Retiring In Siem Reap

Siem Reap, Cambodia, April 12, 2007
This is a story from my recent trip to Cambodia.

Dennis is from Canada. I met him in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2005. We were both looking for postcards and struck up a conversation. We ended up traveling together for the next month in Thailand. [Read The Story Here]
Dennis was taking a year off to cycle around Asia when I met him. That might not sound so amazing until you realize that Dennis over sixty years old. We've kept in touch since then. Then last year he wrote to say he had met a woman in Siem Reap, Cambodia and that they were going to settle down together. He wants to work in Canada for a couple more years to build up a better pension before retiring in Siem Reap with his sweetie.
Aw and I are here in Siem Reap right now, so I wrote Dennis on the chance he might be here right now, too. It turns out he's back in Canada working. I asked him if he would send some photos of his partner and new baby. His partner's name is 'Kunthea'. What a lovely woman. Dennis looked at the other stories I wrote about Siem Reap and recognizes some of the people we met. He says he knows the restaurants and waitresses shown in my stories here. He also tells me that their home in Seim Reap is only four minutes from where we are right now. And this is their new baby; 'Angel'. Sorry Dennis but I'm just guessing from the name that your baby is a girl, right? Angel will celebrate (her?) first birthday on May 17th. What a great pair they are. Way to go Dennis. This is an amazing step to be making at this time in your life. I wish the three of you, all the best. You're moving to a wonderful City. Many foreigners are retiring here in Siem Reap. It's very inexpensive to live here and the City is showing amazing progress economically. I find it easy to travel for a thousand dollars (CAD) per month in Cambodia. You can imagine from that figure, how well you could do on a pension.

Cambodia Visa

Cambodia Border, April 18, 2006

So here I am heading to Cambodia to renew my Visa for Thailand. I took a luxury bus to the boarder. I thought it would be a boring trip but when I sat down in my seat I found that the man beside me was a friend I met last year at the Bridge on the River Kwai.

This is Henry from Holland. He has been travelling around the World for several years. He gave me great tips on travelling in Vietnam. I promised to email him when I get there.

This is the Cambodia Boarder at Poi Pet. It reminds me of a refugee path as I see the people heading along on this rough dirt path.

One of the most amazing sights I saw, was this group of men hauling an enormous rice cart across the border.

The border crossing itself, is a modern building. The officers here all wear military uniforms but unlike the border crossing at Pnom Penn, they do not have machine guns.

The whole trip took 15 hours from Khao San Road to Cambodia and back again. This is how our whole group felt by the end of that journey.
The secret to having an enjoyable trip like this is the reading material.

I'm reading Wilber Smith's 'Monsoon'.

The Golden Triangle

April 14, 2005

My Visa expires tomorrow so I thought that instead of facing a possible prison sentence for overstaying my time here, I thought it would be a good idea to cross the border today. So I booked myself into an interesting tour that included visiting Laos and Myanmar (Burma). There is actually a very famous place where the three countries intersect. This place is the Mekong River and is called 'The Golden Triangle'. Those of you who remember the Vietnam War, will know that this was an incredible place in the History of that era. A lot of fighting took place here. It is also the place where a lot of opium was smuggled from one country to another.

Our first stop was a Hot springs near Chiang Mai. The water is so hot you can boil an egg in it in a matter of seconds. The temperature is 181 degrees Celsius.

I'm pointing my finger at the point in the river that divides hot from cold. Just one inch apart it goes from scalding hot to cool.

And that's the last cute puppy picture you get Sarah and Rachael. I don't care how much you beg!

This is Nancy and her parents, who are visiting from Singapore. They were really fun to have along on the Minibus. Nancy's dad is a real Joker; always laughing and having fun. They also invited me to come visit Singapore. It sounds like a great place to see.

Then it was off to an ancient City near the border of Burma. This is s Bodhi tree; like the one Buddha sat under when I experienced enlightenment. The sash means that the tree holds a Spirit and is sacred.

I can't help it. I just love the Temples.

Okay, before you say anything, let me just say that I only included this doggie picture to show you how different they seem in Northern Thailand. See how upset he looks; nothing like the dogs on the Islands...

Next, we took a Long tail boat ride around 'The Golden Triangle' which is one of the most amazing places in the world; not so much for how it looks but for the history it represents. This is the place where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. This giant Golden Buddha is on the Thai side.

Burma has a Casino on it's banks here and many people from Thailand and Laos like to take quick trips over to gamble. Gambling is illegal in Thailand.

My new buddy Shamus, from Ireland B.H. (Before loss of hat)

Shamus A.H. Someone behind me caught the hat as it flew by though.

We stopped for half an hour on the Laos side to walk around and do some shopping. I can't believe we haven't picked this whiskey up as an item in our Canadian liquor stores. Who wouldn't want to drink a bottle of whiskey with a dead snake inside?

Honestly this place was really just a tourist trap, set up so that we could say we were in Laos, but the people were very friendly. And they speak Thai.

I finally found someone who spoke my language.

These are a very nice couple who were on our Tour. He is a software developer from Holland and she is from Bangkok. He comes back every six months to visit her.

Finally, the big event. This is Shamus (W.H.) just ahead of me in the line to enter Burma for a Visa.

I broke my Cambodia record for stays in a different country than Thailand. I was here in Burma for almost three minutes before heading back to the Thailand border. I know you won't believe this but I actually got lost trying to find the line for Thailand and my guide had to come and get me.

I asked if I could take a picture of the Thai Immigration officer as he stamped my passport. He was delighted. Then he said: "50 baht!" and laughed. I ran through in case he changed his mind.

So now that I was a free man again, we headed to a Mountain tribal village to look around.

Okay, I couldn't help it. He was begging for this photo!

Honest! He just jumped up in my arms!!!

I didn't take pictures of the people here. They charged for the photos and it was just too much of a tourist trap for me. Some of our group went down the hill to see the famous long neck tribe. These are women who put rings on their necks to stretch them. This tribe was very much like the Karen tribe I talked about in my Elephant trek posts. They girls get married at 14 years of age and if they aren't married by 19 they are considered spinsters. There is some work being done by the government to try to change this custom because of the harm it does to the women.