Moving right along through this wonderful journey.
I loved the shit outta Laos. Laos was filled with so many beautiful sceneries, sunsets, the lushest rice paddies, good people, and loads of fun and relaxation.
I started in Northern Laos where I did Luang Prabang after the wonderful slow boat journey. Here was where I saw the breathtaking waterfalls and went bowling until 5 AM on more than one occasion. I then ventured to Vang Vieng where I had the most epic river tubing adventure (So much fun)! After Vang Vieng we hopped on multiple tuk tuks, mini busses, and a sleeper bus and after a full 24 hours, we finally made it to Southern Laos near the Cambodian border called the 4000 islands. It is a bunch of small islands on the Mekong River. Don Det in the 4000 Islands was also incredible, very remote and low key. This was such a good place to go to relax and take a break from all the partying. We rented bicycles and you could cycle the muddy paths around the whole island in about 35 minutes. The humidity was insane. I didn’t even know it was possible to sweat that much. I spent a full 7 days on this island, which is quite a long time to stay in one spot when you are backpacking. There were not even any ATMs on this island. I’m actually surprised they even had electricity. That’s how remote it was. Adam’s bar was where I spent most of my time while here. This was a restaurant/bar that had a big screen tv and all the movies or tv shows you could ever want, with these padded mats that you could lay down on and watch hours and hours worth of movies or tv shows. Since it was a restaurant as well, you could just have food and drinks served to you without even having to get up. It sounds very lazy and it was. I did yoga on our amazing balcony that overlooked the beautiful river at our guesthouse almost every morning. One morning while doing yoga it began to rain a steady drizzle and a butterfly sat peacefully on the floor of the balcony very close by. It was exhilarating and such a peaceful experience at the same time. I felt very in tune with myself, and the nature around me. I have not done much yoga in my life so it is fairly new to me, but I’m absolutely loving it. Yoga is a fun and easy thing to do as a backpacker to stay healthy while on the road. I also did a kayaking tour while here on the Mekong River. We got to see more amazing waterfalls and the stunning views from the Mekong. Emma and I capsized in our kayak at one point and it was terrifying for a split second. When you know there are crazy river monsters in the water and you can’t see through the water due to its brown color, it can be a little scary not knowing what is underneath you. I got back on the kayak very quickly but Emma who was on it with me struggled a little to get back up. She was also scared of what was underneath. Haha! What scared me the most was the terrified look on our tour guide’s face when I looked up at him from the water. All in all the kayaking was a great experience and I really enjoyed it.
Just so you know, when I mention “we” I am talking about a British girl, Emma I met on the slow boat to Laos. We have been traveling together for a while now. Its nice having someone to travel with opposed to traveling by your self all the time. Which I do enjoy, don’t get me wrong. A little variety is always good, though : )
After not wanting to leave the relaxing and amazing Don Det, we decided it was time and crossed the border and came to Siem Reap, Cambodia. This is where the famous Angkor Wat temples are.
I also really like Cambodia so far. There are usually just faint differences between the countries. Laos people are way more laid back than Cambodians. Cambodians are very pushy and nag at you to buy their goods or services. They are actually quite good scam artists. Some of the women will carry infants and approach you and say they need milk for their baby, then when you go into the store and buy milk for them she immediately puts the milk back on the shelf and she and the store owner split the cash. Even little boys have came up to me asking for milk. Thank god for the world wide web that warns you about this kind of thing. You can’t walk five feet without a tuk tuk driver or someone else shouting at you as you walk by.
We went to all of the ancient temples around Angkor Wat. We went one day to a certain temple to see the sunset, which was pretty. The next morning we woke up at 4:30 AM to see the sunrise at the temples. The sunrise sucked. It was too cloudy so it was very anticlimactic. It was dark then all of a sudden it was light. You couldn’t even tell where the sun was. I would have appreciated the few extra hours of sleep instead of seeing that sunrise. Also there were so so so many people during the sunrise and the sunset. The whole place is just littered with hundreds of tourists. It would have been a lot more beautiful if there weren’t so many people. The temples were very interesting and beautiful though, and over 800 years old. I will post pics later. One of the temples is where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed.
We did the Siem Reap pub crawl which was definitely a good time! I ended up running into some friends that I met about a month ago in Chang Mai and Pai! Its so exciting running into people that you have met on the road! It was a big reunion of the whole Chang Mai crew! I woke up the next morning with neon paint all over me, and a foot covered in blood. I wasn’t sure if it was my own blood at first, then I found that it was in fact my own from a gash on my heel. It wasn’t so bad, though.
I love Siem Reap. It is so much fun! The nightlife is just crazy, but good!
We have now traveled to south of Cambodia to Phnom Penh. Here is where you can see the killing fields and learn about the mass genocide that happened back in the 1970s. I’ll speak more on this later. We see this tomorrow. I need to emotionally prepare myself for the brutality that took place in this country.
After two days here in Phnom Penh I go back into Laos to do a jungle treetop zip-lining/hiking/climbing adventure, which I am more than excited about! Then I go to Vietnam.
I am still missing all the fall festivities and hoodie weather back home, but maybe I will get to enjoy a bit of it when I get back. However, I am really loving it here. It just keeps getting better and better. And the people have made it that way. I will be really sad when I have to leave this all behind. I am already thinking about my next travel adventure, where I want to go and who I’m bringing with me! I really love traveling solo, but I think it would be nice to experience all this madness with someone from home, who I know would love it just as much as I do.
I’ve been learning a lot about myself since traveling and also a lot about other people, and obviously other cultures. I will get into all this later. Only four weeks left! Its so bittersweet!
Peace & Love <3
