att göra en resa...: Bangkok, Siem Reap and Ankor Whaaat?

I am happy that we started off our little Asia adventure in familiar Bangkok, since we were there only 1,5 year ago, if only for three nights. At that time, we only had 10 days holiday and we were really on “holiday mode” and not on a “travelling mode” at all, we just wanted to go to our beach at Koh Chang haha. We did not discover anything of Bangkok then, it was such a culture shock (first time in Asia). This time we told ourselves that we need to toughen up and just throw ourselves out there. I think we succeded! For one thing we actually saw more then just one road, haha.

Last time we actually thought that we lived by famous koh san road but eeeh, apparently not, we discovered that we didn’t even visit Koh San road last time we were here, we were strolling up and down Soi Rambuttri like two idiots last time thinking we were at famous Koh San. Jesus. Okey but this time we actually did visit Koh San (don’t really understand the fuss), we walked around in new blocks, walked to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho (sooo pretty, gotta love the Reclining Buddha) while on our way there at least 5-6 men shouted at us “you know its closed until 1 hee!?”. We read about this before, that people will stop you and tell you Wat Pho is closed so that you will do something else (which benefit them) instead.

We are travelling here during the low season which entails lower prices, less tourists but SO HOT weather. And then we are not only talking about high temperatures but the MOIST. It is around 85 % luftfuktighet (eh, whats the English word? Moistyness feels very wrong). Erik handles the heat better than me, maybe because I have more fat to process especially around my hips haha. After each time I’ve been outside I can literally squeeze out 1 liter of sweat from my clothes. I can drink 4-5 bottles of water and not even have to pee because I sweat it all out! Very practical come to think of it.

Two days ago we took the infamous land crossing between Thailand-Cambodia. Both of us were a bit anxious about this trip, because the Internet and Lonely Planet warn tourists that this is one of the most scammed areas in the south east Asia region. And sure, when we stepped out of the bus by the border hordes of men was telling us to “Go this way visa”, which was the completely other direction than what the big sign “Passport control” showed. Well, if we just ignored the people without an official uniform and just follosed the signs it was a fairly smooth process. We took the 8 hour direct bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap with Nattakan which was brilliant. We got breakfast, water, ice coffee, juice and lunch on board and the same bus waited for us after the visa procedure. Amazing!

We both love Siem Reap, a perfectly sized city with friendly people. Yesterday we visited Angkor Wat, which everyone do if they visit Siem Reap. For 15 dollars you have your own TukTuk driver for the day who waited for us by every temple. I first thought we could just walk around there without a driver or a bike but helloooo am I an idiot or what. It is so massive there, several kilometers between every temple. The Ankor Wat itself was the most impressive temple, so massive. We went to the top of the temple (the worlds largest religious building) and here is were travelling in low season comes in hand, because we waited in the queue for like 3 minutes and during high season one can wait for 40 minutes which is insane. We are both really happy to have visit Angor Wat but honestly, 1 day was enough for us. Many people buy a 3 day pass and I can just not relate to that (feels like a sin to say that out loud).

Tomorrow we will take a minibus to the capital Phnom Penh which takes like 6 hours. Looking forward to PP and another crazy intense city. There we want to go more in depth about Cambodias tragic history, visit the Killing Fields among other things. It would feel wrong to be in Cambodia or in Vietnam for that matter without gaining more knowledge about events that still shapes and shakes the people,