Moving time

 https://trifectaliving.substack.com/p/common-misconceptions-about-dubai

Moving to substack where this blog is going to be continued in some form. 

peaze!

Summer in Dubinsky!

Been a while again and since my circumstances have changed abit I thought I post a new update since a bunch of guys are still following here.

After the latest lockdown in the Philippines I decided to leave the country I currently consider home and basically spent the last couple of years in with destination Dubai. Given the looming Delta variant I was basically waiting for this to happen so when everything was announced I had a good week or so left to make a decision and get the fuck out for good (for now).
Overall Manila has been mostly ok during the last 18 months but for me the uncertainty and always returning lockdown just have been abit too much and all this also took a big toll on my physical and mental wellbeing so that escape was the only valid option in this case. While most of the stuff I usually do was possible you needed to have appointments if going to gym or pool, gym was closed on and off for a long time, constant nightly curfew in place etc etc. For a person like me who values freedom higher than life itself a situation like this becomes bothersome after a while.
Now they introd another full on lockdown with gyms closed for at least 2 weeks but in reality probably much longer and there latest gimmick is them even forbidden you to go running outside. You can take alot away from me but once you take sport I wont play ball anymore.

So after the lockdown announcement I was fully expecting all this to go into effect and basically took another 2 days to make a decision and book my one way to Dubai. I wasn't very interested to spend time this summer somewhere in the EUssr and since Dubai so far seem to have had a very solid approach with covid with most freedoms still intact it was a logical choice.

Plan for immediate future is to spend 4-6weeks here, then visit my parents which I havent seen in over 2 years (and they also aint getting any younger) and then come back here for another couple of months and also secure permanent residency and look into real estate options. Probably not looking to return into Manila before they got their shit together which may very well take a long time given how things are going...

My overall goal still is to put the elusive trifecta into place where I have property in 3 countries combined with solid visas so I can live 4 months a year in each place w/o getting bored and also have options to escape to when one place/country turns to shit. I recently bought a villa in Bali which will be finished end of this year so only thing missing is a Dubai flat but Indonesia all things considered is probably even in a worse situation with covid so that I realistically dont see myself living in that aquired villa anytime soon either.

While health wise things havent been great for the last 18 months business wise things have been outstanding so that in all of this madness I performed very well. Noteworthy is the moment I arrived in Dubai I am already feeling much better than I have felt in Manila for a long time and I hope it stays this way.

In Dubai I am grinding Airbnbs now for the next couple of weeks, testing alot of restaurants, alot of tanning and will also work some.

Overall I like this city alot but it became quite abit more expensive compared to how I remember it from 2013 when I visited last. The district I live in Manila probably the most expensive across all PH but in Dubai can easily expect to put another 50% on top of the bill and I am speaking normal casual places, nothing fancy. However the service and efficiency you get in return is outstanding and probably seen nowhere else in the world. Everybody who works here is very well trained in what they do, staff is always polite, fast and highly effective. Things you value alot when german blood flows through your veins.

A good example of this is the arrival in Dubai. I needed one negative PCR 72 hours before flight and once you arrive at the airport they do another swab. Was zero waiting time for business class and 4.5 laters you got the result during breakfast in the hotel. No need to quarantine for 10-14 days like in most asian countries now which is another one those useless policies that have been implemented. If you test negative before flight and if you test negative after flight and if you test negative 3 days in quarantine it's highly unlikely or outright impossible that you start testing positive on day 10 during quarantine. But in the end it's at the discretion of each country how they handle things and the most damage they do with retarded policies is to their own economy so who am I to judge.

I usually know alot of people in Dubai but during summer nobody is here because it's just too hot. At night it doesnt go below 33degrees usually and daytime is always 40-44 so the main things you can do is be somewhere inside or find a spot at the pool. Still alot better though than being locked into my cage allowed one grocery run / day in Manilly these days. In regards to covid it's fairly easy to get in from most countries and masks are mandatory everywhere even though outdoor nobody really cares and theres also no enforcement.

Lastly to sum this up wanna make some promotion for my crypto telegram channel again (which is getting pretty good feedback so far). It's free and will always stay free and I share important news and developments within the cryptosphere:

https://t.me/CryptoPlaybook

I basically switched to working full time in crypto with the start of covid and it has served me well so far. I am still convinced if you don't have any exposure to this space you are making the mistake of a lifetime but in the end it's obviously your own decision. In short if you dont hold any BTC or any ETH you are reckless and will probably be punished for this financially over the next decade. I even got my 76yo old father at a point now where he will probably buy a small stack of GBTC. As a disclaimer this is not financial advice and should not be taken as such but go buy some BTC, never ever sell with a loss and consider holding it for 10 years as a private retirement plan ;)

So long, TimStone out!

Finishing up with some pictures of the last days as usual:

villa in bali which will be finished later this year - if you interested to buy as well lemme know

the reason i got out

construction side bali villa

august temperatures

the escape flight

airbnb

balcony view airbnb

view from infinity pool (highest in the world 77th floor)

teh old man

What's happening!

Somehow managed to not blog a single time during 2020 so I thought I want to have at least one post in this year so why not getting this sorted early!

My 2020 was going pretty well and was probably again one of my most successful ones financially - apart from that it was likely as boring as for most other people without many highlights. I didn't travel, I didn't party and as a nice sideeffect I basically stopped drinking alcohol entirely which is more an accident though than a planned decision but my big drinking days are over anyways since I'm an old man (caught in a young boys body) now :(

I don't want to dive deep into Covid but I still think I have to write a word or two:
The situation here is fairly relaxed for a while now especially compared to the shenenigans across the western world. We went into a pretty heavy lockdown fairly early which lasted around 6 weeks and then they started to very slowly ease restrictions. For instance inside dining and gyms here were way longer closed than anywhere else in the world I think (gyms probably were closed a good 6 months). Now basically everything apart from nightclubs is open. You obviously still have the mask mandates (and here also additional faceshield mandates in many places) but apart from that life is fairly normal. 

That being said we also have the advantage of always having summer and an average age of 25 across the Philippines so there is only so much damage this virus can do even though health infrastructure in most parts of the country isn't on par with western countries.

If you are currently struggling because of lockdowns especially financially I can only recommend that you invest the freetime they "gave" you in building side hustles & businesses. Think about what you want, how you wanna make money, etc. I see alot of people way too dependent on one source of income and if this gets shut down by crooked governments, force of nature or black swans they are entirely rekt. Yes, I know this isn't easy and this will take time but you will have alot more piece of mind going forward. When Covid hit I knew that my real estate stuff will tank but I also knew my other endeavours would do very well because of it. If you just rely on one industry and one source of income you will always get problems throughout your life because of this!

But enough about Covid.

I haven't played poker myself for quite a while now but am still involved in the affiliate side of things. I built a small condo portfolio in Metro Manila which I want to grow further and throughout the last year I made crypto my main focus. So those are the 3 main pillars I'm currently focussing on. Even though real estate took a hit the other 2 did well as I already said before.

I also established a telegram channel where I post about crypto from time to time so if this is an area which is interesting for you (and I strongly recommend you to make it an area you are interested in!) you can subscribe here:

https://t.me/joinchat/RxIvt358l5h39zfi

While Covid sucked for alot of people it definitely was a blessing in disguise for online poker and casinos which definitely popped off due to this. It's only logical if half the world is forced to be home that decent amount of those people will flock to online poker due to boredom. But most people weren't that "lucky".

One of the main drivers for me to go and live in the Philippines was the real estate situation in Manila. My goal was to start building a portfolio which worked out nicely so far that I have my own 1br now, 2 studios that are ready and one rented out and another 2 studios which should be turned over to me in the first quarter 2021 which will be rented out as well going forward. Depending on how condo prices develop and how crypto develops I might consider buying some more throughout the second half of the year but still some time to go until I will think abit more about this.

Alot of people ask me when I will go back to Europe and the short answer is NEVER. Surely I will visit the EUssr from time to time once the covid situation is abit clearer but I absolutely have no intention to be based in Europe again at least for the foreseeable future. I think that over time only Manila will get boring for me so I intend to split time between here and Bali once the situation eases up. Midterm Dubai is also on my list for a part-time residences but in order for that I would want to be fully removed from poker which won't happen anytime too soon but will happen eventually! In the end the trifecta Manila-Bali-Dubai sounds pretty tempting to me and shouldn't get boring in this lifetime :)

Lastly fitness-wise it's same old same old. I'm currently on 95% carnivore diet and it's going pretty nicely, 2 days gym, 1 day cardio (swim and run alternating) without any rest days.

We`ll see if I keep up with blogging from time to time,

rgds from Manilly

PS: some pictures of the different units attached

my own enduse flat:

currently rented out

                                                                    

lived here myself a couple of months and will rent out soon

        

waiting for 2 studios to get turned over to me in this one

picture of an old man

my own unit prior renovation (which took a LONG time):

Manila vs. Bangkok (I'm still alive)

Long time no see!

As you may have realized this blog is almost dead but I might blog once a bluemoon if there is a topic I consider interesting and wanna write about. Also since I'm doing more real estate related stuff I may create a blog around that topic at a later time maybe if I feel like it.

This post will elaborate on two questions I get alot lately and which have some relevance to pokerplayers and digital nomads in particular:

"Why are you in Manila?"

"What is better, Bangkok or Manila?"

First one is fairly simple to answer – because I feel good here and see alot of potential. Second one is abit more tricky and I honestly think there is no clear answer and it depends alot on personal preference and alot of other factors. I will try to point out similarities and differences going forward.

At first glance:

Both cities are major asian capitals and when you look at them out of the plane they look similar as well: lots of skyscrapers and concrete which make almost any euro city look like a fucking village. If you take a closer look though they are quite different in alot of aspects.

Tourism/Language/People:

Bangkok ist one of the major tourist hubs worldwide I would say while Manila is far from that :)

If you tell someone who has never been to Manila that you are in Manila their first reaction almost always is: "Isn't it dangerous there???". I don't think anybody ever reacted that way when I talked about being in Bangkok. The statement itself probably isn't that wrong depending on which area in Manila you choose it can get unsafe while in Bangkok you can go pretty much anywhere without worrying too much. I think main reason for this is due to Thailand overall being alot richer than Philippines (as of now) and alot of the crime that occurs happening due to people need to survive somehow. However from what I heard it improved alot since Duterte is in charge of the running the show even though there are still some areas which should be avoided particularily at night.

While Bangkok you see tons of foreigners at every street corner almost no matter where you roam in the city in Manila it can easily happen that you are the only white person in a large shopping mall – there are still alot less expats living here longterm and tourists on average stay maybe 1 night in the city before they fly to their island destinations. It's understandable though because in Bangkok there is just more stuff to do as a tourist.

Another big aspect for living in a foreign country is language and your ability to interact with people which is one of the biggest advantages the Philippines and particularily Manila holds at this point. You would need to look really hard in Manila to find a person under 50 with whom you cannot have a conversation in english. Conversely it will be incredibly hard to find a taxi driver in Bangkok who speaks english at all. This fact alone is worth so much and makes life so much easier that it's just a massive advantage for Philippines over Thailand in general. If you are a pokerplayer all this doesn't have too much weight because you aren't so dependant on other people but since I'm now more involved in realestate you need to work with alot of different locals (brokers, insurance agents, cleaners, lawyers, tenants, etc) and it's alot easier if you know all those people almost independant on their personal backgrounds speak fluent english.

I think this is also one of the points I'm more fond of the locals in Manila simply because you can interact with them on a different level. From what I experienced here the locals are alot more open and friendly towards foreigners and I think one of the main reasons for this is that you don't have the language barrier.

City structure/Traffic:

I said that from above both cities look similar but on the ground they look very different and have a different structure.

Bangkok I would say looks similar almost anywhere you go. There is a brandnew superluxurious highrise, next to it are some street vendors, you can see 2 beggars sitting around, there are some potholes in the street and it smells. It's like this pretty much in any district you go and you will know "this is Bangkok where I am".
Manila is different in a way that it has small to larger townships all over the city which are highly urbanized and absolutely highend with no smell, no street vendors, no beggars, no potholes and alot of highrises all brandnew and right next to it you have a slums with tin shacks which basically can't be found on that level in Bangkok at all. I haven't researched this topic but I would expect that wealth inequality is alot higher in Manila compared to Bangkok.

If I would give you a blindfold and fly you to Bangkok and then take it off you would know directly where you are or could narrow it down quite well. If I'd do the same and fly you to my area in Manila there is no way you would guess this is Manila if you haven't been here before because the picture the media has given you will be very different from how it actually can look like.

Traffic is bad in both cities but in Bangkok if you live close to the skytrain you can be all over the city in 15 to 30 minutes. In Manila at this point still public transport is non-existant and you are almost forced to live where you work unless you want to spend 3 hours of your precious day in a traffic jam. Even shortest distances at the wrong time can be an absolute nightmare. Luckily if you decided on a nice district you basically never have to leave unless you want to go to the airport or for some nightly entertainment in another part of the city.

Which city is better? Alot of this comes down to personal preference again. Bangkok gives you a much more authentic feel while alot of the upscale neighbourhoods in Manila are quite artificial. I still prefer the 2^nd option but there might be alot of people who would think of my current neighbourhood as "too sterile, too clean, too artificial".

Food & Nightlife:

I put those two together because it's an easy win for Bangkok in both categories. The thai food in general is just so much better than any filipino food can ever be no matter how good the chef is (sorry my fellow pinoys). Just look around the world and you will even find very good thai restos in smaller german towns while it will be a challenge to find a filipino restaurant in bigger german cities – there are reasons for that.

Luckily for me you can get alot of western and foreign food in both cities as well. However Bangkok has some restaurants which you just wont find in Manila yet – settingwise and also quality wise. It should be considered that Bangkok also as a steep markup on those so the money you spend on food in Manila will be alot less than you spend for the same in Bangkok! Situation is improving though in Manila and food and delivery options are already alot better than when I set boots on the ground for the first time around two years ago. Another problem here is that the filipinos love fast food more than life itself as it seems so that you have an intense amount of outright disgusting fastfood options which cannot be found in Bangkok in that number. How this manifests can be seen if you roam around the cities and compare the physiques of locals ;)

Nightlife I don't have to spend too many words on. There is just alot more to do in Bangkok with alot more variety. Be it bars or clubs it doesn't matter. Bangkok is one of the nightlife capitals of the world still and while Manila isn't bad don't get me wrong it cannot compete with Bangkok in any way in this category unfortunately.

Cost of living:

I never really look at prices too closely but Manila overall will be a decent amount cheaper in this area compared to Bangkok. How much I really couldn't say but there is a bunch of online calculators who can give you percentages. One of the main issues is that the thai baht continues to get stronger vs the USD while the peso loses value. This goes on for a long time now so when you make your money in euro or usd Manila will get cheaper over time while Bangkok is getting more and more expensive. This goes to a level now where some of the Thailand expats facing the problem of not being able to afford the country anymore. But there is good news for them the Philippines will welcome them with open arms! However one thing being said: If you wanna live a certain lifestyle it will be expensive in both cities, actually it will be expensive almost independant on where you go from my experience. But if you live on a budget I would assume that this will be easier to do in Manila especially given how the currencies developed and how they continue to develop.

Staying longterm as a foreigner/visa situation:

While staying longterm in Thailand was always a pain in the ass it's a walk in the park in the Philippines. Even if you don't have much money you can just constantly extend your tourist visa and basically never leave the country. The process is quick and efficient and at one point they even give you 6 months extension so you really don't have to do this often. The only annoying thing is if you stay longer than 6 months in the country you will require a police clearance that they let you leave which is easy to get though (if you weren't involved in criminal activity) but takes some time and driving around which makes it abit annoying.

In Thailand however they make it as hard and as annoying as possible if you wanna stay longterm. You constantly have to go in and out of the country to get new visa, you have to report to them now when you travel even within Thailand and all kinds of this bullshit – and it seems to get worse and worse.

If you aren't living from paycheck to paycheck there are more convenient options for both countries but again the Philippines is alot better here.

If you are 35 years or older all you have to do is park 20k usd in a filipino bank, fill out some documents and you basically have a lifelong visa for the country. If you leave you notify them and they will give you back your 20k. If you are under 35 there is a way to do this as well which is some sort of investor visa but it involves alot more paper work and actual investments i think – it isn't a big problem though because as being said you can pretty much stay indefinite on a tourist visa without much hassle at all.

In Thailand if you don't want to go through the constant visa runs you have the choice to aquire the thailand elite visa which gives you 5 years for around 15k usd i think. That money you don't get back though ;)
Fairly easy to see which country is better suited for expats in this area.

Overall thoughts on both countries/potentials/politics:

Thailand essentially still has the same army general in power which got in power when I was living there while the Philippines have Duterte. Even though this guy doesn't get alot of good press in the western media and some of his methods are questionable the stuff this guy does clearly works and the vast majority of the population supports him mainly because they see that things are getting better. If Thailand is alot better of than 10 years ago I'm not so sure about, the Philippines are defintitely alot better of than they were back then.

Personally I'm basically long on the Phillipines as long as Duterte pulls the strings and I hope for a similarily minded predecessor. Why?
Both countries are fairly similar – they both have insane islands, they share the same climate, people seem to have similar mindsets, the capitals aren't too different yet Philippines has half the GDP of Thailand. On top of that the Phillipines is open to Casinos & Online Gaming (which guarantees a fuckload of chinese investments) and everybody speaks english.

Now if you think about all this either Thailand has to be overvalued or Philippines undervalued. The english alone I think should make it more valuable for business and investments than anything else so I expect alot of room for the country to continue to grow given that politics stay stable.

So even though realestate yields are good in both countries (still) I expect alot more room to grow for the Phillipines going forward while first reports already coming in that real estate demand in Bangkok is tightening up (i think this is also related to the strong development of the baht).

Please don't nail me on that assessment – i did not put deep research into it but it seems logical to me. I'm very open to counterarguments though if you are more knowledgable in that area!

Conclusion:

I think it's mostly personal preference for which of the 2 cities or even countries you decide. Bangkok and Manila are both fun but there is no definite way to say which is better per se. If you are in your 20s and you like to party alot Bangkok might be better; if you want to play livepoker and live in an asian capital Manila is your choice, if you want to live on an island longterm you need to choose Thailand for now because the infrastructure just isn't here yet, if you want to invest into condos I'm convinced Manila is a better option than Bangkok atm, etc.

As you can see there are alot of different scenarios and what is ultimatively best best for me might not be best for you.


What about me?:

I'm not playing poker actively anymore but am still involved in the industry in the form of staking and affiliation. I'm still holding on to and buying crypto because I expect good things to happen. I just bought my first studio unit in Manila and have already reserved two more units which are getting finished next year. I'm also looking to buy a nice flat for enduse next year so that I get away from being a rent payer. My longterm goal is to entirely move from poker into realestate over the next couple of years. It's something which facinates me and gives me joy and also alot of skills aquired via poker and trading can be directly applied into it. As I said at the beginning of this post I might consider blogging more with a focus on realestate going forward – if there is a demand!

Kind regards from Manila, Live Strong ;)

to finalize the poast some pictures from this year:

my suite in Bangkok during the couple of days I was there

at the grand wedding of a business partner in Bangkok

my usual breakfast in Manila

in one of the brownish towers i bought my first unit

FB plug for the unit

breakfast in Bangkok this time in the legendary coffee club

having a look what all the fuss is about

still hitting the gym

#lonelyatthetop the highest building in Manilly

Paparazzi

view of one unit i considered for enduse

my cardio grounds

view of another potential enduse units - i love views!

my studio after being designed 

some table tennis beginning this year

more enduse views

lazy afternoon

new wallet

small soi in Bangkok i found this

me during the most expensive dinner I ever had but worth it

Alles roger in #Cambodia? #fuckbackpackingtour

Sup boys and girls!

While I'm sitting here in the Penthouse in Seoul overlooking the city from the 22nd floor I finally have some time to update the good ol blog!

Seoul Airbnb Penthouse in Gangnam

After Bali I spent some time in my old hood Bangkok and also went to Kuala Lumpur for the first time. There wasn't cracy much happening so I'm not sure if I will write a dedicated blog post about those 2 destiniations. Now as being mentioned im in Seoul for another couple of days and probably writing something about this one at a later point in time but for now it's going to be about my first stay in Cambodia.

My plan for Cambodia was to stay in a small beachtown called Sihanoukville for a couple of days and then move to Siem Reap for 2 days where one of the worlds biggest temples is located.
In the end it was poor planning from my part and I rather would've spent more time in SR and less time in SV but since it was my first time in Cambo I was obviously quite clueless what to expect. Cannot recall that I've ever been in a country where I hated one place so much while absolutely loving the other but will elaborate on this moving forward!

I managed to score a direct flight from KL which is only like 45minutes and arrived in Sihanoukville at the airport around noon on the 18th. Small and chaotic airport and upon arriving I realized that as a "westerner" I need to buy a visa. Every other guy seemed to be prepared having US dollars ready but while me only having some malaysian  currency. Also no atm or money changer in sight so I managed to convince some russian kid that I'm not trying to scam him and gave him a pretty good rate for the 30usd I needed to get the visa sorted. At this point I already know this stay would be interesting.
Took a taxi to my hotel and went for an ATM where I tried to withdraw 2million of the local currency which didn't work and 1million didn't work either. After 5minutes I realized that this machine was only giving US Dollar so I went for 400usd which worked. Quite interesting that the first time I would ever get my hands on USD would be in Cambodia :) Went straight to the hotel afterwards where I had booked the best room pretty much but after checking in I realized they gave me a smaller room. All my bitching didn't help much because some middle man between Agoda and the hotel screwed up but at least I might get some of my money back and the room wasn't that bad overall and it was only for a couple of days.

bathroom view from the hotel

Went down to the beach for a quick snack and food was terrible and I slowly realized that this couple of days gonna be tough...

at least the view was good

Started grinding trip advisor in the afternoon and probably the worst I've ever seen - there just aren't any good restaurants - period! Top 5 spots are some decent italians but I don't wanna eat Pizza and Pasta all fucking week...

Overall this is still proper 3rd world shit down there. Roads are insane, there are very few taxis, you do everything with tuktuk etc. Sihanoukville is pretty much a mix of western backpackers and chinese tourists who come there for the Casinos. The town has like 80k people or so and I kid you not, 30++ fucking Casinos and they are building like crazy (mostly new Casino complexes). Last night I tried to get sneaky and eat in Casino restaurant at the beach but food was shit as well. Also staff wasn't speaking a word of english - I think I was the first western tourist who ever came there.

Weather was very hot but raining quite abit as well and in Sihanoukville itself there isn't much to do apart from laying at the beach or grinding the Casinos which wasn't really what I signed up for.
So to kill time I went to a shooting range one day which was good fun but also 70usd for 30 fucking bullet with an AK47.

crushing it

Given how poor the country is it's actually fairly expensive. You end up spending alot of money on transportation because nothing is close and the tuktuks aren't as cheap as Manila taxis for instance. Food is reasonably cheap wherever you go but I rather would like to spend abit more here and get good food in return.

had Mr Na Fy for the entire week and he was an awesome driver always on time

gun range with some chinese kids

I already expected that SH might be shit so I booked a very nice private island resort for one day to get out. This was indeed very nice but also very very overpriced and while the food was better than in town for those prices I would've expected alot more (they sold pizza for 25usd which is just nuts - we still in Cambodia ffs!). The villa though was absolutely topnotch and since I spent most my time in there I wont complain too much. Resort was on a small island which took me about 40minutes to reach by speedboat:

#lonelyattehtop

On the island itself wasn't much happening but I just wanted to relax anyways because I already was on fairly big tilt mainly due to the abysimal food situation in SV. It also doesn't help coming from a Bali trip where alot of restaurants belong to the best I have seen so far.

After 4 days everything finally came to an end and I could leave SV for SR. Rarely was this happy to get away from some place. Already lowered my expectation for Siem Reap but boy was I wrong again. Siem Reap already was interesting before I even went there because I have never seen a place with this many high quality hotels. I literally had like 5 different hotels on my shortlist and the rooms where all insane for less than 250usd/night. In the end I managed to do the right thing and I booked the one with the best reviews which was a brilliant decision: Jaya River House. I didn't know by this time but I found out later that they are the number1 rated hotel on tripadvisor for ENTIRE ASIA. Hands down I have never stayed at a place this good, not even close. If all hotels would be like this I would never stay in an Airbnb again.
Got picked up at the airport with fruitplatter, cold towels and a girl who was explaining abit more about the hotel during our ride from the airport.
Basically they run their hotel like I would run my hotel. When you get there you can choose your welcome drink, or 2 or 3, whatever the fuck you feel like. You can order espresso to the room they don't charge you. You can do your laundry with them - FOR FREE! I gave them 20 items and had them back 3 hours later. Fully stocked minibar - free of charge. Tuktuk which can drive you around all day - free of charge. On the day I moved out my flight was at 10pm and instead of kicking me out at noon like every other hotel they moved me to a smaller room where I again had a fully stocked mini bar free of charge. Hotel is incredibly nice and well done too, the room was absolutely sick.

As you probably can tell by my writing I'm still facinated by the place and I will probably go back there at a certain point in time mainly just to spend some time in the hotel and relax. Absolutely incredible experience!
In the evening went for a very nice steakhouse which had an absolutely impeccable service as well. Siem Reap is just the complete opposite of everything SV was. City had a completely different vibe from the getgo. Unfortunately I had only 1.5 days there which really pissed me off.

On the 2nd day I went early to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise and afterwards to another jungle temple. Had a very nice tour guide I got recommended by a friend and for the case Siem Reap is on your list I can only advice you to reach out to him (via me) and also stay in the same hotel I stayed.

jungle temple

tour guide and driver

angkor wat

That's it for now. Business is still going strong and Cryptos recovered abit but seem to be dropping heavily today. Nothing to worry though when you in it for the long run anyways.

Have 4 more days in Seoul, then a week in Shanghai and then back to Europe for the summer!

Peaze out