Grinder backpacking Asia round 2

GWAE it was around the world of good food lol. No American food. I mean what is really “American” food? Hot dogs and kraft dinner?

Haha I’m going avoid getting arrested if that’s ok. The guy mentioned the scratches, I said the bike was a shitbox to start with. It was missing a mirror, it was all scratched up and I had trouble with the throttle and the engine starting the first night. It took me 20 minutes to start it. So no I didn’t pay for damage. He never asked for money, I would have given him something if he had even though he rented me a crap bike lol.


Babs thank you for the kind thoughts. I’m lucky that’s all I injured. I think I explained the crab things badly. The crab meat was out of the legs and then formed into a ball around the pincher. The pincher was just being used as a stick basically. They then breaded and fried them.

The poker hand was gross but what can you do. I’m healing up nicely. My face is almost fully healed and the rest of the cuts aren’t far behind.

Ontariodealer what are you referencing? I don’t watch the news.

Well I seem to have fallen behind again, I seem to do that a lot. I last left off when I was in Goa. I flew from Goa to Mumbai and spent the night in the same hostel as the week before. The hostel owner helped me to change all my rupees to USD before I headed to Thailand the next day. I was still recovering from the bike accident so I ordered food online from Bombay Biryani again which I love. I got the butter chicken Biryani again and was very full and happy. I relaxed for the rest of the night and just chatted with people who I had met the week before. When I got to the airport I had 195 rupees left and I bought a muffin and a bag of siracha lime cheese popcorn which sounded so odd that I had to try it. It was one of the best popcorn flavours I’ve had.

This is the end of India for me. It’s hard to summarize a country that I saw maybe 15% of but I’ll try and summarize my experiences. There were points of the month where I thought “damn I still have to be in this country for 2.5 more weeks” but yet at the end of the trip I was sad that I was leaving. This is India for you. India will challenge your senses, your body and your mind. Everyday when I walked out of the hostels my senses were attacked, both good and bad. The different cultures of the country, the smells both good and bad, the amazing food, the people who are some of the kindest I’ve ever met and the amazing temples, palaces and forts. I’m so glad that I spent a month in India, I’m not sure if I’d ever return which is both because of how tough it was but also because I want to go to so many places. I met so many amazing people as I always do when I travel. I met amazing travellers, amazing hostel owners/workers and I can’t reiterate this enough, the locals are so kind! I highly suggest to go to India if you ever have a chance.

On to Thailand... again! I flew from Mumbai to Bangkok and arrived around 8 pm. Immigration took about a hour because it was so busy. I finally got through immigration and then stood in line for a Thailand SIM card. I paid 300 Baht ($12 CAD) for 8 days versus when I paid $20 CAD for a month in India. This is something I’m still getting used to a week later, Thailand is super inexpensive but compared to India it’s quite pricey. I got a taxi to the hostel and met up with Megs (sister). I was tired from the day of travel so I just had a bite to eat (pad Thai)and went to sleep decently early.

The next day we planned on going to Wat Pho which was a beautiful temple(s). Temples in Thailand are so much different than the ones in India. We got there and a local tried scamming us and told us the temple was closed until later that day, it wasn’t and apparently tuk tuk drivers do this a lot so they can take you somewhere. We decided to go for a walk and look at other things. We ended up in a beautiful garden where we hung out for a bit in the blistering sun.

We eventually found our way back to Wat Pho temple and saw tourists going in so we did and found out that the local earlier was lying. They had the largest reclining Buddha in the world which stood (actually reclined) at 460 feet long.




We spent some time looking at all the buildings and then went towards the Grand Palace. We stopped for lunch and some food. When we got to the palace we were told that we weren’t dressed properly, no shorts or shoulders showing. We called it a day as the heat was insane and called a Grab (uber). After 20 minutes of the driver trying to find us we were able to head back to the hostel. That night we had a really bad meal. We stopped at a little place that was full of locals but the food wasn’t good at all. I ordered Larb (noodle dish) which was a weird sweet, sour and spicy combo. I didn’t eat much of it. Megs had pad thai which tasted like nothing but onions. We also shared cockles which are simpler to oysters. We didn’t enjoy those at all and yes that is blood they are sitting in.

We didn’t eat much of them. That night I tripped in our room and by morning my whole right foot was in lots of pain. Luckily my sister is a doctor and diagnosed it as only a sprain, great add it to my list of injuries.

I took it easy the next few days, trying to let the sprain heal. Meagan went to a museum for five hours which was perfect because I hate museums. We went for a walk each day and played Pokémon Go, yes I’m a dork! On our way back one of the days we stopped at a nicer restaurant where I had really good pad Thai and Meagan had pancakes and ice cream.

We stayed at the hostel until it was late enough to go to the night market on Khao San Road. We walked around for a bit checking it out, I bought a gift for a friend and then we went in search of dinner. I had prawns and veggies in oyster sauce with rice.

This little guy fell on me at the market, scared me until I realized what it was.

This is Khao San Road Market.

The dish was really nice, I love mushrooms and baby corn which was plentiful in this dish, that was very enjoyable. We walked around for a bit more and I balked at eating a scorpion. I had planned on doing it but I chickened out, maybe later in the trip I will down some liquid courage and eat one. We then waited forever for a Grab again since they seem to have trouble finding their passengers in busy areas.

I took it easy again the next day, I watched a movie with two Australians girls, one who had broken her foot. At some point I went out and got some street food. Fried mini hot dogs, quail eggs in a wonton looking thing and fish dumplings all in a Thai sweet chilli sauce. All of it was amazing. I didn’t do much until dinner as my foot was still quite sore. Later that night Maegan and I went for dinner just down the street and had amazing cashew chicken which was just chicken, cashews and onions all caramelized. We shared fried rice and called it a night.

Our last day in Bangkok we walked around a bit and saw some Chinese New Year stuff being set up. Only a couple days away!

The next day Maegan went to a park without me and I once again played hermit at the hostel. I wasn’t too worried as I got to do everything I wanted to do in Bangkok. I wanted to heal so I didn’t miss things elsewhere. Later that night after skipping dinner to go to bed I was hungry so I went back to the back alley restaurant by our hostel and got fried rice and cashew chicken again, it didn’t disappoint.

The next day we took a taxi to the airport and grabbed a flight up north to Chiang Mai. I was very excited about Chiang Mai and it didn’t disappoint. I’ll update that later as we are heading out soon.

Awesome adventure. I make butter chicken at home about twice a month. When I am in the mood I try to make it genuinely by crushing up tomatoes and onions and using a genuine indian spice mix, with butter and cream. It's pretty close, though I enjoy authentic Indian food. There's a couple of excellent Indian food places on Long Island of all places that I'll visit. The Indian consultant that I do there with says it's very authentic, and usually all vegetarian.

I’ve thought about making butter chicken a bunch of times. Sadly my laziness has gotten in the way of it happening lol.

Surprising that the place full of locals had disappointing food. Were the locals eating the same dishes you ordered?

Happy New Year!

Thank you Aye! Happy New Year to you as well!

There were a lot of locals. I’m not sure what they were eating but the place was packed and it was a bigger restaurant.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Surprising that the place full of locals had disappointing food. Were the locals eating the same dishes you ordered?

Struck me as suspicious too. Perhaps "Its a Gringo, so heavy on the lard" or something. Or perhaps an after taste from something served at the casino? I mean a large locals-filled joint and a bad review on all the dishes they served him? Xenophobia??

Any way, even if that was the case, I think its a pretty good rule of thumb to eat at the places that have a line out the door, they must be doing something right.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I’ve thought about making butter chicken a bunch of times. Sadly my laziness has gotten in the way of it happening lol.

It is really easy. My wife has it nailed. We eat it as a comfort food in the cooler months.

Quote: DRich

It is really easy. My wife has it nailed. We eat it as a comfort food in the cooler months.

Any chance you could PM Mr your wife's recipe? I'd appreciate it. Doing all the cooking for my mom's restricted diet and running out of ways to fix chicken. Thanks!
.
Sorry for the derail, PG. Love the report. Carry on.

PG did you die again?

Have to watch that 9 lives stuff. I hear they eat cats in Asia.
How many lives do dogs have?

Quote: MaxPen

...
How many lives do dogs have?

It depends on the color of their fur.

PG is dead, I killed him and took over his WoV account!

Jk I’m planning on writing an update tonight. Laziness is a bitch.

Quote: PokerGrinder

PG is dead, I killed him and took over his WoV account!

Jk I’m planning on writing an update tonight. Laziness is a bitch.

Did you ever eat scorpion? I had a few of them fried on skewers. Nothing special about the taste, but I am happy I tried them.

Quote: SOOPOO

Did you ever eat scorpion? I had a few of them fried on skewers. Nothing special about the taste, but I am happy I tried them.

I was going to in Bangkok but I chickened out. I planned on doing it.

Quote: PokerGrinder

I was going to in Bangkok but I chickened out. I planned on doing it.

There is not enough Thai beer in the entire world for me to eat a scorpion.

Quote: FleaStiff

There is not enough Thai beer in the entire world for me to eat a scorpion.

Anything that once had poison in its body, I'm not going to eat. Pufferfish, scorpion, etc. Waaay too much reliance on the prep cook cleaning/fixing it properly for minimum wage.

I did eat rattlesnake once, prepared like tuna salad. Tastes like chicken. Look back on that (I was a teenager) and wonder what the hell I was thinking.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Anything that once had poison in its body, I'm not going to eat. Pufferfish, scorpion, etc. Waaay too much reliance on the prep cook cleaning/fixing it properly for minimum wage.
I did eat rattlesnake once, prepared like tuna salad. Tastes like chicken. Look back on that (I was a teenager) and wonder what the hell I was thinking.

Pufferfish are, I think, too expensive for the cheapie places with inexperienced sushi makers; your risk with minimum wage sushi workers is getting too near parts of the fish that may contain parasites. Preparing pufferfish is considered an "art" and all artists have varying skills., I would not want to risk it either.

Snakes can inject venom even if dead or the head has been severed for hours. If you do ever have to tangle with a venomous creature try for an older one. Younger snakes tend to inject all their venom at once and are therefore far more dangerous.

Ofcourse, it may be a matter of definitions but what about an octopus? Its not truly a venom but the octopus does secrete insulin into the water just up-current from its prey and lull the fish into a diabetic-like coma. Yet most organisms utilize insulin for nutrient entry into cells.

Now since I just took a trip to the grocery store and during a moment of weakness bought some two for one cherry turnovers, I guess I should not be talking about insulin,

Quote: FleaStiff

There is not enough Thai beer in the entire world for me to eat a scorpion.

If you enjoy crab, you’ll have no problem with scorpion, since they are closely related. Shrimp and cockroaches are just as close.

We enjoy honey, even though the creatures that produce it have stingers and venom that probably kills more people each year. I think people eat what is around them: grubs, ants, bats, monkeys, donkeys, fungus... It just depends on your environment to make it “normal”. This is one of the reasons I enjoy PG’s (may he rest in peace...hehe) adventures. I get to experience it without the hassels of travel.

I eat the sex organs of a fungus, I consume the same chemical a skunk uses in its defense, I consume spermine, spermidine, cadaverine and putrescine frequently. Yesterday I had difuronyl methane (with pepper) in my milk.

I enjoy crab meat but haven't had it in ages. Don't particularly care for coconut crabs though.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Jk I’m planning on writing an update tonight. Laziness is a bitch.

Your avid readers of the world of exotic women in hostels and casinos in exotic locations are about to dispatch a scorpion to cure your laziness.

Ya ya ya! I get it lol, I’m two weeks behind. Well here is 6 days of that.

Chiang Mai was awesome!

We flew from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The flight was 1 hour instead of 10 on a bus. We arrived in Chiang Mai and took a taxi to our hostel. The hostel was very nice and had pod beds which are great because it makes your bed much more private. I make a point of booking pod beds when I can.

At check in the lady told us some places that we should check out and one of them was a restaurant. The restaurant is known for their chicken. We walked the 15 minutes to the restaurant (in the crazy heat) and had a great meal. I have no idea what they did to this chicken but it was so good that I ordered seconds.

We went back to the hostel and took it easy for the rest of the day until dinner. We went to buy bus tickets to Chiang Rai for our day trip the next day and we ended up having a fried rice dish that had way too much basil for my liking. A woman next to us had a cute dog on a leash and I played with him and fed him our leftovers while we talked to his owner. I love dogs!

We woke up very early as we had to board the bus to Chiang Rai at 7:15 am. The bus was about 3 hours and dropped us off right at the White Temple. We met 2 Canadian girls from Edmonton on the bus and ended up spending the day with them. The White Temple is absolutely amazing! It’s really hard to describe, you just have to see it with your own eyes. The design of it is so amazing.




The four of us then took a taxi to the Blue Temple which is still in the process of being finished. It is also stunningly beautiful. The colours really pop. I’m not into the religious aspect of the temples but when they are this beautiful I do enjoy walking around and looking at them.



We had a quick lunch just outside the temple which was acceptable mostly because we couldn’t find any other restaurants. The last Temple we went to was the Black Temple or the Black House.

This one was much less enjoyable (partly because I was hot and tired) and it was also very odd. They had a bunch of animal skins and genitals. There was a table in the main building with a whole bunch of penises on it. One of the wooden penises was having it’s way with another wooden penis. The bathroom signs had giant wooden genitals on them, each in a varying diseased looking state. Just so weird.

We had a few hours to kill before our bus back so we went to a cafe and had a snack. We called it a early night as we were beyond tired.

The next day we slept in and boy did I need it. It’s nice to catch up on sleep when traveling. We went in search of food around noon and found a place that had Mexican and southern US food. I had gumbo which was solid and Meg had a combo with a tostada, a taco and a enchilada.

Her Mexican food was excellent. She went to a temple (I skipped it as I just don’t like temples as much as she does) and I went to Anna and Megan’s (the Canadian girls) hotel to go swimming. First however I had to go to the mall and buy a bathing suit because mine that I brought was way too big. It was a bit big when I left Winnipeg but it no longer had any shot of fitting after six weeks in Asia. It is quite hard to get a bathing suit in Thailand. First off they don’t call it anything that I could think off, I just ended up saying swimming and shorts while grabbing my shorts. The first place that I was told to go only had extremely short and tight bathing suits which is not my style. I luckily found a place that had normal western suits and I was able to find one for only $7 Cad. I took a Grab to their hotel and swam for a few hours.

I headed back to my hostel and we all planned on meeting up later that night for Chinese New Year in China town. I stopped back at the Mexican place and had dinner. I got what Meg had earlier and it was so good. I’m amazed that you can get any Mexican food in Asia don’t mind really good Mexican food. I specially liked the Spanish rice and beans.

We headed to Chinatown and after looking around for a bit we found Megan and Anna. We watched the festivities for about 90 minutes. The festivities included dancing dragons, a dragon being wrapped around a pole by people hanging on the pole and a dancing dragon with two people inside on top of poles.


The whole thing was very neat and a lot different than Chinese New Year in Singapore last year. We walked around the market a bit after and had some snacks. I had a chocolate/almond waffle with strawberries and chocolate on it and I shared a little dim sum with Maegan (my sister not the one we met). We called it a night and headed back to the hostel.

I was very pleased with my waffle!


The next day was exciting as we woke up early to go to the elephant sanctuary. This sanctuary is nice because it is one of the few in Thailand that treat the elephants properly. They don’t use chains on the elephants and nobody is allowed to ride them as it hurts the elephants. The tour cost $80 Cad and it was worth every penny. The money all goes to taking care of the elephants. We got a ride to the sanctuary about 45 minutes away. When we arrived they gave each of us a bucket of bananas to feed to the elephants. You put the banana on its trunk and it puts it in its mouth. We also could hold the banana up by it’s mouth and the elephant would let us feed her directly into her mouth. It was very cool. They gave us some clothes to put over our bathing suits as to not get our clothes dirty. We changed, watched a safety video and then went and loaded up as many bananas as our bags and pockets could carry. Then we went into the elephants area and fed the 5 elephants. There were 4 grown up females and one baby (2 years old) male. Elephants have to eat 10% of their body weight everyday. We then were taken to the sanctuaries banana plantation where we cut down and chopped up banana trees with a machete to feed to the elephants. The elephants love eating the inside of the trees. I got to cut down one of the trees which was neat, the machete is so sharp.





They set up lunch for us which was a make your own Thai soup station. The soup was great and extremely tasty. After lunch we fed the banana trees to the elephants and then took them for a walk to the mud pit. We gave them all a mud bath, then gave ourselves one. We walked over to an area for all the elephants and people to dry before we would take a bath in the lake. The elephants LOVED both the mud bath and the actual bath in the lake. They got in the water, laid down and let us clean them. It was so amazing. We then cleaned ourselves off and got to go swimming in the human pool. After. Swimming we got to see the pictures the photographer took and we bought them for $16 each as there were hundreds of amazing photos. We got a flash drive so I can’t show you them right now. I bought some souvenirs as it supports the sanctuary and we headed back to the hostel.

We had met a really nice French girl at the sanctuary who was staying at our hostel. We spent a lot of the day together at the sanctuary and then Domi joined us for dinner at the Mexican restaurant. We mostly went there because it was so close and we were all exhausted. We all had great food and called it a night.

We slept in after our early elephant day. I had made my way back to the chicken restaurant as I wanted it again before leaving. Meg and I went to this place called the Hell Temple that Anna had told us about. No locals knew what it was and for good reason, it is truly messed up. It’s basically what Thai hell is like and it was extremely graphic. We spent about 30 mins there and kept on saying wtf. I’ve never seen so much mangled genitalia in my life nor do I ever want to again.
The pictures below are NSFW, you have been warned!





Later that night, Meg, Domi and I went to the night market and bought a bunch of stuff that none of us needed. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing night.

Like I said at the top, Chiang Mai was amazing! It was a great five days, I absolutely loved it. We flew back to Bangkok and got a hotel for the night. Meg was flying to Siem Reap in Cambodia, while I was taking a bus because I was staying a night in the casino town of Poipet. Before heading to Siem Reap the next day.

What a great report! There's a lot of variety in those pictures and it looks like one hell of a great time =). Good to see you heal up nicely and continue with this great adventure. I'd be concerned that especially as a foreigner any meat I got served wouldn't be what I thought it was, but then again every time I've ever gone to a china buffet I also go in with that attitude: It's called the "gamble meat" for a reason... you know you're gambling. =p

Did you consider any of the formal Chang Mai Food walks or Food/Photography walks of the various night markets? Most are about three to four hours long but a few are almost twice that (and tuk tuk assisted). I'm told that young Islamic males often socialize at the night market and will gladly explain the food and its preparation to you in return for discussions about your country.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Ya ya ya! I get it lol, I’m two weeks behind. Well here is 6 days of that.

Chiang Mai was awesome!

They featured Chaing Mai on the Amazing Race this season and had the contestants doing a health check on the elephants (at the same sanctuary) and they got to ride them after they successfully completed the challenge. They also had to eat scorpions while live ones crawled on their partner's clothing, among other things. The pit stop was Wat Chedi Luang.

Amazing Race recap

Enjoy!

Before I even read that you bought anew swim suit I was going to comment that you are starting to look thinner in your pictures. Excellwnt trip report, please keep up the good work.

What exactly was the conversation with Anna that led you to go to the hell temple? "Dude, really, you've gotta check it out! There's dead babies and mutilated penises everywhere! I just loved it, and I would be ever so affectionate towards anyone who ventures to explore it."?

Quote: rdw4potus

What exactly was the conversation with Anna that led you to go to the hell temple? "Dude, really, you've gotta check it out! There's dead babies and mutilated penises everywhere! I just loved it, and I would be ever so affectionate towards anyone who ventures to explore it."?

It probably had nothing to do with what Anna said.

Ok I am answer all of the comments on this post:

Romes I am glad the pictures came out well because they are just taken with my Iphone, I don't like travelling with an actual camera. I have healed up quite nicely, I do have a couple spots that look like they are going scar but I don't worry about things like that. Lol I don't think it is really "gamble meat", but if it is dog or cat I wouldn't be too worried about it. What's that old saying, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger lol?

Fleastiff I didn't. I prefer to go to the markets and explore rather than have a guide. I find guides provide way too much information for my liking which is why I don't get guides for most of the temples either.

Boymimbo my mom told me about that! She was so excited as she was watching it because she actually knew where it was because I was there. You aren't supposed to ride the elephants because it hurts them. It hurts their back to carry more than about 330 lbs.

Drich thank you so much for the compliment! My clothes are all getting quite large on me. Most of my shirts are just hanging off of me at this point. They were already big on me before the trip but I figure I have lost 10-15 pounds during this trip. I am very happy with that because I maxed out at 292 pounds about 3 years ago and I have been losing weight ever since then. I was 235 before this trip so I am interested to see how much I weigh when I get back.

Haha as far as what Anna said to get us to go it had nothing to do with attraction. I had no interest at all but she was very nice. Basically she thought that temple was in Chiang Rai and we found out it was in Chiang Mai so she said we should go with her. Neither my sister or I really knew what we were getting into. Anna loved it, her friend was with Meg and I in not knowing what the hell we had just seen lol.

Quote: boymimbo

They featured Chaing Mai on the Amazing Race this season and had the contestants doing a health check on the elephants (at the same sanctuary) and they got to ride them after they successfully completed the challenge. They also had to eat scorpions while live ones crawled on their partner's clothing, among other things. The pit stop was Wat Chedi Luang.

Amazing Race recap

Enjoy!

On celebrity big brother shannon elizabeth made a big deAL about the elephants over there and how they are beaten and you should never ride them.

Ok so for those that don't know Poipet is the Cambodian border town that has many casinos that cater to the Thai because they don't have casinos. It is generally known as a shady town that travelers don't want to stop in because it is scam central. I had no such issues, I just avoided the people that were trying to sell me things or offering me transportation. As far as the casinos I had a general idea of what was there but the information online as to exactly what casinos exist isn't great. I just explored the whole area and went into anywhere that looked like a casino.

I took a bus from Bangkok around 8 am to the border town of Aran (Thai side). The bus was super comfy and empty so I got many seats to myself. The bus took about 4 hours to get to the border town, I watched Netflix the whole way. Once in Aran I paid $4 CAD for a tuk tuk to take me the 6 kilometers to the border crossing. It was stifling hot and so humid, with my bags I was just dripping sweat. I got stamped out of Thailand, then I went to the Visa office for Cambodia and filled out my application. When I went to pay the police ask for the $30 USD for the Visa plus a bribe which I refused to pay, I pointed to the official sign that says how much the visa is. The officer told me to go sit down, normally if you don't pay the bribe they make you wait for 15-30 minutes but the office was empty except for two other people. 2 minutes later the other 2 people got their visas and I asked the officer to take mine which he did and I didn't pay the bribe. 3 minutes later I had my visa and I was on my way. I walked by a few of the casinos to get to the entry area where I filled out my entry/exit card and got it stamped. I was now free to explore!
Thai border

Exit Thailand

Welcome to Cambodia!

I found my hotel just down the street and checked in. It was a pretty nice room for $80 CAD. I changed my shirt because it looked like I had just gotten out of the pool. I then went in search of all the gambling. My first stop was just downstairs in my hotel the Grand Diamond. They have many slots and tables in all these casinos and I didn't care much to see everything they had to offer as I only had one day to hit all the casinos. I thought the casinos would be in USD because that is what Cambodia uses but these casinos used 95% Thai Baht. I went to the cage to change over USD to Baht and although the rate wasn't great as long as I changed it back within 24 hours I would get the same rate on the reverse exchange. I have found this in a lot of casinos in Asia which is handy as the exchanging back and forth would get expensive. The BJ table was full so I played Pai Gow at 300 minimum. 100 Baht is $3.18 USD. I lost about 1500 there and then went to play BJ at 100 minimum when it was empty. I ended up winning 2315 Baht before moving on. I kept 100 Baht chips as most casinos used generic or just plain one colour chips for denominations under 100. A lot of the 5 and 25 Baht chips had nothing on them and looked like chips from a $5 Wal Mart set.

My next stop was across the street at the Golden Crown, I think it was owned by Melcro Crown but I wasn't able to confirm that online. I got them to open the BJ table (100 min) for me and I played one shoe. The staff was very kind to me. The dealer cut off half the 6 decks at the beginning so counting in Poipet is out of the question lol. The dealer would also burn a card before every hand that she dealt. I ended the shoe up 400 before moving on. There was a section of pretty girls dealing in skirts for online gaming, the area was roped off. The Dream World Casino was attached but none of the tables used chips, they all had trays full of cash. Most of the cash tables were in Baht but they did have a handful of cash tables using USD. I have never seen anything like that in my life and I have been in a lot of casinos in many countries. I watched for a bit and the game went so slowly because every time they paid a winning bet they had to spread the cash like it was a buy in. I would never play at a cash table. I saw these tables at most of the casinos, I don't quite get the point of it. Oh I forgot to mention at all the casinos I had to buy chips at the cage before going to the tables.
I got asked a bunch not to take pictures but I couldn't resist.







All the casinos had these arcade fish machines everywhere! I mean some of the casinos had 100 of them. I couldn't figure out how they worked as far as gambling but people were feeding tons of money into them and just pounding away on the shooting button. I was so confused, I wish I could have found someone who spoke English to explain them to me.


My next stop was the Holiday Palace Casino right beside the border where I played 100 minimum BJ out of a continuous shuffler, the dealer burned a card before every hand. I lost 2000 and the dealer and her boss felt so bad every time I lost a hand. I just kept reassuring them that it was ok and I wasn't worried. The dealers in Poipet were all so kind to me. Oh I should mention that in all the casinos that I went into I don't think I saw 10 white people combined, the casinos are definitely meant for the Thai.

My next stop was the Poipet Casino which is owned by the same people that own the Grand Diamond that I was staying at. Sadly this casino uses chips that aren't their own. I played 100 minimum baccarat and broke even and kept a chip that says Koh Rong International Club on it.

Next up was the Tropicana Casino where I played... you guessed it 100 minimum BJ. I won 1200 and ducked out pretty quickly. I then went to the LA Grand Victor which is now closed, oh well. Next up was the Orchid Casino but they didn't have any tables with chips, all their tables were just cash so again I passed through without playing.

I then got lucky and found a new casino that I hadn't heard of while researching, the Lucky 369. The casino was quite small but really fancy. I played 100 minimum baccarat and won a whopping 80 Baht over a few hands. I left because the old Asian guy who was betting a decent amount was getting annoyed that I was there. This casino had one of my favourite chips that I have collected, it was new and shiny.

I then walked about 20 minutes into the town to go to Star Vegas Casino which is the biggest casino in Poipet. I lost 1900 playing 100 minimum BJ. A couple things about this game, the dealer deals his own hand right to left instead of the normal left to right. It was very weird to see and I never did get used to it. The other weird thing which I don't think I have seen before was when I split I was given a card on both of my hands before I was allowed to act on the first one. Has anyone seen this before?

I then took a walk about ten minutes further into because google maps said that there was a casino called Star Paradise, when I got there it was a casino called Winsor. This casino was owned by Star Vegas, I am assuming they changed the name recently. This casino was beautiful and looked brand new. I played 100 minimum BJ and won 500, the dealer dealt his hand out backwards just like at Star Vegas. The chips didn't say Winsor on them, they said Star International or something like that. (I don't the chip with me right now)

I then walked another 15 minutes into town because I saw lights that looked like a casino but it ended up being a live band at a bar. I turned back and walked back to the main strip about 30ish minutes away. This is where I found some luck. I ducked into the Crown Casino to get out of the heat, my plan was to walk through the casino in air conditioning. The front door said "Welcome to Crown Casino" but when I went in I didn't recognize the casino. I looked around and found out it was the Ho Wah Genting Casino that I had heard about online. I stopped in and played baccarat at 200 minimum to collect a chip, I won 60 Baht. The dealer on one hand where I bet player, he dealt out the first two cards for each and then offered me what I think was insurance. Well this is what he called it, Player had 5 and Banker had 1 so I was the favourite to win. He offered to pay me half my bet without drawing any more cards or that is what I think he was offering. He was definitely offering me half my bet but the language barrier made the explanation tough. I ended up just getting him to finish the hand cause we couldn't understand each other. I ended up winning the hand.

All told I kept 900 Baht worth of chips from Poipet and I won 655 Baht. I was able to get all my USD back from the Cashier and won a few spending dollars or Baht lol for when I need to get to the airport in Bangkok in April.

The next day I went to the non scam bus station about 15 minutes away from the casino area. I walked half way when a tuk tuk offered to take me the last half mile for $2 which is absurd for around here. I offered 20 Baht and he said no, drove away and then pulled up less than 20 seconds later and said get in lol. The ride was less than two minutes but in the heat it was well worth 60 cents USD. I got to the bus station where I planned to take a bus for $5 USD because a taxi is supposed to be about $40. A guy offered me a taxi for $20, I countered with $10 and he immediately accepted. I was so confused and I kept on waiting for the scam but he drove me the 2 hours to Siem Reap and dropped me off no problem. I really don't understand why he charged me so little but I won't complain about not taking a bus.

I am currently in Phnom Penh and we are going for Shawarma for lunch. I plan on doing the write up for Siem Reap and Phnom Penh today or tomorrow...or next week lol. Thanks for listening to me babble :P

Quote: GWAE

Quote: boymimbo

They featured Chaing Mai on the Amazing Race this season and had the contestants doing a health check on the elephants (at the same sanctuary) and they got to ride them after they successfully completed the challenge. They also had to eat scorpions while live ones crawled on their partner's clothing, among other things. The pit stop was Wat Chedi Luang.

Amazing Race recap

Enjoy!

On celebrity big brother shannon elizabeth made a big deAL about the elephants over there and how they are beaten and you should never ride them.

Yes GWAE a lot of the elephant places are like that sadly. The place I went is a sanctuary where they rescue the elephants from circuses and work camps. You can't ride them and I wouldn't want to cause it hurts the beautiful animals. They are so gentle and kind, why would anyone want to do anything that could hurt them?

Thanks PG for the update on your adventure - it was worth the wait!
The elephant experience sounds amazing. Going to add that one to our bucket list. I know my wife would get so excited she would pee her pants.
I assume the weight loss is due to all the walking you are doing as you don’t seem to be eating diet food or skimping on portions lol.
Very weird about the cash tables. I can’t understand why they would do that as the game would be so slow. Something to do with superstition maybe?

Quote: PokerGrinder

Quote: GWAE

Quote: boymimbo

They featured Chaing Mai on the Amazing Race this season and had the contestants doing a health check on the elephants (at the same sanctuary) and they got to ride them after they successfully completed the challenge. They also had to eat scorpions while live ones crawled on their partner's clothing, among other things. The pit stop was Wat Chedi Luang.

Amazing Race recap

Enjoy!

On celebrity big brother shannon elizabeth made a big deAL about the elephants over there and how they are beaten and you should never ride them.

Yes GWAE a lot of the elephant places are like that sadly. The place I went is a sanctuary where they rescue the elephants from circuses and work camps. You can't ride them and I wouldn't want to cause it hurts the beautiful animals. They are so gentle and kind, why would anyone want to do anything that could hurt them?

What is it that hurts them? Surely a 200-300 pound person on a 2000 pound animal can't be that rough. Or is it the taming of them to allow them to be ridden?

Quote: GWAE

What is it that hurts them? Surely a 200-300 pound person on a 2000 pound animal can't be that rough. Or is it the taming of them to allow them to be ridden?

I've lived in Thailand for over ten years and never heard about riding elephants hurting them. Yes, there is animal abuse in Thailand, but I just don't believe the riding aspect. People ride horses and mules and donkeys all over the world and I'd believe those animals would have a bigger complaint. Riding elephants has long been a tourist activity in Thailand, most parts of same.

PG was lucky to avoid the scammers in Poipet. Hope he fares as well in Phnom Penh. He might enjoy the Chinese food in Phnom Penh, I can personally recommend "SamDoo" to him, which is near the Central Market. Pharmacy needs are also very inexpensive in the row of Pharmacies near this same market. Be very careful with "happy pizza"s on the Riverfront. I won't interject any more. Have a nice visit.

Quote: NokTang

. Pharmacy needs are also very inexpensive in the row of Pharmacies near this market.

I'm sure the packaging is impressive.

Quote: GWAE

What is it that hurts them? Surely a 200-300 pound person on a 2000 pound animal can't be that rough. Or is it the taming of them to allow them to be ridden?

I understand two factors contribute to their misery.

First, an elephant must be "broken" in order to be ridden with qualm; typically this involves penning them in while very young, hurting them, doing what is necessary to make them docile and obedient and to lose their "wild side."

The second factor is physical exhaustion; a daily regimen of transporting tourists is much more taxing than living life in the wild; many wear out and die young of exhaustion.

Quote: FleaStiff

I'm sure the packaging is impressive.

Most of the drugs come from India. I've never had a problem such as counterfeited drugs. What I've bought has had the desired effect. This includes blood pressure meds, sleeping pills, antibiotics, recreational erectile drugs, etc.. India doesn't honor copyrights or patents, and neither does Cambodia or Thailand for that matter. Health is more important to them than pharmaceuticals profits and the US Congress people on the take.

Quote: NokTang

Quote: FleaStiff

I'm sure the packaging is impressive.

Health is more important to them than pharmaceuticals profits and the US Congress people on the take.

The Baht, Dollar or Peso is more important too. In Mexico its counterfeit drugs on the cheap. In Thailand, its probably that counterfeiting the drugs is unnecessary, sort of akin to counterfeiting a one dollar bill.

Elephants: In Thailand I believe elephants are lead onto a platform and condemned prisoners are crushed underneath it.

I believe the Thais have an expression.... as graceful as an elephant.

It is likely a myth but I'm told that young elephants are restrained by an ankle chain and learn not to try to move when one is around their ankle and that afterwards the ankle chain restrains them solely because of the memory.

Quote: NokTang

Quote: FleaStiff

I'm sure the packaging is impressive.

Most of the drugs come from India. I've never had a problem such as counterfeited drugs. What I've bought has had the desired effect. This includes blood pressure meds, sleeping pills, antibiotics, recreational erectile drugs, etc.. India doesn't honor copyrights or patents, and neither does Cambodia or Thailand for that matter. Health is more important to them than pharmaceuticals profits and the US Congress people on the take.

I've had counterfeit meds and counterfeit alcohol in Cambodia,but they both had the desired effect.

Quote: Hunterhill

I've had counterfeit meds and counterfeit alcohol in Cambodia,but they both had the desired effect.

Yeah, we here condemn the Asians for that fusel oil in their fermented beverages but forget that fusel oil induced Jake's Disease in the days of prohibition put lots of patients into Lexington, KY. We happily condemn those stupid, lazy foreigners for doing what we ourselves did in the 1920s.

It was supposed to be a bottle of Havana club rum but it was the worst tasting rum I've ever had.

PG,
The $10 taxi ride is very cheap,I would guess the driver had to go to Siem Reap anyways so he decided to find a passenger.This is very common.
I also was amazed to see the cash games instead of chips.
On blackjack it's standard procedure to cut the shoe in half if you are Caucasian.
Being one of the few whites in the casino you almost feel like an alien or a celebrity as everyone stares at you,at least that's how I felt.
Great report.

Quote: Hunterhill

I also was amazed to see the cash games instead of chips.

Perhaps players fear being identified if they turn in cash for chips at the window but feel safer doing it at a table where cameras are focused on hands, not faces that a Thai taxing authority might recognize?

AB21 yes it is largely due to the walking but also the portions in Asia are much smaller than in North America. As far as the cash games, I really have no idea the reasoning behind it.

GWAE the taming is terrible but also there body isn’t meant to carry the weight on their backs.

Mr.V eactly this! Well said.

Hunterhill I figure you are right that he needed a passenger but still it was so little. It probably barely covered the gas. Why would it be standard practice to cut the shoe in half for Caucasians? I do feel like a celebrity when I play the asian games like baccarat.

"I plan on doing the write up for Siem Reap and Phnom Penh today or tomorrow... Or next week lol."

I seem to know myself quite well as I wrote that 7 days ago. I got to Phnom Penh around 1 in the afternoon, had a tuk tuk driver take me to a market to buy a SIM card. Once I got a SIM card I met Maegan at the hostel, we went for lunch and then to see Black Panther. Lunch was very nice, we had seafood noodles and the flavours were great. They had a collage of world flags on the wall and patrons had attached money from some of those countries to the flags. I spent about 20 minutes looking at all the different currency.  

I think that Black Panther was way overhyped but it was definitely a very good movie. The movie was in English and it was only $3 to get in. They had popcorn and you got to choose between cheese, sea salt and caramel. I had the cheese and sea salt mixed. After the movie I went for a swim at the hostel and laid by the pool. New rule, only book accommodations with pools! Later that night we went to the night market which basically a bunch of overpriced food, shops and bars. We found an Indian restaurant just outside of Pub Street and had good food that was not tourist priced. I had Gobi Aloo for the first time since india and this was probably the best one that I had.

My second day in Siem Reap was as lazy a day as you can have. I swam for about 3 hours, laid by the pool and then played some volleyball in the pool. I did all of this while enjoying $1 beers. It's nice to have a nothing day every so often when travelling to recharge the batteries.

The next morning we woke up super early to go to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. The van picked us up at 4:30 am and we got to the temple around 5:30. The one day ticket was $37 for the day. Everything in Cambodia is paid for using USD unless it is under $1 then they will give you change in Cambodian Riel. The sunrise was absolutely amazing, it was so beautiful coming over the Angkor Wat temples.
Sun just starting to rise.

Coming up over the temples.

My sister is short!

Hard to beat that view!


We then spent about 2.5 hours walking around Angkor Wat and it was so bloody hot! I couldn't seem to drink enough water.


After Angkor Wat we went for lunch and clearly the driver was paid to take us there because the prices were stupid. I said to the lady that we weren't paying the inflated prices and we would be leaving. She offered $1 off everything, we said no, she said $2 and that still made the food way too much. The Korean girl we were with said half price and lady eventually agreed as she knew we weren't going to pay her white man prices. After lunch we went to the Bayon Temple which was my favourite. The temple had faces all over it and the entire temple was like a giant maze. Meg and the rest of the group stayed with the tour guide while I went off and explored by myself. I am not a fan of tour guides as I think that they give way too much information and I just find myself getting bored, because of this I tend to wander on my own and find the group later.

I got yelled at for this photo.


After this temple most of the group was exhausted but we still had two more temples to go to... Oh yay. Next up was the Ta Keo Temple which had a thousand extremely steep steps to get to the top.
This is only part of the stairs.


Elena and I

It was worth it just to see my tiny little sister attempt to climb and then descend the massive steps.

The last temple that we visited (more like tried to finish as quickly as possible) was the Ta Prohm Temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. There were some amazing trees but we were so tired I didn't care much lol.


We got back to the hostel around 2 and I went swimming for about three hours. I played volleyball and drank beer which is always a good combo. That night we went in search of a store to buy more soap, toothpaste etc... Meg saw a burger place across from the market and she had been craving a burger so we went. It happened to be the hostel of the one of the girls from the tour so we had dinner and drinks with her. The burger was AWFUL! It was made with minced beef and could be spread like liver. The taste was weird and the overall it was just terrible. We grabbed some snacks at the grocery store and called it a night.

The day after Angkor Wat I was still tired from the day before so I slept in. Meg and I tried to find the money wall restaurant but we turned the wrong way and ended up at a local Khmer restaurant. I had chicken amok which is an excellent curry dish with many types of veggies cooked in. It is one of those dishes that everyone says to try in Cambodia.

After lunch we stopped at a bakery and got all the healthy food...not, but it was tasty. I spent the rest of the day by the pool while Meg went back to the Temples for sunset which I had no interest in doing. After almost two months I am at the point of temple overload.

For our last day in Siem Reap, the two very mature adults played Pokemon Go. They have a monthly event that runs for three hours so we played the event. For some reason the event lasted 6 hours in Asia when it wasn't supposed to but after 4.5 hours we were too hot and sweaty so we headed back to the hostel. I went swimming as I did everyday because that is just the easiest way to combat the insanely hot weather. We had tickets for the Phare Circus that night which is a human circus like Cirque. This circus was inside a tent and the performers were almost as good as Cirque performers which I wasn't expecting. The circus is put on by an organization who sends poor kids from poor villages and teaches them skills so that they can do something more than basic labour. The income from the circus pays for the school. As well the money made from the gift shop, snack bar and restaurant also pay for the school. It is an amazing organization and they put on an amazing show. I bought some really cool juggling balls which are drink tabs and yarn (I think yarn?) together. They are really nice and I used to juggle, maybe I’ll start again. I mean I am still an excellent (tooting my own horn) juggler but I don’t do it often.




My new juggling balls.

After the show Meg went back to the hostel and I went to the money wall restaurant to grab a bite to eat. I met this American guy and spent the hour talking to him while we ate. I find it so easy to relate to other travellers in Asia which makes travelling much more enjoyable.

The next day was a travel day as we were on our way to Phnom Penh. The bus was about 5 hours, the bus was super comfy with enormous seats. We checked into the hostel and got settled. That is all for this time, check back next time as our travellers explore Phnom Penh... To be continued.

Quote: PokerGrinder

. Why would it be standard practice to cut the shoe in half for Caucasians? I do feel like a celebrity when I play the asian games like baccarat.

Because they said and I quote "white people know how to keep track of the cards"

you should have taken some of the money pinned to the wall..... +ev

My mom said the exact same thing minus using “EV”.