Travel Light in Cambodia & Thailand: Travel Light, #1

By Ylva Johansson

Dare to travel light and flexible! You will find secret paradises you could otherwise never reach. Here you find practical tips on how to pack in such a flexible and useful way that you never need to turn down an adventure or a dinner at a nice restaurant. But at the same time light enough to carry on long walks if necessary. 

Me and my 15-year old daughter started in Bangkok and spent two intense days exploring China Town, river cruising, visiting temples and Khao San Road. We took the train to the challenging border crossing in Aranyaprathet and entered Cambodia. The impressive Angkor Wat was by itself worth the whole journey!
 
Our active days contained zip-lining in the jungle and biking in the amazing Angkor Wat. We walked in the puffy white sand and watched sea life in the crystal-clear water at the beautiful island Koh Ta Kiev. And we had calm days on the fantastic island Koh Rong Samloem. All thanks to new friends and helpful locals.

We had several intensive evenings in hectic cities. In Siem Reap, we did not dare to test Skuon, the grilled and salted big hairy spiders. In Phnom Penh we celebrated New Year near the lit temple by the river with thousands of locals but also ended up in neighborhoods, we had to hurry away from.

We spent the last days of our trip in Thailand where we visited friends, learned to go three on a motorbike, and tried many delicious, local dishes. 

The best experiences are found outside your comfort zone when you venture out into the spaces

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ylva Johansson
• Release date: Dec 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386957522

Ylva Johansson

Ylva Johansson is working and living by “Less is more” so the name of her company is – not surprisingly – Why be Jammed.  You can't avoid challenges, but you can use the smart 4-step model to handle them; understand, analyze, decide and implement. You can read more in “Leadership and wisdom - how to motivate yourself and others.” The basis of the model is her experience from being an international Manager and Management Consultant and studies in leadership, business processes, coaching, personal development, presentation, communication, etc.     To travel to exotic places outside the highway is one of Ylva’s favorite hobbies. Her new series “Travel Light” will give you the tools you need to travel to the less familiar places with a packing small enough to carry and flexible enough to never having to turn down an adventure or a nice restaurant. Outside your comfort zone is where the magic happens.   Ylva lives with her family in Stockholm, Sweden. You can get in touch with her at [e-mail]

Book preview

Introduction

I did not travel far when I was a child. I spent most of my summer holidays in Pajala, a small Swedish town north of the Arctic Circle, where we if we were lucky, could swim in the 16-degree centigrade river. But it happened that we went abroad. But not further than to northern Norway where dad went fishing while we played in the tent, threw stones in the river or longed for the weekly trip to the village to buy candy. The best thing I knew was when I had a week or two with my grandparents. We could climb the mountain to pick blueberries and wild strawberries. I could even go to the small store with my grandfather or have soda in the afternoon.

With this background, I was excited to go on my first trip outside the Nordic countries, Tenerife when I was 19. I traveled more and more but mainly in Europe. Greece, Portugal, Spain, and the UK, before I went on my first great adventure - Cuba 1989! There I got hooked and slowly began to challenge my comfort zone. I started to combine my business traveling with a weekend on my own in cities around Europe or a trip with a rental car around central Europe for a few days. Privately I went to different places in Europe, Africa, Asia and Central America by regular flights or by charter.

Although the list of countries I had visited was long, my travels were quite organized even though China on my own and traveling with sick children was challenging and made me more courageous. My youngest daughter Lynn got her first asthma attack in Singapore at seven months of age. I have realized that I can manage much more than I thought was possible.

For the past ten years, I have usually traveled the way this book describes - with light, well-planned packing, without a detailed plan, to countries with a pleasant climate where there is a lot to see and experience. Why? What I've discovered when I've traveled more and more outside the tourist areas is that I've had my best experiences and met the warmest and most interesting people there. If you want to experience more and the less common, in smaller groups, you must deviate from the highway. It takes some time, is a bit less convenient, but will be worth the effort.

This book describes mine and my 15-year-old daughter Lynn's trip to Thailand and Cambodia December 25, 2016 - January 11, 2017.

The book's layout and background

Why should you travel a little lighter, more flexible, a little different and with an open mind? Everything is easier when you have less to carry! You become more flexible and can say yes to exciting suggestions and recommendations. During this trip, we could readily accept a proposal that led us to a magical island, without electricity or running water, but with all the paradise we could ask for. My philosophy in life and work is that fewer things lead to more focus and most things simply become better. Why be jammed is not surprisingly, the name of my company. Many studies show that our brain is unable to keep track of more than a few things at the time but develops by learning new things and managing new environments. You have everything to win - just your comfort zone to challenge!

This book is the first about my journeys on my own or with my daughters. I will occasionally refer to events and experiences during other trips. You will, for example, read about our fight with monkeys in Costa Rica. I take the opportunity to tell some of my favorite stories while I raise your interest in other destinations that I like and make you aware that some destinations are more challenging than others.

You can choose to read the book in the order that suits you. The layout is that I start with what we begin with - the planning. Both in that section and in the travel story there are tips about useful things to pack, but there are also separate, more comprehensive, chapters about accommodation, packing, safety and the local food in the latter part of the book. In the final chapter, you will find some tips and tools to make you even better at staying friends during the trip to make the journey as enjoyable as possible.

When I'm not traveling, I work with, and write about leadership, change, personal development and am a certified coach so I can’t help handing out some of my tips. I want your next journey to be so incredibly good as you almost did not think was possible and you can’t help laughing while thinking about the trip when you are walking the dog a cold day in November. If you are mainly interested in reading the actual travel story, just dive into it.

Our way of traveling is with a bag that we can carry long stretches, that can be placed under the seat or on the shelf on buses and trains. We can bring it to the toilet if there is no alternative. The book is supposed to be read primarily as an e-book since books are heavy. If you have chosen to read the printed book, the images are black and white to make the book cheaper.

You can find all pictures at www.ybj.se or

https://www.instagram.com/motheranddaughtertravelling/.

If you want to get in touch, contact me on social media, or email me - [e-mail].

The first stop on the trip was Bangkok where we spent two intense days on foot and with exciting, but not so simple, trips by riverboats. A nice soft start where we saw a lot and had time for a swim in the pool. We took the early morning train to Aranyaprathet, the challenging border crossing to Cambodia, famous for visa scams. There we were rewarded for having an e-visa. We could walk past queues and even have time to eat before we took the bus to Siem Reap and my primary destination for the trip, Angkor Wat! After intensive days with climbing, zip lining and cycling we took the boat to Phnom Penh to celebrate New Year. It's easy to end up in the wrong neighborhood, and it was not our favorite place on the trip. We decided to leave for Sihanoukville and the sea. New friends and helpful locals led us by boat to paradise islands where time stopped! We did not want to go home, but we took a bus to our friends in Ban Phe, Thailand, where we had the best food on our journey and lived luxury life as a finale of the trip.

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Initial tips

I love traveling and have since I realized the thrill of traveling, spent all my free time and all my money on traveling. If you don’t have an endless amount of time and money, you must prioritize. To get the most out of my hobby, I have developed creative ideas around traveling that I want to share with you. The optimal value of time and money is my motto and to see and experience as many of the places on my bucket list as possible. To prioritize travel, I refrain from spending time and money on cars, furniture, and gadgets.

In this chapter, you will find some summed up tips and advice that will simplify your travels and make them more fun. You will read more about the different areas later in the book.

We love walking and believe it is the best way to experience places. It gives time to look in all directions, listen to the sounds and time to stop and take those snapshots that often are the best and our brain will have time to interpret the impressions. We will have time to feel the warmth and the wind on our skin and the smells that will strengthen our memories forever. Our most important senses are sight, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell. What we experience with more senses attach better. To find your way away, find your way home and discover the best routes when you are not connected or have uploaded the map in Google Maps, a small compass and a good map are invaluable. You almost always find the best maps at the airports. Take a moment to browse among the free maps no matter how tired you are when you arrive. We missed them in Bangkok, and it was one of the major mistakes.

Always keep information about where you stay. Don’t trust yourself to remember or to find your way back. We went to an unknown beach in full daylight, took a swim and a long walk. We had many benchmarks but how different it looked in darkness! Note the name of the place you stay in and take a photo from the outside. You will need it to ask for direction, to tell the taxi or tuk-tuk driver where to go as well as for arranging pick-up when you book excursions. We still forget it too often when we are tired or hungry and quickly want to check in, go for dinner or a swim. After a while when we have gained new energy we go for a walk, find someone who sells an excursion we would like to go on or see a good restaurant. Suddenly it turns dark, and it’s hard to find our way back.

Even if you have entered credit card information when booking the accommodation, you may not be able to pay by card, so it’s best to have cash. In many countries, card payments sometimes work, but often not. Smaller islands rarely have ATMs, and their Wi-Fi works poorly and unevenly. If you google a place before the trip - trust that it will state if there is an ATM. If there is no information, there is no ATM. Check the approximate price level and think about whether you want to go on excursions or have a massage. Have a decent margin when calculating how much cash you need. It's sad to spend time and money on going to the mainland just to get cash or shorten your stay on a paradise island. We met several people during this trip that had to leave paradise early and have seen it happen to people both in Thailand and Malaysia.

There are separate chapters on planning and accommodation, but the compressed tip is to book the first 1-2 nights and the last one, plan some main stops and let others give you recommendations during the journey. Ask around and let yourself end up in unexpected places. Our experience is that we often end up in interesting places and if not it becomes a fun memory. On this trip, hints led us straight into paradise, and we have memories for life.

The price level for accommodation in Cambodia is approximately $ 5-200 per room or bungalow and night. During this journey, we have stayed for $ 10-45 and got quite an okay standard even at the cheapest places. In Siem Reap, it included a high standard in all areas, swimming pool, and air condition. At Koh Ta Kiev, there was no running water, but the wider gaps between the floorboards. There was no higher standard available on the island. In other places, we could have had a higher standard if we had added $ 10 per night. If you have a strict budget, you can choose whether you want to save money on accommodation or food and drinks. Perhaps you have no budget limit, but for many, it's the cost per trip that determines how often you can afford to travel. I choose to travel often!

There are advantages to stay in simpler accommodation closer to the locals, so you might choose to sacrifice some of the comfort. In a five-star hotel, there is no local culture or local people. When we were on Langkawi at Chinese New Year, everything but a five-star hotel was fully booked. We enjoyed the balcony by the ocean, slept well in the fantastic bed but chose to eat at friendly local restaurants and chose to swim at other beaches. The atmosphere at our pool and on the private beach was neither friendly nor personal. Most of the guests were busy having as many drinks as possible or enjoying as many expensive activities as possible. If you want to come even closer to everyday life or save money, you can rent private rooms via Airbnb or by asking around. Our experiences of renting private rooms both in Sri Lanka, in Vietnam and Europe are positive, except for the quality of beds in Asia. The locals are usually friendly and welcoming, but it differs between countries and often between different parts of a country. The Cambodians seemed at first not as pleasant as Thai, Vietnamese or Malay but they were extremely reliable. Cambodia is a less developed country but easy to travel around in. The service level varies. Be prepared for it, so you don’t get too annoyed by poor service.

If you have a tight budget, night train and night buses are good alternatives. Traveling during the night can be a bit uncomfortable, but it saves time and is often more comfortable than