Let's see some elephants! Cambodia and Thailand

Our next stop on the cruise was Cambodia. We stopped at the port of Sihanoukville, which is  beach town in the south of the country. When the cruise ship pulled up and I looked out, I felt... at home! It looks just like the countries I have visited in Mexico and the Caribbean. I CAN HANDLE THIS!

We took a bus from the port the the town center. These were THE PRETTIEST buses I have ever seen, with curtain and matching seats. 

Check out those curtains!

When we pulled up to the city center, we were suddenly surrounded by dozens of men. Each was trying to sell their tuk-tuk service. In this town, the only form of transportation is the tuk-tuk. It is a motorcycle that pulls a 4-person cart behind it.

I picked out my guy from inside the bus, because he had a map that showed where I wanted to go. Otres Beach. According to my Google research, this was the pretties beach around with the least sales people on the beach. I found a place called Papa Pippo!

Our driver agreed that he knew where we wanted to go, and after some price negotiation, we were off!!!

Our driver

City center

Inside our tuk-tuk

Golden lions in the town center

We arrived at our destination, and it was better than we thought! It was a small beach-side bar and restaurant that rents out bungalows each night to backpackers. They serve...ITALIAN FOOD! 

We set up camp at a shady table and spent the day enjoying the beach and atmosphere.

Isabel spent a lot of time in a hammock talking to a young British woman. Free babysitting!

Chris' third beach massage in 6 weeks! He is never allowed to complain about anything ever again!

Beachside pedicure!

Baby lobsters? YES!

Cici got a manicure beachside!

They had my drink! YAY!

Headed back to the ship!

I found this town in Cambodia to be extremely similar to Mexico's beaches, except better English!!! LOL! I really loved it here and wish I had more time there. I think this was a wonderful day and a great experience!

Our next stop was Thailand

We knew, as we were headed to Thailand that there was political strife in Bangkok. Also, we really, really, really wanted to go swimming with the ELEPHANTS! Yes!!! Swimming!

We hired a tour that picked us up in the port and drove us 5 hours to the province of Kanchanaburi, which is Northwest of Bangkok. Our tour was AMAZING! We had an excellent driver and wonderful guide named Tanya. She was able to narrate the history and landscape of Thailand as we traversed across it! They provided snacks and meals along the way and finally delivered us to the elephant camp.

City view of Bangkok as we drive by.

Some snacks! Lay's chips in Mexican BBQ!

Chris loves Thai food!

Scenery in the jungle areas headed into the mountains

We arrived at the elephant camp in the afternoon and immediately changed. We headed towards the platform, which is how we got onto the elephants...

And then... Isabel balked! We was NOT going to have ANYTHING to do with these elephants. She said:

"I don't like their trunks, they are weird"

"I'm really not good with big animals"

"I am not getting on the elephant"

At this points, I become one of the crazy American Moms who is trying to browbeat her child onto the elephant. I tried cajoling, pleading, bribing, threatening. Nothing! She wasn't gonna do it! We sat out and Chris and Cici took off on the trail ride.

Elephant ride

After the trail ride, the elephants headed down into the river and I joined them. Isabel sat on the shore. They are trained to lift you up and then plunge you into the river. I was able to so that for 5 minutes or so. It was really cute and interesting. I found this camp to be in good condition and the elephants looked well taken care of.

I'm ON an ELEPHANT, IN the RIVER KWAI!!!

After the elephant ride, we were dropped off at our resort, the Royal Hotel on the River Kwai. The girls were quite impressed with the geckos that abounded at the resort, eating the various bugs. We spent the night there and were very impressed by the extreme firmness of the beds. We had read online that Thailand was know for hard beds, but this felt like sleeping on a table.

Not too happy to wake up this morning.

The next day we headed out extremely early and arrived at the famous bridge of the river Kwai. We forgot to bring our camera out of the car, so we had no pictures. There was a very lovely plaque that explained the situation to the girls.

Afterwards we headed to the famous floating market in Damnoen Saduak.  

LISTEN PEOPLE!!! We have been shopping all wrong! Here, you hop into a boat and they paddle you through all of the channels and riverways that are flanked by little shops!!! One hand gesture to my guide and I either stopped at a shop, or continued going forward. It was... ADDICTIVE! Why can't I grocery shop like this???!!!

Headed down the river!

 After the river market, we headed back on the LOOOOONG drive back to port. At this point, I was craving anything OTHER than Thai food (not my favorite) and begged for some fast food. We stopped at a highway outlet full of options. I grabbed McDonalds and the girls wanted KFC. We got back on the road and headed to port.

Awesomely stacked truck in front of us.

Buddha in scaffolding in Bangkok

Namaste Ronald

The cheeseburger I was craving. YUM!

The girls remained obsessed with the egg tarts that they found all over Asia

Dressed up for dinner on the ship..

Chris loves Thailand. He loves Thai food. He would definitely want to go back.

I told him to find a new wife to go with.

I really, really can't handle the spiciness of Thai food. The rest of the country was lovely. I can see myself spending more time there, if their food wasn't so horrible (I know... most people love it). 

I was disappointed that Isabel didn't enjoy the elephants. I really had wished that she experience an amazing thing like this. I hope/fear that we will regret not participating in the future. 

Thank you so much for reading! My next blog will be about Koh Sumui and Singapore. We leave for Europe in 2 weeks!