a country whose language we don't know. We are back to the lingua franca, English. The first thing we did in Pong Nam Ron was to have lunch. Ordering food was already difficult. People didn't speak English although the menu was in English. Helpless as we were, we tried Khmer and, hey, the people were Cambodian! The waiter was actually from Battambang region. Second surprise was 7-Eleven. Thailand is full of them and they always pop up when you need water, snacks or a great ice coffee. 7-Eleven makes cycling in the heat definitely more pleasant.

From Rose's and Marcin's blog - we met both in Samarkand in Uzbekistan - we knew that there was a resort with bungalows in Pong Nam Ron so we could stay one night at this rather boring place. When we arrived at the resort a road with a 24% gradient led to the bungalows that sit on top of a hill. It was nearly impossible to push our bicycles up the hill. Sarah went to the reception to check the price. Nobody spoke English but Sarah noticed that these people were not Thai but Cambodian too. When we talked to the manager of the resort, a former world champion in wind surfing, it turned out that he spoke some German and to our surprise he had even lived in the city where we studied.

For New Year's Eve we planned to stay somewhere at the beach. From Chanthaburi we cycled to Laem Sadet. We didn't expect it but there was a camp ground! We hadn't camped since Kazakhstan and were very surprised that we could actually camp here in Thailand. Nobody in Cambodia would ever think of camping but the Thais seem to love it. We pitched our tent and went straight to the beach. The beach was full of Thai families and we were the only foreigners at this beach. There was a striking difference between us and the Thais. We went swimming but many Thai adults preferred to stay dry. Those Thais, who went swimming, went into the water in their complete dress - jeans and T-shirt. So we felt strange to strip down to swim shorts and bikini and went swimming in our cycling shorts and shirts instead. Very strange! A popular dish in Thailand is papaya salad and the Thais also want it at the beach. So what do they do? They take all the ingredients and the heavy mortars to the beach and prepare fresh papaya salad. Very cool!

One thing that we notice again and again since we have entered China is the Asian's love for loud music. Chinese, Laotian, Cambodian and Thai likewise believe that their songs are the best. So all people around them have the honour to 'listen' to their music. At the beach in Laem Sadet young Thais and their rolling discotheques in form of huge speakers in their pick-ups appeared. Their cars looked like those ones in MTV's show 'pimp my ride'. One more indicator for Thailand's wealth compared to Cambodia.


Midnight! Fire works! But even more beautiful were the many lanterns that flew up to the sky. Happy New Year!

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A new dollar battle? The Cambodian-Thai border

Total distance: 7060 km
Battambang - Pailin - Cambodian-Thai border

Since our last bad experience at the land border crossing from Laos to Cambodia we had been curious about our next border crossing. Would it be again a dollar battle? From Battambang we had two possibilities to enter Thailand. First option was Poipet in the Northwest and second option Pailin in the Southwest. We knew from other travellers that Poipet was a problem. Bribery was a certain thing. And since there was no rush for us to arrive in Bangkok too soon we chose Pailin and thus the more interesting beaches of Thailand.

Two days before our visa ran out we said good-bye to my family in Battambang and set off. When we waved goodbye in front of my aunt's house, people on their scooter stopped and looked at that little spectacle. They had never seen tourists on such bicycles and were surprised how easy our pedaling seemed. Struck by the fact that our bicycles were more expensive than their scooters they left. My cousin Hong Ly on his scooter showed us the way out of Battambang and to Pailin. He mentioned that years ago the road had been so bad that riding a scooter had been horrible. That was years ago so we were full of hope. There we were, back on the bicycles after three weeks!

Hong Ly and Peter on the way out of Battambang

From Battambang to Pailin it was only about 85 km. Normally an OK distance for a day. But after 50 km we really felt pain in our legs. It became even harder when hills popped up some 30 km before Pailin. And lucky as we were, the road was partly under construction. Dirt road and dust accompanied us all the way. We stopped several times to relax and eat our snacks. The evening before our departure Chhay had baked muffins for us. They were delicious! Also my aunt stuffed krolan into our bags. Both gave us the energy for this strenuous day.

Eventually we made it to Pailin. We stayed one night in Pailin and continued to the border the next morning. The border was another 18 km from Pailin. When we arrived there we were very surprised about the little border station. We thought we would find accommodation only in Pailin but there in this little border town was a huge hotel.

After the battle in Thailand

Battle start, score counter reset: 0:0, and one USD notes at hand.

First hurdle, Cambodian immigration. We handed over our passports. The official reviewed our departure card and corrected our handwriting because some letters were apparently not clear to him. The yellow health declaration cards were simply ignored. Why had we paid one USD for them if they were so useless? Then he stamped our passports and returned them. That was it! No bribes! This immigration office was very professional. In contrast to the immigration office in Trapaing Kreal all officials had name badges. In addition there was even a locked suggestion box. 

0:0

Second hurdle, Thai immigration. On the Thai side we had to fill out our departure card. We were asked for one passport photo and a copy of our passport. Not sure why this was required (we have a 60-day tourist visa and had already given our photos etc. to the Thai consulate in Phnom Penh) but we were prepared for that. We had read about that on the internet before. People who do not have a photo and copy of their passport at hand can have their photos taken and passport copied just next door for a lot of money. Proudly did we present our photos and copies our of passports. The photos were accepted, but the copies refused. We had DIN-A5 copies but they wanted DIN-A4 copies. They pointed at the next door and said "Copy, there!" Well, bad luck for them, we also had some DIN-A4 copies in our panniers. We got our arrival stamps and could pass.

0:0 and it felt like victory!

We are in Thailand, the last Asian country on our tour! One big change: driving on the left.

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Last days in Battambang

The last days in Battambang went by too quickly. We would have loved to stay more days but our visa was running out.

One day my uncle took us to lake Komping Poy (or so). As soon as we arrived we were surrounded by women and children, wildly gesticulating, pointing here and there. All of them were trying to convince us to visit their restaurants. One of them offered a boat trip on the lake. Since there wasn't much to do here, we went for it. The lake is quite big but full of lotus so that you can't really see where the lake starts and stops. The lake and its environment are lovely. It's a good place to spend some time and relax. We were told that people from Battambang came here for picnic. Despite the beauty of this lake, there is a sad side about it. During the Khmer Rouge regime people were forced to build a dam here. Some of my family members used to work here too. Although people worked hard they didn't get much food. So many people died - or rather, were killed - here.

Back in Battambang we demonstrated our equipment. Everybody was very eager to see our tent. My aunt said that tents were not available in Cambodia. So we pitched the tent and everybody went in and out. Absolutely great fun! Also the sleeping bags, inflatable mattresses, cooker and fuel bottle were highlights.

Although it was Christmas time, we didn't feel like Christmas. While in Phnom Penh we did hear Christmas music and saw artificial Christmas trees in the shopping malls, there was nearly no indication of Christmas in Battambang. On the 24th (Germans celebrate Christmas on that day) we suggested to have dinner altogether. My aunt invited the rest of the big family. Early in the morning we went to the New Market to get ingredients for the hotpot. Sarah insisted on buying Christmas presents for the kids too. The hotpot event was nice. We sat altogether in the front-yard on the bamboo mat and did sweat a lot because of the hot and spicy but delicious hotpot. 

Another day my aunt came up with the idea to ride the bamboo train. She said that it was one of Battambang's tourist attraction that would disappear sooner or later when they would start to build the new railway line from Phnom Penh to Battambang. Bamboo train sounds more exciting than it actually is. It is a simple bamboo mat on four wheels running on old railways. Still it was fun to ride this bamboo train. The fare, however, was with 5 USD per person extremely expensive for what it was. Luckily we got a cheaper fare and paid only 10 USD for 6 people altogether. We still cannot get used to the enormous difference what foreigners and locals pay.

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