Cambodia: part two

Bamboo Island, Cambodia June 2011



The next part of our journey started in Phnom Penh; cambodias capital city. This was the first real city we had been in for about six weeks, so it was nice to arrive. Here we met up with friends and did some drinking. Inbetween these activities we squeezed in some sights and learned about cambodias dark past. The s-21 genocide museum and killing fields of chouek (not so good hung over) were really moving.

We headed for the coast next for our first beach time. Thias turned out to be a slight disaster as our first day in the koh kong conservation corridor was heavy rain. Due to the weather we couldnt make it to the islands here but managed to go see the largest mangrove forest in south east asia. This turned out to be pretty impressive.
Next stop Sihanoukville, a beach town with beautiful white sand coves and a lot of prostitutes. The town was quite sleazy and the weather a bit wet, but we still  managed to get sunburnt in true brit style. The surrounding islands were also really scenic though the water was a bit murky for snorkelling.
Kampot was the next place along the coast. Another wet bus journey saw us in to the town where we decided the rain wouldn't stop us doing what we wanted. So we donned ponchos and rented a scooter to take us out in to the surrounding countryside; which was beautiful. A highlight of this was getting a crew of six together and doing a day trip of over 100 kilometers to kep. The crab market in kep did some of the best sea food we have ever eaten.
Back up to Phnom Penh to meet Amy and Abby some school friends and have our last Cambodian meal; Beef lok lak and fish amok delcious. (tina i hope your writing this down).

Photos from Cambodia

Cambodia - part one

Angkor wat at sunrise, june 2011

We arrived in Kratie after an interesting boarder crossing - the bus got stuck in the mud, and the crossing was still being built, so we had to walk into Cambodia.
The first night we went to see the rare Irrawaddy river dolphins, it was a bit wet but still good fun. Day two was an eventful day. A man approached us and asked if he could take us and a friend around koh trong island on his horse and cart (for $6). This included fishing and lunch cooked by his wife, a great start to Cambodia. That night we were woken at 1am and told to evacuate our hostel as the market directly opposite was on fire. We spent the night outside, the fire turned out to be really bad but noone was hurt physically.
Cambodian people are super friendly but a little pushy at times. We witnessed this first hand in Siam Riep where everyone greets you at a run with shouts of "hey laydeeeee, gentlemaaan you buy you buy". The temples of Angkor were amazing, we arrived at 4.30 for sunrise and by mid day were exhausted.
Our next stop was Battembang where we did a day of touring the countryside in a tuk tuk. This was very bumpy but we saw some really interesting khmer rouge strongholds and caves.

It is SOOOO hot here.......

photos from cambodia

The temples of Angkor

Southern Laos

Before heading south we went to the capital of Laos Vientiane. Because of it being so expensive we decided to do the city and its sights in one day on a moped. This was great fun but incredibly tiring. However, five minutes in to the bus journey out of Vientiane I  (alex) deleted the photos of the whole day, woops.

From there we went all the way down the Mekong to Pakse, from which we took a bus directly to the small town of tat lo in the coffee growing region of the Bolaven plateau. Tat lo is named after a waterfall in the centre of the village. In the evening we went to watch the villagers washing clothes and children playing in the waterfall. We arranged to do a half days trekking with a local guide. This was really good, walking through tiny villages, waterfalls and crop fields.
Pakse was our next stop, this only merited an over night stop so we headed south to Si Phan Don (4000 islands).
Don Det in the 4000 islands turned out to be a great place to stop off and we ended up lingering longer than expected drinking cheaper than cheap whisky and lying in hammocks reading all day. Cycling on the neighbouring island of Don Khon was great also.

 A perfect ending to Laos...

Southern Laos Photos

Northern Laos

Luang Prabang May 2011

From chiang khong thailand we crossed over in to Laos, the boarder crossing was basically two sheds either side of the river. We were quite proud of ourselves as we seemed to have chosen a different route through Laos to our fellow travellers crossing the boarder. This pride came with some nerves as we didnt know what lay ahead. After two buses, a boat and a day and a half of travelling we were at our first destination. Muang Ngoi Neua is a peaceful little town with no electricity that is accesible only by boat. Although a little hot at night it was a great place to see the slow pace of life in Laos and meet the friendly local people. From Muang Ngoi we took a stunning boat journey down the Nam ou and Mekong rivers to the ancient city of Luang Prabang, a place that is very difficult to dislike on arrival. Delicious food, a great night market and temples dotted between everything make Luang Prabang an instant highlight of Laos. (Although the delicious food did make me very ill).

Our next stop in Laos is Vang Vieng, a small town notorious for drinking and debaucherie. The biggest draw for us was the climbing which was great but of course we had to do some tubing too. (Tubing = to get a tractor tyre inner tube and float down the river stopping at bars to drink lao whisky and do various activities) Although not the nicest town, Vang Vieng is surrounded by beautiful countryside so could eisily have been overlooked, but luckily not we had fun.

We are now heading to the capital Vientiane and then on in to southern Laos.

Laos Photos...more to come

Northern Thailand

Mae Hong Son. May 2011

We arrived in bangkok at 11am and it was already 35 degrees so the decision was made to stay somewhere with a pool, luxury. On our second day in bangkok we bumped in to a guy we had met in china and decided to head up north together. Northern thailand is really relaxing, especially compared to china, so most of our time was spent doing just that. In Chiang mai we did a cooking course with some friends then headed to Pai, The local bus ride to Pai was  four hours over some of the steepest landscape imaginable. Pai is a chilled little hippy town with nothing to do but chill and explore the beautiful countryside. The place we stayed was being run by a french muay thai fighter who spent the day tending to what he reffered to as his 'bong buffet'. The coffee in northern thailand is really good so Alice has been very happy, and the quality of food goes without saying really. The only downside has been getting eating alive by mosquitos. Today we head in to laos...


Photos from northern thailand

Beijing

Beijing is HUGE. We learned quickly that a small section of map was a very long walk. I had blisters on the first day, woops. There was barely a moment to rest in beijing. Our days were packed full of sightseeing and eating huge mouthwatering dumplings.

The great wall was incredible, we took a ski lift up to the top of the wall, and a tobbogan down (this reminded me of skiv family tobboganing trips)

We went to a famous peking duck restaurant, where we spent more money on a meal then we had in two weeks on food. Duck heart was on the set menu and was actually pretty tasty.

Our last day in beijing was spent cycling around the city, getting lost and exploring all the hutongs.

beijing photos

xi'an

Xi'an city walls, April 2011

Xi'an is a breath of fresh air after being in the hectic city of shanghai. People are more friendly and the food is incredibly cheap. This was one of  our biggest surprises in china as we were not expecting much from xi'an but would both recommend it to anyone.

The muslim quarter was an area filled with narrow streets and tiny local restaurants selling the best noodles we found in china. Wondering these hectic enclaves was great fun at night and like most of china that is when xi'an comes in to its own.

The terracotta warriors were interesting to see although maybe not what we liked most about xi'an. Our luck with hostels has been great in china, all of them being super clean and with good communal areas to meet other travellers. We did a dumpling making class for free one night in our current hostel.

The best day in xi'an had to be cycling around the city walls on a tandom bike and getting sunburned (not so fun).

Xi'an Photos