Siem Reap

Siem Reap, Cambodia was the final destination on my travels, having fallen in love with the town and people 2 years ago on a previous holiday, I was excited to be back.




Not much had changed, still enjoyable to wander round the Old Market and The Night Market. Pub Street was still there with new neon signs, Angkor What? Bar with its repainted graffiti walls still competing with Temple Bar across the street on who could play the loudest music.




Thursday nights at 2030 Warehouse bar hosts a good quiz night, pitchers of beer for the winning team and garlic vodka shots for the losers, with money raised from the quiz going to local NGO projects.

My favourite night spots were X rooftop bar with its half pipe, Doghouse and Karma bar. Met some great expats who also fell in love with the place and have made it their home, mucho jealous!




Beer still only 50 cents!!

Plenty of fantastic restaurants serving pretty much everything for every budget, lots of Khmer bbqs which u cook your own food on a small grill on your table, beef, pork, chicken, crocodile, frog, squid and snake!!
Taste of India for an amazing curry!
Molly Malone's for more western style food with great live music. Sushi bars, French, Italian, Belgian, loads of street food stalls and not forgetting all the happy pizza places!

Unfortunately there was still a lot of beggars and hawkers, young children selling postcards, books, flowers etc all day and late into the night. The biggest scam was young girls not looking for money but milk for their babies, they want you to buy the milk from a store but once you are gone they give it back to the store and receive half the cost and the shop gets pockets the other half.




I attended a one day workshop on child protection which is run by a not for profit organisation called ConCERT (connecting communities, environment and responsible tourism), they advise tourists on how to be responsible with sustainable ways to help. Anyone can pop in to see them at their base in the centre of Siem Reap or at the Bodhi tree riverside cafe or check out their website.
www.concertcambodia.org

25km north of Siem Reap near the Banteay Srey temple complex is The Cambodia Landmine Museum. The museum and relief facility was established in 1997 by ex child soldier Aki Ra. After years of fighting he returned to the villages in which he planted thousands of mines and began removing them, by hand and defusing them with homemade tools.
The museum tells Aki Ra's story in great detail and money raised supports a community of nearly 75 men, woman and children and in the ongoing clearing of landmines.




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Power Cut, Siem Reap

When the temperature is over 35 degrees, the last thing you need is for all the power to go out!

For several days we were without power as a truck had crashed into the main power lines wiping out all power to the town.

No air con, no fans, no lights, no wifi, some were even without water. Only a few places had generators.

Thankfully after 6 days, power was restored.


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Location:Siem Reap

Build Your Future Today Centre

Siem Reap is surrounded by the amazing temples of Angkor.

It is also one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia, home to more than 900,000 villagers in 900 villages.




I have been volunteering at The Build Your Future Today Center which was set up by Professor Long Sedtha. Sedtha was just 19 when the brutal dictator Pol Pot was ousted, it was while searching for survivors of his own family that he came across the many thousands of young children left orphaned by Pol Pot's army.
Sedtha took as many orphans as he could to a refugee camp in Thailand where he spent 12 years as a teacher and UN volunteer. He set up the BFT centre to support orphans and build sustainability in disadvantaged Cambodian communities.

Ongoing projects :

-Community Education and Development :- helping to eliminate illiteracy by improving the quality of teaching and learning.

-Child Support Centre :- providing public school education, food, shelter, clothes, health service and activities to orphans and poor children so they can grow up in a safe and secure environment.

-Community Health and Nutrition Development :- improving nutrition, hygiene, sanitation and community health.

-Community Peace Building :- Monks working to reduce family violence, providing moral education, counselling and promoting family integration.

-Community Capacity Building and Livelihood Improvement :- Reducing extreme poverty and hunger by providing life and business skills in the supported villages and communities.

I have been truly inspired by the amazing work and dedication of all the staff and volunteers at BFT which they have been able to achieve with limited funds and resources and have seen first hand what a difference it makes out in the villages and communities.

For more information about BFT or if you'd like to make a donation please visit their website

www.center-bft.org









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Phnom Penh

So it was time to say goodbye to Laos and to some really good friends.
Short boat trip from Don Det to the mainland to catch the bus into Cambodia. As bus journeys go it wasn't too bad, even the border crossing went smoothly, 14 hours later we arrived into Phnom Penh.

After staying in some really basic accommodation in Laos it was time for a treat so booked into a 4 star hotel overlooking the Tonle Sap river with a swimming pool.

Phnom Penh is a huge city but really easy to navigate as the streets are on a grid pattern and all numbered.
Visited the main temple, Wat Phnom, which is set on a 30m hill (the only hill in town) and according to legend was erected in 1373AD to house 4 Buddha statues discovered by a lady named Penh, hence how the city got its name, Phnom Penh. Next it was off to visit The Royal Palace and silver pagoda but that was closed for lunch so it was back to the hotel to chill at the pool with a nice cold beer!



Noodles for dinner from the night market, food always tastes great when it costs less than $1.


After the market it was off to Rainbow bar, owned and run by 2 lovely guys Jit and Sith, every Saturday at 2130 they have a drag show, bloody fantastic!


Was not looking forward to visiting Tuol Sleung genocide museum and The Killing Fields but as its a huge part of history it had to be done.

From 1975 to 1979, through execution, starvation, disease and forced labour, The Khmer Rouge systematically killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians.

On 17th April 1975 Pol Pot turned Tuol Svay Prey high school into the biggest prison and called it security office 21 (S21) Tuol Sleung.


Several thousands of victims, doctors, teachers, engineers, monks, students. Basically anyone accused of opposing the the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime were imprisoned, gruesomely tortured and executed along with their wife's and children. Their ghostly prison mugshots were on display in the old classrooms. The tiny cells on the upper floors, pictures of torture and death in every room. Not for the squeamish.



15km away lies Choeung Ek village, The Killing Fields, this is just one of many places where Pol Pots followers slaughtered people in their thousands and buried them in shallow mass graves. An extremely moving audio tour takes you round the site. Everyone walked zombie like around the area, listening to their headphones with a look of horror and tears in their eyes.
Still to this day you can see bits of bone, teeth fragments and clothing in the ground.



The picture above is the Memorial Stupa where the remains of Choeungs Ek's victims are preserved and on display!

After a very depressing day it was off to find somewhere showing the rugby Scotland v Ireland, and we couldn't have found a better place, Paddys Rice Irish Bar, they even sold Bulmers cider!!
Good night had by all, well except for all the Irish in the bar, lol.

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Don Det

Left Pakse early this morning to enjoy the slightly cooler temperatures whilst exploring Laos second world heritage area, Wat Phou, an ancient Khmer temple (similar to Angkor Wat but without the crowds).



Then it was off to Don Det, 4000 islands, the last stop on my trip in Laos.

Hired a bike for 10,000 kip and cycled 40 mins over to the next island, then a short boat trip out to the middle of the Mekong to see the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins, shame there is not many of them left.

Done a spot of fishing, was hoping to catch a giant Mekong catfish but only managed to snap my line twice and bugger the reel.

Been good to chill out here after all the travelling but will be sad to say goodbye to everyone as we go our separate ways tomorrow.

Cambodia here I come!




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Pakse

Slight hangover this morning after all the laolao last night but it soon lifted after visiting the 120m high twin waterfalls of Tad Fane.



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Xe Champhone

Visited the local market to pick up food and supplies before heading to an amazing home stay in the monkey forest. As the bridge has never been completed we had to ditch the bus and our bags and wade through the river to the island.
The island is home to a sacred forest full of Rhesus Macaque monkeys who definitely enjoyed the bananas we brought them.

Quick stop to visit turtle lake where soft shelled turtles are revered by the locals. Also visited a 200 year old Hotay Pidok Buddhist library with scriptures written on palm leaves.

We sat up quite late playing games with the kids and then some games of cards with lots of laolao doing the rounds.
Excellent night!

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