So, lets get the travelling situation out of the way first, before explaining where we have been, and what we have seen.
Currently, Alex and I are travelling with 2 guys from Germany, one called Hannes who we originally met in Hampi (India) and his friend, Toni, who met up with Hannes for South East Asia. Ant, on the other hand, is currently travelling with a guy from Thailand called Sab, whom he met in Thailand on new years eve. Sab is pretty loaded, as he gets given money by some guy from Singapore for coming on holidays with him. It works out great for Ant as Sab is paying for everything for him, including the 5 star $260 dollar a night hotel. Not that I'm jealous, in our $2 a night hostel. Ant is now in Vietnam, so hopefully we will meet up with him there.
First stop in Cambdoai was Siem Reap, probably the most famous place in Cambodia for being home to the place they dub (like a hundred other places we have visited) the eighth wonder of the world, the Angkor Wat temples. We hired bicycles and travelled out there, occasionally hitching rides on the back of tuc tucs. It was a great day cycling around, temple to temples, stopping once to feed the monkeys some banannas a local kid sold us. The first temple we saw, the most famous was impressive, and supposedly the largest in the world. However, it would be more interesting with a guide to explain the carvings to you, but being lowly travellers thats the kind of luxury we do not extend to ourselves.
Our favourite temple was the one where some of Tomb Raider was filmed. Nature is slowly taking over, as huge tree roots snake their way through the ruins, making for some crazy sights. Whilst it is amazing, the pictures make it look better than it is. In Hampi you felt like a proper explorer, climbing over temples without another soul in sight. In Angkor Wat there are lots of tourists around, and your imagination cannot run away with you as much when a Chinese person shoves past you hitting you with their 20 inch camera lens on the way past.
The rest of our time spent in Siem Reap was less exotic. We played counter strike in an internet cafe a few times (England vs Germany of course) and got a couple of fish spa's ($1 for 20 minutes with a free beer). The Germans had friends who are also travelling who we met up with and one turned 20 years old whilst sat in a fish spa. That was a surreal experience for me, sat with a beer in hand, having my feet nibbled by fish, whilst a group of Germans sat around me singing happy birthday in German.
After we had exhausted the extensive cultural opportunities of Siem Reap we travelled down to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Don't get any mistaken ideas of a bustling metropolis however, it isn't particularly busy. I met up with Ant that night to watch Man United in a bar. Sab came and kindly bought me a few beers and some tea. The next night they came on a night out with us and Sab paid for all our drinks pretty much (including a $40 bottle of gin) as well as paying for Hannes to get completely into a fish spa.
Our cultural experiences in Phnom Penh involved going to the killing fields, one of the sites where Polpot murdered thousands of Cambodians as part of his genocide. The tuc-tuc drivers offer a trip there as part of a package where afterwards you go to a shooting range, which seems like some kind of sick humour. It is essentially just a field, but it has a great audio guide explaining everything, making it worth a visit. The worst bit is the teeth lying on the floor, where the rains have washed them up from the mass graves, or the killing tree, which soldiers used to swing babies against before chucking them into the graves.
Whilst in Phnom Penh it was my mums birthday...happy birthday mum.
We moved onto a place I cannot pronounce or spell next...please wait whilst I google the name...thank you...Sihanoukville. When we arrived we could not find a room for love nor money. It was Chinese new year and the place was packed. Eventually a guy in a hostel told us he had been sleeping in the attic of a bar, so we headed there and slept there for a few dollars. It was literally wooden floorboards, with a plastic mattress but it was better than sleeping outside.
After a few beach days we rented scooters and headed out to some waterfalls. Whilst crossing over one Alex fell over and lost his sunglasses and a sandal over the edge. We managed to retrieve the sandal but the sunglasses are probably sitting atop a 5 year old Cambodian kid. I happened to catch Alex mid fall in a photo.
The day after I went diving with Hannes and Toni which was a lot of fun. for $65 you got a 2 hour boat ride, breakfast, 2 dives, lunch, and a 2 hour boat ride back. I had a really bad stomach (if you know what I mean) and everytime I equalized I nearly followed through. I was sick on the boat on the way back, and for some reason felt the need to explain to everybody that 'Im not sea sick'.
And that almost takes us up to today. We are now in Kampot, where we will explore some caves in a national park before moving onto Vietnam.
We are having a great time, and hopefully we will meet up with Ant again soon. 150 days down...so far so good.
Currently, Alex and I are travelling with 2 guys from Germany, one called Hannes who we originally met in Hampi (India) and his friend, Toni, who met up with Hannes for South East Asia. Ant, on the other hand, is currently travelling with a guy from Thailand called Sab, whom he met in Thailand on new years eve. Sab is pretty loaded, as he gets given money by some guy from Singapore for coming on holidays with him. It works out great for Ant as Sab is paying for everything for him, including the 5 star $260 dollar a night hotel. Not that I'm jealous, in our $2 a night hostel. Ant is now in Vietnam, so hopefully we will meet up with him there.
First stop in Cambdoai was Siem Reap, probably the most famous place in Cambodia for being home to the place they dub (like a hundred other places we have visited) the eighth wonder of the world, the Angkor Wat temples. We hired bicycles and travelled out there, occasionally hitching rides on the back of tuc tucs. It was a great day cycling around, temple to temples, stopping once to feed the monkeys some banannas a local kid sold us. The first temple we saw, the most famous was impressive, and supposedly the largest in the world. However, it would be more interesting with a guide to explain the carvings to you, but being lowly travellers thats the kind of luxury we do not extend to ourselves.
Our favourite temple was the one where some of Tomb Raider was filmed. Nature is slowly taking over, as huge tree roots snake their way through the ruins, making for some crazy sights. Whilst it is amazing, the pictures make it look better than it is. In Hampi you felt like a proper explorer, climbing over temples without another soul in sight. In Angkor Wat there are lots of tourists around, and your imagination cannot run away with you as much when a Chinese person shoves past you hitting you with their 20 inch camera lens on the way past. The rest of our time spent in Siem Reap was less exotic. We played counter strike in an internet cafe a few times (England vs Germany of course) and got a couple of fish spa's ($1 for 20 minutes with a free beer). The Germans had friends who are also travelling who we met up with and one turned 20 years old whilst sat in a fish spa. That was a surreal experience for me, sat with a beer in hand, having my feet nibbled by fish, whilst a group of Germans sat around me singing happy birthday in German.
After we had exhausted the extensive cultural opportunities of Siem Reap we travelled down to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Don't get any mistaken ideas of a bustling metropolis however, it isn't particularly busy. I met up with Ant that night to watch Man United in a bar. Sab came and kindly bought me a few beers and some tea. The next night they came on a night out with us and Sab paid for all our drinks pretty much (including a $40 bottle of gin) as well as paying for Hannes to get completely into a fish spa.
Our cultural experiences in Phnom Penh involved going to the killing fields, one of the sites where Polpot murdered thousands of Cambodians as part of his genocide. The tuc-tuc drivers offer a trip there as part of a package where afterwards you go to a shooting range, which seems like some kind of sick humour. It is essentially just a field, but it has a great audio guide explaining everything, making it worth a visit. The worst bit is the teeth lying on the floor, where the rains have washed them up from the mass graves, or the killing tree, which soldiers used to swing babies against before chucking them into the graves.
Whilst in Phnom Penh it was my mums birthday...happy birthday mum.
We moved onto a place I cannot pronounce or spell next...please wait whilst I google the name...thank you...Sihanoukville. When we arrived we could not find a room for love nor money. It was Chinese new year and the place was packed. Eventually a guy in a hostel told us he had been sleeping in the attic of a bar, so we headed there and slept there for a few dollars. It was literally wooden floorboards, with a plastic mattress but it was better than sleeping outside.
And that almost takes us up to today. We are now in Kampot, where we will explore some caves in a national park before moving onto Vietnam.
We are having a great time, and hopefully we will meet up with Ant again soon. 150 days down...so far so good.
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