The Noodle Curtain

Breaking 17 months of blog silence

There’s no one sorrier than me about abandoning this blog in the summer of 2011 and a new, though short-lived, one I started while living in Vietnam  in 2012. That last one really hurt when I shut it down after only two months.

 But enough about that regretful silence. I will get around to explaining that in bits and pieces as the days and weeks roll along here on The Noodle Curtain. 

 Back to the present! I am living in Bangkok now, coming full circle since my arrival in the Big Smoke in the fall of 2010 -- a new member of the retiree rolls. In that three-year stretch, I lived in BKK, then Phnom Penh, Cambodia and then on to the  Mekong Delta for a few months with my then girlfriend who was from Vietnam’s Rice Basket.

 After the breakup of our business and relationship, I fled to Thailand. My apologies but I landed in Pattaya, otherwise known as Sin City. It was just easy there. Lots of good food, cheap accommodation, lots of bars and an escape from the previous stressful Vietnam campaign.

 I lost count of the number of times I considered resurrecting this blog.  But I just didn’t have the inspiration but more especially the energy to rebuild this blog. Well, soon enough the real reason I didn’t have the energy was that I fell into the hands of a very nice Thai girl. She was my first ever Thai GF -- this despite nine plus years of travelling and living in Southeast Asia. Yeah, I was that picky. Seven days a week I was running errands for my GF’s restaurant, doing this and that and generally being a Good Boy. But that ended too after about 10 months. 

 Exit. Stage Bangkok! 

 This is my third attempt to live here. It has failed. My best friends in the world live here but I can’t abide by the intense living conditions and lifestyle here. Oh, yeah, it’s bloody expensive. And just last week the Thai government increased the alcohol tax again. Cry with me . . .

 Since moving here last May, I was quite happy for a while, having needed to escape (abominable) Pattaya and the breakup of another business and personal relationship. Note to self: Never combine a new relationship with starting a new business! Wait a couple of years! It was no one’s fault really, but that’s for another time.

 Now I have no attachments except my new-this-year iMac and my old faithful 5-year-old MacBook laptop. Oh, and my 42-inch LG LCD flatscreen TV. Oops, forgot my (recently discovered) fantastic Reebok shoes. Best ever walking shoes -- I love to walk. LOL. 

 Alas, I will leave Bangkok. There are two likely candidate locations: Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.  Or maybe I should just say, Cambodia and Vietnam. That gives me an out if I decide on neither city!  It won’t be Thailand. Thailand is getting tired of foreign residents. Well, the feeling is mutual. That’s another topic for another day.

 During these almost four months, I think I’ve been away more than I’ve been in my Bangkok apartment, spending a lot of time in Phnom Penh and, uh, Pattaya. Strange that. The farther away I went, the closer I felt to Sin City. OK, maybe it’s just that I couldn’t enjoy or relax in Bangkok. True.

 This decision has got me thinking about all the lovely possibilities of my two favoured locations, Phnom Penh or Saigon (HCMC). I’ve been getting more and more enthused week by week, which seems to have tickled awake my brain’s blogging department. I’m feeling a growing inspiration to write, whereas Thailand leaves me cold. It’s been overdone anyway. 

 I remember when I wrote Nine Dragons Village (inactive now), the creative spirit was overflowing. I also started another blog for our bar/restaurant in the Delta. Two blogs at once and I felt I could write them forever. While The Noodle Curtain lasted three years, I knew it would end because my interest in the Thailand experience had faded away, evidenced by the two-week (and rising) intervals between posts in summer, 2011. 

 Nutshell: I’m alive and well. I’m back. I’m moving. I’m fired up. 

 PS: I will continue this blog here at The Noodle Curtain for a couple of months (since I’m still in Thailand and this was a mostly Thailand blog) until I move. That’s when I hope to start a new blog over at Wordpress. 

Thailand fades, life moves on to Vietnam

I miss writing my blog. It’s been eight months and in all that time I could have written many more pieces. But I lost interest in my host country, Thailand.

I wrote 290 posts in exactly three years.  It was good for me because it kept up the writing urge, helped me keep my skills polished and gave me a sharper eye for what’s going on in Thailand and in several nearby countries. But I quit posting on Behind the Noodle Curtain in July 2011. 

Even in the one or two months previous, I knew my days in Bangkok were numbered despite only arriving to live full-time in the autumn  of 2010. I’d started travelling even more, to other parts of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. I found satisfaction in Phnom Penh. But it took four or five visits over a very short period of a few months to consider living here, where I’m writing my last post for Behind the Noodle Curtain.

At the end of August 2011, a second trip of the year to the Cambodian capital opened my eyes. I liked the serene pace of the low-profile city, the wide boulevards, no doubt remnants of the French colonial period, and the trees and the colourful buildings, the boulevard medians ornamented by trees, bushes and flowers. Then there’s the easy-going people and the genuine smiles.

I also enjoyed the western restaurants and bars, with cheap, plentiful food and drinks. You could get good bread and croissants, too! Rent and electricity were about on par with Thailand. And, to be honest, it’s not too far from Bangkok if I wanted to hook up with my great friends there.

The tipping points last fall -- the two were almost simultaneous -- were the fast dwindling water and food supplies in flood-threatened Bangkok where nothing seemed to be done about it and the lure of the best girl I’ve ever met in eight years of travelling and living in Southeast Asia.

Yes, there’s a lot more to my disaffection with Thailand but I really can’t write it here, mostly because Behind the Noodle Curtain stays away from politics, which most farang writers of any kind and level are well advised to do due to oversensitive authorities.

This post also marks my last few days in Cambodia. I am moving to the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. From Toronto to Bangkok, to Phnom Penh. Now to a tiny village in the rice basket of Vietnam. Big change is in the air. I am seriously considering marriage for the first time in my life. And I’m also starting a business career. Two biggies!

More important though is that I will be able to finally pursue my fascination with Vietnam, its people, its culture and its language by living in their midst. Somehow, some way, years ago I thought I’d always end up in Vietnam. I have visited several times,  Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), plus several visits to my girlfriend’s Mekong Delta village, near Chau Doc, An Giang province.

Google Maps link to Chau Doc town, An Giang province

But years before, I developed this unnatural interest in Vietnam. In my home city in Canada, I hung out in Vietnamese (Chinatown) enclaves, enjoyed Vietnamese food, bought videos in Viet stores, had haircuts there, watched many Viet movies or Hollywood movies set in Vietnam, dabbled in Vietnamese language studies, read books on the history, researched online sites both independent and government approved. Somehow, based partly on the people’s history of throwing off aggressors, I grew to respect their culture.

The Vietnamese are also very industrious, hard working, smart, numerous -- about 90 million now on Viet soil with 150,000 (2001 census) to 200,000 (just my guess) in my home country of Canada. And it’s one of the last “communist” nations on earth.

Who knows where these strange notions come from.  Maybe it’s a sympathetic side of me, trying to symbolically apologize for our allies nearly destroying their country.  Maybe it’s because I noticed Vietnam-made clothing and shoes are well made.  Or maybe it was the mind-stopping  beauty of Vietnamese girls in their traditional multi-layered pant/dress outfits (ao dai).

In the end, I will keep this Thailand blog open for some time because it does seem to attract 100 to 200 readers a day. Also, I will begin a new blog on my Vietnam experiences, Nine Dragons Village [Link de-activated]. And, the business aspect comes about via opening the one and only western bar in Chau Doc, a crossroads town for travelling foreigners between the Phnom Penh and Saigon.  [Welcome Bar closed permanently]

Good luck to all travellers in Southeast Asia. It’s bound to unlock the mind.

Update Sept. 8, 2013: The links to Nine Dragons Village and Welcome Bar have been de-activated since the blogs and restaurant business were discontinued in early 2012. My apologies.

My 7 Links at Behind the Noodle Curtain

It must be my journalism background but once a post is in the public domain, the only thing I focus on is the next one. I do not dwell on what’s past and find it hard to think of some posts that would meet the criteria of My 7 Links, a challenge to bloggers originated by travel blog Tripbase.

The goal is to “unite bloggers  (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.”

Well, maybe I can construct something that meets the challenge thrown down to me by my very good friend Talen at Thailand, Land of Smiles. What may help me to do this is to recall my underlying theme to this blog:  remove the veils of my ignorance about Asian culture,  Southeast Asian in particular, and more particularly, Thai culture.

For me, my time here on the blog is about educating myself. If someone else finds something useful when reading a post, that’s great too. You see, you can live in this culture and yet let a lot of things escape your notice. But if you write about something, you’d better look closer at your day to day life, which will lead you to a better understanding of your next topic.  That’s exactly what this blog has helped me do, pay attention to my surroundings, whether cultural or historical or social.

It’s a great exercise in learning to really live here.

Coincidentally, this month, July 2011, is the third anniversary of Behind the Noodle Curtain. I will have more to say about my three years of self-education in a later post.

My most controversial post on Behind the Noodle Curtain

I was in a rant mood after an extended stay in Southeast Asia in the spring of 2009. But it was some months later that I wrote Female temptations in west bring predictable endings. While I tempered my remarks -- in fact, re-edited and re-published it after removing some incendiary stuff -- I still hold to every word I wrote about male-female relations in my home city of Toronto. In short, I’ve never seen so many unattached, unhappy 30-something people, both sexes. And if there are liaisons, they appear more like business relationships: he is a graphic artist, she an interior designer and both go into business together. Oh, that sounds like fun.

Most popular post

That’s easy, all you have to do is write about bar girls, eh? However, I did not write this one but wish I had. My Bangkok friend and film director Paul Spurrier wrote all the important bits in Wise advice on relationships with Thai bar girls l, a sensitive and balanced post that may have some surprises in it. That is my current No. 1 post by far.

Most beautiful post

I decided to go to farthest Isaan, Nakhon Phanom on the Mekong River after Stickman and Talen wrote positively of the place over a couple of years. And I took to it immediately and wrote Beauty comes in many forms in Nakhon Phanom. I think it has as much to do with the view into Laos across the river (see photo at top) than any one thing about the town on the Thai said. But the town has its attractions, too, being a cross-culture of Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese and Chinese.  And maybe being as far away as possible in the northeast from Bangkok also played a role. 

Most helpful post

When you’re over 50, as I am, it’s a good idea to get the “usual” blood tests such as PSA, blood sugar, cholesterol and vitamin B12. After a six-month stay in Thailand, I returned to Canada and followed my own advice. I was deficient in vitamin B12, which comes mostly from red meat, little of which I ate in Thailand. It happened again after a recent extended stay. The first post, Keep eye on your vitamin B levels if on Thai food diet, got linked on a Russian language web site and has been popular ever since. The second one, Vitamin B12 deficiency recurs after long Thailand stay, has been picked up by many.

Successful post that surprised me

My post on a cheap haircut -- The 100 baht haircut that will last a lifetime  -- managed to draw out long-time friends and admired bloggers who have never commented on my blog. LOL. Must be something about the universality of getting old and hiding that fact as best as one can.

Post that didn’t get the attention it deserved

I got a lot of comments on my lengthy post, Canadian boys need to toughen up, but none from Canadian readers or (presumptuously on my part) authorities or other interested parties. Maybe no one outside of Thailand read it.   I am surprised that this post didn’t get linked to here and there. Did not even get any objections to my slandering of Canadian men.

Post I’m most proud of

I suppose I’m most proud of this post, Make changes and the world changes with you, because I was changing for the better. I wrote it from my home city Toronto (although Bangkok is my home now). On my fourth trip to Thailand, I resolved to look under the hood of Thai culture and see what I could see and hope to take the best of it into my soul. On that 2007 trip, I think a made a few small breakthroughs that I’ve continued to feed off of. I was chilling out.


Conclusion
When I looked at the requirement for 7 example posts, I thought it would be  real challenge and frankly, not very fruitful for readers. I looked through the headings of the 290 plus posts and realized, hey, this is an interesting list. Maybe I could find 7 if I stretched. Well, I had trouble narrowing the list down to 7.

 

I'm also supposed to nominate five bloggers for this Tripbase challenge. Some of my faves have already been nominated but I am very very happy to recommend the following:

Boonies Thailand Photos  When I want to relax, be amused and just take a break from the seriousness of world, I love visiting Boonsong Somboon and his village where he and his wife tell stories through photography with often very amusing results. This Thai writer has sure hand for a  English and Thai word play that will have you chuckling and laughing out loud. There's much to be learned about Thai culture here, too.

My Thai Village Life  The Village Farang's blog, set in Chiang Rai province, is written by an American who moved to Thailand more than 30 years ago and has made a life here and achieved wedded bliss. But don't expect a view of the world through rose coloured glasses. He doesn't write often but this posts are very thoughtful about farang and Thai cultures, and sometimes provocative.  Although recently he admits he has mellowed a bit. Always worth reading, especially if you're a motorcyclist!

LTO Cambodia There are not many blogs on Cambodia that I have found but LTO Cambodia author Casey Nelson collects news bits, photo stories, opinion pieces and amusing anecdotes on life in Phnom Penh and Cambodia.

Life in Rural Thailand - Ubon Ratchathani  Author MeMock has a home in Ubon and Australia and business in Laos, as well as a young family.  His blog mixes delightful and serious family stories with local issues, history and just life in general. You will also find much amusement as his two daughters and new son grow up.

The Thai Pirate Ben Shingleton writes a wry amusing and sometimes serious blog about Thai life in Suphanburi province, often using pictures and video

 

 

 

Pays to ask for hotel tips in Phnom Penh

There is a full range of hotels and prices in Phnom Penh and  I set out to try  three when I stayed for nine days earlier this year. I also review one I’d stayed at during an earlier visit.

It's not until you get on teh ground for a few days that you find the deals, just as I did in my final few days, thanks to an expat resident.

A popular location for visitors to the epicentre of the night life  is the Flamingos Hotel on Street 172 near 51 (lovely interior shown below). The place is only five years old and I’m afraid it’s showing its age already. I thought the rooms small, including the so-called Deluxe one at $30 US a night, wherein there was enough room to circle the bed on foot, with a bit more room at the standup wood closet.

There was only one reachable electrical plug and it was across the room from the desk and chair. The wi-fi signal was hard to snag; sometimes taking 1 to 2 minutes to get through. I also kept getting cut off by a lost connection. I would have to reactivate by trying another floor router. Once going, thoughput seemed to be fairly good.

The bathroom was compact, to say the least. The towels were threadbare and so was the bedding, with only a too-short thin cotton blanket covering the mattress. No duvet or wool/synthetic cover. I can understand it a bit because of the non-stop couples traffic.

Being in the bar and disco area brought its rewards and drawbacks. Of the latter, you could hear the pounding beat at the new nearby disco, Pontoon, all night one night. Since the hotel is near Street 51, which is home to many hostess bars and Heart of Darkness disco, some of which don’t close till dawn, you are bound to hear voices and music punctuate the heavy nighttime air. However, it didn’t really bother me, since I live in 24-hour Bangkok.

On the plus side were the code-your-own safe and blade-type door key that would be hard to pick. The desk, bar and airport pickup/valet staff were fantastic. And it has to be said the customers coming and going seemed to be a happy lot, which is as much to do with the town as the hotel I should think. A popular spot is the rooftop bar, which I never made it to.

While frequently occupying a stool at Walkabout Cafe, one of the local girls told me the owner had built a nearby hotel called The Blue Tongue (night shot above). It was very nice and guest friendly. Indeed it was, so I booked two nights. I checked out of Flamingos, walked a few metres down Street 172, away from the river, turned left up arterial Street 51 to 174, crossed to the west side of 51, turned right around Walkabout and not 50 metres up 174 is Blue Tongue.

The rooms are fresh, new, simple, spacious, well lit by sunken pot lights and table lamp and with good natural light. The bed mattress, king size, was beautiful to sleep on. It had high quality bedding, pillows and blankets, plus a pair of colourful throw cushions.

I chose the Superior room for its large shuttered window but it seemed to me there was little difference between it and the Standard room, except the lounging chair and table and slot-like windows for natural light.

The Deluxe room’s highlight was the huge bathroom’s rain shower head and handsome flooring and fixtures. The towels were luxurious, basin materials top quality, and lighting perfect. The room rate was a minimally discounted to $35, versus standard $38.

However, the hotel did not have an in-room safe. You had to deposit your valuables in the locker at the front desk and take a key. This is problematic, since if you forget your passport or cash, you have to return. Also, I managed to check out without my passport. I went to the next hotel without it and  had to get another tuk-tuk back to the Blue Tongue. Desk staff should have asked if I had anything in the locker.

I was visiting a friend on St. 200 and he recommended the Comfort Star 2 hotel nearby on 200 (picture at top). Good choice especially at the price.

The hotel entrance and lobby are plain but that’s not where you lay your head. The room choices were single  ($18 US a night) and double ($22).

My single room had a king size bed, with redundant light controls in bed panels and bed reading lamps. Excellent! I also remember the air-con machine was remote enough so  you didn’t have to suffer all-night drafts. But I can’t remember where it was affixed.

The room had plentiful space. The furniture was of good quality, with large TV, beside a desk and table with enough room for papers and laptop. The mini fridge was hidden away and held a few reasonably priced drinks. Other furniture was also of good quality.

Lighting was excellent although not of the stylish quality of the Blue Tongue. The washroom  was large, with a vertical stall for the shower. Overall, it was a very roomy place, one you could stay in for several days.

The location was ideal: quiet but you were only 2 minutes to St. 51 and 10 minutes on foot  to 51 bars, restaurants and clubs, as well as other cross streets leading to the river front near the FCC club, albeit a good 20 minute walk at least.

I know for sure Flamingos and Comfort Star will pick you up from the airport and deliver you free.

In another visit, I stayed at the Lone Star Saloon, which has several huge, well appointed rooms above. Rates were $25 and $30, the latter for a truly huge room with beautiful flooring,  bed, washroom and large balcony,. The American-style Saloon has very good food and a fine selection of beers and liquors. And a great staff.

The thing I don’t like, and it’s the same for many other bars that have guest rooms, is that you have to walk through the bar to get to the stairs leading to the few rooms. Guests of the traveller are not too happy about that either.

And last, I didn't stay at the newly built Na Na Hotel (picture at bottom), but several expats said, and I confirmed, brand new rooms start at  $15 a night. I saw one and it was quite small. But at $15 and a great location, St. 154, not more than 10 minutes  from the Central Market and Soriya Mall, you could do a lot worse. The hotel web site says it's 5 minutes to the river side. if you were The Flash, maybe. Try 15 minutes at least.

I found Comfort Star delivered the best value for the U.S. buck and wasn’t far away at all. But, Phnom Penh has many good hotels. I just think you don’t have to pay $25 to $35 a night (800 baht to 1100 baht).

Breakfast in Bangkok: Why so bloody expensive?

I’ve spent quite a bit of time in cities other than Bangkok over the last five months and breakfast became a bit of an obsession. The day’s first meal became important to, uh, orient myself after “the night before.”

Call me delighted. I found breakfast -- English or American or Continental or Thai -- to be quite cheap. In my world, that’s a good way to start the day, cf., “the night before” and expenses incurred therein.

The following statement is not based on exhaustive research, otherwise I’d have reclaimed those 15 kilos I’ve lost over the last four years. It appears to be that the best value for expat money in Thailand or Cambodia is to be found in Pattaya.

Pattaya must have the best collection of farang breakfast offerings, in quality, portion and price.

First though let me say I’m not a big fan of English breakfast. Too much food! And too many beans, which is to say one bean is one too many when they taste like the can they came in. You just can’t warm up some beans and slop them on the plate.  And the sausages, at least those to be found in Thailand, are more herbal pate than meaty.

A sausage exception that leaps to mind can be found at the Pig & Whistle in Pattaya. Outstanding pork sausages! Outstanding breakfast! Two sizes, by the way.

Some foreigner-owned restaurants offer American breakfast (stay away from Thai American breakfast: see below). That would pretty much be the simple combo of eggs, bacon, home fried potatoes (sometimes optional) and toast. Just my style (I’m not American).

And of course, you can always grab a bowl of 20-30 baht Thai noodle soup, which is not a bad alternative to spark the day. Thing is, not all noodle soups are made equal so I found this a bit of a dice roller when sizing up my morning/afternoon choices.

I searched for “good,” “breakfast,” “bangkok” recently. Got some recommendations in the lower Sukhumvit area of BKK, where many expats and tourists gravitate either because of brand name hotels or bars and their special companionship services.

I popped up soi 4 to the huge Hanrahan’s restaurant. Gulp! 300 baht. The most expensive I had seen on a menu price list was 280 baht at the Robin Hood. I have not sampled the food at either place. If I wanted to spend $8 to $9 plus, plus, I’d have stayed in Canada. (Frankly, I can get a fantastic full-on breakfast in Toronto for the same or much less!)

I'd already spotted the Dynasty Inn on the way up soi 4, a place I had specifically gone to eat at in the past because it's inexpensive and good -- though not until recently. It was to be my fallback. Well, the fallback won since Hanrahan's was so pricy. Good breakfast, good price (Canadian bacon, eggs, toast, plus fruit for 110 plus 70 for the potatoes), good service. The 10% service charge on the check led me to ask if staff get the cash. Nope, the hotel company does! Tip money does go to staff.

Other places checked and rejected because of the price (for English breakfast equivalents) were Queen Victoria (310 bt) on soi 23, Londoner (320 baht) on Sukhumvit at soi 33, Robin Hood (280) on Sukhumvit at soi 33/1 and Dubliner at soi 22 (400 baht for full Irish brekkie). All these places are huge operations on prime locations with big staff. I imagine the costs must be much higher, especially if some foods are specially imported, so prices reflect some of that.

My two favourite breakfast spots are Silver Dollar on Washington Square (130 baht for nicely done American breakfast meal) and Soi 8 Pub (185 baht for a substantial plate of greasy glory).

For pricing contrast, take Pattaya. Best full breakfast price I saw was 85 baht. Buffets are common, where you’ll get English, American and Thai delights for 105 baht (Diana Dragon), as much as you can eat.

I wish I could remember the small breakfast price at the Pig & Whistle (soi 7) but I think it was 130 baht. Price a bit high for Pattaya but well worth it for the quality of all the items on the plate.

As for why Pattaya is inexpensive, eateries are definitely situated in cheaper shophouses but some of them are no less big than BKK leading names. I doubt the Thai staff salaries are much different between the two cities. The cost of doing business (deliveries, sourcing foods and repair works) may be cheaper in Pattaya. Certainly there’s more competition in the more compact area of Pattaya that keeps prices down. I also think the tourists who throng the beach city fit in a lower average income level, which would tend to restrict restaurateurs to non-gouging practices.

But it seems to me that little of this explains the 100-300 baht differential between pricier Bangkok and reasonable Pattaya -- double to four times Pattaya menu prices. Maybe the real reason is that BKK businesses are largely dealing with the kind of Bangkok expats and business visitors who work at a higher income point and therefore can handily pay the freight. So those of us not boasting a surplus of money will just have to deal with it -- by shopping carefully. Which is exactly what Thai folks do.

This devine Thai omlette on rice is only 20 baht on the street.

And this "nutritious" breakfast on a train trip is far more preferable to this below . . .

Here's the kind of  "American breakfast" (in Roi-Et, in this case) you will find in many a Thai rural city.  What is described as "sausage" looks and tastes like weiners, and sandwich ham is as tasteless as it looks, not to mention the mass production egg. And then there's the cloying, sweet salad dressing common on salads that  almost makes me, uh, you know . . .

Chilly Canadian spring a shock to my Bangkok blood

The sun has reappeared in central Canada! This is news to this home returnee because for the first 18 days of my visit, I saw the sun once!

We’ve had virtually nothing but straight days of cloud, overcast and rain. And it was cold, most  nights dipping to low single digits Celsius. Daytime highs were barely in the teens, running mostly 10 to 12 -- a good 4 to 5 degrees off the 2010 temperatures.

I wore four layers of clothing -- every day. I had to borrow an insulated vest and never gave it back during the first 3 weeks.  The three short-sleeve dress shirts and three hot weather pull-on shirts never left my suitcase. I wore my heavy rainproof shoes everyday. Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring  my Bangkok umbrella, mostly because I had been using it as the rains started early in Thailand, really early.

When I arrived in mid-April, I stepped out into the damp, cold of the airport and was struck by snowflakes. Snow!?!?!? Argh! I was freezing. It was only 2 or 3 degrees. I just came from Bangkok where it was 34C and three days previous, from eight days in Phnom Penh where  it was 35-37 degrees (photo: steamy Phnom Penh street where even the moto rider has sun awning). I've gotten used to the heat, or at least my blood has. I wore a jacket when BKK temps fell to 17 overnight.

People are saying it’s been the worst Toronto spring in memory. Most here believe we’ll just go straight from winter to summer! That may be true.

This weekend -- I’m writing this on Sunday -- it’s been sunny all day both days. You don’t realize how much that means to body and mind until you step out onto the deck of your friend’s family home, with coffee and cigs in hand and feel those truly warm beams that (finally) reach below the skin surface. From there the comforting signals go to the brain and make everything all right.

In April 2010, the mean daytime maximum temperature was 16.2 and mean overnight low was 10.5. This year those numbers were: 11.8 and 6.9 -- 4.4 degree and 3.6 degree differences respectively. The mean daily temperature for April 2010 was 10.5C, this year 6.9C -- an almost 4 degree difference over the 30-day month.

Back in Bangkok, temps are roughly in the low 30s, some days hitting mid-30s as this is the hot season.

The early part of the winter was actually quite cool, relatively speaking, with daytime temps hovering in the 28-30 range occasionally. Sometimes, the overnight lows dipped to 18 or so. We got some really hot days, 35-37, but there have been few of those.

However, the rainy season seems to be intruding early. I can remember some heavy rains in late February. March occasionally would bring rain showers. I see now for April and May forecasts of thunder showers.

But I miss the heat and yes, even the humidity.  I’ll be back in the warm womb of Bangkok in a week. 

Taking edge off getting visa-on-arrival for Cambodia

Every country has its idiosyncracies when it comes to visas. Cambodia is no different.

 I’d visited in January, virtually unaware of the arrivals area process of entering the country other than it would cost me $20 U.S. The last time I’d visited the country was six years prior. I returned earlier this month and vowed that this time things would go smoothly. And they did. That’s because I learned my lessons from the last trip.

When I arrived in January at Phnom Penh (Pochentong) Airport, I faced a chaotic lineup. In short order I learned that I did not have the required  passport photo and I did not have the visa application paper. Somehow I managed to not spot the visa application form that came with the package of Cambodian materials handed out by Air Asia stewards before landing.

For my sins, I had to step out of the hard-won position in the arrivals lineup of a 100 or more tourists to find a visa application form and, when back in the Visa Application lineup, pay $2 U.S. “penalty” for not having the photo.

This is how to handle the arrival in Cambodia.

First, make sure you have $20 U.S. on you. Correct change is always faster. You will also need $25 later for the passenger airport fee when you depart. Since Cambodia uses both the U.S. dollar and Cambodian riel for everyday purchases, you can easily get U.S. bills from an ATM in the country before you say goodbye.

Before you leave your origin location, find  a photo shop and get the standard passport shot. Get four copies, a standard package in most Thai shops (about 200 baht). You will inevitably need passport type photos for other applications, such as a visit to Laos (1 photo) or Vietnam (2 photos). Or applying for your Thai driving/riding  licence.

On the plane, you will get a visa application form and general immigration arrivals information form for the foreigner. Fill them out then and there.

Once in the arrivals area of Phnom Penh airport, get in the first lineup on your left. It says Visa Application. The lineup involves a bit of gamesmanship, everyone trying to get through this painful process as fast as possible. Hand in your visa application with photo attached, plus passport, of course.

Immediately to the right will be another counter with six or seven  agents sitting down and an equal number standing up. You will hand over the cash ($20 for tourist visa, $25 for business or “Ordinary” or E visa) when they call out your name and you will get your passport back. Try to get close to the counter since it’s hard to hear them and they will inevitably mispronounce your name. But they also hold your passport up in the air with face page showing to help you ID the right one.  The visa sticker covers an entire page. Ugly.

(You can avoid all of this by downloading an “e-visa” from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. You fill it out and send it back to them by email with JPEG passport photo. It’s all described here http://www.mfaic.gov.kh/evisa/. When you arrive with e-visa copy in hand, you go direct to the immigration counters. You cannot get a business visa this way.)

Next, take your passport and receipt plus your immigration arrival information page to the immigration police counters nearby. This is a small airport.  Ignore the glass cages; it’s where Cambodian nationals get their thumb print scanned. Hand over your passport and arrival information page.

After the officer checks everything out and hands you back your newly stamped passport, you are then free to pick  up your baggage and walk to and out of the “Nothing to Declare” customs line, assuming you’re not bringing declarable things such as big money or firearms into the country.

The tourist visa is good for 30 days and can be extended another 30 but only at the immigration office opposite the airport. A business visa is extendable to various periods up to a year, upon paying an escalating fee. You can get any visa shop agent to handle a business visa  for you and it's totally legitimate. You don’t even have to appear before an officer. Cost averages about $250-270 for one-year visa.

Another tip or two: Right outside are mobile phone desks. Very cheap to get temporary SIM number, about $2. I kid you not. And talk time and SMS rates are very cheap.

Gone are the horrendous taxi tout gauntlets of several years ago. Public taxi lineup is so much better. It’s $7 to $9 downtown, depending on whether  tuk-tuk (which are quite pleasant actually, unlike noisy, uncomfortable Thai tuk-tuks) or car taxi.  Also, most hotels will send a driver for you free.

When leaving the country, check in at the your airline, get boarding pass, go to the windows nearby to pay your airport usage fee ($25 for international travellers). You will have to show the receipt to a guard before ascending to the departures level of Phnom Penh Airport.

Thailand doesn’t require a visa for most foreigners. You get a visa exemption, good for 30 days in the country. But it’s no reason to pass up a visit to nearby Cambodia.

 

Phnom Penh fun but Khmer New Year empties capital

I didn’t know a city could be so empty like Phnom Penh is during the Khmer New Year, which was yesterday, the 14th, with more holiday time Friday and Saturday.

 
Teems of Khmer have gone back to countryside from where they came. And there’s probably tens of thousands of them since nearly every shop was closed Wednesday, New Year's Eve, through Friday; the massive Central and Russian markets had some shop activity,  and some major bars were shut, such as Martini's. There were far fewer moto taxi and tuk-tuk drivers shouting “hello sir” -- yes they do that here, as opposed to Bangkok, where they usually say nothing, beginning or end of trip.

I got up around, er, sometime, and walked past four of my usual coffee shops. All closed. Thank Buddha for Walkabout, which never shuts, I think. Only a handful of girls there, too, Wednesday through Friday, compared with Tuesday’s full house.

Yep, it was going to be a dull couple of days, at least till Saturday. 

     

     

 

 

Other notes:

HOTEL JUGGLING: I’m on my third hotel in my nine-day, eight-night trip. It’s not as nice as $35 US a night one I left Wednesday this week, but it’s large, quiet, clean, nicely appointed, has desk and table for laptop, has free wi-fi and breakfast, free street transport if you stay more than one night but is very central as it’s between north-south arterials Street 51 and 63 -- and has great friendly staff. All for $18 a night at Comfort Star 2 Hotel on Street 200. Takes Visa, too. My first hotel, Flamingos, was $30.

STREET CHAOS: To understand Phnom Penh traffic customs (they drive on right as in Canada), you have to expect motorcyclists and some cars to cut across your bow, whether pedestrian or oncoming traffic. It’s probably why cars and bikes go so slow and at a  consistent speed. Sudden forward acceleration will cause great chaos and probably fatalities. Expect someone to cut in front at the slimmest opportunity. What I didn’t expect, or simply forgot to add into my mental safety cocoon, a couple of times was nearly getting clipped by a cutter from behind. I crossed Norodom (wide north-south arterial), looking repeatedly left and right and forward and behind into the intersection at 178. (There are only a handful of intersections with lights -- like it matters! I hope you don’t think motorists pay attention to the few crosswalks and pedestrian signals -- hahahahaha!)

As I judged flow to be predictable enough, I started to cross, when I felt something brush my right forearm. Of course, it was a scooter with three people who cut in front of 178 traffic, headed straight against south-bound traffic flow and tried to slice in behind and between vehicles into  the proper northbound lanes.

Yesterday a friend and I were in a motorcycle tuk-tuk (bike pulling two-wheeled wagon -- comfortable, too). He cut left, as per custom, into oncoming traffic along the side but an oncoming motorbike rider whipped out from behind a vehicle to pass him on the inside right in “our lane”. The rider was not looking forward either, for some reason looking off to where he’d come from. Well, let me say both parties were “surprised”. That was the proverbial close shave. My Canadian friend had a word with our “chauffeur” along the lines of you were in the wrong and endangering our lives!

BAR WARS: I was in Phnom Penh in January, but before that it was six years since my last visit. I swear there are far more bars and expanded night life districts. Comes with a burgeoning (externally supported) economy. The place is booming, Cambodian scale. An evening walk down beautifully redesigned  riverside (Sisowath Quay) showed me just how many dining and drinking establishments have taken root. From Street 178 (near FCC) to 104, bars and restaurants (some very swank) throng the west side of the quay (no buildings or vendors allowed on the river or east side). Bars and eateries fill  some slots down each street. On 104, there are about 20 hostess (read, clip joints) bars in a very short distance of less than 200 metres. Bars line Street 51 around 172 to 154. I’ve read that 136 is another entertainment stretch. There are some stray barang (foreigner) bars: Lone Star on 13, Victoria on 172, The Gym on 178, Sharky on 130 and Martini on 95, the latter two are big pickup bars. And of course, there are loads of Khmer BBQ, karaoke and massage shops around the city.

VERY HAPPY PIZZA: I counted at least four restaurants around the riverside with “Happy xxx xxxx Pizza” in the name. There still are places -- Happy Herb’s Pizza was the original and still operating -- that serve the very special pizza topping, which will put you in a very happy state of mind above and beyond the taste of an ordinary pizza. Yes, the main ingredient would be illegal in Canada.

DRINK CANS: Have you looked at the crud and film that can accumulate on a tinned drink? I rinse and wipe off the tops of tinned drinks before cracking open the pull tab back home. In Cambodia, bar staff meticulously clean the tin tops before serving and do it right in front of the customer. They never do this in Thailand, which is why I rarely order a can of beer, for example. I’ve seen too many old, dusty, grimy cans in Thailand, too.

MALL MAGNET: Phnom Penh has a new shopping centre, simply called City Mall, but locally called Lucky Mall, since the prime tenant and mall operator is Lucky Supermarket; it’s much like Foodland, Villa and TOPS in Thailand. Only far cheaper! A bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label is 680 baht versus 1100 in Bangkok. A tetrapak of Ceres-brand South African juice is 60 baht versus well over 100 baht in BKK. My Mild Seven brand cigs are $10.50 US a carton (315 baht versus 900).

The mall is far from full of tenants but it does offer a lot of small shops as well as some local fast-food outfits such as BB BBQ. There’s also a KFC but no McD. The other big mall, the first one, is Soriya Shopping Centre near the Central Market. Lucky is a more modern, long, wide open-concept place where you can see around to look for particular shops. Soriya, which also has a Lucky Supermarket, is a lot more vertical and therefore not so open to the eye. But I like both of them.

There is also modern Sovanna Mall, which opened three years ago, but I didn’t make it there.

RIEL U.S. MONEY: U.S. dollars and Cambodian riel are the standard currencies. Every cash register spits out both currency totals for whatever you buy. You can blend payments in both currencies, which is not a bad thing. Something that’s $1.25, such as an Angkor draft beer, can be paid as $1 and 1000 riel. Some shop bills will add another 100 to 300 riel to make the exchange more correct (in their favour). There are 4000 riel to the U.S. dollar. You can safely change money for U.S. dollars or riel with the traders on the street at Central Market and Russian Market. Or go to any Bureau de Change, some are on the Sisowath Quay (Riverside). A check of online rates at some major Cambodian banks says to me the street is the way to go. A Canadian friend’s Khmer wife  sticks to the street. Oddly enough, word is they want Canadian dollars for there’s a shortage.

NEW LAND OF SMILES: Thailand may use the tourist phrase but Cambodia takes over the title!  In Cambodia, the smiles never stop. When walking the streets of Phnom Penh, motorcycle taxi and tuk-tuk riders will ask if you want a ride. A polite glance and “No, thank you” will elicit an equally polite smile. Walk up to a hotel desk and the smiles light up all round. A guarantee: if you smile first, you will get an even bigger, friendlier smile. I can’t get enough of them here. I live in Bangkok. I can go for hours without seeing a Thai smile.

PICTURE NOTES: From top, light traffic during Khmer New Year on Sisowath Quay (Riverside), Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The large photo and following six small ones all show Riverside on New Year's Eve. City Mall and motorcycle parking beside the mall on Monireth Blvd., near the Olympic Stadium. No Riverside description would be complete without a "Happy Pizza" picture, this image is of one of my favourite eating places, Happy Phnom Penh Pizza. Out of the photo and to the left, is the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC). This image shows the third hotel I stayed at, on Street 200 and a scene from the same street. Last below, it's not often the Canadian flag flies amid tropical palm trees.

Reflections from Phnom Penh after dark

I’ve written many things over the past several weeks. I just never published them. I didn’t say what I meant. So they were not worthy of my thoughts, never mind worth reading.

It’s been 17 days since I wrote about Bangkok magician Michel Potts. That was an easy topic and just slid from thought to electronic paper with barely a pause.  It was simple reporting. Writing reflectively, on the other hand, takes multiple starts, rewrites and, ultimately, rejections.

What follows is usually deep disappointment and the wonder that I’ll ever write anything reflective again. The failure usually resides in rather muddy thinking. Just what is it do I want to say? Whatever it is, I need to provide a strong premise, supporting experience, anecdotes  and finally a clincher.

For the heavy stuff, well, another time. This time, I sit writing this on Street 174 in the Blue Tongue Hotel in Phnom Penh. There’s a lovely 10 km/h breeze. Good thing since at 11 o’clock it’s 30 C. It was supposed to be 37 this afternoon. Could have been. Right now here on Streets 174 (near 51), a mother and her teenage daughter are tending to things in their shophouse home, wearing their pyjamas. All visible on the street and a common sight. Stationary cyclo men, three-wheeler jockeys and motorcycle taxi guys compete on busy north-south Street 51. Nearby is Walkabout Cafe pickup bar (they’re all pickup bars . . . ), Shanghai, Heart of Darkness night club, (the new) Pontoon disco, various hostess bars, Zeppelin and Black Cat bars, 24-hour mini-marts, all-night food vendors, hookers and customers, men of no immediately discernible function (yep, you’re probably right if you check their pockets) and residents.

Before Phnom Penh, I was in Pattaya for four days (having only booked two that time) and not long before that I and three friends toured Isaan by car, with a wedding in Sakorn Nakhon in the middle. And there was a before-that, too. Five nights in Chiang Mai and previous to that, one night in Pattaya. These trips all took place January to April. Seems like I like to travel or stay out of Bangkok. My friend Khun Miken makes a strong case for the former. I’m seeing if he’s right.

I can think of a number of things I dislike about Bangkok: multi-lane, expressway-filled inner city with its insane heavy truck, taxi, bus, motorcycle and car traffic; millions of people; crowded, broken, smell-filled, vendor-choked streets I live on and visit; non-stop construction and repair noise; soot-filled, polluted air; and rising prices for everything; and last, a lack of sanuk (happiness of life) among locals and expats.

Things I love: my wonderful friends from all over the world; the clean, cool, quiet BTS Skytrain and MRT subway public transit system; great variety of restaurant and store foods; the you-can-buy-anything brand-name and specialty malls; the magic of the shameless nightlife venues and street bars; and last, the most beautiful (and available) girls in the world who come from all over Thailand.

I sit in my very lovely, modern hotel room in the centre of the nightlife area of Phnom Penh. The hotel is owned by an Australian who also happens to own the Walkabout Cafe bar right next door, a 24-hour freelancer market. I love this bar. It’s basic, but it has decent, cheap food, cheap booze, free pool tables and an (sometimes) impressive array of Khmer and Vietnamese girls who will look after your every need. Did I mention it’s open 24 hours?

The hotel room is $33 US a night, which is 1000 baht. Earlier this evening I met a German expat resident -- he came for six months and stayed three years, so far -- who told me I was paying too much. I thought so too and was going to look for another hotel the next day. I was happy to move to the Blue Tongue because it was so much nicer than the Flamingos on 172 and for the same price, almost. Like Flamingos, I only booked two nights, knowing or at least hoping to get a great tip on a good, cheap hotel. Presto!

  The German  said not five minutes from where we were sitting in a coffee bar on Street 51 (Pasteur) was the Na Na Hotel (no, no, not the Bangkok one and not the same spelling). Brand new. I jumped up and visited. Beautiful place, open one year. Beautiful rooms were $17 US (500 baht). I’ll be moving Monday.

I have come here for one main reason: to see if I could live here in the Cambodian capital. That requires sampling lots of prices and searching for areas I could consider for residency. Plus  comparing and contrasting the benefits and disadvantages.  Tomorrow, I meet up with a six-year resident and his Khmer wife who will give me some guidance on life in this small Southeast Asian nation, with the fairly fresh wounds of the Khmer Rouge genocide.

The early word is: some things are more expensive, some things less expensive. This is going to be a 2011-long project. Other cities under consideration are Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Korat, all in Thailand. And Vientiane (Viangchan) in Laos.

So now you see why I was keen to do the Isaan Tour with K. Miken (only one-night stands in Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Kalasin, Sakorn Nakhon, Roi Et and Korat). And why I’ve visited Chiang Mai and Phnom Penh. There’s lots more to come.

Somehow I feel in my element on this tour. I actually looked forward to heading to Bangkok airport and waiting expectantly for the takeoff and landing in somewhat familiar surroundings. I was moving. Doing the legwork is fun. And talking with Thais and farang (foreigners)  to sound out their feelings about their city is enjoyable. Made moreso when someone tells you could pay half of what you’re paying for your hotel room and get the almost identical quality.

Sitting in Bangkok gives me a restless feeling. I don’t sleep as well there either. I sleep better on the road. I feel more alive because I’m applying my somewhat rusty journalistic skills. Could be something to K Miken’s theory about the need to keep moving. Maybe it’s because I haven’t found my home. Yet.

 

PHOTO NOTES: From the top, Street 51, Phnom Penh, looking south from between Streets 154 and 172; the Blue Tongue Hotel on 174; owned by the same man who runs the Walkabout Cafe (next photo); next up are Black Cat, (new disco) Pontoon and Shanghai. Last is Na Na Hotel and another St. 51 scene at the  Golden Sorya Market near where the first photo was taken.

Report break during Cambodia vacation

I'm on a vacation of sorts from Bangkok and Thailand and my blog. Sorry about that. I decided that in leaving Thailand I was also going to leave the laptop home. A complete break. It's been great. Not once did I enter an internet cafe. With my laptop at my side, I would begin every day in front of the screen just as I do in my BKK apartment. That's no break. Everyday of my holiday began and ended with nothing. Get up, find good espresso (easy in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville), stare at passing scene, get on scooter and go to beach in Snooky or walk clean and tidy (shock!) streets of the capital, think about first beer, dinner, next beers and where girls are, last drinks and back to hotel. Then do it all over again. But I did take some pix, and left with some positive impressions of a burgeoning Cambodia. In short, I will return to the kingdom very soon.