7 – 21 November 2023

With our time in Cambodia over, we boarded another minivan to cross the border into Thailand. What should have been a fairly straightforward process was a long day. Our “helper” to get us across the border said “just go up the stairs” which as a group of 6 travellers we did. When we had all been processed through Cambodian exit immigration, we left the building to wait for our “helper” to guide us onwards. More than 20 minutes later with no contact, we decided to cross a bridge and hope for the best. We followed the locals and found the Thai immigration building. Once inside and waiting to be processed, the power went down causing the previously fast moving line to come to a grinding hault. Once re-powered, the line began to move again. Pete was the last of our group to be seen and it was the officer from hell. No one else had any problems, just lucky Pete. The officer was not happy with the hotel address provided. He sent him away to re write it. The next elderly lady approached the same officer and he wasn’t happy with her either. After several long minutes, she was dragged away for an interview with officials. Pete could then re approach the officer who still wasn’t happy. As it turns out it was all because the word Bangkok wasn’t written on the card. So after an extremely long time, we left the building not knowing where we were going or if the rest of our group was still there. We found them, with our “helper”. Let’s just say a few heated words were exchanged as the crossing should have taken maybe 20 minutes and took over 90. The rest of our group said they would not let our “helper” move on without us, which we were grateful for. 

The bus continued to Bangkok and after a long day, we finally arrived in town, to try to navigate the bustling train network. After another 90 minutes of trains and walking we finally arrived at our apartment and settled in for a quiet night.

Our second day in Bangkok brought us a visitor. Zoe flew from Perth to spend 2 weeks with us. It was really nice to be able to actually see her in the flesh. As great as our weekly phone / video calls are to our kids, nothing quite beats seeing them in person. 

Our time in Bangkok was busy. For the next week we walked the streets and rode trains, boats and tuk tuks. We ate and drank at a different establishment each night. The night life in Bangkok if definitely eye opening. There are ladies on most corners trying to make money, there are ladies trying to tempt passerbys into the bars, there are food carts selling all sorts of food and wide eyed tourists just trying to make sense of it all. We spent one afternoon exploring the city and discovered Asiatique, an area on the river with restaurants, bars, carnival rides and the Calypso Theatre. We rode the largest ferris wheel in Thailand, ate dinner and then watched a cabaret show. It was a fun night out. Another day we went on a tour to the River Kwai and Erawon National Park. It was a very long day but was important to see where so many POWs were forced to build the 415km long Death railway between Thailand and Myanmar.  Of the 62,000 POWs working on the railway, more than 20% of them died. Next we moved on to Erawan Falls. The 7 levels of falls were pretty spectacular and very inviting for a swim. What our guide failed to tell us was that we needed to hire a life jacket at the bottom of the falls if we actually wanted to swim. 

Our last big activity in Bangkok was to visit Amazing Siam Amusement Park. We spent the day riding roller coasters such as the Log Flume, Boomerang, Vortex and Enterprise, speed slides and swimming. Unfortunately half of the rides were under maintenance which made it slightly disappointing, but fun none the less.

Next we moved on to Pattaya for our last week in Thailand. This sea side city on the shores of the Gulf of Thailand is famous for its bars, nightlife, parties, resorts, shopping malls and condos. Our 2 bedroom condo was very nice with 4 swimming pools, 3 water slides and gyms. It was centrally located so we did plenty of walking. We swam in the sea and spent a night in Walking Street drinking cocktails. We visited Ripley’s Believe it or Not where we saw displays of all sorts of oddities and played a few games. We ate and drank in many bars, we did a bit of shopping and spent a little bit of time in the massage salon. Our last big activity in Pattaya was to visit Ramayana the biggest waterpark in Thailand and second biggest in Asia. We tried every speed slide, and ride such as the free fall, spiral, python and aqua coasters with many screams along the way. It was such a fun day. The weather for the last 2 weeks was pretty dry with the weather finally beginning to get less humid and a fraction cooler. 

Now our time in Thailand has come to an end and our time in Asia is also over. For the past 11 weeks, we have spent time in 4 countries, travelled by plane, train, boat, bus and motorcycle. We have had the best time exploring the remotest parts of the countries seeing how people live, their culture and their sometimes sordid history. We have learnt so much and have a renewed appreciation of what is right under our noses. It’s the simplest things in life that we all often take for granted such as electricity, drinking water, good healthcare and most importantly our family and friends. There are many more parts to explore in not only these countries, but in so many more around the world. Who knows where the road will take us next, but for the next couple of months we are returning home to be with family and friends. So bye for now until our next adventure begins, but Where2Next?