30th – 31st – Return to Bangkok and flying home

It was a gentle not too early morning when we checked out of the hotel and packed the bus for the final time. The drive across the border to Thailand and from there to Bangkok was fairly uneventful. 

The border crossing was something else, though. Everybody crossing the border were herded into a large area with an escalator in one end, and every 10-ish minutes a guard let through a large number of people, moving the gathered group of people slowly forward. There weren’t many there when we arrived so we didn’t have to wait long before we were let though. Perfect – short wait at the border! We arrived at the top of the escalator – and found ourselves in a large room, maybe 30x30 meters. And here there was a queue, tightly snaking its way through to the immigration booths in the other end. What I had expected to be a short wait turned out to be a more than 2 hours queueing.

We all eventually got through in an orderly fashion, and coming out on the other side we had a quick lunch before we got back onto the bus and continued the journey.

Arriving in Bangkok we checked in and had a few drinks at the hotel bar before leaving for a farewell dinner in a restaurant close by. The menu was quite expansive, both local and more western food so everyone was happy.

Sunset over Bangkok seen from the bar.

Returning to the hotel it was nicely timed with when I was to leave, so I said goodbye to the rest of the group, grabbed my bags and took the train to the airport. There I checked in, enjoyed a non-existing queue at the priority security check and immigration, spent some time in a nice but crowded lounge before boarding and flying non-stop home.  I managed to get some sleep on the flight so I only had time to watch The Meg, King of Thieves and the first episode of The Gifted.

And with that another trip was successfully completed. Like my previous trip to Thailand, Laos and Vietnam this trip was a bit out of the ordinary from what I am used to, but my last trip made me want to come back, and hearing stories from my previous travel companions about how the rest of their tour went I just knew I had to come back. Unfortunately I didn’t feel the synergy in the group this time was as good as before (probably also has something to do with me arriving into a group that has had a lot of time to get to know each other) but in the end things went well and nobody ended up killing each other, so that was a success. And apparently on the first night my roommate got so annoyed (and sounding offended) by me allegedly snoring, so instead of poking me to get me to roll over for the entire trip he got his own room. I was a bit taken back by this nuclear option, but having a room by myself made my attempts at getting him to save his money very negligible.

Big thanks to Britt, Brian, Ben, Kimberly, Jane, Lee, Tracy and everyone else I’ve forgotten, our guide Sovann and the numerous local guides and drivers we met along the way. Hope we all get to meet again some time!

Full album can be found here.

29th – Temples galore-r

I was the only one who showed up in the hotel reception at 0500 to go back to Angkor Wat to try my luck again to get some decent sunrise photos. Getting there went swift, got a nice spot and was happy to find that the clouds were a bit more forgiving today than they were yesterday. Still didn’t get the deep reds and oranges that you sometimes see others get. Oh, well.

Returning a bit past 0700 I had time for a quick nap before the group met at 0900 to go and see 3 other temples in the area. The ones in question were the Preah Khan, Neak Pean and Pre Rup temples. Overall they were all very interesting in the sense they were all overgrown and left for nature to do its thing (as opposed to Angkor Wat which seems to get very well maintained) and our guide managed to find some that weren’t completely overrun by other tourists.

Ancient khmer warriors on the bridge to Bayon holding a giant snake.

Preah Khan temple.

Neak Pean temple. 

Pre Rup.

Returning again to the hotel in the early afternoon we had lunch before three of us went back to Bayon temple to see if we were able to get a good view of the sunset. Being there in the afternoon there were much less people which made it much less uncomfortably congested, but due to the overcast weather it ended up being not quite what we had hoped for. But we had had the chance to see the temple again in calmer conditions so the trip was still at least a partial success. We hadn’t planned for them to close the temple before it getting dark, though, but around 1730 they had everyone leave. It does make sense in a way, though, as walking around in the temple not being able to see anything could be quite hazardous. On the way back we stopped at Angkor Wat to see if we could get anything worthwhile with the sunset but it turned out not really to be worth it.

Not many sunset colors to be seen.

Coming back to the hotel the guide took some of us to a seafood restaurant where we had a huge pile of delicious fresh seafood; crab, shrimp, mussels, squid, cuttlefish and much more. There were no problems getting full. Followed by a few drinks and a walk through town in the dark enjoying the lights.

Siem Reap by night.

There were a lot of temples in Angkor (the name of the 400km2 area), too many to discover in one go. While we had a 3-day pass you could have gotten a 1-day pass (not enough) or a week pass, which, if you really would want to spend time here, would probably not be enough, either. I believe I heard someone satte there are more than 300 buildings and temples in the area that you gain access to with the pass, and while some are just a building in the middle of a forest, others are fairly large temples. I could easily have spent more time there, just tuk-tuk'ing about, stopping at random spots and seeing what would appear along the road. And while many of the temples are visibly decaying it doesn't look like they do much to stop tourists from entering and walking around in areas that already look like it's worn beyond repair. I would have thought that the national authority responsible for maintenance would have done more to protect them.

28th – Temples galore

The first day at Siem Reap started with exactly what I had come here for: sunrise over Angkor Wat. So at 0430 we left the hotel to firstly get our 3-day passes at the ticket office before heading to the temple. We lined up outside the front and saw it go from almost complete darkness to light when the sun came up. It was relatively cloudy near the horizon so the view ended up being so-so.

Following this we did a 2-hour tour inside the large temple and temple grounds where we had a guide who walked us through parts of the compound. Some of us ended up lingering around nearby instead photographing instead of giving him our full attention.

Inside Angkor Wat.

So many carvings on the walls, and some of them very detailed, too!

After this we continued to the next temple on the list; Ta Phrom temple, also known as the Tomb Raider temple as it was featured in the movie of the same name from 2001. It was far more compact than Angkor Wat and had multiple trees growing and encasing parts of the ruins. Due to the popularity, likely mainly due to it being referenced in modern pop-culture, combined with the tight conditions, it was at times hard to get around. Walking around photographing the group got split up but with a quick search & rescue mission later by the guide we were all gathered again and returned to the bus.

Ta Phrom temple.

The third temple of the day was Bayon temple, a small temple (relatively) with 20 small remaining towers with faces carved on all sides. It was by far my favourite of the ones we had seen so far, and while it was crowded it never felt as bad as at Ta Phrom. And our guide on arrival said a few words followed by “we meet in 15 minutes by the bus”, apparently having learnt that it was impossible to keep track of us all.

Bayon temple.

Returning to the hotel at 1330 we went out for a late lunch before meeting in the afternoon to do a quadbike sunset drive. It was a fun and dusty drive, and we got to see a nice sunset over rice fields. Coming back to the hotel before 1900 some of us went to a fancy restaurant called The Sugar Palm where we all had multiple dishes and drinks, and we only ended up having to pay 15USD each. We continued on to grab a couple of drinks before I left a bit before the rest to return to the hotel

Sunset.

27th – Northbound

We didn’t have to leave ridiculously early today; we met in the reception at 0800 where we loaded the bags and ourselves into the bus and left to go north to leave Phnom Penh and go to Siem Reap, spending most of the day on the bus.

On the way to Siem Reap where we arrive around 1630 we did have a few stops, though: we saw a market where they sold various fried insects and spiders, stopped in a village where they made copper and silver items, and at a third places where they cut status out of sandstone.

Copper bowl.

Playing with the food.

Playtime with food is over!

We had lunch by a lake where our group crossed paths with the same group going the opposite way, and their guide was the same as I had had on my trip to Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. It was unplanned and out of the blue, but definitely a pleasant surprise!

The hotel we’re staying at is fairly new so it’s quite nice, also it has a pool which enthused quite a few people in the group. I opted instead to do a quick walk into the center of town (which doesn’t seem very big) before meeting at 1800 to go out to have a local meal at a family which was a mix of various dishes and delicious as always.

Early return to the hotel – we’re doing a sunrise tour of Angkor Wat tomorrow and leaving at 0430 it’s probably not a good idea to end the day on a too late a note.

26th – Always having fun on vacations

We left the hotel at 0800 where we were picked up by bus and guide who were to show us the Killing Fields and S21. 

The Killing Fields just outside the city is where the Khmer Rouge took their prisoners and political opponents and had them killed. The area was littered with mass graves – and that was just those you could see. Or rather; that was just the holes that were left over from excavations you could see. There are still plenty of graves that have yet been opened and documented. It was quite an unpleasant experience but a big part of history, and it felt even worse when considering all this was just happening back in the 70’s.

Indentations from mass graves.

Returning to the city the next stop on the way was the prison named S21. Here the Khmer Rouge held their prisoners and put them through torture, similar to what I had seen previously at the Hanoi Hilton. It was the usual that characterizes these kinds of places; harrowing, horrible treatment of people, a bit too creative torture methods, and short survival rates. But what made this place different from the Hilton was that there were tables set up in a few places so that if you wanted you could have a talk with some of the surviving prisoners.

Interrogation room.

The S21 prison.

From there we left to go to a restaurant where they take poor kids in and train them for free before they move on to work in other restaurants. Their beef with red ants was delicious. Somebody ordered snacks in the form of crickets and tarantulas; the crickets tasted, and sounded, like chips (if you could ignore the long tickly antennas), and the tarantula’s legs were quite non-threatening, too. Though I didn’t taste the actual body of the tarantulas others did, and they seemed to be enjoying the taste.

After the meal we had some free time so some of us went to the royal palace to have a look. As we arrived just before 1400 we were among the first people entering after the mid-day break, giving as a few minutes in the area almost alone which was pretty nice. Unfortunately large parts of the palace grounds was closed off, we assume it was due to the king being in, so in an hour or so we had seen it all and left. On the way back to the hotel we went through a local market, not so much for the market itself but rather to see the building where it was from the inside. It was quite impressive.

Inside the royal palace grounds.

Inside the local market.

After an hour’s break we left the hotel yet again around 1630 to go on a sunset cruise. The view of the city and its waterfront was nice after it got dark, but due to it being overcast we saw very little of the actual sunset.

Coming back onto land around 1900 some of us decided to postpone dinner for a while with an hour-long massage followed by some drinks. The massage part was new to me, I understand why people get it but I didn’t really feel it – or maybe it was because we might not have been handled by the most competent. I couldn’t really tell without having any reference, but considering the price I couldn’t really complain. Afterwards we ended up in an Indian restaurant with some delicious food which we ended up ordering way too much of, and when we finally rolled out from there and returned to the hotel it was around 2300.

Looking at the cars driving around it seems like the locals really like Toyota Priuses (Pri-i?) and if you are a bit more well off you’d probably be among those driving a Lexus.

25th – Go west!

Today’s main plan was to jump onto a bus at 0800 from the hotel and take it to cross the border into Cambodia and drive to the capitol Phnom Penh. Our guide had informed us that instead of a private bus we would be going on a public one, so I was expecting a day on a rickety bus barely holding itself together. Instead we were picked up by a very nice bus with functioning AC (the most important) and even though every seat was booked and eventually occupied there was – relatively – enough space for a fairly comfortable drive. There were two small kids that were quite rowdy for most of the time, though, and their parents didn’t really do anything to keep them in check. Oh, well, you can’t have it all.

Nearing the border a guy with the bus collected all our passports and visas or visa applications to make sure everything was in order, and when reaching the Vietnamese border he then handed them back. We went through the border, returned to the bus, and those without visas handed in their passports once again. We drove for a few minutes through no man’s land before reaching the Cambodian side where we with visas could go through immediately. I realized that I couldn’t, though, because somewhere between collecting my passport and handing it back he had thrown away my entry/departure card (and visa proof of purchase) so I had to find a new card to fill out first. I managed to get through, and when the last group had crossed the border (those with visa applications who got a visa on arrival) we returned to the bus and continued.

After a few minutes’ drive we stopped for lunch before continuing the drive which around 1645 brought us to our hotel. At some point along the way the bus-passport-guy returned my visa proof of purchase – but my arrival/departure card was still missing. After having filled out a new one the old was irrelevant, but still, as the two had been in the same place the entire situation was just weird.

At 1730 we went on a cycle tour – seated in a seat on the front of a bike with a local driver so we didn’t have to do any work ourselves. We came by a statue of Lady Penh, according to legend the founder of Phnom Penh. From there we went by the independence monument before bringing us down near the river where we were picked up by tuk-tuks that took us a bit out of the city to a private family who had a local dinner ready for us. It was absolutely delicious; spring rolls, beef & noodles, chicken curry, vegetables, meat skewers and of course plenty of rice. We ended the day when we returned to the hotel at around 2100.

Independence monument.

This little fellow was hanging out at the dinner place.

When entering Phnom Penh it felt a lot like HCMC, but with less scooters and more cars. Seems to be slightly more orderly, too. There are a lot of large buildings and large buildings being built which you didn’t really see much of in HCMC, so in that sense this city seems a fair bit more modern.

24th – Island hopping

We were to leave the hotel at 0800 so my alarm was set to 0700, an hour after I ended up waking up. So the day started well.

A quick breakfast later we left the hotel and drove for a couple of hours to get to the Mekong Delta where we all boarded a boat that took us around to some smaller islands where we got to see some local industries. We visited someone harvesting honey and making candy and drinks from it and a different place making various chocolates. From there we got on tuk-tuks and went to a village where we got to taste local papaya, pineapple, dragon eye fruit (longan, the lychee’s less aromatic cousin) while listening to locals performing some traditional songs.

Dragon fruit.

The bees drank any spills they could get their tongues on.

From there we went back to the boat and went to a second island where we got to see people making coconut candy with various additions (chocolate, durian, ginger, etc.) – basically a local variant of caramel. From here we got into some small narrow boats and were transported down a narrow river (or rather stream) back out to the boat. It was a pleasant 10-15 minutes, with trees and vegetation on both sides most sounds from outside were blocked. 

A big blob of coconut candy.

So serene.

We had lunch before getting back into the boats, and from there we went back to the mainland and returned to the bus that took us back to the hotel. Because it is the 24^th of December no busses or trucks are allowed in the city after 1600 so we had a hard deadline to make. Arriving at the hotel at 1500 (after having a nice nap in the bus that had surprisingly good legroom!) we got together to fill out the necessary forms for the border crossing into Cambodia tomorrow.

For the afternoon I went for a walk and ended in Saigon Skywalk after it got dark. HCMC isn’t the most inspiring city to look at even if night and all the lights makes things a bit more interesting. The skywalk was indoors with massive windows which in itself wasn’t an issue, but because they had concluded it would be a great idea to illuminate the entire indoor area and hang large bright information posters you got a lot of reflection in the windows which was really frustrating.

City hall by night.

At 1930 I met with 3 others at a food market where we visited various stalls for dinner; beef pho, Chinese bun with pork belly and pork dumplings were delicious. This was followed by a visit to a brewery before returning to the hotel a bit past 2200.

The roads were slightly crowded.

The traffic was insane tonight – there are so many scooters out and about it’s impossible to cross the road as normal. You actually have to find a crossing and wait for a green light to have a chance to cross. Crazy! Apparently, while the locals aren’t Christians they do use this date as an excuse to party and go out, so the traffic is worse than it would otherwise have been on a normal evening.

21st – 23rd of December – Leaving and arrival

As I was leaving on a Friday evening I decided to go to the airport directly from the office and as the departure was late-ish there was no rush for me to leave the office. It was also the last workday before Christmas so I quickly found myself among the last few people left in the office. I realized I’d rather spend extra time in the lounge with free food than at the office just waiting to leave, so I got my stuff and went to the airport. After a bit of a slow check-in I leaned back in the lounge, relaxing, digging into the salmon, hotdogs, cheese and the classic Danish Christmas dessert; ris a la mande. 

Only delayed a few minutes we boarded, but we ended up being almost an hour late before finally taxiing from the gate. My Christmas gift for me: flying on business class so I kicked back and relaxed, stretched out and accepted drinks coming my way. The flight itself was quite uneventful and I passed time by watching The Predator, Mission Impossible Fallout, Hidden Numbers and first episode of Patrick Melrose. Despite being a bit late when arriving in Hong Kong I still had time to visit the lounge which turned out to fortunately be almost right next to my departure gate. A bit different from the one in Copenhagen; food bar, bar, noodle bar, tea bar, relaxation rooms and more spread out in a large area. I had had enough to eat so far so I sat in the tea bar – where I promptly raided the cake buffet. It would be impolite not to taste.

The flight to Ho Chi Minh City was similarly quite uneventful and filled with great service and food while killing time watching Jumanji (2017) and first episode of Hang Ups. Arriving in HCMC I quickly got my bag, got picked up and driven straight to my hotel. I checked in and left immediately to go and have dinner at a restaurant recommended by my guide from the Thailand/Laos/Vietnam tour where I had a delicious beef pho. Going back to the hotel I relaxed and eventually fell asleep. My roommate won’t be arriving until later so I will have my own room for two nights!

Despite not sleeping much on the flights I felt much more relaxed on arrival as usual, having a nice seat and comfortable conditions really do make a difference, it isn’t just something marketing says! The cabin crew on the first leg was, as far as I could tell, all Swedish with two I suspect were Chinese. The second leg they all looked local, apart from the captain who sounded very Australian. I realized the Swedish chef who came pushing the dessert cart during service (so you could see your options and make a decision not only based on the menu) was a very, very nice person based on the following conversation I had with him:

-          Chef: What would you like for dessert? We have cheese, fruit, chocolate and ice cream.

-          Me: Well...

-          Chef: One of each, then?

-          Me: ...

-          Chef: One of each it is. Would you want port with that?

Before meeting with the group in the late afternoon I just spent the day walking around HCMC taking in the views. The town hall, a small photo gallery, the war museum and the pagoda were all visited. In between I had lunch consisting of a duck pho – can’t have too much pho when in Vietnam! I was a bit disappointed to find they hadn’t removed the bones from the bird (the thigh-piece was less of an issue) but I just needed to poke the meat for it to fall apart. Needless to say it was very tender!

City hall.

The traffic needs some getting used to, but that was as expected. Pretty much as it was in Hanoi, so fairly crazy.

I arrived back at the hotel just in time for the meeting. We were 4 at the meeting who would be joining the existing group on the last leg to Bangkok. From there we went to the restaurant I had visited last night, it seems quite popular among the guides, especially considering last night almost half the indoor space was occupied but another group, where we were now sitting.

It was a nice dinner – we will be 15 when we leave the city and head west towards Cambodia. At the moment, though, we were quite a few more, as some of those arriving from the north would be leaving, making room for us newcomers. This meant that for some this was also to be their farewell dinner.

The group is a bit different than what I usually encounter on these trips; 3 families with 1 or 2 kids, and us four newcomers. Us newcomers are around the same age, the rest are a fair bit older or younger than us. I doubt it will be a problem, though, they all seem nice.