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Christmas and New Year in Thailand
Used Marriot miles to pay for the two of the three nights at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Bangkok. the third night was approx $125. GREAT location tucked in a Soi in the Lumpini neighborhood. safe as houses, friendly staff, CLEAN, spacious room (Room 306), rooftop pool and gym, and great buffet breakfast at the Momo cafe for BHT450 per person.
Dinner: Nahm restaurant, part of the Metropolitan hotel, beautifully prepared meal in gorgeously designed dining room-modern, refined but no awkwardly stiff. Good intro to Bangkok and eating in a new place for the newbie. Spendy by Thai standards but worth it.
Chiang Mai
Being New Year, original plans to go to Chinag Rai inland through smaller villages were dashed as all the buses were sold out. our only option was an overnight bus to Chiang Mai. buses in Thailand have come a long way since my first foray there in the mid-80s. they are double-decker, fast, clean, on board stewardess, blankest, drinks etc. The trip was about 8-9 hours if I recall. Note the bus station is way out of town.
Hotels were also sold out, so we were relegated to whatever Booking.com could muster so we stayed outside the walled gates north at the Mercure (previously Novotel at 183 Changpuak Road, Sri Poom, Muang District) about 10 minut walk to the north gate (by the elephant fountain for tuk tuk direction purposes). Hotel was amidst repairs and old rooms. Tatty and rundown at the time. Booked through Booking.com, I think BHT500 a night.
Chiang Rai
Plenty of buses between Chiang Mai and Chinag Rai. Cheap as chips and about 3-4 hours. Take note of which bus station they drop you off at. there's the new one outside of town and the old one right in the market area downtown.
Stayed a 10 minutes walk from center towards river at Baan Siam CR, 111/36 mu 19 santi Rd, Robvieng, Muang Chiang Rai. Must have scored a deal when they first opened as the nightly rate was $18 a night! manger was miffed at check in so always bring paperwork to hotels if you pre-booked and have a rate-they must honor it. Hard to find, so take a map and thai address with you. These guys own the swanky former palace hotel in Chiang mai. Regular rates are likely closer to $80-100.
Getting to Lao
Take bus to the river town where there are long boats that cross non-stop across the Mekong launch. Bus stop is a few km from this launch point, so lots of tuk tuks loiter to take folks to the river. need to get exit visa, then at Loa border, get the entry visa. Cant remember cost. We decided to keep going to Luang Namtha so headed to the bus station a few km out of town, so take a tuk tuk. They all loiter around the border house a d main road.
Buss not too frequent to Luang Namtha, so get across border as early as you can. Its about 4 hours if I recall. Luang Namtha is lovely town on river and foothill of mountains. well worth the stop over on the way to Luang Prabang. Phou Lu II bungalows 10 minutes walk from main dirt road, QUIET, by river, super nice family runs it. Our own bungalow, with back porch, $20 a night for two including breakfast! I'd go back there in a heartbeat.
i also noticed a Forest Retreat Laso place that had lodgings, good coffee and trips in the area. Run by Kiwis I thunk.
Eat dinner at the night market-som tam salad and chicken till your hearts content for a few dollars. fabulous.
Make sure to check out the day market west of town. rats, beavers and all kinds of critters toasted, charred or peeled off the road for sale amongst the veggies. A lot of Chinese from Yunnan and beyond are heree, so lots of Mao posters and Chinese is spoken here.
Udomxi
A good 8-9 hours trough mountains to the trading crossroads town of udomxi. Not much going on here: market, temple on a hill, enough to keep an afternoon busy, stay the night and then carry on to Luang Prabang. Be sure to take the 5 or 6 am bus-get there early to score your ticket as it gets jammed with other backpackers.
Hotel: Some basic place-large old mansion house converted to hotel on main drag towards bus station, just by the river and the temple hill path right next to it. not expensive, maybe $25-30?? basic but clean rooms, safe. stayed in back newer building.
Food-hard pickings. There is a bakery halfway between the hotel and the bus station, next to the roundabout. Assortment of baguettes, pizzas etc. open just in time for the first bus, so grab egg sandwiches to go.
Bus to Luang Prabang, winds over the mountains, so as the corw flies a few 100 km but takes 6 or so hours with a stop at a few strips off the road for pee breaks or buy form ladies selling food/veggies.
Luang Prabang
Bus station on other side of rive from main old town. tuks tuks easy.
Stayed at Apsara, Kingkitsarath Street, Ban Wat Sene, KingkitsarathLuang Prabang. Beautiful hotel, great room in building next door to main house. Room on end (#8?), own balcony overlooking river, watch the monks and locals amble by. $85 a night. Well worth it, breakfast included, sitting outside on their porch.
Luang Prabang is a walking city-wander explore EVERYWHERE on foot. See all the sites, wats and palaces, but also walk down any of the side streets. we went to market way out of town, across from that market is the Ock Pop Tok living crafts center with nice oevrlook of river-stop and have a coffee/drink/meal there, Chao Anouvuong Monument and the UXO, took long boat across to other side and walked the trail that hugs river and passes more temples, took a massage at the red cross, and generally just left no laneway untrammeled. Monk alms is a bit of disney zoo...heart sinking.
Cambodia
Flew to Siem Reap via Pakse on Lao Airlines, depsite the horror stories. Was nervous admittedly, but it was fine, good service and decent stop in Pakse before carrying on to Siem Reap.
Stayed 10 minutes to the heart of the night market at Villa Siem Reap, 153 Ta Phul Road. $45 a night, including breakfast. large rooms, sparse but clean, shower so-so. Nice folks, hard working. Easy to get around on foot to spots. Hotel had a nice deal of tuk for the day to go to Angkor Wat, though DO NOT ask them to take you to a lunch spot as they will take you to mediocre but expensive (for Cambodia) place in Angkor..we learned the hard way.
Phnom Penh
Loads of mini-buses that transport between Siem Reap and PP. About $10-12 ad takes 4-5 hours.Many offer to pick up at your hotel for free.
PP fist stay to be w cousin Monica who was doing nurse work there. Stayed at Indonesia 2 at Street 130 and st 5 by river and near Wat Phnom 4th floor, about $25-30 a night. Super basic, noisy and i think a place where prostitutes go too. Area is busy all night, but not dangerous.
2nd batch of stay was at MUCH nicer, gorgeous Kabiki, # 22, Street 264, Phnom Penh, $80 a night includes breakfast. Former presidents wife's getaway villa. Huge room, Trees, garden, pool, extremely quiet place tucked on guarded road by lovely Street 240 and St 19. Loads of restaurants, ships and easy location to get around on foot or tuk tuk.
Eat: any place-lots of fresh food to be had. We LOVED NGON Restaurant. 60 Preah Sihanouk Boulevard, Tonle Bassac Quarter, Chamkarmon District. Vietnamese & Khmer food. Huge room, outdoo areas, fresh, delicious. Branches in ho Chi Minh City and ha Noi.
Whole area behind this restaurant had a lot of hotels, B&Bs, restuarnts, shops etc. lovely. noticed the Hotel Nine bouique hotel, #48, Street 9, Tonle Bassac. hotel-nine.com
Do: Phnom Penh mounatin in town, Tuol Sleng, Killing Fields, Russina Market, wal along river, palaca, walk walk walk all over. Great city to explore. posh area by Tuol Sleg had british school, Costa coffee and other calm, cool lane ways to amble.
Minibus to Kampot
leave from the park strip by the Phnom penh. Cheap air-conditioned buses, 3 hours-ish to Kampot river town. BRILLIANT sleepy, lazy river town. Pepper farms, watch the fisher men leave for the night and get to the quay at 4 am to see them all come in with their haul. its hopping this time of day, lovely sounds, sights. Note they are all Muslim. We got a tuk tuk guy for the day to take us to Kep for crab lunch via muslim areas all the way and in Kampot. Very interesting. Take the time to walk over the bridge and wend to the temple on that side.
lunched in Kep at Srey Phan overlooking water and watched women hawl in the crab nets etc. Smother sin te most delicious pepper sauce. Large Crab, plate of fried shrimp and 2 large beers=$13!!! View to die for. best lunch of the trip.
Soleil D'or: french owners. Lovely room, Bougainvillier top floor one with two beds, decent bathroom, roof windows. they also own Le java Bleu where the breakfast is served. $45 a night. French owner is passionate about cooking and insisted we eat dinner at his one night. Glad we did, we bumoed kinto him at ye fish market that morning and he set aside a lovely outside side table for us. prepared the fish steamed with clams, shrimps and ginger etc. one of most memorable meals of trip if ever. certainly in my Top 10 of all my travels. Whole fish, beer, side nibbles, i think dessert etc, wasn't more than $40, the most expensive dinner of the trip, but so worth it.
Round the corner from them is a bakery owned by a woman who was once in one of the many orphanages rn by Americans. he now owns her business and bakes chocolate chip cookies, brownies, coffees etc. lovely lady and place.
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Christmas and New Year in Thailand
Used Marriot miles to pay for the two of the three nights at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Bangkok. the third night was approx $125. GREAT location tucked in a Soi in the Lumpini neighborhood. safe as houses, friendly staff, CLEAN, spacious room (Room 306), rooftop pool and gym, and great buffet breakfast at the Momo cafe for BHT450 per person.
Dinner: Nahm restaurant, part of the Metropolitan hotel, beautifully prepared meal in gorgeously designed dining room-modern, refined but no awkwardly stiff. Good intro to Bangkok and eating in a new place for the newbie. Spendy by Thai standards but worth it.
Chiang Mai
Being New Year, original plans to go to Chinag Rai inland through smaller villages were dashed as all the buses were sold out. our only option was an overnight bus to Chiang Mai. buses in Thailand have come a long way since my first foray there in the mid-80s. they are double-decker, fast, clean, on board stewardess, blankest, drinks etc. The trip was about 8-9 hours if I recall. Note the bus station is way out of town.
Hotels were also sold out, so we were relegated to whatever Booking.com could muster so we stayed outside the walled gates north at the Mercure (previously Novotel at 183 Changpuak Road, Sri Poom, Muang District) about 10 minut walk to the north gate (by the elephant fountain for tuk tuk direction purposes). Hotel was amidst repairs and old rooms. Tatty and rundown at the time. Booked through Booking.com, I think BHT500 a night.
Chiang Rai
Plenty of buses between Chiang Mai and Chinag Rai. Cheap as chips and about 3-4 hours. Take note of which bus station they drop you off at. there's the new one outside of town and the old one right in the market area downtown.
Stayed a 10 minutes walk from center towards river at Baan Siam CR, 111/36 mu 19 santi Rd, Robvieng, Muang Chiang Rai. Must have scored a deal when they first opened as the nightly rate was $18 a night! manger was miffed at check in so always bring paperwork to hotels if you pre-booked and have a rate-they must honor it. Hard to find, so take a map and thai address with you. These guys own the swanky former palace hotel in Chiang mai. Regular rates are likely closer to $80-100.
Getting to Lao
Take bus to the river town where there are long boats that cross non-stop across the Mekong launch. Bus stop is a few km from this launch point, so lots of tuk tuks loiter to take folks to the river. need to get exit visa, then at Loa border, get the entry visa. Cant remember cost. We decided to keep going to Luang Namtha so headed to the bus station a few km out of town, so take a tuk tuk. They all loiter around the border house a d main road.
Buss not too frequent to Luang Namtha, so get across border as early as you can. Its about 4 hours if I recall. Luang Namtha is lovely town on river and foothill of mountains. well worth the stop over on the way to Luang Prabang. Phou Lu II bungalows 10 minutes walk from main dirt road, QUIET, by river, super nice family runs it. Our own bungalow, with back porch, $20 a night for two including breakfast! I'd go back there in a heartbeat.
i also noticed a Forest Retreat Laso place that had lodgings, good coffee and trips in the area. Run by Kiwis I thunk.
Eat dinner at the night market-som tam salad and chicken till your hearts content for a few dollars. fabulous.
Make sure to check out the day market west of town. rats, beavers and all kinds of critters toasted, charred or peeled off the road for sale amongst the veggies. A lot of Chinese from Yunnan and beyond are heree, so lots of Mao posters and Chinese is spoken here.
Udomxi
A good 8-9 hours trough mountains to the trading crossroads town of udomxi. Not much going on here: market, temple on a hill, enough to keep an afternoon busy, stay the night and then carry on to Luang Prabang. Be sure to take the 5 or 6 am bus-get there early to score your ticket as it gets jammed with other backpackers.
Hotel: Some basic place-large old mansion house converted to hotel on main drag towards bus station, just by the river and the temple hill path right next to it. not expensive, maybe $25-30?? basic but clean rooms, safe. stayed in back newer building.
Food-hard pickings. There is a bakery halfway between the hotel and the bus station, next to the roundabout. Assortment of baguettes, pizzas etc. open just in time for the first bus, so grab egg sandwiches to go.
Bus to Luang Prabang, winds over the mountains, so as the corw flies a few 100 km but takes 6 or so hours with a stop at a few strips off the road for pee breaks or buy form ladies selling food/veggies.
Luang Prabang
Bus station on other side of rive from main old town. tuks tuks easy.
Stayed at Apsara, Kingkitsarath Street, Ban Wat Sene, KingkitsarathLuang Prabang. Beautiful hotel, great room in building next door to main house. Room on end (#8?), own balcony overlooking river, watch the monks and locals amble by. $85 a night. Well worth it, breakfast included, sitting outside on their porch.
Luang Prabang is a walking city-wander explore EVERYWHERE on foot. See all the sites, wats and palaces, but also walk down any of the side streets. we went to market way out of town, across from that market is the Ock Pop Tok living crafts center with nice oevrlook of river-stop and have a coffee/drink/meal there, Chao Anouvuong Monument and the UXO, took long boat across to other side and walked the trail that hugs river and passes more temples, took a massage at the red cross, and generally just left no laneway untrammeled. Monk alms is a bit of disney zoo...heart sinking.
Cambodia
Flew to Siem Reap via Pakse on Lao Airlines, depsite the horror stories. Was nervous admittedly, but it was fine, good service and decent stop in Pakse before carrying on to Siem Reap.
Stayed 10 minutes to the heart of the night market at Villa Siem Reap, 153 Ta Phul Road. $45 a night, including breakfast. large rooms, sparse but clean, shower so-so. Nice folks, hard working. Easy to get around on foot to spots. Hotel had a nice deal of tuk for the day to go to Angkor Wat, though DO NOT ask them to take you to a lunch spot as they will take you to mediocre but expensive (for Cambodia) place in Angkor..we learned the hard way.
Phnom Penh
Loads of mini-buses that transport between Siem Reap and PP. About $10-12 ad takes 4-5 hours.Many offer to pick up at your hotel for free.
PP fist stay to be w cousin Monica who was doing nurse work there. Stayed at Indonesia 2 at Street 130 and st 5 by river and near Wat Phnom 4th floor, about $25-30 a night. Super basic, noisy and i think a place where prostitutes go too. Area is busy all night, but not dangerous.
2nd batch of stay was at MUCH nicer, gorgeous Kabiki, # 22, Street 264, Phnom Penh, $80 a night includes breakfast. Former presidents wife's getaway villa. Huge room, Trees, garden, pool, extremely quiet place tucked on guarded road by lovely Street 240 and St 19. Loads of restaurants, ships and easy location to get around on foot or tuk tuk.
Eat: any place-lots of fresh food to be had. We LOVED NGON Restaurant. 60 Preah Sihanouk Boulevard, Tonle Bassac Quarter, Chamkarmon District. Vietnamese & Khmer food. Huge room, outdoo areas, fresh, delicious. Branches in ho Chi Minh City and ha Noi.
Whole area behind this restaurant had a lot of hotels, B&Bs, restuarnts, shops etc. lovely. noticed the Hotel Nine bouique hotel, #48, Street 9, Tonle Bassac. hotel-nine.com
Do: Phnom Penh mounatin in town, Tuol Sleng, Killing Fields, Russina Market, wal along river, palaca, walk walk walk all over. Great city to explore. posh area by Tuol Sleg had british school, Costa coffee and other calm, cool lane ways to amble.
Minibus to Kampot
leave from the park strip by the Phnom penh. Cheap air-conditioned buses, 3 hours-ish to Kampot river town. BRILLIANT sleepy, lazy river town. Pepper farms, watch the fisher men leave for the night and get to the quay at 4 am to see them all come in with their haul. its hopping this time of day, lovely sounds, sights. Note they are all Muslim. We got a tuk tuk guy for the day to take us to Kep for crab lunch via muslim areas all the way and in Kampot. Very interesting. Take the time to walk over the bridge and wend to the temple on that side.
lunched in Kep at Srey Phan overlooking water and watched women hawl in the crab nets etc. Smother sin te most delicious pepper sauce. Large Crab, plate of fried shrimp and 2 large beers=$13!!! View to die for. best lunch of the trip.
Soleil D'or: french owners. Lovely room, Bougainvillier top floor one with two beds, decent bathroom, roof windows. they also own Le java Bleu where the breakfast is served. $45 a night. French owner is passionate about cooking and insisted we eat dinner at his one night. Glad we did, we bumoed kinto him at ye fish market that morning and he set aside a lovely outside side table for us. prepared the fish steamed with clams, shrimps and ginger etc. one of most memorable meals of trip if ever. certainly in my Top 10 of all my travels. Whole fish, beer, side nibbles, i think dessert etc, wasn't more than $40, the most expensive dinner of the trip, but so worth it.
Round the corner from them is a bakery owned by a woman who was once in one of the many orphanages rn by Americans. he now owns her business and bakes chocolate chip cookies, brownies, coffees etc. lovely lady and place.
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