GETTING READY - KHMER TALES PART 1

For this trip, I read about 6 guidebooks, cover to cover. For any destination, I first look for guidebooks by Footprint Handbooks, then Lonely Planet and then the Rough Guides. Which guidebook to use is dependent on the destination. For Central & South America, Footprint is by far the best. For Asia, Lonely Planets tends to be better. For Cuba, Moon Handbooks can’t be beat. The advantage of the Rough Guides is that the entire text of their books is on-line which makes research easy. Passplanet.com is a good on-line resource for budget travel.

The problem with guidebooks is that even one printed yesterday is a year out of date. For places where tourism is increasing rapidly, this is a big problem as things change significantly. This is where the Internet is especially handy. Lois & I will be doing a border crossing down the Mekong River from Laos into Cambodia. I just read a trip report from someone who did this exact crossing on November 6, 2001. That’s pretty up-to-date, invaluable information.

After doing my research, I select what I think is the best guidebook for the trip and supplement it with information from other books and the web. I create a list of places I want to visit and how long I want to stay. I get a map of the country (usually from an on-line source) and circle each place on the map. Next, it is simply a matter of trying to connect the dots in an intelligent fashion. The guidebooks I use tend to focus more on logistics than information about various sites. So, they have maps of each town with lists of places to stay and eat and information about getting from point A to point B by bus, truck, boat, taxi etc. With the dots connected, I have a rough idea of our itinerary and what modes of transportation we will use between places. I reached this point sometime last week (around 12/6).

Any more detailed planning is done at most a day or two in advance. Often, we do it on the bus/truck/boat ride into town. Sometimes, we don’t do it until we’re in the town. The initial plan may be changed radically or not at all depending on how much time we have, if a place is better/worse than it sounded in the books, if we decide to add/delete a town because of information from someone we meet on the road, etc.

Guidebooks we are using on this trip:

Adventure Cambodia: An Explorer's Travel Guide by Matt Jacobson and Frank Visakay

Footprint Laos Handbook by Joshua Eliot and Jane Bickersteth

A Guide to Khmer Temples in Thailand and Laos by Michael Freeman

Angkor by Dawn F. Rooney

Footprint Thailand Handbook by Joshua Eliot and Jane Bickersteth

What do you take with you? (i.e. Paul, do you bring your telescope?)

Eagle Creek travel pack	Underwear 3 pairs
Silk sleep sack	Socks 3 pairs
Mosquito netting	2 pair nylon convertible pants
teva sandals	3 t-shirts - at least one coolmax
Day hikers	1 polo shirt
Zip lock bags (to keep things dry)	1 long sleeve shirt
Toilet articles kit	1 lightweight fleece
Toilet paper	Anorak/Nylon windbreaker
First aid kit	Large backpacking poncho
30% DEET	Sarong
Insect coils
Electrical tape	Passport photos
Whistle & compass	Photocopy of passport & visas
Butane lighter	PADI card
Mini mag-lite	Money belt - hangs from belt
Nylon Cord - for clothesline etc.	Journal
Combination locks for backpack	Guidebooks
Safety pins	Language dictionary
Scissors	Books to read
Sewing kit - from hotel of you choice	Pens
Lightweight pocketknife	Map of US
Water bottle or Camelbak	Postcards from DC as gifts/souvenirs
Iodine tablets or water purifier	Business cards
Camera & film

In the spirit of full disclosure, Lois insists I note that she takes more than 3 pairs of underwear! The goal is to bring as little as possible. Our packs weigh about 27 pounds each and have extra space to bring goodies home.

How do you get by with so few clothes? (i.e. Don’t you stink?)

Yes, but you knew that already! We bring clothes that are quick drying and regularly wash them in the guesthouse sink at night. In some countries, it’s easy to find a Laundromat and have all your clothes washed for a few dollars. We always try to look neat and clean but not necessarily fashionable!

Do these countries let anybody in? (i.e. Even you two, Lois & Paul)

Just about. Cambodia and Laos require visas for Americans. They are available on arrival at the main airports and major land crossings. Since we won’t be using these, we got our visas in advance. They require a couple of passport photos, forms in duplicate and $20/person for Cambodia or $50/person for Laos.

What happens if you get sick?

You feel miserable for a little while and spend lots of time in the bathroom. Knock on wood, Lois & I have never had any serious medical problem. We bring Imodium, Bactrim and malaria medicine. The Imodium stops you up. Bactrim is an antibiotic for any bacterial GI problems. We have used both of these on a couple of occasions. Worst case, you need to be evacuated to a city with modern health care facilities. This time, it would be Vientiane (capital of Laos), Phnom Penh (capital of Cambodia) or Bangkok. Insurance covers this.

To prevent getting sick, we’ve been inoculated for Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B. We will avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes by covering up and using DEET.

Where do you stay? (i.e. At the Holiday Inn?)

Hotels, motels, guesthouses, inns, pensiones, albergues - any place that has cheap rooms for rent. The guidebooks list places to stay in each town. If they don’t, we ask around when we arrive in town. We have a reservation for our first night in Bangkok since we arrive at 11:00 PM. After that, we won’t know where we are staying until we walk up to the place, ask to see a room and decide whether or not we like it.

Occasionally, we call ahead or have someone call for us and make a reservation if the next stop is a large city or we expect it to be difficult to find a room. We have never slept out in the cold, but have paid a lot more than we wanted or stayed in a place we really didn’t like or spent an hour or two looking. In Laos and Cambodia we will stay at guesthouses. We will probably spend $2-$8 per night for a room with hot water, sometimes satellite TV and sometimes A/C. If not A/C, then an overhead fan.

Money, Money, Money?

I guess that if you exclude airfare in both cases, this eight-week trip will cost no more than we spent for 15 nights in Italy! Unfortunately, it costs a lot to fly to Bangkok during Christmas time ($931/person). Costs to date:

Airfare to Thailand	$1862
Airfare to Laos border	$120
Visas	$140
Guidebooks	$70

Lonely Planet and Rough Guides indicate the rock bottom cost for travelling through Laos & Cambodia is $10/person/day. Lois & I are planning on double that or $40/day plus a little extra, just in case.

Normally, we bring $500 in cash (there’s nothing like the US dollar), credit cards and an ATM card. We use the ATM card for getting local currency. This is the cheapest and best way to change money. Unfortunately, there are no ATM networks in Laos and Cambodia. Instead, we will bring $1600 in cash and $1400 in traveler’s checks. We will bring credit cards, an ATM card and a personal check. We can go to an American Express office with an AMEX card and write a personal check to purchase traveler’s checks. They can be cashed for US dollars or local currency in the major cities of Laos & Cambodia.

The currency in Cambodia is Riel, in Laos it’s Kip and in Thailand it’s Baht. Since Thailand is next door to both Laos and Cambodia, does a lot of trade with them and has a stronger currency, Thai Baht are accepted in many cities of Laos & Cambodia, as are US dollars. When we fly into and out of Thailand, we will get some Thai baht using our ATM card. Within Laos & Cambodia we will change some US dollars into local currency to use for buying food in the market, bus rides etc. We will use US dollars for some guesthouses and some transportation.

What’s the Language, how will you communicate?

Many places we have traveled, we spoke the language at least slightly proficiently but we don’t speak either Laotian or Khmer. We have phrasebooks and hope to pick up some of the basics as we go along. It’s amazing how much you can learn when immersed in a language.

We should be able to find people that speak some English (younger people) or French (older people). Usually, people are very helpful. While we might be confused as to what exactly is going on at times, we should be able to fumble our way along. People that run guesthouses will speak some English and, more importantly, are used to tourists and what they might want to do or where they might want to go. You just keep asking the same questions and trying to get reassurance that this bus really is going where you want and not China!

How do you get Two Months off from Work?

Ask. It works for Paul. Don’t ask and don’t work. That is Lois’s method

What’s your route?

Click here to see our intended route. From Bangkok, we fly north to a city close to the Laos border, enter Laos at Huay Xai and then slowly head south. The reason for going from North to South is to follow the flow of the Mekong so that any river trips are down-river and not up-river. Angkor (Siem Reap) will be just about the final stop on the trip. Below is a VERY rough itinerary. Each place below is underlined on the route map. Beware: many places on the map are spelled different than below. I’m just trying to keep you on your toes! The chances of us actually sticking to this itinerary are slim.

LAOS		CAMBODIA
Huay Xai	1	Stung Treng	1
Muang Sing	3	Ban Lung	2
Luang Nam Tha	2	Kratie	3
Muang Khua	1	Sen Monorom	2
Muang Ngoi/Nong Khiaw	2	Kampong Cham	2
Luang Prabang	2	Phnom Penh	4
Phonsavan	1	Kampot	2
Vang Vieng	3	Kep	1
Vientiane	2	Sihanoukville	3
Pakse	1	Kampong Thom	2
Tad Lo	2	Siem Reap	5
Attapeu (via Sekong)	3	Battambang	2
Champasak	2
Don Khong	1	THAILAND
Don Det/Don Khone	3	Bangkok	?

Travel Tales Index

Khmer Tales Part 2