New frontiers: Thailand and Cambodia

Early in the morning you’ll be picked up at the hotel by a local representative and transferred to the bus station. He’ll help you buy a ticket for the bus to Pak Chong. The trip takes three hours and in Pak Chong you’ll be met by someone from the lodge. The lodge is located just outside the perimeter of the National park and is an interesting jumble of buildings with spacious rooms. The furniture’s a bit dated but that kind of adds to the typical Thai charm. There’s an outdoor restaurant, a herbal sauna and a pool with a lovely waterfall. Around 3.30pm you’ll hop into a minibus with several other travellers and head to the bat cave. The bats leave the cave around dusk which is when you’ll be witness the exodus of huge swarms of bats against the setting sun, chased by birds of prey trying to catch a light supper of fresh bat.

At the crack of dawn you’ll set off in a small open minibus (songthaew) with your guide and fellow travellers to seek out some wildlife on a Khao Yai National Park tour. Make sure you have a good breakfast because it’s going to be a long day. Once you’ve paid the entrance fee to this protected National Park (approx £5 per person) you’ll follow the winding road straight through the jungle. Don’t be surprised when the driver suddenly slams the breaks and the guide quickly ushers you out of the bus. Whip out your binoculars and cameras for the huge toucan perched on a branch by the side of the road. They can sit there motionless and all you can hear is their funny twittering. Further up the road a noisy bunch of macaque monkeys are running riot in the trees and if you peer up high in the branches you might spot a couple of gibbons and sloths. They prefer to stay up at the top of the trees.  You’ll stop off for lunch at a somewhat familiar looking waterfall. This is where Leo de Caprio took a leap in The Beach. Though most of the film was actually shot on Ko Phi Phi, this where the waterfall scenes were filmed. It’s a lovely place to take a cooling dip. The waterfall is at its fullest (and most beautiful) in rainy season.

After lunch your guide will take you on a 2 hour hike through the jungle. The path is level but mind you don’t trip over the thick roots growing across the path or bump your head on the low-hanging branches. At the end of the hike you’ll drive up to a viewpoint on a steep rocky outcrop at 1300m overlooking the dense green rainforest. We spotted a giant black squirrel here. At the end of the day just as the sun is setting, you’ll get ready for your jungle drive. With a bit of luck you’ll spot elephants or at the very least deer, monkeys, wild cats and porcupines.

After breakfast take another dip in the pool before you set off for Sida. You will travel by bus to Bua Yai. It’s about 3 hours to Bua Yai where you’ll be met by your host Jimmy and driven to the small village of Kopet 20 minutes away. Kopet is a tiny village with just 800 inhabitants. You’ll be spending the next couple of days in a small house at the edge of the village overlooking a small lake. Once you’ve settled in your Thai host Lamai will take you on a walk around the village. The local villagers here make their living growing rice, corn and other crops and they have a small herd of cows. There are orchards filled with silk worms. You’ll pass the small village temple, the school and take a look inside a silk weaver’s workplace. Everywhere you go you’re greeted by friendly locals and invited inside. Lamai speaks excellent English so she can help you translate any questions you have for her fellow villagers.

At the end of the walk, relax on the veranda of your homestay as you watch the sun set across the lake. In the evening you’ll be treated to a traditional Isaan meal. If you’d like to see how the meal is prepared you’re welcome to help Lamai in the kitchen.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast out on your veranda before packing your bags and saying goodbye to your new friends in the village. It can take a while because half the village has come out to bid farewell and following Isaan tradition they’ll tie ribbons round your wrist to wish you good luck. With your arm adorned with colourful strings and ribbons it’s time to continue on your way.

Jim will take you back to the bus station and help you buy your bus ticket back to Bangkok. The trip across the peaceful countryside takes about 4 hours. Landing right back in the middle of the chaotic metropolis it’s worlds away from your little rural paradise in Kopet. You’ll be spending another night in the same hotel in Bangkok so you won’t have any problem finding your way around.

In the morning take a taxi from your hotel to the airport, where you’ll board the short flight to Phonm Penh. You’ll be met at Phonm Penh airport by our Cambodian representative and transferred to your hotel. Once you’ve settled in to your hotel spend the rest of the day as you wish. We’ve saved the guided city tour until tomorrow. Phnom Penh is a beautiful historic city with lots of old colonial buildings. By Cambodian standards it’s very modern, telling by the well-maintained roads, modern shops, elegant boulevard and plenty of cash machines. Today you can visit the National Museum, which was built in 1917 and houses an impressive collection of Khmer art. Then head to the Silver Pagoda, famous for its solid silver floor. In the afternoon you could climb the hill to see the War Phnom temple, the temple where the city got its name from. Tonight you’ll be staying in a comfortable cosy hotel in the centre of Phnom Penh.
 

Today you will be able to visit the more remote sites of Phnom Penh with your guide, such as the Tuol Sleng museum and the Killing Fields. In 1975 the Khmer Rouge marched into the capital city Phnom Penh; Pol Pot became prime minister of Cambodia and made a very bloody attempt to turn Cambodia into a communist agricultural state. Money, education, religion and private ownership were abolished. Marriages were pre-arranged and children were separated from their parents. People who refused to cooperate were killed. Intellectuals and scholars were considered a danger and were murdered and even wearing glasses or speaking a second language were enough to make you a suspect.

Tuol Sleng is an incredibly moving museum where you are confronted with the harrowing events through a series of photographs. The museum is located in a former primary school which was used as a torture prison for political enemies by the Khmer Rouge. For many it was their last stop before ending up in the mass graves of the Killing Fields, in an orchard just outside Phnom Penh. As many as 17.000 people were killed here. Towards the end of the afternoon you'll visit the Apsara Foundation where underprivileged Cambodian children can learn to dance and sing.

This morning you'll cross Tonle Sap lake and river by catamaran boat to Siem Reap. You'll be transferred by car to the jetty. The trip takes about 5 hours and on the way you can enjoy watching the daily life of the locals on the river banks. In some places the river is a mile wide, in others as narrow as 50m, which makes the boat trip a wonderful spectacle of wide open views and up close observings of people living along the river. Sailing along you will pass stilted villages, floating islands, boats, rafts, water birds, children playing on the river banks and pigs in floating cages. On arrival in Siem Reap just ignore the pushy crowd of hotel hawkers and look out for our local agent holding your name sign. He'll take you directly to your hotel, located in the city centre, with spacious air-conditioned rooms and friendly staff.

Today you will visit part of the Angkor temple complex with your guide. You'd need a couple of days to cover the whole Angkor complex which consists of dozens of temples scattered across an area over 25 km2. You could wander through the temples, statues and ruins forever but make sure to stay on the marked paths, there are lots of mines in this area. The temples date from different periods as each ruler built his own temple which gives each temple a unique character. The most famous temple Angkor Wat is strongly Hindu influenced, whereas Angkor Thom is more Buddhist. After a day of temples and culture you’ll be spending another night at your hotel in Siem Reap.

Today you can spend another day exploring Angkor on your own. Angkor is the name of the ancient capital of the Khmer empire which was founded in the 8th century AD. The empire stretched all the way to southern Vietnam and China. Later it was the Thai that ruled this area during the Siamese empire, bringing in the Buddhist influences. Siem Reap literally means "victory by Siam", so quite magnanimous of the Khmer that the city still carries this name. For centuries the city was overgrown by jungle until the ruins were discovered by French explorers in 1900. Several temples have been restored but others are still overgrown. At the Ta Prohm temple for example you can see how the jungle still has a hold on the buildings. Giant trees tower over them and the roots have wrapped themselves around the temple walls. You’ll be spending another night in Siem Reap.

In the morning you'll be picked up at your hotel and driven to the pier just outside of Siem Reap. This is where you'll board a boat to Battambang, your next destination. Along the way you'll pass floating villages, children waving at you from the river banks. You'll sail along narrow waterways onto the mighty Tonle Sap Lake, arriving in Battambang late afternoon.

In Battambang you can take a ride on the little bamboo train. It's little more than a bamboo raft and a carriage that has been placed on a train track; it is however the traditional mode of transport in this area. The train trip will take you through rice fields and will give you a glimpse of traditional country life and houses on wooden stilts. Battambang is a provincial city with a lively market that draws people from across the region who come here for their daily groceries. You'll spend the night in a hotel across from the local market; the hotel is basic but comfortable.

The island of Ko Chang has an exotic scenery with densely wooded hills. The highest point is the 744m Jom Prasat. There are several challenging trails across the island, leading up to a couple of spectacular waterfalls. If that all sounds way too strenuous you could just spend the day lazing around on one of the sparkling white sandy beaches. The Ko Chang archipelago is made up of 73 islands, most of them deserted. Take a day trip to the islands of Ko Wai and Ko Mak where you can snorkel among the pristine coral and chill out on the picture postcard beaches. At low tide you can walk from Ko Mak to the neighbouring island, quite unusual. In the evening head to one of the many beach front restaurants on Ko Chang for a fantastic dinner.