Welcome to the backpacking diaries, where I’ll be updating you weekly on where I’ve been, what I’ve been getting up to, and most importantly, how I’m really feeling about this insane decision I’ve made.
As you probably know, I’m currently backpacking through Asia after quitting my job and leaving London for good.
I want to remember every moment of this experience, and document as much of it as I can, just like I’ve documented everything else in my life post-18 on this website.
You can keep up to date with my travels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but for now, enjoy week ten of the travel diaries!
If you missed the first nine weeks of backpacking diaries, you can catch up here.
Top tip: for mobile data around Asia, we used the Airalo eSim which was super handy and easily installed onto our phones as soon as we arrived in Vietnam!
Day 64: Monday 20th May 2024
Location: Siem Reap & Battambang, Cambodia
Dear travel diary,
We checked out of The Urban Hotel this morning, and took a shared minivan to Battambang. The Urban was definitely one of the nicest hotels we’ve stayed in during our travels, and would highly recommend it to anyone travelling through Cambodia.
We were even taken to the bus station for free by the hotel, which was a lovely parting gift. Our bus took off at 11am, and got us into Battambang at 2pm.
Battambang wasn’t somewhere on our radar until we watched this year’s Race Across the World, which as fate would have it, sees the contestants travelling through Asia, going to places that we have in our plans and giving us tips and advice ahead of us getting there.
This was one of those cases. One of the pairs stopped in Battambang during the Cambodia leg, seeing bat caves and killing fields, part of the tragic history of Cambodia. So we added two nights to our schedule.
When our bus pulled into Battambang, we felt like celebrities. The minivan was surrounded by people, all trying to get our custom for their taxis, offering us a ride to our hotel for 50 cents. It was overwhelming, chaotic and very intense.
Before saying yes, we realised our hotel was a seven minute walk way from the bus station, so opted to go on foot instead.
We checked in and headed out to suss out the area on foot. It was soon apparent that we seemed to be the only tourists in the area, and we didn’t spot any others on our walk around the main streets.
Once it started getting closer to evening, we took a tuk tuk out to the bat caves, a 30-minute drive outside of the main Battambang town.
We saw the amazing Buddha carvings on the side of the rock formations, and the opening of the cave and could hear the bats inside. We sat and had a Coke while waiting for the bats to leave the caves.
There were a lot of other tourist groups here, so it was nice to know we weren’t the only ones visiting the area.
After around an hour, the bats finally started to exit the cave and it was quite a sight to behold. Six million bats leave these caves every evening to eat, which helps with the local rice production.
There were also monkeys around the area that tourists were feeding and many stray dogs too. There were also a number of children begging or working, something to be mindful of.
We headed back to the main Battambang town for dinner, and headed to a very humble Chinese restaurant/cafe that’s known for their dumplings.
Now, I’m a bit of a dumpling addict and we ordered a plate of boiled dumplings, some dumpling soup and then another plate of friend dumplings. Around 30 dumplings in total. And the meal cost us around £8.
Dumpling heaven.
Day 65: Tuesday 21st May 2024
Location: Battambang, Cambodia
Dear travel diary,
This morning we woke up in Battambang, and himself went across the street to bring me coffee in bed. The first coffee in bed I’ve had this whole two months.
Usually when we go to New York, himself walks to the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts every morning to bring me a fresh coffee to wake up to. He’s been slacking since we went backpacking. I kid. Or do I?
We took our time getting ready and then headed to a coffee shop nearby to work on our laptops. The WiFi in our hotel is really bad, and it turns out the WiFi in the top-rated coffee shop isn’t any better either.
After a few hours, we gave up and headed out to the famous bamboo train tracks. Just slightly outside of Battambang, you’ll find an old single train track that used to be in operation. Now though, it’s used for tourists to see how they would have transported goods and people.
It’s a bit of a novelty, but also quite cool to see how they assemble and disassemble the train in a matter of minutes. Since there’s only one track, when you meet an oncoming cart, one has to disassemble and stand on the side of the tracks while the other passes by.
Like I said, a bit of a novelty but fun to do.
For dinner, we headed to an Indian restaurant which also served momos. Some of the best momos we’ve ever had too. The portions here were huge and we were stuffed of good food when we headed to bed.
Day 66: Wednesday 22nd May 2024
Location: Battambang & Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Dear travel diary,
We checked out of our strange hotel this morning, grabbing coffees across the road before heading on our bus for Phnom Penh. Our bus took off at 10.30am and arrived into Phnom Penh around 3pm.
The bus journey was fine and the driver did stop a few times along the way to pick up local passengers and parcels. We’ve learnt that this seems to be the norm for any bus company in Asia.
Our first impressions of Phnom Penh were… questionable. It was chaos. A lot more chaotic than Siem Reap and Battambang had been. There was so much traffic that it seemed even more chaotic than Bangkok.
Not to mention we drove past a man taking a dump (number two) in the middle of the street. So that was lovely.
However, when we arrived to our hotel and checked in, we seemed to be in a quieter area and I could sense that I was going to love taking photos here as there was so much going on.
We grabbed a tuk tuk to David’s Noodle House for dinner for some dumplings and noodles and this was probably one of the best meals we’ve had on our travels.
It’s a hole-in-the-wall, steel table, cafe-style place but served the best dumplings and dumpling soup. We’ll be back.
Day 67: Thursday 23rd May 2024
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Dear travel diary,
We were up early this morning to work in a local coffee shop. Tube Coffee seems to be a small chain of coffees in Phnom Penh and the logo is like the London tube which is a little ironic (and off-putting). The WiFi is strong and there were a lot of people already here when we arrived at 9am, working.
We stayed until lunch time and then headed to 7-eleven for lunch. We decided to visit the Genocide Museum this afternoon as it was nearby, and thought it might be good to break this and the Killing Fields up into two days instead of doing it all tomorrow.
What we were going to be witnessing and learning about was going to be extremely dark and tragic history, so thought it best to split over the two days.
We were provided with an audio guide to take us around the jail and I felt like I learnt so much about the genocide that happened in Cambodia. This is definitely worth visiting in Cambodia, and I wish I was already educated on this before visiting the country, but I had no idea.
Millions of Cambodians were killed by Cambodians. And it only happened in the late 1970s, which isn’t that long ago at all.
After spending a few hours here and paying our respects, we headed to the Grand Palace. However, there were thousands of pigeons everywhere so we quickly left.
Can you believe there are two Welsh bars in Phnom Penh?! Three Welsh bars in all of Cambodia that I know of. We had to visit the tiny Welsh pub as himself’s brother had been here a year before and signed his name on the wall.
After this, we headed for dinner a few doors down at Mama Wong’s Dumpling and Noodle House. Yes, more dumplings. The spicy wontons were delicious and I could so easily eat dumplings for every meal for the rest of my life.
Day 68: Friday 24th May 2024
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Dear travel diary,
This morning we headed to the Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh. After visiting the Genocide Museum yesterday and learning about the history of what happened here in Phnom Penh, it felt like the final place to visit.
As we expected, it was heartbreaking and hard to put into words the level of atrocity that happened right where we stood in those fields.
After being to Auschwitz last year, it really puts everything into perspective when you stand where these things happened. Where your feet are, around fifty-five years ago at that exact moment in time, thousands of people were executed. Right where you are standing.
It’s eery and hard to listen to the stories, but learning about this keeps their memories and the legacy of these people alive.
I didn’t know much about the Khmer Rouge before I came to Cambodia, which is crazy considering the number of deaths and the genocide that happened here. But I’m glad to know more now and hopefully I can share more about it on my platforms.
After this, we headed back into Phnom Penh to grab a 7-eleven lunch and head to Tube Coffee again to work on our laptops before I had a work call back in our hotel.
For dinner we headed back to David’s Noodle place where we went on our first night in Phnom Penh because the dumplings here are simply to die for.
We ordered two plates of pork dumplings and a plate of shrimp dumplings which was 24 dumplings in total. Then we both ordered some noodle soup and I had dumplings in mine so I had around 20 dumplings in total.
I’m afraid that when we get to Hong Kong I may never leave because of the food.
Day 69: Saturday 25th May 2024
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
We were up bright and early this morning to catch our bus to Vietnam. Our time in Cambodia has been short and sweet but I have so many thoughts and things I’ll take away from me after our time here.
A few things at the forefront of my mind.
1: Cambodia is extremely poor and it’s very evident to see, even in the biggest cities. My heart broke for how little these people have and the places that they live.
2: Children are put to work from a very young age to sell and beg and it’s also very heartbreaking to witness, but giving to them makes them work more and keeps them out of education.
3: Visiting the Genocide Museum and Killing Fields is something that will stick with me forever. I didn’t know much about the Khmer Rouge and what happened in Cambodia during the late 1970s but I still can’t get over the tragedy and horrific torture and killings that happened to millions of Cambodians by their own people.
4: We encountered a very small number of tourists during our time here, and it’s evident the impact this is having on the country. We overheard a guide at Angkor Wat say that there used to be 6,000 people at the temple every day pre-Covid. Now there are only 2,000. It felt like we were the only tourists in Battambang which was a strange feeling, and Phnom Penh was also devoid of tourists too.
Our driver Tommy told us that they are all so thankful for Angkor Wat. Even though it’s a temple that doesn’t represent the most popular religion in Cambodia. Because without Angkor Wat, they wouldn’t have tourism. And without tourism, they wouldn’t have any money at all.
Our bus to Vietnam left Phnom Penh at 9.45am and we made it to the border around 1pm. The visa process was very simple. Our bus guide took all of the passports and had them stamped for us. With an Irish or British passport, you can enter Vietnam on a tourist visa for free, for 45 days.
We arrived in Ho Chi Min City around 5pm and headed to our hotel. Which was only a five minute walk away from the bus stand.
Like the other cities we’ve been in recently, Ho Chi Min City is chaos. There are so many motorbikes that you need to look out for. And don’t think you’re safe walking on the pavement because the motorbikes drive on those too.
We headed out for dinner and had some Vietnamese Pho.
It’s a very busy city and I’m excited to explore more tomorrow. No doubt I’ll be snapping hundreds of photos as my inner love for street-photography really seems to shine when I’m in chaotic cities like this.
Day 70: Sunday 26th May 2024
Location: Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam
Dear travel diary,
We woke up and headed out to explore the city the only way we like to: on foot.
We headed to the famous coffee shop apartment building for a caffeine fix. This apartment block is filled with boutique shops, restaurants and coffee shops. With signs all over the front of the building. It makes for a great photo from across the street!
Climbing the many flights of stairs inside, we made our way to Arabica Coffee. Sheltering inside from the humidity outside and chugged our iced coffees to cool down.
Afterwards, it was more walking and sightseeing. Heading to the city’s post office where I sent a postcard back home to my family. I haven’t mentioned it to them as who knows what date it will turn up. I’m hoping for the element of surprise.
Next, we walked to my idea of heaven: book street. An entire street lined with little bookstores, book cafes and trolleys with books. There were only a small number of English books. But even if I had wanted to buy any, I didn’t have any room in my backpack.
Then it was time to have our first ever Vietnamese banh mi. We went to the most popular spot, Banh Mi Huynh Hoa. This has two shopfronts – one for people to order, and another for delivery drivers to collect from. In the middle, there’s a seating area to eat.
I didn’t love this banh mi as the butter was thick and way too much. But the next banh mi spot was much better. It was called Hong Hoa and I had a barbecue chicken sandwich which I much preferred.
The heat was more bearable at this time. So we walked around the city some more and ended up in a dim sum restaurant for dinner. We ordered so much because it was so cheap! Dumpling heaven!!
Stay tuned for week eleven of the travel where we’re exploring more of Vietnam!
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