It started on a Saturday. Feb 14. I was set to be in Bangkok for my birthday. 4 days later, I was set for home. I was crying at the airport, my heart broken. I decided to miss my flight on purpose. I travelled on a whim.Jauntlet.comhttps://jauntlet.com/Met with Hiro today. He will fly later this evening but agreed to tour with me the main remarkable sites in the city. We managed to tour the Reunification palace. It was a bit fancy for me. I commented once that the reason the north hated the south might have been because the south was spending too much on fancy things. Well, we moved on from that pretty quickly. On the way to the war museum, a local man was being nice to us--let us carry the coconut stuff he's selling and let us take photos. He even started giving us coconuts to drink but my scam sensor was already picking up signals at that point. Still, I wanted to give him something in return. It was nice to be greeted by a stranger. I asked Hiro what did he think we should give the man. Then the man demanded a huge amount of money! At that point my anger hit critical level. I haven't had any of his coconut. I returned all of it. But the man became so rude! He was very persistent in taking money from us and yelled all over us. Hiro, charitable as usual, gave him some but I never budged. But me, no, I wasn't having any of it. Uh-uh! I guess all in all, I was okay with being scammed even if I know it. But hey, Vietnam, if you're going to extort money from us, at least be nice! Kbye. We ended the day by Hiro buying souvenirs from the Ben Tanh market. Hurriedly. We had to split up again after. Because Hiro has a plain to catch.https://jauntlet.com//58797https://jauntlet.com//58797Sat, 28 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000Phnom Penh is nice. The hostel that I got in to, was situated in a nice neighborhood in front of the park by the riverside. I liked the French girls I shared room with. They were very nice to talk to, but they had to leave already. I also met an americanized guy from Netherlands. We could've been good travel buds because he's traveling in the sNBame direction but he was a bit standoff-ish. Meanwhile, I visited the Killing Fields and the Tuol Seng prison. They were the remnants of a very sad part of Cambodia. Very sad that they I actually cried during the introduction. The Royal Palace was meh. Other than that, there's really nothing else to do in Phnom Penh. At night, I met a very cute and very nice English guy. He's living in Siem Reap and teaching without pay for Cambodian children. Later on, he told me how he came all the way from England without flying. He plans on doing so until he reaches New Zealand. I really, really like this guy. (And we kissed in public.) I dared him to do so. And we did. And it was awesome. First time for me to kiss in public and in a foreign country. In fact I really like this guy that I almost wanted to stay for one more day. But as a traveller, I can't postpone my gutfeels and Hiro is flying back to Japan tomorrow. So I needed to meet him soon. When I got back to the hostel, it was 11 I think. The security guard was all alone again. So I joined him for smoke. Later on we were switching turns in using this clever, electronic tennis racket-shaped mosquito killer to fry off bugs. Then at some point he played Cambodian music. And I played western music. And we went on to the street. And bought beer to drink and then few hours later, we partying on the street in front. And later on, a German guy joined us coming from his own shenanigan. It was so fun that I went back to my room 4am. Woke up 9am the following day, then booked a 12:30pm bus to HCM. On the way, it was sad. I liked Phnom Penh so much that my heart was literally heavy leaving. But you do what u gotta do. But then i met a nice Indian girl from Scotland, Ananta and an Australian guy David. We didnt know how to navigate HCM so we stuck together, walked aroun til we got to each of our hostels. HCM is pretty big. Staying for a very long time in Cambodia, getting used to its laid back lifestyle, we were all culture-shocked all the same. We stuck together to get dinner a little later and decides to get sleep. Meanwhile, back at the hostel, I met a French girl and an English guy who I started talking about mosquito's over smoke. It went pretty nicely but I slept pretty late again.https://jauntlet.com//58796https://jauntlet.com//58796Fri, 27 Feb 2015 18:30:00 +0000After 3 days of just coasting through in idleness staying in a cheap warehouse-like hostel dorm while eaten by all sorts of buga, I decided to move on to another place. I met some nice people here. Remarkably, two french guys who live in the city, who I shared dinner and drinks with and conversed with. Also, I met a group of Filipinos who run an NGO taking care for the education of Cambodian children. And they helped me get my bus ticket. It was to able to speak to fellow Filipinos again which I haven't done in a long time.https://jauntlet.com//58795https://jauntlet.com//58795Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:30:00 +0700After 3 days of biking around the temples, I am so tired. There was a lot to see. But the remarkable ones are the Angkor Wat and Ta Phrom. A bit touristy though for me. There was a constantly enormous amount of people. I also liked the older temples that are pyramidal. Gets me excited for Macchu Picchu. They're just magnificent, tall and grandiose.https://jauntlet.com//58794https://jauntlet.com//58794Sat, 21 Feb 2015 15:00:00 +0700Arrived today in Siem Reap. It wasn't at all as I imagined. I imagined tall buildings and busy city. But I guess it's a town trying to be a city. But it was nice. We're set to stay here for 3 nights and 4 days.https://jauntlet.com//58793https://jauntlet.com//58793Tue, 17 Feb 2015 17:30:00 +0700Arrived at the border via Casino bus. It was not bad at all. Apart from the waiting in the morning. We expected to depart at 7am. But bus left BKK at 9:30. lol. It was all fine though. And now we're off to Siem Reap.https://jauntlet.com//58792https://jauntlet.com//58792Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:00:00 +0700Obviously after more than a year of not seeing each other, the chemistry is gone. Have to be home now. Still got flight tomorrow. Stayed at de Talak hostel for the mean time. This was after going around the airport without direction and tears all over my face. It was not a good feeling but can I do?https://jauntlet.com//58790https://jauntlet.com//58790Mon, 16 Feb 2015 13:00:00 +0700Missed my flight home on purpose. I met a friend last night at the hostel. He's gonna go to Cambodia. And I don't really feel well enough to travel back home. I asked if I can come along. And he was fine with it. So I missed my flight. And I'm off to Cambodia tomorrow.https://jauntlet.com//58791https://jauntlet.com//58791Mon, 16 Feb 2015 08:30:00 +0700After more than a year, I will finally meet the man I'm here for.https://jauntlet.com//58789https://jauntlet.com//58789Sat, 14 Feb 2015 18:00:00 +0700Arrived in BKK. It's all too familiar for me now. I remember more than a year ago how confused I was with being in a foreign country for the first time.https://jauntlet.com//58788https://jauntlet.com//58788Sat, 14 Feb 2015 12:30:00 +0700Excited to be in Bangkok for my birthday.https://jauntlet.com//58787https://jauntlet.com//58787Sat, 14 Feb 2015 09:30:00 +0800