Author: Andrew

tl;dr Took a photography private class while exploring the Angkor Wat grounds and went out in Siem Reap – 3 activities.
Activity 1 – Welcome to Siem Reap:

Cambodia requires a Visa to be purchased upon arrival (you can do it online in advance, but that requires 3 days processing time and I had booked my flight the previous day…). Once I was finally through customs/immigration, I went to the cab stand to get driven to my hostel – The Siem Reap Pub Hostel.

Two quick points about money: 1. Cambodia has their own currency, but USD is widely used. Cambodian currency is often used to distribute change. It is about 4000 to 1USD. 2. USD are distributed from ATMs.

I end up taking a Tuk Tuk to my hostel (for those that do not know what this is, google it!). Also, I am at the mercy of my driver here since my Singapore SIM card will not work in Cambodia and Verizon does not have a $10/day deal for Cambodia. Thankfully, I make it smoothly to the hostel – well maybe not smoothly, it was quite a bumpy ride (many of the roads are not paved). 

I get to my hostel around 9am and of course my room is not ready. I am also exhausted so I grab a pool chair (yes, there is a pool at this hostel) and attempt to nap. I also go for a stroll to experience the city and get a local SIM card ($6 for 1gb). 

Activity 2 – Photography Private Class of Angkor Wat:

A few days before my trip to Siem Reap, I stumbled across a CNN article discussing ‘what to do’ in Siem Reap. One of the ideas was to take a photography tour of the temples. This seemed like an incredible idea! But, I did not have a true camera and I was not about to do a photography tour with my iPhone 6. I reached out to a company that provides these tours and was able to secure rental and instruction for a half day trip. My instructor picked me up at my hostel and we got into the Tuk Tuk that he hired for the day to take us around to the different sites.

The Angkor Wat grounds are huge. DO NOT TRY AND WALK IT YOURSELF. Hire a Tuk Tuk for $20 for the day and move seamlessly from site to site. The drivers will remember you and know the best pick up/drop off spots. Also, all of the pictures I took are on a memory stick…meaning I will upload them when I get home and have access to a computer. For now, you will have to look at the few pictures I took from my iPhone.

The temples are incredible! I am not going to bore you with a history lesson, but they are really cool. It is also really interesting to see some of the on-going restoration work. We ended up going to about 4 or 5 different temples as part of the photography tour, with the final stop being sunset over the actual Angkor Wat.

Activity 3 – Out on Pub Street:

After a long day strolling through Angkor Wat, it was time to refresh – enter the pool. It was such a nice and relaxing swim. Before I got out, I played a couple games of pool volleyball with some random Brits. 

I explored Pub Street – the main tourist and bar area – while debating what I wanted to eat for dinner. I settled on a place that had a classic Cambodian dish: Fish Amok. It is a sort of fish curry. It was really good! I also had spring rolls.

The bar scene here is 100% completely geared towards tourists. When I first got to a few of the bars, they were not that crowded, so I decided to explore the area a bit more. I cam across Tuk Tuks that were outfitted as bars. The best part was, these bars (they can move, but if they were in a prime location – would not move) had laptops attached to massive speakers, thereby allowing you to sit down, have a drink, and pull up whatever music you like on YouTube. I camped out at one of these ‘bars’ for three beers while listening to whatever music I wanted to.

I also went out to a couple of the bars on pub Street. The bars were fun, but definitely not as fun as bars in the other cities I had been to.

tl;dr Woke up not as late as would have been useful, spent time at the beach, and hung out – 3 activities.
Activity 1 – Wake up and Beach:

Woke up much earlier than I had planned – 10am (so about four hours of sleep). I grabbed a quick breakfast and made a few reservations for the rest of my trip (aka my flight and hostel for the next day – Siem Reap, Cambodia). I met up with a few of my friends from the hostel and we went down the street to the beach. This was relaxing! Although the beach is not the nicest I have ever been to, it was still enjoyable. There are a lot of people selling experiences (i.e., jet skis) and food. From all the reviews I read, do not use the jet skis – they will usually try and scam you and claim that you damaged the jet ski.

Activity 2 – Dinner at Wok Thai & International Cusine:

Per some research, I found this place. It was good, but not great.

Activity 3 – Hanging out with people from the hostel:

I decided to have a relatively low-key night since I had to wake up at 3:30 to make my flight to Siem Reap. I met up with some people at the pool and proceeded to drink and chill with them until 1am…at which point I realized I needed to go to bed.

Believe it or not, I woke up, made it to the airport, and made my flight.

tl;dr Went to Koh Phi Phi (did not enjoy), pool party at the hostel, and out on Bangla Walking street until 5:30am – 3 activities
Activity 1 – Koh Phi Phi Island:

I had heard that Koh Phi Phi was beautiful, so I decided to book a trip to the island. A little background first: there are two islands that comprise Koh Phi Phi – one of them has hotels and infrastructure, the other is where the filmed the movie “The Beach.” There are basically two options to get to Koh Phi Phi – ferry and speedboat. The ferry takes quite a bit longer and only goes to the main island, while the speedboat includes snorkeling, a stop at both Koh Phi Phi islands, and a stop at some other island.

I wake up early and get picked up by a minibus, which proceeds to take me (and others) to the docks on the other side of the island. Here we waited for about 20 minutes before getting our briefing. Finally, we get on the speedboat and head to our first stop – snorkeling. 

Snorkeling was fine…saw a lot of fish (barely any coral and minimal variety of fish). We swam for about 30 minutes. So I did not take my GoPro and therefore have zero underwater pictures…oops. The ride on the speedboat was not enjoyable – it was extremely choppy and water kept spraying up over the side and getting everyone soaking wet.

The next island was 100% a tourist trap. To sit in a chair, you had to pay to rent it. To use the bathroom, you had to pay. There was nothing to do for the 30 minutes we were there.

Next up, an hour and a half ride to Koh Phi Phi. This was the worst part – people got sick cause of the choppiness and you could not read or listen to music cause of the water spraying. FINALLY, we get to Koh Phi Phi and eat lunch with our speedboat (included in the price), but it was terrible. 

I made an executive decision: skip the other island and take the last ferry back to Phuket (2hr ride). I did get to see the island from the beach though.

The ferry back was a much smoother and more comfortable ride. If you go to Koh Phi Phi, take the ferry and give yourself freedom to do what you want (you can hire a boat once on Phi Phi Don to go to Phi Phi Leh).
Activity 2 – Lub D Pool Party:

I make it back to Lub D in time for the beginning of the pool party. This was a blast. Played some more giant Jenga and drinking games. Hung out in the pool and met more people from all over the world. Stay at this hostel!

No pictures though as I was generally in the water or hanging out with people.
Activity 3 – Out in Phuket:

A massive group of us from the hostel (organized by the hostel) went out together. Our first stop was a bar on Bangla Walking street. We camped out at this bar for an hour or two drinking massive drinks and dancing. The coolest part of the bar was a guy walking around playing Sax on beat with the music.

We went out to Illuzion to dance – this is a massive club. I had tried going there the previous night, but found it nearly empty. As it turns out, bars in Phuket stay open to **officially 4am – I think,** so when I got there – it was too early. Illuzion was a ton of fun – great music and great atmosphere. 

The lights turned on at 4am and everyone started to filter out. As I started moving to the exit, I saw what appeared to be a shorter line to leave going the other way; I grabbed the people I was still with from the hostel and started in the other direction. AFTER PARTY! These people were not leaving, they were going into a back room that had an after party going on. We hung out here for a while dancing and enjoying. Around 5:30am, I decide that sleep is not my priority and make for the exit. But, it’s raining – so now I have a dilemma: brave the rain or go dance some more until it stops raining. To my surprise, I chose sleep (and the rain had started to let up). Made it back to the hostel in time for the beginning of the sunrise and went to bed.

tl;dr I am staying at an amazing hostel – 3 activities
Activity 1 – Lub D Hostel Phuket:

This hostel is great and I highly recommend it. The hostel has a boxing ring and has lessons available for purchase (there is also a practice area with bags). The hostel also has a pool, hammocks, and a bar/restaurant area. 
I came to Phuket to relax (and I needed it because of all of my early mornings and late nights). First things first – change into my bathing suit and hit the pool. The pool is crowded and I quickly meet people from across the world. There was a DJ blasting great music and a Giant Jenga game being played. After swimming for a bit, I join the Giant Jenga. The rules were: if you lost, you had to take a shot, which was paid for by the hostel, so by winning you win and by losing you win – it was great! The atmosphere was great! 

Activity 2 – Dinner at Number 6:

This place is considered a must try if you are in the Patong area of Phuket. I ordered the Sweet and Sour Fish and it was delicious. Met a bunch of guys at my table who were all working in Southeast Asia, but on vacation in Phuket. 

Activity 3 – Bangla Walking Street:

Bangla Walking street is the main party hub of Phuket. I got there around 10pm and walked from one end of the street to the other (its not far). There were a bunch of bars and clubs, but nothing was all that crowded (the street was very crowded just not the bars). Also, people kept coming up to me to try and get me to go into their bar or go see a ‘ping pong show.’ I quickly got tired of this and decided to call it a night. For reference, I assumed that all bars/clubs closed at midnight like in Chiang Mai – this is not the case apparently.

tl;dr One last sight to see – a temple with (supposedely) amazing views, a last minute massage, and a flight to Phuket – 3 activities
Activity 1 – Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep:

I woke up early to head up a mountain to a ‘must-see’ temple in Chiang Mai: Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, or Wat Doi Suthep for short. I took an Uber there and back. It is quite the Wat: covered in gold, on top of a mountain, and dates to the 14th century. 

Remember when I said that this Wat has great views? Well…see for yourself:

…apparently, I went on the wrong day.
Activity 2 – Massage:

I had barely enough time for a massage, but barely enough is enough. So, I got another inexpensive Thai massage.
Activity 3 – Flight to Phuket:

My flight was at ~1pm, but because of the massage I did not have a chance to eat. So, i ate some food at the airport, hopped on the plane, and went to Phuket.

tl;dr Long day trip to Chiang Rai, the White Temple, and a pit stop in Laos – 5 activities

Activity 1 – The White Temple:

Early wake up call – had to hop on a minibus for a 4hr bus ride to the White Temple. The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) is a contemporary Buddhist temple. This place is very cool – the temple is intricately designed and is quite unconventional. There is a mural on the inside wall of the temple that has depictions of modern day ‘heroes’ – Batman, Pikachu, Superman – among other things.

There is also an art gallery (showing pieces from the Temples ‘designer’) and a ‘golden toilet.’ 

Activity 2 – Golden Triangle:

We hopped back on the bus to head to the Golden Triangle – a region notorious for the production of Opium (although not as much anymore). From here you can see three countries (Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar). There is also an island that is not claimed by any of the three countries, so it is a sort of no mans land. 

We did not set foot in Myanmar, but we did take a boat to Laos. The boat dropped us off at a market in Laos (on an island). There is a special type of whiskey that is worth trying if you go to the island (I won’t spoil the surprise). 

China and Vietnam are accessible from other parts of the river.
Activity 3 – Karen Long Neck Village:

Have you ever seen pictures of the tribe of people that have gold rings around there necks? Well, they have a village near Chiang Rai and we stopped by it. We learned about how much the rings weigh, if they have to wear the rings, and other details. According to our guide, any money we spent at the market goes directly to the women that sell the goods – so I bought a souvenir. 

Finally, it was time to hop back on the bus for the four hour ride back to Chiang Mai. 
Activity ‪4 – Night‬ Market:

Had another delicious meal at the night market (Pad Thai) and then went back to my hotel to shower before going out.
Activity 5 – Warm Up Cafe and Zoe in Yellow (again):

Warm Up Cafe was highly recommended as a top night spot. It is not a great place to go as a solo traveler. The dance area consists of stand-up tables and limited area to dance. The online reviews suggest getting there early to get a prime table location. I walked around and took it all in (it is also a restaurant) before heading back to Zoe in Yellow.

tl;dr Explored Chiang Mai old city’s temples, spoke with Monks, and did a Thai cooking class – 6 activities

Activity 1 – Temple after Temple:

Chiang Mai has a ton of temples (Wat) in and around the old city. At first, I had no idea how I was going to cover each one on my own, while trying to understand the significance of each one. After some googling, I came across Big Boy Travel Chiang Mai (googling that should work). This site has a walking guide with descriptions for Chiang Mai and the map is exportable into Google Maps so that you can follow it as you go. The guide has 27 sites, but only 23ish are temples. The guide also suggests a few places for lunch – I listened and was not disappointed.

Below are a bunch of my favorite pictures.

Activity 2 – Monk Chat

At one of the final temples I stopped by, I had the opportunity to speak with a few teenage Monks (the guide explains where). I spent about an hour chatting. It is good for the Monks because they get to work on their English. It was really interesting to learn about their lives and future plans. The Monks I spoke with were between the ages of 16 and 18. They wrote my name in Thai lettering, which I then tried to mimic (results below).

I highly recommend speaking with Monks through these programs if you have a chance. 

Activity 3 – Relax at the Pool:

I had two hours of downtime between exploring Chiang Mai and the cooking class, so I decided to dangle my feet in the pool and catch up on some HP4.
Activity 4 – Basil Cookery Cooking Class:

I signed up for Basil Cookery on the recommendation of a friend. This is a must do activity while in Thailand. First of all, the food is delicious. Second of all, it’s fun. And third of all, you learn how to make your favorite dishes.

I chose to make drunken noodles, red curry, stir fry, veggie spring rolls, hot and sour soup, and fried bananas (dessert). Yes, 6 dishes for dinner – it is a lot of food. 

The class starts with a stop at the local market to learn about the different ingriedients used in Thai cooking. After the market, we hop back into the minibus and head to the kitchen. 

The class is run very well and even if other people are making different dishes, you still learn how to make their dishes. Also, at the end, they provide you with a recipe book so that you can go home and try it out.

Activity 5 – Muay Thai Fight:

I decided to check out a couple of Muay Thai fights at a local arena. The one I went to (Thapae Stadium) is right inside the old city. It is 100% geared towards tourists. I’m not 100% sure if the fights were real or staged. It was still fun. I saw two TKOs.

Activity 6 – Bars Again:

Went back out to the Zoe in Yellow area and checked out a few of the other bars (Havana Club, Reggae Bar, etc.)

tl;dr I got to chill with elephants all day – 3 activities
Activity 1 – Care for Elephants, Elephant Nature Park:

There are many elephant experiences around Chiang Mai, but not all are created equal. Many experiences are for pure entertainment purposes (elephant painting, kicking a soccer ball, throwing things, etc.) and most of the time these elephants are treated poorly. There are also experiences where you get to ride elephants in a saddle – again not good for the elephants. I chose the Elephant Nature Park because it treats elephants with respect and does not use pain as motivation; there are no ‘hooks’ or chains used by the Mahouts (elephant trainers/caretakers). Also, there is no elephant riding. The majority of the elephants have been ‘rescued’ from labor (e.g., street begging, logging, performing, etc.). There are separate morality/ethical issues regarding ‘rescue’ and the role these organizations play in the elephant labor industry – but that’s up to you to research.

I get picked up early in the morning and join a van with four other people. We take an 1hr + ride to the the starting point. During the ride, I meet the four other participants – two girls from Mexico and a couple from Spain. Throughout the day, I got to work on my Spanish – added treat for me. We are also given a guide who speaks great English and is constantly teaching us about elephants and their usage in Thailand.

We meet our elephants – three of them, one is a 4yr old boy named lucky. We discovered that he is a bit naughty as he would often run off in his own direction or walk backwards. We start by feeding the elephants – placing pineapples and watermelons in/on their trunk. We also got a brief lesson on the difference between African and Asian elephants and how to walk with the elephants.

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We leave our stuff at the camp and take with us only our camera and water bottles. We grab a bag filled with bananas and start walking down the path with the elephants. I initially walk with Pookie and she and I develop a bit of a friendship. She would let me know when she was ready for more food, which was always, by putting her trunk near my face. I had her all to myself since the other two groups each took their own elephant. 

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We walked for about an hour, stopping every once in a while when the elephants wanted to eat some grass. We saw some cows and elephants from other camps along the walk. Along the way, we re-stocked our food bags since we all ran through them pretty quickly.

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Already, it was time for lunch. We said goodbye to the elephants and hiked about 10 minutes to a hut with an amazing view overlooking the river and forest around us. Lunch is prepared for us and we grab as much as we want. Dogs from the camp use this opportunity to eat the scraps that fall from our plates and lounge around (three dogs from the camp followed us the entire time). We hung out here for a while and the five of us got to know each other.

One of the amazing things about this program (vs. the other options) was that it is limited to 6 people, meaning that it equates to one elephant for every two people.

After lunch, it’s time to bathe the elephants. It had been raining a lot as of late, so the river current was actually very strong, but we were still able to get in. Lucky was the first one in (I was second). All of a sudden I am swimming/standing in a river splashing water on an elephant!!! The other two elephants, three of the four participants, and a couple of the mahouts hop into the water. This was an absolute highlight of my trip. The elephants were having so much fun in the muddy water – randomly rolling around and submerging themselves. 

I could have hung out with the elephants in the river for hours, but we had other activities to do. We get out of the water and wash off the mud and start our trek back to camp. I step into a puddle and when I bring my foot out my flip flop is broken (and not in a fixable way). It got stuck in mud and the middle piece ripped. I end up walking all the way back to camp with one flip flop on (not fun). The guide and mahouts offered me their sandals, but I declined. We continued to feed the elephants as we walked back (they eat a ton, well literally almost a ton per day).

Once back at camp, it was time to say goodbye to the elephants for good. We hop on the bus and head to the Elephant Nature Park itself. They have many programs here, from elephants to dog and cat rehabilitation. I bought new (cheap) flip flops so that I can comfortably get around. We get to feed a bunch of other elephants and see a 2yr old baby. We also see a blind elephant (blinded by her mahout for not listening – before the Park rescued her) and elephants that have dislocated hips and other injuries. 

Around 4pm we hop back on the bus to head back to Chiang Mai. The Elephant Nature Park – Care for Elephants program was truly an amazing and valuable experience.
Activity 2 – Chiang Mai Night Bazar:

The Night Bazar is a must see activity in Chiang Mai – granted it is like most other markets. I stop by this one side area that has a bunch of food carts and live music. I find a noodle spot and a rice bun spot and chow down. As you can imagine, the food was delicious.

I explore the rest of the market before heading back to the original area for ice cream. 
Activity 3 – Zoe in Yellow:

Time to check out the nightlife in Chiang Mai – even though it is a Tuesday. Zoe in Yellow seems to be the backpacker’s hangout. Pretty much all foreigners. Zoe in Yellow officially has a few different bars/restaurants in the same area, but I generally hung out in two of them. One has more of a club feel, while the other has plays great music to dance to, but is more of an open patio (street).

Bars in Chiang Mai old city close at midnight, so before I knew it, I was on my way back to my hotel.

tl;dr Landed in Chiang Mai without a hotel reservation and massages are cheap!
Activity 1 – Where is my Hotel Reservation:

I land in Chiang Mai in the late afternoon and hop a cab to my hotel, which is situated right outside of the old city. The day before I had used my Citi Prestige card 4th night free benefit (any 4 night hotel reservation I make through Citi Concierge (now bookable online as well) will give me the 4th night free of charge). 

When I get to the front desk to check-in, I learn that my reservation does not exist in the system and that the room I had originally booked is no longer available. Additionally, the price of the available rooms has increased. I am quite frustrated. I go online and find a much MUCH cheaper rate online and book it through Agoda. Even with the 4th night free (at the hotel’s quoted rate) it would still cost more than going through Agoda. I am going to follow-up with Citi to figure out why my reservation did not exist and if they can still grant me the 4th night free benefit (the reservation technically cannot be booked through any service other than Citi). 

Activity 2 – Dinner:

I’m hungry and cranky so I explore a bit of the old city before finding a place to settle down and have some dinner. Drunken noodles – sooo good. 
Activity 3 – Thai Massage:

Massages are so cheap in Chiang Mai. I paid 250THB, which is about $8, for a 1hr massage. For those that don’t know, a Thai massage is not your relaxing oil massage, rather it is more of a stretching/pressure massage. Still extremely enjoyable though. 
I call it a night after the massage (10pm already) since I have a big day with elephants tomorrow.

Day 6 Part 1 – Goodbye Kuala Lumpur
tl;dr Chilled with my Uber driver, saw some monkeys, and observed cool architecture – 4 activities

Activity 1 – Sheraton Breakfast:

I had to wake up early in order to hit the two sites I had lined up and knew I was not going to have enough time to find a legit KL breakfast place…plus I got free breakfast as part of my status with SPG.

The spread was incredible; 8+ stations serving breakfast choices from all over the world. The choices included, but were not limited to, sushi, stir fry, noodles, ramen, cereal, waffles, eggs, hash browns, curries, fruits…

It was actually very good. I sampled food from each station and probably ate more than I needed to for breakfast.

Activity 2 – Batu Caves:

My Uber driver from the previous night picked me up around 8:45 and set off to the Batu Caves. I’ll spare the history lesson, but there there is a massive Buddha statue in front of a large staircase leading up to caves. 

**Be warned** Monkeys have lay claim to this territory and will not hesitate to grab food or water bottles out of your hand. I saw one monkey run up to a lady who was holding a banana (probably the worst thing you could bring to an area teaming with monkeys), and grab it out of her hand. She of course freaked out and ran away, while the monkey was more than happy to pick up the rest of the food she dropped.
The first cave we reached was quite cavernous and interesting to walk through. There are quite a few stairs to climb though.


Next, we stopped by the Dark Cave. This is a fun and worthwhile experience. You put on a hard hat and are given a flashlight before following a guide through the tunnel. Flash is not allowed so that we do not disturb the animal life in the cave – so I don’t have many pictures. 

We saw a baby bat that must have tried to fly, but wasn’t quite ready (our guide picked the bat up from the floor and was going to help it gain its strength and what not). We saw a rat, centipedes, spiders, and other insect life. It was very interesting learning about the cave eco-system and how it revolves around the bats (they leave the cave to eat and then poop inside the cave – the poop, or “guano”, is the sustenance for many other creatures). 

Activity 3 – Putrajaya:

Putrajaya is an administrative city outside of KL. The prime minister’s White House equivalent is located here and the majority of government departments are based in this city. The original capital was KL, but traffic congestion and other issues pushed the government offices out of the city. The city is relatively new construction and many of the buildings have interesting architectural designs. We did not have time to walk around due to my flight time, but we did drive through.