Welcome to the Country of…

Crazy train riding,

A tons of bats,

Great Artists,

The biggest religious building in the world,

Holy Craps,

The Pepperland,

Great Caves to discover,

Irawadi dolphins,

And nice sunsets over the Mekong.

The Border crossing was not that difficult, and arrived in Battambang i found fast a good hotel… Okay, I had no AC nor a lavatory, but it didn’t matter. First day I made a Tuk-tuk trip to the Bamboo train, a Winery, Phnom Banan, Phnom Sampou and to the Bat cave, where thousands of Bats were coming out after sunset.

In the night I visited the Phare-Ponleu-Selpak circus school. For that they all are children it was really good! Amazing show with a lot of jokes.

Next station was Siem Reap, where nearby the biggest religious building in the world Angkor wat is located, but first I was visiting the Museum and then the outer temples. I found the nice Chinese roommate April to share a Tuk-tuk.

I was surprised by the not-so-crowded temples, only once I had to escape… The Site is so big and built in a rainforest, what a feeling of discovering like Indiana jones comes near, but actually one temple was the coulisse of the movie Tomb Raider.

After a great Party I needed a rest at the beach, so I went, with a short stop in Phnom Penh, to Sihanoukville. But I spend there only a night, because I preferred to spend more time in Kep, what was a great Idea.
The Guesthouse was owned by a Swiss guy, and I had a really great time there in the national park, on the rabbit island and on the motorcycle trip, even I had a small accident and took some injuries with me.

Back in Phnom Penh I visited the S-21, Tuol Sleng museum, where from 1975 to 1979  the khmer rouge killed sometimes 100 people a day. The stories about the victims was ha hard work for me…

On the way up to Laos I made a brake in Kratie, to watch the Irawadi dolphins together with Juliette and Régine, and celebrate the New Year!

So at all: happy new Year!

The border crossing from Myanmar wasn’t that easy, but very interesting. In Myanmar was only a dirt road to the border, but they are building now a big street for a cargo connection from Bangkok to the sea of Myanmar. Directly after the border in Thailand we got on a highway, it was a little bit curious. After a while of searching a transport to Kanchanaburi, we decided to hitchhike. Chris got bad luck and gave up after trying of 10 minutes. I finished my lunch and went to a pickup nearby, and they took us in nearby 1 hour to our hotel. If I had asked Chris about this situation, he didn’t said any word.

Kanchanaburi is famous for his bridge over the river Kwai, as the start of the infamous World War 2 Death Railway to Myanmar, where 100’000 of 200’000 prisoners were killed by building this railway. After finishing the connection of 415km from Bangkok to Rangoon in record time of 16 month, it was in use for 23 month.

We rent a motorbike and went to the hellfire pass, which was probably the worst part in the history of this railway.

But on the way we were surrounded by a beautiful landscape.

Then we took the train to Bangkok, I think most people know this city. For that I don’t have to explain anything about that… Chris and I met some friends and had to say goodbye, because he went to Indonesia by flying, and I want to spend more time in this region, before heading south.

I decided to make some stops on the way to Cambodia, and the first was in Pak Chong, near the national park KhaoYai, the oldest in Thailand. Because it was ending the high season, I got a guide for my own, which is better for watching animals in compare to a group.

In Nakhon Ratchasima, the second biggest city in Thailand, I made only a short stop for print out my e-Visa (it was challenging to find a place for that!) for Cambodia, visiting some Wats and the night market. When I was walking trough the town and next day to the bus station, I had to laugh about the planner of this city. A lot of streets are not connected to others nearby, so I had to make often a big detour to reach my destination…

In Aranyaprathet I arrived late so I had to spend a night there, and found a bar with live rock-pop-rap-music, and I was not long time alone…

🙂