Cambodia, Siem Reap

I had too many pictures so I am going to publish the rest here !

Angkor Wat temple 

Angkor Wat temple

Angkor Wat temple

Angkor Wat temple 

Angkor Wat temple

Angkor Wat temple

Angkor Wat temple

Angkor Wat temple

Angkor Wat temple

Angkor Wat temple

Angkor Wat temple

Bayon Takeo temple

Bayon Takeo temple

Ta Prohm temple 

Ta Prohm temple

Ta Prohm temple

Sunrise in Angkor Wat

We had to take a flight so I had to leave..

Bye Cambodia and Angkor Wat

FYI: We flew from Pucket to Bangkok and then to Siem Reap via Air Asia. We stayed in a youth hostel, it was mix dorms with a little bathroom and no lockers, we were a bit disappointed but people were very nice (I can't remember the name..). Concerning Angkor temples, in think the price is 40$ and you can go in 3 times (they take a photo of view and make a hole every time you go). We paid  tuk tuk drivers via our youth hostel 13$ for the small tour and 15$ for the big one (divided by two but you can split the price with up to 4 people so not that expensive if you share !).  All the photos were taken with my iPhone.

Cambodia, Siem Reap

After more than a month exploring Thailand, we decided to change country and we went to Cambodia. We didn't explore Cambodia as much as we explored Thailand, we went mainly to see Angkor temples. 

Where we stayed (and I am pretty sure they do it in plenty other places) you can book a tuk tuk driver for the day and explore Angkor temples by doing two circuits. In the big one you do mostly temples around and in the small one the most famous Angkor Wat and other small one around it. You can also book a tuk tuk driver to go and see the sunrise or the sunset (we did it but the weather was quite miserable but it was still magical !).

I was truly amazed by the beauty of the place, how they only started to take care of it recently (in the 90s, and now the place is classified as UNESCO World Heritage) and how the nature took back its place after years and years of abandon.

I would recommend to start your tour quite early, the weather is nicer (it was really hot when we were in Cambodia, between 34 and 36 celcius degrees ) and the number of tourists is much more reasonable (it is quite a touristic place so there will inevitably be people...). 

Preah Khan temple

Preah Khan temple

Preah Khan temple

Preah Khan temple

Preah Khan temple

Our nice tuk tuk driver

Ta Som temple

East Mebon temple

East Mebon temple

Pre Rup temple

Pre Rup temple

Pre Rup temple

Pre Rup temple

FYI: We flew from Pucket to Bangkok and then to Siem Reap via Air Asia. We stayed in a youth hostel, it was mix dorms with a little bathroom and no lockers, we were a bit disappointed but people were very nice (I can't remember the name..). Concerning Angkor temples, in think the price is 40$ and you can go in 3 times (they take a photo of view and make a hole every time you go). We paid  tuk tuk drivers via our youth hostel 13$ for the small tour and 15$ for the big one (divided by two but you can split the price with up to 4 people so not that expensive if you share !).  All the photos were taken with my iPhone.

Thailand, Koh Phi Phi

After some time in a quiet island we went to Koh Phi Phi, an island pretty well known in Thailand for its parties and because of the movie "The beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. My friend and I are not party girls but because we were in Thailand we wanted to see and how Koh Phi Phi really was just for a couple of days. And we were a little bit disappointed.. First you have to pay when you arrive on the island (to clean after drunk people), which I get, but then everything is quite "pricy". You have to pay if you want to go nice places and beautiful beaches (mainly by boat) plus you pay to go on the beach !

We found that it was a little strange to pay to go on a beach so we did it another way. We spent most of our time in our hotel pool relaxing and avoiding the heat. However for a day we did a snorkelling and diving tour (my friend got her Open Water Diver certification in Koh Tao) and I was just snorkelling haha

This boat trip was one of the best experience we had in Thailand. We did almost like a tour of Koh Phi Phi area and we saw other little islands, the beach from the movie "The Beach" full of people (from our boat), we swam with beautiful fish, turtle and small sharks ! 

I think we choose the right option for us, we saw Koh Phi Phi from another point of view (less party more quiet and more nature).

Nonetheless  if you like to party and to drink this is the perfect island for you !

Beautiful view during our boat snorkelling/diving day

The beach from the movie "The Beach"

Fish, turtles and small sharks

When you can work on your tan with this view...

Divers paradise

PP Casita 

FYI: We slept at PP Casita, very nice small bungalows with flowers and trees around, quiet area. The breakfast (if you add it in your reservation) is a buffet with a lot of choice. We did our reservation via Booking.com. And we ate in the main street, a lady in the street does good pad thai for a reasonable price (prices are higher in Koh Phi Phi). All the photos were taken with my iPhone.

Thailand, Koh Tao

From Bangkok we then went to Koh Tao, a really nice island up north from Koh Samui. We took a night train from Bangkok to Surat Thani (because of the weather we couldn't leave from Chumphon, which would have been shorter...), anyway, it was a sixtenn hours journey, we were pretty tired after that. However it wasn't the end, we took a bus to a station where we had to wait, then another bus to the pier. And then (yes it was a long long journey) we took our fisrt boat to Koh Samui and then a second to Koh Tao, I think it took four hours to arrive at our final destination. After this pretty long day of traveling we were pretty happy to finally arrive to our bungalow and relax for two weeks.

Koh Tao is a pretty small island, really quiet (if you don't stay near the main beaches) and with a lot of jungle landscapes. We spent most of our time eating, sleeping on the beach, reading, snorkeling, enjoying the sun, it was really nice to relax after Bangkok crazyness. We also did our first dive, it was amzing, we saw a lot of fish and the water was so clear ! But as much as I love swimming and being under water, 6 meters was already too deep for me, it made me feel claustrofobic.. My friend really liked it so she got her Open Water while I took Thaï massage classes which was very interesting and as we were two, half of the time consited of me getting a massage (pretty good deal haha). 

Overall we both liked the island and the people we met, Koh Tao is a place were you can relax all day, explore and party at night if you want to, so it leaves you a lot of possibilities.

Morning view

In touch restaurant

Pretty bungalows

Diving

Sunset on Sairee Beach

FYI: We slept at Simple Life Cliff Resort, near Sairee Beach. We did our reservation via Booking.com. We took most of our breakfast at In Touch Resort restaurant (best pancakes omg), and we ate most nights at Blue Boat restaurant (I think that's the nam, I can't find it online) but it is a small restaurant, pretty inexpensive for Koh Tao prices and really good ! And for lunch we alwayyyyys went to see a lady who made smoothie, fruit shake (the mango one is to die for) and veggie spring rolls (so good) that we ate on the beach. All the restaurants and places along Sairee Beach looked pretty good but were out of our budget.. We dive with French Kiss Diver, really nice people and they take time to explain and talk to you. All the photos were taken with my iPhone.

A little escape in Erawan near Bangkok

All the photos were taken with my iPhone.

Thailand, Bangkok

After a week in Chiang Mai, we took a night train to Bangkok. As I live in a small town in France I was a little bit apprehensive of this big thai city. When we went it was really hot between 32 and 36 degrees but since you are in a city it feels hoter ! However we manage to do a lot of things by walking, we went out in the morning to avoid the heat and then we made plans in the afternoon for the night or the next day.

Bangkok is such a big city, you have a lot of places to explore, you can visit the old part of Bangkok with the temples (Wat Pho, the Grand Palace, the National Museum,...) but also enjoy the modern part with the big malls, the skyscrapers night view and don't forget to go to Chatuchak Market,..

The city is really big so you can't always explore by walking, we walked to the closest places but we also went around by taxi (always ask the price and if they know the place where you want to go before going inside the car), tuk tuk, and boat on the Khlong Mahanak river (very inexpensive).

D Hostel (youth hostel)

National Museum

Grand Palace

Grand Palace

Pure beauty

Go as soon as the temple opens

I manage to take this picture in between tourists posing

The precision..

Even more beautiful in real life

The details again..

So much gold..

Mix of blues

Most beautiful roofs ever

Nature and details

"Street art"

LA vibes 

Portugal vibes

Baiyoke Tower II night view

Golden Mount view

Jim Thompson House

Jim Thompson House

FYI: We came by a night train from Chiang Mai. We slept near the old city (Wat Pho, National Museum,..), we found our place on Hostel World. We ate a lot in the streets (Kao San Road) we always went to the same lovely lady who made Pad Thai en Spring Rolls and if we wanted a dessert a nice man who made Roti (banana/chocolate omg you need to try). We also tried the restaurant Thip Samai, their Pad Thai and orange juice (expensive) are really good ! Sometimes we also went to the Maharat Pier (lots of "american" shops like Starbucks, but also nice restaurants and place) near the Amulete Market. All the photos were taken with my iPhone.