Cambodia - Siem reep

Day 9

• We thankfully landed in Siem reep after getting a very colourful propellor plane.





• The hotel we were staying in was really nice and in the afternoon we sunbathed by the pool to recover from the journey.

Day 10

• We visited the Bayon temple (three faces temple) which was absolutely amazing.


• We then went to the elephant temple and got an icecream which was just what we needed as it was extremely hot.


• Swimming pool visit pm


• I got a Cambodian massage (dressed in pjs!) which was a very strange experience as the lady started ounching my feet and legs and pulling my fingers. However, afterwards I did feel relaxed and pain free!

Day 11

• We visited a few more of the local temples, at one point I was surrounded by about 7 street children all aged about 10 and under asking where I was from and saying they new the capital city.


• We saw the tomb raider temple which was amazing how all the tree roots grew between the stone.


• We then took the bus back to the hotel but the air con was broken and when we adventually got off the bus the outside temperature seemed cool even though it was about 35 degrees


• Swimming pool pm


• In the evening we went shopping and bought lots of dresses!

Day 12

• We left the hotel at about 5.30am to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat temple. On the way we passed the free childrens hospital and saw loads of children queing up outside to get an entry ticket.


• The sunrise was beautiful though it was quite difficult to get a picture without a tourist being in the photo!!


• We then had a guided tour around the temple and were astonished how steep the steps were that they used to climb.


• swimming pool pm as were feeling a bit templed out!


• We also had a visit around the childrens hospital and gave blood ( all legit don't worry - prob cleaner than an english hospital!)


• We had dinner whilst watching s..... dancing - local dancing in costume.

Cambodia- Phnom Penh

Day 7

• Arrived in Phnom Penh after a bumpy bus journey at about lunchtime.





• In afternoon went on a cyclo tour around Phnom Penh visiting various temples and the palace, though i spent most of the time worrying about how close the mopeds and cars were getting to us!! We also saw a random elephant walking down the middle of the street!

Day 8

• We went to the Khmer Rouge prison, which was shocking. They still had photos of every person they killed, as they didn't have time after the war to discard of the evidence. We were horrified that they even killed the babies! Also we couldnt believe how recent it all took place! The only picture I took was of the rules they had to follow.





• We also visited Choeng Ek - the killing fields, which was the mass grave of thousands of people. When we walked around bits of the clothes still remained in the soil and a few of the bones did aswel.





• On a slightly happier note we had the afternoon free and we decided to walk to the central market (not as good as previous markets we have been to) and one of the temples where there were lots of monkeys in the trees. This walk was when the phrase 'Ladies tuk tuk' got drummed into our heads!

Rice Candy

Delta

Mekong Delta

Vietnam

Street Children

Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City

Day 4

• arrived about 11pm and booked into a horrible room. We got no sleep as we couldnt work the airconditioning so we had to sleep in hoodies and joggers.

Day 5

• Took a taxi to our hotel where we started the cambodia experience, we were shocked at how crazy the traffic was, there were mopeds everywhere one person was carrying a mattress on the moped!
• We walked around the city, then had a drink in the park and met our first street kid who took our empty cans off us.
• I then went for a vietnamese hair cut for a couple of quid and had to vietnamese ladies blow dry it and straighten it for me.
• At about 6pm we met our group leader Erin and then went out for a meal with our group of about 15 ppl, who were mainly from Canada. On the walk back to our hotel we saw our first cockroach and rat!!

Day 6

• We took a short bus journey to the Mekong Delta, which was basically shanty towns on the side of the river. We took a boat along the river witnessing the loical lifestyle- very dif. from the uk!! We then got off the boat and were shown how rice candy was made and tried some jasmine tea.
• Our boat got stuck in the shallow part of the river, so we had to get into smaller boats and got to try on the cool triangular shaped hats!

Hong Kong

Day 1

• Met Caroline at the airport as planned.
• Took public transport to Stanley (their house) so we could get used to travelling around on our own, the first thing that hit us was how many skyscrapers there were!
• Went out for a drink in local pub 'Smugglers Inn' to celebrate sineads birthday

Day 2

• We had a look around Stanley market in the morning and bought a few goodies.
• Then we went to the ladies market in Mongkok in the afternoon, though there was a thunderstorm and we had to run from store to store.
• For dinner the housekeeper Beth cooked us a traditional chinese dinner.

Day 3

• We took the star ferry to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha, though we got absolutely soaked and freezing, so we gave in and had a starbucks coffee.
• The buddha was hidden behind the clouds so we decided to have an early lunch in the monastery with our vegetarian lunch tickets. However, the meal was absolutely disgusting and probably put us off food for our entire travels- we still have nightmares about it!! All was made better when I managed to get a sneaky picture of a monk!
• We then went on a short walk along the wisdom path, which was meant to be by a restaurant, though the restaurant was desolate and then we came across a really scary stuffed doll thing so we headed swiftly back!!
• We held our stomachs all the way on the bumpy bus journey back to the ferry.
• We met Caroline and Simon for dinner at Simons work BBQ. Before dinner we had a game of Majhong
• After dinner we had a look around the night market, which is where we got some amazing pics of the neon lights.

Day 4

• We had a lay in as Hong Kong generally doesnt get up until about 10 or 11. Caroline and Simon then took us out toa posh restaurant where we had DimSum. I tried jelly fish which wasnt the tastiest of foods!!
• We then took a tram to see the peak, fortunately the view was good as the sky had cleared.
• We then visited stanley market again to get postcards etc.
• Simon drove us to the airport and got a flight to Ho Chi Minh city.