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Post by nomadic on Feb 28, 2018 18:42:56 GMT 7
Finally I have found a country as crazy as England in regards to transport costs. I go to mini van office as i want to go to Pursat which is half way between Battambang and Phnom Penh. Price is $12.00 to either. Same same. Hotel offers prices on big bus (slower) for $10.00 with pick up at hotel. Then i find big bus office and pay $4.00 only with pick up also included. All preying on gullible tourists is how i see it. Further to illogical old US$ money saga. Bank offers 4,005 Riel for one new note USD$. Smallest note is 100 Riel or similar to nothing. So 5? So in the end i got more at 4,100 for an old note than a new one. Go figure?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 4:56:52 GMT 7
Finally I have found a country as crazy as England in regards to transport costs. I go to mini van office as i want to go to Pursat which is half way between Battambang and Phnom Penh. Price is $12.00 to either. Same same. Hotel offers prices on big bus (slower) for $10.00 with pick up at hotel. Then i find big bus office and pay $4.00 only with pick up also included. All preying on gullible tourists is how i see it. Further to illogical old US$ money saga. Bank offers 4,005 Riel for one new note USD$. Smallest note is 100 Riel or similar to nothing. So 5? So in the end i got more at 4,100 for an old note than a new one. Go figure? Ol'mate's banking on the USD going up? I dunno!
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Post by nomadic on Mar 1, 2018 14:15:22 GMT 7
Another bus tale today. Finally the body agreed with the mind and decided to leave Battambang. So booked yesterday for 8.00 a.m. pick up by van to bus depot and 9.00 departure. So knowing the pick up may be anytime between 8 and 9 I go to reception and order a cappa at 7.50. By 9.05 no pick up. So reception calls and coming now. 9.15 we go to depot. Then 9.30 and lots of travellers already there who were on 8.30, 9.00 and 9.30 buses all going to the same places. So I ask a local girl and she says 10.00. So right on 10.00 two arrive and they point me at one and put bag underneath. So i am first one to board but as i get on board there is not an empty seat as they are already full with locals. So they point me to the other one which has 2 seats left as they change my bag. Three hours to Pursat the driver says after i had read 2. But it was only 2 so arrived at noon. And not a single person complained about any of this. They just sit there and arrive when they arrive. A train in Melbourne is 3 minutes late and the world will end. Travel broadens your mind and your bowel and yes patience is a virtue.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 15:38:27 GMT 7
That's just one; out of the Myriad of things I love, understand, accept and try to live by in S.E. Asia. What is is! If you can't change it, just accept it, tomorrow's another day. Or maybe the Sun won't even rise at all! mai bpen rai
Cheers bear
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Post by nomadic on Mar 1, 2018 19:00:46 GMT 7
More illogical madness but happy about it this time. In general all food and drink is more expensive in Cambodia than Thailand because everything is imported for the most part. Apart from the local Angkor beer that is. But i just went to hotel restaurant and saw my fav Leo beer from Thailand and only 25 baht a can compared to 38 in Thailand. So i am forced to drink more for economic reasons alone. Every one I have i save 13 baht. Go figure once again? ?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2018 20:04:58 GMT 7
More illogical madness but happy about it this time. In general all food and drink is more expensive in Cambodia than Thailand because everything is imported for the most part. Apart from the local Angkor beer that is. But i just went to hotel restaurant and saw my fav Leo beer from Thailand and only 25 baht a can compared to 38 in Thailand. So i am forced to drink more for economic reasons alone. Every one I have i save 13 baht. Go figure once again? ? So every two you have, you get one free. Niiiiiccceee, with ice! That's another great thing; none of this coupla' beers, water repeat thingy; combine together and your drinking responsibly.Cheers bear
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Post by nomadic on Mar 2, 2018 18:41:17 GMT 7
no ice. I am not Thai or Cambodian. Just cold beer is fine..
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Post by nomadic on Mar 3, 2018 11:56:31 GMT 7
OK, back to some light entertainment after the other growling stuff above. Went to bus station in Pursat yesterday after deciding i cannot avoid going to Phnom Penh as planned without very long bus trips. So turn up at 8.45 and sign and girl say leaving at 9.00 and takes 4 hours and arrives at central market which is near where i stay. 9.30 and off we go. i am only non local and English speaker on the bus. After an hour we stop for no apparent reason for 30 minutes. We arrive about 6 hours after 9.00 and no where near the market. A motor bike taxi takes ages to get me to hotel in worse traffic than Bangkok. All hotels double the price of Battambang and no where near as good. So i am in a window less box for the night. But i just moved to Amari Watergate hotel for tonight. Yes Kmere people can also copy things like the Thai's. For those that don't know the Amari watergate hotel is in Bangkok and a top 5 star place. Here in Phnom Penh only the name is the same. 1 star but much better than last night. So tomorrow i will hopefully tick off a bucket list place of Sen Monorom about 5 hours away.
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Post by nomadic on Mar 3, 2018 19:04:43 GMT 7
Not sure where the thread was but a member was recently asking about baked beans availability in Asia. So as any self respecting expat does ( i'm a tourist in Cambodia but i still know the way). I get my beer at a mini mart for half price of the nearby bars and saw one directly across the road from hotel here in Phnom Penh. A number of westerners seated outside having a beer and their conversation suggests ex pats for sure. But this very small mini mart has Heinz baked beans and spaghetti plus my fav of continental cup of soup albeit only 4 choices and none of which i would take at Woolies. One single jar of Vegemite also. opposit the Lux hotel on st 136 if anyone is interested. Fraft salad dressing also.
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Post by ghostbuster on Mar 4, 2018 7:37:24 GMT 7
Not sure where the thread was but a member was recently asking about baked beans availability in Asia. So as any self respecting expat does ( i'm a tourist in Cambodia but i still know the way). I get my beer at a mini mart for half price of the nearby bars and saw one directly across the road from hotel here in Phnom Penh. A number of westerners seated outside having a beer and their conversation suggests ex pats for sure. But this very small mini mart has Heinz baked beans and spaghetti plus my fav of continental cup of soup albeit only 4 choices and none of which i would take at Woolies. One single jar of Vegemite also. opposit the Lux hotel on st 136 if anyone is interested. Fraft salad dressing also. Amazing to see Heinz products hidden away in a little out of the way place. Heinz baked beans and spaghetti are as rare as rocking horse s**t.
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Post by nomadic on Mar 6, 2018 12:17:36 GMT 7
The coffee and bus experiences continues in Cambodia. I tick Sen Monoromm off and buy a ticket to here in Ban Lung. Lonely Planet says 2 hours but girl who sells ticket says 3 to 4 hours. Due to leave at7.30 on a 14 seat van. So i turn up at 7.00 and across the road is a cafe. My own coffee plunger for $1.50 gives me 2 big cups of more great stuff. Get on van at 7.30 but locals get on 15 minutes later then we leave all full up. Ten minutes later just out of town we stop for another passenger even though already full. So he gets half a seat along with a local lady. Luckily L.P. was right and only 2 hours. Yesterday i broke my glasses and after hotel pointed me in direction of an optician it took me at least an hour to find it with even nearby shops saying no have or don't know where. I just needed frame fixed or a new one. while waiting i see all new glasses on display with $15.00 on them. Finally he serves me and with little English pulls out new frame and says $30.00. I'm guessing frames that were very thin plastic to be worth $1.00 at most so i walked out and got some super glue and all stuck OK for now.
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Post by Banjo on Mar 6, 2018 14:15:37 GMT 7
I wouldn't trust super glue to stick poo to a blanket, I had a pair of glasses come apart the other day and fixed them with a twin pack (two tubes) stuff a bit like Araldite. Worked very well.
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Post by Denis-NFA on Mar 6, 2018 16:40:46 GMT 7
nomadicI'm nominating you for author and editor of "The DSP Overseas Travel Journeys through SE Asia" travel guide. It would be an interesting exercise to gather some of the stories and experiences of us Australian folk that come to actually live here as opposed to a tourist just passing through. Banjo must have swags of stories to tell let alone other forum members.
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Post by nomadic on Mar 6, 2018 19:05:06 GMT 7
yes denis it is all amazing stuff compared to OZ. Maybe you can start the book? Iv'e been trying to write my own for 20 years now but totally incompetent at it all. Was intending to perhaps call it; A form guide to ABI. Anyone who knows me will understand that title. Yes banjo glue broke and also a second time. Sadly finding things here is really hard as almost no one talks English. Will look for new optician as i travel or keep super gluing.
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Post by nomadic on Mar 6, 2018 19:10:37 GMT 7
I should have added denis. I had an English friend who passed away a few years ago in Thailand who spent much of his years in the region especially Sumatra. But also lived in Africa. The day after he passed I was talking to his English son who was here at the time. He told me that only hours before he died he asked him if he ever regretted coming to Asia. His reply. It was the icing on the cake. Hear hear for me also.
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