Finishing Malaysia, touring Cambodia and starting in Bangkok
Hello all,
It is that time again to give an update of my travels. Over the last 3 weeks I have been hopping all over the place in South East Asia and having a grand time. I will give a brief rundown of where I have been and then tell a few stories about the places I have been.
Feb. 5 – arrive in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia from the Cameron Highlands
Feb. 6 – 8 in Georgetown
Feb. 9 & 10 – Langkawi, north tip of Malaysia
Feb. 11 – 14, Ko Lipe, south island of Thailand
Feb. 15 – Hat Yai south mainland of Thailand
Feb. 16 – overnight bus to Bangkok
Feb. 17 in Bangkok
Feb. 18 – bus to Siam Reap in Cambodia
Feb 19 – 21 in Siem Reap and Angkor Wat (one of the 8 natural wonders of the world)
Feb. 22 & 23 – Phnom Penh – capital city of Cambodia
Feb. 24 – Mar. 1 – Bangkok
Looking back at these 24 days and I can’t believe where I have been and what I have seen. I have had some great moments and stories to tell.
In Georgetown I stayed in a hostel called Huttons Lodge and met my 2 dorm mates (Sascha from Germany and Michael)right away. We decided to go to an outdoor cultural show that was at the town hall. It was mostly Chinese cultural stuff with Chinese New Year so close. After the show we made our way to the pub district and had a few drinks before getting caught in a huge rain storm and having to take a taxi back to the hostel.
The next morning Michael and I along with 2 American girls decided to tour around the Penang Hill. At the bottom you get a pulley train to the top where they have a Hindu Temple, Mosque and Christian church. The group of us then walked down the hill and along the way we got a little to close to some monkeys and a male decided to chase us down the road. I thought we had gone far enough and looked back and the damn thing was right behind me and did not look happy. We ran a little further and the monkey finally left us alone. We ended up going down the wrong side of the hill and so we needed to take a taxi to our next destination Kek Lok Si Temple. The temple is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia. It took us a long time to get it see all the different parts of it and it was amazing. We stopped for a few minutes and were approached by an older gentleman who asked us if we were there for the celebration? We looked at him and asked what celebration. He told us that it was the lighting of the festival lights on the temple for Chinese New Year’s. We were invited to join in the buffet dinner and then got to watch the monks as they went through all the ceremonial prayers before the lite up all the lanterns. It was amazing how many lights they had, it had to be a million all over the place. We walked around the temple again in the dark and then headed out so that we could see it from further away. The temple was so bright and you could see it from all over the city. My last day in Georgetown I toured around the city and seen all the sites.
It was time to head for the beach and get some sun on the island of Langkawi. Langkawi is at the top end of Malaysia and is a beautiful island. I got checked into the hostel and went straight for the beach. Sascha was also in Langkawi and we ended up meeting up later in the evening with some others for dinner and then drinks at a beach bar that had a great jazz band playing. I only spent 2 days in Langkawi because it was very touristy and I was headed to another beach place next in Ko Lipe Thailand.
Ko Lipe was like a vacation away from my travels. It is a beautiful small island that had no cars. They are plenty of motorbikes but everything is really relaxed on the island. I met up with my friend Nilly that I met while in Kuala Lumpur. She was there with her boyfriend and some of her friends from Sweden. We spent 4 days chilling out and relaxing. We did a tour around the island and got in a great day of snorkeling in as well.
I had planned on meeting up with my friend Sanna in Bangkok but while I was in Ko Lipe she contacted me and we worked out a plan to meet up sooner. When I left Ko Lipe I went to the Thai mainland and the town of Hat Yai where I got a bus up to Bangkok and then another bus to Siam Reap in Cambodia. After two days of travel I was pretty tired when I got there and meet up with Sanna. We took it easy the first evening as Sanna was not feeling that well.
Siem Reap is the town where you stay to visit Angkor Wat. The temples of Angkor were built from the 800’s to the early 1200’s. As each king took over they seemed to want to build something bigger and better than the last king. The result is the seventh wonder of the world. Most of the temples are is assorted states of ruin but are amazing to see. They all tell a story in their carvings throughout and a huge national pride to the Khmer (Cambodians) people. There are so many temples in the area that you would need over a week to see them all but the ones we did see were amazing. The city of Siem Reap is very touristy and all are there for the same reason, to see Angkor Wat. This is a place that everyone should take the time to see and enjoy the history is shares with us. These types of places are hard to describe in writing and so I will not even try.
Meeting up with Sanna has been great and getting to know her again. We traveled together with Esther and it is so nice to meet up with her again. We have had great discussions and debates and our travels together have been fantastic.
We left Siem Reap and took a bus to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Going to Phnom Penh was about trying to understand what happened in Cambodia’s past. While I was there we went to the killing fields of Choeung Ek. This is one of over 3oo killing fields throughout Cambodia from the time just after the Vietnam War. A communist dictator named Pol Pot took over and forced all the people to leave the cities and work on rice fields in the country. Any of the intellectual people were killed and anyone who went against him. 100,000’s of people were murdered in a 3 year span from 1975 to 1978 until Vietnam attacked the country and took over. I don’t remember learning a lot about this stuff in school but it is amazing to be learning it now. To think that it was not that long ago that all this happened. It is hard to explain everything I saw here but it was not a good feeling kinda of like when I was in parts of Germany and France 20 years ago taking the sites of WWI and WWII. One thing that seemed to make everything a little easier here was hearing a bunch of kids playing in the area. There is a school right beside the killing fields and it was nice to hear them. In the afternoon we toured around the other sites of the city and saw the huge Royal Palace and Silver Pogoda. In the evening I went to the Olympic Stadium and saw a ton of Khmer people exercising is many different ways. I saw soccer, volleyball, basketball, badminton, running, aerobics and swimming. The Khmer people seem to be very happy and have moved on from their terrible past. They talk about how all Thai people smile and they do but the Cambodians just seem to have bigger smiles.
After 2 ½ days in the capital we flew to Bangkok because Sanna was flying back to Finland. I have spent the last 6 days hanging out in Bangkok. I was able to see a bunch more temples in the city as well as the Grand Palace. The palace was an amazing place as well and the Thai people really love their King. I would have left Bangkok earlier but I really started to get into the Olympic coverage and wanted to stay around so that I could watch how Canada did and especially in hockey. As it turns out it was a great decision and I got to see Canada win Gold over the Americans. We had a crowd of about 20 Canadians and a few Americans.
I am getting ready to head into the north part of Thailand and really see the culture and history of the country. I will see a tiger temple, bridge of river Kwai (yes the one from the movie) and the hill tribes of northern Thailand.
I hope you all take care and that I get to chat with many of you soon.
Steve
PS: There are a few upcoming birthdays to send out wished to. My Uncle George has a birth day on March 1st, then my cousin Nicole has her day on the 7th of March and her sister Jacqueline has her birthday on the 15th of March. I hope you all have a great day on your special day.
Tags: Thailand
sdietrich90
hi Steve
My goodness you are making me weary just reading all you are doing, What an exciting time you are having. And all the friends you are making.Keep up all the good communciation as I love reading about you adventures. All is well here.
Auntie Audry
So good to hear from you Steve. I read every word you write, and look at every picture you send. Uncle and I have been watching the Olympic’s along with everyone else. They have been great. It’s kind of a let down now. Jay Liz and there little girl came on Thur.Feb. 25th and left for Kansaa this morning Mar.1st. It was so good to see them. Keep well Steve.
Love you.
I’m not sure where you’re getting your information, but
good topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more.
Thanks for excellent info I was looking for this information for my mission.
Great beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your
web site, how could i subscribe for a blog site?
The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear idea
If you desire to get a great deal from this article then you
have to apply these methods to your won website.
If you might be a beginner, you need to choose a full sole because
they provide extra support to the foot that
make it simpler educate yourself on the basic jazz dance steps.
The word “sabotage” has been said to be a consequence of this, however, the word ‘sabot’
is French, and ‘saboter’ methods to knock while using foot, or work carelessly.
Before you begin painting your shoes, stuff all of them with paper towels or what you may can.
Feel free to surf to my blog – giuseppe zanotti outlet
These bridal purses look cute yet elegant due to sequins they have.
If your dark circles are certainly not terribly noticeable you could be capable of getting away with just by using a foundation instead of a concealer.
These items could include; water blaster, beach ball,
or bubble container.
Also visit my webpage :: cheap prada bags
All modern prints are covered in a very fresh cover and present
in fresh mailer with affection and love. However, it might vary according to your region along with where the online shop is based.
In most cases, men choose to dark colors since they will be easy to
maintain instead of easily noted should they be dirty.
Look at my blog post – giuseppe zanotti outlet
Almost 80 % of such same individuals said they’d no trouble remembering the name
of the company that gave them the product. If he has some unique skills,
encourage him to harness the chance of that skill. A white handbag can compliment an outfit in so
many ways so go and obtain your white handbags out
of the closet and provide it out and to the sunshine.
Also visit my page cheap prada bags
It all commences with a sensor that’s meant to be tripped by inertia.
Almost everyone want to own one of these desired designer
handbags, yet for several of us it just costs too much. When selecting
a toiletry bag there are several items to consider: Size – Will everything that this man needs fit into one bag.
Also visit my blog; prada bags outlet
I absolutely love your blog and find almost all of your post’s to be exactly what I’m looking for.
Does one offer guest writers to write content for you?
I wouldn’t mind publishing a post or elaborating on a lot of the subjects you
write in relation to here. Again, awesome weblog!
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew
of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.
I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and
was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something
like this. Please let me know if you run into anything.
I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward
to your new updates.
I go to see every day some sites and websites to read posts, but this webpage provides feature based
articles.
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular article!
It is the little changes which will make
the most significant changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!
I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high-quality articles or weblog posts
on this sort of space . Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled
upon this site. Reading this information So i’m happy to exhibit
that I’ve a very good uncanny feeling I found out just what I needed.
I most surely will make certain to do not fail to remember this web site and give it a glance on a
continuing basis.
Hi there, You’ve done a fantastic job. I’ll definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends.
I am sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Hello, everything is going perfectly here and ofcourse every one is sharing
information, that’s actually fine, keep up writing.
Aw, this was a very nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to create a great article… but what can I say… I hesitate a lot and don’t manage to get nearly anything done.
Having read this I believed it was really enlightening.
I appreciate you taking the time and energy to put this content together.
I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time both reading
and leaving comments. But so what, it was still worth it!
Hi there very nice website!! Guy .. Excellent ..
Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your site and take the feeds additionally?
I am satisfied to find numerous helpful information right here in the publish,
we want develop extra strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing.
. . . . .
Appreciating the dedication you put into your website and detailed information you offer.
It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that
isn’t the same unwanted rehashed material. Wonderful
read! I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my
Google account.
Hi there, I desire to subscribe for this weblog to obtain most
recent updates, therefore where can i do it please help out.
Thank you for another informative website. Where else may
just I am getting that kind of information written in such a perfect method?
I’ve a mission that I’m simply now operating on, and I have been at the look out
for such info.
I really like what you guys tend to be up too. Such clever work
and coverage! Keep up the excellent works guys I’ve added you guys to blogroll.
Good day! I could have sworn I’ve visited this blog before but after going through some of the articles I realized it’s new to me.
Regardless, I’m certainly delighted I discovered it and
I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back often!
You made some decent points there. I looked on the net for more info about the issue and found most people will go along with your views on this web site.
I was recommended this web site by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as
nobody else know such detailed about my difficulty.
You’re incredible! Thanks!
I visited various web pages except the audio quality for audio songs current at this
web page is in fact wonderful.
My brother suggested I might like this website. He was entirely
right. This post actually made my day. You can not imagine just how much time I
had spent for this info! Thanks!
We stumbled over here coming from a different web
address and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you.
Look forward to looking into your web page again.
Jacqualine Skiff
I found a great…