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Cambodian trip: the temples of Angkor

Hello dear readers! Happy Saturday, what are you up to this weekend? Write it down in the comments so that maybe I’ll get some inspiration. If you follow me on Instagram (@camyinwonderwblog) you’ll know that tomorrow new windows are coming and I’m quite happy and excited to see them.

But enough chatting now, here I am with the following chapter of the trip that my boyfriend Gabriele and I had in January. Maybe you have read my posts about Bangkok and Chiang Mai and the first from Siem Reap, Cambodia, already. If not you can find them in the category “My travels”.

“Cambogia”: it’s “Cambodia” in Italian, my mother tongue

On the second day in Siem Reap we started visiting the complex of Angkor’s temples (UNESCO World Heritage Site), one of the widest religious monuments in the world (162.6 hectares, as you can imagine we visited a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of the place). On our first evening we got a Grab from the town centre back to our hotel. Grab is an app which offers the same service as Uber, that is pre-booked taxi rides, but cheaper, and we discovered it in Bali. As the driver was quiet because he couldn’t speak English very well, but you could see from his eyes and his smile that he was a sweet person and really kind, we asked him if he could be our ride around Angkor on the following days. A tuk tuk was enough for us, we didn’t need a car with A/C! As I had searched a lot on the internet to have an idea about the costs, we arranged a price of 15 USD (in Cambodia they use Cambodian Riel and US Dollars) for the small circuit (there is the grand circuit or the small one). We would meet at 9am and visit the temples until 2pm. We were very happy of having found a tuk tuk by ourselves without having to use the super – expensive one from the hotel (of course, that would have been a car with A/C, maybe the driver would have also been a guide, so I don’t judge at all who wants to go that way!).

At 9.00 am our Grab arrived at the hotel and we went towards the temples, but before we had to buy the tickets. We bought the three-day tickets for 62 US Dollars per person (you can buy the one day ticket for 37 USD or the one week ticket for 72 USD). As we went to Cambodia just to see Angkor we obviously bought the three-day ticket because in one day you really don’t see anything.

The ticket is made just for you, so at the counter expect to be photographed and to receive your own beautiful personalised ticket with your face on it. It’s a great souvenir to bring back home and keep on the fridge. Ha!

Angkor Wat – not the best hour! It was too late and crowded already

Our first stop was at Angkor Wat (which means “capital of temples” and is located 5.5km from Siem Reap), unfortunately it was already too late and it was packed with huge groups of tourists and buses from the organised visits. As a matter of fact we stayed shortly because we would return for the sunrise. This is the most famous temple in Angkor, a classic example of Khmer architecture. We soon went to the Bayon, which is not far from there. Before visiting I was super confused because I really couldn’t understand which was the best time to visit it, by reading the Lonely Planet and on the internet. Sunrise and sunset are definitely not-to-miss (as a matter of fact we’ve seen both and it was breathtaking) but they are crowded. They say that the best time is slightly after the sunrise, when the groups go back to their hotels to have breakfast, and that’s what we’ve done. Instead of going back to the hotel to eat we remained there, hungry but happy. And we managed to go on the top of the temple (the stairs were so steep!), which we couldn’t do on the first day at 10.30am.

I loved the Bayon, it was quiet and peaceful because everybody was visiting Angkor Wat, I guess. It was 11.30am, more or less. The Bayon is a khmer temple from the 12th and 13th century and 216 (!) faces were carved into the stones. While walking around you constantly feel like someone is watching over you.

The heat was incredible and the stairs were tiring me so quickly that the temptation to go straight back to the hotel and have a dip in the pool was strong. But after the Bayon we didn’t stop and our tuk tuk headed towards the Ta Prohm, which I really liked. I think it was my favourite, along with one that we saw on our last day. You might think that vising one temple after another all day long might be boring, but it really isn’t because they are all very different. Some are flat and they develop in length while others are not that wide but they’re developed in height, so that you’ve got a beautiful view of the surroundings. I loved wondering how life was when Angkor was inhabited: kings, queens and maids… Wow! The same thing that I do when visiting castles. Shame that now I only fantasise about Game of Thrones when I’m in a castle…Ahah! It’s not a shame, obviously, I actually love it.

One of Lara Croft’s most famous scenes, with Angelina Jolie, was recorded in the spot above, as you can see from the endless queue to take a photo.

I loved the Ta Prohm because, except for other visitors, it was really like finding yourself in an “Indiana Jones” movie. The huge trees wrapping up the old buildings and becoming one whole thing. It was surreal to think that those walls, stairs, rooms were so old that secular trees (!) managed to grow around them.

For today this is it, people! I prefer to split the photos and the stories into more blogposts instead of writing a super long one that maybe would bore you. I will continue with the sunrise at Angkor Wat next time… What a magical morning.

I hope you are enjoying my chronicles from Asia (and if you follow me on my other channels…from Scotland, too!)

Have a great weekend!

Camilla

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Flying to Cambodia

Hello dear readers! Here I am with the new post about the trip that my boyfriend Gabriele and I had in January. After two days in Bangkok and three days in Chiang Mai, our next destination was Siem Reap, Cambodia. We left our hotel Tri Yaan Na Ros, in Chiang Mai, at 4 o’clock in the morning. We went to the airport with a pick up taxi that we booked through our hotel, we didn’t want to risk and look for one in the middle of the night with the Grab app (even if it would have been cheaper). We had a bad experience in Bali, when we refused the hotel taxi because the price was 4 times what we would find on Grab, but then we couldn’t find any driver at the moment of having to leave for the airport and we had to accept the hotel taxi, at the very last minute, to not miss our flight! Unfortunately there wasn’t a direct flight from Chiang Mai to Siem Reap so we had to change the plane in Bangkok after one hour up in the air, which was quite stressful because we were up from the early morning and I couldn’t sleep on the plane (moreover I’m quite afraid of flying, I’ve never been as a child and teenager, but lately I’m always quite uncomfortable… AH, growing old!)

After the cooler climate of Chiang Mai, we arrived in the crazy heat of Siem Reap at about midday. In the airport there was a long queue and we had to fill in a lot of papers (the visa that they gave us on the plane wasn’t enough) and prepare all the documents for the counter, that is photos in passport format, passports, visas, more paperwork and money. Regarding the money, please don’t be stupid like me, and prepare 30 US Dollars for the airport because otherwise you will lose a lot of money, as they do a ridiculous change at the counter (they earn a lot and you lose a lot). We had only Thai bahts so we have been fooled, losing 36 euros (both of us, not per person) and I was really mad because we tried to save money as much as possible to spend them in better ways and losing them in such a stupid way has been frustrating. I had read that preparing 30 US dollars was better but we didn’t because I didn’t know that the loss was this big.

Once we’ve finished the various queues and we got our backpacks, we found a kind tuktuk driver from the hotel waiting for us. A tuk tuk transfer airport-hotel (20 mins) was included in the hotel price (great bonus!), many hotels in Siem Reap do this, so if you’re planning a trip choose one which has this service. When we arrived at our hotel (the Cyclo D’Angkor Boutique Hotel, beautiful and cheap) we were so relieved, because of the stress, the heat and the tiredness. The staff was extremely kind, they gave us a welcome drink and explained everything about the hotel and the surroundings, the small tour or the grand tour (of the temples), the sunrise or sunset visit (same). Luckily our room was ready in advance.

On our first day in Siem Reap we didn’t do anything except rest, freshen up and study the Lonely Planet to plan what to visit the following days. Actually we just wanted to visit Angkor and the Landmine museum and for four days of our stay it was a reasonable plan.

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Maybe the word “Angkor” doesn’t sound familiar to you but you may have seen the Tomb Raider movie (2001) with Angelina Jolie? Well, Lara’s floating Defender lands exactly on the roof of one of Angkor’s temples! We watched it a few days before our departure for Asia and we were very surprised and amused of seeing scottish Iain Glenn, AKA Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones, as the young, black-haired, villain!! :-D)

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After settling in the hotel we were very disoriented to be honest, because we didn’t know where was the center, where were the temples, which was the best way to visit them, how to move from one place to the other. Our hotel suggested a taxi but it was very expensive and we didn’t need it, a tuk tuk was fine for us. Brave people even explore Angkor’s temples by bicycle! Visiting it on foot is out of the question because of the miles and the heat.

On the same first day we had lunch and a short stay in the pool, because it wasn’t that sunny, and in the late afternoon we booked a Grab and went into town.

Our hotel was closer to Angkor than to the city centre. I really liked Siem Reap, it’s a colonial city, with colonial buildings and wide sidewalks. It reminded me of Cuba. Unfortunately I don’t have photos of that nice part of the city because we were just quickly passing by with the tuktuk. We were usually going to the more touristy part to have dinner, because there were a lot of recommended restaurants, around the famous Pub Street.

While out and about in Pub Street we saw a lot of begging people with amputated limbs, because of the injuries sustained from the landmines, and this really clashed with the atmosphere of the area, full of tourists and loud music, and it brought you back to Cambodia’s difficult history. The hardest scene that I saw was a poor man crawling on the street, beside the tables where tourists were having dinner. I don’t remember exactly but I think he had both legs missing. Those are scenes that break your heart and make you feel powerless. Mostly farmers are left without limbs or even worse, dead, because of the crazy amount of mines still left in Cambodia. It was really dizzying the fact that, while visiting some temples in Angkor, you had stay on the main path because in the woods you could step on a mine, that’s what I was reading on my guide. I feel so lucky to live in a place where I know I can go in the woods, in the fields, wherever I want, without risking of losing an arm or a leg…or dying. I will write in the following days about our visit to the Landmine museum, in Siem Reap, and also to the Angkor Wat, the Bayon and the other jaw dropping temples.

Thanks for reading.

Have a lovely evening,

Cam

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Thai trip: Wat Phra Singh and Chiang Mai’s Walled Old City

Hello dear readers!

Today I’ll write about our last day in Chiang Mai, when we visited the Wat Phra Singh temple, in the Old City. It’s placed near a very noisy, busy road but the walled old part of the town has some beautiful little streets where you felt like you were in a rural village. It has been my favourite temple among the ones that I’ve seen in Thailand, because I just loved the atmosphere. It’s the kind of places you read about in novels and, even if there was a high school nearby and a busy road, too, it still was really quiet. I loved seeing the monks with their beautiful orange, traditional ropes walking among the gardens, studying, reading and praying in the temples. There were also some tables where you could speak with monks and ask them questions about life. Even if I’m not a Buddhist, I lighted a candle and some incense. The place was really spiritual and I felt like I was in a church, it really didn’t make a difference to me, which religion I belong to… I hope to give you a sense of that through the photos, even if I know it’s difficult.

Inside – look at the wallpaper! (Can we call it wallpaper?)

You could buy incense and candles with a small offer.

There were a lot of quotes hanging on trees

After our visit to the temple we went for a lovely traditional Thai massage at Lila Thai Ex-Inmate Employment Center, they have got 8 (!!!) centres in Chiang Mai and we hadn’t even planned to have a massage but we exited the temple and we just found it in front of us.

I really believe this is great for women who were former inmates, as it gives them the opportunity to start a new life and to have their own salaries. The idea of opening this array of salons was of the former director of Chiang Mai Women’s Prison and it helps women who were in jail because of the criminal activities of their husbands (but also because of other reasons, mostly drug related). Choosing which massage to do has been very hard because it was one better than the other, really. I would have done all of the beauty treatments, as well, because the salon was so cheap. We spent 17 pounds (19 euros) for a 2-hour massage. I’d move to Asia right away just for the prices of the massages. I must say it was a bit hard at times, I personally prefer a Balinese massage, but could you go to Thailand and not try a traditional Thai massage? NO. The salon is really relaxing, well kept and my masseuse was kind and professional, she couldn’t speak English but there wasn’t much to say and we communicated through gestures…HA! I’m an Italian, after all.

After our massage we were extremely relaxed, but hungry. It was so hot… We walked to a nice guesthouse with a restaurant (and a pool) where we had been for lunch on our first day, called Good morning Chiang Mai. As we appreciated the food, we went back!

After lunch we went back to the hotel to relax and rest a little bit, and to enjoy the pool. I was reading a very nice book. On our last night in Chiang Mai we had a lovely dinner in town, in a very nice restaurant called Dash! (as a matter of fact it was full and we had to wait 15 minutes). We had spring rolls and two Mai Tais, of course! Our first, original Mai Tais. To be honest, as the prices from Grab taxis (it’s like Uber, we discovered this app in Bali) were so cheap, we weren’t even walking from the hotel into town anymore! It was so handy. I know, we are lazy people, but we were walking miles during the day and I was also afraid of stepping onto a mouse (I love animals and I wouldn’t do a mouse any bad, but, just stay away from me because I’m scared, I can’t help it…Haha!)

Ok dear readers, I’m done with my storytelling about Chiang Mai. Next time we’ll fly to Cambodia, stay with me!!!

Cam

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Thai trip: Maerim Elephant Sanctuary in Chiang Mai

Hello readers!

Here I am with the third blogpost about my trip to Thailand and Cambodia. After having left Bangkok, we arrived in the beautiful town of Chiang Mai. We spent 3 nights and 4 days there, before catching our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. What we loved the most about this city in the north of Thailand was the atmosphere, the nature that surrounds it and the walled old town. Our hotel was really close to the centre, 10 minutes on foot. On our first evening out we went to the evening market and I had the best Indian dinner in my life (New Delhi Indian Restaurant, write it down if you’re ever going to Chiang Mai…I followed the Lonely Planet advice!).

During our evening walk we found an agency which was organising visits for tourists and, as we wanted to do something different from the usual, we chose to visit an elephant sanctuary.

Maerim Elephant Sanctuary, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Before choosing to go I visited the website of the sanctuary, I’ve read the reviews on TripAdvisor and I questioned the lady from the agency. As you may have understood if you follow me on Instagram I really love animals, I’m a vegetarian and I try to do my best to avoid anything that exploits or hurts animals. I sign a lot of petitions on Peta and Change and I avoid meat, the circus, “Seaworld” and similar places, leather, fur, products that are tested on animals, etc. To be honest I was sceptical and afraid of sponsoring a tourist-trap that was exploiting elephants, but I haven’t been disappointed at all by the Full Day Visit (they picked us up at our hotel at 9am and brought us back at 6pm).

Maerim is an elephant sanctuary one hour from the centre of Chiang Mai, it’s immersed in nature and it doesn’t allow people to ride elephants, because that is bad and stressful for them. They have seven elephants which were saved from circuses and riding camps for tourists, where they were forced to work and tormented with hooks. They are always looking for volunteers who could stay with them for at least 4 weeks so, If you’d like to do an experience like this, now you know 🙂 If I hadn’t different plans for my life at the moment I would definitely consider it.

When we arrived at the camp, at 10.30am, we met the guide and they gave us a blue uniform and a bag full of bananas (I was feeling like I was a member of Lost‘s Dharma Initiative… LOL). They showed us a video that explains why elephants shouldn’t be ridden, what they do at the sanctuary, etc. And then we finally met the beautiful, majestic animals that elephants are. We fed and pet them.

It was a beautiful experience, really. I totally recommend it. It was so emotional to be able to meet, feed and pet elephants, animals that we don’t have in the western part of the world, except in the sad zoos.

For lunch there was a cooking lesson: we prepared our own rice noodles (they fortunately had different broths, both for meat eaters and for vegetarians… Very organised, well done!)

After lunch we walked beside the elephants (scary yet exciting!) to reach a field where we fed them again and where we chilled with them, while the guide explained about their projects in the sanctuary and gave us a lot of infos about the elephants (did you know that there are three species of elephant? African, Asian and Sri Lankan).

Maerim is planning to save another female elephant from a riding camp, which of course is quite expensive, so they are always looking for more visits, they sell souvenirs in the sanctuary and they look for volunteers and donations. I only bought ethical souvenirs during this trip (and I hope to keep doing the same in the next ones): at the Elephant Sanctuary, at the ex-inmate employment centre (where we had our beautiful, traditional Thai massage) and at the Landmine Museum, in Cambodia.

We soon reached the guides and helped them wash the elephants

What my boyfriend and I loved the most about this full day visit was the bath with the elephants. Unfortunately I don’t have photos of me washing them because, you know, I was full of mud and poo, but I let you imagine. There were two paddles, called “The Elephant’s SPA”: one full of mud, where we massaged them, and the other with (not so clean) water, where we rinsed them. It was so moving to see them lying on their side, trusting us enough to let us touch them. I was especially excited when I was massaging this majestic, female elephant and while moving I accidentally stepped on her huge, shaggy, hairy foot. What was my small foot in comparison to hers? The bath is very good for elephants, as they are always full of flies and bacteria, and also quite dry.

After bathing them we went back to the reception, the day was over, we swimmed and chilled by the pool, we changed back into our clothes, bought some souvenirs and we then took the pick-up back to the hotel.

I was really sad when the visit was over because I didn’t know when in my life I’d get the chance to stay with these beautiful creatures again. My thought at the end of the day? I still wish that elephants could live free, into the wild, because even if in the sanctuary they treat them well deep down it still feels wrong that they have to get their bath with tourists everyday…But I also know that visitors feed them, pet them, massage them and if they choose a sanctuary instead of a riding camp they must like animals. I have to be idealistic but realistic: in 2019 maybe elephants can’t live into the wild in Thailand, because horrible people would take them for their purposes: circus, riding camps, etc. Maybe elephants need this sanctuary to be safe and protected and I’m sure that 40 year-old Chock-Dee would live better in Maerim than in the riding place where she is right now. I hope they’ll earn enough to buy and save her. What do you think? Please tell me your opinion in the comments because I love reflecting about animals.

xx,

Camilla

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Thai trip: a night train to Chiang Mai

Good evening dear readers!

I hope everything is fine with you. Here in Scotland it’s so sunny today. This morning my bf went to his English class while I did a yoga session. I love following “Yoga with Adriene” youtube tutorials, I started doing them again (after A LOT of months) yesterday after my walk/slow run and I’d like to make it a habit. After that we went to do the shopping because we had finished almost everything at home and we needed some food! Then in the afternoon I went jogging and I’ve had a lovely hot bath. Ok, so, I would like to go on with the (visual) narration of the travel to Thailand and Cambodia that we went for three months ago (it feels like a million years ago 😦 ).

On the 12th of January at 19.35 we took the night train who would take us from Bangkok Hua Lamphong station to Chiang Mai, in the very north of Thailand, a much quieter city full of culture, temples and nature. We were very happy to leave Bangkok and go there, also because we had read that the climate was cooler. Chiang Mai was founded in 1296 and it was the ancient Lanna capital of the independent homonymous kingdom.

The train ticket was more or less £28 (33 euro) pp, for a berth in second class with A/C. I had bought the tickets online, on 12 Go Asia. I wanted to try first class because it was so cheap and we would have had a private cabin with a sink as well, but it was full, so never mind, we had an even more authentic experience and the place was so clean and comfortable!

The journey lasted 13 hours and I can genuinely tell you that they passed quickly, except for the last 2, when we couldn’t wait to arrive at the hotel to have a shower. At 8.30pm a kind and polite steward came to prepare our berths, I was staying on the lower and my boyfriend on the upper.

The steward making our bed… It was just us backpackers in second class lol

We had curtains for our privacy, space for our big backpacks and, thank God, we had a small bulb inside our berths so that I could read. Unfortunately I only slept from 10pm to 4.30am because of the jet lag, but I had a great book with me so I read that while waiting for our breakfast because, yes!, a lady came to get our orders for breakfast shortly after leaving Hua Lamphong station. At 7am it was funny because she came talking super loud and waking up everyone by opening their curtains or knocking… What an adventure, I was super excited, really. Closing the curtain and having you privacy, it felt like being in that tents that we were making up at home, as a child, with covers and cushions…!

And the next morning…what a breakfast! The lady brought us a tray with toasted bread, butter, jam, eggs (as you liked them) and, if you eat meat, bacon and sausages. If you wanted you could also have dinner the night before, but we weren’t hungry. So, I went “upstairs” and we had breakfast on my bf berth.

Going to the toilet was really funny because I had this very long skirt, so it was comic because the toilet was extremely small, the train was moving so much, there was a hole on the (wet) floor, the window was completely open so the wind was blowing me away and I was afraid that someone could see me… LOL! What an experience. I was trying to keep my balance and laughing at the same time.

Once arrived in Chiang Mai we found a lot of red pickups waiting for backpackers arriving with the night train, they were extremely cheap and everybody could talk to the driver first, see where they had to go and arrange the price. We were going to Tri Yaan Na Ros (recommended by the Lonely Planet guide) an authentic, Lanna style colonial house for just £32 (37 euro) a night. Beautiful interiors and a huge bricked-up bath tub. The surroundings were lovely, too, we had a primary school near and I could spend hours looking at the squirrels running on the trees. Can you imagine switching from noisy, crowded, super hot Bangkok to this heaven with birds singing in the day, toads singing in the night and squirrels? This was definitely our kind of place. And it was also a stone’s throw from the centre and the walled old town.

Our hotel in Chiang Mai (unfortunately the pool was freezing cold and I wasn’t brave enough to get in, but my bf was)

That’s it for today guys, I’ll go on with the trip very soon, writing about what we have done in Chiang Mai during our four days (including visiting an elephant sanctuary and my favourite temple ever in Thailand. It was like being in another, peaceful world).

But please tell me about you in the comments, have you ever been to Thailand? In which part? Did you enjoy it? I’m curious! 😀

xx,

Camy

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Thai trip: Bangkok

Good evening dear readers,

Today I’d like to start with the first chapter of a series of blogposts about the trip to Thailand and Cambodia that my boyfriend and I took in January. We traveled 18 days in total, so I won’t do only one blogpost about this journey, as I’ve got a lot of stories and photos to show you.

On our first day (night I should say, as we arrived in the evening) we checked-in in our hotel in Chinatown, had a well-needed shower (we traveled from Milan to Bangkok with a 2-hour stop in Dubai) and then hit the street to have dinner. We were extremely hungry and I had found a nice street food “restaurant” on the Lonely Planet bookguide, my dear companion during my travels, so we went there. We had Thai beer and noodles: it was absolutely delicious. The atmosphere, the food, the traffic, the suffocating heat, the noise, people from all over the world… Keep in mind that we left freezing Lake Como, in the middle of winter, so it was surreal to be able to wear hot pants and a top, really.

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I think that the day you first land in a new country for a journey is one of the best, because you have all the experience ahead of you, the curiosity, the expectations… When we left our hotel room to stroll around Chinatown I had that feeling that I love about travels. It’s so exciting that it gives me addiction.

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After our dinner we had a little walk (during which we had seen two massive rats. As in Chinatown the streets are full of food stalls there is so much food waste on the pavement and obviously rats are very common) but we were so tired that we soon got back to the hotel to go to bed. By the way, after seeing the huge rats on our first night, I never walked calmly again for the following 17 days.

The following day we had a very long walk around Chinatown and Little India, which we hadn’t seen in the daylight. I must say we weren’t very impressed, so we took a taxi to go to the Royal Palace. That area of the city is extremely different from Chinatown: cleaner, less crowded, less noisy but also very touristy. For lunch we went to a vegetarian restaurant that was recommended on the Lonely Planet but unfortunately we didn’t eat well, but I’m always happy to spend my money in a vegetarian restaurant, because of the ethics that they spread and that I share.

The view from the rooftop in the morning

The swimming pool of our hotel (we never used it!)

On our last day in Bangkok we went to the more modern and luxurious Sukhumvit with the subway (the best subway in the world I’ve ever been in: sparkling clean, precise, cheap). We had lunch in a very nice place that I had found on the Lonely Planet guide (this time they were right!) and my boyfriend went to the hairdresser to get his hair cut. Then we took the subway back to Chinatown to get our luggage and then go to the station, where our night train for Chiang Mai would leave.

We only spent two and a half days in Bangkok and to be honest with you I personally wouldn’t go back. It didn’t impress me and it’s not my kind of city, so if I’ll ever go back to Thailand I think I would skip it (maybe I would go on a river market first though, I’m ashamed of not having been to one). Maybe we stayed too shortly, obviously you can’t visit a huge city in 2.5 days, perhaps we didn’t find the right spots of Bangkok and you could give me some great advice, who knows?! My boyfriend and I were just very happy of having booked the night train to Chiang Mai because we knew that up there the setting was very different.

What did I like about Bangkok?

The sunrise that I saw from the rooftop of our hotel. I just couldn’t sleep because of the jet lag so I took the elevator and went up to the last floor, alone, as my boyfriend was sleeping. I loved that little moment for myself, on the empty rooftop, seeing this immense metropolis slowly waking up and the red sun between the skyscrapers. It was really emotional (maybe because of the lack of sleep…ha!)
The Sky Bar of Lebua Tower (the one that you can see in the movie “The Hangover Part II”). It’s ridiculously expensive but that night was what I loved the most of our two days in Bangkok. You’ve got a breathtaking view of the city, it’s one of the highest rooftops in the world and there still was this suffocating but marvellous heat. There was a woman singing live, with this great voice, and the orchestra, and going up the 67 floors with the luxurious elevator and the hostesses with their chic, elegant uniforms… What a beautiful memory. If you’ll ever go there keep in mind that they accept only smartly dressed people, remember this when you pack your luggage! Unfortunately we didn’t see the sunset because we spent 1.30 hour in our taxi (the traffic in Bangkok is crazy), so if you want to get there in time to see the sunset just leave very early from your hotel.

That’s it guys, I’ll go on with the rest of our journey in the next blogposts.

Next chapter: the Chiang Mai night train. What an adventure!

Have a lovely night,

Camy

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Easter in Arran (Brodick Castle & Goat Fell)

The highest point we reached, going towards Goat Fell

Hello dear readers! I hope you have spent great Easter holidays. We had a blast: Saturday I went to see the Kilmarnock VS Aberdeen football match with my boyfriend, my German friend from university and my Scottish relatives and we had a lot of fun! When you have good company everything is better. The following day we went to the Isle of Arran and yesterday we had a pic nic on the beach because we had sunshine and 21 degrees here. I’d like to share with you some photos that I took on Sunday. I broke a record, I think: I walked 19.8 km, almost 20 km. Our first visit in Arran was Brodick castle: we only visited the gardens, we didn’t go inside. The park was beautiful, it has a breathtaking seaview and was full of beautiful flowers. I will split the photos into two blogposts, because I really took tons!

We didn’t reach the very top of Goat Fell because of me! 😦 I was so tired. We hadn’t planned to reach the Goat Fell top, we actually wanted to see some Highland cows, so we started the trail and then ended up walking almost 20 km! We just couldn’t stop because we wanted to see what was the view behind that hill and then behind that hill and so on.

A little break: we cooled off by putting our feet into the river

How to feel free and grateful for our earth and the fresh water ❤

We stopped 15 minutes before reaching the top and we went of the side of the mountain to look at the seaview. It was such a relaxing and peaceful place, I would love to go back there with a tent someday. I just hope the wind wouldn’t blow me into the sea!

After our walk we finally saw some Highland cows, by chance, really. We found them on our way to the brewery (we stopped there because there was a bus stop nearby and we deserved a fresh beer).

At first we stayed in because we hadn’t seen the beautiful garden, then we moved outside.

The brewery, I had a delicious IPA (usually I don’t like beer)

In the end we decided not to take the bus because it was quite early, so we enjoyed walking on the beach, but we ended up being quite in a hurry because it was longer than we thought and we saw the ferry approaching. We even had to cross a little river, that we hadn’t seen, because otherwise we would have lost the ferry. Thank God it was shallow. But my boyfriend still got the lower part of his trousers soaked!

We couldn’t believe that we were up there! (The highest point is Goat Fell)

We took the last ferry from Arran to Ardrossan just in time! On the ferry we stayed out on the deck to look at the beautiful view but after 15 minutes we went back inside at the bar to have a tea because it was cold and windy (the waitress gave us some cakes for free, it was the last journey of the day and otherwise they’d have to throw them away!).

If you’d like to go to the Isle of Arran you may want to know that there is a convenient direct train going straight from Glasgow Central Station to Ardrossan Harbour, taking you right in front on the ferry. It’s a great service, really. Obviously dogs, cars and bicycles are permitted on the ferry. We took the 9.45am ferry (it takes 55 minutes to get to Brodick Harbour in Arran) and then we took the 7.20pm ferry from Arran and arrived in Ardrossan at 20.15. The ticket is so cheap, 8 pounds with return. The ticket for the car (return) is about 32 pounds. In Arran we paid for the Day Rider ticket on the bus (6.30 pounds) but in the end unfortunately we didn’t use it because we took the 324 bus to get to Brodick Castle and spent all day (as you can start the trail to Goat Fell there, too) and we didn’t even take the bus to go back to the harbour as we walked on the beach. The next time I’d love to do a tour of Arran, going to Lochranza, a distillery and seeing other parts, in general (hopefully some deers, eagles and seals, too! 😀 )

Anyway, this was an unforgettable Easter with two of my favourite people in the world so I really can’t complain. Walking in nature, with the sun shining, seeing the sea from above… It gave me such a peaceful feeling.

Have a lovely day, guys

Camilla