During Pchum Ben, a Khmer holiday in October, my coworker and I decided to take off a couple extra days of work and plan a whirlwind, 10-day trip. The planning started out small and eventually expanded to three countries — Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand. Realizing that time would be of the essence, we decided to fly between each of our destinations. Our flight path ended up being: Phnom Penh --> Ho Chi Minh City --> Singapore --> Phuket --> Chiang Mai --> Bangkok --> Phnom Penh. We affectionately named the trip #10days6planes.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Ho Chi Minh and found it to be a fascinating city. It is filled with interesting juxtapositions — old and new, natural and man-made. The people were incredibly friendly and helpful and would offer assistance whenever we looked confused. Plus, there's nothing like eating some authentic pho in Vietnam.
The Vietnam War ended at the Reunification Palace in 1975. Nearly every room in the building was symmetrical. I felt like I was in a Wes Anderson film.
Singapore
Our time in Singapore lasted roughly 24 hours, as it was actually a layover in-between flights. We purchased a one day tourist pass for the subway, which ended up being a fantastic decision. We explored somewhat aimlessly, making stops at a few of the more well-known sights.
Phuket, Thailand
After the amount of traveling we had done up until this point, Phuket was a nice break for a couple of days. We made very few plans other than to spend a lot of time at the beach. We visited Phuket Town and ate a lot of seafood, but the ocean was the best part of our time there.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
We had originally debated whether or not we were going to travel to Chiang Mai but decided to do so at the suggestion of some friends. Chiang Mai ended up being my favorite city that we visited, and I wish we had been able to spend more time there. We ate a lot of fantastic food and went to the best coffee shop that this coffee snob has ever visited — Ristr8to.
One of my favorite part of the trip was visiting Bua Tong waterfall. I climbed up this "sticky" waterfall with four sections, spanning hundreds of feet. The falls have a limestone face because of the high amount of calcium carbonate in the water. The rocks look slick with the water rushing over them but aren't at all. It was such a cool experience. When I reached the bottom of the falls, it began to lightly rain. It was a pretty great day in the rainforest.
Bangkok, Thailand
By the time we reached Bangkok, we were pretty exhausted. However, we were determined to make the most of our time. We explored the city by subway and by boat, which made for a great adventure. The hustle and bustle of Bangkok was a little overwhelming for me, but it wasn't anything the regular consumption of coffee couldn't fix. Before we headed back to Phnom Penh, we stocked up on vitamins and other products that we can't find in Cambodia.
