The Travelling Feet

When you plan to go on a food trip in the historic town of Angkor temples and have no idea where to hang out in Siem Reap, you should consider going to the ever famous Pub Street for different food choices. In there, you’ll get a taste of authentic Khmer cuisine among other international food cuisines. However, there’s also one restaurant in Siem Reap that you shouldn’t miss – that’s if you are into buffet meals and unlimited ice cream all rolled into one affordable eat-all-you-can meal.

Just when you make that right to turn to Sivatha Road when travelling from the National Highway in Siem Reap, you’ll probably notice Lucky Mall, a 3-story building on the right side of the road. Hidden on its third floor is a restaurant called Lucky Shabu House, which serves Japanese, Thai and Khmer cuisine among others.

What’s so special about this place is that for $6.50 you get to dine buffet style and get access to the unlimited supply of all the food and drinks in the restaurant, not including bottled drinks you’ll see in the fridge though.

Once you get inside the Lucky Shabu House, you’d immediately see a a long stretch of moving plates like those you see in Japanese sushi restaurants with conveyor belts. Feel free to seat wherever you want. There’s a singles hot pot where you can mix your own shabu-shabu food. There are also tables good for 4 heads where you can share each other’s version of cooked shabu meals.

Angel & I showing off our shabu shabu ingredients; Ed getting a facial steam bath; us playing w/chopsticks

Shabu-shabu is a Japanese variant of hot pot. The name shabu-shabu is derived from the “swish swish” sound of cooking the meat in the pot. The dish is related to sukiyaki in style, in that both use thinly sliced meat and vegetables and are usually served with dipping sauces, but it is considered to be more savory and less sweet than sukiyaki. It is considered a winter dish, but is eaten year-round.

This Khmer style shabu shabu hot pot has a different taste from other shabu-shabu meals because of the presence of different spices and seasoning that you add on your hot pot. Once you reach your seats, the staff will immediately ask you what broth flavor you want. Bland, sweet and spicy are your options.

Once the broth arrives, you can start swish swishing your food ingredients into the pot, add flavoring, wait for a couple of minutes for the meat and veggies to get cooked and dig in. When the staff sees that you are almost out of broth, they won’t hesitate to refill your hot pot.

Lucky Shabu House also serves different kinds of maki, few sushi variants, some vegetable salads and appetizers. There’s also a few Thai looking Khmer cuisines but I never got the chance to ask what those were since my mouth got busy eating them all. hehehe. There’s also unlimited soda, iced tea and lemon/orange juice available.

Some cheapskates (like me) might find the $6.50 a little bit expensive for an eat-all-you-can shabu-shabu buffet but my friend, Ed, thinks otherwise. And he got me convinced on this one too all because of their ice cream.

Are you an ice cream addict? Well if you happen to travel to Siem Reap, a scoop of ice cream will cost you $1-$2. Buying a pint or those bigger ones will cost you more since ice cream is kinda expensive in this side of town. However, in this shabu shabu restaurant in Siem Reap, you’d get unlimited supply of ice cream! So when we crave for one, or when we feel the need to reward ourselves after a week-long fasting/diet, or perhaps when there’s something that needs celebrating, we dine at Lucky Shabu House. And when we do, we make sure we get to eat as much ice cream as the rest of the food available in there.

Ed, eating out his 15th scoop of ice cream; Angel enjoying his yummy chocolate flavored ice cream

Reminders when eating at Lucky Shabu House:

• You don’t have to dress fancy to eat there.
• You have to eat everything or else you’d be fined $1 (I think). But you can always hide/drop your leftovers in the hotpot. Just make sure it still has broth in it. hehe
• Taking photos is not allowed and there are signs plastered all over the wall to remind you of this but you can politely ask their staff to take your solo/group photo. As for souvenir shots of the place, you can always sneak out.
• There are 3 flavors of Nestle ice cream – chocolate, vanilla and taro.
• If you decide to dine eat-all-you-can style in there with ice cream as your number one priority, be sure to ask if they have stocks of ice cream first coz sometimes they ran out of it.
• On our last pig out there, we were reminded that we only had 20 minutes more to stay in the restaurant. I didn’t know they had that kind of policy after eating there a couple of times. I guess they got threatened by our countless trips to the ice cream fridge.

I could no longer count the number of times I dined at the Lucky Shabu Housem, which is located inside the Lucky Mall Plaza in Siem Reap. On our last food trip, our good friend Angel of Lakwatsero.com came to visit us. We really had a blast enjoying the shabu2x meal and all the good food Siem Reap had to offer including where to buy cakes at 50% off. Will tell you bout that next time.

As for the Shabu Shabu meal, try it out if you have all the time to explore Siem Reap and better go there with friends for an enjoybale dining experience.

Lucky Shabu House is not open all day long but I’m sure they open at 6pm to cater to their evening diners.

(click on map to enlarge)

When you travel to Siem Reap, the first indication that you are near the town is when you start seeing big hotels from both sides of the road. Know that you are passing by the national highway of this famous tourist town in Cambodia. If you think booking on those huge hotels along the national highway gets you closer to town, then I’m sorry to burst your bubble. You’d have to travel approximately 2 kilometers more to reach the town center where you can hang out and find cheap places to eat in Siem Reap. If you have cash to burn, then by all means, stay on those posh hotels and spend your money paying for tuktuk rides or bike rentals. Although Siem Reap is a really really small town, it would be best to get closer to the town center as it will be more convenient for you to discover places on where to hang out in Siem Reap’s numerous restaurants along Pub Street.

Pub Street is basically where everyone goes to have a great time after spending the day doing Angkor tours. So if you are headed to Siem Reap, go to google and make sure you find accommodations within a 1-2 kilometer radius from that street, which is also near the Old Market.

At day time, Pub Street, the famous street in Siem Reap, will look like any ordinary establishment in the area except for the presence of tourists who get their daily dose of meals. Some of restaurant’s regular patrons are either expats who got stuck in Siem Reap or those travellers who travel around the globe and have listed Siem Reap in their bucket list of must-see places because of the historical Angkor Wat temples.

Once darkness envelops the entire town, the whole area transforms into a different place. It comes to life at night and you will see the entire stretch of buildings lit up brightly as if telling you to stop by and check them out.

During my stay in Siem Reap, I met different travellers, including Pinoys. Some were just passing through while others really intended to travel to this place to visit the Angkor temples. Some were businessmen and engineers back home and chose to drop by Siem Reap. One was a diabolo performer while another one played poker games online. And every time they ask for cheap places to eat in Siem Reap, my travel buddy and I bring them to Pub Street. We already know some of the best restaurants in Siem Reap and most of them are found in Pub Street.

Alley West, a tamer side of Pub Street

Most of the time, this street gets loud and rowdy so for those who want a more subdued location, you can head over to Alley West for your dinner and grab cheap beers along Pub Street after. Alley West is the artsy area in the area, which is on the back side back of Pub Street (depending on where you are standing. hehe). In there, you can enjoy your Khmer dinner peacefully and practice your people watching skills before you get wasted.

Aside from finding the best Khmer cuisines in Pub Street, book lovers can drop by at bookshops within the area. The night market is also nearby, where you can continue your last minute shopping.

For beer lovers, Pub Street is your paradise as you’d have access to dirt cheap beers. Some restaurants or bars offer Angkor Draft beer as cheap as $0.50 and $1.50 for cocktails (others offer the buy-1-take-1 cocktail deals) so be sure to look for those establishments. Normally, you’d see a signage indicating each restaurant’s deals. Otherwise, don’t hesitate to ask their crew before you seat comfortably.

If you are a fan of Angelina Jolie, don’t miss out the Red Piano bar. They offer the Tomb Raider Cocktail, a drink which they claim as Angelina Jolie’s favorite drink at the Red Piano bar. It’s just a mixture of Cointreau, lime juice and tonic all for $3.50. Spell expensive! And I have to admit that that price tag didn’t prevent my curiosity from trying out the drink. #facepalm

The Pub Street is one of the best places where to find good food in Siem Reap. You can also catch an Aspara dance, Cambodia’s traditional dance, at Temple Club.

So in case you are still wondering where to hang out in Siem Reap, Pub Street is the place to be!

View Larger Map

During my previous posts, I have discussed the 6 ways to travel from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet border if you are doing a Bangkok to Siem Reap overland border crossing via Bangkok to Poipet. I have also mentioned that once you have determined what mode of land transportation you will choose to reach the border in Aranyaprathet, Thailand, you simply follow the instructions I provided on how to cross borders from Aranyaprathet to Poipet. Once you remembered those tips on how to do the overland border crossing from Bangkok to Poipet, you now need to know how to travel from Poipet to Siem Reap [on your own].

This article aims to help you follow a do-it-yourself guide so that you don’t have to spend too much when travelling from Poipet to Siem Reap. Booking for a Bangkok to Siem Reap trip from a travel agency is too expensive. I would suggest that you travel to the border on your own, unless you have a lot of money to burn. No worries, it’s not really difficult. Promise.

If you have read my article on how to cross the Thailand-Cambodia borders, you will remember about the touts I mentioned.

These Khmer touts normally wear black slacks with light colored long sleeves. My take is that they wear this kind of “uniform” in order to look presentable and professional to tourists when they approach them to offer their services – whether a tour package to see the temples of Angkor Wat, taxi ride, translator service, or your regular customer service aide. If you want to get some questions answered as to where you need to go once you exit the immigration office in Poipet, feel free to ask those Khmer locals at the waiting area. However, be prepared for they might attempt at offering their services to you. Simply decline their offers politely if you want to. Rememer the golden rule. If you are rude to them, you’d probably get the same treatment from them. However, if it gets to the point where they get annoying, then better do something about it, k? The best tip I can give you on how to deal with them is by using the silent treatment. Simply stop yourself from finding the urge to speak to them even though you are already imagining how you’d cut their tongues to keep them shut. They’ll eventually leave you if you don’t respond to their questions.

How to Travel from Poipet to Siem Reap?

There are different ways to go to Siem Reap from Poipet. However, since Poipet does not have an airport, you will have to endure travelling by land for 2.5 hours up to 3.5 hours. In here, I will list down 4 ways that you can choose on where you need to find your mode of transportation if you want to travel from Poipet to Siem Reap.

1. Government Passenger Terminal

The most widely used mode of transportation is via the transportation available at the government bus terminal. Once you exit the doors of the immigration office in Poipet, just walk forward till you see the covered area as shown on the photo on top. Just so you’d know, there are 2 “Government” bus terminals in Poipet. One only takes roughly 5 minutes to travel from the immigration office. You’ll reach the other one after 15 minutes. The trip to both terminals is free. A bus will be waiting for you when you leave the immigration office but you will not know what terminal the driver will bring you and the other travellers. Do not panic. You will reach the terminal. If there are no available buses that will bring you to the terminals, there’s an area where you can sit and wait. There’s also a store there where you can buy drinks to quench your thirst.

both white and red buses offers free rides to reach the Poipet Government Bus Terminal

the Poipet Bus Terminal 5 minutes away from the border

Once you are in the terminal, you will be asked where you need to go and what mode of transportation you will choose.

If you are on your way to Siem Reap, here’s what you need to consider:

Poipet to Siem Reap by Taxi – $12/pax
Poipet to Siem Reap by Bus – $9/pax

The taxi is good for 4 heads. If you are travelling alone and want a solo trip, you can hire the taxi and pay $48 for the special trip. Otherwise, it is best to approach other travellers so that you can share the ride. Travel time will take 3 hours. You’ll save 30 minutes of travel time if your driver drives like a maniac.

If you decide to go by bus, travel time will probably take 3.5 hours. The bus will leave when it’s almost full. So unless you are in a hurry, feel free to choose this option.

Poipet Tourist Passenger International Terminal, 15 minutes away from the border

When there are no buses available and your travel party can fit inside a van, there’s a high probability that you will be seated in a van along with other travellers. You still need to pay $12/head though. Travel time is approximately 3 hours.

Before you leave the terminal, someone will ask you what country you are from and where you will stay. Most likely, they will drop you off in your hotel.

For those who does not have any hotel reservation, they’ll probably take you to one of the hotels they partner with or drop you off 2 kilometers from the main city. When this happens, tell them you will look for your own hotel. And find your own tuktuk. It only costs $1 to hire a tuktuk driver. $2 if you are farther from the city area. However, certain tuktuk drivers offer free rides to help you find a hotel/hostel provided you hire them the next day to see the temples of Angkor Wat. Remember that it only costs $12-$15 to hire a tuktuk to view the temples in one day.

2. Taxi

There are two places where you can hire a taxi and pay a cheaper rate to bring you to Siem Reap aside from the taxis waiting for you at Option#1.

Taxi near the immigration office

If you are travelling in a group of 3-5, you can attempt to discuss with a tout or immediately look for a taxi driver that will take you to Siem Reap. The good thing with this option is that you do not have to go to the Passenger Terminal. You simply discuss your price with the taxi driver. If you have great haggling skills, start haggling at $30 for the trip. Maximum should be $40-$45, ok?

To the right side of this roundabout, just a few meters after the waiting area where you wait for the free bus ride, you will see parked taxis. You can immediately go there and look for a taxi driver and start haggling.

Note: When I tried to do a visa run, I joined 4 Filipinos on our way back to Siem Reap. One of them speaks Khmer and he made a no-sweat deal with the driver to bring us from Poipet to Siem Reap for only $30. That’s just $6 per head!

On a next trip I made, when I travelled from Poipet to Siem Reap, I approached a Japanese couple and asked them if they want to share the taxi with me. They agreed. I haggled for $30 but since I can’t speak Khmer, the drivers were being difficult. I finally found one who agreed for $35. The couple gave an amount more than their share so I ended up paying only $9 for the trip!

If I went to the Passenger terminal, I would have paid $12 for the trip. The only inconvenience here is the haggling part.

Taxi within the city

I wanted to find out where locals find a taxi if they want to travel from Poipet to Siem Reap. I rode one where we only paid $30 for the trip. Surely there must be a cheaper taxi. So I talked to one of the locals and asked him where I can find a taxi where I only need to pay $6. He said there’s no rate like that. I insisted there must be one. He said he could take me to one where they charge $7 and I just need to pay him 20 baht for the ride. It was a done deal. He’s actually driving to bring passengers to their desired destinations. He brought me to a small office in the city center. One passenger was already waiting. I was the 2nd. We had to wait for 2 more passengers. After 1.5 hours, we left Poipet.

This mode of transportation is very inconvenient since you had to wait for the taxi to get filled. The maximum capacity of the taxi is 6 persons. Since there was a passenger who had goods with her, she paid for 1 seat and I got seated next to a couple of boxes while 2 more passengers were seated beside me. There were 2 more passengers in front of the taxi.

This mode of transportation is great for budget travellers like me. But if you are not the type of person who’d want to be inconvenienced by such and wouldn’t mind paying more, then I’d suggest going with option # 1.

3. Private bus company

I normally pay $3.50 for a one-way trip from Siem Reap to Poipet. Because of this, one of my goal when I was travelling back and forth Siem Reap was to find a similar bus company with that rate when doing the Poipet to SR route. However, I failed to find out more about this. On my last Poipet to Siem Reap trip, I attempted to find a bus company that would go back to SR after bringing passengers from SR in the morning. After searching for one, I finally gave in to riding a taxi and paid $7 again.

However, I did find out that there’s a private company that travels from Poipet to Siem Reap. I failed to inquire about the rate but the bus leaves at 8am, which I find impossible to catch since I normally arrive in Poipet (from Bangkok or SR) at around 11-12nn.

4. Travel Agency in Bangkok or the like

You can also book an overland trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap from a travel agency in Bangkok, specifically the ones near Khao San road. The only catch is that you’ll pay more than twice the rate of that taxi fare mentioned in option 1. What’s worse is that you’ll go through the same process when crossing borders if you are coming from Bangkok since there are no direct trips from Bangkok to Siem Reap.

the paved roads going to Siem Reap

Let me tell you a story:

I rode a van (option # 2 as mentioned here) from Khao San road to get to the Aranyaprathet border. Before we were brought to the border, we stopped at this small open air restaurant where Thai drivers normally bring their passengers. In there, they convinced us to take our lunch. The food were priced at 70++ baht per meal. I find the prices a bit expensive. Since I am travelling on a budget, I brought food with me and I didn’t order anything there. There’s this one Thai tout who approached everyone and told them what they need to do in securing their Cambodian visa and how to get to Siem Reap. I was half listening to him. Some of my companions already paid for their one way trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap. Others, like me, who do not have a ride yet from Poipet to Siem Reap were told we could join them for 700 baht. I had to stop myself from mocking the tout as I might not come out alive in that place. I told him I will travel on my own and that I will not join his recruits. He came back to me after a few minutes and asked me how much I was willing to pay to reach Siem Reap. I said 250 baht. He moved his head side ways showing his disapproval of my rate and walked away.

That Thai tout was asking me to pay 800 baht for a trip from Poipet to Siem Reap. That’s approximately $22 (~$1 = 31.50 baht). My budget was only $7. The regular rate to travel from Poipet to SR, if you take the “government” mandated taxi, is $12/head on a shared taxi of 4 peeps. The amount that the Thai tout quoted those innocent and first-time travelers was outrageous!

It really pays to know how much you need to pay when travelling to other places to avoid being scammed. Because of the famous Angkor Wat temples, there are many travellers who go to Cambodia all the time. There are a lot of scams happening both in the Thai and Cambodian borders. Even immigration officials extort money from travellers. I was one of them. It’s just sad knowing that scammers exist in those places because of us, travellers. My wish is that YOU will not be one of their victims.

Happy Safe travels you!

You might also find these articles useful:

• 6 Ways to Travel from Bangkok to the Aranyaprathet Border
• Crossing Borders: Thailand to Cambodia via Aranyaprathet to Poipet Border

One of the things I considered before my backpacking trip in Southeast Asia was getting a travel insurance. But because of the lack of funds, I simply decided to let go of this necessity when I travelled out of the country. I told myself I just need to be extra careful and will pray that luck will always be with me to help avoid accidents on my journey to SEA.

However, when you are gifted with an adventurous spirit, it seems that nothing can stop you from scratching off items in your bucket list.

So on the second month of my backpacking trip, I made the most out of my stay in Siem Reap by deciding to learn how to ride a bike.

me starting to learn how to ride a bike on Siem Reap’s gardens
photo credits: Edcel of soloflighted.com

You see, Siem Reap’s laid back setting is the perfect place for anyone to learn how to ride a bike. And with the help of my biking guru and travel buddy, Edcel of soloflighted.com, I biked around Siem Reap’s gardens.

Learning how to ride a bike is not really that difficult. You just have to let go of your fear and be one with the vehicle. Some people may find it difficult at first and I’m one of those few. With two left feet, I had a hard time finding my balance. And the next thing I knew, I was already on the ground with an almost twisted knee and ankle, my bike on top of me.

At first, I thought everything was ok. I continued to ride the bike after my fall but soon noticed pain on my left knee. When we went back to our guesthouse, the pain got worse. I had no insurance and I refused to go to any cilnic or hospital. It was a good thing that my friend, who is a doctor, was online at that time and gave me instructions on what must be done.

falling is inevitable when you learn how to ride a bike
photo credits: Edcel of soloflighted.com

Luck didn’t ride with me and the bike that day.

It was almost 2 months since that incident happened and the pain on my left knee still haunted me from time to time. That accident didn’t stop me from riding a bike though.

On my latest trip to Pai, I could no longer recall how many times I fell on my bike and hurt myself. Although I had a few cuts and bruises in my arms and legs, I’m just thankful that nothing serious happened to me on my biking adventures in Pai.

And now that winter is coming, it makes me think that getting a winter sports insurance is the best thing to do if my plans of going to Nepal will push through. Having lived in a tropical country all my life, I should not heavily rely on luck anymore when I suddenly feel the urge to go biking or get myself involved in extraneous activities. I need to seriously consider getting a travel insurance as a back up plan should my health fail on me once I decide to travel to the colder regions of Asia. But now that I am still stuck in Cambodia and Thailand, I’ll continue to be very careful with the kind of activities I involve myself with like biking.

Learning how to ride a bike in Siem Reap was one of the best things I did in this backpacking trip. But the past two trips to Pai in Northern Thailand made me realize I want to live there. Pai’s uphill and downhill roads with the town’s laid back country side for a background is the perfect place to master my biking skills.

biking in the rain on one of the uphill roads in Pai, Thailand

To those of you who do not know how to ride a bike, don’t fret. It’s never too late. You can never be too old to learn how. All it takes is a small step of courage and will power.

And when you do decide to learn how to ride a bike, you only have to remember this…

You will fall.

Your body will scream with pain and falling will become a habit if you can’t take the fatigue anymore.

You will have bruises and cuts or maybe even worse.

Know that those are normal. As the saying goes “No Pain, No Gain”.

What’s important is that you rise again every time you fall.

If learning to ride a bike is that important to you, you need to endure all the pain. Mend your wounds too. It’s a must.

And lastly, NEVER GIVE UP!

photo credits to Den Ramonal

It’s so amazing how time flies fast. My goal was to backpack across the countries of Southeast Asia. But because of unavoidable circumstances, I got stuck with 2 countries at the moment – Thailand and Cambodia.

It has been 3 months since I started this journey towards self-discovery  in my attempt to fulfill my dream of seeing the world.

I would be lying if I tell you that backpacking and leading the life of a digital nomad is fun. Well yeah, there were good times. But there were also bad times. And I experienced it the hard way.

Money is key when you travel. But when I lost my main source of income on my second month, I thought my travelling vice would come to an end. I was on the verge of going home and giving up everything. Luckily, I had friends who helped me get through. I was so overwhelmed by the support I got from well-wishers and some friends who showed me the light. To my friends online and offline, you know who you are. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Things I Did On My 3rd Month of Backpacking

Good bye Laos.

I was supposed to travel to Laos with my travel buddy. But an urgent situation forced me to stop the trip to Laos. On the morning that I was supposed to leave Siem Reap to travel to Bangkok and head up north to the country of Laos, my travel buddy delivered the bad news. He spent the entire night looking for cheap flights to Singapore and announced that morning that he won’t push through with the trip sine he will travel to Singapore the next day.

At the back of my mind, I got envious (in a good way ) By flying to Singapore, a 1st-world country, a country that’s so expensive for my ailing travel fund, he would be accumulating another passport stamp! He’d have a total of 6 if the Singapore immigration lets him through And I was stuck at 2! pft!

My budget for Laos was good if I had someone to share the expenses with and with my travel buddy leaving soon, I was doomed.

I had mixed emotions at that time. I thought it was best not to travel to Bangkok and stay put in Siem Reap but my friend was a mess at that time and I had to make sure he had a clear mind before he set foot in Singapore.

So with me lost in a limbo after he left Bangkok and with not enough funds to keep me afloat, I decided the unthinkable. I decided to go to Chiang Mai, Thailand instead.

buying bus tickets to Chiang Mai at the Morchit Bus Station

Hello Chiang Mai

I booked tickets to Chiang Mai without knowing what to expect in that quaint city. I just prayed before the bus left for Chiang Mai for me to have a safe trip and for HIM to take care of me. I had no idea where to stay or go. My mind wasn’t working right at that time. I even allowed myself to be scammed by a tuk-tuk driver who asked me to pay 100 baht instead of the usual 20-30 baht. I willingly obliged without even haggling for the price.

My foot led me to a guesthouse where I got to share the room with a French exchange student, Lucie. I didn’t know what came over me when I asked her if she wanted to share a 180 baht room with me. Getting the room all to myself would cost me 150 baht. Whereas if I find a roommate, I can just pay less.

baby panda busy munching bamboos…so cute!

During my stay in Chiang Mai City, I got the chance to visit the Chiang Mai Zoo, Doi Suthep, celebrate the Songkran Festival, visit the different temples within the city and I also went on a 2-day adventure trek with Lucie and her friends, Paige (from USA) and Stephanie (from Peru).

with sisters Chloe and Joanna, Lucie, Paige and Olivier

The 2-day trek promised us fun-filled adventures in Chiang Mai as we visited the Orchid Farm, went white water rafting and bamboo rafting at the Mae Tang River, rode elephants and then spent the night at the Jumbo Elephant Camp. On the 2nd day of the trek, I scolded our drunk tour guide when he decided to go on a drinking spree first instead of starting the trek early. In the middle of our pointless trek in the jungles of Chiang Mai, I slipped and almost died.

an almost 90 degrees descent to nowhere; somewhere down below was where I almost died…

Luckily, I grabbed a small plant and fought hard to stop myself from rolling down the hill. Our tour guide came to the rescue. By that time, he probably felt guilty after the scolding I gave him before the trek started because he stayed with me the entire trek and kept saying “Don’t die Doi. Doi don’t die.”

We also got the chance to see a waterfalls and a tribal village after the 2-day trek. It was sort of an extension since the drunk tour guide and the driver came up with gazillion excuses not to bring us to those places. To compensate for the inconvenience, the tour company offered to bring us to the 2 destinations we missed for free.

one of my fave temples within the city, the Wat Chediluang Varaviharn

I figured that since I was already up north, I might as well head over to Pai to see what the buzz was all about. Den was on her school break so I forced her to join me on that trip.  When my newfound friends left Chiang Mai, I was forced to look for a new home as I awaited for Den’s arrival. My feet brought me to the Giant Guesthouse.

Before leaving for Pai, we got the chance to visit the paper umbrella making center in Chiang Mai. If not for Den, I would not know that there was an umbrella factory in Chiang Mai.

Umbrella Making Center in Bor Sang

Pai is Love

After seeing the photos from the Sole Sisters when they went to Pai, I told myself I had to go there and check it out. When we arrived in Pai, my first impression was that it was a dead town. The streets were empty. There were only a few people walking in the streets. What’s worse was that some of the people I saw were wearing casts on their arms or legs. Some had bandages on their forehead. How can anyone have accidents in this small town? Well I guess it must be from careless driving or I dunno…

why i saw Pai as a dead town…empty streets!

Going back to impressions, I thought there’s something spooky or fishy going on with all those hyped “I love Pai” signages. Kinda a good marketing strategy to charm people to visit this small town in northern Thailand. My friend Den was really in love with Pai. On the other hand, I got stuck with my first impression.

However, now that I am no longer there, I can see the whole picture clearly and I miss Pai terribly! I miss biking on Pai’s deserted streets. I miss the little bungalow that Den and I shared. I miss taking photos of the place.

Pai Canyon, they say is best visited during sunset…

I met an old guy who owns a shop at the foot of the Pai Canyon and he told me to come back in October in time for the sunflower season and on December-January, the cold season, where sakuras will blossom. He didn’t have to say more. He had me by the mere mention of sunflowers. I promised myself I’d return to Pai (hopefully this October and December) to witness sunflowers and sakuras blossom.

Mae Hongson Adventure

Den wanted to see the long neck village desperately. My funds can no longer support that trip. My passport was about to expire too and my friend Audrey was arriving in Bangkok to join me on my way back to Siem Reap. However, Den won the ‘argument’. We booked for a tour package to see Mae Hong Son for a day.

long neck women in Mae Hong Son

The tour included a visit to the Lahu village, or the pig village. it was a place where pigs have their own village. And yes it stinks! We also went caving at the Nam Lod Cave, visited a couple of temples and we got to see the Long Neck village, the place where you will see the women with coils surrounding their necks to lengthen them.

the entrance to the Nam Lod Cave in Mae Hong Son

As an added bonus, I went on a side-trip to the border of Thailand in Mae Sai for my visa run. This is where I got the chance to set foot on Burmese soil and got my 3rd SEA country stamp! Weeee! It was short-lived though for I had to travel back to Pai immediately

After my Chiang Mai and Pai adventures, we went back to Bangkok where Audrey joined us.

Heading ‘Home’ to Siem Reap

Before heading back to Siem Reap, I got the chance to watch Hunger Games at Major Cineplex in Ratchayothin. Wednesdays is Movie Day and you can get a 50% discount on your movie tickets. I paid 100 baht instead of the usual 200

When Audrey and I got back in Siem Reap, we spent most of the days bumming around in our beds. Every day is lazy day in Siem Reap! We only left our guesthouse when the sun was about to set. I also had the chance to set foot on Angkor Wat again as I attempted to be Audrey’s tour guide.

When Audrey was around, all we did was eat out at night and searched for the mojitos with the best value for money. So far, nothing has beaten NYDC’ record

It has been weeks since Audrey left. I resumed living on my own again and kept fighting the urge to go home…

Backpacking Travel Expenses

The image on top sums up my expenses for the past 3 months. I never paid attention to how much money I spent for food on my 3rd month since I was not at home [in Siem Reap] to  cook my own meals.  Since I only stayed in Siem Reap on my 2nd month, my expenses were not as high as the 1st and 3rd month. For this month, I spent a lot on miscellaneous stuff because of my Chiang Mai and Pai adventures as well as the food trips Audrey and I did in Siem Reap.

What surprised me was despite the fact that I had limited funds, I surprisingly found ways to stretch out my money and managed to travel to different places. Never mind the stress involved in budgeting everything

As of writing, I am currently in Bangkok for my visa run. It would have been practical to stay in Siem Reap but since my funds were not enough to pay for a 3-months visa, I decided to travel to Bangkok.

Now that I am running on my fourth month of backpacking in Southeast Asia, I intend to find more ways to increase my travel fund so that I will add more stamps to my passport and visit more places in Southeast Asia and hopefully the rest of the world

Again, I’d like to thank old and new friends (online and offline) for everything.

And in case you happen to be in the same place where I am, please don’t hesitate to ask me for a meet up to say “Hi” or something…

P.S. Actually, the visa run was an excuse. I’m in Bangkok now because of the Avengers and Major Cineplex’ Movie Day. No kidding!