Phnom Penh - ramblingeconomist.in

May 2, 2021May 2, 2021

Wanderlust – my crazy travels, part 6

This is the last part of my frenzied travel schedule from 2013-2020 March. It covers the period starting from May 2019 when I retired from Kazakhstan and moved to Kolkata and ends at March 2020 when lockdowns were imposed due to Covid-19. Since then, alas, all my travels stopped like everyone else’s!

June 2019 By this time, I knew that I was not coming back to KIMEP – I was retiring for good! Came back to India with all my clothes, documents, books and all. And immediately went to Phnom Penh . From Phnom Penh , two friends and myself took off to Koh Rong islands off the coast off Cambodia, near Sihanoukville. The island is beautiful, remote, undeveloped – no roads, no public transport. There are hotels on a sliver of a beach around the island – they get their supplies by boat. Most of the hotels have cottages or tree houses, there are a few restaurants and stores near the docks. The inside of the island consists of uninhabited forest. A lot of “gap year” kids from Europe and Australia and some drop-outs, they party hard till early morning. There are some regular tourists as well. If you have money, you can go to exclusive resorts on nearby tiny islands- one fancy resort on each uninhabited island – they cost $500-2000 per night!!

My friends with two Chinese girls from Singapore

August 2019 – Went to Phnom Penh again

September/October 2019:

This was a long trip. From Kolkata, I first went to Paris, stayed for four nights. Afterwards, went to Lawrence, Kansas for about a month.

Took a side trip to Boulder, Colorado to visit my son

Finally came to Madrid , Spain for five days and then on to Kolkata.

**With my ex-student Elena who now lives in France with her famil**y

November 2019:

My friend from Kazakhstan agreed to come to Bangkok. I met her at the airport and we spent three days at Bangkok Riverside. After she left, I went to Phnom Penh for a few days.

December 2019

Digha , near Kolkata

February 1 – Phnom Penh, again

March 1 -Almaty again! I came back on March 7 . Lockdown started soon afterwards!

So, in conclusion, was it worth it? How much money did I spend on all this?

I do not know, I am just glad I did it, and possibly will not travel at this frenzied pace again. Well, as they say in Almaty “All Good Things must come to an End”!!

Ciao!!

April 30, 2021May 16, 2021

WanderLust – My Crazy Travels, Part 5

From May 2018 to May 2019

Another six month vacation started from May 2018

June 2018– Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville with a friend

After June 2018, I had a serious talk with myself. I was 67 years old, and still had several friends in Almaty and also in Phnom Penh. It was time to rethink my priorities and try to visit my friends and travel with my friends as much as possible. Clearly, this was not going to last too long.

Surely, Covid came along and my health deteriorated even without getting infected by the virus, so it turned out that I had taken the right decision. In any case, apart from Almaty or Phnom Penh, I was in other countries purely for travel.

June 17 – Landed in Japan – another bucket list item!! Spent about twelve days here and visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. From Osaka, went to Seoul.

July 2018 Went to Seoul, South Korea to meet my Kansas Colleague, Biung -Ghi. Stayed for about a week, Went back to Kolkata for a few weeks

The plan for August onward was revised. The original plan was to fly to Rome and then onward to Germany and Austria and the Czech republic part of the time with my colleague Nadeem. I bailed on him haha.

Instead , after flying from Delhi to Rome, I flew again to Almaty. That was a terrible rescheduling – flew from Kolkata to Delhi to Rome to Istanbul to Almaty – I was dead tired when I arrived! Visited my friends and arranged for an apartment from January 2019. The landlord wanted me to pay rent from September 2018, and I agreed to that, I had no other choice. This was better than coming in January 2019 with all my luggage from India and looking for an apartment in intense cold (minus 5 to 15 centigrade usually). However , having rented the place, now I had an incentive to come back again in October. And I did come back on October 7 for eight days!

Meanwhile, I flew from Almaty to Rome at the end of August 2018 and spent three days in Venice and five days in Rome and and a day trip to Pompeii . Italian architecture was fascinating, Italian food not so much!! Back to Kolkata after this.

October 7-16, I was in Almaty, staying in an apartment I already paid for. On October 16 I flew from Almaty to Bangkok and then on to Phnom Penh. After a few days, returned to Kolkata to rest .

On November 23, I went to Phnom Penh again and flew to Bali with a friend. Bali was fantastic! Back to Kolkata for a few weeks.

January 2019 – Came to Almaty for what was going to be my last semester at work. I was not so young any more, the cold bothered me. I lived in a five floor walk up about ten / fifteen minutes walk from the main entrance on campus. I minimized walking outside.

March 2019 – Could not go to Kolkata during my spring break, flights over Pakistan were suspended because of Terrorist attacks.

April 2019 – Squeezed a few days from my schedule and went to Phnom Penh again!

The following photos were taken in Phnom Penh during October 2018- April 2019

I left KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan at the end of May 2019. It was a great ride for five years!

April 29, 2021May 2, 2021

Wanderlust – my crazy travels, Part 4

May 2017 -May 2018

From May , 2017 I was only working in KIMEP University, Almaty, during Spring semesters (January to May). So I had six months off from May 2017-December 2017 and May 2018-December 2018. The travel frenzy got more intense!

May 2017 – Frankfurt for a few days

June 1– Arrived at Seattle and got on a Celebrity Solstice cruise to Alaska – on my bucket list!

**Many more pics on my Alaska travel blog** posted separately

Rest of June, 2017 – Lawrence, Kansas . I had to send my passport by mail to the Chinese embassy in Chicago to get a tourist visa to China. It took more than three weeks. Meanwhile I waited in Lawrence visiting old friends.

July 2017, Berlin and Magdeburg, Germany, to visit my erstwhile colleague , Dr. Naqvi and his family. Then on to Stockholm, Sweden for a few days, and then to Talinn, Estonia for a few days, before returning to Kolkata

End of July 2017 – I am in china with my colleague from Kansas, Dr. Jianbo Zhang – we traveled in Beijing and in Hebei province – this was on my bucket list as well!

August 2017 – Went to Phnom Penh while coming back from China,, by this time I am hooked on Phnom Penh

Early December 2017 – Went to Phnom Penh again! This time stopped at Bangkok for a couple of days

Went back to Almaty first week of January 2018 – Fortunately I was staying on Campus this year – my apartment was four minutes walk from my Department. February 2018 was the most brutal winter I have encountered – and I have seen a lot of snow and cold during the last forty years. During February 2018, the temperature was minus 30 consistently for about a week during the day. Classes were not canceled!!

March 2018 – only went to India during this break, I think!

April 29, 2021April 30, 2021

Wanderlust – my crazy travels, Part 3

Summer 2016 – Plans were altered midway through summer. From Almaty, I came to NYC and stayed for two days, then to Lawrence, Kansas for about one month.

**Someone came to see me in Lawrence after sixteen years!**

Afterwards, went to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Cape Bretton Island with my friends Swapan and Cecilia again. Came back to USA after three days in Toronto with my friend Tabla maestro Ashok.

While going to Duluth, Minnesota, to visit an ex-student, I was notified that my mom had passed away in India on July 11, 2016. I managed to get back to India on July 13 and performed her last rights.

The original plan was to visit several Scandinavian countries in July. The tickets were already bought and the hotels were paid for. So I decided to go to one of the countries, Norway, at the end of the month, instead of three as originally planned. Went to Oslo and Bergen for about a week, starting end of July 2016.

October 2016 – Phnom Penh, Cambodia

**Huge Thunderstorm on Tonle Sap River**

December2016/ January 2017 – During early December, my schedule permitted me to get three days off- so I went to visit Rajarshi again, this time in Dubai. Went to Kolkata during regular winter break.

February- March 2017 – Spring break came early this year. Went to kolkata and then to Taipei, Taiwan to visit my student, Dr. Wei-Shong Lin

During Fall 2017, I got a leave of absence, so essentially I was on a six month vacation starting from June 2017 to December 2017. For the next two and a half years, till March 2019, the traveling frenzy was turned up a notch!!

April 28, 2021May 5, 2021

Wanderlust -my crazy travels Part 1

My crazy travel schedule, 2013-2019, Part 1

This part covers 2013- August 2014 only

Yes I traveled a lot during these six years.

Although I traveled inside USA quite a bit, I never traveled much outside USA. From 1975 to 2000, basically went back and forth to India only. Always used the direct route over the Atlantic. Stopovers in Europe were expensive then, so I did not take any. Around 2002, I found that I can buy a ticket to Bangkok by flying over the Pacific, and the fare to Bangkok from USA was about the same as the fare to India. Then there was a sweet new airline called Airasia, which will take me from Bangkok to Kolkata and back for about $150. By doing this I was able to visit Thailand a couple of times and Hongkong once. That was it.

Boy that changed fast from 2013! I lived like a jet-setter till February 2019 when Covid hit – sadly, have been stuck in India ever since. Sometimes I am amazed at myself that I did so much over these six years! Please read on to check my hectic schedule – Cambodia has a prominent place in all this – because its proximity to India, my personal preference for Cambodia and its people (ladies!! – but that came later!!)

This is not a travel blog, it is merely a recap of my travels during 2013-19. When I get dementia, this will help, I hope!! Also, the Covid Pandemic might change permanently the way we travel, so this blog will remain as a hallmark of old-fashioned wanderlust.

January 2013: Angkor Wat was on my bucket list for a long time. I visited Cambodia from India for the first time – after two days in Phnom Penh with my friend Partho .

I continued working at the university of Kansas during 2013-14 academic year. Received an unexpected job offer from KIMEP university in Almaty, Kazakhstan.. They even allowed me to join from August 2014. During my last year in USA I wanted to revisit my favorite spots in USA that I visited before. So the following was my schedule from 2013 summer to 2014 summer.

May 2013, – Before my semester ended, I squeezed a few days off and visited my favorite couple in Phoenix. From there, drove to Grand Canyon for my third visit , the rocks were as spectacular as ever!!

July, August 2013 – Went to Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville for a couple of days, then went to India for a month before coming back to Bangkok and Phuket for a couple of days.

**The young lady in Turquoise wanted to marry me…. didn’t happen**!!

January 2014 – Went to Kolkata, India again during my Christmas break from USA, and stayed in Bangkok and Cambodia for a couple of days on the way back, The highlight of this trip was Khao yai National Park day trip.

June 2014 – In May 2014, I was officially retired from the university of Kansas. In June 2014, I flew to Seattle, rented a car and visited Olympic National Park for the second time.

This was just the warm up!

Part 2 will cover August 2014- May 2016