Travel Tips
August 19, 2007
To not make my travel logs even longer, I took out the travel ideas and tips from our Thailand and Cambodia trip. Enjoy!
Get some good travel guides on these places. I used the Lonely Planet series for both Thailand and Cambodia. The Thailand book is excellent while I found the Cambodia book to be not as useful. The layout for the different sites in Angkor was a bit confusing - I actually relied on the lady’s shitty Japanese travel guide because it had better maps and more details on each site within the Angkor Thom walls. Look around for a better guide.
Begging / Tourist traps
Not that you’ll be doing any. I honestly did not see any beggars in Bangkok. The ones in Siem Reap were often victims of the land mines. Also, I noticed some kids put on really good sad, puppy dog faces only to giggle and laugh with their friends the second we walk off. I gave out $1 like candy because… well, it’s $1. More commonly though, you’ll meet people selling trinkets and crap to dumbass tourists.
In Siem Reap, they were strategically placed at every attraction in the Angkor area. It did get quite annoying because you hear “You wan cold drink?” / “Postcard $2.” / “OK You come back later. My name is Tiger.” very often. Best not to get mad at anyone because they’re just trying to make a living. I am a dumbass and I politely turned each person down while the lady adapted much quickly and just ignored people.
The guidebooks suggest to give food to the kids. The lady gave some Japanese gum to a really tiny kid and when she tasted it, she reeled in disgust. Perhaps it was too sour or sweet. Another little girl called the lady a liar, “嘘ã?¤ã??” after she turned down whatever crap she was trying to sell. The lady is not so popular with children.
In the old market, the remorque-moto drivers ask you if you need a ride… constantly. It gets old, very fast. Massage parlors also hound people too.
As a professional English monkey I found very interesting language aspects in Siem Reap. People often dropped syllables or letter sounds. Sohkong, our taxi driver, had trouble with ‘S’ sounds. I heard, “Are you Japanee?” from many locals and in my head I added the final “ese”. Other things: “ehcuse me” / “do you wan massa lady/sir?” (massage).
Books
Not so sure about Bangkok but in Siem Reap there were a couple used bookstores in the old market with a fairly good selection. I finally gave in to the resistance and picked up the Dan Brown books for cheap there. Everywhere else, you had kids selling really good replications of travel guides. I picked up a Lonely Planet Vietnam for $5… and I still overpaid. Most kids around the temples were pawning these off for $1 or $2. I neither condone or condemn the use of photocopied books. The quality is rather good for photocopies though.
Currency
Thailand has a well established economy and uses the Baht. Cambodia, on the other hand, runs mostly on US dollars but change less than a dollar is given in riel (roughly 4000 riel to 1 USD). There is a 5% value added tax in Cambodia and I forgot if there was a sales tax or not in Thailand. There are currency exchanges everywhere in the places we went to and the rates were much better than in Japan. Our hotel gave the worst rates - go to the market places and smaller counters for better deals.
Faux Pas
The feet! The feet are considered the lowest part of the body, both literally and culturally. Pointing your feet at people, at Buddhist statues, or at monks seems to be frowned upon. The head is regarded as the higest part of the body (both literally and culturally again) so touching people there is bad. It seemed like people shook hands as much as we did but we mostly met locals who were used to foreigners. The locals in Siem Reap often did the “wai“. I guess it was best to return it.
In Thailand, there are many pictures and paintings of the king. Stepping off the airplane, one of the first signs I noticed read, “Long live the king!” As described in most travel guides, one must show respect and reverence when speaking of the king. Joking about the royal family is not funny. I kind of noticed this when I asked our guides some questions about the king. Their answers always put the king in good light. Hold off on political opinions until later I guess.
My books kept going on and on about “losing face” in Asia and to avoid becoming angry in public because it demonstrates a sign of weakness. I found that to be crap. Feel whatever you want to feel. Certainly haggling for prices was much easier when you had a big smile on though.
Food and dining
Bangkok has all kinds of restaurants and fine cuisines. At times it was like walking around Hong Kong with all the hustle and bustle on the streets. Siem Reap, on the other hand, is a much smaller place but there are many restaurants still. Most in the old market offered service in English while other restaurants had at least menus in English. There are cafes and western cuisines but don’t expect any McDonalds in Siem Reap - something I very much appreciated.
Getting around
We had a friend take us around Bangkok but taxis and tuk tuks were everywhere. From what I can gather, it’s best to establish a price beforehand and stick to it. The guidebooks are packed with warnings about shams. Siem Reap was much the same but I found the drivers were much more enthusiastic about taking you around - everywhere you went you had people in the remorque-motos hounding you for rides. We met our taxi driver, Sohkong, on the first day and for about $25 a day he took us around everywhere and waited for us. He also gave us brief descriptions of each place.
Visas
Most people can get a 30 day travel visa to Thailand without filling out extra paperwork. Cambodia sells travel visas for $20 a pop. You need to bring a passport photo there or else they’ll charge you more to take a picture. The paper work for the visa can be found in the Siem Reap airport but we got ours early in the airport in Bangkok (S-something airport).
Voltage
In both Thailand and Cambodia it’s supposedly 220V but there are some quirks. In our hotel in Cambodia though, they had both plugs available - a very handy and intelligent option. Best to bring an adapter just in case.
Weather
HOT. Luckily (relatively speaking) we went during the rainy season so the bouts of 30-35 degree, full hellfire sunny days were broken up with quick and powerful showers. The rain really cooled the streets down but did nothing to lessen the humidity (up to 80% I hear). My shirts were literally drenched after walking around for an hour. Dress accordingly but be warned - it is frowned upon to visit temples in shorts, skirts, basically anything other than long pants. Some temples were much stricter but usually they had clothes to lend out. Best to bring your own I fathom.
