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Tim's Travels
Tim's Travels

Tim's Travels

Part-time worker, lifelong traveller. Off on some new adventures... Czytaj więcej🇬🇧Brighton
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  • Tim's TravelsSloveniaTim's Travels

    Day 6 - We must find wine.

    27 lipca 2024, Słowenia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    16:00
    Max arrives tomorrow, and the need to replenish red wine stocks has hit critical levels. We’ve what counts for a busy day planned. I’ve been sleeping pretty well the past few days. My room is warm, but my small electric hand fan has been doing wonderful things to keep me just the right side of cool enough. We’re both awake with an up and at ‘em attitude in decent time, and heading off to the beautiful lake at Kamenšnica Babinci just before 11:00. The forecast is hot, unbroken sunshine all day.

    The small beach by the lake is fairly quiet - a combination of cyclists, fisherpeople, and swimmers. The quiet is very much broken by Juancho, who’s favourite water-based activity is swimming in circles, and barking incessantly. Juancho is very much a traditional, small yapper type dog. Mila is much more withdrawn, and likes less the sound of her own bark. They both have a great time splashing around, chasing their ball. About 45 minutes after our arrival, and family turns up with about 7 young kids. They plonk themselves down next to us. The kids are, well - let’s face it, noisy. They (the kids) also start casting nervous glances at the dogs, who are in full-on play mode, and yapping away. We elect to pack up and move on.

    I’ve been in the sun for nearly an hour, so decide to take the car to do some grocery shopping, while Kirsten has some more play time with the dogs. It later transpires she is a little sunburnt, so strong are the sun’s rays today. We meander back through Ljutomer, before turning off onto a stunning country back road that takes us into the heart of wine country. We stop at a winery just outside Jeruzalem. We’re largely on the hunt for red wines for Max’s arrival. I taste 4, and buy one of each. They’re all great, but the standout is a grape with which I’m barely familiar - Vranec. Medium bodied, bright acidity, black fruit flavours. Yum. We reward ourselves with a glass each of white wine - a brilliant Pinot Gris / Sauvignon blend for Kirsten, and a Traminec varietal for me. The views across the valley are sensational, and wine’s pretty awesome as well.

    Our next stop is about 3 minutes walk up the hill so a taverna with a wine shop attached to it. We get slightly distracted by the view, and end up having a glass of their flagship white wine, and blend of Chardonnay, Rhine Riesling and Pinot Gris. We’re both a touch peckish, so share a plate of locally made paté and bread. The dogs are both a bit jaded, so decide to try one more winery on our way back to the cottage. Our route takes us further and further towards the middle of nowhere - it’s s stunning drive through forests, valleys, vineyards. Sadly, on arrival it appears the winery is no more. I suspect a fair few of the smaller producers suffered at the hands of COVID. If they are even still growing grapes, I find myself wondering if their crop is given over to co-operative winemaking, rather than the personal financial burden of making their own wines.

    We’re back at the cottage a little after 15:30. It’s properly hot, so I treat myself to a dip in the hot-tub. I decide against the jacuzzi bubbles, and there’s no way I’m heating the water up. It’s initially a bit of a system shock, but the cold quickly becomes a wonderfully refreshing cool. I air dry with a glass of wine and my book, and then consider I’ve earnt a nap.

    23:00
    I wake at 18:00, after a smashing 90 minute sleep. I’m on dinner duties this evening, so gradually mobilise myself to do some prep work. We’re having local sausages braised in red wine, and served with a warm lentil dish featuring flavours of bacon, roasted pepper and sun-dried tomato. I usually use Puy lentils, but only had green available in the supermarket. There’s a small snafu when it transpires I haven’t turned the oven on, but it my oversight corrected, it heats up quickly enough. As a light starter, we have some Gazpacho that Kirsten made earlier. The tomatoes are from the veg patch at the cottage, and are some of the best I’ve ever eaten. SO ripe, SO juicy, SO full of flavour. They are also, of course, all kinds of weird knobbly shapes and sizes. I don’t know that this actually mades a difference to their flavour, but it reminds me how sad it is to see utterly uniform fruit and veg in the supermarkets back home.

    Kirsten declares my sausage and lentil dish a triumph. It’s really tasty - something I’ve cooked a bunch of times before, but very rarely as lentils don’t agree with my beloved wife. After we’ve eaten, we settle into an easy post-prandial patter of conversation. I think one of the reasons Kirsten and my friendship has endured so easily over the years is that we never run out of things to talk about, but are equally happy sitting in silence, without the need to fill the void. It makes for easy-going days. Around 22;00, we’re both starting to flag. I declare I’m not long for this day, and head to bed.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsSloveniaTim's Travels

    Day 5 - Literally nothing of note.

    27 lipca 2024, Słowenia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    23:30
    Nothing of note happened today. There was reading, there was lazing, there was napping, there was eating.

    Nothing to see. Move along, move along.

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  • Tim's TravelsSloveniaTim's Travels

    Day 4 - Lake, and a broken Kirsten

    25 lipca 2024, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    22:45
    I once again wake with a fuzzy wine head. It’s about 08:00. I pad out to the bathroom, and find Kirsten in a state of disrepair. She’s due on a work call in an hour, but looks like this might be a significant uphill struggle. I return to bed, and whilst I don’t sleep, the following couple of hours helps me feel a lot better. I shower while Kirsten finishes up her call. She quickly declares overhung. I ask if she’s fit enough for a trip to the lake as we’d discussed, and she claims yes. We head out around 11:00, after we’ve given the handful of ibuprofen she’s taken time to work.

    The drive over to the lake is stunning. We head over a couple of valleys from our guesthouse, and pass countless signs to wineries. Kirsten groans at most of them. We pass through Ljutomer, a similar size to Ormoz, and about 7km North of our cottage. There are a couple of new supermarket chains here - Jager and Tus. Jager particularly interests me, for obvious reasons.

    We arrive at the lake, and find fishermen parked up. The combination of dogs and fishing is not a happy one, so we quietly reverse out, and head further round. Our second stop is more successful, and we let the dogs out to run. We pass a very lovely German family, who inexplicably have no teeth. The dogs are loving the extra space. We find a quiet little cove to occupy, and let the dogs swim. Juancho is a confident swimmer, and furiously doggy paddles in circles while yapping away. Mila is a little more cautious. According to Kirsten, she’d never been away from home until a few months ago, so traveling is unfamiliar. She’d also not swum until recently, so she’s understandably a little nervous. She does really well though, building in confidence as she swims out to collect the tennis ball time after time.

    Kirsten is beginning to sound more human. We briefly discuss why she’s so broken. We come up with a range of pretty specious suggestions - that we drank Slovenian wine last night, and it doesn’t *agree* with her as much as Spanish wine, that the bee sting on her arm has poisoned her, and made her incapable of ingesting wine efficiently… She’s putting a broadly brave face on it. After an hour of knackering out the dogs, we head back to the car.

    We’re still in search of lamb, and stop at what claims to be a butcher in Ljutomer, but which simply does not exist. We stop at Jäger, and find no lamb. We do pick up some groceries we need, and head back to the cottage. The sky is brooding, and we suspect rain. Kirsten showers, and has a nap. I have a light lunch of leftover bulgar wheat salad and a couple of Radlers. Sitting under the vine covering, I can hear the patter of gentle rain, and elect to shelter indoors, on my bed, in the hope that nap may come. It does - only for an hour, but it’s a super luxurious way to pass the time.

    When I wake, Kirsten is finishing up her last work call of the day. I comment that she seems to be doing a lot more work on this part time contract than she’s actually contracted for, and she doesn’t disagree. I think she has an exit plan on the horizon. Honestly, it just seems to be getting in the way of having a good time. The clouds have passed, and the evening sunshine is glorious. I recline in one of the garden sun loungers and read my book. Kirsten suggests a glass of wine. I’m surprised - I thought she’d be rabidly anti booze today, but she feels she’s reached a stage where a glass might help. We share a bottle of a fab white blend I bought yesterday. Kirsten’s cooking dinner, so I’m on lazy patrol. The sun poking through the vineyard next door as it sets is a pretty breathtaking moment.

    Dinner is fab - some stuffed marrow that our hosts have grown, and a simple tomato and cucumber salad. Kirsten has proposed (and I have agreed to) a bottle of Italian red to accompany our food. Once again, it’s a great slurp - around €10 in Italy, and never found outside of the country.

    Around 21:30, Kirsten announces she’s off to bed. I don’t blame her - she’s had a very tough day…     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsSloveniaTim's Travels

    Day 3 - Quite a lot of nothing at all...

    24 lipca 2024, Słowenia ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    16:00
    It takes dedication to do this little. I sleep the sleep of the boozed, and only wake up around 08:30. At 04:30, I padded out of my bedroom to use the bathroom, to find Kirsten sleeping on the daybed in the kitchen, and covered in dogs. I wondered if she might decide against more stairs action.

    My head’s a little fuzzy from the wine last night. so I make a strong coffee, and see what the day’s about. We discover a dishwasher, which is excellent news. We have trouble accessing WiFi, which is less cool. I get very spotty cell service up here, so was relying on the WiFi to post these blogs and the like. Kirsten sends a message to Simone to ask if there’s anything we can do to boost the signal. She’s got work calls most days we’re here, so needs to have a half decent connection. Kirsten joins one of these calls at 10:00, and I decide to make myself useful. I tidy up the kitchen, load the dishwasher, and head down to Ormoz to reload on some critical supplies.

    I’ve been surprised at the lack of lamb in the supermarkets. Beef, pork and chicken are widely available, but I’ve not seen any lamb yet, despite trying 4 different supermarkets. I’d assumed, incorrectly it would seem, that the Slovenian cuisine would have a lot in common with Greek and Macedonian food, and feature lamb prominently. Captain Google reckons that lamb is a much less frequent treat in this part of the world - likely only eaten a handful of times per year. As a result, my shopping basket fills with other options. I also grab a few Radlers, basically a lager shandy made with a variety of fruit flavoured sodas, but most commonly lemon or grapefruit. Grapefruit doesn’t agree with my anti-anxiety medication, so it’s lemon for me. They’re low in alcohol, massively refreshing in the heat, and for me are a favoured alternative to a straight up local lager.

    Suitably shopped, I head back to the Puklavec wine cellar on the outskirts of town, and happily find it open this time. There are perhaps 30 different wines on offer - some made ultra locally, others from as far away as Macedonia; there are whites, reds, sparklers and stickies; there are a bunch at around the €5 mark, and others that get up above €30. There are grapes with which I’m very familiar - Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Merlot, and others of which I’ve never heard - Vranec, Shipon. I chat with the shop dude, who is insistent that I try some of his wines. Who am I to disagree. He gives me a white blend, which is staggeringly good. Wants to be at €25 a bottle, but I grab one anyway. He gives me a Traminec varietal which is closely related to Gewürztraminer, one of my favourite grapes. Sensational. I grab one. He pours me a couple of others, and, well - I’m lucky to get out with only half a case. Max is arriving in a few days, and Kirsten has tasked me with finding an inexpensive red wine that Max will enjoy. I bravely take up the challenge.

    Deciding that there’s really not that much to Ormoz beyond grocery and wine stores, I take a little drive into the countryside. It is STUNNING. On one side of the roads are countless fields of sunflowers. As I drive through a small village, there are rocky escarpments, and views of lush, verdant valleys. I spot a bunch more wineries than I’ve even listed for us to visit - many of them so small that they don’t warrant an entry on Google Maps. In a show of ultimate bravery, I drive past a little bar attached to a farm. Back at the cottage, Kirsten is finishing up another call. I grab some bread, cheese, salami and a beer, and join her at the picnic table for a light lunch. It leaves me a feeling a touch tired, so I repair to my room to see if a nap is forthcoming.

    23:45
    Wow. What a sleep. I manage a full 2 hours, and wake up feeling refreshed. Kirsten’s got some work calls this evening, so I busy myself making dinner - some beef kofta kebabs, a bulgar wheat salad, and a cucumber/tomato yoghurt concoction. My cheffing is accompanied by one of the white wines I bought earlier - a blend of Traminec and Muscat, which is a knockout.

    I light the BBQ around 19:00, and spend a blissful 45 minutes lazing in one of the lawn chairs, reading my book. I’m occasionally interrupted by one of the many dogs, but I’m at peace with it. The sun is warm, but not hot.

    Dinner is delicious, and accompanied by a range of red wines, some cool music, and even cooler conversation. The dogs finally chill out around 22:00. We’ll take them for a day out tomorrow to burn off some of their excess energy. There’s apparently a swimmable lake around 20km North of us which sounds ideal…

    We call it quits around 23:30. Kirsten has to be up for a call at 09:00, and I’m already considering how long I can sleep in for tomorrow morning.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsSloveniaTim's Travels

    Day 2 - The back of the back of beyond

    23 lipca 2024, Słowenia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    12:00
    I sleep less than brilliantly. My room has no cooling features of any kind. It’s in the basement of an old stone building, so isn’t disastrously hot, but I could have done with a fan or some AC to keep me cool. Kirsten’s on some work calls this morning, so I head out around 10:00 for a wander around Ljubljana. It’s a stunningly pretty little city, very quiet, very clean. 100m from our guesthouse is the Republic Square, which celebrates Slovenian independence. It’s all but empty. I head on down towards the river, taking a scenic route - i.e. I set off in what I think is the general direction of the river, and it turns out I’m walking away from it. I dawdle along for maybe 30 minutes, stopping to look at occasional bits of architecture. Finally, I reach the river, and sit down at one of the many waterside cafés that line its banks. I deserve and have a strong black coffee. I’m conscious I haven’t eaten since lunchtime yesterday, so grab a piece of cheese pie. It’s delicious. Lots in common with the Greek Spanakopita I love so much.

    Arriving back at our guesthouse, Kirsten is just about finished with her work calls, and I decide it’s probably beer o’clock. The local brew is called Lasko, and is a fairly generic Mediterranean lager. Inoffensive, easy drinking. Max joins us and insists I have another. She’s a good woman.

    18:00
    Kirsten and I head off from Ljubljana around 12:30, heading East towards the borders with Croatia and Hungary. I’m on map duty, and successfully navigate us out of the city centre without too many difficulties. We join the eastbound highway, and settle into a fast cruise. The roads are fairly empty, and we make good progress. The views of the scenery are stunning. Only a few kilometres out of Ljubljana, we’re surrounded by sweeping hills blanketed in thick forest.

    We leave the highway, and join a 2 lane road. We leave the two lane road, and join a single carriageway road. We leave the single carriageway road, onto a single track. We are definitely headed for the middle of nowhere. The map is fairly easy to follow though, which is something. We start to climb a not insignificant hill. Reaching the summit a few minutes later, we realise we’re very nearly at our AirBnB.

    It’s idyllic. We’re surrounded on all sides by vines and fruit trees. It’s silent. Not quiet - SILENT. We’re shown around the property and grounds by our hosts, Simone and Franz. They introduce us to their dogs - Mufi and Arya. We introduce Mufi and Arya to Mila and Juancho. Much dogging occurs. Our AirBnB has a wine bar in it. I’m not kidding - a full on bar with a wine fridge, and wine racks. Now, we’re not stupid enough to think that the wine is free, but it’s a lovely touch, and we crack open a bottle of Slovenian Sauvignon Blanc, which is better than we thought it’d be. We briefly consider taking our wine to the hot tub, but Kirsten has another work call to join.

    Instead, I head down to our nearest town, Ormoz - which is about 10km away. We need food and wine supplies. Before shopping, I take a bit of a swing through the town. It feels, I don’t know - almost empty. There are a handful of cars on the road, but very few. Quite a lot of businesses look to be closed - whether for the end of the day (it’s a little past 16:00) or more permanently, I’m not sure. I find a wine tasting room of the famous Puklavec family, but alas - it closed at 16:00. I’ll be back in the next couple of days…

    My first shopping stop is at the Lidl supermarket on the outskirts of town. They have very little of what I need. More successful is a stop at the Spar supermarket nearby. Spar in this part of Europe is a more mainstream supermarket than the corner shop brand we’re used to seeing in the UK. They have most of what I need - including some cool looking local beers and wines. They don’t have BBQ fuel though, so I make a 3rd stop at a Slovenian supermarket chain called Mercator, who happily fulfil my fuel fantasies.

    23:50
    We have a lovely dinner, sitting outside under the vines. I knock up a simple, Greek marinade for some chicken thighs, and Kirsten pairs it with a Sicilian pasta dish that shows more than a passing resemblance to Puttanesca. Delish. The BBQ is a small version of the big Landmann I use at home, which makes cooking the bone-in chicken thighs a breeze. They’re crispy where they should be, juicy and unctuous in all the right places, and - crucially - cooked all the way through.

    After dinner, Kirsten insists on some red wine, and grabs a bottle that she and Max bought in Italy, on their road-trip through to Slovenia. It’s wonderful. I’m a relative newbie with Italian wine, and struggle to know which are worth a punt, and which not. This one’s a banger. Bright acidity, full bodied and zippy fruit. I’d make a note of the winemaker’s / vineyard’s name, but there’s zero chance of me finding the same wine in the UK. Around 22:30, I suggest bed, but Kirsten’s thinking is slightly more diagonal than mine, and she proposes a final bottle of wine. It’s been ages since we sat up (fairly) late with too much wine, and set the world to rights - so I greedily acquiesce.

    I stumble to bed a little before midnight, and Kirsten attempts to climb the narrow staircase to her room. This doesn’t go entirely to plan, and she falls down them. Thankfully uninjured.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsSloveniaTim's Travels

    Day 1 - I've been here before.

    22 lipca 2024, Słowenia ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    15:30
    I spend a lazy morning getting packed, finishing a couple of errands, and reading a little about Slovenia. A new country for me, I know little about it, other than its part in the former Yugoslavia, and the resulting ethnic conflicts in the 1990s. Home for the next week will be a cottage in one of Slovenia’s wine regions, and my companion will be my school friend Kirsten, who I quickly realise has known me for pretty much bang on 30 years. That’s a sobering thought. We’ve not much planned for the week. The climate looks beautiful - our nearest weather station will be Maribor, which promises temperatures in the high 20s, light breezes, wall-to-wall sunshine. I imagine we’ll do some hiking, quite a lot of wine tasting/drinking, maybe some lake swimming if we find something suitable nearby. We’ll see what cool food we can find to cook. I’ve no idea about Slovenian cuisine, but given it neighbours Italy to the West, and Croatia to the South, I’m expecting good things. Kirsten’s driven her camper van up from Madrid, so we’ve got some transport sorted, should we need it much. From the sounds of it, our cottage is at the top of a hill, downwards from which finds you in one of 4 or 5 vineyards that surround the property.

    I leave the house a little before 14:00, and jump on a train for the short ride up to Gatwick. Despite the Monday, early afternoon timing, the train is busy, having been delayed on its way to me. It sounds like I’ve enjoyed the best of the Summer weather while I’ve been in the UK these past 10 days. Today is grey and mizzling - a more popular 2024 combination. I’m not sad to be leaving it behind. I AM sad to be leaving behind my darling Vicki. I’ve loved being at home with her since got back from SE Asia, and I’m uber-excited for our next trip(s) away together in September.

    Gatwick North is comfortably the busiest I’ve seen it this year. This is the first ‘full’ week of school summer holidays in the UK, and it shows. Children EVERYWHERE. I’ve paid to use the fast-track security service at the terminal. I’m not checking a bag, so have got a couple of heavy-ish cabin bags. Arriving at the fast track queue, I spot that they’re using one of the new CT scanners, which is great - except that it’s broken. Chatting to one of the security staff, they’ve been using it for a week now, and there have been some, well - let’s say ‘teething problems.’ The issue is quickly resolved by someone who doesn’t look like they work at the airport. I’m a little disgruntled when one of my bags gets pulled for further inspection. I always travel with a medikit, which contains a pair of blunt scissors, whose blades are less than 6cm long (as required by the Civil Aviation Authority). It’s these that have caused a red flag. Now, my bag is packed pretty fucking brilliantly. Everything I need, nothing I don’t. The medikit is right at the bottom of the bag - obviously. I locate it for the guy, whose beard is simply spectacular, and he measures the blade. Sure enough - 5.5cm. I huff, grab my belongings, and repair to one of the little desk things to repack my bag, quietly seething.

    Still, I make it from the train to Brewdog in around 45 minutes, which is a none too bad result for this time of year. I’m thinking about buying a debenture seat at Brewdog in the North terminal of Gatwick Airport. I’m sat at the same table seat as I have on several occasions already so far this year. I’m pretty sure the bar staff recognise me. Looking back through my scribblings from earlier in the year, I can see that I’ve been here on several occasions when I was all but the only customer. Today, they’re pretty much at max capacity. There are even (whisper it) some kids in here. Not many, but some…

    I’m conscious that at various times in this journal, and particularly at airports, I’ve written stuff that indicates I have some sort of preternatural hatred of kids. I don’t. I love (some of) them. I do, however, find that my enjoyment of travelling can be impaired by their loud, shouty, uncontrolled presence. I guess it’s not the kids I have an issue with, but rather the parents of those kids who choose not to assert any kind of control or discipline over their offspring. Besides - why would you bring them to a craft beer pub, when there’s a perfectly serviceable <insert fast food outlet name> just down the stairs?

    So anyway - Slovenia. The sum total of my knowledge and experience boils down to a few games of football England have played against them, a couple of wines (one of which I adore) that I’ve tried in the UK, and that aforementioned war in the early 1990s. When I travel long-haul, I invariably end buying a Lonely Planet / Rough Guide type book, a growing library of which I keep in my office at home. I haven’t for this trip, and am unsure if:

    1) This is because I’m only going to be away for 10 days, or
    2) I’m largely sticking to one part of the country, or
    3) It’s Europe, and I figure that’s unlikely to need me to spend a ton of time learning about local practices, a sharply different culture, a different currency.

    I find myself feeling guilty that I’ve essentially snubbed the entire Slovenian nation, and wondering whether the WHSmiths downstairs have got a travel section…

    23:50
    The flight itself is a breeze. A shade under two hours. We leave close enough to on time that we land a few minutes ahead of schedule. The airport is all but empty, and I’m the first person to the immigration queue. I’ve no baggage to collect, so am actually outside waiting for my taxi a minute or two ahead of our scheduled arrival time. My driver is parked up the road a little, presumably to avoid paying a parking fee. He turns up pretty quickly, and seems like a jaunty sort of chap.

    We set off - at quite a lick. I’ve no idea what the speed limit is in these parts, but I suspect it’s not 150kph. My driver is quite animated. He gets quite involved when I mention that I worked in business psychology for 15 years. Hands leave the steering wheel, he turns round to talk to me face to face a couple of times, even though we’re travelling at upwards of 80mph. As we arrive into the city centre of Ljubljana, we very, VERY nearly have a crash. A car pulls out in front of him, and we do the whole skidding / brakes screeching thing, before pulling to a stop less than half a metre from the offending vehicle. I’m unsure whether the fault lies with my driver or the other car, but it unnerves me somewhat. Happily, we’re not far from the guesthouse, so there are few opportunities for further nerve jangling.

    Kirsten and Max have gone out to grab some food. Oh, I realise we need to do a bit of explanation, don’t we? I consider myself very lucky to have had 4 ‘best’ friends throughout my life, and even luckier that 3 of them are still with me. Kirsten is one of them. We met at school when we were both 16, and just clicked. We share a similarly dark sense of humour, we have in common the same philosophies of life, and even when we’ve not seen each other in a long time, we slip into a very easy style of conversation.

    Max is Kirsten’s mum. She lost her husband, John, a few years back, and asked Kirsten if she could join some of this trip. Kirsten’s driven up from Spain in a camper van with Max in tow (as well as Juancho and Milla - but we’ll deal with them tomorrow). I’ve met Max a handful of times over the years, and have always adored her company. She’s a wine hound, so we have much in common.

    I catch up with them at a cool restaurant down by the riverside. I can’t see much of Ljubljana in the dark, but it seems like a lovely town - very quiet, lots of bars and restaurants, easily walkable. We natter over a couple of bottles of wine, and head back to the guesthouse around 23:00. It feels like I’ve had a long day…     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsThailand, Cambodia, SingaporeTim's Travels

    Day 30 - Home. Amazing! Reflections…

    11 lipca 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    00:30
    My first flight, into Dubai, is a cakewalk. I’m in the Premium Economy cabin, still relatively new to Emirates, and it’s plush. There’s a minor snafu when I’m offered a pre takeoff drink, and there are only soft drinks available. The cabin is maybe 40% full. I’m in a bulkhead seat, but will move to an empty window row once we’ve taken off. The crew ask if I want to be fed after takeoff, and I say yes - but only if the food service will be quick. Happily, it is. I ditch my seat after eating, and grab a vacant window seat, recline, and try to get some sleep.

    I’m successful in this endeavour. I sleep for around 4 hours, waking a couple of times, but drifting back off easily enough. I wake up for the last time with maybe 45 minutes to go to Dubai. The England vs Netherlands semi-final has started back home, and i’m getting intermittent updates. My plan is to screech off the plane, and find a bar in which to watch the second half.

    The landing’s a bit bumpy. I’m not really used to those on an A380, but apparently there are sandstorms around Dubai tonight. The distance from plane to bar can vary wildly at DXB, so huge is the airport. I’m in luck this time though, as we pull up at gate C20, right next door to an Irish bar. I’ve got loads of time, assuming the game is done at 90 minutes. Extra time should be ok. Pens might be a bit squeaky…

    02:30
    Well, England are through to the final. Done in normal time, as it transpires. I suspect Spain will win the final, but finals can be funny things.

    DXB is comfortably the busiest I’ve ever seen it. I *think* this is the first time I’ve transited via Dubai in July, during Summer holiday season. Idiots, everywhere. Much like the supermarket, airports deprive human beings of common sense, and a their spatial awareness.

    09:00
    I manage another 4 hours or thereabouts on the second flight. I’m very pleasantly surprised. I can’t remember the the last time I slept so well across two different flights. Landing into Gatwick is easy, and I’m very quickly at border control. In and out in under a minute. Seriously, this tech shit is pretty cool. Bag reclaim is a bit of a clusterfuck - I don’t know if the crew are on strike, but it feels like they’re close to it. After a good half hour, my bag emerges, and I stride on into customs. Immediately, I’m pulled over. This is literally a first ever for me. My bag is immediately taken to pieces - every single crevice unlocked. The lady searching by bags is very sweet, but ultimately, I’m conscious that I’ve been pulled aside for some reason - whether the reason I look, the way I smell, I’m unsure.

    Happily, there’s nothing to find, and I find Andy shortly afterwards.

    The drive home is painless, and seeing my beloved Vicki is AMAZING. We’ve never been apart for this long, and the way she smells is a happy dose of brilliant.

    Some reflections:

    I wasn’t sure how I’d feel travelling with a brand new partner, but Felix has been a great companion. I’m not sure it’s a massive surprise to me, but it turns out we have hugely similar beliefs, approaches to life.
    Go to Cambodia. I didn’t have any pre-conceived ideas about it, but I was still stunned by this amazing country. Go - I can’t recommend it enough, GO. You’ll spend almost nothing, and discover a people, a country, a cuisine that is unlike anything else you’ll have ever seen.
    North Thailand is one of my favourite places. The pace of life is addictive. I would take the North of Thailand over the islands of the South any day.
    Singapore is worth a visit, if only to let me know what you really think. I didn’t love it, but I definitely didn’t hate it.
    It’s amazing to be home. I knew I’d missed Vicki, but it wasn’t until I smelled here that I really knew how much.

    Join me again, in - oooh, 10 days, for Slovenia. Thanks for reading x x x     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsThailand, Cambodia, SingaporeTim's Travels

    Day 30 - Home. Amazing! Reflections...

    10 lipca 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    00:30
    My first flight, into Dubai, is a cakewalk. I’m in the Premium Economy cabin, still relatively new to Emirates, and it’s plush. There’s a minor snafu when I’m offered a pre takeoff drink, and there are only soft drinks available. The cabin is maybe 40% full. I’m in a bulkhead seat, but will move to an empty window row once we’ve taken off. The crew ask if I want to be fed after takeoff, and I say yes - but only if the food service will be quick. Happily, it is. I ditch my seat after eating, and grab a vacant window seat, recline, and try to get some sleep.

    I’m successful in this endeavour. I sleep for around 4 hours, waking a couple of times, but drifting back off easily enough. I wake up for the last time with maybe 45 minutes to go to Dubai. The England vs Netherlands semi-final has started back home, and i’m getting intermittent updates. My plan is to screech off the plane, and find a bar in which to watch the second half.

    The landing’s a bit bumpy. I’m not really used to those on an A380, but apparently there are sandstorms around Dubai tonight. The distance from plane to bar can vary wildly at DXB, so huge is the airport. I’m in luck this time though, as we pull up at gate C20, right next door to an Irish bar. I’ve got loads of time, assuming the game is done at 90 minutes. Extra time should be ok. Pens might be a bit squeaky…

    02:30
    Well, England are through to the final. Done in normal time, as it transpires. I suspect Spain will win the final, but finals can be funny things.

    DXB is comfortably the busiest I’ve ever seen it. I *think* this is the first time I’ve transited via Dubai in July, during Summer holiday season. Idiots, everywhere. Much like the supermarket, airports deprive human beings of common sense, and a their spatial awareness.

    09:00
    I manage another 4 hours or thereabouts on the second flight. I’m very pleasantly surprised. I can’t remember the the last time I slept so well across two different flights. Landing into Gatwick is easy, and I’m very quickly at border control. In and out in under a minute. Seriously, this tech shit is pretty cool. Bag reclaim is a bit of a clusterfuck - I don’t know if the crew are on strike, but it feels like they’re close to it. After a good half hour, my bag emerges, and I stride on into customs. Immediately, I’m pulled over. This is literally a first ever for me. My bag is taken to pieces - every single crevice unlocked. The lady searching by bags is very sweet, but ultimately, I’m conscious that I’ve been pulled aside for some reason - whether the reason I look, the way I smell, I’m unsure.

    Happily, there’s nothing to find, and I find Andy shortly afterwards.

    The drive home is painless, and seeing my beloved Vicki is AMAZING. We’ve never been apart for this long, and the way she smells is a happy dose of brilliant.

    Some reflections:

    1) I wasn’t sure how I’d feel travelling with a brand new partner, but Felix has been a great companion. I’m not sure it’s a massive surprise to me, but it turns out we have hugely similar beliefs, approaches to life.
    2) Go to Cambodia. I didn’t have any pre-conceived ideas about it, but I was still stunned by this amazing country. Go - I can’t recommend it enough, GO. You’ll spend almost nothing, and discover a people, a country, a cuisine that is unlike anything else you’ll have ever seen.
    3) North Thailand is one of my favourite places. The pace of life is addictive. I would take the North of Thailand over the islands of the South any day.
    4) Singapore is worth a visit, if only to let me know what you really think. I didn’t love it, but I definitely didn’t hate it.

    It’s amazing to be home. I knew I’d missed Vicki, but it wasn’t until I smelled her that I really knew how much.

    Join me again, in - oooh, 10 days, for Slovenia. Thanks for reading x x x     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsThailand, Cambodia, SingaporeTim's Travels

    Day 29 - Sayonara, Singapore.

    10 lipca 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    19:30
    I sleep much better, waking only a couple of times, and my stomach seems to have calmed down. I’m not hungry, but deffo feel up for the day. We check out at 11, leave our bags in the reception area, and head out for Haw Par Villa, a small park in the West of the city, built by two Burmese brothers in the early part of the 20th century.

    Contained within its boundaries is Hell’s Museum, an examination of the different philosophies of death in various different cultures and religions. The displays are graphic, vivid, and really quite enchanting. There’s a wall display that highlights the religious and mortal mentalities of some of the major religions of the world - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism.

    What’s fascinating is to see how closely aligned these are - at least into one of two broad camps : those with linear views of life and death, and those with circular views of time. There’s definitely something appealing about the circular approach - where behaviour in the first life informs life in the second (known as Samsara).

    Further into the exhibition, we encounter the 10 Courts of Taoist Hell - an incredibly graphic depiction of the punishments meted out for corporal sins. Some seem fair enough - rape or murder will get you *checks notes* thrown into a wok of boiling oil. Others, seem a tad harsh. Ingratitude? That’ll get your heart cut out. Drug addiction? You’ll be tied to a red hot pillar, and grilled alive. Dare to misuse a book, and your body will be sawn in two. At the end of all of this, your memory will be wiped, and you’ll be borne into the next life. Obviously, you won’t remember anything that’s gone before, so you won’t be able to learn from your mistakes, and be better. Seems a bit misguided.

    It’s past midday, and the last thing on our Singapore list is to have some Singapore Chilli Crab. Dearly departed Anthony Bourdain recommended Keng Eng Kee, and who are we to disagree. The restaurant is basic - plastic tables with plastic seating. The smells coming from the kitchen are double naughty. I’m minded that chilli crab *might* not be the best thing for someone recently recovered form a dicky tum, but I can’t not have some. I order some Hor Fun noodles for ballast, and they’re banging. Kind of similar to the thick, rice noodles I’ve eaten recently in Thailand, and chock full of umami nomness. The crab, when it arrives, is spectacular. A whole crab, served in a tomato and chilli sauce, finished with ribbons of egg. It’s maybe not as hot as I thought it might be, but it is delicious. Felix describes the next 20 minutes as ‘feral eating’ and I can’t disagree. We crack, we slurp, we snarl. Such an incredible food experience.

    We’re unsure how to fill our few remaining hours. We need to jump in a cab around 3 hours from now, at 17:00. We head down to the riverside, stop briefly at an Irish pub called Molly Malone’s (it’s the law), and take a walk along the river for an hour. It’s HOT in the sun, and we find ourselves craving shade. We head a little further over to the East of the city, and put down anchors at a cool little bar called Blu Jaz. Funky décor, laid back background music, a decent pint of Guinness - what’s not to like? We’re definitely both in ‘home’ mode now. Felix is downloading some TV/movies for his flights home, and I’m writing a shopping list for tomorrow to get ready for a weekend away.

    We’re at Changi by 17:30, and I’m sitting in a bar with a beer by 18:00. Felix is flying from a different terminal, so we’ve said our goodbyes. Changi is an incredibly easy airport. We found it painless on the way into Singapore, and all evidence so far suggests the same for departures. Airport beers are a bit steep, mind. £14 for a pint = scary stuff.

    So - some reflections on Singapore, as I’ve some time before boarding.

    1) Remember when I said the city didn’t seem sterile? Well, I take *some* of that back. There IS a sterility to parts of the city centre, a combination I suspect of the stringent laws governing litter, chewing gum and the like, and the fact that the city centre is just WAY too expensive for all but the very wealthiest of Singaporeans. Most of the working and middle classes live to the North of the city, priced out of the downtown zones.
    2) There are pockets of non-sterility though. Chinatown, Little India, and Malay Town are just three examples, but there are others. Even here though, property prices are so high that no one actually lives in them - but they at least have ethnic businesses in them.
    3) Singapore is, by a country mile, the cleanest city I’ve been to. It’s genuinely shocking how clean it is. We spotted some litter at one point, and both gasped.
    4) It is WICKED expensive. You can save some cash by eating at hawker markets, for sure - but do so with caution. If my experience is accurate, I definitely got some tummy grumbles as a result. Outside of the hawker markets, food and drink are more expensive than I think anywhere else I’ve been - including Las Vegas. It beats London and New York hands down.
    4) The city just *works* - it’s been so carefully thought out and designed. Where in London you can feel the organic nature of the city’s development over centuries, Singapore feels rather like it’s the product of a town planning game like SimCity. It’s well thought out, transport is sensibly apportioned across the city, public services are available where you need them, when you need them… Despite being such an incredibly expensive city, Singapore regularly features in top 10 rankings for liveability as well.

    Would I rush back? Probably not for a dedicated trip. If there was a stopover en route to/from Australia, where I could spend a couple of nights in Singapore to break the journey, yeah - I’d visit again…     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 28 - Well, this lacks joy.

    10 lipca 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    09:00
    Meh. I wake up for the first time at 02:00, with a griping stomach. Sharp, painful stomach cramps that leave me on the verge of shouting out. Moments later, I’m wedded to the toilet. The downside of eating at so many different hawker stalls, is that it’s more difficult to pin down exactly which one I’m going to blame for upsetting my stomach. The next 4 hours are less than pleasant. I make sure to keep myself hydrated, manage to doze a little, but essentially spend my time in pain, and wearing a groove between my bed and the toilet.

    Around 08:00, I ping Felix to let him know I’m spending the morning in bed. He hasn’t had any stomach issues after his hawker purchases. This at least lets me narrow down which of the stalls might be responsible for my discomfort. I feel like I’m pretty much empty, so decide to try and top up on some sleep.

    21:30
    Holy shit. I sleep through till 14:30. Clearly much needed. My stomach feels a little better. It’s still griping a little, but less frequently, and less painfully. Around 15:00, I head out in search of bland food, and some room groceries to keep me going. It’s hot and sunny out - I feel a little queasy, and my head feels woozy. I spend a fairly fruitless hour wondering around a mall looking for a pharmacist that Google Maps claims is in here somewhere. The mall has been laid out by an idiot, whose idiot brother is responsible for the directions signs. It is, at least, air-conditioned. I find a café selling Kaya Toast, a Singaporean speciality, consisting of white toast, a ton of butter, and a sort of coconut jam type thing. It’s very tasty, and just about bland enough for my purposes.

    I manage to find the pharmacist, and a grocery store. The supermarket is wicked expensive. I have a browse, and am stunned by the cost of some fairly basic daily staples - bread, water, dairy, wine. You know, all the main food groups. Back at my room, I collapse onto my bed. A modest outing has really drained me. I fall into a deep sleep, and wake again around 18:30. I update Felix, and eat some dull, tasteless snacks. I treat myself to a Sprite, watch a movie, and hope that tomorrow will be a better day…     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 27 Part 2 : Food, bowling, food.

    8 lipca 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    14:45
    It’s starting to rain in Malay Town, and we deserve a pit-stop. We stop at a craft beer bar called Black Sheep, and I have a fabulous pint of stout. Felix and I head over to the Marina Bay as the heavens open. We’re aiming for the Marina Bay Gardens, a botanical masterpiece in the heart of the city. We spend a lovely hour wandering around the Flower Dome, but are thwarted in our attempt to visit the Cloud Forest, as it’s closed for maintenance. We start walking around the garden areas, but the rain is getting torrential. We decide a couple of hours of downtime is in order, before we head out again later.

    23:25
    We head out again around 17:00, and aim for the Chinatown Complex hawker market. Around half the stalls are open. Many open first thing, and close when they sell out - and that can be as early as lunchtime. Undeterred, we start out by buying a pork rice dumpling each. Wow. Shredded BBQ pork, wrapped in a handful of rice, then steamed in a pandan leaf, and served with a Hoi Sin and/or a sweet sauce. Next up is a vegetarian Popiah, a rice pancake stuffed with a few different types of vegetable. Yum. We move on to a plate of Xiaolongbao - steamed bao buns stuffed with flavoured pork and a hot pork stock. Felix has some fried chicken and some crispy pork belly strips, and I satisfy myself with some chicken and pork satay skewers. We’ve eaten incredibly well, and probably for about £10-£15 each.

    We set off in search of entertainment, and find a bowling alley in a shiny shopping mall. Our hearts sink when we see a closed sign, but a member of staff pops out to tell us that’s only until 19:30. I pop over the road for a well deserved beer, and Felix does some high-level mall browsing. The bowling is great fun. Not the highest quality, but there are some high points. I score exactly the same in the first and second games, so at least I’m consistent(ly bad). Felix wins the first game, and I win the second. Honours even, we depart in search of more food. We take a long walk up one of the smartest and most expensive shopping boulevards I’ve ever seen. Every store is a temple of fashion. It’s a little overwhelming to two guys who don’t exactly align with consumerist attitudes. After a couple of false starts, we locate Lechon Pinoy, who serve suckling pig in a variety of ways. We go for simple - rotisserie piglet served with spiced creamed spinach and some rice. It’s a sensational bit of meat. Succulent where it should be, crunchy where we want it to be. The crackling is a juicy joy. We wolf it down. We’re pretty much done though. It’s been a long day.     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 27 pt 1 : Boots are made for walking

    8 lipca 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    15:00
    We’re out before 08:30, making for Chinatown. We meet our guide, Stephen, and the other guests joining our walking tour. There’s a family - 3 sons, a daughter and mum, and a solo German traveller called Pascal. Stephen walks us around Chinatown for 90 minutes, taking in some of the local sights, and giving us a fascinating insight into the history of this and other ethnic quarters. We stop briefly for a snack in the Chinatown Complex hawker market. They’re called Butterflies, and straddle the line between doughnuts and a kinda sesame seed bread roll. Lovely stuff. Felix and I both have eyes on stalks looking at the other stalls that are here, and decide to head back here later for some dinner. Chinatown is bustling and hectic. There’s something a little addictive about it. We wander past a few Durian stalls - and well, let’s not be coy - they stink. I think the best way to describe the odour is a cross between very ripe mango, and rotting flesh. Not so yum.

    From Chinatown, we jump on the subway to head to Little India. The subway is modern, clean, air-conditioned throughout. It makes moving around town a thorough pleasure. Little India is at a markedly slower pace than Chinatown. We wander past some grocers selling some incredible looking produce. We stop for some vadai, another kinda doughnut, this time flecked with curry leaves, cumin, and chilli. Delish. We wash it down with some sugar cane juice mixed with lemon juice, which is very refreshing. When the sun’s out, it’s a HOT day. Happily, it’s fairly overcast, so we’re rarely in the sun’s hot rays.

    Our next stop is Malay Town, a little further South, and not far from our hotel. On our way there, we pass through the Atlas building, which has an incredibly cool bar on the ground floor. There’s a gin ‘tower’ - which Stephen tells us used to be staffed by women wearing white fairy outfits, attached to pulleys in the ceiling, to grab the bottles of the very highest shelves. Sadly, no longer - but it must have been quite the sight. Malay Town is a maze of narrow shopping streets. There are some really cool vintage stores, some music shops, and just random tat emporia. We stop briefly at the Sultan Mosque, before putting down roots at a chai shop to end our tour. I’ve done 12,000 steps this morning, in flip-flops.     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 26 - Southbound, to Singapore

    7 lipca 2024, Singapur ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    12:30
    I gave up on the football at the end of the 90 minutes. Just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I checked the score when I predictably woke up at 03:00. Back to sleep, but awake again around 06:30, and no more sleeps. Today’s not gonna be the very funnest of days. Felix and I meet at 10:00 to get checked out and have a coffee, then jump in our cab to Phnom Penh Airport. The traffic is pretty mental - as it has been most of the time we’ve been in Cambodia. Our driver is not just a loon, but pretty aggressive with it. Thankfully, we arrive at the airport unscathed.

    We’re about 3 hours ahead of our flight, but the desk doesn’t open for another 40 minutes. Something in the back of my brain is freaking out at this, so I drown it out with a beer. Check in and security are dealt with blissfully quickly, though I have to say goodbye to a travel fork/spoon thing that I stupidly left in my hand luggage, as it has a 4cm, blunt as fuck knife blade on it. Never liked it anyway.

    We’re sitting in the departure lounge - me with a beer, Felix having fun with his various bags and backpacks, trying to figure out how to connect them all together. We’re both sad to be leaving Cambodia. It’s been a great country to visit:

    1) The folks here are WONDERFUL. They’re just so warm and friendly. Wherever we’ve been, there are smiles abound.
    2) It’s a stunningly beautiful country. The cities have charm and fractured chaos, the countryside is as green as anywhere on the planet, the mountains are breathtaking, the beaches deserted. So much beauty to recommend it.
    3) The food - by the power of Grayskull - the food. I had I would say it’s closer to my experience of Vietnamese food than Thai, but Khmer cuisine has an identity all of its own. We’ve eaten incredibly well here, and done so at bargain basement prices. It feels like we’ve eaten healthily as well though.
    4) Whilst I wasn’t blown away by Angkor Wat, I would visit Siem Reap again, and go back to Angkor Wat later in the day, but honestly - the other temples we visited were, for me, far more charismatic and enchanting. Ta Prohm particularly is one of my top 10 heritage sites I’ve ever visited. Just spell-binding.
    5) If you come to Cambodia, go to Battambang. It’s a fabulous little city, and the views of the bat exodus at sunset are worth the stop alone.

    21:30
    We land into Changi a little ahead of time. Transiting the airport is a piece of cake, and we’re into our cab to the city centre by 17:40, about 30 minutes after landing. The drive into the city is amazing. I’ve been told that I’ll think Singapore is what the cities of the future will look like. Crossing the Sheares Bridge into the city centre, it’s hard to disagree. I’ve also been told that I might think of Singapore as too sterile, lacking soul. The streets we pass by look anything but. Clean, yes - but far from soulless.

    After we’ve checked into our hotel - comfortably the most expensive of our trip, and probably the least luxe - we head out in search of cash and food. The visit a hawker market not far from our hotel, which is chock full of random little stalls, selling random food. I have a Hainanese pork and rice dish, Felix opts for some braised pork belly, and then a dumpling soup. When he asks me to buy him a weird soft drink, I do not fail. We decide the best way to describe it is sparkling Listerine. It’s meant to be sasparilla, but no - Listerine it is. Between us, we do not finish it.

    The food is cheap - S$4 for my pork dish, and little more for Felix’s two dishes. It’s very easy to spend a ton of money on food in Singapore, and we’ll do our best to eat at some of the more economical hawker markets. After dinner, we amble back in the direction of our hotel, stopping at a pool hall for a few frames. Felix wins.

    We head back to the hotel. We’ve got an early start tomorrow for a walking tour of Chinatown and Little India, and I’m beyond jaded…     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 25 - We're on the road to Phnom Penh

    6 lipca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    16:30
    I ended up awake until nearly 02:00 - watching news coverage, a bit of football. I was quite moved by Starmer’s speech in Downing Street. I think it’s just been SO long since I felt like a leader of this country had my and others’ best interests at heart, that could be trusted to do the right thing, just that could be trusted, if I’m being honest.

    Anyways, I wake up feeling a little jaded, and get my shit together. Our bus leaves a little after its allotted 11:30 departure time, but it’s fairly empty, so we can both stretch out. I’m always amazed on these trips how inconsequential a 3 hour road journey becomes. It feels like a short hop, a puddle jump - blink and I’ll miss it. I watch some TV, spend some time gazing out the window. Around 14:00 local New Zealand are playing England at rugby. The wonders of technology (4G cell coverage, a VPN service, a Sky app) mean I can watch it on my iPad while on the bus. This is what the internet was really invented for. Traffic is very heavy arriving into Phnom Penh. The last 10 miles takes us around 40 minutes. I’m fine with that though. The timing works out beautifully - it’s half time as our bus pulls up, and the second half starts just as I’m settling into my room at Penh House.

    We’re greeted like returning explorers when we arrive at Penh House. It’s only a week since we were last here, but we’re given the very warmest of welcomes. I settle down with a beer to watch the second half. England ultimately lose by a single point. The performance wasn’t the very best, so I’m disappointed for the team. It’s incredibly rare to beat New Zealand IN New Zealand, and even rarer to do so at Dunedin, that cathedral of rugby. I suspect England will rue this as a missed opportunity.

    22:50
    Felix and I meet in reception at 19:00. He’s had a highly effective and energising afternoon, combining a workout with a 90 minute massage. I’ve watched rugby, drunk beer and had a nap - so I guess I win. We walk to Malis - a very well known and well reviewed restaurant about 20 minutes from our hotel. We’re both wearing collared shirts, such are the whispered tones in which folks discuss this restaurant. The chef is a semi-famous celebrity chef in Cambodia. The menu is like a coffee table book - hard bound, beautiful photography, food that looks amazing. We order a variety of dishes - some to share, some to protect fiercely. Our starts are Takeo sausages (no? Us neither…) and a cured beef salad. The sausages are incredible. really meaty, with subtle aromatic flavourings - some red peppercorn for sure, and some cardamom, but I’m not sure what else. The salad is also great - it’s dressed and mixed tableside, which adds a little theatre. It tastes incredibly healthy whilst also packing a great flavour punch.

    Mains consist of a duck dish for Felix, and a crab plate for me. The duck is wonderfully cooked, and served with a really tasty red rice side, and a Prahok sauce - stunning. My crab is delightful - huge, flaky chunks of crab served with a crab-fried rice, and a lighter than light butter sauce.

    Felix agrees to take a look at the dessert menu, and we both decide it’s what Jesus would have wanted. My tasting plate includes a very good creme brulée laced with Kampot pepper, a magnificent jasmine mousse, and some coffee ice-cream. Felix’s has some glutinous rice balls with palm sugar, some sort of banana contraption, and a black pepper ice-cream. All seriously good. The bill is, let’s not fuck around, substantial for Cambodia. Worth it, but substantial. The cooking here is imaginative, well executed, and uses top notch ingredients. We leave two very satisfied boys.

    We’re both planning / hoping to stay up for the football at 23:00. Whether we’ll make it to the end is another question - particularly if there’s extra time (+/- penalties) to take into account.

    I pass the time watching some Formula 1 qualifying, and some of the South Africa vs Ireland rugby…     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 24 - Spooky ass weird mountain

    5 lipca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    16:30
    What a sensational day! I awake to the exit poll prediction telling me that the Labour Party have won the General Election back home, and will have a huge majority. The Tories aren’t going to be quite as down and out as I’d have perhaps liked, but they’ve been humiliated. I sit down with a coffee to watch more of the results come in. I cheer out loud when Shapps goes. I laugh to myself when Mordaunt loses. I do a little dance when Fabricant is toast. It’s honestly a brilliant way to start the day. As I go to leave my room to head out with Felix, Rees-Mogg is dethroned. YESSSSSSS!

    Head out we do, aiming for Kep Sur Mer, and the famous seafood market there. Exiting the car, we’re met by a wall of heat. It’s the first properly sunny day we’ve had for a few days, and it’s so hot it’s prickling to my skin. Walking through the market is a trip. There are amazing displays of raw, and in some cases, live food. None of it is refrigerated. It doesn’t smell bad though, which indicates to me that it is incredibly fresh. There are stalls selling skewers of many different types of fish - squid, Kingfish, tiny crabs, seabass, and a bunch we don’t recognise. There are countless live crabs, for which the market is most famous. Deeper into the market, there are spice shops, selling ground and whole spices, along with bags of Kampot Pepper. Felix guesses (and he’s probably right) that these will cost a fraction of what we paid at the plantation yesterday. Felix buys a small octopus on a stick. It’s delicious. We stop for a cold drink by the water’s edge, where a wonderfully cooling breeze whips off the ocean. Neither of us is particularly hungry after our protein fest last night, so we jump back in the car without lunch.

    Our next stop is Bokor mountain, the other side of Kampot. We’re still in the sunshine on the 75 minute drive over that way, but there are some grey clouds gathering around the mountain-top. As we turn off the main road, and into the National Park, there are monkeys everywhere. Some scatter from the road when our drivers leans on the horn, whilst others proverbially flip the bird. The drive to the summit is beautiful - the views down to the sea are breathtaking. We drive through some low lying cloud, and pause for breath at a massive white Buddha statue.

    We head on to a pitstop at a huge edifice of a hotel right in the middle of the National Park. It is deserted. It reminds us of the hotel in The Shining. Restaurant, empty. Kids’ play area, empty. Lobby, empty. There’s a café/bar in the reception area, so we grab a quick drink and use the bathroom. We head further up the mountain, past a very weird row of terraced houses that remind me of some of the crescent streets in Brighton. They are empty, and verging on dilapidated. Across the road from them is a part built warehouse. It’s utterly surreal. The weirdness is not helped by the continuing thickening of the cloud around us. The sensation of being in low cloud is quite different to fog, that’s more familiar to us. Firstly, it moves very differently - and you can sense it moving. Sometimes, you’ll very clearly see it moving. Secondly, once you’re in the thick of it, there is no visibility. I don’t mean visibility is limited - I mean there is NO visibility. The temple we’re headed for is shrouded in cloud when we arrive, but it’s shifting and changing around us. We head to the very top of the mountain, which has (on a clear day) the most incredible steep view down in the valley below. With the cloud where it is, we briefly see the valley floor, before it disappears from view again. It plays with the mind in an ultra cool way…

    22:30
    For our last dinner in Kampot, we head to a place run by one of the pepper farms not far from the city. I have a delightful cocktail featuring red pepper (as well as some gin). My starter of squid ink dumplings in a herby broth is stellar. It’s a kind of ravioli / Chinese dim-sum hybrid, and bloody lovely. Felix orders some Foie Gras, only to be told they’re out. He sulkily makes do with a delicious salmon and avocado tartare. My main is a duck breast, simply pan roasted with a Holy Basil and chilli dressing. Banging. Felix has his first Amok of our Cambodia stay, and we both agree it’s up there with the best. Properly tasty food.

    While we’re eating we reminisce and reflect on our time in Cambodia. Both of us have loved it, and would return. I have a sense it’s a country about to undergo extensive and rapid change. Maybe in 5 years time, maybe in 10 - but I suspect it’s going to look and feel very different in the not too distance future. Felix has been very taken with island life, and I’m quick to remind him that the peace and quiet of Koh Rong Sanloem isn’t necessarily guaranteed elsewhere. The closest equivalent I can draw in Thailand is Koh Tao, but even there, the pace of life was higher, the hustle/bustle were more prevalent. I’m sure there are islands both in the Gulf of Thailand and in the Andaman Sea that more closely align to his recent experience, but he’d have to seek them out.

    We’re not quite ready to call it a night, so stop at a bar called Rusty Keyhole, which we both agree sounds like a sex act for which you’d have to pay very top dollar. We play some ludicrously bad pool. I chat briefly to the Scottish guy behind the bar, and we compare stories of watching Tories losing earlier today.

    It’s been a really fucking good day.     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 23 - Pick a peck of pepper

    5 lipca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    16:00
    There’s an insane electrical storm around 03:30 which wakes me up. It sounds like it’s right outside my terrace door. I pop my head out to check, and yes - it’s right outside my terrace door. Some incredibly loud thunder, some incredibly bright lightning. After an hour, I decide to try and get back to sleep. It doesn’t happen. The thunder is SO loud that it drowns out the sound of my headphones. The lightning is SO bright that I can sense the change through my eyelids. I cover my head with a pillow. It blocks out the light and thunder, which is great. It stymies my ability to breath, which is less so. I finally drift off again around 05:30 when the storm starts to subside, and sleep through to my 09:00 alarm.

    The rain has cleared, and there’s a steamy atmosphere in the air. Felix and I head out at 11:00 to La Plantation, a Kampot Pepper farm a half hour away. We pass some roadworks, which turn out to be laying of a new road. It looks to be happening very quickly. The contraflow is a touch fucked though. The scenery we drive through is very, very pretty. We arrive to the farm, and I’m minded that it’s something of a cross between a ramshackle citrus farm I’ve visited in South Africa, and a smart vineyard in, oh - I dunno, probably South Africa as well. We set off on a free tour of the farm, and learn more than we probably ever thought we’d know about pepper - different types, different colours, different fertiliser strategies. We meet some fresh lemongrass, and learn the difference between sun drying and mechanical drying. At the end of the tour, we have a tasting of 7 different types of pepper, none of which are boring. The dried red pepper is brilliant, the salted green peppercorns sensational. The long-pepper leather (not really leather) is a headfuck, but the salted black long pepper takes the prize.

    We head down the hill for some lunch, where we find a short but compelling menu, and the offer of a glass of rosé, upon which I seize. We share a green mango salad, dressed with some green Kampot Pepper - which is both understated and full-on. Felix has some fried rice, and I have perhaps my best Amok of our time in Cambodia, which is spiked with red long pepper. Awesome. After lunch, we return to the shop, and I buy more pepper than I was necessarily thinking i would buy. Oh, and some sauces. I’m not 100% sure I’m supposed to take them into Singapore, or back to the UK, but we’ll cross that bridge when it becomes a bridge.

    Back at the hotel, we’ve earnt an afternoon dip. Soon, the clouds darken and the wind whips up. There’s rain brewing, and we scurry to our rooms to rest/nap/cower.

    22:12
    We head out at 19:00. Neither of us napped in the end, but it’s been a pretty chilled afternoon nonetheless. We head to Bistro 23 - a very French restaurant in the French Quarter. The food is staggeringly good. I have a gin and beetroot cured barracuda dish with red Kampot Pepper. It’s one of the nicest things I can remember eating in quite a while. Felix has a chicken liver parfait which is an excellent example of the genre. Our mains are also both amazing. Pork belly for me, beef cheek for Felix. We’re both acutely aware that eating this kind of European bistro food in the heart of Cambodia is a bit ridiculous, but the food is ridiculously good, so who gives a fuck? The crackling on the pork belly is in my top 3 pork belly cracklings of all time. Just sublime. Felix somehow manages a scoop of mango sorbet for dessert, and we leave less than £50 lighter. It’s a relatively pricy meal for Cambodia, but feels like incredible value.

    We stop on the way home at The Green Room - described by Google as a ‘pub.’ Arriving, it’s easy to see why - there’s a pub quiz in full flow, chaired by a chap wearing an England football top. 90s Indie bands on the jukebox, winner stays on the pool table, 5 or 6 men drinking alone on high stools at the bar - most or all of whom we suspect are called Dudley. We play some fairly atrocious darts, listen to some fairly awesome music, and are accosted by the chap in the England shirt after he’s finished the quiz. His name’s Alan, he runs the bar, and he moved to Cambodia 6 years ago. He regales us with some not very interesting stories, and eventually leaves us alone. We decide to call it a night. I’ve got an early start to watch Tories cry, and Felix feels like he’s ready for a loooooong sleep. Bonne nuit!     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 22 - It rains, it shines.

    4 lipca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    15:45
    I sleep MUCH better, and feel actually refreshed when I wake. The weather on the other hand, is deep in the doldrums. I can hear the sound of the rain pounding down, even over the A/C in my room. There’s some low, grumbling thunder in the distance, which fairly quickly becomes loud, banging thunder nearby. We’re both packed up and checked out by 09:15, and on the pier waiting for our 09:30 boat. The rain, if anything, intensifies. There’s a small hut under which most of the passengers are cowering. Felix and I brave the rain. Initially. 09:30 comes and goes, and some dude who looks like he might have something to do with the boat company says it’ll be late, maybe 10-15 minutes. It ultimately arrives over 20 minutes late, by which time Felix and I have joined the cowering crowds. We finally leave around 10:00. Our connecting bus departs at 11:00, and the boat ride is due to take 45 minutes. Could be sketchy.

    Needn’t have worried. The boat is substantially faster than the one we took over a few days ago. It hoons along, and we dock just after 10:30. We grab our bags, have a very quick pitstop at 7/11 and the bathroom, and head for the bus office. Well, REALLY needn’t have worried. Our bus is NOT at 11:00. That’s the Phnom Penh bus. Ours is at 11:30. We park at a nearby café for a cold drink.

    Getting underway at 11:30, it’s soon evident that this bus isn’t quite as comfy as some of our previous chariots. As we drive through a heavy rain storm, it starts to leak on my shoulder. I spot several other places where water is leaking. How reassuring. About an hour out of Sihanoukville, we join a ‘road’ that is to be our companion for most of the remainder of the trip. It’s a washboard. A van shaking, filling rattling, bladder bouncing washboard. It very much reminds me of some of less roady roads in Africa. It’s quite exhausting. Happily, our driver ranks relatively low on the loony scale. I watch a movie, and soon enough, we’re arriving into Kampot.

    Our hotel is beautiful. Just outside the city centre, with a beautiful pool, and some amazing gardens. The rooms looks close to brand new, are very comfy and well appointed. Not a bad way to spend a few days. We have a cooling dip, sit very briefly in the blazing sunshine, make some vague plans to eat seafood later, and I retire to my room, with strong nap intentions.

    22:15
    BANGING nap. I set an alarm for 18:00, and it wakes me up. I turn it off, roll over and go straight back to sleep. Unheard of. Fortunately, I wake up about 35 minutes later. Felix and I head out at 19:30, and aim for downtown Kampot. We’re both ready for a seafood feast, so head to Kampot’s best reviewed pheeesh restaurant - the aptly named Kampot Seafood. An avalanche of food arrives. I’ve barely eaten the past couple of days, but am still slightly overwhelmed. I start with a seabass ceviché - spanking fresh seabass, plenty of citrus, some mango for sweetness. Delicious. Felix has a seabass carpaccio with Kampot green pepper. We both expect the pepper to challenge the flavour of the fish, but it works perfectly. We each have a seafood platter for our main course. Mine includes slipper lobster, some squid and some swordfish. Felix’s is a festival of shellfish - pippies, mussels, scallops, razor clams and some oysters. Just sensational. My swordfish is a teensy bit overcooked, but otherwise, everything is cooked perfectly, and served with some delicious dipping sauces. I find myself guessing that this will become our most expensive meal of the trip, but the damage is a shade over $50. Not cheap by any Cambodian measure, but it feels like a steal.

    Walking back to our hotel, we pass a bar where a westerner that looks to be in his 60s or 70s sat surrounded by local Khmer girls, the average age of whom seems to be 17. We spend the 12 minute walk back to Emerald Residence discussing the various rights and wrongs, ethical or otherwise, of huge age gaps in relationships. A jaunty conversational topic with which to draw our day to a close.     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 21 - Hmmm, not sure about this.

    2 lipca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    18:00
    I have a pretty shit night’s sleep. I stupidly didn’t sleep until gone 01:00, because football. Almost as turgid as the England game, since you ask. At 03:30, I wake up. I roll over to try and go back to sleep, but quickly realise it’s my stomach that’s woken me. I visit the toilet, and - well, let’s just say I’m glad my stomach woke me up. Around 04:30, I try and get back to sleep, satisfied that the few toilet visits I’ve had have voided my gut. It doesn’t happen. I think I finally drift off around 06:00, and wake up around 08:00. My head’s groggy, my stomach is, to use a word I think my Mum used to use, ‘roiling.’ Meh.

    I mooch in my room, and decide a swim might help me feel better. It sort of does, but largely doesn’t. I don’t fancy any food, and the beating sun is HOT. I head back to my room, and attempt a late morning nap. I am successful. Flat out for close to 2 hours.

    Felix is back from his diving trip. Lucky sod has had a 1 to 1 session, as the dive instructor’s only customer of the day. Visited two different dive sites, seen some awesome coral, met a bunch of fish - including a Panda Clown Fish, which is what happens if Nemo bangs a zebra.

    We have a dip, followed by a very brief lounge in the sun. I already know that Felix has been massively encouraged to travel more, and he’s already forming plans for later this year. I ask him whether he’s formed a view on solo travelling. He has, and it’s a positive one. He’s very happy in his own skin, and with his own company. He’s made friends very easily during our journey, and at 19 feet tall, personal security shouldn’t be an issue.

    My stomach feels like it’s settled a little, so I grab some lunch - a club sandwich, so hopefully nothing too challenging. Roger jumps up onto my lap, unbidden - little scamp. My sandwich does the job - in that it sends me back to my room for more naps. I’m starting to feel a little feverish again. Honestly, getting a little bored of this now. Moving day tomorrow, so I think an evening of rest is probably my best option.

    Fucksticks.     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 20 - All about the chill.

    1 lipca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    13:00
    I wake to a sombre, grey sky. There’s light rain in the air, and a ton of humidity. I made it near the end of the 90 minutes of football last night. Fortunately, Vicki sent me a nudge telling me to turn it back on, so I managed to catch the winning goal in extra time. Still a turgid, torrid game. I promise myself I won’t stay up for the Switzerland game on Saturday, but equally I know I’ll probably cave on the day.

    I manage to sleep until a little past 09:00, which is acceptable. Despite not eating much yesterday, I’m not particularly hungry. I head down to the pool bar anyway - in two minds about what to do with myself. I spot Felix, who’s also slept well. He stayed out until the end of the game yesterday. Apparently as many as 30 people watching the game. The stream wasn’t working particularly well though, so they watched the end of the game with Vietnamese commentary, which sounds like it needs to be seen/heard to be believed.

    We play some cards. The rain grows heavier for a period, then lightens, before growing heavier again. I think it’s going to be one of those days. Felix is reintroducing me to Shithead - a game I’ve not played in close to 30 years. It’s not exactly a game of skill - but a fun enough way to pass a couple of rainy hours. We have an early lunch, and Felix heads off for his afternoon boat trip. I head off for a nap.

    21:00
    I spend most of the afternoon lazing in the shade by the pool - reading, people watching, even dozing a tiny bit. I’m struggling to remember the last time I felt this blissed out. I have not a jot of inclination to do anything other than what I’m doing (or not) right now.

    I’m sweaty as balls by 17:00, so I head back to my room to freshen up. By the time Felix returns from his boat trip at 19:30, I’m a couple of beers and a Café Patron deep at the bar. Roger has found me, and is snoozing on my lap. He’s incredibly cute. I don’t think anyone’s ever given him this kind of affection before. Felix regales me with tales of his trip - the slightly sketchy tour ‘owner’ offering weed and mushrooms, the coral on which he removed a significant section of skin on his foot, the tiny fishing village to the North of the island where they hung out for a while… It all sounds pretty enticing. Koh Rong is unlike any other South East Asian island I’ve visited - and I *think* that’s because the balance between tourists and local communities is still tipped in favour of the locals. I mean that both in terms of absolute numbers, but also in terms of emphasis. This doesn’t (yet) feel like a tourist island. It feels like an island where local people live and work, and that happens to have a fairly small number of travellers visiting it. I think that’s gonna change soon though. The evidence of construction and development is all around us. I think in 10 years, it’ll probably be unrecognisable. If you’re gonna come (and I really suggest you do), then do it soon.

    Felix and I have a fab dinner of local Khmer dishes. I have the best Lok Lak I’ve had thus far. It uses a prime cut (sirloin maybe, or fillet) instead of a stir-frying cut, and the juiciness of the steak adds massively to my enjoyment of it.

    Felix is up early tomorrow for a day’s diving, so heads off for a shower and some downtime. I take my glass of wine back to my room, wondering which movie to watch.     Czytaj więcej

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    Oh, hello!
    Teeny Roger!Teeny TwitchitBeef Saruman = YUMSquid braised with Kampot pepper

    Day 19 - All signs point to slow

    1 lipca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    19:20
    I’ve had a bit of a nothing day, in the best possible way. My sleep is a touch sketchy. Well, wakey - at least. There’s a thunder and lightning show around 03:00 which I stay awake with for an hour. It’s not the spectacular forks or torrential rain of eastern Thailand, but the long, slow grumbles of thunder that shake across the sky are incredibly soothing sounds to which to listen.

    I wake for good around 08:30, not feeling like I’ve had quite enough sleep. I mooch around in bed for an hour, but I’m hungry, so get up in search of some breakfast. Felix joins me for coffee, and I adopt a ginger kitten, who I call Roger. A combination of tiredness and food is suggesting to me that a nap might be in my future, so I dive in. Felix has some altogether more energetic plans today - hiking over to the other side of the island.

    I have a great couple of hours, and decide on waking that a dip in the pool is in order. It’s wonderfully refreshing, and I have it to myself. Felix messages to say that he made it to Lazy Beach, and it’s all but deserted. Sounds pretty cool. I pop to the Eden Beach beach bar for a glass of wine, and a light lunch. of a Saruman curry. It shares its heritage with the Rendang and Massaman curries of neighbouring territories - lots of coconut, loads of different aromats, slowly braised beef that's wobbly and tender.

    Again, Felix joins me for coffee. He’s run back across the island, because… I’m still getting over my sickness, otherwise - you know, I’d have run it with him. We decide on a code for sex tourists - they are to be called ‘Dudley.’ I mention this to Felix because there are couple of what I think are Dudleys in the bar area. They proceed to get into an argument with an Australian woman, about what, we know not.

    I head back to my room, and manage YET another sleep. About 90 minutes this time. I can’t tell if I’m catching up on last night, or pre-loading for tonight, when Felix and I will *try* and watch the England Euros game. Either way, I wake feeling jaunty and refreshed.

    22:45
    Felix and I head out around 20:00, back to Sara - the bar we hung out in last night, ostensibly to check whether they’re showing the game later. I’m not hungry, and Felix is in ‘grazing’ mode. There are some big-screen TVs around the bar, currently showing the Formula 1 race. We ask the server dude what time they close - 23:00. We ask if showing the football - he says yes. This is very confusing. Ultimately, we figure that he means the restaurant/kitchen closes at 23:00, but that we should be fine to sit at the bar watching the game. I’m not convinced I’m gonna make it that late. I don’t feel feverish anymore = WIN. I still feel pretty banged up = NOT SO WINNING. Felix has some squid, and then some more squid - battered and fried to begin, braised with Kampot pepper to follow. He enjoys both. We chitchat in our our easygoing fashion - much of it is tangential, but in a very comfortable way. Some recent University graduated folks from Devon that he met earlier are at the bar to watch the game, as is Ronan from last night. Content that I can leave Felix to watch with his new mates, I make for home/bed. I get set up with my iPad and a VPN, and will see how far through the game I make it before I either:

    a) fall asleep, or
    b) get frustrated with how shit England, give up, and fall asleep     Czytaj więcej

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    Schindler's Lift.
    Downtown Sihanoukville.Sihanoukville from the water.1

    Day 18 : So right? Or Koh Rong?

    29 czerwca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    09:00
    I wake up :

    1) having slept for nearly 9 hours, with (I think) no wake ups, and definitely no dashes to the dunny, and
    2) feeling much better. I mean MUCH better.

    Suddenly, today’s 6 hour journey to Koh Rong Sanloem doesn’t feel intimidating. 3 hours in a minivan, then 45 minutes on a ferry. BRING IT ON. The reward at the end will be more than worth it. Koh Rong Sanloem is one of two smaller Koh Rong islands off the South coast of Cambodia. I’ve read reports that is starting to undergo some fairly extensive development. Hardly surprising, but it sounds like now is the time to visit to have a chance to see the unspoilt and peaceful island I’ve read about. There are no roads on the island. None. Any transport is by boat, or on foot. At a push, you might be able to get around by bike, but it’s definitely off-road. I don’t think there’s an ATM. The next 4 days are a proper RnR (rest and relaxation, not rock’n’roll…) opportunity.

    17:00
    Stage 1 is straightforward enough. The 3 hour bus journey passes quickly. I’m a little alarmed that our 13 seater minivan turns out to seat 18. There are a couple of Cambodian families travelling with kids. The kids do not get a seat. Nor do they get a seatbelt. Hold tight folks…

    We drive through some torrential rainstorms. The driver slows down a little for these. Felix sleeps through them. Arriving into Sihanoukville is a bit of an eye-opener. There’s been a LOT of Chinese investment here over the past 10-15 years, and there are countless high rise buildings under construction - some will be hotels, others will be apartment blocks to house the staff working in those hotels. There are a number of glitzy, ritzy looking casinos. As recently as 2010, Sihanoukville was a relatively sleepy town - a handy place to spend a night before hitting the island trail. Now, I can’t wait to get out.

    We arrive at the port with about 20 mins to spare. There’s some confusion when we’re directed to pier 4, and there are no numbers on the piers. Some helpful guidance points us in the right direction. The boat’s not huge. Certainly smaller than any boat trip Vicki and I took in Thailand earlier this year. Seats maybe 15 at a push? The boat ride is bumpy. Not crazy rough, but enough to throw us around a bit. I start to feel a little jaded and feverish.

    Our boat arrives at Paradise Pier on time at 15:45. We’ve been told someone from our guesthouse is going to be waiting for us. We approach anyone - literally anyone, asking if they’re waiting for us, but no. Ten minutes later, a small boat appears at the horizon. I’m kidding - it’s not that far, but it kinda feels like it. He motions us into the water. He’s pulled up about 25 metres out. We must look a little sheepish, as he jumps out to show us it’s only a couple of feet deep. We wade out, nearly come a cropper when climbing into the ultra slippery boat, and head off. Eden Beach resort is at the far end of the Saracen Beach - maybe 750m away. It takes us about 10 minutes. Speedy travel, this is not. The water is similarly shallow at this end of the beach, so we jump out, and walk up the beach to our accommodation.

    The rooms are great. Set in a plush garden, perhaps 15 metres back from the beach. Someone’s been thoughtful enough to get the A/C running ahead of our arrival. Only, I’m starting to get shivery again. Fucksticks. I turn the A/C down, and crawl into bed to try and warm up. It’s a little counterintuitive - I can feel that my skin is properly hot the touch, but I also feel very cold. I let Felix know that I’m gonna try and have a snooze, and will ping him later to catch up.

    21:05
    Did not sleep. Turns out - not sleepy tired, but just illness knackered. I rest up for a couple of hours, and ping Felix to check his location. ‘Just down the beach’ he replies, and I set off to find him. Now - there’s no cell coverage here. None. Not even in our resort. Decent WiFi, but no cell signal. As soon as I leave our resort, I realise that I don’t know which way ‘down’ the beach is. head back to Eden Beach to use Google Maps to check the bar location, and set off again. I get maybe 200m down the beach, when I realise I’ve forgotten my vape. I trudge back, becoming disheartened. I push through though - brave little soldier that I am.

    I arrive to ‘Sara’ bar, and find Felix deep in conversation with Ronan and Niamh, a couple we very briefly met on the ferry over earlier. They’re staying here, and Felix grabbed them for a beer (Soda water). They’re bang in the middle of a long-assed trip around SE Asia and the Far East, coming most recently from Vietnam. We share a couple of travelling war stories, some tips and recommendations. They’re very easy to spend time with. Through my illness (brave little soldier etc etc) I manage a couple of beers, and feel a little better. At least, I manage to convince myself I’m feeling a little better. I’m wiped out though, and decide to head back to the resort. Felix comes with me, largely in search of food. I repair to my hut, in the hope of big sleep, and after a day of eating basically fuck all, a big breakfast.

    HOLD TIGHT FOR FEEDBACK.     Czytaj więcej

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    Day 17 - Friday = day of rest

    29 czerwca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    09:00
    I manage a few hours of scratchy sleep, regularly waking up either sweating or shivering. Somewhere in the night, I took off my hoodie, as I find it wrapped around my left foot. No - I’m not sure either. This feels more like a bug than a food / water / hygiene issue. I let Felix know that I’m going to set-up base camp in my room for the day, in the hope that I’m sufficiently recovered to move on to Koh Rong Sanloem tomorrow. Bring on the plain rice / water / flat Coke combo…

    20:30
    I neither want to give you, nor do I suspect you want to hear, a blow-by-blow account of my illness. Suffice to say, I have a fairly dull day of plain food, lots of water, the occasional latrine dash, and some snoozes. In the words of Scarlett O’Hara, tomorrow is another day.     Czytaj więcej

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    Entertainment screen on our bus.
    That's better...

    Day 16 - Lurgy strikes like lightning

    27 czerwca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C

    12:30
    I’m in the hotel lobby a little after 07:20. Felix appears about 15 minutes later, mumbling something about his watch being several minutes slow. The bus station is a good 15 minutes away by tuk-tuk. We’ve got time - but not much. I use Grab to order a tuk-tuk. A driver accepts the job, and then moves exactly nowhere. I cancel, and order another. Happily, he turns up almost immediately. We make it with a little under ten mins to spare. Needn’t have worried - another passenger wombles up 5 minutes after the scheduled departure time. Wanker.

    The bus is pretty well appointed. Comfy seats, decent leg room. Some parents with a young baby board. Yes, of course - they’re sat in the seats directly in front of us. They go to recline their seats, and nearly crush Felix’s knees. Our journey is 6 hours today - not in and of itself a concern, but if there’s going to be dickhead behaviour, it’s going to feel a lot longer.

    The driver continues the trend of lunacy. I’m less concerned though, as I can’t actually see out of the windscreen unless I make a special effort. Out of sight, out of mind etc etc. Felix finds a spare couple of seats further back in the bus, which allows us both to stretch out a little. The time starts to pass quickly. I flit between watching a movie, reading about Phnom Penh, and watching the Cambodia countryside. This feels like the greenest part of the country we’ve yet come across. The rice paddies are richly verdant, unlike the barren and brown paddies down in Battambang. The roads are reasonably clear. We occasionally get stuck behind a tractor, or other slow moving vehicle.

    At 10:00, around 2 hours into our journey, which stop for a bathroom break, a pitstop, and for some food to be taken onboard. We’re asked to make sure we’re back on the bus by 10:10. The bus driver starts to beep his horn when the appointed time arrives. We’re missing two passengers. It’s Mum/Dad and their teeny baby. They stroll back onto the bus 3 minutes later. Of course they do. I don’t think we knew we were going to be fed, but the bus attendant comes round with some fried rice shortly after we leave again.

    Around 90 minutes from Phnom Penh, Mum/Dad/baby abandon their seats to instead occupy the rear bench of seats. They leave their original seats fully reclined, because they’re idiots.

    17:30
    The bus arrives almost an hour early into Phnom Penh, just after 13:00. 5 hours has passed really pretty quickly. Disembarking the bus in Phnom Penh, the heat is a bit of a shock after 5 hours in the air-conditioned cocoon of the bus. Our hotel is only a few hundred metres up the road, so we set off at a march. It transpires only one of our rooms is ready. To be fair, we’re early, and the check-in time is officially 14:00. The check in process is a little clunky and convoluted. It doesn’t inspire confidence. We dump stuff into the room that’s available, and Felix heads out for a massage.

    Maybe ten minutes later, I use the bathroom - number 1s only, but when I flush, I’m met by a bowl of dirty, brown water. It does not drain away. I’m afraid this is not hugely uncommon in this part of the world. I bet pennies to pounds that someone has put their used toilet paper in the bowl instead of the bin. An easy enough mistake to make, due to muscle memory, but blocked toilets are a less than pleasant result. I’m 50/50 whether we should check out, get a refund and find somewhere else, or just ask for a new room. I ping Felix, and wait to hear back. It transpires he’s signed up for a full 90 minutes of massage, so I’m waiting quite a while…

    We ultimately decide that new is always better, request a refund at the front desk, and head off to Penh House. Immediately, there are good vibes to be had. The staff are a delight, the rooms are beautiful, and fully functional in the toilet department. There’s a rooftop bar with an infinity pool, and there’s a more than decent Chardonnay by the glass. It does make me think about the risks of booking on an aggregator site. I’ve been lucky with booking.com during my sabbatical. This is one of very, VERY few misses over the past 8 months. Most have been great. I think when you’ve stayed in upwards of 40 different hotels/guesthouses in an 8 month period, it’s only reasonable to expect that 1 or 2 will be a bit duff.

    22:00
    Somewhere around 18:00, I start to feel properly rough. Aches, a fever, and an open backdoor policy. I repair to bed, and try to sleep. I doze for a while, but keep waking up - shivering. I don some socks and a hoodie, and curl up under the duvet. It’s really quite dull. I let Felix know that I think it’s incredibly unlikely I’ll be up for touristing tomorrow. It’s a huge shame, as we were due to take our Killing Fields tour tomorrow, which - whilst not the jauntiest of subject matters, is very much why we planned to come to Phnom Penh. Still, I can’t much think about that just at the moment, as I’m feeling incredibly sorry for myself. I touch base with Felix. It transpires he’s had a lazy evening at the hotel. I can’t blame him - the hotel’s proper lovely.

    I’ve only been in bed for a few hours, but already feel like my back is seizing up. I’m really struggling to get comfy. Very much wish my room had a bath right about now. Actually - scratch that. I don’t fancy the idea of getting out of the bath and feeling cold...     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsThailand, Cambodia, SingaporeTim's Travels
    Top tier templing!
    Tomb Raider temple.Pheeeeeeeshing.Stuffed seabass, black mushrooms.

    Day 15 - Temples can be cool too

    26 czerwca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    17:30
    Felix is much improved this morning, so I arrange for a driver I met yesterday to pick us up at 10:00 for some high-level templing. We start at Pre Rup - which our driver says is one of the prettiest temples in Siem Reap. We don’t disagree. It’s one of the oldest temples in the city, built in 961. We climb some incredibly steep stairs to the top terrace. It’s only afterwards that I learn the temple was built to honour Mount Meru, the sacred mountain of the Buddhist religion - hence the steep construction. Coming back down the steps is a somewhat vertiginous experience.

    We move on to Ta Prohm, which was featured in the Angelina Jolie iteration of the Tomb Raider movies. It’s wild - literally. There are trees growing out of various bits of temple, and it feels like it’s set into the heart of the jungle. We inadvertently join a Russian tour group while wandering around. The intersection of nature and human-made structure is an enchanting one. It is also a highly sweaty one. The heat index for today is in the low 40s, and the humidity is upwards of 85%. By the time we get back to our ride, my bandanna is sopping wet. Not a bit damp - but like I’ve just dunked it in a basin of water. Bora (our driver) suggests a beer, and I think this is an excellent idea.

    Our next stop is Bayon, famous for the faces carved into the stone edifices. It’s incredibly beautiful. It also, in places, has a strange smell, which we struggle to identify. We come across a few content creators, in the midst of creating content, but it’s barely a patch on the crowds at Angkor Wat yesterday - I find the experience a far more interesting, engaging and enjoyable one, at least partially as a result.

    Our last stop is the South gate of the Angkor Thom complex of which Bayon is a part. A large, human-made canal surrounds the complex, and we see a herd of buffalo taking to the water to cool down. Further downstream, there’s a small fishing boat, busy at work.

    Bora drops us near our hotel, at a restaurant called Best Mom. Neither of us has eaten yet today, and I’m ready for some food, and a Ganzberg, which I think is the only widely available Cambodian lager I’ve yet to try. It’s not quite in the same derisory category as Krud, but it’s not a million miles away. Our lunch, on the other hand, is excellent. A Khmer pork stir-fry for me, and some fried noodles for Felix.

    The food has a soporific effect on me. Back at the hotel, I lie down to read, and quickly feel snoozy. I bank a solid 1.5 hours, while Felix heads out to the gym. I wake up, thinking the A/C is on the fritz, as it’s suddenly very loud. It takes me a second to realise that it’s the noise coming from the deluge outside. This might just be the heaviest rain I’ve seen yet. I park myself on my balcony to watch the show…

    22:30
    It’s still pissing it down when we head out at 19:30. Felix is definitely feeling in much finer fettle, and has even been to the gym for a solid workout this afternoon - the loon that he is. We jump in a tuk-tuk to head to Chanrey House, an awesome looking restaurant near the riverside. It’s smarter than I perhaps expected it to be. My sleeveless t-shirt/bandanna combo is maybe a little underdressed. Felix is approaching needing to do some laundry, so purely by chance donned an actual shirt, so is particularly smug.

    The menu looks incredible. Pricy (at least for this trip), but incredible. Felix treats himself to a $6 bottle of Perrier, and I grab a glass of South African Chardonnay, that is really pretty good. Our starters are fresh Spring rolls, and a banana blossom salad. Both are great. Felix has a fillet steak for his main, and I have a stuffed seabass dish, with some black mushrooms. Awesome all around. The black mushrooms served with the seabass are one of the most umami laden things I can remember eating. Just punching.

    We forego dessert, and head next door to grab a post-prandial. My mango daiquiri is delicious, and I particularly like the use of a lemongrass stalk as a straw. There’s some music happening when we arrive - what sounds like some traditional Cambodian/Khmer vocals, but supported by a decent acoustic guitarist and some piano. Pretty cool. I suspect we’d both be happy to occupy these comfy seats for a stretch, but we’ve got an early start for an 08:00 bus to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning, so decide to call it a night.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsThailand, Cambodia, SingaporeTim's Travels
    Wangkor Watch.Some serious content creation going on here.Cured beef salad. Delish.Sour fish curry. Nom bomb.

    D14: Indiana Jones + the Temple of Insta

    25 czerwca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    09:00
    I don’t sleep brilliantly. I think this is largely because each time I wake during the night (frequently), I’m conscious that my alarm is probably going to go off in fairly short order. I do manage to get back to sleep each time, but I don’t feel well rested. Felix is sensibly keeping his powder dry. Hopefully some more rest will speed his recovery.

    My pick-up is 04:15, and I’m outside the hotel in good time. My guide is called Chanty, but his nickname (which he later admits he gave to himself) is Indiana Jones, and he encourages us to call him Indy. Our group is 13 in total, and a real range of characters / ages / nationalities / backgrounds. As we drive through the city of Siem Reap picking up other guests, there are quite a few bars still open from last night, with some walking wounded occupying tables and bar seats. We arrive at the Angkor Wat temple complex bang on 05:00, and set off on a walk to the main setting of the temple. It’s maybe 05:30, and the light is just starting to pinch at the horizon. It’s clearly going to be an overcast morning, and I suspect the light over the temple will not be mind-blowing. It’s busy - Siem Reap is living up to our analysis of it being a bit of a tourist trap. I sit on the stone outside one of the library buildings in front of the temple, and spend some time people watching. There’s a water pool to one side of the front of the temple, and there’s a HORDE of tourists,
    which look increasingly to me like something out of the Walking Dead, waiting to take a picture perfect snap of the temple reflected in the water. Only, there’s insufficient light, and it’s quite breezy, so the pics will be, frankly, rubbish. This trend continues. I see countless tourists trying to capture the perfect Insta pic. Local photographers roam around offering their services to tourists who simply must capture that they were there, and how great they looked when they were there. There are very few people that are there for the experience, and for the memory.

    As I suspected, the sunrise is a bit of a damp (literally and figuratively) squib. The temple is an impressive edifice, and the surroundings are beautiful. Am I blown away? I am not. I can’t help but think of the staggering beauty and scale of the bat exodus Felix and I experienced just a couple of days ago in Battambang. That stopped me in my tracks. The Angkor Wat temple - I’m glad I’ve been, but for me it doesn’t compare to the wonders that the natural world can offer. It doesn’t dazzle me, doesn’t give me the fizz, doesn’t tickle my pink bits, and definitely does not delight my danglies. I find myself wondering if I’m simply no longer that impressed by the ‘achievements’ of humankind, particularly when they illicit the kind of influencer driven behaviour I’ve seen here this morning. Christ, I sound old.

    I head back to the hotel for some breakfast, and to catch up on some sleep. Our tickets are valid for the rest of the day, and across a bunch of different temples. My plan is to head out later, once it starts to cool down, and when there are perhaps a few fewer tourists.

    21:30
    It starts raining around 12:00. Lashing sheets of rain. I pop onto my balcony to take a look, and am quickly soaked. I’ve had 2 hour nap, so am fairly well caught up on sleep, but the rain is just too hard to think about going anywhere just yet. I check in with Felix, who is feeling like he’s through the worst of it. We agree to make a call at 16:00 whether to go templing this evening, or whether to save it for tomorrow morning.

    I read for a couple of hours. The rain does not abate. I have a Krud - a fairly unpleasant local beer. It’s got a watery, thin body so redolent of beers in this part of the world. There’s a faintly metallic taste, I suspect as a result of using cheap materials in the canning process. The bouquet is nutty, and not in a particularly pleasant way. In summary, not my fave. I suspect during the Communist years, it was the 'beer of the people.' But - it’s called Krud, and that’s a bit funny.

    At 16:00, the rain is still coming down. We agree to head out at 17:00 to grab some food, and save temple-town for the morning. The rain’s gradually lightening, but it’s umbrella worthy. We grab a tuk-tuk up to Pinky Poo. At least, that’s what I *think* it’s called. It’s actually called Pinak Pau - but I was close. Their Khmer cuisine is feted, and rightly so. I have a stunning cured beef salad, spiked with chilli. The beef is cured in lime and fish sauce, and has the texture of velvet. Felix, who let’s remember, is nursing a delicate tum, has an interesting sort of puffed rice ball thing, with beetroot, and some delicate spicing. Our mains are even better. My fish curry has the sour smack of tamarind, the heat of red chilli, and the fragrance of lime leaf. It’s the best curry I’ve had so far on this trip. Felix has his first ever fresh mackerel dish, which is served with a kind of mustard and peppercorn sauce, some more beetroot and some fairly plan turmeric rice. He seems very pleased with himself.

    After dinner, we take a walk through the soggy streets of Siem reap - over to the riverside neighbourhood, up to the central market, down Pub Street… We stop at the Temple Bar to do some people watching, sitting upstairs with a great view down over the street. We see some young girls who look like they’ve just finished their a-levels, and are embarking on a gap yaar. We witness the touts approaching tourists and offering them everything from a tuk-tuk, via a ‘massage with boom boom’ to weed. We try to keep count of the likely sex tourists we can spot. Thailand is perhaps better known for sex tourism, but there are some obvious examples happening here in Cambodia. It leads us to Google the prevalence of organised crime in the country, and it transpires that it’s a growth industry, particularly for the sex trade, and for people trafficking. Until the past few years, this has largely been driven by international criminal organisations, including the Chinese Triads and the Red Wa gang from Thailand. Increasingly, there are Cambodian gangs running things locally. I'm not entirely sure why, but I feel a strange sense of pride in this homegrown talent doing so well.

    We make a vague plan to do some stuff tomorrow, and retire back to our hotel. It feels like it may actually stop raining soon, after fully 8 hours. Hopefully, tomorrow is a drier day...     Czytaj więcej

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  • Tim's TravelsThailand, Cambodia, SingaporeTim's Travels
    1Honeymoon suite!
    Very nice pint.I can't get my head around how they decide which two people get the helmets...Pub street. Grimy.Lok Lak!Decided to check out how my beard is getting along...

    Day 13 - Siem and Reap

    24 czerwca 2024, Kambodża ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    16:00
    We’re up and out in decent time this morning. We’re in a tuk-tuk by 10:15 to take us to meet our bus, which leaves at 11:00. Bus is the same set-up as our bus from Poi Pet down to Battambang. You know - comfortable, air-conditioned, driven by a lunatic. An hour into the journey, it starts to poon it down - properly torrential rain. The driver at least slows down a little as a result. I spend most of the journey booking us some travel and hotels for the rest of our trip. We’re pretty much sorted now, with a good idea of where we’re going, where we’ll stay and what we’ll do. What feels like a quick 3 hours later, we arrive into Siem Reap, which is markedly bigger and more modern than Battambang. We both comment that it feels like what it is - a well worn stop on the tourist trail. Very excited to see the Angkor Wat complex, but not convinced I’m going to love the city of Siem Reap itself.

    We jump in a tuk-tuk to our hotel. As we disembark, I hand the driver a $10 bill for a $3 ride. He doesn’t have enough change for me. I pop into the hotel, and ask if they can help. They cannot. I’m more than a little concerned that I have some larger bills ($50, $100) to try and get through while we’re here. I think it’s highly unlikely we’ll have a restaurant bill approaching $100. May have to pop into a bank, and see if they can break them down for me.

    We check into our hotel, and are shown to the Honeymoon suites. They’re super-luxe, and costing us a tickle over £20 per night. We’ll head out around 18:00 for an early dinner, as we’ve a crazy early start tomorrow to catch the temple at sunrise. Our guide is picking us up at 04:15. Aye carumba.

    21:00
    Code brown! Code brown! Felix has succumbed to an upset stomach. Bizarrely, we were discussing just earlier today how well both of our constitutions had been coping on our trip thus far, and I told him that if he made it through an entire month in this part of the world without the brown rain, then he’d have done incredibly well. Only hours later…

    As a result, I head out on my own, walking down to the riverside neighbourhood. It’s hot and sticky, and there aren’t really any pavements to speak of. I’m brushed by several moped riders during the 20 minute walk, and I arrive dripping with sweat. It’s a very pretty little neighbourhood though, and I count myself lucky to find a craft beer bar called Embargo overlooking the canal. It’s run/owned by a Hawaiian guy called Jared. All of the beers are brewed in Cambodia or Vietnam. I try an IPA made in Siem Reap, and am very impressed. Properly bitter, a little bit of funk, and a healthy 6.2% ABV. It’s also, at $6, comfortably the most expensive drink I’ve had since arriving into Chiang Mai two weeks ago. I ask Jared if he can break a $100 bill for me. He says he’ll try… I end up with about $40 and about 200,000 Riels in change. This seems like a reasonable trade.

    Opposite me on the other side of the river, I can see nightlife waking up. I take a brief stroll through the market area, past some street food stalls, and via ‘Pub Street’ which does pretty much what it says on the tin. Flashing neon, drinks promotions, folks on the street flyering for their bars. It strikes me as a cross between Saigon and San Antonio. Moving on fairly swiftly, I find one of the restaurants I’ve tagged to visit. Along with an ice cold beer, I have some fresh summer rolls, and a beef Lok Lak. Both are delicious. I have another beer, and eavesdrop on what I’m pretty sure is a substantial heroin deal happening at a table near me. I could happily bar hop my way back to the hotel, but time is getting on, and I’m mindful of the early start tomorrow. I jump in a tuk-tuk, and hightail it back to Indochine. Felix is not much improved. I’m doubtful he’ll be in a fit state for our sunrise tour tomorrow. Happily, we’re here for a couple of days, so there’s time to catch up.     Czytaj więcej

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