Hello everyone and welcome back to another travel update! We unexpectedly ended the previous one in Cambodia, so that is where we will start this one…
We flew from Hanoi to Siem Reap and I had already been here 2 years ago. I was there during New Year’s Eve and that was quite an experience. Cambodia had just reopened after corona and that came with a number of problems, such as not being able to find hotels that were open. So, I was curious to see what had changed in those 2 years. The nice thing for Samantha is that she had always said she wanted to go to Angkor Wat, we just didn’t have plans to go there. But due to the visa issues from the previous update, we were now able to go there, a blessing in disguise!
It was very hot in Siem Reap with temperatures above 40 degrees every day. We started to doubt our initial plan to go to Laos. A whole month in this heat, should we want that? We decided to try to change our daily routine a bit and get up early, and then escape back to our room in the afternoon with the air conditioning, and then go out again in the evening. So, we went to Angkor Wat for the sunrise and that was beautiful. Angkor Wat is the largest temple complex in the world and the view during sunrise was very beautiful. We walked through here for a few hours and all the details were really cool. Samantha could check it off her list now! 2 years ago I also went to the Cambodian Circus and I really enjoyed it, I also recommended it in my blog. So now it’s fun to go with Samantha, and the show was still a lot of fun! 😊
So on to Laos! We were driven to the border with Laos in a minivan and border crossings over land are always an adventure in themselves. Fortunately for us this time it went quite smoothly, we only had to pay a few dollars for a stamp in our passport. That is of course completely illegal, but okay, if that’s all it is. We did meet a girl at the border who had been waiting for her bus for about 5 hours. Those vans often only leave when they are full enough, so she was there alone the whole time, which was not fun. Luckily there was a group of us, and after some discussion with the drivers we all left for our next destination: Don Det!
Don Det is one of the 1.000 islands in southern Laos and is known for its tranquility. Due to the many mosquitoes, the island is unfortunately a high-risk area for malaria. There are a lot of hippies here and you can cycle around the island, so that’s what we did. There were beautiful waterfalls and we had a nice swim in them. If this place ever comes up in a conversation, I can at least say: been there, don det 😉.
The New Year’s celebration of the Khmer people would be almost starting, so we decided to move on to our next destination before then. This New Year’s party lasts 3 to 4 days and then the whole country is in disarray. We went to Thakhek because you can do a 4-day scooter tour here. Then we would not be dependent on public transport during those 3 days. You rent your own scooters for the scooter tour, so it is not organized. Samantha had selected all kinds of nice stops and so off we went! Most of what you can see here are caves, and they are very beautiful. But the view during the entire ride is also great, very robust mountains around you surrounded by beautiful fields. The last cave in particular was very exceptional, you can go through the entire cave with a boat and this takes about an hour. You then arrive at a small village where people live. Before they knew you could go through this cave, it took 8 hours to reach this village on foot. And now an hour by boat, which saves some time. What made this scooter loop even more special was that it was New Year’s. The people in Laos celebrate this by partying for 4 days and throwing as much water on everyone as possible. During our hot ride, we were regularly cooled off by the locals! In any case, it was very nice that everyone was celebrating along the side of the road.
After Thakhek it was time to go to Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. These are the most famous places in Laos. Laos has only been open to tourism since the 1990s, and then only this region was open. As a tourist you were not allowed to go to the rest of Laos. As a result, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang are better traveled. In Vang Vieng we also rented scooters and went tubing through a cave and in Luang Prabang we ate at the night market every day, which was very tasty. We had also been to a beautiful waterfall in Luang Prabang, but unfortunately it started to storm heavily on the way back. We took cover at a restaurant, but the storm was so intense that everything was damaged in the restaurant. That was very difficult to watch. For these people, that restaurant is probably all they have and it was now in tatters due to a storm… a little later there was also a very large tree on the road blocking all traffic. Fortunately, the locals came with some chainsaws and the problem was resolved after more than half an hour.
We then had something fun planned, the Gibbon experience! We had been recommended this by several people and had to book it a few weeks in advance. To get to the place where the Gibbon experience started, we took the slow boat for 2 days, which was also quite an adventure. You then go on a long boat up the Mekong River. On both days you will sail for about 7 to 9 hours and you will then sleep in a guesthouse in the town of Pak Beng, which is halfway between. Unfortunately, the sailing on the second day took a little longer because the engine of our boat suddenly stopped working after the first 30 minutes, unlucky us! Without an engine, the crew tried to get the boat to a safe stop, as there is quite a current. Fortunately, they did this very well. Once stopped they tried to repair the boat, but after 2 hours of trying they gave up. Fortunately, a new boat was called and we were able to continue our journey!
Then the next morning it was time to start the Gibbon experience! This is a 3-day tour in Nam Kan National Park where you alternate hiking with ziplining and sleeping in luxurious tree houses! And all while trying to spot the Gibbon monkeys. We were in a group of 6 and had a very nice tour. The National Park was very beautiful and the ziplining was really cool to do. Unfortunately we didn’t see any gibbons, but that didn’t really matter to us anymore. I highly recommend it for anyone visiting Laos!
Then we crossed the border into Thailand, and of course we had already been there together. The reason for going back was actually simple; we were already in the area and the flights from Bangkok are cheap. It was nice to be able to eat toasties from the 7/11 again, and of course all the really tasty Thai food. We went to Pai because we didn’t have much time there last time, but unfortunately Samantha got very sick here. We first thought that she might have contracted malaria in Don Det, but fortunately this was ruled out after a blood test. So we stayed inside a lot, but that was fine.
Then some less nice news to share, but Samantha and I had decided to split up, so these were our last days together. That was not an easy decision to make, but it was very nice that we were able to make that decision together. We made this decision a few weeks ago and at the same time decided that we wanted to finish our trip together, and I think it says a lot about our relationship that we were able to do that. Samantha would start a course in Raja Ampat (Indonesia) on May 13 to become a dive master, and then our paths would split. Over the past 2 years we have truly had a very nice, unforgettable time with very cool adventures, but unfortunately we both had to conclude that building a life together is not for us. Samantha and I are still very good friends and we would like to maintain that, because we had a great time, share great memories and can still find a lot of support from each other. I am glad that we were able to travel together in the last weeks. It may not be completely normal to know when you are breaking up, but I think that has been nice for us. Saying goodbye was of course very difficult, but it would have been crazy if it were easy. Fortunately, Samantha is currently having a great time at Raja Ampat, I have already received many cool videos and I am happy about that 😊.
I had decided that I would like to have another month to myself before I return to the Netherlands. So I will land in the Netherlands again on June 14, and I am looking forward to that again. I am currently on Java in Indonesia and have just come from Sumatra. I will be exploring Java for the next few weeks and will end with a few days’ stopover in Istanbul. I will tell you much more about that in the next travel update! Thanks again for reading and… see you soon 😊