tips

Happy and High at the White Sand Dunes in Mui Ne, Vietnam

One of the best spots I visited in Vietnam was the White Sand Dunes located in Mui Ne, 5 hours from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon: old name). After walking barefoot at the fairy stream and a quick stop at the fishing village, we proceeded to this beautiful destination and welcomed all the dust along … Read more

How to Earn Online While Travelling

working on the road

I bring my laptop with me in most of my trips. Although it consumes a lot of space in my backpack, I have online obligations that I need to fulfill in order to help fund my travels. I can’t really work on my rest days at home as most of my days off are also spent on the road. That’s why in order to maximize my time, I go online to work on freelance tasks. I know I talked about how to save money for your trips and extreme saving tips and one of the tips was to earn extra income by pursuing your passion. Blogging has paved way to other opportunities for me to do so.

Here are some areas where you can earn income online while you’re on the road.

Sponsored/Paid Posts

If you have a site that has a lot of traffic and has established a bit of authority online, companies will contact you to review their products and all you have to do is share your thoughts. Once you write a blog entry about it, you’ll be compensated depending on your online presence as well as your agreement between the advertiser.

You can also get invited to events and company marketing promotions. I was luckily chosen for a Cebu to Hong Kong flight courtesy of Airphil Express and all I was tasked to do was blog about my experience there. So these sponsored posts don’t have to come in the form of cash.

Ad Placement

Still the same concept with traffic, you can place an ‘Advertise’ space in your site to attract companies to place banner ads on your page at an agreed fee. You may also opt to place Google Adsense instead, wherein you’ll be able to earn if somebody clicks on those Ads. Adsense is another whole topic to discuss though as they say this is the most effective and high revenue-generating source for publishers/website owners.

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Tips and Things to Know about Siem Reap, Cambodia

siem reap soloflight

Aside from the Tomb Raider temples, I didn’t know much about Siem Reap, Cambodia. That changed when I visited the city last January. All the way from Cebu to Manila to Clark to Bangkok to Aranyaprathet to Poi Pet to Siem Reap, it took 36 hours of commutes and stops to reach the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Looking back on our trip three months ago, I’ve written so many stories about this quaint city more than any adventure I’ve experienced (so far). In line with my goal to provide insights on the countries I’ve been, I’ve created this definitive guide to share some tips and things to know about Siem Reap based on my experiences.

angkor wat
Angkor Wat Complex

By the way, I’ve interchanged Khmer and Cambodians in my past articles but don’t confuse yourself between the two, they’re one in the same (e.g. Khmer food = Cambodian food).

Tips and Things to Know about Siem Reap, Cambodia

 

Temple Overload

Angkor Wat is the most famous among the lot but Siem Reap has many temples! So many that we weren’t able to tour everything with the three-day pass that we purchased. Angkor Thom Gate, Bayon Temple, Elephant Terrace, Ta Prohm, Pre Rup, Banteay Srei, East Mebon; each of these temples have their own distinction. These were enough to keep our eyes full for the two days that we had available.

siem reap temples
temples with their own characteristics

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Bangkok to Siem Reap: Avoid Scammers from Aranyaprathet to Poipet Border

I received an email from a reader asking for tips on how to get to Siem Reap from Aranyaprathet. She was hesitant because of scammers that are prevalent in the area which I’ve also read about. I already wrote an article about it (read article here) however, it seemed as if I haven’t fully tackled our story. Hence, this post will serve as a guide for those travelers who will opt for the Bangkok to Siem Reap route via train and avoid touts in the process.

How To Avoid Scammers from Aranyaprathet (Thailand) to Poipet (Cambodia) Border

After taking the regular train ride from Bangkok and arriving in Aranyaprathet, we freshened ourselves in the huge bathrooms at the station and let everybody go first. We’ll all just meet each other at the immigration office so there was no need to rush.

thailand border scammers
tuktuk taxis and pseudo-agencies

Tuktuk (motorized taxis) are abound, waiting for passengers and you can ride one of them to take you to the border. We aranyaprathet borderwere charged more but we insisted on paying only 1 USD for the drive. There were three of us inside the tuktuk and it was full but it didn’t matter. The drive to the border lasted only for 10 minutes.

Prior to the driver bringing us to the border, he made a side trip and brought us to an office where long-sleeved men asked if we were going to Cambodia.

Take note: Do not believe them!

These men wearing long-sleeved shirts will convince you to get inside their office agency so you can apply for a Visa for Cambodia. However, if you’re a Filipino, there is NO NEED for a Visa as it is NOT a requirement. It’s sad but this is a protocol for tuktuk drivers in Aranyaprathet to hopefully earn extra income.

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