Thailand and Cambodia in two weeks!

I work for a gap year travel and volunteering company, and was very lucky a few months ago to win a chance to visit some of our projects in Thailand! It was a week long trip, travelling around the country, and as I had some annual leave to use up, I decided to pop over to Cambodia for a week as well!

Most people would have thought it impossible to fit two huge countries into such a short period of time, and would have resigned themselves to one or another, but I like a challenge!

I did wonder if I was being a bit mad, but with some careful planning, I was amazed at how much I managed to fit into the trip. My itinerary was:

Monday 23^rd February:

Arrive in Bangkok at 15.45

Tuesday 24^th Feb:
Head to Surin (on the Cambodian border around a 6 hour drive) to see some of our projects there, including our Elephant and Community project.

Wednesday 25^th Feb:
Still in Surin - visit childcare, teaching and medical projects. Head back to Bangkok at lunchtime, arriving around 6pm.         

Thursday 26^th Feb:
Leave around 7am to Sangkhlaburi on the Burmese border. Another 5-6 hour drive. Visit our building project there, and the Three Pagodas Pass on the border.         

Friday 27^th Feb:
Up early, visiting trekking and a few of the childcare villages (stunning locations and fun just getting there).         
Head back to Bangkok around lunchtime and arrive early evening. 

Saturday 28^th Feb:
Travel to Koh Phangan (plane, bus, ferry) - all day (where lots of our tours go)

Sunday 1^st March:
Explore and relax on Koh Phangan

Monday 2^nd March:
Head back to Bangkok (bus 8.30am – 8.30pm)

Tuesday 3^rd March:
Fly to Phnom Penh, arrive 3.20pm

Wednesday 4^th March:
S21 and Killing Fields

Thursday 5^th March:
Free day in PP – Wats, river, shopping etc.
Overnight bus to Siem Reap (arrive around 5am)

Friday 6^th March:
Arrive Siem Reap early morning – spend the day wandering around local area

Saturday 7^th March:
Angkor Wat

Sunday 8^th March:
Fly back to Bangkok – arrive 12.45pm – spend the afternoon seeing Bangkok! (Last minute shopping!)

Monday 9^th March:
Flight home 13:10 

      As you can see, it's a jam packed itinerary. I only had three days where I wasn't travelling for at least 6 hours, but it was worth it! I didn't feel massively rushed at any point, and while I'd have obviously loved to spend longer in each place, I definitely managed to get a feel of it. 

      The only things I missed out on were a boat cruise in Phnom Penh (and that was only because I almost gave myself heatstroke by being stubborn and walking rather than getting a tuk-tuk) and visiting Ton Le Sap Lake in Siem Reap, which I just didn't have time for. 

       As a two week trip however, I did everything I planned and much more! I had slightly more of a budget as it was a short trip, which meant that I was able to fly between Bangkok, Phnom Penh, then Siem Reap and Bangkok, which saved me some time. I did get an overnight bus between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap however, as it was easy and saved me a nights' accommodation!

      So what's the secret to a jam packed two week trip? Organisation! I planned my accommodation and transport before I went (the only thing I didn't book was one night in Bangkok), and I had an idea of what I was going to do on each day and how to do it. I did my research, and used the knowledge of the locals while I was there to cram as much in as possible, and I concentrated on sight-seeing rather than partying, as I knew a hangover would ruin even the best laid plans!

       Of course I would do it in a longer period if I could get that off work, but lots of people are in a similar situation, and I'd definitely recommend it! I wouldn't say it's a relaxing holiday, if that's what you're after, but it's certainly an amazing, fascinating, whirlwind trip of a lifetime, and I don't feel I missed out at all! 

      Stay tuned for more in-depth info about my trip!

      Top Tips:

• Research! Make sure you know what you want to see, prioritise each activity, and plan an itinerary so you have as much time as possible in each place
• Book in advance. Knowing where you'll be staying each night and how you're getting from one place to the next puts your mind at rest on a short trip, and means you'll spend less time in the evening faffing around on the internet, and more time taking in the local area
• Don't be disappointed if something doesn't go to plan. You can't control everything, so if you have to drop something from the itinerary that's ok - move onto the next!
•  Pack light - you can get laundry done in most hostels, so you don't need to carry two weeks' of clothes with you
• Splash out for flights if you can - less time travelling means more time in each location!

Dear Diary #1

Hi all! It's been a while since I last posted, which I'm putting mainly down to a lack of tools. My trusty Dell PC, which I've had for around 7 years and has spent three months in dusty Mali, has finally given up the ghost, so I just have my computer at work at the moment.

I've also been having issues with pictures disappearing from old blog posts, which is annoying, but entirely my fault (taking shortcuts only creates more work in the future!) It's time-consuming to fix, and annoys me because it's messy, so please bear with me while I get chance to go through and fix all the old posts.

January is a crazy busy month at work, so any extra time I spent here was for work rather than blogging, and I've only just caught up with myself really. I have a lot of plans for the next few months, so I've decided to keep a semi-regular diary post on here, as it will all be travel-related one way or another!

A few months ago at work, I was lucky enough to win a trip to Thailand, to visit some of our projects! We were deciding on dates for a while, so flights were booked not long ago, and I'm actually heading off on Sunday! How exciting! Thailand has never been particularly high up my radar (not that I don't want to go of course!) but I talk about it everyday at work, and my itinerary is already sorted so I have nothing to worry about there. As my flights were already included, I thought it would be a shame not to see more of South East Asia while I was there, so I decided on a week in Cambodia.

My colleague Chris lived in Cambodia for seven months, and talks about it all the time at work, so he lured me in. I'm also a history geek, so the fact that Cambodia has so much recent history, that most people don't know about, sealed the deal! I'm spending 8 days in Thailand (Bangkok, Surin, Bangkok, Sangkhlaburi, Bangkok, Koh Phangan), then flying with Air Asia over to Phnom Penh. I'll then spend a couple of days there seeing the Killing Fields and S21, before getting the overnight bus to Siem Reap for Angkor Wat. I'll then fly from Siem Reap to Bangkok for my flight home.

My main worry for this trip is that I'm absolutely terrified of flying, yet somehow I seem to have ended up with an itinerary that includes 5 flights (I'll be flying from Bangkok to Koh Samui as well). Well at least it'll prepare me for Nepal in May I guess! I'm also a little apprehensive about doing Cambodia completely alone, not for the safety aspect (I've done enough travelling to be relatively streetwise), but just for the enjoyment aspect. Hopefully there'll be others in my situation that I can tag along with.

As well as getting ready for that, my trip to Nepal in May is coming round incredibly quickly, and I'm by no means fit enough to trek to Everest Base Camp at the moment! With that in mind, I gritted my teeth and forked out for 8 personal training sessions at my local gym. I just don't know enough to get fit on my own; I stick to the treadmill until I get shin splints, and get so bored staring at the numbers I just give up. I've only had two sessions so far, but they've been amazing! Amy, my trainer, is absolutely lovely, and has already incorporated weight and strength exercises into my training that would never have occurred to me. I'm going to have to work hard once I get back from Thailand, but it's definitely doable.

http://beautifulplacestovisit.com/tag/south-everest-base-camp/

Since Christmas, I've also had some lovely nights with my friends, and am missing my friends and family back up north a little. One highlight of this week was spending Valentines Day with my friends Danielle and Holly. We went to the cinema, then for dinner at Pizza Express which I love!

Danielle and Holly went to see 50 Shades of Grey, but I refused out of principle. I'm not squeamish about the genre, but the book is so dreadfully written and anti-feminist that I can't bring myself to have anything to do with it. Instead, I went to see the Theory of Everything, which I absolutely loved, and now has to be up there with my favourite films (alongside others such as the Imitation Game and the King's Speech). Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones are amazing, and David Thewlis was thoroughly underrated, as he's not mentioned in any of the reviews I've read.

This is short and sweet, as I have to head off to a personal training session now, but keep your eyes peeled in a couple of weeks for my updates on Thailand and Cambodia - I'm sure it'll be worth the wait!