So we crossed the border into Laos with no problems whatsoever thankfully. It even worked in our favour as it was cheaper on the border than it was from the embassy! We’d arrived to the border by minivan and it was our first crossing where you walk past a barrier for 100m and then enter another barrier and you have miraculously change countries! In the middle of those 2 barrier I felt like I wanted to do something really naughty, like pull my pants down and moon the patrol police as I was no mans land wasn’t I? No law could touch me! Haha – but I didn’t. Just incase!
We got into another minivan that brought us to the water front where we caught a boat to Don Det, an island that is one of 4000 islands. That’s what the whole area is called as…well you get the drift – there are 4000 islands!
And what a place!! We have finally arrived – this beats the Bodhi Villa backpacker’s vibe – this is the epitome of backpacking. It’s the epitome of chill out! It’s heaven! Temperatures of hell – but heaven to chill out. It’s a small island connected to another, but Don Det is the place to stay, chill and party. The local villagers have all built bungalow huts on stilts with a bed in and the toilets are blocks with a toilet and shower across the path. (I am actually pretty used now to prisoner like toilets and sharing them with flies, moths, praying mantis and spiders!) Very basic but does the job- well almost. One night we got into bed and the back right leg went crashing through the wooden floor! Lols, thankfully it was only one leg and not the whole bed! The following morning we were given a new plank of wood and a hammer and they left us to it to fix! Haha. But it was all in good fun – the Laos people so far as we can tell are so much friendlier than the Cambodians and they have a sense of humour! It’s seems that since Vietnam it keeps getting better and better locals wise. They all say hello and it’s just SUCH a great place! Forget holidaying in Europe – 4000 islands is awesome! We’ve been here 5 days as I write this and pretty much have spoken to or know every other backpacker here. Large groups of friends form and you’d think we’ve all known each other for ever! We’ve been hanging out with an Irish couple who are very cool and have pretty much spent our days, sleeping, eating, drinking & whatnot. We are on the Mekong River so go for a refreshing dip with the water buffalo when it gets too hot to bear (and it does believe me!!) or else we grab a tube (a big rubber donut ring) and let the current float us down around the islands with a bottle of beer in hand. Although the other day we got carried the wrong way and then had to struggle upstream against the current which was bloody hard work! Definitely brings home the point how strong and powerful water is, this small current was enough for me to use all the body strength I have and I was still sitting in the same place going absolutely nowhere! But it was a good workout and after criss crossing our way back as that was the only to move across the currents, we got back to the island! To celebrate we went to the bakery and ordered some home made Aussie cake – carrot cake, chocolate cake, jam sponge – yummy. I mean not actually the best cake ever as some were a bit hard – but still I’ve been craving a good bit of cake and it did the trick!
We also celebrated Paddy’s day! A big group of us got all dressed up in green bits and bobs and a couple of girls brought along some green marker pens and were drawing Irish art all over themselves. We stocked up on booze and green stuff (we even brought a green table cloth from a local restaurant for EUR 2) and headed to the party hostel bar. This was at about 1pm and we were all pretty hammered by 3pm! There was singing and dancing and after having been given the first ‘tattoo’ on my back by Tymon, which was a pint of Guinness in a big shamrock, he became man of the day by spending a good part of the afternoon tattooing everyone else that wanted one! It was so funny – have a look at the vids and pics to catch the artwork – they’re really cool! So yeah – a lot of drinking and smoking (as it’s about as available and freely done here as back in Holland). But you know when the party’s hit the peak when a German falls down the stairs to the river, slashing his back and elbow up and is so out of it he can’t stand or talk, when the Irish start shouting ALL the time about how great the Irish are and the ‘C’ word starts being used! But all in all a really great day with a great group of peeps. We actually flaked out pretty early at around 11pm! We saw the others worse for wear the following day for breakfast at midday and they hadn’t yet gone to bed!! Gone are those days for me! I just can’t handle it!! We didn’t even go to bed that drunk in the end so only a small hangover!
It’s a sticky place in the 4000 islands! We were supposed to leave after 6 days on a Friday but then we heard there was a big party being thrown at one of the hostels. The news was spreading like wild fire around the island so we decided to stay another day for the party – which turned into 2 days as we didn’t want to travel with a hangover – and boy did I have a hangover!! The party was great. We went for some dinner to line our stomachs and then brought 3 small bottles of local rum, which was actually not too bad and got stuck in. We actually went till 4am! The night just flew by – talking a lot of crap, dancing to bad techno music, searching for more alcohol and ending up with the very local homemade moonshine which is called Laos Laos, which quite honestly tasted like petrol and which I blame 100% for my mammoth hangover the following day! Honestly I’ve not had one like that for soooo long! So that was really easy day!
Finally, the following day we dragged ourselves away up to the Bolaven Plateau and a place called Tat Lo which we heard from everyone was another backpacker haven. Although to be honest Laos seems like it going to be a real backpacker place. Already I’ve come across more Westerners than the rest of the entire trip put together and that’s only in one place! Up North in Vang Vieng where you going tubing and Luang Prabang it’s supposed to be like Ibiza! Anyway after a very long bus journey, and a bad mood for me, we arrived in Tat Lo. It was dark so we couldn’t really see much but grabbed another bungalow hut and settled in for the night.
The Bolaven Plateau is higher up in the mountains and therefore cooler than down in the 4000 islands which was very much welcomed. Although during the day it’s still sweat city! The area is well known for its coffee plantations and waterfalls. There are about 8 dotted around a circuit of about 300km. So the next morning we were up early and hired a scooter, got a basic map of the circuit and packed an overnight bag. We were going to drive around the circuit taking in all the waterfalls and stop a night in another town called Paxsong. We left our big backpacks in the room in Tat Lo and off we went. We needed to cover about 160km in order to reach Paxsong and the roads were great. All tarmaced which made it a lot easier to pick up some speed. We only saw 1 waterfall that day and it was a big rip off as they charge you to see it and to park your bike! I mean it’s so rude – it’s not like they created it or even maintain it. It’s a waterfall, it’s nature, but it’s theirs apparently! And it was a pretty pitiful waterfall if you ask me too! So we spent about 5 minutes looking at it and then left again! But then we had to do the second leg of the day which cuts across the mountain on a dirt track and that was brilliant. It was really bumpy so we were jumping around all over the place but the scenery was gorgeous! Literally winding our way through the jungle. As we started to make our way out and onto the village roads again at around 4pm the sky got really dark and we were caught in the rain!! We’d come completely unprepared for cold weather or rain. Tymon only had one set of clothes with him which he was wearing and I only had one change of top. I had a vest top on and it was sooooo cold! Going along on the bike in the rain and cold front wind was not nice!! But thankfully it didn’t last long and we managed to get to a hostel before dark! We even found one with hot water which was sooooo good – I was freezing.
The next day we set off nice and early and took in 3 waterfalls which were much better than the first – although they still charged you! One was 120 metres which was pretty amazing! It was sooo big. There was a pathway marked ‘dangerous’ that you could walk down and I thought that perhaps it would take you all the way to bottom as there seemed to be a great pool at the bottom which would have been awesome to swim in! So off we went and it was pretty treacherous. There was a clear path but it was very overgrown and not kept up at all. Leaves were everywhere which made it really slippy and it was very steep and the further we followed it the worse it got. We got to one viewing platform and then decided to carry on as it was really good fun – if not very dangerous. So we carried on climbing down big rocks with the sheer drop to the bottom a few feet below us. Rocks were crumbling and we joked that it was the kind of thing that would make an episode of ‘I Shouldn’t Be Alive!’ Haha. Before much longer it got too much so we reached another platform where the path actually came to an end, took some photos and carefully climbed our way back up! At least I felt I’d got my 5000 kip worth.
We took a swim at the next waterfall which was very nice and as it’s dry season there was loads of boulders and rocks that we could hop from which was fun. It reminded me of when I was young and on holiday with mum and dad and dad and I used to go climbing over the rocks at the end of the beach looking for star fish and climbing round to the next bay. I loved those adventures!!
Then we pushed on through to get back to Tat Lo before dark. We were just ahead of a rain cloud which caught up with us once so Tymon hit the accelerator and after what seemed an absolute age on the road, wondering if we’d already whizzed past, we stopped for directions and the woman looked at us like we complete idiots and pointed to the road next to us which was full of sign posts to Tat Lo! So we made it. It was a great trip – very worth while doing! So now we’re just chilling for one day in Tat Lo which is about as laid back as you can get and swimming in the waterfalls. It’s a very nice little village, very quiet (apart from the chickens that cock a doodle do between 5am and 7am!) There are animals all over the place and it’s a good idea not to order food when you’re really hungry – you have to anticipate your hunger ahead of time as it can take up to an hour to get food here! Lols.
So now we are waiting for the night bus to come and head up North to Vientiane.
Check out you Tube as I have uploaded LOADS of videos finally as we’ve had no good internet access for ages and check out the photos!
Take care and miss you all,
xxx
Saturday, March 27, 2010
All Aboard The Battambang Express!
Battambang is a nice enough town. Not a great deal going on, and it seemed to be very quiet. Hardly any tourists there really and there was no one on the streets after dark. But it wasn’t a dangerous place, just quiet.
On arrival we went for a walk looking for some lunch so we headed to the riverside as that’s usually where a lot of restaurants can be found. But there wasn’t anything in sight. We walked on and further down thinking that any minute we’d come across something, but no, there was nothing. We were trying to read a stupid map in the Lonely Liar trying to find a local backpackers hangout but couldn’t find it for love nor money so ended up crossing the river into an even quieter area and having lunch in a nice restaurant and playing pool all afternoon. The waiter was a nice guy and was telling us about the Bamboo Train and the route it does and the original train track that runs all the way down to Phnom Penh.
As we’d walked quite a way we got a tuk tuk back to the hotel and asked the driver to show us where the Smoking Pot was (the restaurant we were trying to find – it was no where near where the LP said it was supposed to be – typical!) We’d heard that they also do cooking classes and we were interested in learning some traditional Cambodian dishes so we booked that for the following day on the way back.
The cooking course was great! So much fun. We arrived at 9am and were doing it with 3 other people, so not too many cooks spoiling the broth. We walked to the market first to buy all the ingredients and he told us about all the different herbs and spices. It was great buying fresh coconut milk! But not so great buying fresh fish which was battered to death in front of us. Well not even death it seemed, just stunned before they started cutting it open and peeling the scales off but it was still moving!! I couldn’t look! I know I know – if I eat it I should be prepared to see it and the consequences – but I just can’t. Please let me be happy in my denial that no animals are harmed in order for me to eat meat! Anyway after we got all the food we headed back and began to prepare our first dish – the well known Cambodian Fish Amok. The preparation took longer than the actual cooking each time as we had to cut everything up into little pieces and the first dish was a success. We get to eat our meals after we cook them which meant eating 3 meals before 12pm but it was all so yummy – even my food!! The chef even said that my Fish Amok was better than Tymon’s – haha! The other dishes we cooked were Beef in Hot Basil (which was soooooo spicy – the chillies we used were lethal) and Hot & Sour Chicken Soup. All three were great and we came away with a big recipe book so be prepared people to be treated to some home made Cambodian cooking when we’re back!
We met a lovely girl called Mel on the course who was travelling on her own so the three of us decided to spend the afternoon on a tuk tuk going around the outskirts of town looking at the local villagers making rice paper and rice noodles. It’s crazy – everything is sooo old school and simple. Open fires and pullies made of logs to carry the pots and big rocks to act as pistons to push the noodles through. It was so interesting to watch. Although passing by you’d never guess they were food making areas – they definitely wouldn’t be approved by health and safety – although I don’t think such a thing exists in Asia! We also stopped off the at old Pepsi factory which was abandoned during the war, but still has crates full off empty old school bottles! Then next stop was the highlight of tourism in Battambang – the Bamboo Train!
The Bamboo Train is basically a half hour ride full of clicks and clangs along warped and misaligned rails and bridges which were left by the French. Each ‘train’ is made up of a 3m long wood frame covered length wise with slats of ultra light bamboo that rests on 2 barbell like carriers that run along the track, which are connected by a fan belt to a small gasoline engine that sits on the back. It’s hilarious. It actually goes quite fast or at least it feels like it when you’re just sitting on an open piece of wood hurtling along! And the best part is when something comes along in the other direction you have to follow the rules. Which are whichever train has the more or bigger passengers has right of way so the other has to derail and let the other pass. So for instance cows beat people and 4 people beats 2 people. We had to derail twice. All in all it was really really fun – so much better than we expected.
The next day we spent chilling around town and I went to get my hair cut as it was getting out of control! I decided after looking around in the market the day before that it would be ok to get it cut there as they were really busy and all the locals hair was coming out really nice so I couldn’t go too far wrong. Off I went and picked a place and sat down and began to try and explain to a non English speaking person what I wanted. I showed her that I wanted about 2 inches off the bottom and that I had layers that I wanted to keep in too. Tymon wanted to help show her what I meant but I thought I had done a good enough job so let her to work! She started cutting and cutting and cutting and I could see the layers getting shorter and shorter and shorter! Tymon was saying that she had no idea what I was talking about and was just hacking away and said that it was looking awful. But it was too late and to be honest I really wasn’t that bothered. Truly! (I know it’s hard to believe that I didn’t care about my hair – but I knew it would grow back!) It did end up being ridiculously short and the layers have made me look like Rod Stewart or Jon Bon Jovi (Tymon’s personal favourite nick name for me now), back in their hey day and don’t get me started on the 1 cm of fringe she left me with, but at the end of the day it had had the weight taken out of it, the length shortened and I could still tie it up in a pony tail and clip the fringe back, which is my basic hair diet these days anyway – so no harm done really. As I said – it will grow back. But I do look funny! Let’s just hope the sun speeds up the growth!
We left Battambang the following day to head to our final destination in Cambodia – Ratanakiri. This is right up in the North East of the country and easy access to the border to cross into Laos. We were hoping to do some trekking here as it has a big jungle National Park, but after a very bumpy and dusty ride and checking out the deals the next day we realized that they were charging $60 a day for a trek (and you need to do at least a 3 day trek if you want to really enter the good stuff in the National Park) so we quickly threw that idea in the dustbin. So we settled for hiring a scooter and riding out to what is believed to be a lake that was created by a meteorite thousands of years ago, this being because it is so round. We had a nice walk around the lake which didn’t take too long and a swim to cool off which was lush!
The following day we hired a guide to take us out to the local ethnic minority villages. This was interesting although we did feel a little like we were walking around a human zoo. We were told that a lot of tourists go and that they are used to it and they get money from the guide, but to be quite honest they all had faces like smacked arses on them and looked like they really didn’t want us there at all. Even if we did buy several scarves from the local business as well. But it was very local and the villages were full of superstitions of local spirits and traditional rules and ceremonies for weddings and sacrifices etc. Thank the lord we didn’t see any sacrifices, except for some buffalo horns that were left over from the previous one. There were cows and chickens and pigs everywhere, although we did see one really sad thing. A group of tiny piglets were running after the mum to the mud pond and one was really struggling to walk. I thought it was the runt and would be ok but it just toppled over and revealed a big hole in its belly with its guts nearly falling out. It was soooo horrible! A local picked him up with a rag and put him in the pond with the others but then it started to drown!! I couldn’t look. He then fished it out with a stick and put it on the dry but it was obvious that this pig probably wouldn’t survive the day – and thank goodness for that really! I was practically crying as we left! We visited 4 villages and it is a very basic life. They have a water pump in the middle where everyone bathes and washed their clothes. There were naked kids and women with their breasts out and it was just such great moments to capture on camera – but you couldn’t take them. And I don’t blame them really – I wouldn’t be too keen on some random person coming into the bathroom while I was taking a shower and snapping away at my bits! But that’s not what it’s about – it’s about them living their life that is so beautiful to capture – not their boobs!! But oh well. It was a good experience to witness this and it was worth getting dust everywhere!! The track roads are a red dirt and it gets absolutely everywhere – we definitely looked like we’d been tangoed at the end of the day!
That night we spent a rather last minute dash sorting out our bus to Laos as we didn’t have a visa and all the books and websites said that the border we were going to cross didn’t issue visa on arrival. But there was no way we were going to go all the way back to Phnom Penh! But we finally found a hostel who booked our bus who promised that we could get the visa at the border. We then had to find a photo shop open (at 9pm at night) as we only had 2 passport photos and were told we needed 3 (and of course in the end we only needed one!), so we went and sorted that out and thankfully the store was open, before finally relaxing for the night. Big mistake on my part as I hadn’t looked into the crossing as we had originally planned to cross into Laos from Vietnam. But alls well that ends well (and it did!)
And that was it – the end of Cambodia. I have had such a wonderful time here and so far it has just ever so slightly (just over SA) taken first place as my favourite place on the trip so far. It has so much to offer and has truly been a wonderful experience!
So join us on our next adventure into Laos, which is supposed to be even more laid back that Cambodia. So I think we’ll be in danger of going backwards!
Take care and please keep emailing and sending us your news!
Love
xxx
On arrival we went for a walk looking for some lunch so we headed to the riverside as that’s usually where a lot of restaurants can be found. But there wasn’t anything in sight. We walked on and further down thinking that any minute we’d come across something, but no, there was nothing. We were trying to read a stupid map in the Lonely Liar trying to find a local backpackers hangout but couldn’t find it for love nor money so ended up crossing the river into an even quieter area and having lunch in a nice restaurant and playing pool all afternoon. The waiter was a nice guy and was telling us about the Bamboo Train and the route it does and the original train track that runs all the way down to Phnom Penh.
As we’d walked quite a way we got a tuk tuk back to the hotel and asked the driver to show us where the Smoking Pot was (the restaurant we were trying to find – it was no where near where the LP said it was supposed to be – typical!) We’d heard that they also do cooking classes and we were interested in learning some traditional Cambodian dishes so we booked that for the following day on the way back.
The cooking course was great! So much fun. We arrived at 9am and were doing it with 3 other people, so not too many cooks spoiling the broth. We walked to the market first to buy all the ingredients and he told us about all the different herbs and spices. It was great buying fresh coconut milk! But not so great buying fresh fish which was battered to death in front of us. Well not even death it seemed, just stunned before they started cutting it open and peeling the scales off but it was still moving!! I couldn’t look! I know I know – if I eat it I should be prepared to see it and the consequences – but I just can’t. Please let me be happy in my denial that no animals are harmed in order for me to eat meat! Anyway after we got all the food we headed back and began to prepare our first dish – the well known Cambodian Fish Amok. The preparation took longer than the actual cooking each time as we had to cut everything up into little pieces and the first dish was a success. We get to eat our meals after we cook them which meant eating 3 meals before 12pm but it was all so yummy – even my food!! The chef even said that my Fish Amok was better than Tymon’s – haha! The other dishes we cooked were Beef in Hot Basil (which was soooooo spicy – the chillies we used were lethal) and Hot & Sour Chicken Soup. All three were great and we came away with a big recipe book so be prepared people to be treated to some home made Cambodian cooking when we’re back!
We met a lovely girl called Mel on the course who was travelling on her own so the three of us decided to spend the afternoon on a tuk tuk going around the outskirts of town looking at the local villagers making rice paper and rice noodles. It’s crazy – everything is sooo old school and simple. Open fires and pullies made of logs to carry the pots and big rocks to act as pistons to push the noodles through. It was so interesting to watch. Although passing by you’d never guess they were food making areas – they definitely wouldn’t be approved by health and safety – although I don’t think such a thing exists in Asia! We also stopped off the at old Pepsi factory which was abandoned during the war, but still has crates full off empty old school bottles! Then next stop was the highlight of tourism in Battambang – the Bamboo Train!
The Bamboo Train is basically a half hour ride full of clicks and clangs along warped and misaligned rails and bridges which were left by the French. Each ‘train’ is made up of a 3m long wood frame covered length wise with slats of ultra light bamboo that rests on 2 barbell like carriers that run along the track, which are connected by a fan belt to a small gasoline engine that sits on the back. It’s hilarious. It actually goes quite fast or at least it feels like it when you’re just sitting on an open piece of wood hurtling along! And the best part is when something comes along in the other direction you have to follow the rules. Which are whichever train has the more or bigger passengers has right of way so the other has to derail and let the other pass. So for instance cows beat people and 4 people beats 2 people. We had to derail twice. All in all it was really really fun – so much better than we expected.
The next day we spent chilling around town and I went to get my hair cut as it was getting out of control! I decided after looking around in the market the day before that it would be ok to get it cut there as they were really busy and all the locals hair was coming out really nice so I couldn’t go too far wrong. Off I went and picked a place and sat down and began to try and explain to a non English speaking person what I wanted. I showed her that I wanted about 2 inches off the bottom and that I had layers that I wanted to keep in too. Tymon wanted to help show her what I meant but I thought I had done a good enough job so let her to work! She started cutting and cutting and cutting and I could see the layers getting shorter and shorter and shorter! Tymon was saying that she had no idea what I was talking about and was just hacking away and said that it was looking awful. But it was too late and to be honest I really wasn’t that bothered. Truly! (I know it’s hard to believe that I didn’t care about my hair – but I knew it would grow back!) It did end up being ridiculously short and the layers have made me look like Rod Stewart or Jon Bon Jovi (Tymon’s personal favourite nick name for me now), back in their hey day and don’t get me started on the 1 cm of fringe she left me with, but at the end of the day it had had the weight taken out of it, the length shortened and I could still tie it up in a pony tail and clip the fringe back, which is my basic hair diet these days anyway – so no harm done really. As I said – it will grow back. But I do look funny! Let’s just hope the sun speeds up the growth!
We left Battambang the following day to head to our final destination in Cambodia – Ratanakiri. This is right up in the North East of the country and easy access to the border to cross into Laos. We were hoping to do some trekking here as it has a big jungle National Park, but after a very bumpy and dusty ride and checking out the deals the next day we realized that they were charging $60 a day for a trek (and you need to do at least a 3 day trek if you want to really enter the good stuff in the National Park) so we quickly threw that idea in the dustbin. So we settled for hiring a scooter and riding out to what is believed to be a lake that was created by a meteorite thousands of years ago, this being because it is so round. We had a nice walk around the lake which didn’t take too long and a swim to cool off which was lush!
The following day we hired a guide to take us out to the local ethnic minority villages. This was interesting although we did feel a little like we were walking around a human zoo. We were told that a lot of tourists go and that they are used to it and they get money from the guide, but to be quite honest they all had faces like smacked arses on them and looked like they really didn’t want us there at all. Even if we did buy several scarves from the local business as well. But it was very local and the villages were full of superstitions of local spirits and traditional rules and ceremonies for weddings and sacrifices etc. Thank the lord we didn’t see any sacrifices, except for some buffalo horns that were left over from the previous one. There were cows and chickens and pigs everywhere, although we did see one really sad thing. A group of tiny piglets were running after the mum to the mud pond and one was really struggling to walk. I thought it was the runt and would be ok but it just toppled over and revealed a big hole in its belly with its guts nearly falling out. It was soooo horrible! A local picked him up with a rag and put him in the pond with the others but then it started to drown!! I couldn’t look. He then fished it out with a stick and put it on the dry but it was obvious that this pig probably wouldn’t survive the day – and thank goodness for that really! I was practically crying as we left! We visited 4 villages and it is a very basic life. They have a water pump in the middle where everyone bathes and washed their clothes. There were naked kids and women with their breasts out and it was just such great moments to capture on camera – but you couldn’t take them. And I don’t blame them really – I wouldn’t be too keen on some random person coming into the bathroom while I was taking a shower and snapping away at my bits! But that’s not what it’s about – it’s about them living their life that is so beautiful to capture – not their boobs!! But oh well. It was a good experience to witness this and it was worth getting dust everywhere!! The track roads are a red dirt and it gets absolutely everywhere – we definitely looked like we’d been tangoed at the end of the day!
That night we spent a rather last minute dash sorting out our bus to Laos as we didn’t have a visa and all the books and websites said that the border we were going to cross didn’t issue visa on arrival. But there was no way we were going to go all the way back to Phnom Penh! But we finally found a hostel who booked our bus who promised that we could get the visa at the border. We then had to find a photo shop open (at 9pm at night) as we only had 2 passport photos and were told we needed 3 (and of course in the end we only needed one!), so we went and sorted that out and thankfully the store was open, before finally relaxing for the night. Big mistake on my part as I hadn’t looked into the crossing as we had originally planned to cross into Laos from Vietnam. But alls well that ends well (and it did!)
And that was it – the end of Cambodia. I have had such a wonderful time here and so far it has just ever so slightly (just over SA) taken first place as my favourite place on the trip so far. It has so much to offer and has truly been a wonderful experience!
So join us on our next adventure into Laos, which is supposed to be even more laid back that Cambodia. So I think we’ll be in danger of going backwards!
Take care and please keep emailing and sending us your news!
Love
xxx
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Moments of a Lifetime
So, one amazing mural later (for which I actually pulled my weight and made a small contribution to), after lots of reading, eating (I must have easily gained half a stone here!) and video editing we reluctantly moved on from the Bodhi Villa to the next town, Sihanoukville.
Sihanoukville is the coastal party town of Cambodia where the ‘elite’ locals go to holiday and tourism is a bit like Southend in the summer!! In our old age we decided not to stay in town at the main beach but at a smaller beach about 7km out of town which had a much quieter & cleaner, clearer beach. It was really lovely with basic rooms on offer, some decent food and hot hot weather and sea. I swear the sea was like a bath by mid afternoon! So it will come as no surprise to you that once again we prolonged our stay and did pretty much nothing – haha. Lazing around on the beach, having a daily massage, (I even managed to get my eyebrows threaded!!! So exciting!)eating, drinking & reading (we’re both racing through books!) We did venture out on a scooter over 2 days to the main beach called Serendipity as we had heard of a small water play area in the sea called Splash which is basically like a soft play area for toddlers, only on an adult scale and in the sea. There was a big iceberg that you had to climb up on foot and hand rings, which was bloody hard, especially as the sea was rather choppy, and then jump down from 5 metres! I was very scared about this one and sat quivering at the top after hauling my ass up there!! But was proud that I did it – twice even!! There was a big trampoline, a big slide that you had to climb up the back of before shooting down which was great fun (my personal favourite) and then there was the floating ramp which you had to try and run all the way down before you ungraciously slipped or fell off. It was knackering! Just the swimming around from one object to the other was tiring enough, but it was really good fun.
The sad thing about Serendipity is that there are a lot of beggars - a lot. People without an arm or leg, or people without both legs shuffling along on cardboard seats (the most horrific I’ve just seen back in Phnom Penh – a man like this shuffling along the roadside with a small child laying across his lap!) and it’s awful, your heart reaches out to them and I find myself naively hoping that they can somehow have a better life in the future, that miraculously they will get the help they need to help themselves!
We went for a walk at sunset around a small local lake and I finally got the courage to ride the scooter! This time I didn’t have to worry about propelling myself into oncoming traffic as it was a deserted area and actually I found it much easier this time. I rode once round the lake and I was like a little kid grinning to myself all the way. I even rode back to the hostel with Tymon on the back snapping away – it was so much fun, although I’ll still leave Tymon to do any serious driving on the roads. I’m still a little cautious after the accident we saw.
So…a few more things I have noticed in Cambodia:
• There are little kids and puppies and chicks and calves and baby things everywhere! Everything is constantly reproducing.
• I don’t think you could find an original product (bags, watches, sunglasses, books even) if your life depended on it.
• When a group of women are talking all at once they sound like a group of chickens or gulls just like in ‘Finding Nemo’ when they go ‘Mine Mine Mine!!’ It’s very funny – the Asian languages are so funny! I’d love to know what we sound like to them.
• Sadly Cambodia has a very bad sex industry with a high rate of child prostitution & trafficking. A lot of Vietnamese children are sold to Cambodia to work and their pimps feed them heroin to keep them. We have seen a lot of older Western men walking around quite openly (how they have the nerve I have no idea) with young local girls (although not under age I don’t think, but they are still old enough to be their fathers) and it’s just gross! Cambodia also has the highest infection rate of HIV/Aids in S.E. Asia.
• An ox and cart is still used in the rural areas for farming and transportation.
• Little kids run around naked everywhere – they are very rarely dressed.
• I’m sure Cambodia (or Vietnam) must hold the world record for the number or people or objects piled into/onto one car or bike. It’s insane!
• Rubbish is ingrained in the land as much as the grass is.
• Kids are out working from the age 5 and younger. Any day of the week they are walking the streets/beaches/ruins selling you anything and everything. It’s so hard to see them begging you to buy a bracelet for what is just 50 EUR cent. No one seems to ever be in school. The only people who seem to get an education here are the monks!
• Cambodians wear pajamas as daily clothes.
So after soaking up as much sun as we could, as it’ll be the last beach place we will be at for a while until we reach Thailand, we packed our bags and headed back to Phnom Penh as we needed to get a visa extension. We’re loving Cambodia so much we just want to take our time here.
Next stop – Siem Reap, which holds the jewel of Cambodia. The Angkor temple sites which are the spectacular ruins of the old Khmer empire (not to be confused with the Khmer Rouge – the Khmer were an old civilization before all the blood and guts and destruction). Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples but there are so many in the area. We brought a 3 day entry ticket and planned our itinerary trying to dodge the crowds & which we were actually really successful at doing, before setting off to one of the remote temples that evening for a ‘free sunset’ from the top of one of the ruins as our ticket was valid but began officially from the following day. So we went to a temple called Phnom Krom. This temple is at the top of a hilltop overlooking Tonle Sap lake and the fields around. It was a steep 15 minute climb to the top which included a lot of sweating but it was worth it. My first glimpse at an Angkor temple – it was a very special moment. The view was incredible and as the sun set and the colours merged into one another from orange to red to purple across the sky, we toasted our exact half way point of the trip. (We also received a phone call from some friends in Holland – Remy and Sandra, who said they would call us on our half way date to celebrate which was really lovely!)
I won’t bore you with the details of each temple we visited – I couldn’t sum it up anyway and unless you are there in person it’s almost not worth talking about to someone. I mean a temple is a temple right? And to be honest they all do look the same. They might have all been built over 10 centuries under the rule of 26 different Kings, but they were all pretty much built in the same style. (I’m sure historians and specialists alike will scoff at my statement but to the untrained eye…)Obviously materials, carvings and size increased as the centuries went on and the civilization grew but they are all the same format of a temple of worship to the Gods whether it be Vishnu, Shiva, Buddha or other.
But anyway – as I said this was a very special moment for me. This part of our trip is one of the top highlights for me – like the shark dive and Kruger in SA and the glacier hike in NZ, it’s right up there. This is one of the things that I used to look at in books as a young girl and travel brochures. It’s one of the wonders of the world (although not officially) and it’s right up there with the likes of Machu Picchu in Peru! And as I have sat at sunrise or sunset on one of these temples, with the man of my dreams at my side, I have taken a moment to thank my lucky stars. I wouldn’t have missed this in my life time for anything!
The temples themselves are astounding and it’s mind boggling how they did this all by hand and the time it must have taken! They are absolutely massive and some of them such as Angkor Thom and its surrounding temples were complete cities. It’s hard work walking around them, with longs days and it involves a lot of climbing in the blazing sun at around 38 degrees so to say you sweat a bit is an understatement, but the carvings are beautiful and intricate. Some of them are in a real state with a lot of collapse and erosion and sadly theft – the black market for statues and stone is big business, but there are huge restoration projects going on at most of the temples to preserve as best is possible these wonderful buildings. My favourites were Phnom Krom for the views, Ta Prohm (the one were they filmed Tomb Raider) as it has trees that have grown out of the stones and literally taken over the buildings, which makes it very atmospheric, and mysterious, Preah Khan with it’s beautiful and really well preserved intricate carvings and of course Angkor Wat which you cannot help but be overwhelmed by for it’s sheer size.
So yeah – it’s been an AMAZING experience & we’re now heading to Battembang, which I keep calling Battenberg (like the cake) :0)
Keep checking the videos out so you can see what we have been seeing and share the moments with us and look at the photos.
www.youtube.com/meliketravelling
www.picasaweb.google.com/Me.Like.Travelling
Hugs to all
xxx
Sihanoukville is the coastal party town of Cambodia where the ‘elite’ locals go to holiday and tourism is a bit like Southend in the summer!! In our old age we decided not to stay in town at the main beach but at a smaller beach about 7km out of town which had a much quieter & cleaner, clearer beach. It was really lovely with basic rooms on offer, some decent food and hot hot weather and sea. I swear the sea was like a bath by mid afternoon! So it will come as no surprise to you that once again we prolonged our stay and did pretty much nothing – haha. Lazing around on the beach, having a daily massage, (I even managed to get my eyebrows threaded!!! So exciting!)eating, drinking & reading (we’re both racing through books!) We did venture out on a scooter over 2 days to the main beach called Serendipity as we had heard of a small water play area in the sea called Splash which is basically like a soft play area for toddlers, only on an adult scale and in the sea. There was a big iceberg that you had to climb up on foot and hand rings, which was bloody hard, especially as the sea was rather choppy, and then jump down from 5 metres! I was very scared about this one and sat quivering at the top after hauling my ass up there!! But was proud that I did it – twice even!! There was a big trampoline, a big slide that you had to climb up the back of before shooting down which was great fun (my personal favourite) and then there was the floating ramp which you had to try and run all the way down before you ungraciously slipped or fell off. It was knackering! Just the swimming around from one object to the other was tiring enough, but it was really good fun.
The sad thing about Serendipity is that there are a lot of beggars - a lot. People without an arm or leg, or people without both legs shuffling along on cardboard seats (the most horrific I’ve just seen back in Phnom Penh – a man like this shuffling along the roadside with a small child laying across his lap!) and it’s awful, your heart reaches out to them and I find myself naively hoping that they can somehow have a better life in the future, that miraculously they will get the help they need to help themselves!
We went for a walk at sunset around a small local lake and I finally got the courage to ride the scooter! This time I didn’t have to worry about propelling myself into oncoming traffic as it was a deserted area and actually I found it much easier this time. I rode once round the lake and I was like a little kid grinning to myself all the way. I even rode back to the hostel with Tymon on the back snapping away – it was so much fun, although I’ll still leave Tymon to do any serious driving on the roads. I’m still a little cautious after the accident we saw.
So…a few more things I have noticed in Cambodia:
• There are little kids and puppies and chicks and calves and baby things everywhere! Everything is constantly reproducing.
• I don’t think you could find an original product (bags, watches, sunglasses, books even) if your life depended on it.
• When a group of women are talking all at once they sound like a group of chickens or gulls just like in ‘Finding Nemo’ when they go ‘Mine Mine Mine!!’ It’s very funny – the Asian languages are so funny! I’d love to know what we sound like to them.
• Sadly Cambodia has a very bad sex industry with a high rate of child prostitution & trafficking. A lot of Vietnamese children are sold to Cambodia to work and their pimps feed them heroin to keep them. We have seen a lot of older Western men walking around quite openly (how they have the nerve I have no idea) with young local girls (although not under age I don’t think, but they are still old enough to be their fathers) and it’s just gross! Cambodia also has the highest infection rate of HIV/Aids in S.E. Asia.
• An ox and cart is still used in the rural areas for farming and transportation.
• Little kids run around naked everywhere – they are very rarely dressed.
• I’m sure Cambodia (or Vietnam) must hold the world record for the number or people or objects piled into/onto one car or bike. It’s insane!
• Rubbish is ingrained in the land as much as the grass is.
• Kids are out working from the age 5 and younger. Any day of the week they are walking the streets/beaches/ruins selling you anything and everything. It’s so hard to see them begging you to buy a bracelet for what is just 50 EUR cent. No one seems to ever be in school. The only people who seem to get an education here are the monks!
• Cambodians wear pajamas as daily clothes.
So after soaking up as much sun as we could, as it’ll be the last beach place we will be at for a while until we reach Thailand, we packed our bags and headed back to Phnom Penh as we needed to get a visa extension. We’re loving Cambodia so much we just want to take our time here.
Next stop – Siem Reap, which holds the jewel of Cambodia. The Angkor temple sites which are the spectacular ruins of the old Khmer empire (not to be confused with the Khmer Rouge – the Khmer were an old civilization before all the blood and guts and destruction). Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples but there are so many in the area. We brought a 3 day entry ticket and planned our itinerary trying to dodge the crowds & which we were actually really successful at doing, before setting off to one of the remote temples that evening for a ‘free sunset’ from the top of one of the ruins as our ticket was valid but began officially from the following day. So we went to a temple called Phnom Krom. This temple is at the top of a hilltop overlooking Tonle Sap lake and the fields around. It was a steep 15 minute climb to the top which included a lot of sweating but it was worth it. My first glimpse at an Angkor temple – it was a very special moment. The view was incredible and as the sun set and the colours merged into one another from orange to red to purple across the sky, we toasted our exact half way point of the trip. (We also received a phone call from some friends in Holland – Remy and Sandra, who said they would call us on our half way date to celebrate which was really lovely!)
I won’t bore you with the details of each temple we visited – I couldn’t sum it up anyway and unless you are there in person it’s almost not worth talking about to someone. I mean a temple is a temple right? And to be honest they all do look the same. They might have all been built over 10 centuries under the rule of 26 different Kings, but they were all pretty much built in the same style. (I’m sure historians and specialists alike will scoff at my statement but to the untrained eye…)Obviously materials, carvings and size increased as the centuries went on and the civilization grew but they are all the same format of a temple of worship to the Gods whether it be Vishnu, Shiva, Buddha or other.
But anyway – as I said this was a very special moment for me. This part of our trip is one of the top highlights for me – like the shark dive and Kruger in SA and the glacier hike in NZ, it’s right up there. This is one of the things that I used to look at in books as a young girl and travel brochures. It’s one of the wonders of the world (although not officially) and it’s right up there with the likes of Machu Picchu in Peru! And as I have sat at sunrise or sunset on one of these temples, with the man of my dreams at my side, I have taken a moment to thank my lucky stars. I wouldn’t have missed this in my life time for anything!
The temples themselves are astounding and it’s mind boggling how they did this all by hand and the time it must have taken! They are absolutely massive and some of them such as Angkor Thom and its surrounding temples were complete cities. It’s hard work walking around them, with longs days and it involves a lot of climbing in the blazing sun at around 38 degrees so to say you sweat a bit is an understatement, but the carvings are beautiful and intricate. Some of them are in a real state with a lot of collapse and erosion and sadly theft – the black market for statues and stone is big business, but there are huge restoration projects going on at most of the temples to preserve as best is possible these wonderful buildings. My favourites were Phnom Krom for the views, Ta Prohm (the one were they filmed Tomb Raider) as it has trees that have grown out of the stones and literally taken over the buildings, which makes it very atmospheric, and mysterious, Preah Khan with it’s beautiful and really well preserved intricate carvings and of course Angkor Wat which you cannot help but be overwhelmed by for it’s sheer size.
So yeah – it’s been an AMAZING experience & we’re now heading to Battembang, which I keep calling Battenberg (like the cake) :0)
Keep checking the videos out so you can see what we have been seeing and share the moments with us and look at the photos.
www.youtube.com/meliketravelling
www.picasaweb.google.com/Me.Like.Travelling
Hugs to all
xxx
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