Have you ever wondered what it is like to ride a bus from Battambang to Siem Reap? That’s what I did today and it was quite a day. Bus journeys in places like Cambodia are pretty different from, for example, a drive from San Francisco to LA in your own car. Or even a bus.
Yesterday at sunrise I awoke to music coming from the fields behind my hotel. The music is hard to describe — a little like bells or the gamelan music from Bali — energetic, rhythmic and not western.
Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Bangkok anymore. Nope, now in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, previously called “Kampuchea.” Compared to cosmopolitan all-things-to-all-people Bangkok, Phnom Penh is sort of modest.
I am spending my last three Thailand days in Bangkok because I didn’t get quite enough of it when we were here a few weeks ago. I am staying in a charming guest house located on the canal a few blocks from iconic Khao San Road.
I am in Sukhothai, about half way between Chiang Mai and Bangkok after another lovely train ride. But first….
We have been happy happy happy in Chiang Mai during the three days of Loi Krathong, Thailand’s festival of lights. Loi Krathong celebrates water spirits with thousands of candle-lit lanterns set off into the skies, candle lit boats of flowers sent down the river, parades, music and fire works.
Mags and I spent a few days in a small town called Lampang on our way to Chiang Mai. Lampang is also called “Ruang Rot Ma” which is Thai for “horse carriage city” because Lampang has….horse carriages.
Considering my resistance to day tripping, I sure did a lot of it in Chiang Rai. On Saturday, Mags and I hired a guide and a driver to take us to Burma and Laos.
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Camino Milagro 