Cambodia & the Thaislands

From Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Alex and I took a bus into Cambodia to start the final 3 weeks of our trip - 5 days in Cambodia, then 2 weeks in the Thai islands of Koh Tao and Koh Phangan!

Map of Cambodia

The bus took us to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, where we stayed for 2 nights at a really chilled out hostel, 88 Backpackers. On our one full day in Phnom Penh, we had a very depressing visit to the Tuol Sleng Prison and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. However, as they are both a part of Cambodia's recent history, we felt it was important to visit them to understand what happened in Cambodia only 38 years ago.

On April 17th 1975, the extreme communist group Khmer Rouge, led by the dictator Pol Pot, stormed Phnom Penh and made everyone evacuate to the countryside, as part of Pol Pot's insane plan to create a completely self sufficient country, with the entire population working in forced labour farms. For this plan to work he decided to eradicate professionals and their families, who might oppose his plan. He jailed doctors, lawyers and teachers along with many others, who were then tortured until they confessed to their supposed sins, before being sent to be executed. Tuol Sleng, a former high school, was used as the  largest of all the Khmer Rouge prisons in Cambodia and became known as Security 21 or S21. In the 3 years that the Khmer Rouge were in power, around 20,000 innocent Cambodians were sent to S21 before the majority of them were told they were being moved to another jail, but were in fact being sent to be inhumanely killed at Choeung Ek. It is estimated that altogether 3 million Cambodians, a quarter of the population, were killed by the Khmer Rouge. The prison and killing fields are now museums, which serve to remind future generations of the evils of mass genocide, in the hope that something like this will never happen again.

A touching tribute at one of the mass graves at Choeung Ek

From Phonm Penh we then travelled to Siem Reap, home to the famous Temples of Angkor, with Angkor Wat being the most well known. We spent 3 days in Siem Reap, exploring the temples, shopping at the night market and partying at Siem Reap's most popular bar, Angkor What? on the backpacker haven of Pub Street!

Monks at the Temples of Angkor!

You could spend forever exploring the hundreds of temples, with 1 day, 3 day, 1 week and 1 month passes available. However, we just chose a 1 day pass, which cost $20, and did the typical tourist route - a sunrise trip to Angkor Wat, exploring the huge walled city of Angkor Thom, and finishing with a visit to Ta Prohm where Tomb Raider was filmed!

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

From Siem Reap we took a bus back to Bangkok, where we then headed to Don Muang Airport to fly down to the Thai islands.

With only 2 weeks left of our trip, we decided to skip the islands on the West coast of the Gulf of Thailand (Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta and the mainland resorts of Phuket and Krabi) and instead just went to the islands off the East coast of the Gulf: Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. The nearest airport to Koh Tao is Chumphon on the mainland, so we flew to Chumphon from Bangkok, then took a boat across to Koh Tao.

Map of the Thai islands

Koh Tao is probably the most unspoilt of all the islands and it really is beautiful! We stayed there for 9 days at Simple Life Resort on Sairee Beach, the resort where the majority of the backpackers on the island stay. Unfortunately, of those 9 days, only 3 of them were sunny. For the first 6 days we had rain, rain and more rain. So depressing! We filled those days by visiting lots of cafés, going for an excrutiatingly painful Thai massage (never again!) and cloudbathing whenever the rain stopped, either by our pool or at one of the islands' many beautiful beaches with 3 lovely Welsh girls, who we originally met in New Zealand on the Kiwi Experience!

Cloudbathing at one of Koh Tao's beautiful beaches

Of course, we also went on plenty of nights out, which included the infamous Koh Tao Pub Crawl and an amazing ladyboy cabaret show!

When the sun finally came out, Alex and I, along with 2 of our friends, went on a boat tour around the island, stopping in 3 bays for snorkelling before heading to the most beautiful little island just off the coast of Koh Tao, Koh Nangyuan, where we climbed up to the amazing viewpoint! If you ever go to to Koh Tao, Koh Nangyuan is so worth visiting!

Koh Nangyuan

After 9 days in Koh Tao, we took the boat over to Koh Phangan for 3 nights, with the world famous Full Moon Party falling on our last night. There are at least 6 boats a day going between the islands, so it is incredibly simple to just book on to them when you're there. Plus, if you book them from your hotel, you usually get a free transfer to the ferry.

In Koh Phangan, we stayed quite a long way away from Haad Rin itself (the beach where the Full Moon Party takes place), however, it was really easy to catch a taxi into Haad Rin so it wasn't a problem! The two nights leading up to Full Moon, we went to the infamous Coral Bungalows pool party and the Jungle Experience, which was great fun - I actually preferred the Jungle Experience to Full Moon, as it was slightly less busy.

On the night of the Full Moon Party we headed into Haad Rin, where we neon-ed up with body paint at pre drinks, headed to the beach, then managed to lose everyone in a matter of minutes which was a bit of an anti-climax. It was good fun though and definitely worth going to for the experience, but it was without a doubt the busiest place I have ever been to!

Neon body paint!

The morning after Full Moon, we somehow managed to drag ourselves out of bed and on to the boat to Koh Samui, where we flew home from the following day.

What an amazing 4 months - I can't quite believe that it's over! I have seen some of the most beautiful places imaginable and made some great friends along the way. I have a feeling that it won't be the last time I go traveling though!

Next stop, London, where I move to in a few weeks, where no doubt the adventures will continue...