Preview: A different kind of backpack

For my first trip of 2012, I joined HLGG for a weekend day hike to Mt. Batulao last January.  That was my 3rd Mt. Batulao climb and I thought I already knew the typical Batulao crowd until I came across that Japanese woman below.

Hardcore Mountaineering Mama from Liquid Druid on Vimeo.

Vietnam-Cambodia, Day 4 – Beng Mealea and Koh Ker

(Photo courtesy of Leika Ramirez)

For this day, we visited two destinations that are normally not in the itineraries of tourists going to Siem Reap. The first one is the distant and less-crowded temple of Beng Mealea, and the second is the even more distant and literally deserted ancient Angkorian capital of Koh Ker.

The relationship between level of fun and backpack “aroma”

There's no way you can claim to have had an epic fun-filled vacation and not have a stinky backpack afterwards.—
R. Luis Flores (@liquiddruid) April 09, 2012

Vietnam-Cambodia, Day 3 – All-day Temple-hopping in Siem Reap

Following the itinerary set by Leika, and with our respective breakfasts just barely starting to digest, we were soon on our way to our first destination which was Kbal Spean at the outskirts of the city.

Vietnam-Cambodia, Day 2 & 3 – A 13-hour bus ride, Angkor Wat at Dawn

In my desire not to be left behind by the Cambodia-bound bus, my body heeded the Blackberry’s alarm despite the fact that my room’s bed was so comfortable that I almost didn’t want to rise. So after taking a shower, I packed all my stuff and promptly went down to the canteen to have my free breakfast by 6 am.  The bus would pick me up at around 7:15 so I still had some time to take my eggs, baguette and tea at a leisurely pace.

Vietnam-Cambodia, Day 1 – Arrival in Saigon, Cu Chi Tunnels, City Tour

This next series of blogs is a chronicle of my observations and reflections on the 7 full days I spent touring Vietnam and Cambodia (November 27 to December 3, 2011.)  I was really just interested in Cambodia, particularly because of Angkor Wat.  But since there were no direct flights from the Philippines to Cambodia back then, I had to fly to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in Vietnam to be able to enter Cambodia, and had to return to Vietnam to be able to fly back to Manila.

Budget Estimate for a 7-day Vietnam-Cambodia Tour

To get straight to the point, this entire post can be summarized in one figure: USD 400.

But predictably, you’d all want a breakdown of the expenses as a guide for making your own budget estimate, which necessitates a blog post.  Making this task confusing is that there were 4 different currencies involved when I traveled: Philippine pesos, U.S. dollars, Cambodian riels, and Vietnamese dongs [cue juvenile sniggering].  I’ve also committed the unforgivable sin of forgetfulness when I stopped listing down my expenses after the second day.  And so I’ll be doing a lot of recalling, guesstimating, and cross-referencing with some receipts I kept.

Suggested 7-day Itinerary for Vietnam and Cambodia

So I’m finally starting on the Vietnam/Cambodia blogs.  I initially planned to create the suggested itinerary and budget estimate towards the tail end of the series but since I’m slowly beginning to forget details of the trip, I figured I’d do these two first before I forget a lot more.

My trip actually took 9 calendar days from start to finish, but it’s the 7 full days in the middle of it that involves the most activities.  This is just a suggested itinerary.  I intend to create a more comprehensive travel guide in the future with which you can cross-reference when reading this entry.  (Update: I already created the budget estimate.  Click here.)

“Nakatulong ka na, nakagala ka pa.”, part 3

One plank and two beached whales. (Photo courtesy of Ivan De Castro)

Lying down in a small tent without a makeshift pillow and with very little cushioning was quite uncomfortable, and I don’t think I would have been able to sleep if I wasn’t tired from the previous days activities.  I woke up ahead of all the others with a very painful back, making the act of sitting up excruciatingly painful.  I afterwards spent some time just soaking up the pre-dawn silence before the next person awoke.

Preview: Temple-hunting in Cambodia

The last preview was 2 scenes of Vietnam.  This time, I’m showing a preview of Cambodia.  I took this video when we encountered the first few temples (or prasat) in Koh Ker in the Preah Vihear Province, around 2-3 hours away from Siem Reap.

Encountering the first few Prasats in Koh Ker from Liquid Druid on Vimeo.