2-week Philippine Vacation

          by Regin Reyno

           Philippines! The pearl of the orient, 7,107 islands, my native land. I will be visiting the Philippines tomorrow. My mind is now filled with activities. I want to do the activities that I missed when I was there. They say that you don't realize the importance of a thing until it's gone. Since I am living in Thailand, Philippines to me is like a foreign country now (in terms of excitement because of the destination). Whenever I see photos of the Philippines, oh how I love to be there! The places and things I once ignored- now catches my attention and how I am anxious to be there. 

Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam in 9 Days

by Regin Reyno

             Traveling is my passion. I want to travel a lot. To be in a different location, experiencing different culture and exploring beautiful places of different countries. It satisfies my curiosity to explore the unknown.

            One of my goals in traveling is to see and experience the different wonders of the world. It may be natural wonders of man-made wonders. Examples of these are the Eiffel tower, the Great Wall of China and Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines. Since I’m living in Thailand, one of the closer wonder of the world is Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world and declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. It is located in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Since Cambodia is near Thailand, we planned to go and visit this wonderful masterpiece.

            Cambodia also interests me because of its rich history and culture. And since we are going to go there by land, we’ve decided to go straight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to make use of our travel.  Vietnam lies beside Cambodia.

The Plan

The plan was to visit two countries though land trip and on a budget. So we are going to backpack our way to Cambodia and Vietnam from Thailand.

 I decided to take the train because it is cheaper and more scenic. So we’ll take a train from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet. Aranyaprathet is a town in Thailand that borders with Cambodia. From Aranyaprathet we’ll take a tuktuk going to the immigration border at Poipet, Cambodia. Then we’ll take a shared-taxi from Poipet to Siem Reap, Cambodia. After exploring Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, we’ll go straight to Vietnam. In a city called Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) via bus.

Reality

Last May 2011, we were able to conquer two countries in 9 days without flying. We started our journey on April 30 and ended on May 8, 2011.

(April 30) Day 1: Nonthaburi,Thailand -- Hualamphong, Bangkok Trip

Highlights: Bangkok Adventist Hospital Seventh-day Adventist Church worship, Chinatown(Yaorat)

We departed our place in Nonthaburi, Thailand at 8 am in the morning to attend church in Bangkok Adventist Hospital. Since we are Seventh-Day Adventists, we go to church on a Saturday. We arrived at Bangkok Adventist Hospital church at 9:30 am and attended the church services.

            After the fellowship lunch, we went to Hualamphong train station. Since the train will be leaving early morning at 6am the next day, we’ve decided to stay in a guest house near the train station in Hualamphong so we will be able to catch the first trip in the morning.

 There are only two trips going to Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 5:55 am and 12 pm. The travel time is about 6-7 hours. So if you want to arrive in Siem Reap that very same day, you must take the 1^st train trip or else you will have to sleep at Aranyaprathet and continue your trip the next day, because the immigration border is open until 4pm only.

MRT (Bangkok's Subway)