thailand | Minnie VII

It is Wednesday again!

I hope that you all had a lovely long weekend and have been enjoying the late summer sunshine.

So, after two nights in Bangkok, we headed to Cambodia…. and this is where I will pick up on Part 2 of our travels

days 1 & 2 – Phnom Penh

We arrived at the airport and sorted out our Visa, a very long but uncomplicated process. We headed to collect our bags and make our way to find a Taxi. We had booked for two nights at The Plantation Phnom Penh, which was very last minute as our hotel cancelled. We only booked this one as Bookings.com said that the prices were reduced due to building work and it was very central. On arrival, we found that the location was actually excellent and we received a very warm welcome. We checked into our room and headed to the pool bar in order to have an early dinner. As a bonus we didn’t actually notice any building work.

The next day we woke up early and went for breakfast, which was a buffet style and much better than the roast dinner we had previously experienced. We then decided to head out for a walk and approached a Tuk Tuk driver who gave us a very interesting tour. This included going to a Monkey Island that was a temple full of monkeys and a weird fairground music. The sad thing about this temple was the amount of children asking for money, I had read not to give money as it discourages education. We also saw more temples and were a little bit shocked when the Tuk Tuk actually went on a boat to get us back to the main island. After this we were very thirsty and needed to cool down so headed to the pool to relax.

The hotel was so nice that we decided to stay in again that night and have a relaxing day by the pool the following day. Mark had some work to do and I sunbathed however, I did burn this day as the sun was so hot!

days 2, 3, 4, 5 – Siem Reap

We woke up early and had the amazing buffet breakfast before packing up our belongings and heading to the bus station. I had been in charge of booking our transport while in Cambodia and after reading reviews of the buses decided to opt for Giant Ibis as these seemed the safest option. If budget allowed, it would have been nice to fly just to save a six hour bus journey to Siem Reap.

The bus had wifi so we could check emails and we actually watched the Inbetweeners as we had downloaded this in readiness. It had one stop for food and the use of a toilet so I was carefully on the amount of water I drunk.

It was about 6pm by the time we arrived in Siem Reap and the first thing I noticed was the heat. It was much more intense than what it had been in Phnom Penh although there wasn’t as much sun. Our Tuk Tuk driver to the hotel was very friendly and we made a deal with him that he could take us to Ankor Wat for sunrise in two days time. We felt that we needed a day to recover beforehand.

We had booked to stay at eOcambo Residence, which was nice but not as high end as the previous hotel.

We found that there was a lot more to do in Siem Reap, although we did make time for days around the pool too. We visited the national museum which was interesting and was all about the temples and how they were formed, unfortunately, you were not allowed to take photos in there. The rooms of Buddhas would have made good photos. We also found that there was a lot more high end shopping aimed at tourist and we found a Starbucks, a hard Rock Cafe and even a ‘strip’ called ‘Pub Street’ where we spent a night in a dance club full of mainly Chinese tourists.

The main reason to come to Siem Reap was of course, to see Ankor Wat and the other Ankor temples. We set our alarms early on the day we had planned, at approx. half 3am and met our Tuk Tuk driver at 4am. He took us to buy our tickets (for which they took a photo, I was not expecting and did not look my best at that time in the morning) and then to the temples. It was so busy and every arrives before opening to get a good view of the impressive sunrise, which you can then admire as the sun is rising further walking towards the temple as it opens. We spent a good few hours here exploring, before heading back to our Tuk Tuk driver who took us to all the other temples including he Tomb Raider one and lunch! Lunch of course, was a rip off but it was okay! We were completely templed out by the end of the day and happy to get back to the hotel.

We spent our last day in Siem Reap exploring further in the morning before a lazy afternoon as we knew we had a 10 hour night bus journey to Sihanoukville, which departed at 10pm and would arrive at 6am.

Part three will inlcude our stay on the Islands.

Love, Minnie xoxo

Happy Mid-Week…

We seem to be flying towards the long weekend!

I thought I would start to share this years travels with you… starting with my second holiday of the year to Thailand & Cambodia. I managed to go for almost three weeks (only taking 10 working days! – thank you to the late Easter this year) and therefore, I will split the post into different parts for ease ~~and so you don’t get bored.~~

In April Mark & I jetted off to Thailand and Cambodia via. a few hours at Beijing Airport. This was my longest trip to date and especially scary at first as Mark & I only met in January! I was excited though, I purchased a backpack (that Mark carried for me most of the time) and we headed to Heathrow airport the night before Good Friday. Mark’s mum actually booked us a hotel and meal for the night before our flight. It also meant we got a lie in without worrying about traffic to the airport.

The flight to China was 10 hours and it felt like a long 10 hours. The flight took off at about 3pm or just after due to delays so at least it was through our night – not that this mattered with the time difference. We had a five hour stop over in Beijing, which was actually nice as we could have some food, stretch our legs and pick up more essentials – including a phone charger for Mark as he left his on the plane.

We then had a further 5 hour flight to Thailand. I didn’t expect this to be so bad as it was only half the time but it was still long. I kept saying to myself it is only the same journey to one of the Greek Islands. Mark slept most of the way but I did struggle. We finally landed in Bangkok at around 5/6pm local time. The heat really does hit you as you walk off the plan and I was unsure whether I would actually adjust to it. We collected our backpacks that had somehow arrived with us and headed to get a taxi.

During the taxi drive, we discussed our plans for the evening, we only had two nights in Bangkok before flying to Cambodia. We wanted to make the most of our time here but we were becoming increasingly aware we had been awake 24 hours! We arrived at our hotel –The Mustang Nero Hotel Bangkok and checked in. We had found this hotel on Air B&B so had already paid for it. It was very quirky – which is the main reason we had been attracted to it. You will see from the photos that it was full of weird and wonderful items and stuff animals. We finally showered which was very much needed, before sitting in the aircon for a few minutes before, getting ready and heading for dinner. We found a cute little restaurant and ordered dinner, before making the decision to head to Khao San Road after being awake for 24 hours!

It blew my mind it really did, I had seen nothing like it, and it was very much like what I had seen in the Hangover film but more intense! We had ts of what knows what on the street, cocktail after cocktail and invitations to watch ping pong shows, which we actually declined. We had a great night however, decided to head back to the hotel at 2am as we were so tired. We were so glad we did go out on the first night as we return to Bangkok at the end of the holiday just in time for the Kings coronation and a total ban on alcohol which really did change the atmosphere of the place.

We slept amazing that night and woke up early for breakfast – chicken roast dinner! This would have been bad anyway, but it was worse with a hangover.

Anyway, we ate what we could and headed to the city to see the sites, we saw temples, the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, the river markets and wondered around the streets taking everything in. We then decided to pop for lunch – pad thai and more cocktails before going back to the hotel for a nap. As we knew we had booked two more nights in Bangkok on the way home, we didn’t feel the need to fit everything and we could adjust to the time difference etc.

We decided that our flights to Cambodia meant we had to leave the hotel fairly early so we opted for a quiet dinner and a few drinks, with an early night for our second night in Bangkok. It was a shame that the guest in the room next to us decided to play music all night- even while they slept and therefore, ruining our early night.

Luckily the flight to Cambodia was only an hour – you barely know you have taken off before you are landing again. On the flight I had to fill out our visa applications, which were long but uncomplicated. I also familiarised myself with their local customs – including what to wear in public etc. We landed, picked up our visa, collected the bags and headed for the Plantation, Phnom Penh where we were also staying for two nights….

To be continued….

Love, Minnie xoxo