From the train station, I took the bus to the city center and then walked to the hostel. On the way I passed a little restaurant place with an arabic sign saying they have Raieb. So I decided to go back there later.. I didn’t understand the second line on the sign, but that seemed to be the only food they had, and so I got some kind of potato sandwich. With harissa. They had a lot of fun when I asked for more harissa. There were some other people eating, and one man started talking to me in German – he’s a tourist guide, and a farmer. Among other stuff, he said I shouldn’t buy the walnuts in the street as they’re not fresh! They’re from last year 🙂 So I didn’t buy any!

The main square was full of people, at night more than during the day. But the henna women were surprisingly peaceful. Mostly, they didn’t even try to talk to me. People from the restaurants did, though. One man said the name of the sandwich I had just eaten – that was interesting, and I wanted to know how much it would cost here,.. but, no, they didn’t offer it. But he had just been at the same little restaurant as me and kind of had that sandwich with me.

Walking a few more steps, a guy from Senegal tried to sell me tshirts.. I told him no.. and he just kept walking along with me,.. I repeated that I wouldn’t buy or pay anything.. and we kept walking through the medina. After a while, he said his friend has a shop, and we should go there to drink tea.. I said again that I wouldn’t buy anything and imagined the typical moroccan carpet shop. The friend turned out to be from Senegal, too, and making the clothes they all sold in the square! While sitting there and drinking tea, different guys would stop buy, have a break, or pick up more tshirts.

The next day, I had Senegalese food with them, sharing a big plate on the ground 🙂 And then I mentioned I might want braids,.. but not now.. but I’d like to know the price.. they called a girl.. who said it’s 150 MAD, I think.. and I told them the next day, or so. When I went back the next day, they called the girl to come.. I got my braids.. I paid what we had said, giving her 200 and waiting for change 😀 And suddenly I was told I should pay 300 – twice as much as we had said – I took back the second 100 she was still holding.. and gave her 50. And walked away. 20 minutes of braiding may definitely not cost 30 EUR in Morocco 😛 I guess we’re not friends after all 🙂 But I’d love to see who of THEM would pay THAT amount of money. They had said a tshirt is 6 EUR – and to make that, he needs a tshirt plus the fabric and then the time to make it.

Everything was more expensive in Marrakech than in Casablanca! So no souvenir or carpet shopping here.

My next challenge was to find ‘fripe’. Internet said that’s joutya, but that didn’t lead to anything. Whoever I asked told me a different direction and there ended up being nothing. Joutya may just be any used stuff in general.. and the clothes markets might be called ‘el bal’ – which does kind of make sense. I finally read about the Souk Al Khemis where there should also be clothes.. and there were. But it was quite a bit more expensive than Tunisia. A shirt would be easily 4 EUR! And I realized that I don’t even understand them when they say numbers!

I discovered that both May 1st and May 2nd are public holidays here and booked a flight.. quite randomly to Tangier. I planned to go to Chefchaouen, Fes/Meknes, and maybe Rabat. But then the weather forecast said it would be rainy and cold in that area for the whole week, so I changed my plan, paid an incredible 6 EUR for the first night in Chefchaouen because I couldn’t cancel it for free anymore, and decided I’d just take the fast train south to Casablanca as early as possible.

From the airport of Tangier, I already knew how to walk to the bus station and get to the city. When I got out of the airport it was sunny and surprisingly hot, then some clouds showed up, it started raining just a little, then a bit more, and when I got to the bus stop, it just started pouring. When a bus came. Luckily it was the right one, but I would have gotten on any 😉 When it arrived at my stop in the city, it had stopped raining again. I bought something to eat, then a simcard, and tried to withdraw money. But all ATMs wanted a fee. And I remembered that only the post bank does not. The simcard guy told me I can pay my trainticket by card, and that’s what I did. The train was nice, but I got a stupid place in a 4-seat with table corner, and thus had feet across from me 😉

In Casablanca, I took the tram to my hostel, no, no taxi, found the hostel (there was no sign with the name, just a different name,..), had a break, and then went out again to meet some couchsurfing guy who took me on a city tour by scooter. We saw the big mosque, the lighthouse, the cathedral, a square with ‘Casablanca’ letters, and then went to eat cheap Tajine 🙂 It was good, and cost 25 mad each. And then it was time to pay, and he told me ‘it’s 50’ – obviously assuming that I’m paying for his food. That’s not very moroccan,.. right? 😀

The next day, I spent with a girl from the hostel, going to the tourist market, buying olives and break, and some cookies, and having a picnic in the park. We walked past much of the stuff I saw yesterday again, and suddenly the city made a lot more sense. In the evening we went to the same Tajine place again, with another guy from the hostel, then had an ice cream in the street back, and that was it.

In the morning, on the way to the train station I walked through the mostly closed market, bought a coffee in a tiny place, and then it started raining again! lol There was a long queue of people, again, waiting to buy train tickets. So I tried to buy mine online and it didn’t work. Probably because the train was sold out :/ so, while queueing, I bought a ticket for the next train online, then went back out of the queue, and had more than an hour to spend. Note: buy train tickets in advance!

The last trip within Switzerland. On Marion’s Mitfahrtageskarte. First we went to Lausanne and up to the Hermitage Museum, then walking back down we had brunch in possibly the one open place. From outside it looked dead, we entered totally wrong, but once inside, there it was surprisingly nice and there were a lot of people 🙂

The next stop was Montreux, I bought two Caneles, we found a market along the river, saw some flowers and had a drink outside.

And then we decided to go back home a different way than we came, and took the train via Visp. In Bern I had my last Swiss Roesti 😉 and then we went back to Lucerne.

I took the plane from Basel on Wednesday evening to be at the old airport at 8am. They still had Covid ‘don’t sit here’ signs on every second chair in the entrance area, and, just in case it was some kind of test, I nicely obeyed. The others did, too! The questions were very different than I had expected, I really wouldn’t have had to prepare for a normal job interview. Also, nobody cared the least bit about my bag – it stayed in the waiting room anyways, while I had to go to answer questions. And there was more waiting than actually talking to the interviewers. They had water, coffee, sandwiches and snacks, and it was quite nice. I was the second one in the list, so got out kind of early and the holiday started 🙂

The next morning, I met Mo, we had Arabic breakfast, walked around his quarter and then I took the bus for some sightseeing and shopping. In the evening we met again for Korean food.

Because it is so close, and because Germany is kind of boring, I went to Szczecin the next day. Part of the train line is under construction and there was a replacement bus ;( Upon arrival – the city seemed dead. There were no people outside. I had some food, walked around, had more food, did a bit of shopping, walked around some more, and then went back to the train station because I was cold.

Back in Berlin, I had Vietnamese pho and went back to the hostel. And then Mo wanted to meet again, because he wouldn’t have time tomorrow. So he came.

On my last day, I went to some fleamarket (boring) walked past that Jewish ‘blocks’ monument, Brandenburger Tor, had a pretzel, took a photo of the Bundestag from outside at least (yes, I’m very interested in politics,…), sat in the park, had coffee and cake, and then read that there’s another market in Mauerpark. I guess that’s my kind of place. I took photos of stuff I will make myself, had a currywurst, and bought some Greek (or German-Greek…) food for the next days.

The steward on the plane said the airport is a big construction site at the moment and then told me I can definitely leave the airport, get some food, and make it back on time. He recommended Culver’s for the best burger, and said I should take the train inside the airport to the car rental/parking station and from there call an Uber. So that’s what I did without questioning it.

Upon arrival at the airport, I just had to walk through immigration (no questions asked) and right after, there was the place to check in my bag again. I put it on that

The restaurant turned out to be a chain, the burger was nice, and at least I made it out of the airport 😉 When I was standing in front of the restaurant, wondering if I could walk back to the airport (google said 30 minutes, so easy!) an employee started talking to me and then mentioned there’s a bus! It was about to leave soon – it only goes once an hour or so! – and I decided that’s perfect. Nobody told me that whatever money I throw into that box in the bus will be gone, and I won’t get any change. And all I had was a 5 USD note. Great. But, I guess, still cheaper than Uber.

I arrived too early in the morning, took the empty enough metro to the center, found my hostel, and left my bag there. I’m staying right around the corner from the main square. I walked around the just awakening city, bought a.. milk rice kind of drink, and sat in the sun. When it opened I went into the Museo del Templo Mayor and was quite alone there so early. Then I went to a coffeeshop Ricardo had recommended, had a cappuccino and tried not to fall asleep 😉 There were quite a few children with their parents just practising riding a bicycle. Kind of big children. Funny.

My fancy hostel bed – 1.40 wide, with 3 wooden walls around it, and a curtain at the foot of the bed – was in kind of a basement room with no windows, but a crazy loud fan/AC system. It all looked very nice and new, just the window/fan situation made it feel like walking into a dark cave 😉 Note: I want to have a window in my bedroom. Always.

In the evening, I met a couchsurfer for some Pulque – that was still on my todo list. It was ok, not the best, not the worst. I would definitely drink it again 😉 and the next day I wanted to go to Lagunilla fleamarket and found a girl who was going with her friends. It was a crazy market, with lots of music, food, and alcohol 🙂 We also ate there, and bought a dangerous looking vivid blue drink because it was on offer. And then we had to finish that drink kind of at a corner because it’s not allowed to drink in the street outside the market. They invented the amazing drinking game of tossing a coin, and then head means the boys have to drink.. and the number means the girls drink,.. Then we walked to Amellalli’s old flat, which the other two guys are going to live in. She and her partner moved out because they were afraid of the earthquake situation!

On the way back to the city center, I found a supermarket – my first real mexican big supermarket! So I managed to buy some stuff to take home, then I walked through the market around Palacio de Bellas Artes again, had weird ‘chips’, bought a sandwich for tomorrow, and finally went to bed quite early 🙂

Because the metro starts running kind of late in the morning, and people told me I should be at the airport 3 hours before departure, I got up early and then planned to use uber. I went out in the street, opened the app.. and had no internet lol So I rang the bell again, woke up the poor door guy, just to use the hostel wifi, and booked my car from inside. And then I was at the airport much too early! Also, at that time, there are none of the funny little food stalls and random people selling stuff. Only shops inside the airport were open already.

Fun fact: there is NO passport control at the airport! I left my bag at check-in, went through security, and nobody ever checked my passport!!

The Selina hostel seems to be a big chain and rather expensive – but I got it as a special offer 😉 They offer some free stuff like morning yoga classes (too early, and not early enough as I have other stuff to do 😉 ) or workshops. However, the wood carving workshop didn’t happen on the day I would have wanted to do it, so I found out where they did it and went there myself.

On my first day, I met Ricardo from CDMX for breakfast – to then go to Teotitlan del Valle. We took the bus – and it was kind of hard to find the right one. We just had to ask each of them haha.. On the way, we more or less accidentally ended up at the giant ‘Arbol del Tule’, so we saw that…

and then took the next bus, and finally a shared taxi from the highway to the village itself. It was dead. So empty! But there were tons of carpet weaving shops. Even Ricardo bought a tiny woven mug rug kind of thing 😉 And I managed to buy some yarn! Hardly any had colourful wool scarves, only the standard white/beige/gray stuff. I found one shop, though, that had one, and tried to remember it for later, and then we walked around some more, the village was still dead, the market was, too, and then we went to a restaurant that was recommended by one of the shopkeepers. I had my mole negro, the place felt very touristy and not touristy at all at the same time, and the food was really good. Then we tried to find that one shop again, that had the scarf.. and it took us several tries – they just all looked exactly the same!

Then we went back to Oaxaca. First the shared taxi to the main road, then bus. In Oaxaca, I went ‘home’ to leave my stuff and then back to the center, where we accidentally met again 🙂 There was a tiny ‘piedras’ something stall, and he said that’s some kind of famous snack there: a hard (old?) bun soaked in vinegary pickle sauce, with some pickles,.. I guess it’s edible. Better than the stuff in Istanbul. I also tried whatever buttery drink in the street, and realized the whole city is full of markets all selling more or less the same handicrafts.

The next day, we went to the archgeological site of Monte Alban. By bus 🙂 Which worked just great. With a cute little coffee shop on the way there, and some breakfast on the bus. We spent some hours walking around there, taking photos, and sitting in the shade, then went back – he was going to meet friends.

The wood carving workshop was fun! The place was a bit hard to find, but I walked into another lady looking for it, and we wondered together, where it might be 🙂 I carved my very mexican design, and bought a ‘carving tool’ and got a piece of wood, to go on at home 🙂 Getting ready for my own tshirt printing! Everyone in the city seems to be doing those wood-carving prints, be it on walls of buildings, postcards or tshirts. I bought a tshirt from a girl in the street. And I bought a leather thingie to tie back my hair, from a weird guy, also in the street 😉

And then I accidentally walked into some neighbourhood party: I was just walking along the street when a girl came out of a courtyard carrying a tlayuda on a plate.. I looked in there curiously.. and a woman who was standing outside with a man grabbed me and told me I should go in with them, it’s their party, and the food is free. I wasn’t very convinced, so they kind of pushed me inside, to the food area first, got me a tlayuda, then a meter to the right for a tequila. I felt very wrong there, obviously not belonging to this group of neighbours, but was happy about my food 😉 And then some guy, my wild guess is that he’s some kind of politician as there are posters around and stuff seems to be going on, wanted to take a photo with me, in front of the bar. No idea what is going to happen to those photos, but it was a funny situation. And I got a photo of us, too 😉

Finding the bus station back to CDMX was kind of hard, as google maps showed several ones and comments weren’t clear at all, as to which is the correct one. So I walked to the wrong one. There was nothing at all. It was around 11:40 at night, and I asked the first ‘safe’ people – a couple – if they know.. they asked a shopkeeper, who didn’t know, and then they said they’d walk there with me. It was maybe 5 minutes further north, and the man was worried I was missing my bus, he wanted to stop one outside in the street, but no, I still had quite some time to wait 🙂 The bus terminal was small and not too nice, just outdoors, under a roof, but it was ok. The bus did show up, they cleaned it (haha) and we left.

Everyone I asked – and the Internet – said only the Ado bus company is good enough to take. And one should absolutely never ever take anything else. But Ado is about twice as expensive as the others. And I didn’t want to take it only because everyone does 🙂 So I found a different company where the better bus (3 seats across instead of the standard 4) is close to the Ado price. I took it to Puerto Escondido overnight. Arrival was not in the city center, but at some weird ugly bus terminal a bit outside, but it was easy and close enough to walk. And it’s HOT here! From the other, more central, bus station, I bought a bus ticket to San Antonio. There, I found another tourist asking taxis about prices to go to Mazunte.. and we waited together about 2 minutes for a Colectivo in direction Mazunte. It was almost empty, do we had lots of space with our bags. It wasn’t very clear where to get off in Mazunte, but the place was tiny, anyways.

I went to the hostel, left my bag in the kitchen and went to the beach 🙂 There’s a shady corner, in the very west, from around noon. I had icecream, and eventually went back to put my stuff in my room and lie in a hammock. It’s more of a place to walk around barefoot than Vama.. else, it’s somewhat similar. There’s a little road where people set up stalls and sell stuff. One offers hairwraps. Another guy offered to repair my dreads. I told him ‘later’ and wanted to do it in a few days, but couldn’t find him anymore then.

I met a german guy through couchsurfing who showed up late, after I had left the meeting point, but found me anyways, and we then went to some other beach, several kms to the west, by scooter. There’s a famous sunset viewpoint on top of a hill just west of Mazunte. I went with a girl from the hostel. We were there kind of early, sat in the front, and tried to ignore all the people behind us. It was extremely crowded! And the icre cream vendors who are at the beach during the day set up their carts on that path in the evening. You also had to pay to use that trail – but only a donation of at least 20 cent or so 😉 it will certainly become more in the next years.

Another day (on the 31st, I think), I met the other guy again, and we went past Zipolite to another tiny beach, for some ceviche and pina loca with spicy mango gummi bear thingies. After that, he left me in Zipolite, I checked out that beach, had some more snacks, and finally managed to find a colectivo back.

In the evening, the hostel organised a dinner for everyone, people were preparing and sharing food, we had drinks, and then went to the beach party on the other side of town. It was nice, very relaxed 🙂

Getting bus tickets from Pochutla on to Oaxaca was harder than expected: There’s a bus station (a wooden shack) in Zipolite, but on the 31st, the bus from Zipolite to Oaxaca on the 2nd was already sold out. However, they gave me a phone number to call to buy tickets. I asked people in the hostel to call for me, but nobody ever answered. The American girl was going to Pochutla to withdraw money, and offered to buy me a ticket. However, she was told, she cannot and I need to buy it myself. All the time, everyone kept telling me I could easily just show up at the station in the morning, and buy a ticket for the next bus. So that’s what I did. I got up early, packed, and took a colectivo. Hanging outside first, then being told I need to be inside. In Pochutla, a bit after 10 am, at the Lineas Unidas office, there was a long queue till out into the street. A mexican couple in the line, just behind me, talked about sharing a taxi with others to be faster. People said the first available bus was around 2pm. The taxi was said to be.. more than I wanted to pay 🙂 So I just kept queueing. When I made it to the front, I said I want seat 4 – the german guy had told me that’s the best one: In the front, on the side opposite the driver. A single seat, with lots of legroom. And on the minibus at 1:30 there was still exactly one free place: seat 4! Yay. I left my bag there in the office (and had to pay for that! ;( ) and then googled ‘cafe’ and went to the first nice-looking place I saw. After all, I had a few hours to wait.

It seemed to be the tourist place, and an older dutch lady, Doti, joined me at my table soon. She was visiting her son who lived there. And she said, like I had heard before, that I absolutely had to take some pill to not get sick on the bus to Oaxaca, because of those crazy turns. I had an ice coffee 😉 and was then told that their toilet didn’t work!

I walked around the town some more, bought some food – deciding maybe not to go for fried fish but something lighter, for that crazy bus ride. I randomly saw the german guy with his scooter, then sat on some (cold-ish!) stairs in the market, waiting for the time to take the bus.

I arrived in Oaxaca in the evening, it was already dark, and the city seemed dead. I found the hostel (not bar,.. haha, that was complicated) entrance door, and then went out again to find something to eat.

There’s a metro and metrobus going from the airport to the city center. The internet is convinced that no traveller with any luggage – or just all their belongings – should ever take the metro. The metrobus is said to be safer, but also 6times so expensive 🙂 I had kind of decided on the metrobus.. when I got a ‘welcome’ brochure from my hostel explaining how to get there by metro. And thus it was decided. Internet also says, if you change or withdraw money at the airport, someone might watch and then rob you outside. I guess I’ll risk it – changing just a bit to make it to the city center.

I prepared and packed a fake wallet and discovered that my old phone doesn’t start up anymore. So, no fake phone.

Changing planes in NYC worked with quite some time to spare. Then, upon arrival in CDMX, I used the automatic immigration gates: I was hoping I’d make it to the hostel before their check-in closes (and I’d have to call them to open the door for me). Too bad I didn’t get a stamp in my passport that way.. but it was very fast!

The metro station is outside the airport, but just a few metres, and easy to find. I bought a metro card, and took the first train towards the city. I had to change in La Raza – and managed to go in the wrong direction! Note: be careful if there are stairs and an underpass where an arrow shows. Don’t just walk around the corner without using stairs 🙂 The first carriage of the metro is for women only and usually less crowded than the rest.

I started my first whole day in Mexico with an archeological walking tour with a couchsurfing guy. It was great, and among lots of other interesting facts,.. he told me he drinks the tap water in the city. It’s good, the only problem could be the pipes inside the house, if it’s old. Great to know 😀

All over the city center, there are markets and people selling stuff in the street just about everywhere. So I looked what they’re selling 🙂 Surprisingly few people, even in a very touristy traditional handicrafts market speak english!

On December 25th I had decided to go to Teotihuacan – I was afraid everything in the city would be closed because people are celebrating christmas, so touristy stuff seemed to be a perfect choice. It was easy to go by public bus and when I arrived around 10:30am – later than I had planned! – it was still very empty there and even all the sellers weren’t there yet or just started to arrive!

Unfortunately it’s now really not allowed anymore to walk up any of the pyramids..

Back in CDMX, after some fruit, I took the cablecar across the city, seeing it from above.

My flight was on time and I had a lot of time in the train station, waiting for my 3am or so train.. The minibus station has moved and is now no more in the street, but right in front of the train station in Manglia 😉 My tent was waiting for me, the public toilet is now more expensive 😉 but camping on the beach seems to be still, or again, ok, and I found a nice spot.

After the beach, I took the train back to Bucharest and had a night and morning there.

I finally got to use my warm sleeping bag – at night it was around 5 degrees, but during the day it was beautiful! They offered Yoga classes, and I joined a cocoa ceremony. I got a cocoa bean to eat! However, there wasn’t enough cocoa to drink for everyone.. so I left 😉

The first day was nice and sunny and we went swimming in some lake nearby.

Then it got colder, more cloudy and even rained a bit. We still walked up to the bastille, and then had pizza in what was Italy some time ago 🙂

We went to the market, ate some donkey 😉 Then there was a knitting meeting, and then we painted rainbows,…

I learnt that everyone knows Annecy 😉

And I finally got to see the water jet in Geneva! And the UN.

First: if it’s a long weekend, don’t take the bus to go south. Take the train. The bus can – and will – end up in a traffic jam 🙂 Instead of having some time in Milan to go shopping, I juuuust made it to the airport by getting off the bus earlier than planned.

Second: A 24-hour reception doesn’t mean checking in is possible anytime. I found a hostel with 24 hour reception in Thessaloniki.. however, after booking, reading the questions it became clear that they don’t allow people to check in to dorms after midnight ‘because that would disturb the other guests’. They did offer me to book a private room – which would cost more than my whole 3 nights there. No, thanks. I booked a different hostel for just the first night 😉 And next time, I’ll just walk in and hangout in the common room. Nobody cares.

Thessaloniki itself was nice, the coffee was still great, and the pier looked exactly the same and was just much more crowded during the day than at 6 am. Memories.

We talked about going to Istanbul, looked at flights, discussed timing, and then Marion decided it might be too cold there. So I checked Ryanair and booked a flight to Aqaba! I won’t even have to pay the visa, great! The plan of hiking in Wadi Rum didn’t happen because the couchsurfing guy started sending me too many hugs 😉 I booked one of the cheapest hostels and was ready to go.

There is no bus from the Airport to the city, only taxis. There is a very official sign outside the airport stating that a taxi to the city is 8.50 JOD. ALL taxis ask for 10. I decided to try and share a taxi with a random person.. and we were told sharing a taxi is not allowed 😀 We then ended up paying 15 together. Another fun fact: bus prices to Wadi Rum seem to be fixed, but not for tourists.

I spend my few days not doing much, hanging out at the beach, walking around the city and the market, eating and drinking and smoking shisha. The second time at Al Mohandes, I had learnt that only tourists get plastic plates 😀 I ordered without looking at the menu, and refused the plastic plate 🙂

Taxis from the city to the airport seem to be as much as a scam as those from the airport to the city. Everybody says it’s 10 JOD. There were some funny people in the hostel, one said he walked to Israel, which is a turn off the road to the airport. And so I decided I don’t have much luggage, but a late enough flight, so I can walk to the airport. On the way, I found a mall with a falafel shop, and on the last km on the airport road, a car stopped and offered to take me 😉 He was a pilot before and now managing the airport, or so. We went to some office area at the back of the airport, some other man got in the car, to drive it back to the parking later, and then we went to the entrance. He had to check in his bag, but then managed to skip the security check queue – AND pass it WITH a cup of coffee! haha!

Back in Phnom Penh, I had more noodles, walked through the central market again, and in the evening met Babul, for drinks next to the river, but this time a bit outside the city.

And the next day, to actually do something, I decided to go to the killing fields. But not on a tour. It seems there once was a direct bus to go there, however the bus line doesn’t exist anymore. So I took the bus to as close as I could get, and then a tuktuk.

To go back, I did the same. I booked a tuktuk. And for the very first time in my two weeks of even actively trying to tell them.. this tuktuk driver told me to show him the destination and price and then to cancel the trip in the app! He took me there, I paid him, Yay!

I went back to the hostel, and then took the bus to the airport. On the bus – and also going to the airport – was a mexican guy who told me how much money he lost because it was stolen from his hotel safe 😀 After checking in, I left the airport again, it’s very central with normal restaurants just outside across the road. The mexican guy wanted to join me… I ordered a sandwich.. he, too. However, he didn’t dare to touch it with his hands because he found them too dirty, so he asked for a plastic bag to use as a glove! Luckily he then had to leave to catch his plane,… :))

The plane was on time and changing in Hong Kong worked perfectly. Too bad – I kind of hoped I could stay there for a few hours or a day now that the Covid rules were gone.. Then I arrived in Zurich in the morning, and went to the office 🙂

My bus arrived earlier than it should.. I didn’t want to walk with my big backpack, so I went by tuktuk. And then I sat in front of the hostel door – it’s closed overnight. Eventually, some people leaving let me in, and I waited next to the pool for reception to open. Just down the road, I found the muslim quarter! And then went for noodle soup.

The hostel has a blackboard where people can enter what tour they want to take, and others can join to make it cheaper. A Pauline wanted a Angkor Wat tour for the next day, great! I was told she insisted on it being french,.. oh well.. I guess french it is, then. The next morning, 2 more people had signed up for the tour. The tuktuk arrived on time – at 4:30 or so, but the guide was nowhere to be seen. He had to be called by the tuktuk driver,.. Then we went to pick up Pauline who stayed somewhere else. But the guide didn’t know where. It took two tries, but then we found her. When we arrived at the ticket counter, we were late, and the guide wasn’t able to answer – or even understand – any questions about tickets/the tour. Until the end of ‘last year’ the site had an offer that whoever bought a one-day-ticket got access for two days. Internet still said that, however it was not the case anymore. A guy had tried and didn’t get in the second day. Damn. I should have come here first, and gone to Koh Rong Sanloem afterwards! 😉

We still made it for sunrise, and then got to visit all the planned temples and maybe even one more. But our guide was really hard to understand – even the french people said they really had to pay attention! And he didn’t understand me either 🙂 The others wanted to stop for some breakfast/lunch, and we went to one of the tourist restaurants just next to the temples. There was one restaurant next to the other, all looking exactly the same. Prices reflected the location. I didn’t eat – I had been to the bakery the day before and had brought some food 😉

Our tour ended in the afternoon, and around 5pm, I met Pauline again, to go back to Angkor Wat for those sunset photos (better light!) from the spot we found in the morning. Getting a tuktuk to go there via passapp was as easy as always. I guess we could have done the whole tour that way!

The next day we did a Floating Village Tour, however booked from the Onederz hostel and not ours – it was quite a bit cheaper and exactly the same thing 🙂 The tour was.. very relaxed – just sitting in different places all the time.. and also extremely touristy. Another girl in the group did the little 15-minute canoe tour through the mangrove forest with a local lady.. and later confirmed that they indeed stopped somewhere and she was told to buy drinks/snacks for the lady for extreme prices 😀 She didn’t even try to refuse. But I guess Internet was right about it being a scam.

I had dinner with Pauline at a tiny Indian restaurant, and at Tevy’s place, and managed to get a nice photo of myself eating a cricket – or whatever it was. Then there was a lot more iced coffee, noodles – both in soup and fried, and fruit shakes. And a few temples, to do something and not just hang out next to the pool.

To go back to Phnom Penh, I booked a ticket on a big bus to have my legroom 😉 The bus company had some bad reviews for stopping at a shitty restaurant in nowhere, forcing people to eat there. So I went to the little Indian restaurant and asked them what I could keep till the next day without a fridge. I ended up with some garlic naan and spent the lunch break on the stairs in front of the restaurant!

Between the ferry from Koh Rong Sanloem and the night bus to Siem Reap, I had a few hours in Sihanoukville.

I took a tuktuk from the port to the city. There were quite a few waiting there, asking me if I want to go somewhere, however for the tourist price 🙂 Showing them the passapp price and destination on the map lead to them discussing where that location might be, but they didn’t seem to understand it. And then they’d just repeat their price 🙂 So I stopped a few metres from them, and pressed the ‘book’ button on my app to magically have a tuktuk appear and take me for much cheaper.

Internet said it was possible to leave one’s luggage at the Onederz hostel there, for the day, and that actually worked. I could even have jumped in the pool! 🙂

The beach was much nicer than I had expected!

And much of the city (center) just consisted of wide streets and more or less finished (chinese) high-rise buildings.

I spent my few days on the island mostly doing nothing, just lying at the beach, with a mango milk shake from the stall next to the hostel, reading and swimming.

And there was a beach party for New Year’s!

Hong Kong still has rather strict Covid rules, so I spent my 12 hours there walking around the – very empty – airport and then sleeping. With air mattress and sleeping bag, that was quite comfortable.

Phnom Penh airport is tiny and much of it is outdoors. First, I bought a simcard and then looked for the bus station in front of the airport. There seems to be no timetable when a bus should stop there, but the app shows the live location of buses all over the city, so it’s possible to estimate how long it might take until one shows up. All the TukTuk drivers around me obviously didn’t understand why I was standing next to that rectangle drawn on the street with ‘bus stop’ written in it 🙂 After maybe half an hour, a bus did show up, it was almost empty, had AC, and followed the route it was meant to take. Easy!

My hostel is next to Wat Phnom Daun Penh – and around there are benches in the shade. I entered the whole site from the back, therefore not passing by the ticket office until I was leaving.. ups 😉

I went to the central market, to the food stalls around the russian market, managed to buy the ‘Golden Voice’ graphic novel, visited Tuol Sleng museum, found the insect lady, had some (almost) free beers at/near riverside.

Then I took the train towards Sihanoukville. In the beginning there were mostly tourists – later that changed a bit. I ended up talking to the Cambodian girl sitting next to me, and now have a new facebook friend 😉

The train arrived in Sihanoukville 15 minutes early, so I had over 2 hours time to walk the maybe 2km to the ferry.