July 2011 Wrap Up

I spent my July in two countries, first half was in Thailand and the second half in Cambodia. I spent a lot of my waking hours working on my new projects and when I get tired or if I get too lazy to work on anything, I go out and explore the area. I love both places, I could see myself living in both Chiang Mai and Siem Reap and the cost of living there wouldn’t break my bank. I’m even considering making Chiang Mai or Siem Reap as my Flipnomad hub or maybe start a small shop or something in either places.

One thing that I also love whenever I travel is to observe businesses around the area. My mind seemed to be on autopilot with that regard. I always ask locals about the cost of rent, cost of food and I always take a mental note of the cost of stuff in the groceries etc. I also observe the number of people that come and leave the area in a specific time. I’m actually toying with the idea of having a brick and mortar business setup somewhere so when I get tired of travelling continuously, I’ll just stay there for awhile and serve beer or coffee or maybe sell something. Entrepreneurship is another challenge that I’m grooming myself for. More than the thought of succeeding or failing, I’m more excited about the entire experience that I’ll get from it.

I also enjoyed walking around and get surprised with some modern looking Wats or novelty shops scattered in Chiang Mai. I also went to Tonle Sap in Siem Reap (biggest lake in Southeast Asia – it gets even bigger during the rainy season) and surprised to see kids playing with pythons and some crocodile caged in some restaurants for tourist viewing. I think that if those crocs get hungry, they could easily break those wooden cages. I learned that Cambodia exports crocodiles to other countries for their meat and skin (leather). I just hope that they’re not being over-farmed.

Aside from walking around, I usually hang out in local restaurants that serve glorious Thai and Khmer foods. Beer is so cheap as well in Siem Reap that I always find myself staying in one bar every afternoon, lounging and watching HBO and drinking ice cold Angkor draft.

Funny that as I write about it I got really thirsty for Angkor Draft, so I’ll stop talking about it. Anyway, here’s what happened in Flipnomad.com this month of July.

I featured five awesome travellers this month of July in my Meet the Nomads section: Jason Webb of Digidrift, David Hogan Jr of Malaysia Asia Blog , Caz and Craig Makepeace of YTravelBlog, Janet Brent of Purple Panda and Jaime Davila of Breakaway Backpacker.

I also wrote about my travels in Hanoi, Sapa and Luang Prabang which I hope you find useful in case you find yourself travelling in those places.

This month, I also posted my second article on Ask the Nomads where I asked the Pinoy Travel Bloggers their advice to first time travellers to the Philippines.

Wheeew!!! I hope that this monthly updates help you navigate my blog easily.

Thanks for dropping by… I’ll resume with my coffee break then…

In case you’re wondering, yeah I’m travelling with that water heater that I bought in Siem Reap… that little machine saves me a lot of money one cup of coffee at a time.