Days 17-26: Cambodia and Thailand

DAYS 17-19: Siem Reap, Cambodia

These blog entries are going to be a little different this time around. Our first two and a half weeks were jammed pack, doing myriad of activities each day and doing loads of walking. Now, we’ve entered the part of the trip where we slow down, and do a lot more relaxing. We had another afternoon flight, but we always have to wake up early for them because it takes some time to get to the airport, and check in since it was an international flight. It was not a direct flight unfortunately, so we had a 3 hour layover in Guangzhou. It was a good thing we got to the airport early, because our original flight was delayed due to air quality. There aren’t many flights to Siem Reap each day, so they put us on an earlier flight from Shanghai so we didn’t miss our connection. It still took us over an hour to take off. We finally got to Siem Reap around 5pm that Thursday. Siem Reap is a very small city in Cambodia, and there isn’t anything but tourism there. Our cab driver told us that over half the population of Siem Reap drives without a license. Since no building can be taller than Angkor Wat, most of the buildings are three to four stories at most.

We stayed at the Mad Monkey Hostel, which came highly recommended. I would totally recommend it to anyone in the area, as it was such a great time. The staff were amazing and the environment was so much fun. We weren’t planning on going out since we were doing the sunrise tour of Angkor Wat the next morning. When we got there, we saw that there was a pub crawl that night, so our plans changed and we went out. We didn’t leave the hostel until 1130, so it was going to be a late night. We went to Pub Street, which is the famous street for all the nightlife and food. There were a lot of people who came out, so it was a fun night. I got back to the hostel around 130am, to catch some sleep before our 430am pickup time. Our tuk tuk was ready for us at 430am, and we started the 30-minute drive to the temples. I was so tired, but definitely excited to see the complex. Angkor Wat is the biggest religious complex in the world, and was once the biggest city in the world under the Khmer Empire. Angkor Wat is the main reason for visiting Siem Reap. We got to the ticket booth at 5am, and it was packed with tourists trying to do the same thing we were. You could chose from 1,3 or 7-day tickets, but we only bought the one day pass. The complex is so big that you can’t see it all in one day. We only wanted to see the highlights, so we did a 3-4 hour tour. Our first stop was the main temple, as we watched the sun rise over the lake. It was an amazing view, and definitely worth the early wake up. We spent 2 hours walking around. The temple is perfectly symmetrical, and was really a sight to see. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. After that, we went to two more temples, but just took a couple of pictures. We have seen so many temples on our trip already that they all blend together at some point. The last stop was Ta Prohm, or also known as the Tomb Raider Temple. After all our pictures were taken in front of the tree, we made our way back to the hostel to sleep. It was a well deserved nap!

Our two full days in Cambodia were spent the same way, and I couldn’t have been any happier. After our nap, we chilled by the pool at our hostel all day. It was so nice to just do nothing for a full day. It was sunny out; everyone was by the pool having a great time. The staff were awesome, and their job is to basically drink and hangout with us, to make sure we have a great time. It is definitely not a bad job to have. That is was we did for the next two days. We woke up, ate, and then laid by the pool hanging out with everyone we met. At night, we went up to the rooftop bar. They had sand on the floor, and it felt like a beach. It was a great time, and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way. Oh, and Jason got a tattoo. We went to a special place where a Khmer monk had to bless it. It was pretty cool to see it happen, although I did not get one. Our flight the next morning was taking us to Bangkok, our fourth country on our trip.

DAYS 20-23: Bangkok, Thailand

Our flight to Bangkok was very short, landing in just under an hour. We had four nights on mainland Thailand, so we decided to spend four nights in Bangkok instead of doing two cities in 4 nights. Four nights was way too much time in Bangkok. It is a cool city, but there’s really not too much to do during the day. We didn’t do anything the first day we were there. We went out to eat with some people from our hostel, and then went out at night. For as uneventful as the day is, the nights were awesome. Our hostel was right next to Khoa Son Road, which is where all the backpackers go out. It is exactly like Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but better. All the bars are open and have outside seating, so it is a much better atmosphere. There are so many people in the street trying to get you to drink at their place, yelling as you walk by. The street is packed with food carts selling every type of food imaginable. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to try scorpion. To be honest, it didn’t taste badly; it was just way too crunchy for my liking. All the bars stop serving alcohol around midnight, but the street is still crowded after that with people hanging out and finishing their drinks.

We did all the touristy things they were to do in our first morning in Bangkok. We walked from our hostel to the Grand Palace, which was just over a mile away. We had to go through a security checkpoint to get near the palace. We were not sure if it was due to the passing of the King last year, or just because we were near the palace. The Grand Palace is a really cool building, with lots of ornate designs. The Thai are very religious people, so there were so many Buddha statues around the palace. You have to take your shoes off when you go to the praying areas, and you cannot point your feet towards the Buddha, it is considered very disrespectful. After walking around the palace, we made the short trip to the Wat Pho. The reclining Buddha is why most people to go Wat Pho. The Buddha is over 4o meters

long, and rests on its side. It is very cool to see, and it is even bigger in person. We stopped at a place to eat before we hit our third temple of the day. The best part about taking a break to eat was the AC in the restaurant. Bangkok is very hot and humid, and you’ll sweat so much by just standing there. Wat Arun was right across the river, so we had to take a ferry to get there. It would make much more sense to have a bridge connecting them. The temple was being renovated, so there was scaffolding all over the sides. We didn’t even bother going in, we took pictures from outside, and then went back home. That was basically Bangkok is one day, so we went back and chilled before going back to Khoa Son. It started raining as we were all outside, and instead of going inside, there was a big dance party in the rain. It was so much fun to be a part of, everyone’s just having a great time instead of worrying about the rain.

We still had two more full days in Bangkok, and we spent most of that time in the mall. Bangkok has so many malls, one of them being seven stories and truly incredible. We saw two movies, and walked around the mall for a while. It was the first mall I’ve ever been to that has Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Aston Martin car dealerships. That was only a few of the brands; they have many more luxury car shops. We ate in the mall for dinner. The basement floor was filled with different restaurants, and a little river running through the middle, to make it look like you’re dining in the water. Like I said, never seen anything like it before. We also went to the Jim Thompson House & Museum. He was a CIA spy living in Bangkok before he mysteriously disappeared in Malaysia. He was known for bringing back the Thai silk industry. His house is open to the public and is a big attraction. We didn’t really do much else in Thailand. The next morning, we hopped on a flight to Koh Samui to start our next adventure.

DAYS 24-26: Koh Phangan, Thailand

One of the things we planned for before our trip started was the full moon party in Koh Phangan. It happens once a month during the full moon, and is a must for South East Asia backpackers. Once a month, over 20,000 people gather on the beach and party until sunrise the next morning. However, there was still so much to do before we get to that. Our plane landed on the closet island, Koh Samui, which was a 50 minute ferry from the other island. The pier was only 10 minutes from the airport, but the ferry wasn’t for another hour and a half. We happened to meet another guy from Long Island while waiting for our bags. He was staying near us on Koh Phangan, so we all waited for the ferry together. They tried packing as many people on the boat as they could, and then we were off sailing. The main pier on Koh Phangan is on the other side of the island from where we were staying, so we took the ferry to the pier right next to our hostel instead. It is not as big, and that’s why we had to wait a while for the ferry. When we got to the island, it was only a 5 minute walk to our hostel. We were staying at the Dancing Elephant, which is only open during the full moon week. It was filled with people just like us. Just as luck would have it, there was another kid from Ohio State in our room, as well as some New Yorkers.

The night before the full moon is the jungle party, which is the exact same thing, just not as big and in the middle of the Jungle. Since we were expected to stay up late again, we had to take a nap before our night started. We were very tired from traveling since the morning and needed some rest. We woke up and went to the store to buy some neon apparel to fit in with everyone else on the island. Our hostel wasn’t just one building; it was different dorm areas all within one street. The bar was outside on the street, so that’s where everyone hung out at night. It was real crowded outside, as everyone was getting ready for the night ahead. The hostel provided cabs for us, as it was a twenty minute drive to the area, which was in a cleared out part of a forest. We didn’t get there until one am, and it was already packed with backpackers from all across the world. There was a Muy Thai boxing ring, as well as fire dancers inside. The stage was shaped like the face of a lion, with a DJ playing. I wasn’t a big fan of the music, as it sounded like he was playing the same exact song all night. We stayed until 5am, and then caught a cab back to our hostel. The sun doesn’t rise until 6am, so we didn’t see it that night. We would have to wait until tomorrow, for the full moon party. We definitely made it longer than most people, and went to sleep when we got back.

Since we didn’t go to sleep until 5am, we slept until 1pm. We didn’t do much during the day, as we knew we were going to be up late the next night. We got lunch nearby, and then went to the beach for a little. Since we got to the island much later than most, our room happened to be all guys in a 25 person room. Basically it was all the people who came late also. A group of us went out to dinner before going back and getting ready for the night to come. There were surprisingly a lot of Mediterranean places to eat at, so we picked one to go to. After dinner, we went back to the room to hangout for a little before the night started. Since we were expected to stay up until sunrise, there was no point starting too early and burning ourselves out. Everyone wears bright colors, and get cool designs painted on them. It’s a whole ordeal, and it’s so much fun to be a part of. We pregamed at the hostel bar, and then made the short walk to the beach. It was so much better than the twenty minute ride last night. The beach was packed, with probably over 20,000 people there. The whole night was so much fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Once 3 am hits, you forgot that you’re tired, and you’re looking forward to sunrise. It is still really dark out at 5am, but it starts to get lighter every minute after that. I really thought I wouldn’t be able to make it to 6am, but it was a lot easier than I expected. I met a lot of great people the past two nights, so there was always people to hang out with. I would recommend anyone traveling in the area to make it to a full moon party. It was one of the best moments of my life and on the trip. It was such a great environment and one I would gladly do again.

Our flight to Hong Kong from Koh Samui was scheduled for the Sunday at 11am. Since the pier closest to us was small, the first boat out wasn’t until 930 am, which was way too late for us. The big pier was over 30 minutes away, and the first boat was at 7am. Instead of waking up at 5 am to make the ferry, we decided to take the ferry to Koh Samui a day earlier, and stay on Samui for the night. We found a cheap Airbnb near the airport and stayed there for the night. We went to sleep at 630am after the party, and woke up only a couple hours after to make the 230pm ferry. As expected, I was so tired that I went to sleep that night around 6pm and slept until 730am the next morning. It was so nice to get a lot of sleep after 3 days of not enough. However, I wouldn’t have traded anything for the past two nights, as both parties were once in a lifetime experiences and I spent it with the best people.