The Temples of Angkor

When we first arrived in Siem Reap we didn't have a clue about how much it would cost to go around the temples, we thought we could walk around ourselves, earning us a few sniggers from the locals - the temple complex covers 390 square miles! Fortunately we had the good sense not to go with the first enterprising tuk-tuk driver we encountered, who offered us his services over three days for $80! After a couple of days weighing up our options, we ended up spending our three day temple passes ($40 each) as follows:

Day 1 - Half-day tuk-tuk sun rise trip
As we expected, the sunrise in the middle of monsoon season was not worth the 4.20am wake up call, it was black one minute, grey the next, however it did mean we were among the very first tourists arriving at the temples. We started at Angkor Wat, the most celebrated temple that even features on Cambodia's nation flag. I expected it to be bigger.

Angkor Wat at 7am

The next stop was the ancient walled city Angkor Thom, which once was home to one million people who lived in hutments around the temples. The main temple, Bayon, was much more enchanting than Angkor Wat, with it's crumbling walls and carved faces. 

Bayon, at Angkor Thom.

Carved faces of Bayon.

From Bayon we exited Angkor Thom via the East gate and stopped at two minor temples, Thommanon and Chau Say, and then Ta Keo, which we climbed to the top of in the powerful morning heat.

By 10:30 our tuk-tuk had whizzed us around to Ta Prohm, the 'Tomb Raider' temple. Unlike the other temples, Ta Prohm has not been restored to its former pristine glory, it is overrun with jungle: giant snake-like roots and creepers, and the stones from many of its walls lie scattered in piles on the floor. I loved this temple. It felt like another world, tropical, ancient and wild. The trees burst out from the walls, their roots twisting around door frames. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. 

The outer wall of Ta Prohm.

Demolished by nature; Ta Prohm.

After a long time exploring Ta Prohm we were pretty exhausted from the heat and our early start. We stumbled through Banteay Kdei temple before flopping into the back of the tuk-tuk and heading back to the hotel for a well deserved nap!

Taking a tuk-tuk on our first day visiting the temples a was great way to familiarise ourselves with the route and the distances before taking to the roads ourselves with bicycles.

[We booked a tuk-tuk through our guest house and paid $12 for the small circuit of the major temples. If you haggle with the drivers sitting around the Old Market in Siem Reap you can get expect to pay $10]

Day 2 - Late afternoon jaunt up the mountain
We used our second day of the temple pass to climb Phnom Bakheng mountain. The temple at the top of the mountain is dubbed 'sunset point'. Fortunately, after our grey-scale sunrise at Angkor Wat I managed to talk Ric out of going there for the sunset, and I'm glad too as it poured it down that evening! An easy 15 minute meandering climb brought us to Phnom Bakheng temple and the stunning 360 degrees view of the temple complex and Siem Reap. 

Angkor Wat is significantly more impressive from afar. View from Phnom Bakheng.

From the temple you can see the perfectly flat, green countryside that surrounds Siem Reap: paddy fields and forest as far as the eye can see.

We arrived at the temple at around 3:30pm and it was deserted, we had the wonderful view to ourselves. It didn't take long, however, for the crowds to arrive, competing for the best spot to watch the sunset. As the temple started filling up we made our way back down the mountain, passing packs of tourists power walking uphill for the much acclaimed sunset. At dusk, when the heavens opened, Ric and I shared a cruel laugh from the safety of our tuk-tuk at the poor fools crammed at the top of the hill.

Phnom Bakheng

Day 3 - Biking to the far out temples
On our third and final day of temples we bit the bullet and hired bikes for the day; at only $2 each it was much cheaper than a tuk-tuk! I was actually (secretly) dreading the bikes as it's so hot and humid here, but Siem Reap is completely flat, and even I was able to cycle around with little difficulty. 

We set off early, before it got too hot, and stopped at a roadside restaurant opposite Angkor Wat for breakfast. We then ambled around Angkor Thom; Baphuon temple with one entire side made out of a stone carved, reclining Buddah; the Terrace of the Leper King and Elephants Terrace. 

Our bikes at the north gate of Angkor Thom.

By the time we got to Preah Khan it was boiling, I was tired, and then I split my pants! So that pretty much signaled the end of my bike ride and I left with the shame of having flashed two dozen Chinese tourists.

Ric carried on and completed the entire temple complex on his bike! He returned three hours later with sun stroke and spent the rest of the evening in bed. 

Prae Roup, the last one Ric visited.

It took about half an hour to cycle to the complex at a leisurely pace, it wasn't a difficult ride. From Siem Reap to Preah Khan, one of the further temples, it takes about an hour non-stop. It took Ric eight hours to cycle around the full outer circuit of temples (starting and finishing in Siem Reap.) It's certainly manageable even for a novice cyclist like me. It was a nice way to experience the temples and we could go at a leisurely pace having already visited the main temples in a tuk-tuk on the first day.

Three Days in Sleazeville (Sihanoukville)

We spent three days in Sihanoukville, the Benidorm of Cambodia, where instead of stag parties, the tourists are all old, fat European men with tiny, young Asian girls.

Ochheuteal beach where we stayed is a nightmare; beach hawkers outnumber tourists by about 5 to 1 so the minute you sit down you're bombarded by offers of massage, manicure, pedicure, threading, sun glasses, bracelets, boat trips, and so on. The threading (hair removal) women are the worst "I show you no pay no problem" and they'd start threading my legs whether I liked it or not! If that wasn't bad enough we got a bag stolen on the beach while we were swimming, but fortunately it only contained a dress and a t-shirt.

In contrast, the two beaches on either side of Ochheuteal are lovely; Otres beach to the south is a long quiet beach with up-market resorts and Sokha beach to the north has pure white sand and is hawker free. 

Sokha Beach, Sihanoukville.

We checked into Big Easy Guest House first of all, a buzzy bar with shabby bungalows out back. The food portions in the restaurant were huge, great value for money but we checked out after the first night after a generator kept us up all night making a weird noise like a herd of donkeys! After that we thought we'd got lucky at a really quiet place called Chan Sovannkiry but it turned out to be one of the few hotels in the area that openly allows prostitutes to visit. I was kept up all night once again, this time by the repulsive English man in the next room negotiating and then entertaining his young Cambodian friend. 

It was a Buddhist holiday while we were in Sihanoukville and the beaches filled with Cambodian tourists. In the evening groups of families gathered on the beach to set off hundreds of fire works and light paper lanterns. We sat in the middle of it all and soaked up the atmosphere.

Although we'd planned to stay longer we couldn't take the sleazy atmosphere any longer, not even the $0.50 beers could persuade us to stay! We booked an over night bus to Siem Reap that promised five star luxury: private pods with TVs and wifi. We should have known better! We spent the 12 hour bus ride in a 2ft by 5ft coffin with no lights and the bus didn't even have a toilet on board!

First Impressions of Cambodia

The eccentric Austrian, who was actually an Israeli with an Austrian passport, soon turned into the tag-along from hell as we left the island with him in tow. It quickly transpired that he had no idea what he was doing or where he was going and so he followed us across the border into Cambodia, to the border island of Koh Kong - and checked into the same hotel!

The differences between Thailand and Cambodia were evident as early as the border crossing; the Thai official stamped my passport and handed it to me with a smile and a thank-you; at the Cambodian side three guys tried to take my passport off me and get my visa for me, the border official tried over charging us by $5 each and the taxi mafia meant we couldn't haggle for a cheaper fare into town.

After that poor first impression things got better. We checked into a nice hotel with a swimming pool for just $8/night and swam in the pouring rain. We visited the local market and stocked up on food: a baguette filled with at least six unidentifiable fillings, mangosteens, dragon fruit, lychees and BBQ chicken from a street vendor. In the evening we ate at a local street cafe and were excited to get free iced tea with our meal (which I believe is standard in most non-touristy Cambodian restaurants), then we went to a TV bar! Dozens of rows of chairs were lined up facing five flat screen TVs, each showing a different programme. There were no other women in there, just solo men or small groups, watching their chosen show. Ric got to watch football while I enjoyed the cheesey Thai pop music videos on another screen. We ordered two beers and instead were brought two iced coffees made with condensed milk, which turned out to be delicious.

TV bar.

Cambodia uses both the American dollar and it's own currency, the riel. This is really confusing. You can pay for something with a $10 note and be given 50,000 riels back in change. Or worse, they give you change in a mixture of both currencies. This is going to take some getting used to.

Also, randomly, a lot of women in Koh Kong were wearing pyjamas, the two-piece button-down patterned type. Shop owners, waitresses and people riding around on bicycles, all wearing pyjamas. Looks comfortable!

Early the next day we escaped the clingy Austrian/Israeli and caught a bus to Sihanoukville. The route took us through the Cardamon Mountains where we passed countless raging waterfalls and lush greenery.

Unfortunately Cambodia earned itself another strike when the bus driver made us get off the bus on the outskirts of town where we had to get motorbike taxis into the center. No doubt the moto-drivers offered him a share of the extortionate rate they charged us! 

The Lonely Island

I expected Koh Mak to be quiet - it is a small island and we're visiting during low season - but I was shocked when we were the only two tourists to get off the ferry at Ao Nid Pier! With no accommodation planned, we hung around at the pier for a while and were lucky to meet Nu, the manager of Monkey Island Resort. He gave us a lift to the resort and offered us a sea front room at half the usual price. Only later did we realise quite how lucky we had been; most of the resorts on the island are closed for the summer! We're the only guests staying at Money Island  Resort and I estimate we're probably two of about 10 tourists on the whole island. We literally have a tropical island to ourselves!

Our hut at Monkey Island.

The view from our beach hut.

There are no high rise buildings here, nothing taller than two floors. There's almost no traffic apart from a handful of scooters (that Ric will not be riding) and a couple of jeeps. There is no noise other than the sound of the waves and the birds. It may actually be paradise.

Where the island lacks people, it certainly doesn't lack animals. Each resort, restaurant and shop has a hoard of cats and dogs surrounding it and I can't tell whether they're pets or strays. One dog followed us home from the shop one evening and has faithfully stalked us ever since. We've named him Patch, (the same name we give to every dog we befriend), and he sleeps under our porch and comes to sit next to us wherever we go. Patch fell out of favour with Ric when we woke up to find our companion had chewed to pieces two of Ric's shoes. Two lefts ones as well, leaving him with two mismatched right feet!

We've mainly passed our time here reading, swimming and walking on the beach. Ric left me for three days to complete a PADI Diving Open Water Course with BB Divers which he really enjoyed, while I passed my time alone frying in the sun and trying to read Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

Scuba Ric.

We hired bikes for a day and explored, finding the rest of the island even more deserted than our empty stretch of beach. We rode through forests of trees where each tree had a little bowl attached to collect the sap, we got stuck in muddy jungle paths, and had to push our poor bikes up steep dirt roads. I enjoyed our biking venture but I think my cycling-aficionado boyfriend was bit put-out at having to ride a girls' bike with a basket and no gears!

Since arriving I've discarded shoes, my watch and any clothing other than a bikini and sarong. We're so chilled out that we've started to lose the plot; I accidentally covered myself in deodorant instead of mosquito repellent one evening and the other day I caught Ric applying toothpaste to his shoulders instead of sun cream! 

We found a restaurant that was open and ate there twice a day until the chef got over-friendly and started sitting at our table and flirting with Ric. He smelled like stale alcohol and smoked at the table while we ate. One night at said restaurant, waiting for our food to arrive and fighting off the attentions of the uninhibited chef, I noticed that my lips were burning. I assumed I'd got mosquito repellent on them and sought to sooth them on the cool glass of my chilled beer. When the burning intensified I wiped my mouth with a napkin and was surprised to find some small red specks on the tissue. On closer inspection of the beer bottle, I found it to be completely covered in chili flakes! No wonder my lips were burning, I'd attempted to cool them with the source of my pain! I can only imagine that Ric's admirer had set the trap out of jealousy! Definitely my least favourite person on the island!

The worst thing about this island paradise is the biting bugs: mosquitos, sand flies, horse flies, fire ants... Ric and I look like we have chicken pox we have that many bites on our bodies! No amount of repellent can keep them all at bay and worst of all, the sand flies are small enough to fit through the holes in the netting of our mosquito net!

After a week at Monkey Island we moved into a hut at Ao Pong Resort, right next to the pier on the other side of the island. We fancied a change of scenery and the room was cheaper. Our new accommodation is a bit shabbier than Monkey Island and is literally crawling with wildlife! At night the beach comes alive with hermit crabs wobbling to and fro, giant butterflies with wings like black lace make me think I'm on the set of Jurassic Park, crickets sing us to sleep at night and in our bathroom the walls are striped with living lines of red ants. If that wasn't enough I almost had a heart attack when I discovered a monstrous spider hiding under the toilet seat! On the bright side, we do have company here; an eccentric Austrian film-maker who filmed me and Ric for an hour while we sat around chatting our usual nonsense.

As if to signal the time for our departure, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. Heavy rain and thunder storms set in and we've been left stranded in the resort's restaurant, eating and reading books until the sea is calm enough for us to head back to the mainland. 

Toilet Troubles in Trat

From Bangkok we got a very fast minibus to Trat. I'm sure the driver was trying to break the land speed record: it took us five hours to get to Trat, it should have taken seven! 

Trat is a small town in south-east Thailand, a necessary stop for anyone heading into Cambodia, or like us, going to the Koh Chang Archipelago. There isn't much there other than a few guest houses and a really good market.

By day the market sells every type of household gadget and children's toy imaginable. By night it's a busy food market selling everything from yummy chocolate cakes to fried noodles to roast duck heads. We ate: octopus dough balls (Ric), sweet and sour pork and rice (Ric also had seafood), hoi sin soaked boiled eggs and a pancake topped with raisins, sugar, condensed milk and chocolate sauce.

Octopus dough balls at Trat's market.

Night market, Trat.

Accommodation was super cheap in Trat; £3 for a huge room and the food at the guest house was really good. However, contrary to the welcome message in the front of the menus, the owner was anything but warm and welcoming.

After visiting the evening market Ric and I sat in the restaurant playing cards when one of us had to go to the bathroom and blocked the toilet. As we were the only guests staying at the guest house, one of us decided to do the honest thing and confess to the owner the nature of our toilet troubles, so that we might clean it up. The "warm welcoming" owner scolded the guilty toilet blocker, saying that we must inform her when we are wanting to use the toilet (as you do!). She then turned to her friends, family and staff who were sat around her and translated the embarrassing incident to them in Thai. The owner and her entourage spent the remainder of the evening giving us filthy looks and expressing their disgust at our indecency. 

Luckily we didn't have to spend too long at the blocked loo guest house and the next day we caught a "fast and smooth high speed catarmaran" to Koh Mak, the smallest island in the archipelago. We were expecting to pay 550baht each for a taxi to the pier and the boat ticket, so imagine our delight when we discovered a special offer selling both for 300baht! Bargain!

Amazing Bangkok, Amazing House!

We finally made it to Thailand, home of the bum gun, gender ambiguity and my favourite kind of food. It may have taken us six months longer to get here than originally planned, but we're here, I'm excited to get back into some writing. 

Our Egypt Air flight was comparable to Ryanair. It sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half at Manchester Airport, leaving us with only 30 minutes to dash for our connection in Cairo. We flew to Bangkok where we stayed three nights in the ironically named 'Amazing House Guest House'. The only thing amazing about it was the price, at £5 per night.

I love Bangkok, in spite of its stifling humidity, for its distinct neighbourhoods that are so different to one another that you can feel like you're in a different city just by hopping across town in a taxi.

Bangkok, from the Chao Phraya River.

To get around we mainly used the river taxis that run up and down the Chao Phraya, at only 15Baht (30p) a time they're far cheaper than any tuk-tuk or meter taxi and it's a great way to see some of the sights along the river, such as Wat Arun, the Grand Palace and numerous other temples. There are four different lines that operate on the river, each with a different colour flag, we used only the orange boats as they seem to be the most frequent. 

River taxi.

We took a river taxi to China Town (Yaowarat), one of the city's oldest districts. Be warned that the boats don't hang around; you have to fight your way off during busy periods, else be stuck at the back and miss your stop - like we did! From the boat pier narrow winding streets lead past mechanic's work shops and heaps of engines to Wat Traimit. On the top level of the four tiered temple is a 5.5 tonne solid gold Buddha, the largest seated, solid gold Buddah in the world! (Entrance fee: 40baht, no short sleeves/short pants)

Solid gold Buddah at Wat Traimit

6% beer and duck noodles, mmmmm!

From the gold Buddah we crossed the road through China Gate to one of the cities most vibrant night markets. Both sides of the street were lined with food stalls, the pavements packed with groups of friends and families packed around plastic tables and chairs. It was so bustling that passers-by had to walk on the road. The market was a dizzying mix of bright lights, delicious smells and mystery foods. We settled on a bowl of hoi sin duck noodle soup from a stall conveniently set up outside a 7-Eleven shop, where we could get cold beers from inside and enjoy a blast of aircon every time the door opened! After that we had pork noodle soup - some of the nicest pork I've tasted, and finally finished with a scoop of home made tamarind ice cream. Most of the dished are priced between 30-50baht (60p-£1).

China Town food market.

Another famous Buddah of Bangkok is the 32m high gold-leafed statue at Wat Indraviharn, about 20 minutes walk north of backpacker central Khao San Road. We managed to get in for free as it's low season and the ticket office was closed! Outside the temple there are women selling tiny cages stuffed with birds, "Give freedom to the birds for good luck", and nearby there are similar women with plastic bags containing terrapins "Give freedom to the turtles for good luck". It's hard to know which is worse, paying the £2 to set the animals free and financing the cruel trade, or not buying them and allowing them suffer on.

Signs indicated that we should leave offerings of "eggs, flowers and fish of the mackerel kind" at the feet of the giant Buddah.

Big Budddah at Wat Indraviharn.

The clouds cleared on the day we visited Wat Arun, and the temperature reached a scorching 40 degrees. We used the river taxi again to get to the temple and paid the 50baht entrance fee. I'd come prepared with my sarong to cover my exposed legs but that wasn't enough for the prudey guard who insisted I cover my shoulders too. Unprepared to hire a scarf, I not-so-discretely whipped off my skirt from under my sarong and used it as a shawl. I don't know if the guard was amused, impressed or offended at my resourceful technique but he let me in with a sly smirk. The temple is really beautiful, decorated with a porcelain mosaic and depictions of the Buddah. We climbed the very steep stairs up to the top and enjoyed the beautiful view.

Wat Arun.

Looking north from Wat Arun.

Once the sun had started to sink behind the sky scrapers we venture out again to the Siam district where my parents will be staying in the New Year. Siam is the modern, expensive area of town where we cooled off in air conditioned shopping malls and felt drastically under dressed compared to the city's upper classes. On the streets surrounding Central World shopping centre we found a Korean market!  We felt strangely at home surrounded by Korean food stalls, clothing and make up.

Siam district from outside Central World.

Eight Months Later

It's been a long eight months since Ric and I crashed a scooter and mangled his leg up in India, but I'm pleased to announce that after two operations on two different continents, three months of bed rest and five months of physiotherapy Ric Stopher is officially mended!

We tested his newly repaired tendons out last week with a 12 mile hike in the lake district in torrential rain and Ric proved that his fitness levels are far superior to mine even after his injury by dragging me up and down various hills for almost six hours!

We're incredibly lucky to be able to finish off our trip more or less where we left off and are looking forward to flying out to Thailand in just under two weeks. I've been planning our return trip to Thailand since we went there two Christmases ago as I absolutely loved it. Inspired by our trip to the lakes, we've bought a tent to take with us in the hope of doing some camping on a remote Thai island.

In the meantime I'm enjoying the British summer in Huddersfield and spending time with my lovely little nephew.

Lake Windermere

Camping at Low Wray campsite, Ambleside

View over Windermere from our rainy hike.

Nice spot for a picnic in the sun, Marsden, Huddersfield

"Hello I'm Jake and I love mud!"

Life On The Other Side (Of The Pennines)

In spite of all my foreign travel, I've never actually lived anywhere in England other than Manchester, I've never even left the great grey metropolis of Swinton, so it is noteworthy that since returning to England in October, I've been living  with Ric in Huddersfield, ont 'uther side o t'ills!

Taken from our bedroom, beat that Swinton?!

He didn't romantically ask me to move in with him, we're past that. It was just a given that he'd need someone to do his washing until he could walk again!

The train station before Christmas

Ric's just about walking around again now but I'm sticking around. It's nice to see green hills and yellow stone cottages when I leave the house instead of row after row of red brick semis, and sometimes there's even a glimpse of that magical, clear, blue sky that Mancunians learn about in school, but very rarely get to see.

A showery walk along the canal 

It's not all blue skies and rainbows though, I have encountered some problems: 

Finding a job in a small town is much harder than when you live in a big city, especially if you don't have a car. This is the reason I'm still unemployed (or retired, as I like to think of it).

The local graveyard looking wintery.

There are communication problems too, no one understands me when I've had a drink and my high pitched Manc accent shines through. And they call barms teacakes and teacakes are current teacakes... lunatics!

New Year Ramblings

After three months back in England I'm suffering a severe bout of wanderlust, accompanied by acute itchy feet syndrome. 

Ric had further surgery on his leg at the beginning of December and has been in a cast for the past month. In a week's time we should know how successful it was and how much physiotherapy he's going to need. Which in my mind translates as 'how soon can we pack up and get on the first flight out of here.'

We were supposed to be in Vietnam now, exploring ancient ruins and being horrified by the history. Instead we're in Huddersfield playing endless card games and watching far too much TV.

I worked briefly for a local "business man", who stopped answering his phone when it was time to pay me, and although I've been offered teaching work I've have had to wait six weeks for my criminal record check to be processed. Our savings that were designated to be spent in Brasil in a months time are steadily being eaten away by the high cost of living in England.

I am grateful, however, for the unpredictability of my life. This time last year we were in Korea, having just returned from Thailand. I don't know where I'll be in six months or a year's time, and even though that's unsettling, I still prefer that to the alternative; knowing that I'll be in the same place, with the same job, repeating every day for the sake of being normal. 

In order to protect my brain from the too much TV (from turning completely to mush), I have made the [New Year's] resolution to learn things. While my friends are all doing masters degrees, on the job training and career development stuff, I'm studying Portuguese, re-learning the periodic table of elements, listening to an audio book about Hiroshima and reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. It may not get me a top job, but it will improve my chances of winning the pub quiz. 

To conclude... 2014 has gotten off to a sluggish start, if indeed it's even started at all. BUT I'm sure there will be lots of chaos to come, where ever that may be, and I can't wait to see where the world takes us. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

India Vs. England: The Cost of Living

Sitting at Ric's house, unemployed in England, trying to entertain ourselves with card games and endless TV series, it occurred to me how much it would cost us to live as we did in India, in England.

An Average Day India (for 2 people): 
- Breakfast would be something cheap, like fruit, bread or some mystery snack from a street vendor = >£1
- We'd hop in a rickshaw across town to a palace or temple we wanted to visit = >£1
- Entrance to tourist attraction/temple/palace = £4
- For lunch we'd share a meal and have a drink each = £3
- Afternoon activity could be walking around a park, playing scrabble by a river or sitting in Cafe Coffee Day drinking ice lattes = free or >£2
- Evening meal we might splash out on something nice = £6
- Hotels averaged £3 - £6 per night
- Extra spends for drinks/snacks etc = £3
Daily cost for two people = £26

Indian Thali, enough for two people and cost less than £1

Now imagine that in England (for two people):
- A cheap breakfast (fruit or bread) = £2
- A taxi to somewhere within 3 miles = £3
- Entrance to a tourist attraction = £10+
- Cost of one dish in a standard restaurant plus two drinks = £10
- Two iced lattes in a cafe = £4
- Nice evening meal in a restaurant = £25
- Hotels start at about £40
- Extra spends for drinks/snacks = £5
Daily cost for two people = £100

So for the cost of one day in England, we could have four in India!

Happy 2014 everybody!