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on My Thai (Thailand), 12/Jun/2011 09:15, 34 days ago
Well I’ve just returned from a two week break with the parents.It’d been in the planning for a while but when I went to meet them at the airport I was actually feeling a little nervous, it having been almost nine months since I’d seen anyone from home without a laptop, Skype or dodgy internet connection being involved!After travelling back into Bangkok via the train and lugging my mum’s hefty case up and down stairs at the BTS station, we headed to our hotel along one of the seedier stretches of Sukhumvit.The next day it was off via bus to Sukhothai, the 13thcentury Thai capital and yet another UNESCO site.I decided to bike it around the many ruins but, defeated by the heat and one poor sense of balance, my parents tuk tuked it about instead.  Some of the Sukhothai ruinsAfter a few days there it was up to Changers and a lovely hotel in the old town. One of the holiday’s highlights for me was definitely staying gratis in places well beyond my humble volunteer budget. Even the temples of Angkor would struggle to top my excitement at having a bath after nine months of mostly cold showers. I fought through some early (and pretty mild) pangs of guilt and by the second or third day mooching off the elders became a pretty painless experience!  Wat U Mong, Chiang Mai                                                                 Orchid farm, Chiang Mai  Chiang Mai Botanical Gardens Royal temple, Mae RimAfter Chiang Mai our next stop was Phnom Penh, Cambodia.I have to be honest, first impressions were not good. We were taken to our hotel by a shyster of a taxi driver and the flow of traffic made Thailand look tame in comparison. Still, our visits to the Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek‘killing field’ were absorbing and sobering insights into the alarmingly recent events in the country's history and definitely made it worth the stay. Scenes from the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Phnom PenhThe bus which took us from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap gave the best indication of what life is like for the majority of Cambodia’s population. While Thailand is by no means a wealthy country, the difference between it and Cambodia was marked. Ramshackle wooden homes on stilts punctuated the flat, green farmland for hours on end with the occasional sign to denote an area that had been cleared of landmines.It is estimated that between 4 and 6 million mines were planted in Cambodia during the decades of civil conflict. Of these, only 83,000 landmines and 444,018 other unexploded devices have been cleared. As a result, Cambodia’s painful history is one that leaves a long shadow. Around 3000 square kilometres of Cambodia are marked as mined territory and about 12 of those are cleared each year. I was never great at maths but even I can work out that means centuries rather than decades before the country’s land and people are free from this awful legacy. Siem Reap to Phnom Pehn is I guess what Chiang Mai is to Bangkok– like a calmer, more easygoing sibling.Apart from the constant cries of‘Tuk tuk?’ and ‘Taxi?’ the town was pretty easy to navigate and Cambodia as a whole definitely trumped Thailand as far as my experience of finding good vegetarian food goes.The temples of Angkor are just truly amazing. As we were there in low season it wasn’t too crowded and once away from the hawkers/stalkers following or shouting across with cold drinks, scarves, food, postcards, books, bracelets or hats to sell, it was great to explore the ruins in (relative) peace. What amazed me most was the freedom visitors have to walk through, on, up and over ruins that are several hundreds of years old. No National Trust cordons or polite‘Do not touch’ notices here, instead it’s down to common sense whether you climb the uneven and ridiculously steep steps of Ta Keo (I did, my legs have only just recovered) or walk next to unsupported walls that look ready to topple at the slightest breeze. While the lack of health and safetyregulations at Angkor definitely adds to the experience, it also means the temples are growing more eroded under the ungainly feet of countless tourists. While some restoration work has been done there’s obviously still a long way to go! Craft workshop in Siem Reap, where some of the Angkor restoration work is doneSo from Angkor and the lovely Siem Reap airport (even my frisking was very politely done!) it was back to the balmy climes of Thailand.Although I was staying in town with my parents until they left, I spent their last two days in Immigration trying to sort out my visa extension. I waved them off at the BTS station like it was their first day of school and left them to fend for themselves while I spent hours sat in a waiting room miles out of town. In keeping with my other experiences of all things visa, the documents taken by my organisation on day one were incomplete which meant a return visit the following day. Luckily I’d gone prepared with a book to read (Hangover Squareby Patrick Hamilton) so it wasn’t too painful and I’m now trying to forget about the return visit I’ll have to make in four weeks time.So now I’m back in Mahachai and I feel as though I’m entering the final stretch.I plan to finish my placement here at the beginning of September and, with a trip to Burma planned in late July, that means just ten working weeks left!