About the trip
I’ve recently went on a two week trip to Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai) and Cambodia (Siem Reap). In this post I write about my experiences and thoughts during the trip, as well as my learnings from it.
For those looking for just a summary, skip to the quick-fire reviews section.
Packing list
I packed everything into a Tom Bihn Synapse 19, which also happens to be my everyday carry bag. It’s fairly small at 19 liters, but I managed to fit my packing list quite comfortably into it with room to spare.
Here’s what I packed for the trip:
- Worn:
- 1x T-shirt (Outlier Ramielust)
- 1x pants (Outlier ILP)
- Shoes (Greats Royale)
- Clothing:
- 3x T-shirts (Outlier UFT, Outlier Dreamweight, Uniqlo Airism)
- 2x shorts (Prana Brion)
- 3x underwear (Uniqlo Airism)
- Sandals (Bedrock Cairn)
- Tech:
- E-reader (Kobo Aura One)
- Earphones
- Powerbank
- Travel adapter
- USB cables
- Backup phone
- Toiletries:
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste (90% empty tube)
- Shaver (only the blades; no handle)
- Nail clippers
- Medical:
- 2x covid test kits
- Plasters
- Climbing tape
- Charcoal tablets
- Paracetamol tablets
- Misc:
- Small towel (linen)
- File with admin documents (vaccination certificate, flight itinerary, travel insurance information)
- Backup debit card
- Backup spectacles
- Padlock
- Insect repellent
- Sunscreen
- 10x masks
- 1x ultralight dry bag
I subscribe to the one bag philosophy when travelling. Every item I bring along has to justify its weight and volume. The more bulky an item, the more useful it has to be.
It helps that all my clothing is made from technical fabric, usually by Outlier. They’re high performance and lend themselves to multiple wears before needing a wash. I do laundry every one to two nights in the shower, and they dry quick enough to be ready a few hours later.
In the gear section, I have more in-depth reviews of each piece of clothing I brought along.
Bangkok
I landed in Bangkok in the evening. It typically takes me a couple days to warm up to travel, so this first night was mostly relegated to settling down. I stayed near the Chinatown area of Bangkok, so naturally I started the evening with a visit the nearby night market.
I’ve never been a fan of night markets. I find them too crowded and too noisy. This one is no different, so I just grabbed a few snacks and a drink from the street food stalls, then headed back to my room. There were quite a number of sit-down restaurants dotted around the market, but I found these infeasible to eat at as a solo traveller. Those places require at least two people; one to reserve seating and one to order. One of the challenges of travelling alone, I suppose.
I only spent a couple days in Bangkok, which were mostly taken up by visits to museums and some art galleries. These visits weren’t planned in advance, only chosen because of proximity to one another. In particular I quite enjoyed the Patpong museum. Very interesting tour of the history of Bangkok’s nightlife, and its origins during the second world war.
By the next day my knee was starting to hurt a little from the walking. It’s a recurring issue and always recovers within a day as long as I don’t do anything too strenuous, so I wasn’t worried. I was heading to Siem Reap the next day with lots of cycling planned, so I opted to take a day off and mostly hang out in cafes in order to rest and recover.
I intentionally scheduled only a couple days in Bangkok because I anticipate that I’ll likely be back soon. I have a climbing trip to Krabi in the planning stage, and Bangkok will likely be slotted into that trip. I’ll have more time to explore Bangkok then.
Siem Reap
I stayed at the excellent Babel Guesthouse. Very friendly and helpful staff. Pretty much everything to do in the city can be organized from the front desk.
I rented a bike from Babel for $6 per day. It’s a little more expensive than renting from one of the surrounding shops, but the difference in terms of absolute cost was low enough that I was fine paying for the convenience. The bike’s condition wasn’t great though, so in hindsight it would have been better to shop around.
I loved riding around the Angkor temples. It’s not the most comfortable way to visit the temples, but I found it very very enjoyable. During the pandemic, Siem Reap undertook an ambitious road reconstruction project, which completed in early 2022. I can’t speak for the road conditions before the project, but when I visited the roads were in good shape. Riding around the city was pleasant, with dedicated bike lanes along the major roads. There’s still a lot of riding along the road, but I found the drivers to be courteous. They’re used navigating around cyclists, so just ride predictably on the road and you’ll be fine. I felt far safer riding on the roads in Siem Reap than I would in Singapore.
Riding a bike gives a lot of freedom when exploring the temples. You don’t need to worry about keeping a driver waiting, or having to follow at the pace of a guide. I rode about 40km in total, which isn’t a lot, but riding around does eat into the time you have to explore. It’s not for everyone, especially if you prefer to have a guide explain things, but I’d still highly recommend exploring the temples by bike. The smaller circuit will only require about 30km of cycling, which requires only minimal fitness.
I spent two days visiting the temples. The first day I rode around on a bike, and the second day I hired a driver to take me to the temples I missed the previous day. Being transported around on a tuk-tuk is its own kind of fun, with open-air nature of the vehicle.
The temples themselves were fantastic. I didn’t take many pictures, because I didn’t feel like I could adequately capture the sense of wonder I felt wandering around the ruins.
There weren’t many tourists while I was there. At Angkor Wat there were certainly a fair number of them, though much fewer compared to pre-covid. At the further temples there were almost no one else around. Many times I found myself to be the only one at a temple. It’s a rather magical feeling to ride up to a temple and have it all to myself.
Pictures don’t do it justice, so all I can say is that I wholeheartedly recommend visiting the Angkor temples if you haven’t already.
On one of my non-temple days I took a tour of the APOPO humanitarian demining efforts. The tour discussed how leftover landmines in Cambodia have been affecting the population since the regime of the Khmer Rouge. The highlight of the tour was a demonstration of rats trained to detect explosives. You even get to hold one of the rats! They’re a lot bigger than the average rat scurrying around Singapore. The tour costs $8 and takes about 45 minutes. Well worth the time, I highly recommend it.
Another highlight was the Phare Circus. Phare is a social enterprise that aims to provide meaningful employment to Cambodian artists. The circus is one branch of the Phare organization.
What I liked about the circus performance is that it told a story, with the stunts used to enhance the story. It wasn’t just a series of disjointed acrobatic stunts. As for the stunts, it’s no Cirque du Soleil, but certainly still very impressive. I somehow lucked into the literal best seat in the house; right smack in the middle of the frontmost row. Fantastic show. In my opinion, the Phare circus is a must-see when visiting Siem Reap.
I enjoyed walking around Siem Reap. There’s definitely quite a bit of traffic, but not too much that it becomes difficult to cross the street. There’s plenty of restaurants and cafes dotted around, at least within the city center. If I had more days in the city, I’d like to rent a bike and explore the surrounding area. There’s a lake south of Siem Reap that looks to be worth exploring.
I expect I’ll be back to Siem Reap in the future, especially since there are direct flights from Singapore. Would make a nice weekend trip.
Chiang Mai
It took me a couple days before I started to get the hang of Chiang Mai. The first day I wasn’t really feeling it. One of the reasons was the sheer number of obvious tourists walking around; lots of Americans and Europeans. It hardly felt like being in Thailand.
After a couple days I started to get used to the vibe of the city. It’s certainly a very comfortable place to be. I can see why so many expats decide to base themselves in Chiang Mai. I like how walkable the city is, and not just within the old city area, but the surrounding areas as well. Lots of little side streets to get lost in. More than that, I always felt safe wandering the streets, even at night.
Originally I booked a few days at Stamps Backpackers Hostel, but it quickly became apparent that I wasn’t much into the hostel scene. I like having a private place to get back to at the end of the day. It certainly didn’t help that one bed down from me there was someone feeling unwell and coughing. I ended up not spending a night there. Instead I checked out and booked a night at cheap guesthouse instead.
The guesthouse I stayed at for the first night was nothing special. The host was running a dispensary out of her home, which was a little unexpected. The room didn’t seem particularly clean, so the next morning I checked out to look for another place.
I booked the next night at Sleep Guesthouse. Had a nice chat with the host, and even before I was shown to my room I was already pretty certain that this is where I would spend the remainder of my time in Chiang Mai. And that’s exactly what I did; I quickly booked the next few nights before anyone else could do so. The guesthouse served an excellent free breakfast. It’s located in a quiet street, but near the city center. It’s right opposite a quaint little juice bar. The hosts John and Jae were super friendly. Loved it here.
I took a couple days detour into Chiang Rai, but I didn’t do much there beyond a museum and a temple. I originally planned on visiting the iconic Wat Rong Khun. However on the day itself I found myself completely without motivation to do so. I suspect a large reason is because the Angkor temples have overshadowed basically every other temple I could possibly see. The extra day I had in Chiang Rai was quite wasted, because I found the city quite boring compared to Chiang Mai. I basically lazed around in cafes all day reading a book before heading back to Chiang Mai.
Initially I had planned on hiking some of the trails around Chiang Mai, but I never felt like doing so. Each morning I woke up early and went, “nah, not today”, before proceeding to go back to sleep. I’ll almost certainly return to Chiang Mai in the future, and hopefully I’ll find the motivation then to do some hikes.
Unexpectedly, what I found myself super interested in was hunting for street art around the city. If I had to guess, I think part of the reason was how walkable the city was, and how much I enjoyed just wandering around getting lost. The act of looking for street art provided a sort of secondary objective beyond just aimlessly wandering around.
Overall my time in Chiang Mai was a rather chill and relaxing one. Unlike Bangkok and Siem Reap, I wasn’t jumping between different actitivies. Instead it felt more like slow winding down after an eventful two weeks.
Earlier I mentioned that I didn’t really vibe with Chiang Mai for the first couple days. However by the end of the trip I felt somewhat sad to be leaving so soon. No matter though, I’m sure I’ll be back.
Learnings and observations
Solo travelling fits me well. I like that I’m free to do what I want, when I want. Or even not to do anything at all. Often I found myself skipping planned activities simply because I wasn’t feeling it. Other times I found myself being content to just wander around getting lost. In hindsight, I realize that not once during the trip did I find myself wishing I had someone else to share the experience with.
Solo travelling makes food tourism difficult. There were many instances where I wanted to try different foods, but wasn’t able to do so simply because there’s a limit to my apetite.
Having only a small cabin bag is so convenient and stress-free. I don’t need to worry about getting space in the overhead bin when I can just chuck my bag under the seat. Having only a small bag also enables a lot more mobility. In Chiang Mai I changed accommodations a few times before settling on Sleep Guesthouse. Prior to settling I was just booking rooms for one night. I imagine this would be less feasible if I were lugging around a suitcase.
Hostels are not my scene. Initially I thought I might be fine with hostels. I’ve learnt that I much prefer having a private room to get back to at the end of the day.
I like to take it slow. I find hopping from activity to activity to be very draining. I like to schedule just one or two things per day, then use the downtime to relax and recharge.
I might need to rethink my pre-trip research strategy. I found that the majority of things I decide on doing I only discover while I’m already in the country. For instance I landed in Chiang Mai with barely anything planned. The first day I thought I had booked too many days in the city. However throughout the stay I kept discovering things to do, and by the end I left the country with still things remaining that I wanted to do. I should try to be more thorough with my pre-trip research.
I like my hotels to have bars. This wasn’t something I thought would matter, but it turns out that I really enjoy having hotel bars. I like to relax at the end of a day with a drink and a book. I find regular bars too noisy and distracting for this, so I turn to the in-house bar instead. I stayed in a couple places without a bar, and each time I definitely wished it had one.
Don’t bring shoes. I only wore these at the airport. Initially I felt like wearing to the sandals might be out of place, but in reality many people were doing so. In the future I’d just wear sandals to save some space in my bag.
Two shirts is enough. I brought three main shirts (Outlier Ramielust, UFT, and Dreamweight). 90% of the time I wore only the Ramielust, because I could easily launder and dry it overnight. I mainly wore the UFT for airplane and long bus rides where the air conditioning might get cold. In the future I’d cut the UFT from my packing list, bringing only the Ramielust and Dreamweight.
Replace one or both shorts with more technical and compact ones. The Prana Brion shorts I have don’t pack down very compact.
2 or 3 pairs of underwear is enough. The Uniqlo Airism boxer briefs dry super quick. I could dry it in 15 minutes if I really needed to. They don’t take up much space anyway, but even so, I could easily make do with just 2 pairs with laundry each night.
Reconsider the travel towel. I only used it once. I would probably still bring it for future trips, this would be one of the first things I’d cut if I find myself short on space.
Bring laundry detergent sheets. I didn’t manage to purchase this before I left, but I would try to do so for future trips. These seem like a super compact way to store laundry detergent. I imagine I’d only need to bring a couple sheets for a two week trip.
Quick-fire reviews
Food
Bangkok:
- 8/10 – Bamee Japkang street stall. Lots of locals eating here. I especially liked the broth.
- 8/10 – CHATA cafe. Has a little garden area. Pleasant cafe to chill at.
- 6/10 – Yeowarat (Chinatown) night market.
Siem Reap:
- 10/10 – Babel Guesthouse, house restaurant. The food here was really good. The fries here are the best I’ve ever had; thick cut, skin on, perfect texture, well seasoned. The hummus and curries are also excellent.
- 9/10 – Unnamed restaurant along Oum Khun street, Siem Reap. Little family run restaurant. The host recommended the deep fried beef to me, which I thought sounded a little strange, but it tasted amazing.
- 7/10 – Miss Wong Cocktail Bar. Dim sum was decent, but a little expensive by Cambodian standards. The gin & tonic was quite weak.
- 7/10 – Common Grounds cafe.
Chiang Mai:
- 10/10 – Sleep Guesthouse, house breakfast. The banana chocolate pancakes were excellent.
- 10/10 – By Hand pizza restaurant. Pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven. I love pizza, and I think this is one of the best I’ve had. Very affordable, between 170-300 baht (SGD$7-12).
- 10/10 – Barrab restaurant. Had the khao soi and a sort of salad dish served with pork. Both were super tasty. Enough so that I ate here multiple times.
- 10/10 – Hong Tauw Inn restaurant. The khao soi here was my favorite among all the restaurants I ate it at.
- 9/10 – Blue Noodle restaurant. Loved the beef noodles here. Ate here multiple times.
- 9/10 – Akha Ama cafe. Pretty good coffee. They sell beans as well, sourced from farmers around northern Thailand.
- 9/10 – Ristr8to Original cafe.
- 8/10 – Carrotcoffeecnx cafe. I didn’t have a coffee here, but instead a orange cold brew. The taste reminded me of a fruitcake. Actually really good. Wished I tried their carrot cake while I was there.
- 7/10 – So Tea bubble tea shop.
- 7/10 – Unnamed street stall along Khang Ruan Jum road. Fried chicken was pretty good, but it wasn’t hot. It’ll probably be much better when freshly cooked. The krapao gai was only OK, but it was only 30 baht (SGD$1), so can’t complain.
- 5/10 – Saturday night market.
Places
Bangkok:
- 10/10 – Patpong museum. Tour of the history of Bangkok’s nightlife. Very interesting and highly recommended. NSFW content though.
- 8/10 – Bangkokian museum. Tour around the home of an upper-class family. There are volunteer guides here to explain things. Worth spending an hour here.
- 8/10 – Warehouse 30. Various art galleries and other exhibitions.
- 8/10 – ASAI Chinatown Hotel.
- 6/10 – Yeowarat (Chinatown) night market.
Siem Reap:
- 10/10 – Babel Guesthouse. Great food. Comfortable accommodation. Good location. Friendly hosts. Organized tours.
- 10/10 – Angkor temples.
- 10/10 – Phare Circus.
- 9/10 – APOPO Hero Rats.
- 8/10 – Made In Cambodia night market. Handmade goods sold here. There wasn’t a lot of traffic when I went here. There’s only a few stalls, but they all have interesting goods to sell. Not your usual night market; it’s not noisy and crowded here.
Chiang Mai:
- 10/10 – Sleep Guesthouse.
- 10/10 – Dream Space Gallery. Basically a warehouse filled with art from talented street artists. Not exactly “street art” because it’s not on a street, but close enough.
- 9/10 – Street art.
- 8/10? – Stamps Backpackers Hostel. It’s a good hostel if you’re into the hostel scene, which I’m not.
- 7/10 – YAK Guesthouse.
- 7/10 – Blue Temple in Chiang Rai.
- 6/10 – Baan Dam Museum in Chiang Rai.
- 5/10 – Saturday night market.
- 5/10 – Sunday night market.
- 5/10 – Alpine Outpost climbing gym. Small and a little dirty. Located a ways out of the city. Not worth going.
Gear
Tom Bihn Synapse 19. This is a fantastic bag. I use this for my everyday carry as well. I like that it looks unassuming; it doesn’t scream tourist. It has thoughtful organization. It doubles as a day bag when travelling; I just dump out my packing cubes at the accommodation. It is rugged and durable. It holds a good shape both when packed full and when empty. I love everything about this bag.
Outlier Ramielust Cut One T-shirt. This shirt is made from ramie, and is designed for hot humid weather. I had high expectations, but even so it managed to outperform them. I wore it pretty much all the time, including a day spent biking around the Angkor temples under the midday sun. Extremely breathable, so I never felt like overheating. The shirt wicked moisture away super quickly, so even though I was sweating buckets in the Cambodian sun, I was never soaked.
Outlier Ultrafine Merino Cut One T-shirt (UFT). At 195gsm, this is a fairly substantial shirt. I think it’s too warm for the weather. It doesn’t help that the shirt I have fits slim. I would cut this from my packing list for future trips to tropical countries.
Outlier Dreamweight Raw Cut T-shirt. I didn’t get the chance to wear this much. It was overshadowed so completely by the Ramielust. I wear this often in Singapore though, and it performs well in the heat. It packs down small, so it’s a good option for travel as well. The raw cut makes it a very casual looking shirt, so it has limited versatility.
Outlier Injected Linen Pants (ILP). I got this pair from a Outlier WTF pack, which is something like a blind bag. I didn’t expect to get an ILP out of it, but I’m so glad I did. This pair of pants has fast become my favorite pair of travel pants for tropical countries. Like the Ramielust, it outperformed all expectations. I wore these ILPs while cycling around Angkor as well, and they felt so cooling, as if I were simply wearing shorts. Love these.
Bedrock Cairn Adventure Sandals. I bought these just a few weeks prior to the trip. Their purpose was to be as versatile as possible, allowing for both casual walks around the city and hiking moderate trails. I never ended up wearing them for hiking mountains; the most these sandals saw were the light trails around Angkor. I walked a lot during the trip, up to 10km per day, and my feet never felt sore. Very happy with the comfort and versatility of these sandals.
Linen towel from Etsy. I quite like linen towels. I use a larger one as my daily towel at home, and sometimes bring along this travel-sized one to the gym sometimes. Linen is absorbent for its size and weight, and also dries quickly. While I only used the towel once during the trip, I would probably still pack it for future trips.