Thailand and Cambodia

I've worked in both countries. Thailand is better. More people speak English there and the people are much more polite.

Whatever you do, don't insult or say anything about Thailand's royal family. They are almost considered a diety by the Thai people.

The king's sister came to the hotel where I was staying in Bangkok and they literally shut down the lobby while she entered. They had a crew unroll a carpet for her to walk on from the front door of the hotel to the restaurant (which they closed to anyone except people in her party while she was there) where she was going to eat lunch. After she walked to the restaurant, the same crew then rolled up the carpet.

It was surreal to witness....

Phuket, Thailand: Travel Review

Bangkok, Thailand

Siam Reap, Cambodia

These should get you started!

I visited Phnom Penh and siem reap, Cambodia. I thought they were both really cool to see and I had a great time.

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Was Cambodia a huge hassle? Any bad experiences? Is it difficult to navigate?

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How much of it are you planning to do?

Siem Reap isn't a problem at all. Thailand is more developed and tourist friendly, as it has been visited heavily by Europeans for decades. Cambodia didn't really open up until the last 15 years. A lot of it reminded me of India development wise for a city its size.

Flying into Siem Reap, you can get a flat rate cab ride from the airport for $7.

Actually, now that I'm on the subject, the most ridiculous problem you'll have is passport control at the Siem Reap airport. It is hilarious in its 3rd world absurdity. Be prepared to wait longer than you should.

Examples:
Passports were just put in stacks to officers at a long counter, another officer would pick up the stacks and then try to pronounce names for people from all over the globe. He did his best, and handed, sorry, THREW the passport to whomever said that was them which seemed risky. You then go from waiting for your passport getting the VISA to the passport control lines, which is another good wait.

My wife got held up because the guy thought the passport photo didn't look like her, she was younger and had a fuller face in the photo, but not by much. He asked her to "show me your teeth"

Depending on how much time you have, you may be interested in going out to Phnom Kulen park, which is a mountain an hour outside town. Not much to do there but there is a Buddhist temple with a good view, Lingas all over the river bed if you are a history nerd, communist party HQs (you'd think they would have dropped that after the Khmer Rouge), and a waterfall you can get into. If you watch Expedition Unknown, a lot of the Cambodia episode takes place on Phnom Kulen.

This is also the area I believe they have recently found more signs of an ancient city. There are some statues up in the woods you can get a guy to ride you up there on a motorbike.

First small waterfall, I tried to get fancy with the long exposure:


The bigger one you can really get into:

Yo Teddy! I went to the same waterfall. It was awesome. Have a picture standing in it. The water was very cool but felt nice in the hot Cambodian sun. Mr. Da took us there in his car for a day trip.

ETA: To add to what teddy said about the passport and visa stuff, I don't recommend doing the visa online. Just do it at the airport. I got charged for both my wife and I's and only mine ever came through via the internet. Had to go back and dispute it on my credit card after the trip. Made sure to get out of Cambodia before getting my money back, haha.

Awesome. I didn't want to post my horrible body on the internet.

I took my Gopro into it. I really need to pay someone to edit my gopro videos from that trip.


Also on the Visa on Arrival front.

You are supposed to have a passport photo attached, however if you don't you pay $2 more.

It's cheaper to just pay the "fine" than going to Walgreens.

Siem Reap was awesome, we stayed at The Privilege Floor, it was pricey but included a full time driver and guide for the entire time we were there, this included whatever tours of the ruins you wanted to do. Go check out the floating village on the lake, it's pretty interesting to see how they live.

Chiang Mai is cool, go do the monk talks where you can sit with monks and ask questions so they can practice their english. Also we did one of the elephant places there where you get to be a caretaker for a day, make sure you are going to one who treats the elephants properly (if you're riding in a basket and not bareback you're in the wrong place).

Phi Phi islands we stayed at zeavola resort, the rooms were awesome and lots of good food at the resort and walking distance, just a short boat ride to where they filmed the beach.

Krabi we stayed at Rayavadee this place was over the top nice, only crappy thing about thailand is all the beaches are public so you will be sitting there relaxing having a cocktail and then all of a sudden 30 boats worth of tourists will show up and park right in front of you, kind of spoils the atmosphere.

Bangkok we stayed with a friend and he took us everywhere so no recommendations on places to stay.

We pretty much flew everywhere withing country so we didn't waste time on trains, it's extremely easy and cheap to fly withing thailand and also over to siem reap. Bring some sipro or some other type of prescription stomach medicine. I could go on all day about this trip but am busy at work, if you have any other specific questions I'll pop on this afternoon and try to answer them.

I didn't love Bangkok. The Royal Palace was packed with tourists and you probably only need to see one or two temples to get the idea. Uber is in Bangkok also.

There are some superb hotels in Thailand.

There is a lot to do in Chiang Mai. But taxis are expensive there.

Tiger Kingdom in Phuket or Chiang Mai is pretty neat. You get in a cage with a tiger.