Siem Reap & Our Month in Thailand
Our first time visiting Cambodia!
Good morning! We woke up in Cambodia today to news of what seems like intense winter weather across the U.S. — including southern California where there is snow and hail! Hope you have some cozy activities planned for the weekend.
For us, the weather in Thailand and Cambodia has been HOT and HUMID. Daily temps range from 90-100 (actual temps) and the humidity increases the feel of those temps by 10-15 degrees. Ooof!
To catch you up, since early January we spent 2 weeks traveling across Egypt, spent a long weekend in Frankfurt, and traveled across southern Thailand for almost 4 weeks. Our 2023 travel has been really exciting so far and we’ve loved it! We’ll be sending out more newsletters with photos from these travels…stay tuned.
Thailand
This is our second visit to Thailand and this time around we explored the provinces of Krabi, Trang, Phatthalung, and Songkhla (including the city of Hat Yai which is considered the ‘mini Bangkok’ of the south), and we were lucky enough to spend a week with friends (from Washington, DC) in Krabi. We had a lot of fun catching up and relaxing at Railay Beach, we did a boat trip around the Phi Phi islands, ate at the incredible night market in Krabi town, and discovered new foods at the local morning market. We haven’t seen these friends since January 2019, and getting to spend a week with them was really special.
The southern provinces of Thailand are also really interesting as they have Chinese and Malaysian influences. In Trang, for example, dim sum is THE breakfast that locals eat every day and there are dozens of options to choose from. As you go further south the Malay influence also becomes more prominent.
Cambodia
After leaving Thailand earlier this week we arrived in Siem Reap where we’ve been for the last 2 days. We explored the temples of Angkor Wat yesterday and will be here for another few days before heading south to Phnom Penh. We’re looking forward to a Cambodia cooking class, exploring local markets, and learning more about Cambodia's history through visits to the Killing Fields (Choeung Ek Genocidal Center) and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. A heavy topic for sure, but one that is important to understanding Cambodian people and their resilience.
Our guide at Angkor Wat described how he lost his entire immediate family to the genocide, and directly witnessed atrocities as a young child. He became a Buddhist monk when he was young to find community, and get an education, and then later left the monastery to work in tourism and have a family of his own.
Visiting Angkor Wat and the pyramids and tombs of Egypt were similar and complimentary experiences - we’re really glad we did both so close together. We learned a lot about ancient history in each area, and the engravings and inscriptions show a lot about daily life and religious beliefs of each culture. Tourism hasn’t fully recovered in both of these countries, so we were able to experience both world wonders with far fewer crowds. Lucky for us!
Photos Angkor Wat Temples (taken with my iPhone)
What’s Next
After Cambodia, we’ll be headed to Taiwan, Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome), Greece, Portugal, and a few other European countries we have in mind. We decided to save Vietnam for another time as it’s a huge country, and frankly, we can’t do another month in this humidity. 😂
If you have any recommendations for places to eat or things to do outside of the noteworthy lists of attractions, we’d appreciate them. Leave a comment below or send us an email at todayslocation@gmail.com. Take care!
You should check with Apple about getting one of their latest phones in exchange for all the plugs you give them. As always great stories and absolutely wonderful photos.
Nice to hear from you! Your post reminds me of this incredible book we read - highly recommend.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/51733706
“Afterparties offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California, they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race, sexuality, friendship, and family.”