Update on Paul in Cambodia (One Month Later)

Another update (after the article below was written): Great news! Paul was flown out of Cambodia by the British embassy and arrived back in the United Kingdom just in time for Christmas, so he's finally free. It's another long story which I will save for another time. Perhaps I'll get the chance to do an interview with Paul at some point, so that he can tell his story in his own words. If so I will try to record the discussion and post it on Youtube.

It's been more than a month since I wrote a piece explaining the situation with Paul from the UK, a friend I know through Facebook, who got stuck in Cambodia in a tough situation due to a series of unfortunate circumstances. If you don't know the story already you can read my previous article here.

But here's the short version: Paul was traveling from Vietnam to Thailand to work at a hostel and crossed through Cambodia on his way to Thailand. When he arrived at the Cambodia border and tried to enter Thailand, they discovered that someone else had previously visited Thailand using his name and birth date, who also looked like him. This person had overstayed his visa and then been deported, to Germany apparently. The Thai authorities accused Paul of being this other person, fined him $1,000 for the previous overstay, wouldn't allow him to enter Thailand and kicked him back to Cambodia. The amount they fined him was almost all the money he had at the time. He couldn't afford to buy a new Cambodia visa, so instead walked into the country and has now been stuck there for more than two months illegally.

Update on Paul Who is Stuck in Cambodia

A few days ago I posted a video telling the story of Paul, a British citizen and someone I've known on facebook for a couple years, who was traveling in southeast Asia when he got stuck in a bad situation in Cambodia. He was traveling from Vietnam to Thailand to work at a hostel there and passed through Cambodia. When he arrived at the border between Cambodia and Thailand and tried to enter Thailand, the immigration officials told him they thought he had been in Thailand the previous year and overstayed his visa by four months. It turned out someone had stolen his identity, entered Thailand in 2018 under his name and birth date somehow, overstayed his visa by four months and then been discovered and deported. Paul hadn't been in Thailand during that time and showed that to be the case in his passport. But they accused him of trying to re-enter with a different passport, fined him $1,000, which was all the money he had on him at the time and they kicked him back to Cambodia. He had only $15 left to his name and the visa to go back into Cambodia was $30. Somehow he managed to get past immigration and go back into Cambodia without a visa.

Why I Left Panama

A few days ago I left Panama City, the capital of Panama and flew to Montreal, Canada, the largest city in the French-speaking province of Quebec. I only spent five days in Panama, after spending a couple weeks on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire.

I'm sure some people will be curious why I didn't explore around Panama and Central America more, considering there's so much to see in that area. I've followed some other travel bloggers who went to Panama and posted photos and videos of amazing beaches, jungles and waterfalls. When I flew there I was considering doing some exploring around the country, but ultimately decided it wasn't the right time.

My First Two Days in Willemstad, Curacao

An interesting past couple days. I flew the day before yesterday from the Caribbean island of Aruba to the neighboring island of Curacao. What a huge change, even though they're both part of the Dutch Caribbean/Kingdom of the Netherlands. Aruba is very Americanized and kind of sterile, though it has beautiful beaches, some interesting local neighborhoods and rugged desert landscapes in the interior.

Arriving on Curacao was like, BOOM, I'm now really in the Caribbean, culturally speaking. It's a crazy mix of indigenous Caribbean, African, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch. It has a pretty rough feeling to it, but the main town of Willemstad is also a lot more interesting and vibrant than Oranjestad, the main town on Aruba.

Voted #1 Solo Male Travel Vlogger

I was recently give the top spot in a list of 40 solo male Youtube travelers, including some pretty big names. Check it out!
https://blog.feedspot.com/solo_male_travel_youtube_channels/

My First Evening on Samos, Greece

I arrived on Samos today, my 21st Greek island. I spent last night on Mykonos, only because I had to change ferries there coming from Santorini. I visited Mykonos once before, in February purposefully to avoid the crazy crowds. Every Greek island has its appeal it seems, but the real fun of exploring them is experiencing how different and unique each one is. What a relief to leave behind the tourist traps of Santorini and Mykonos (even though they're both gorgeous) and arrive somewhere that feels so much more authentic.

I'm in the port town of Karlovasi, which is a bit scruffy and deserted and I think other villages on the island will be prettier, and probably have more tourists as well. I haven't seen hardly anyone this evening that stood out as being a tourist. Not many people around in general. Two days ago I was in Ia, Santorini struggling to get through the crowds gathering for the sunset and getting turned away from a restaurant that had tables because I just wanted a juice.

Interesting Day on Santorini, Greece

Another interesting day as a solo traveler here on Santorini. I went on a day tour, something I don't do often. But I wanted to go on a boat trip into the volcanic crater in the middle of Santorini, which is part of the sea now. Only 35 euros for an all-day tour. Not a bad deal, especially considering how much it included. Some highlights and lowlights:

The bus broke down while driving to the port, leaving a group of us waiting around for fifteen minutes or so for another bus to come, while wondering if we might miss our boat.

Made it to the boat and we sailed into the beautiful blue Aegean, to a small island in the middle of the crater of Santorini called Nea Kameni, which formed in 1707 as a result of volcanic activity under the sea. We went hiking across the island of jumbled volcanic rocks, devoid of any life (other than tourists). Totally amazing. The views in every direction of the sea and the islands against the clear blue sky were stunning.

Flying Back to Europe

It was a relatively short two-week trip back in the US this time. I'm now on a bus headed to the San Francisco airport to catch a flight to Brussels, Belgium. This will be my second time to Belgium, technically. But the first time didn't really count. That was on my first trip to Europe when I was 18. At the end of my trip my backpack was stolen while sleeping on a bridge over the Seine river in Paris. Luckily I was left with my day pack which had in it my passport, flight ticket (which was crucial since this was before the internet, so flight tickets were almost like cash), the little bit of money I had left, my camera and a few other essentials.

Northern California Road Trip

I just completed an awesome three-day road trip around northern California. Started in Ukiah (where I'm staying at my mom's for a little while), drove over to interstate 5 and north up to Lassen national park where I camped for the night in a campground with a lot of snow around because spring comes late up there. Went on a hike up the road because the road was gated, although free of snow, and got a great view of bubbling sulfur pits and Mt. Lassen, a volcano.

Greyhound Bus Cancelled, So I Hitchhiked

Interesting past 36 hours. Yesterday morning I was at my brother's in eastern Oregon, where I'd been visiting him, his wife and son the previous few days. I had a long travel day ahead of me. I had a Greyhound bus booked from La Grande that would take six hours to get me to Portland and (if it was on time) arrive at 4:20 pm. I then had a flight from Portland at 7 pm to San Francisco, where I had a hostel reserved for the night. The next morning I would catch a city bus up to Santa Rosa where I would meet up with my aunt and we would then drive up to my mom's an hour north of there in Ukiah.