The flight from Thailand was comfortable enough and on time. I used the low cost airline, Air Asia, costing only £45 with luggage. I had already arranged an eVisa on line for Cambodia but I was still apprehensive about the border crossing. I needn’t have been as it was one of the easiest border crossings I have done. As an added bonus, the immigration officer gave me an eVisa baseball cap. I think Cambodia is wanting to encourage tourists to visit to help boost the economy.

I changed my leftover Thai Baht into Cambodian Riels at the airport. I didn’t know at the time but in Cambodia they use the US dollar. Waiting for me outside the airport was the transfer to the Saem Siem Reap hotel. To my surprise it was a Lexus limousine and I felt very overindulged at this hotel. Once again I managed to get an upgraded room through Expedia and it was lovely.

The first day after breakfast I had a very lazy day relaxing by the pool not doing very much. It was too hot to do anything, except nip in and out of the water every 20 mins for so to cool off. I gather that around this time most of Europe was covered in snow, you lucky lot.

I used the time to plan a few activities and tours in Siem Reap. For $15 I had a tuk tuk for the day – it was more of a motorcycle with a trailer carriage than the tuk tuks I was used to in India or Thailand. I actually thought these were better, certainly more comfortable, roomy and the big plus is when it moves the air flow is so refreshing.

First I had to get a ticket from the one office that issues them. I paid $62 for a 3 day pass to be used on consecutive days within a 10 day period. They take your photo which is scanned onto the ticket to prevent people selling them on. At every temple and monument, the tickets are checked. You can get a one day pass for $32 but it one day is not enough time to see everything.

The tuk tuk would drive me to a temple, park up and wait for me while I explored. It was very relaxed day without any rush. He also had a cooler with bottled water which was included in the $15 and I got through a good few of them, including the bottles I had taken from the hotel minibar.

There are over 300 temples around Siem Reap, the most famous being Ankor Wat and Bayon (which was used in the Tomb Raider film). They did not disappoint. It would be near impossible to visit all of them in such a short amount of time. Some of the temples are overcrowded with tourists and tour groups jostling for position to take photos in front of various spots. I think the Cambodians could do a little more to improve the tourist experience here as there is no decorum or order which it comes to getting a photo.

It is amazing how nature is taking over some of these once deserted temples with trees growing in, through, and over the stoneworks. It is a sight to behold but after seeing about 100 trees growing through temples, the novelty began to wear off but still very impressive nonetheless.

One of the evening hotspots in Siem Reap is a place called ‘Pub Street’. It’s basically a set of cross roads closed off to traffic in the evening with plenty of restaurants offering every type of food imaginable and many have draught beer for as little as a $1 or $0.50, or buy one get one free offers all night long. Most of the food is reasonably priced and good quality. I had a beef lok lak which was really nice for $6.50.

There are also street entertainers (young children with tarantulas crawling on their faces and musicians etc.) Imagine a grown up, quieter version of Khaosan Road but with a New Orleans vibe instead. At the Chivas bar they have live jazz on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and it was actually good.

The thing that impressed me most though, was that they understand volume and that it’s not necessary to play at deafening levels like all the bars do in Bangkok. The night market was also a pleasure to explore as the traders were not harassing you to come in, look or buy. They left you to it which was a nice change and as a result I purchased a souvenir T-shirt for a few dollars.

One of the bars does the ‘Tomb Raider’ cocktail, obviously inspired by the film. Every 10th one sold is complimentary but every 500th one not only is complimentary, but also wins a T-shirt and $100. I figured I would order one just to see what it was like. I can’t remember what the full list of ingredients were, but it had Cointreau, lime and soda for sure. I was amazed to hear the bell ringing and claxon on going a few minutes after I ordered it. Sure enough, I was the 500th person to order one 🙂

Next day I did the second circuit of the temples which was really enjoyable and seemed a lot quieter than the previous day, certainly fewer Chinese tourists getting in the way. At some of the temples, I was the only person and it was a pleasure to have them to myself.

By the afternoon I was beginning to flag. At the ancient hospital temple there was a young girl selling drinks and with the temperature being so hot, I bought a can of sprite from her. It was in a cool box with lots of melting ice. Now am not sure where the ice was made but doing my bit for the environment and refusing a plastic straw, I drank straight from the can. It had a bizarre dirty flavour to it, like brackish lake water, but as it was so hot, I downed it before I realised what I had just done. Later that day back at the hotel I began to feel a little peculiar. At first I thought it was a little heat stroke and dehydration, but it was more than that. I began with a migraine headache, I couldn’t see much and my eyes felt bruised as if my glasses were completely the wrong prescription. My hair hurt so much I couldn’t even wash it and I had an upset stomach the likes of which I have never experienced before. Needless to say this knocked me out of action for more than a few days. I had to cancel the tuk tuk driver I had arranged for some other tours, including the war museum.

I was meant to head down to Phnom Penh around 4th February but I was in no position to travel. Thankfully I was able to extend my time at Saem Siem Reap hotel and re-arrange my accommodation in Phnom Penh to a few days later. The medication I had been carrying with me since the beginning of this Walkabout was now pretty much depleted including the antibiotics. I have hardly been ill on my travels and gave most of my pills and potions away to fellow travellers in need along the way, but I was needing them now more than ever. I finished off all that I had in a ‘one last hurrah’ attempt to cure me and it seemed to do the trick. Over the previous 5 days or so, I had only eaten about one slice of watermelon.

Feeling a little perkier, I made my way to the bus station and got the Giant Ibis Bus to Phnom Penh.

It was a pleasant enough journey but the landscape was pretty boring. Cambodia is about as flat as the Netherlands and there were some dried up fields as far as the eye could see to look at for 6 hours. The point of heading to Phnom Penh was to visit the notorious killing fields and the S21 prison camp where many Cambodians were tortured and executed in mass genocide in the late 1970’s, often beaten to death as bullets were deemed too expensive to use. Unfortunately once checked in to the hotel down by the Mekong River, my symptoms returned. There was nothing much in vicinity of my hotel in the way of shops or restaurants so once again I ended up just staying in the hotel room for most of the time. I did venture out a couple of times to try and find some food and supplies but the area wasn’t all that nice. There was a mini market where I found some drinks and instant noodles which I brought back to the hotel room.

I was there for about 5 days and all in all it was essentially a wasted trip as I didn’t get to see the things I went there for. However, I received an email from an ex-colleague who was made redundant around the same time as me, saying that he was also in Phnom Penh and by sheer coincidence we were booked on the same bus heading back to Siem Reap the next day. Martin and I met at the Phnom Penh bus station but sadly our seats were at opposite ends of the bus.

We agreed to meet up in Pub Street and have dinner over a couple of nights which was nice.

I had a few days spare and enjoyed the tranquil surroundings by the swimming pool at the hotel. As much as I wanted to revisit the temples or museums, I didn’t want to chance it, just in case.

I had booked an onward flight to Canada but it was £300 cheaper to fly from Bangkok than it was to fly from Cambodia, even using the same connection in Hong Kong. So I arranged another Giant Ibis Bus to Bangkok for $30 but it took 7 hours including just under two hours at the border.

I fly to Canada tomorrow morning which will be a bit of a shock to the system for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I have not really experience temperatures below 30 degrees centigrade since before I left England back in July. So getting off the plane wearing shorts, t-shirt and sandals in -5 will be a shock to the system. Secondly, I have travelled to some of the most polluted cities on earth, Marrakech, Cairo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Delhi, Mumbai, Kathmandu and Bangkok to name a few. The cool, clean crisp air of the Canadian Rockies will literally be a breath of fresh air, like drinking water compared to a McDonald’s milkshake.

Just a quick note to say that I have not been very well for over a week now and have been pretty much hotel room bound.

I managed to have 4 amazing days around Angkor Wat and Siem Reap but since then I have not been very active at all and barely left the hotel room.

I did force myself to get on a bus for a 6 hour journey to Phnom Penh, positive that the medication will work, but the reality is, I just haven’t had the energy or strength to get up and venture out. I’m returning to Siem Reap on Tuesday.

All being well I will update this blog in a few days time.

I still had a couple of weeks left on my Thai visa so rather than moving on, I decided to stay a little longer and make the most of my time here. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. I have been to Thailand before and although it’s pretty nice, I didn’t want to head up north or to anywhere like Chang Mai again. Instead I chose to fly south to Phuket. It was only a 1 hour flight from Bangkok with Air Asia and cost £40, so not bad. Again I have been to Phuket and stayed in Karon beach area before so had a rough idea of what it was like. I looked on line for hotels or hostels etc. in some nice areas but they were all quite expensive as this seems to be a major holiday resort now, rather than a travellers destination.

I managed instead to find an apartment, a condo on the top floor, to rent for just over a week and it only cost £300.

One of the huge benefits of this was being in quite comfortable surroundings, close to the attractions without any of the immediate noise etc. Plus having a kitchen meant I could cook for myself rather than having to eat out and the major bonus, was having a washing machine. Most travellers don’t tell you how much time or money they spend on doing laundry, but believe me, it adds up. Yes, you can wash things in the shower or sink or hand them into various laundry stations that charge by the kilo or item, but over the months I have been travelling and adding up how much I have spent on laundry, I could have probably bought a washing machine!

Phuket and Karon have changed since I was last here, noticeably the sheer volume of Russian holiday makers, probably escaping the Siberian winter. I have no issue with that at all, good luck to them, but the whole place ‘feels’ different. The beach is crowded and it’s difficult to talk with some people due to language barriers. All said and done, in between watching my laundry go round, I simply spent a couple of days sat in the air conditioning, out of the blistering heat, and binge-watched 4 seasons of Narcos on Netflix. If anything, it’s improved my Portuguese-Spanish.

One of the things I really wanted to do whilst in Phuket, was to visit Khao Phing Kan, or to give it its tourist name, “James Bond Island”. It was used as a location in the 1974 James Bond film, The Man With The Golden Gun, as Scaramanga’s secret hideaway. So technically it should be called Scaramanga’s Island.

There are plenty of tours on offer all bookable locally with minimum one day notice so I chose one which included lunch, drinks, fruit and some sea kayaking too, all for 1,200Baht. A small minibus picked me up from the apartment and drove for about an hour or so picking up others along the way and we transferred to a boat. It was smooth voyage and the sea breeze was welcomed. Of in the distance and haze, you could see outlines of various mountain pinnacles rising out of the sea, but due to the haze playing tricks on your eyes, it often appeared as if you were seeing double.

It wasn’t long before we arrived at the first kayaking place. It was a sheltered cove and you could see where the sea had eroded some of the cliffs at the bottom while the tide was out. There was a small cave which we paddled into and on the ceiling, there were hundreds of fruit bats hanging upside down.

We carried on paddling though and then we saw light coming from the other side and suddenly we were in a secret lagoon, hidden from the outside world. I was one of the first to emerge from the cave so it really felt like I was exploring and going somewhere nobody has been before. There were walking fish on the exposed mud, loads of butterflies and monkeys too.

Back on the boat, it was about another hour to the next kayaking destination. Similar to the previous one, in through a cave to discover hidden lagoons around various rock formations and back to the boat. It was a really relaxing and enjoyable way to spend the morning.

Next it was on to the star attraction, James Bond Island. Ever since I first saw The Man With The Golden Gun, I thought how amazing it would be to live on an island like that. I still do, so when my 6 numbers come up, that’s what I’ll be doing. The island itself is quite small but there are plenty of tourist stalls lined up where Roger Moore and Christopher Lee had their duel. You sadly only get about 30 minutes to 1 hour on the island as there are boats bringing more tourists in on a conveyer belt system. It’s not really long enough to fully appreciate the setting, explore or be able to take a decent picture without anyone pushing in or photobombing, accidentally or on purpose. I had to be quite assertive to get some pictures.

I hope the Thai authorities do something to restrict the number of tourists visiting this island and preserve it.

Aware the film was made over 40 years ago, it’s in a marine national park and it’s a big money maker for them, but more recently so was Maya Beach off Koh Phi Phi, used in the 2000 film, The Beach. It was inundated with tourists but is now closed indefinitely to preserve the ecosystem there and without the tourist invasions, almost immediately black tip reef sharks have returned.

I was staying only minutes from the Karon Temple which on several evenings, hosts a thriving night market selling all sorts from souvenirs and clothes, to the famous Thai street food. The only issue with this, is that it gets crowded beyond belief. It took best part of 20minutes to walk somewhere that would normally take fewer than two. It is still a practicing temple and if you get up early enough, you can see locals lined along the street offering food the monks. It’s called Tak Bat and is an important part of Thai culture.

On one of the last days in Thailand, I decided to go all out and get a full massage. Exciting… Initially though, I went in just for a foot massage but also had a foot scrub too. It was nice but a little concerning when she produced something that looked like a potato peeler. It was all good in the end and now my feet are very smooth and relaxed. Next on the menu was the back, shoulder and neck massage and I certainly learned one thing. Never say to the oldest, smallest and wrinkliest of Thai masseurs, “It’s ok, I can take it.” I should have known I was in trouble when she just smiled wryly… She must have had forearms like Popeye and fingers harder than diamond drills. Am surprised I managed to last the hour intact, but I did and felt absolutely pummelled but amazing afterwards.

It was an early start the next morning as was catching a flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia…