Right when we returned from our trip I made a list of things that surprised me on the trip. In no particular order here they are:
You can use the American dollar in Cambodia, in fact it is preferred I think. You get Cambodian notes for change though.
Thailand really does have an incredible service culture. The hands together, Y-ing, gesture is so genuine and is such a part of their culture. In Bangkok, a group of Thais met each other at the luggage carousel, and I could not believe how ingrained it was to greet each other with the Y-ing. Everyone who served us had to have this as a greeting and a departure gesture. They truly, genuinely want to serve you.
I was surprised at how much of the food was accessible to us, in that we did not really have to search for something to eat. As I said in a prior post, we did not follow all the rules of the travel clinic, but even at the road side stand that we stopped at during our tours of Siem Reap, the food was very accessible.
There were guards at the hotel in Bangkok, right at the end of the drive. My first reaction was "Why do there need to be guards?" I am still wondering.
The drivers in Siem Reap are crazy. There is no yielding or merging or even slowing down to get into traffic. Because the other drivers expect this, it does not seem to be a problem. Traffic can be coming at you on either side because someone is getting into traffic, or leaving traffic on the other side of the road.
The only negative of the trip was the scam at the Grand Palace. In the end, we did not get scammed but they tried really hard. We were told by an official looking ARMY person that the temple was closed for the Thais to pray for the New Year. It being December 30th, this seemed possible. The Palace was open though, just two gates down the road. We had a long conversation about this, that night at dinnner. Bee's point, that "He was able to feed his child by participating in this scam, really got me." I hate to be taken advantage of, or for someone to behave in what in my mind is "unethical". I guess the GRAND PALACE SCAMS are such a part of their culture, that they might not even be unethical.
The Siem Reap airport is so casual. We walked across the tarmac into the immigration area with no noticeable guards. It was a peek into prior to 911 airports.
Temples - in Chiang Mai, I did not expect that the temples we were visiting would be "working" temples. Practicing buddhists were stopping by on their way to work, at lunch, or way home from work to give their merits or their alms to the monks. They are old buildings and are museum quality, AND they are practicing temples.
Tipping really is not done in either country. The paradox for me here is, in the US, where the cost of living is so much higher and in many cases the service employees make 100 times more than in Thailand or Cambodia, tipping is expected. In Thailand and Cambodia, they do not expect to be tipped and it is a minimal tip if any. My Western mind is still dealing with this paradox.
Those were the big surprises or the front of mind surprises. These western eyes took in a lot of the Asian culture that we experienced and I am sure I missed a lot too because of my Western lenses.
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