Mini-Retirement Update: The Thai Islands and Cambodia

Oh, The Places We’ve Been!

Since the last mini-retirement update I posted a few weeks ago, I’ve added many more destinations to the list of places I’ve been. Some were great, some had their flaws and some were completely eye-opening experiences. It just goes to show that travel is not always one glamorous, instagram-worthy shot after another. It’s about experiencing the world in a different way and gaining a new set of eyes.

In my last mini-retirement post, I described my experience with volunteering using Workaway in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Since then, I’ve hit the following destinations:

Thailand

Koh Samui

Koh Tao

Bangkok

Cambodia

Siem Reap

Phnom Penh

After leaving Chiang Mai, we flew down to the South of Thailand to spend about 10 days on a few of the many islands that tourists regularly visit. From the airport in Surat Thani, we had to take a bus to the coast and then a 1.5 hour boat ride to our first stop of Koh Samui, one of the largest islands off of Thailand’s east coast. Here we enjoyed 3 days of lounging in a beach hut followed by 2 days in the fairly developed Chaweng village on the other side of the island. We had a great time and really enjoyed this place, as long as we stayed away from the hustle and bustle of the large resorts that dominate some parts of the island.

 

View over Koh Nanh Yuan

 

After Koh Samui, we took another 1.5 hour boat ride to Koh Tao, a tiny island only a few square miles in size, that is just north of Koh Samui. The scenery on Koh Tao is unbelievable, and pretty much what you would expect of a picturesque island off the coast of Thailand. It’s also the scuba diving and snorkeling hub of Thailand, so we enjoyed some time snorkeling in the clear waters. Though it was a great destination, we found that the island’s local culture was not the most friendly to tourists which put a bit of a damper on the trip.

 

Enjoying a boat day in Koh Tao

 

From Koh Tao, we took a 2 hour boat ride to the mainland, followed by a 7.5 hour bus ride up north to Bangkok. Being back in a big city, especially one as chaotic as Bangkok, was a big change after spending the last 10 days on small, quiet islands. However, I was awestruck by how smoothly things run in such a big city with so many people, and the food scene was so diverse I easily could’ve spent my whole time in the city eating. We only spent 2 days here, which were spent taking in some sights in the old city, wandering around a few of the HUGE shopping mall complexes and doing what I do best…. EATING.

 

Taking in the sights and food in Bangkok

 

From Bangkok, we took a 6.5 hour bus ride across the border to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and this was probably one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve gone through. Driving across the border from Thailand into Cambodia was a night and day difference between worlds. The poverty and corruption of Cambodia was noticeable even while we were walking through immigration to cross the border. Fancy casinos lined the Cambodian side of the border, all while people sat outside and begged for money or worked tirelessly at manual labor jobs. It was a heartbreaking welcome to a beautiful country. In Siem Reap, a resort town in central Cambodia, we spent 5 days in the town exploring the famous Angkor Wat temple complex and enjoying the local food and culture. Overall, it was a very relaxing leg of the journey.

 

Exploring the Angkor Wat Park in Siem Reap. Made famous by the Tomb Raider movie starring Angelina Jolie.

 

From Siem Reap, we drove 5 hours to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia and it’s largest city. Outside of the resort town of Siem Reap, yet again we were exposed to the poverty, corruption and severe inequality that is common in Cambodia. Overall, the people of a Cambodia are some of the most kind and warm-hearted that I’ve met in Southeast Asia, so it’s very sad to see what many of them are forced to live through. While in Phnom Penh, we visited the Genocide Center and “Killing Fields”, which are memorials and museums to the genocide that killed 1/3 of the Cambodian population under the communist regime only 40 years ago. A truly heartbreaking and still all too real story, since anyone over 40 years old in Cambodia lived through these times. And unfortunately, things are only slightly better now politically, as the current government is basically a dictatorship and has sold off the country to the highest bidder, not allowing the 50% of the population living in poverty to benefit in any way. For all of the problems that the U.S. may have, this experience has made me truly grateful for the opportunities with which I was given my whole life.

 

The Genocide Center in Phnom Penh and a blurry photo with our Tuk Tuk driver, Mr. Vann

Currently, I’m in Ho Chi Minh City (known to many as Saignon), Vietnam. The next 3 weeks will be spent in Vietnam, and this will be the last leg of my Southeast Asia journey. I will be spending most of August here and luckily it’s a very cheap country to travel through!

 

The Financials

 

Overall, my spending for July was actually pretty great, even with a few splurges and many days where I thought we were spending too much money. Since I’m only using Australian Dollars right now, all of my spending and budget is in AUD, so I apologize if the numbers seem a bit high. For the month of July, I only spent AUD$1,631 out of a AUD$2,000 total budget. Yep, you read that right. While traveling full-time, I only spent $1,631 for the whole month! Very proud of myself for this one.

 

July spending. Please ignore May and June as I spent a lot of money dealing with moving costs and travel back to the U.S. haha

It just goes to show that once you leave behind an expensive lifestyle with high rent or a mortgage, a car and bills to pay, life gets pretty cheap on the road. Of the $1,631 spent, it’s difficult to see how I broke it down in the photo above, since I paid cash for most things (common in Asia), or I had to send Lauren money for items she put on her international debit card. But here’s a rough breakdown (all figures in AUD and current exchange rate is AUD0.74/USD1.00):

• 1/3 spent on accommodation. Usually about $15/night
• 1/3 spent on food. Usually another $20/day
• 1/3 spent on transportation and activities. Another $20/day

 

I’ve been pretty lucky that not too many incidentals have come up, and we’ve been able to keep our costs pretty low by not needing to do or see everything. I’d say that half of my days are just spent hanging out in whichever city we are in at the time, sitting out by the pool, writing or seeking out a local gym to stay in shape. If you try to treat long-term travel like a vacation and need to make sure you do every tourist activity, your spending will go up pretty quickly. I recommend to take the slow approach because it’s better for your body, mind and bank account!

 

Highlights and Struggles From the Past Few Weeks

There were many favorites from the last few weeks that were definitely highlights of the trip so far, but at the same time there were definitely some struggles that we had to deal with. Life on the road is not all roses and perfect Instagram shots. A few of those being:

• The Thai islands were absolutely beautiful and definitely picturesque. However, they have definitely been a bit tainted by tourism and getting a lot of hospitality from locals was not common. We definitely felt like were just $$ to many people.
• Bangkok was a lively and happening city. The food was cheap and great, and people were actually very friendly.
• We encountered some of the nicest people throughout Cambodia, but at the same time it was tragic to see such kind people given such a hard way of life.
• A bout of food poisoning from Phnom Penh that made the next 3 days (including a 6-hour bus to Vietnam) pretty miserable
• Uncomfortable beds, bad water pressure, no home-cooked meals, seasickness, drinking only bottled water and other little things add up. We are grateful for this experience but it’s not all roses and sunshine haha

 

Now the next few weeks will be spent making our way from Ho Chi Minh City in Southern Vietnam up to Hanoi in the far north of Vietnam. The next mini-retirement update will likely be coming from the first European destination…. Rome! It’s crazy how this 3 month SE Asia trip is going so fast!

Question: Have you traveled abroad and had to deal with any struggles while still enjoying an awesome trip? Leave a comment or send me an email!

NYPFGuy