Wander More Work Less

Jeepers that turned into a long day. After leaving the border city we had not gone very far and a screaming warning noise started emanating from the bus. We were in seat 1A and 1B so we had front row seats for this. The driver stopped on the side of a busy two lane, in our direction, road. There was a discussion between the two drivers and the attendant and off they went outside to check the engine. Turns out it was overheating. Oh great. The first fix was to turn off our air conditioning. That meant we were soon over heating! 🥵 After 15 minutes or so they came back onto the bus and we continued minus the screaming noise. Phew, that's good, problem sorted. Maybe not, because then a U-turn was carried out and we went back the way we had come. Stopping in at a service station so they could perhaps give the bus some much needed water. Maybe the bus is not so flash after all, or someone didn't check the radiator recently. Eventually we got back on the road heading towards Bangkok...

We arrived in city of Poipet on the Cambodian side of the border. The bus attendant gave us a lanyard to wear and we followed him to immigration. He said he would meet us through the other side. 20 minutes later we had another stamp in our passports and thought gosh that was quick. Our group met the attendant and we all walked across the bridge border between the two countries. He then directed us towards the Thai immigration. Oh we are not done yet. Much longer and slower lines here which took an hour to progress from the back to the front. We picked up our bags and dropped them again soon after on a trolley that was going to our bus (we hope). We exited to the outside into a very hot afternoon. I believe the forecast said we are heading for 34 degrees. 🥵 Soon found our bus so happily back into the air conditioning. We were also given a small plastic container with chicken rice in it for lunch. Yum. A short bathroom stop and we will be on our way to Bangkok. The bus is now driving...

It's moving day! Time to leave Siem Reap and head to Bangkok. But first we must enjoy one more free hotel breakfast. A 6am sitting as we need to leave for the bus station at 7am. We ordered up a Grab App tuk tuk after checking out. It's only 2km to the bus station which doesn't take long and costs 4,500 riel about $2 NZD. But we gave the driver almost all our remaining Riel, about 40% more than the fare, as we will have no need of it. He was very appreciative. The bus company is called Giant Ibis and they are very organised and the bus is quite flash. Flash Packing, that's us! On boarding we are given a pastry snack, a bottle of water, and an iced coffee in a can. The pastry had raisins in it so that means 2 for me. 🎉 We sit back in our leather seats, relax and start watching the road and the countryside. The roads are very straight and smooth. The bus driver is good at fitting three vehicles wide on a two lane road. We tick along at around 80-90km/h but there are ...

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading in our room while Sarah had a nap. Before dinner we packed up our bags ready for moving day tomorrow. We found a place called Christa for dinner that restored our faith in the friendliness of the Cambodian people thanks to the lovely waitress there. We ordered Khmer style spring rolls, very similar to others, a chicken amok, which is a Khmer curry but has some vegetables in it, yellow fried noodles with pork and a side of fries. The mains were delicious and the appetizers/sides nice as well. Plus a Cambodian beer each. Total cost USD $18.20 around $31 NZD. The restaurant was quite small and we got to sit out on the balcony one level up overlooking the street which was cool. We stopped at the local mini-mart for an ice cream on the way back to the hotel. It's time to leave Cambodia tomorrow which will be sad as it has been a lovely place to visit. We would definitely come back again.

Next stop was a revisit of Angkor Wat to see what we had not seen in the dark of the early morning sunrise tour. It was noticeably different today. First of all the crowds which were significant but we are guessing still not back to pre Covid levels. We had a good wander around the site and added yet more photos and video to our collection from the other morning. The outer grounds were the main reason to come back as they were bypassed in the dark the other morning as we had to "chop chop" to get the premium sunrise position. This visit certainly confirmed the value of the first tour we did which was a good strategy to do first and then come back for another look. We were back at the hotel by about 11am and headed straight back out to post a few postcards back to New Zealand. 8,000 Riel for two stamps, $2 NZD each. We also grabbed cold drinks and some bread which we are now enjoying while sitting by the pool after a refreshing swim.

We headed up for breakfast at 6.30am today as we had arranged for Chim to pick us up at 8.30am. Today there was orange, and watermelon juice and a few other differences in the food choices including pikelet sized pancakes with maple syrup. We were ready to head out just before 8am so messaged Chim and found he was already waiting for us outside. Off we set in the tuk tuk to a new temple and a revisit of another. Bakheng Hill is not far from the main Angkor Wat grounds so we headed there first to walk up the hill before it got too hot. The hill is about the height of the Centre of New Zealand but the track is less formed. We took our time as the day was starting to heat up and it was only 8.30am. At the top of the hill is the Bakheng temple which was different to all the others we have visited. The stairs up were safe but steep. Did I mention it was starting to get hot. It certainly was by the top of those stairs! 😂 There were great views around the area but Angkor Wat, which is no...

We enjoyed our afternoon of not doing much. I particularly enjoyed winning a game of five crowns which doesn't happen too often against Sarah. For dinner we decided to head in the opposite direction of Pub Street in search of hopefully still tasty Khmer food at less touristy prices. We choose a place called My Little Cafe from recent reviews. The food was very nice but the service was neutral bordering on unfriendly which is very odd for Cambodia. The waitress was a young girl with some form of late teen or early 20s attitude problem. A shame. Also the appetizers came out after the main dishes which was quite odd. We had, in no particular order, Khmer Chicken Red Curry, pork Bao buns, a beef stir fry with egg, vegetable spring rolls, and a local beer each. Total cost USD $11.90 or around $21 so we can't complain about the value. But we won't be going back. Sorry also forgot to take a photo of the dishes before we started eating them. Oops.  

We headed back out from the hotel to get a few snack supplies and extra bottled water. I then headed up to the roof for a refreshing swim in the pool. Now we are diary writing and will spend the afternoon reading and eating our snacks.

The next temple on the way back towards the city was called Banteay Kdei. Built in the 1,200s and different again from others we have seen. This one was much more stretched out and narrow. It also has many intact snake and lion head sculptures. Well worth the 30 minute stop. Chim safely navigated back to our hotel and we connected with him via WhatsApp so we can use him again tomorrow. We paid him another USD $10 for the return journey and waiting time.

  We used the Grab app to book our first ever tuk tuk ride out to Ta Keo Temple. The plan this morning was to tick off a couple more temples from the 13 available through our pass. Chim pronounced 'Shim' was outside to pick us up within minutes of ordering. I forgot to take a picture of it as I was so keen on videoing the ride. It was certainly an exciting experience. Chim was a good driver and seemed to know when you could fit 3 or 4 vehicles safely across the 2 lane road. We paid him USD $10 for the ride out. The Grab app said $7 but he then waited outside the temple for us so we could use his service again. $10 seemed fair and he was more than happy with that. Ta Keo Temple was simply amazing. It is actually older than Angkor Wat. It's construction started around 975 AD approximately 200 years before Angkor Wat. However, for an unknown reason this temple was never finished. It's much smaller than Angkor Wat and Bayon that we visited yesterday but feels taller with...

We had an early night which meant by 5am this morning I was awake and could not get back to sleep. Reading my book filled in the time until it was safe to make enough noise to stir Sarah at 6.30am.  Our hotel price included breakfast each day. Because of the sunrise tour yesterday we had missed out on the first one but we were not going to miss out again today. Hotel breakfasts in Asian countries are always interesting to see what is on offer. This one for example had Western options as well as Asian. The chilled juice selection was the first thing that struck me as odd. I was expecting orange, pineapple or apple to be one of the options but instead the choices were pumpkin, roselle, and soy bean. What?! I have no idea what a roselle is but it turned out to be nice; refreshing. Sarah tried the pumpkin and it was pretty weird.  Scrambled eggs, french beans wrapped in bacon, chicken sausages, and potato gratin was a good starter. Followed by some waffles with chocolate sauce, no...

An afternoon nap was not required which was pretty amazing given the early start. We spent the afternoon chilling, reading and updating diaries. We had one short walk to grab a couple of Cambodian beers and some chips to snack on. Dinner tonight was back on Pub Street. Well eventually it was. We got temporarily lost on the way there which we would have thought was near impossible as it's very easy to find and it was our third visit since arriving. 😳 The restaurant we chose tonight was called Mesa and it was great but more expensive than last night. We had vegetable spring roll entrees, a Cambodia vegetable curry, and a chicken sweet and sour dish. Plus a coke zero each. Total cost USD $22.50. Approx $39. They also gave us a complimentary pomegranate drink, and watermelon nibbles when we first sat down and a strange banana and sago mini dessert at the end. A nice meal to finish our long day. Back at the hotel before 8pm for a well deserved sleep and no early start tomorrow.

We mentioned yesterday that we had an early start planned for today. The alarms sounded at 3.45am! We were being picked up for the Angkor Wat Sunrise tour at 4.30am. Vuthy or Mr T as he suggested we call him was our tour guide. A 35 year old Cambodia man with an awesome knowledge of the history of the temples and of Cambodia. He was also very entertaining throughout the tour with a fun sense of humour. We were the Mr T family. We would often hear him call "come on T family chop chop" as he kept us moving through the large temple complexes. We started with a long walk from the bus in the dark barely able to make out the outline of the temple buildings and towers. In fact what looked like massive trees slowly emerged as temple towers. We had a front row spot to watch the sunrise and the changing colours of the Angkor Wat temple in the reflection pond out front of it. We stood and watched the light change for at least an hour. An amazing experience. We then followed Mr T thr...

Sarah opted for exploring first and sleeping later. That was a slight surprise. We headed out on foot and ignored the multiple approaches of the tuk tuk drivers to give us a ride. We are not going far, it's hardly worth their while. The streets are quite busy but easy enough to negotiate our way across them. It's very warm. I'm guessing in the low 30s now. Certainly feels hotter than our walk from the bus/post office. After not very long we see a street decorated with many red hanging lanterns that looks worthy of a photo. Oh we've found Siem Reaps famous "Pub Street" with its many bars and restaurants. We will be back later. At the very end of Pub Street and across another busy road we spot a 7 Eleven dairy. The main thing on our shopping list is bottled water. We need milk for coffee too and decide to grab a beer each as well. A 500ml can of German wheat beer for me plus a local lager for Sarah, 3x 1.5lt bottles of water and a long life carton of milk. ...

We arrived at the shuttle office and paid the USD $9 fare per person. Great value. A short 600m walk alongside the "river" and into the city to find our hotel. In the spirit of flash packing it definitely fits the bill. USD $216 for 4 nights including breakfast. It's called Koulen Central. Oh and it's a pretty nice 29 degrees outside. We were a bit early for the 2pm check-in. While we waited for them to see if a room was ready we were given a nice cold face towel and a lemon drink. After a short wait the room was ready and it is very nice. It's time for a shower to refresh ourselves and then we will see if Sarah needs a nap or if we will go for an explore around the nearby streets.

Our flight arrived on time with no issues. Just 2 hours from Singapore. I had to have two goes at clearing immigration but eventually they let me in. It is always a relief to see your bags waiting on the carousel ready to be grabbed. The Cambodia Post shuttle service was very efficient. A man was waiting for us with our name printed and it was only us in the mini bus. The brand new airport is 47km from the city so the roads started off in awesome condition and then got more "interesting" the closer we got to Siem Reap. Lots of roadside shanty stalls and houses. Tuk tuks carrying all kinds of things and many scooters. Unfortunately there were no good photo or video opportunities from the bus but we saw plenty of things I would have liked to have stopped to get a shot of.

A 10 hour flight with 3-4 hours of sleep thanks to half a sleeping pill. Will we ever be wealthy enough to justify business class seats? 🤔 This is our first time flying Singapore Airlines and into Singapore airport so something to tick off. The food on the flight was delicious with lamb, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots for the main meal and then a tasty omelet with chicken sausages and hash browns for breakfast. Sarah had a chicken dish as her main which she said was also very nice. The airport is as huge as we imagined if not more so. Our boarding passes said take the sky train to Terminal 2 but a check of the boards said take it to Terminal 1. This is not our first rodeo and we got to the correct gate after a short ride and a couple of good walks. Next stop is Siem Reap, Cambodia!

The flight to Christchurch was bumpy but successful, which is always good. Now we are settling in for a 9 hour wait for our 1am Singapore Airlines fight. Coffee, book reading, airport food for dinner and a bit of Netflix watching helps pass the time which drags along very slowly. Flight delayed until 1.30am. 🥱

"Sarah and Aaron are flash packing in Cambodia and Thailand" We are off on another adventure holiday almost 5 years after the last one. Covid and cancer can put a real spanner in the travel aspirations. This time we are heading to Cambodia and Thailand. Again we are armed with our backpacks and credit cards. I've given this style of travel a name - Flash Packing! It's like back packing but with a better budget. 😂 Our reliable Uber driver, aka Dad, was a few minutes early at 12.20pm. I was still eating lunch but we were packed and ready to go. We were soon saying goodbye to Kate and Sammy and heading to the airport. We had said farewell to Emma before 7am when she left for work.  Checking in was slightly stressful as none of the automated things seemed to work but an Air New Zealand woman got us sorted. However, we weren't filled with great confidence when she suggested we take a photo of our backpacks in case they got lost!