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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Tha Kek

Didn't really do much here as it wasn't the nicest of places, my hotel room was right next door to a brothel and a family of cockroaches had taken up resident in the bath!






Sunset was good tho!

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Kong Lor Cave

Early start for the drive to Kong Lor.



Headed straight to visit the cave, a 7.5km tunnel running beneath an immense limestone mountain.
3 people to a longboat we set off up river to enter the eerie black cavern. In some parts the cave was 100m high and pitch black thankfully we all had our head torches to see the amazing stalactites and the boat guy knew where to go. As it was dry season we had to get out a couple of times to push the boat through the shallow water.
After a quick swim in the river it was nice just to sit out on the balcony with views over the tobacco fields.


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Tad Leuk

Spent the night here in the national park, Phou Khao Khouay NPA. Our accommodation for the night was a mat on the floor, between the waterfall and the jungle. No running water or electricity here! Dinner cooked in one pot over a campfire.
Plenty of beasties all around, including snakes and monkeys, think I slept with one eye open!


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Vientiane

Stopped in Vientiane the capital of Laos, visited the city's main attractions, Patuxai, which is Vientiane's replica of The Arc de Triomphe.



Pha That Luang, the golden stupa, the most important national monument in Laos, which is printed on the bank notes and a beautiful temple next door.




Quick visit to the night market while the sun was setting over the Mekong before heading out for dinner.
Ended up in a club called At Home, excellent techno, we were all having a great night until the boss chucked us out as the prostitutes were dancing with us and not working!



Next morning we visited the inspiring COPE centre, which educates and raises awareness of the victims of unexploded ordinance. Over 260 million sub-munition bombies and bombs were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973, sadly 78 million failed to explode. Since the end of the war more than 12,000 people have been severely injured or killed. We watched a very moving film showing the centre train the villagers on how to identify, remove or safely destroy the bombs they find and it was heartbreaking hearing their stories.


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Vang Vieng

Another excellent journey over the mountains to Vang Vieng, stopped at a viewpoint which I think was at one of the highest points, highlight tho was using a Laos squat toilet with an open view!









Arriving into Vang Vieng I wasn't expecting it to be so busy after all the tubing bars were closed down so it was a pleasant surprise to see so many people!
We all got a few takeaway beers and headed off up stream in a tuk tuk with our tubes!
It was so relaxing just floating down the Nam Song river, there was one bar opened riverside so we stocked up with more beers and carried on our journey.

Quick stop next morning to visit the Tham Jang caves!




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Luang Prabang

Took a slow boat from Nong Khiaw down the Ou and Mekong river to the centre of Luang Prabang.
Stopped off at Tham Ting caves on route.



After checking into my accommodation we headed to Kuang Si waterfall park!



Lots of waterfalls and large pools for swimming, water was freezing but really refreshing.

There are more than 70 buddhist temples in Luang Prabang, i managed to visit a few.


Got up early one morning at 0500 to watch the monks daily Tak Bat, sometimes around 300 monks leave the varies monastery's very early, they walk single file with the oldest first carrying their alms bowls in front of them and lay people kneel along the route and place food in the bowls.
I was really looking forward to viewing this ritual from a distance but was disgusted by lots of other tourists who were only there for a photo opportunity and were physically getting in the way of the monks, making lots of noise, using flash cameras and were in appropriately dressed, such a shame!

Climbed the 300ish steps to the top of Mount Phousi, was going to stay to watch the sunset but it got far too crowded so left early!

Enjoyed my few days in Luang Prabang, lots of nice bars with chill out gardens, The Hive and Utopia were pretty cool, shame they close at 11pm, if you want a drink after this time everyone heads to the bowling alley for beers and funnily enough some bowling.


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Nong Khiaw

Longest day of travel ever, 7 hours on the bus on one of the bumpiest, windiest dirt track of a so called road, up and down the mountains and through the jungle, the spectacular views definitely made up for it tho!

Arrived into Nong Kiow and was so glad just to chill out in my hammock outside my hut with fantastic views over the river!







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Luang Namtha

Sunrise over the Mekong river.

After queuing at the border we were officially stamped out of Thailand, 3 minute boat journey across the Mekong and stamped in to Laos were we met the Stray bus!



Stayed in a home stay in a small village near Luang Namtha. Very basic traditional Laos housing, one large room to eat and sleep in with the toilet outside, no running water or gas.








As soon as the bus arrived in the village we were met by all the kids and taken to our families. We were given traditional Laos sarongs to wear and we went down to the river for a swim.

Dinner was delicious and cooked over a coal fire, sticky rice, pumpkin, chicken, spinach, fish, omelette and 2 extremely spicy dishes! We ate using our fingers by using the sticky rice to pick up the other food.



Lots of beer lao got passed around and laolao, which is rice whiskey!

Later we joined up with all the other families around a camp fire and played games with the kids, got them addicted to Star Wars Angry birds!

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Chiang Khong

Drove to the border town of Chiang Khong this afternoon stopping off to visit the most magnificent and unique White temple Wat Rong Khun.


Unfortunately inside you were not allowed to take photos, the walls were all spectacularly hand painted depicting scenes of good and evil with lots of modern twists.

So last night tonight in Thailand, up early to cross over the Mekong river and in to Laos.
Don't think i'll be getting much sleep here tho, sharing my room with 2 extremely noisy geckos and a whole orchestra of beasties outside the window!

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Chiang Mai

Stayed at the Eco resort, nice hotel with a great swimming pool, loads of mosquitos tho so glad I had my net!

Went to the night market which is on every Sunday. Sat and had some street food, had one of the local dishes, not sure what it was called but it was like a spicy curry noodle soup with a leg of chicken, veg and pork scratchings, very nice!

Next day I was picked up by Kai Pong a Muay Thai boxing instructor and spent the day training with him.
Bloody hard going!
After a extremely painful rub down and got my toes taped up, we started our warm up with 30 laps around the gym, skipping, press ups and jumping on tyres.
For the rest of the day we worked on the punchbags, practising kicks, knees, elbows, punches and on the mat for some sparring!









An amazing work out but can hardly move today, entire body is in agony!

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Ayutthaya

Met up with the Stray Asia group at their office on Soi Rambuttri, group of 12, 6 Norwegians and 6 Brits, all very friendly.
Headed by mini bus to the town of Ayutthaya, took us just under 2 hours.
Quick stop to dump our bags, grab some lunch and then we all hired bikes to travel around the varies sites and temples!
I've never been great on a bike but soon got the hang of it again!









Later we just chilled out in a bar, enjoyed dinner, a few beers and a couple of games of shithead (called idiot in Norway).

We left Ayutthaya at 10pm on the overnight bus, good comfyish reclining seats, a blanket, water and a snack, so with headphones on the journey to Chiang Mai passed surprisingly quick!

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Bangkok

Staying near Phra Sumen Fort in the Banglamphoo area. Sat in the park next to the Chao Phraya river watching the boats go past and the sun setting, very peaceful.
The near by Khaosan Road and Soi Rambuttri haven't changed since I was last here, still busy, still mental, but a great place to sit and enjoy a beer or two and people watch.


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Koh Samui Airport

One of the nicest airports I've been in, all open plan with beautiful well kept flowers and gardens.


Sitting in courtesy corner using the wifi and enjoying the lovely complimentary food and drinks, lots to choice from, sandwiches, cakes, pizza, sticky rice, popcorn, different juices, milks, teas and coffees!

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Koh Samui

Bit overcast today so an early morning walk along a nearly deserted Chaweng beach.




Visit to the Big Buddha, known locally as Wat Phra Yai.




Next stop was to see the Grandfather and Grandmother rock formations, Hin Ta and Hin Yai, unfortunately as it was a bit choppy Grandmother was under water!


A folklore of Samui Island tells the story of an old couple by the name of Ta Kreng (Grandpa Kreng) and Yai Riem (Grandma Riem) who lived with their son in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. Since their son had come of age, they felt that it was time he got married.

“One day they decided to sail to the neighbouring province of Prachuap Khiri Khan to ask for the hand of the daughter of a man named Ta Monglai. During their sea journey, their boat was seized by a storm. The old man and his wife were unable to swim ashore. They died at sea, turning into rocks as proof to the would-be bride's parents of their true intentions. The rocks stand there to this day."

Last stop was to visit the mummified monk.






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Muay Thai kick boxing

Went along last night to Phetch Buncha Samui Stadium to watch some kick boxing.

Got a ticket in the cheap seats but as I got there earlier had probably a better view than most, stadium filled up quickly and at 2100 the first of 8 fights started.

Fighters were from all over the world, Thailand, France, Switzerland, Italy and England.

Jeez, these guys were hard as nails, pretty impressive fighting.




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