Angkor temples

We succesfully made it to Cambodia after many hours and many buses. Today we saw most of the temples at Angkor Wat except for the big one actually named Angkor Wat. We are saving that for tomorrow.
We hired a tuk tuk driver to "speed" us around and we ended up seeing most of the temples in a 26km loop. It was really nice and we did not get too tired out after walking around for six hours because we got to rest in the tuk tuk after each one. The first picture above is from the Bayan temple. It is multistoried and has four of those faces on all the towers. Really cool looking. The second picture is from another temple we saw today that is getting eating by the jungle in a really cool way.
Tomorrow we are going to do about 25km on bikes and see more temples. It is really cool here if you can avoid all the tourists. :)
Now we are off to have a massage by a blind person and hopefully lots of sleep.
All is well in Asia.

Sukhothai

This place is amazing. It is ruins from an old city and there are giant Buddhas everywhere. We spent the day biking around and enjoying the large world heritage site while finally getting on a bicycle again. That was a little freedom that we haven't had for awhile. It was nice not to depend on other people for getting places.
Here are a few pics of what I saw today. The Buddha with the gold hand is huge. I am the size of his hand. I was with him all alone today, no other tourists and it was really special.
Hope you are all well and happy.

Truck or Bus?

At 7am tomorrow morning we are going to get on the back of a truck and ride for ten hours. Awesome. This picture is an example of what I mean. I bought expensive pringles as consolation. Wish me luck.

Pai

We headed to Pai on the minibus which was quite curvy for sure. The road is like getting to a ski resort on a mountain but for four hours. Tomorrow we also have a four hour bus ride planned. Ugg.
In Pai we found this great place with little huts on stilts and we got the nice one with a bathroom and a hammock. It was super swank and relatively cheap too. Clemens was sick then so he just stayed in the hammock for two days and I ran around town checking things out, getting food, and booking tours. We splurged on pizza because clemens wanted it and it was supposed to be the best in Thailand. It costs about eight times our standard meal. Oh well. It was good. Also in Pai we went elephant riding for an hour. It was kinda cool, but also a little disappointing. We just got there and got on top of the elephant and started walking. So no meet or play with the elephant, and once you are on top you can't see anything of it. But then we got the the river after a little bit and we walked in it on the elephant and then the elephant dumped up in the river. I mean falling off the elephant into waist deep water. That was fun and suprising, but then we got back on and the guy dumped us like ten times. It got a little old after awhile. But then I got to ride on the head of the elephant, and that was cool, and we fed it later after we were off it, and they liked me then. :)
The next day we went on a two day rafting tour with some stops built in. We walked around a multi-tier waterfall and went under the fast part, we went to a hot springs with mud treatment, swam around the river and I jumped off a seven meter overhang into the river. So it was quite active in addition to the rapids. We stayed the night at a jungle lodge and had fun playing with the resident four year old. The second day had the best rapids and Clemens even fell out of the boat during one the biggest ones. So that was cool for him on his first trip, but the rapids were nothing compared to what I am used to.
Now we are in a small town called Mae Hong Son by the Burmese border, and we are very tired from rafting and swimming today. I am also very full from all the good food we were fed on the trip and what we had for dinner. It's amazing how much rice one person can eat. Tomorrow we think we are going to climb the hill to the big temple and then catch a bus for four hours to the next town to do some trekking. Right now I am just so tired that thinking about that is overwhelming. We just keep doing so many things, but really we can't Not go see all that is available to us. So it is interesting to find a balance between travel and rest. I try to compare my real life and think about how little rest I usually get and days off, but for some reason this just seems more tiring than real life even though I don't have a job and responsibility. Oh well. I will just wait until I get sick and then I can rest. :)

Chiang Mai

Clemens is sick with a cold so we are taking it slow today. We slept in and had a slow breakast. Then at 1pm decided to go for a massage. So for six dollars we had a one hour massage that started with tea and a foot scrub and included fun silk pajamas to wear and another tea at the end. It was nice and relaxing. Also today Clemens got his suit fitted and he looks really good in it. We are also going to get one in Bangkok in December.
The best part of the day was the walking market. It is just on Sunday night and the main road in town closes down to just vendors and walkers. It is seriously packed solid with people and stretches for ages. I went through most of it without stopping much and it took three hours. Oh, and for dinner which costs only 50 cents tops, I ate fried sticky rice, chocolate ice cream on a stick, and crickets! The crickets were so tasty just like I hoped. They tasted like oily fried crunchyness. That's all. I liked them and wanted more, but we were already past. There were also lots of worms and grasshoppers etc to eat.
So now I am lying in bed, the last night in Chiang Mai, unable to use my overused ear plugs and hoping the neighbors will stop talking much less all the traffic noise. Tomorrow we pick up the final suit and then head into the mountain town of Pai. That will be nice. We plan to ride and elephant and take a two day rafting trip to our next town for three days of trekking and village stays.

Climbing

So far Clemens and I are doing really well to be together in all things 24/7. We agree with each other and in what we want to do and how much to spend etc.
Yesterday we went climbing for three hours with guides and renting equip. It was great. We climbed six times and the routes were easy but fun. I was tired by the end of it though and sore today for sure. Also I was the most experienced and beat climber in the seven person group and that felt good, even though I was no where near the guides ability. :)
So that was great and then we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach and walking in the water. Then they set up a full soccer field on the beach and we watched four local teams play. It was a really great day. Only slightly ruined by an annoying Aussie who haggled our collective boat ride back to the mainland. She did a bad job and when we protested the price she explained that she had been here five times and that was how it was done here. Really condicending. And she almost ruined our evening. Annoying. But then we went to the same place we have eaten for three nights. The people there recognized us and and asked if we wanted our regular. So that felt really good. Like we had a place in the world. And that we knew how Thailand worked, not like annoying woman. The sad part was when we were done eating they said "Tomorrow?" like they did everynight and we said no, we were leaving. So sad. The food was so very good.
So now we are in krabi and taking a plane to Chang Mai up north for two weeks before we head to Cambodia.

Today we are just reading, playing card games, and sending emails. Oh and eating. It is nice and relaxing and we can do it for hours. We are also planning our next adventure and what we want to do up north. So many things. We have two weeks, but will still only see a fraction of the things and places. And that is just one part of the country. We could travle our whole lives and not see the world. Crazy huh?

Thailand

So we went by air to Phuket Thailand to get a longer visa than if we went by road or boat. We got to Phuket, without any plans, and then we not satisfied with any of the options there, I know it's supposed to be paradise. So we decided to split and head to Phang Nga, which is about 40km north of there and actually where all the tours from Phuket go. We go there at noon, booked a tour for four pm, and enjoyed the town. It was totally nice and we were the only white people there. Everyone smiled at us and all the kids said hello. It was fun and authentic. We then stayed the night at a fishing village on stilts. Again, only white people, but this place was primed for tourists from Phuket, it is where all the tours lunch. But we got to see it in another light. We watched a soccer game on a cement field on stilts, follwed the tsunami evec. route to a little cliff side, and watched the sunset over the water. It was very special. We felt so happy about what we ended up doing. Then the next day we toured the waters of the area to caves and mangroves and cliff paintings. It was all the things the Phuket tours we doing for a quarter of the price. Absolutely lovely.
Now we are down in Ao Nang in Krabi province. It is touristy, but nice, and the trips we have planned are exciting; kyaking, climbing and snorkelling etc. We also have a nice hotel room for six euros aka nine dollars. Oh and the very best part: the food! We eat on the street for one dollar a dish and it is great. The phad thai for dinner and it was awesome! Tops! Most tourists here eat at the restaurants for five times the price. We have not looked at a menu in weeks, we just point and say "no meat?" and get awesome food! I am going to the same woman for phad thai after kyaking tomorrow night.