Gotlands Fashion. Legendary Adventures.

Phnom Penh, Chamkar Mon near Tonle Sap River, any Tuesday

They say: ‘The home of adventure is the foreign land.’ I remember this day in July, at the end of the nineties, as if it were yesterday. Light rain falls on the plastic tablecloths in the small hostel on the Tonle Sap River. Travelling from Chanthaburi (Thailand) via Sihanouk in the south, an old steam locomotive brought us to Phnom Penh. Awesome, fairytale-like and somehow French, that was the first impression. The plan was to continue our journey by steamboat to the mighty Lake Tonle Sap. From there to Siam Reep, the city where the Khmer defeated the former Siam in the 16th century. Once there, the journey continues on an old Yamaha XT 500 to the imposing temple city of Angkor Wat.

Endless strength, motivation and stamina. The travel budget ‘extremely limited: -)’ and the feeling of freedom “inexhaustible”. So we simply let ourselves drift along, free from any obligations. We were barely able to walk round the entire Angkor Wat temple complex in one day. The tour was definitely an adventure. Originally it was a study holiday, as the final law exams were not far away. However, the books, which were getting bigger and bigger due to the humidity, were eventually left behind in some hostel on the grounds that they were useless luggage.

When I close my eyes I try to capture this feeling again. ‘Go with the flow...:-)’ No mobile phone, no credit card, Stefan Loose cards full of side notes in my luggage. Also travelling companions from our wardrobe. The clothing - stylish and appropriate even back then, the battered motorbikes - indestructible. Barefoot on the XT 500 with a tropical, humid wind in our hair, we created memories back then without realising it that can still make our eyes sparkle today.

Yours, Nico Seifert, owner of Gotlands Fashion