Was enjoying a nice break from the busy work travel of my former job, but I’m back on the road again!
Last week, I ventured out to a hospital in Oklahoma City, OK and then took a mini road trip to Springfield, MO afterwards.
It was a good reminder of the opportunities of travel too, as my colleague tried okra and frog legs for the first time! I’d eaten them before but it was fun to partake in the wonder of seeing new things and trying new things.
Business-wise, it was great to see people react so warmly and excitedly to the system we’re bringing, and because of that, the hectic travel schedules come easier.
To cap it off, I flew home to a beautiful moonrise:
And by the by, Oklahoma is #43 on the state race!
Bangkok, Thailand (and a little China too)
3/23-26
Flew from Siem Reap to Bangkok and guess who we met up with at the airport?
My friend Logan, who I started with at Epic and is now doing an around-the-world trip!
He was definitely more tan and grizzled than when I last saw him.
We dropped our stuff off at Bed Station hostel and went to explore the city.
Bangkok is very much a big, sprawling city and was way more developed than Cambodia. We took a long walk through the city and ended up at Golden Mountain temple for sunset. Despite the cloudy (smoggy?) conditions, it was quite the view.
We made our way to Khao San Road, the epicenter of Bangkok nightlife, grabbed some big Chang beers on a balcony, and people-watched the lively stretch of bars, restaurants, and street vendors.
That was the beginning of the night, and after some pad thai from some street vendors and haggling with others, we eventually wandered over to Soi Cowboy, a street lined with go-go dancer bars.
An amusing game we played was “spot the lady boys.” The dancers and waitresses were all pretty touchy and unyielding, but we had fun cracking jokes with them in English and broken Thai.
The next morning, as a result of our drink choices the night before, we were all hit with a “Chang-over”. But we solved that with some city touring. We walked a lot, took a bus, and chilled out.
Along the way, we passed the Victory Monument and hung out for a while at Lumphini Park, which was sort of like a Central Park except with giant monitor lizards roaming around the grass.
At night, Jeff and I joined some hostel friends at an EDM concert which was interesting.
After saying goodbye to Logan, the next day, we did some more city exploring. This time, we took a long boat down the river, and visited some temples. I really enjoyed all the different modes of transportation we took during the trip.
Wat Benchamabophit had really nice marble structures.
Wat Pho was quite big and included the giant reclining buddha and many beautiful spires.
We strolled down the river side and took in sunset at Sanam Luang Park, where there were kite battles! I was fascinated by the teams of kite flyers and runners.
For dinner, we chowed down on a giant barbequed fish!
We spent our last night getting some drinks way up high at Cloud47 sky bar and then playing a random and funny game of truth or dare with some other hostelmates. Jeff got really lucky in the game.
The next morning was quick. We did a little souvenir shopping and shared lunch before breaking off on separate flights. I’m really glad I got to travel around to all these places with Jeff. Never a dull moment. Many funny ones instead :)
Before heading back to the States, I stopped over in Guangzhou for a day and a half to visit family! All we did was eat, but it was great to see cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
I got to indulge in wonton noodles, dim sum, lunch, dinner, and then capped it off with a stroll through Lychee Bay Park. It was a really nice end to an awesome trip.
3/20-23
From Phnom Penh, we took a shuttle van for around five hours to get to Siem Reap.
After dropping stuff off at our hotel, we checked out a Khmer art and ceramics shop. It was pretty interesting to see the traditional kilns and pottery making process.
We then tuk-tuked over to see the Angkor Wat sunset, which wasn’t great that night but it was a first intro to me to the many temples we’d explore a few days later.
Later, we met up with my old college friend and fellow camp counselor Ann! It’s a pretty funny story. I went to college with Ann and we had sort of lost contact, until I saw Jeff post a picture one day and she was in it!
It just so happened that Ann was also working with the Peace Corps in a village near Siem Reap. I had to do a double take, but we made plans to meet up. Pretty crazy that us reuniting five years later would be halfway around the world… Small world? Or really big world?
Anyways, it was fun to check out some of the nightlife in Siem Reap, including seeing Pub Street, which was basically a frat party in the street.
The next day, we went to an Angkor silk farm, where we saw the process of going from silk worms to silk. I actually ate a boiled silk worm (they’re typically fried as a snack) and it had a mild peanut buttery taste.
Afterwards, we dropped off at the Baray, a big man made reservoir with tons of hammocks. It was dry season, so the water didn’t come up to the hammocks, but it was really nice to relax and lounge around. Like many other times during the trip, we indulged in some barbequed chicken for lunch.
At sunset, we took a tuk tuk along the river and the dusty, red dirt roads to Phnom Kraum, and hung out a the top of the mountain. Along the way, there were many cows, buffalo, chickens, and dogs in the countryside.
Last thing we did that day was rent a tandem bike, for our big adventure the next day.
We rose early the next morning and set off on our bike to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. That sunrise was pretty magnificent.
We spent the rest of the day tandem biking all around the temples of Angkor. It was really cool to see each of them and their uniqueness: the big spires, doorways, carvings, limestone, moats, etc. One of my favorites was Ta Prohm, where the temple seemed one with the jungle, with trees and branches intertwined throughout.
It turned out to be a great and funny decision to choose to tandem bike. There were a good amount of bikers, but we didn’t see any other tandem bikes. We drew a lot of laughs and smiles. And Jeff, being the ever friendly chatterer, made many friends along the way.
You had to see us. Jeff, with a krama (traditional Cambodian cloth scarf), and me, with highlighter colored running shoes, biking along. I would’ve probably laughed too. One person thought we brought the bike from America haha.
Before heading home, we stopped by a Peace Corps volunteer’s village nearby and his gracious host family invited us to stay for dinner. It was interesting to hear some of their stories and enjoy some traditional Khmer cuisine.
All in all, we were out there from sunrise to sundown, a fitting and awesome end to our time in Siem Reap.
3/18-20
Landed in Phnom Penh after around 20 hours of travel and was greeted by my friend Jeff and what seemed like half of the kingdom of Cambodia at the airport.
It was quite the reception, and off we went in a tuk-tuk through the night on dusty roads to Jeff’s place.
Rise and shine:
I always have a weird and somewhat invigorating feeling when I wake up in a far different place. I think that’s good. Means I’m still excited by adventure.
Man, the dry season in Cambodia is hot. That sticky, humid hot too. This resulted in constant sweat and multiple showers a day.
Traveling around mostly in tuk-tuks, which are basically carriages powered by a moto bike, was pretty nice. They could get quite bumpy, but certainly got the job done and provided shade and a nice breeze too.
Cambodia suffered through genocide in its recent history (late 70’s) with the Khmer Rouge, and we spent some time visiting historical sites. It was heavy day.
Out of the over one million people that were executed during that dark time in Cambodia’s history, nearly 9,000 were murdered at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Seeing and walking around the mass graves was immensely sobering.
You could actually see some human bones and tattered clothing sticking out of the dirt. Each new rain uncovers more of the atrocities that happened in the recent past.
For lunch, and many other meals while in Cambodia, we went with the local cuisine, which was delicious and cheap. The best of both worlds.
Later in the day, we also visited Tuol Sleng S-21, a former high school-turned-prison and execution center during the Khmer Rouge regime.
Around sunset, we took a cruise along the Mekong River and visited the night market for some delicious coconut ice cream, which certainly wasn’t the last time that would happen.
The next day, we participated in a dodgeball tournament! Most of the teams were made up of peace corps volunteers or other foreigners working on development in Phnom Penh, and it was a fun time, especially since I hadn’t played dodgeball since college.
Everyone was way into it, with team cheers and uniforms and all. Alas, we did not dodge nearly enough balls to win, but were inspired in going on a cinderella run to sixth place haha.
At night, we went to a lively “pre-funk” (a Northwestern hipster term for “pre-game”), during which I attempted to crack someone’s hip, and then hopped around the local bars.
All in all, had a great time in Phnom Penh and loved finally getting the chance to see where Jeff has called home for the past few years.
Yesterday, I returned from an amazing trip to Southeast Asia. The cities and countries I visited included:
- 3/18-3/20: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- 3/20-3/23: Siem Reap, Cambodia
- 3/23-3/26: Bangkok, Thailand
- 3/26-3/28: Guangzhou, China
Most of the trip was with one of my best friends, Jeff, who I met in high school but now lives in Phnom Penh.
The plan was first hatched when he came home to visit over the holidays and after some quick planning, we made it happen.
I was glad to get the chance to finally see Jeff’s new home and the culture he’s immersed himself in.
It was also great to catch up with some old friends from Berkeley (Ann) and Madison (Logan) as well along the way.
We were intrepid.
We joked.
We climbed.
We adventured.
With lots of temples and sweat, good times and laughs in between.