back in thailand

After an other crazy busdrive yesterday of 15 hours, I am back in Thailand. And if that was not yet enough, I am taking the nightbus this evening to Ko Phangan because it is party time over there around Christmas en New Year. So I am stuck an afternoon in Bangkok, hence I have time to write because it is freaking hot out there.

First things first, Cambodia was absolutely amasing, a country with such a violent history and still people are so friendly and funny here. They seem not at all to have become bitter by their past.

So after Phnom Phen I went with Alexa to Kampot, the french built this city on top of a hill and it has been completely abondonned for years, hence the name Gost City. It is 2.5 hours driving to get there with a jeep, and of course, our jeep broke down... very funny (and this was not the last broken bus \ jeep experience in Cambodia). So we waited for about 3 hours for a new one to arrive, the 2 hours we could spent in the city where slightly reduced to 30 min, the waterfalls were skipped and the sunset river cruise must have been really nice, where it not that the sun had already set some time ago. Still it is part of the cultural experience and a trip I will not forget.

Back in Phnom Phen I visited the killing fields and the jail, Cambodia was in civil war from 75-79 and this crazy man just killed his entire intelligent population!! No need to mention that the killing fiels and the museum were a difficult day to absorb.

Next stop, the famous temple complex of Ankor with Ankor wat being the biggest religious building in the world. I took the 3 day pass and had this 24-year guy driving me around on his motor. The pictures will say for more then I can ever write, but it was beautifull. The second day I woke up very early to see the sunrise, together with thousands of other people, but still worthwhile to wake up for. By the 3rd day, it seems that my motorcycle driver got a little crush on me, very sweet but not really necessary from my part.

The trip to Sihanoukville started again with some more broken busses, it does not seem to affect me anymore. Sihanoukville was amasing, the first beach I saw in 7 weeks of travelling, and it may not be the most beautifull beach ever, but it is still very small and undevelloped, something how Thailand must have looked liked several years ago. I ended up staying there 9 days, mainly also for visa reasons but I enjoyed every minute. It was so wonderfull spending that time at the beach, not really doing anything, just relaxing, beach parties in the evening... which has let to my next decision...

For christmas and new year I was thinking of just going back up to Pai, to avoid all the hastle and crowd at Ko Phangan. The only real catch was, everybody is going there and I loved the beach so much, I decided this morning to just go there, face the crowd and have a new year party as never before.