Thailand & Cambodia

December 2016 - January 2017

A 48-day adventure by Marko Read more

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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Jan 17, 2017
- ⛅ 28 °C
- Altitude: 18 m
- Thailand Changwat Samut Prakan Ban Khlong Nong Kha Suvarnabhumi Airport 13.692609, 100.75066413°41’33” N 100°45’2” E
Day 48
Goodbye Thailand
January 17, 2017 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Traveling is one of the best experiences. It opens up our minds and fills us with happiness. Asia certainly is an amazing place with so much more left for me to explore (yes Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, I'm looking at you!). And it's about all the people. I've met psychologysts, students, professors, firefighters, aero engineers, artists, designers, cooks, managers, bankers, chefs, hippies, rockers, shamans, yogis, ... So many wonderful people, so many beautiful minds and spirits, all adding one piece of an endless jigsaw puzzle you just have to keep building and never wanting to stop. Hundred stories, thousand laughs and countless smiles from countless known and unknown people. Oh I miss you all!

"When the initial hugs are hugged out, the stories told, and the reunions over, many of us find that coming back home isn’t really coming home at all. Our true home is being surrounded by the unknown.
The road is where we belong."
- Nomadic MattRead more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Jan 16, 2017
- ☀️ 31 °C
- Altitude: 19 m
- Thailand Changwat Samut Prakan Ban Khlong Nong Kha Suvarnabhumi Airport 13.692059, 100.75106813°41’31” N 100°45’4” E
Day 47
Last day
January 16, 2017 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
After 47 days the time came for me to go back home. I don't want to but I have to I guess. After a quick last shopping for gifts and visiting our friend Clynson I had to go to Suvarnabhumi Airport, my last stop in Thailand. Well there was another surprise for me - I got upgraded to business class. Flying like a boss again :)Read more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Jan 13, 2017
- ⛅ 30 °C
- Altitude: 3 m
- Thailand Ayutthaya Wat Phra Mahathat 14.35668, 100.56822214°21’24” N 100°34’6” E
Day 44
Ayutthaya
January 13, 2017 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Coming to Ayutthaya last night I already met several new people, fun girl Claire from London, a soldier named Ruud from Holland, Cléo from Switzerland, eho actualy prefers mountaind and a Californian girl Nataly. After fun night market visit (except when Nataly twisted her ancle) and getting my dose of sticky rice mango we agreed to rent bikes and drive around Ayutthaya. We ended the night at hostel's neighbour bar with live music and beer (they had homemade IPA!) :)
It's a bit of an empty town, compared to towns seen recently. Tons of ruins, basically there is nothing much left from old capital. We rented bikes for 50THB per day and off we went to Wat Phra park with Buddha Head in tree roots. Amazing place and I kept dreaming how this place must've looked 300 years ago... with all the buddha statues still having their heads on.
It was a HOT day, 40 degrees was the real feel, so Ruud, me and Cleo decided to just rent a boat and go around the "island" (a river flows around the town).
They drove us around with a small boat, stopping at old temples. The breeze while driving was amazing! Too bad I can't post a video here :)
In the evening we went for a dinner to some "fancy" restaurant (still cheap though), night ride around Ayutthaya and ended in bar again for a couple of beers. I had an early morning minivan to Kanchanaburi.
I'm gonna miss those people, they were the best!Read more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Jan 12, 2017, 12:00pm
- ☀️ 31 °C
- Altitude: 5 m
- Thailand Bangkok Khaosan 13.759139, 100.49457613°45’33” N 100°29’40” E
Day 43
Last nights in Bangkok
January 12, 2017 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
The Bangkok was fun! We did some shopping and sightseeing, Klemen and Rok had to leave on 13th so we had to enjoy last few nights on Khaosan road and Rambuttri with such nice live music. On same place I met Matjaž and Mateja we had some more of those mojitos. What a night, also a 3yo girl also convinced me to eat a scorpion! Yes, I did it!

After two nights is Bangkok on Khao San road I had to leave to Ayutthaya, the old Thailand capital (until war with Burma). It should be fun and educational, can't wait to hang out with backpackers again. I will have to be extra careful though, only 3.000 THB left in my pocket and a treasure I've found in my backpack - 70€! :) So after morning's dip in hotel's rooftop swimming pool I was on my way.Read more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Jan 10, 2017, 9:39am
- ⛅ 26 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- Thailand Changwat Surat Thani Ban Nai Wok 9.686597, 99.9773649°41’12” N 99°58’39” E
Day 41
Goodbye Koh Phangan
January 10, 2017 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
On a ferry to Surat Thani. Again I'm sadly looking at Koh Phangan fading away in distance. It's not the Phangan that I'm missing, it's the little piece of paradise Haad Yuan beach behind it. A place with most amazing people with beautiful minds, all the smiles, all the good vibes, all the awesome music and hours of dancing and smiling we've spent there. I cannot wait to go back.
But I have a plane to catch. Bangkok, the smelly city :)Read more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Jan 9, 2017
- ☀️ 28 °C
- Altitude: 11 m
- Thailand Changwat Surat Thani Ban Hat Rin Laem Klang 9.695193, 100.0766379°41’43” N 100°4’36” E
Day 40
And finally, the sun is back! Sorta...
January 9, 2017 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
I woke up and the sun was shining! Yay! Immediately we put all our wet clothes to dry. We had some luck. I also had 2nd class of yoga. I really love it, so peaceful, easy breathing, stretching exercises for my back, pretty girls, what's not to love. After an hour and a half my back was thankful and I felt relaxed. Day was looking good until it started raining again. Argh!
So a plan had to be made. We didn't know about the weather in the morning, it's not guaranteed that either longtails or any jeep would drive in the morning. Plan: leave the bay today and spent the night in Thong Sala to catch a 9 o'clock 4 hour ferry ride to Surat Thani to catch an airplane to Bangkok. And it was pouring dogs and cats! So me and Rok saw a boat coming to Haad Tien, we ran over a hill to catch it, begging them to wait for 20 minutes to pack and come back. I've never packed so fast! When we were on the boat they demanded 1500 THB for a ride, thieves! And the ride, of course it started raining hard and of course the engine died in the middle of the sea. How they repair those rusty old car engines, not even Nasa engineers could understand that. Finally, all wet (yes, laptop survived) we came to Haad Rin and cought a taxi for Thong Sala. Beers, smokes, vietnamese food, ... And we were off to see our friend Julia, she took us to her house so we could go to ferry in the morning. See, good deeds always pay off :) We covered whole balcony with our wet clothes :) We played chess (haven't played it since high school) and listened to a professional playing piano.
Off to bed now. Long day tomorrow!Read more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Jan 5, 2017
- 🌬 25 °C
- Altitude: 20 m
- Thailand Changwat Surat Thani Ban Hat Rin Laem Klang 9.695257, 100.0757689°41’43” N 100°4’33” E
Day 36
Rainy Sanctuary
January 5, 2017 in Thailand ⋅ 🌬 25 °C
After an awesome New Year's party we've headed to The Sanctuary on 4th, a well known yoga/detox resort in Haad Tien. The house is amazing! The weather is not though, it's raining for a week now so there isn't much to do or see. At least I got some work done and am eating healthy food, the restaurant here is vegetarian only (really people? Just don't order meat if you don't eat it) bit they have really good shakes and some cashew-pesto-chedar wraps. I also tried a yoga class and I LOVE it! It's really good for my back, mastering the breathing will take some more time, I need to find this back at home, something without all the veganism bullshit.
All this rain is causing problems around the island and other southern parts of Thailand. We lose the electricity every day, we saw a bridge getting demolished by a big wave, all of mu clothes are wet and impossiblemto dry them, ... At least it's not -10 degrees like back at home :)
Last night we also went to Eden for the last time (until next visit, of course), amazing time with wonderful people, no drunk fullmooners, just around 60 people dancing the night away. This is the Eden Garden that I love.
I just have to mention: one day when I was looking through my wet backpack I found my insurance papers and on them there was a sticker my niece Eva (I just call her a niece because she calls me uncle Marko) gave to me for a good luck (see picture). I swear a sun shined at that moment and made me smile :) Oh I'm gonna give her the biggest hug when I get back home, you just gotta love that girl :)Read more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Jan 1, 2017
- 🌬 29 °C
- Altitude: 34 m
- Thailand Changwat Surat Thani Ban Hat Rin Yuan Beach 9.691188, 100.0723659°41’28” N 100°4’21” E
Day 32
Happy New Year!
January 1, 2017 in Thailand ⋅ 🌬 29 °C
It was weird looking on a phone and seeing 31st Dec and I was in my fisherman's pants, t-shirt and drinking beer to stay cool. But I liked it! This is the proper way to spend New Year! After a previous night's party at Guy's Bar we were all excited to go to Eden Garden for a New Year party. And what a night, what a party that was! There were some drunk fullmooners there being loud and provoking people, but no one cared much. Music was AWESOME, with David Chong, Peter G, Sabrina and others taking care of it. We didn't even care much for midnight's fireworks, we were just dancing! I've met so many lovely people, from French teacher, Austrian guy living here and playing didgeridoo, German yoga teacher, Australians, some sweet British gal with Portugese guy, oh all the fun we had, what a night! Also we got that beautiful sunrise in the morning that showa you the whole Haad Yuan beach. This place is a paradise.
Next day we just carried on dancing and later chillin' on a beach with those people and friend Rok. After that british/portugese couple went on a boat some girl jumped off that boat because she found it too dangerous (waves were really high) and was really terrified, shaking. Her bags went to Haad Rin so she stayed here without anything. No problem, me and Rok started talking to her and invited her to come eat with us and so we had a guest at the dinner :) She was Julia, Ukrainian piano player thay also plays in a orchestra and in some restaurants around Koh Phangan now that she lives here for a year. It was a fun night, telling us stories about being in India, playing us cool songs from YouTube, it was so amazing seeing a person's true passion for music when she listenes to it. Me and Rok suddenly said to eachother "wow what beautiful people you meet here". We also offered her the place to sleep so she could go on boat next day. Everything, the party, the weather, people we've met, everything turned out just perfect. Also Rok and I now have 200% karma for the beginning of this year, hehe.Read more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Dec 29, 2016, 10:50am
- ☀️ 29 °C
- Altitude: 7 m
- Thailand Changwat Surat Thani Ban Chalok Lam Khlong Hat Khuat 9.792971, 100.0333569°47’35” N 100°2’0” E
Day 29
Bottle beach
December 29, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
It's nice to have a four day chilling and relaxing between Christmas and New Year, isn't it? :) We've headed to the northern part of Koh Phangan to a remote beach called Bottle Beach. It's quiet here, no parties, just good food, swimming, throwing frisbee with other backpackers, I've also got some work done (and will do some more, I've just finished breakfast. Yes mom, Daša and others, I'm eating breakfast :)). Finaly I've also subscribed to New Scientist magazine, it's not cheap but articles are really awesome, I just can't stop reading. Same goes for Klemen, a true bookworm :) We're also waiting for the third member to fly down here for the north and tomorrow we're heading back to Haad Yuan for the NY fun :)Read more
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Marko Bratkovič Thailand & Cambodia
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- Dec 24, 2016
- ☀️ 30 °C
- Altitude: 12 m
- Thailand Changwat Surat Thani Ban Hat Rin Yuan Beach 9.693233, 100.075339°41’36” N 100°4’31” E
Day 24
Merry Christmas!
December 24, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
It was an easy day, swimming, drinking pineapple shakes, beers, ... But we all waited for the night to come and go my favourite club in the world - Eden Garden, a little magical place with most amazing people and great music! It's the time of year when whole "family" (people living there, people visiting this place) come together and have a crazy party! People smiling, like we all know each other, everything full of love and happiness, oh I missed that place. There was even a girl walkng around and giving wrapped xmas gifts to random people, a friend got rubber duckies for bath, such a cool gesture. Gotta love that place! No pictures though, didn't have the camera, but there is a photo of my xmas dinner - Haad Yuan Chicked Sandwich and Chang, yumm!Read more
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