The Journey Begins

09/01/2011

Well I'm finally doing it!!! I have talked about travelling forever in a day and now I'm off on an adventure with my daughter Eden around the world. Yes some might say I'm nuts and why am I doing this and some might say awesome but who cares what some say, there are no rules to this wonderful thing called LIFE ….. In my opinion life is too short and there is a big wide world out there to explore and try to understand.

 Our first leg of our journey was a nine hour flight to Singapore. Despite a bit of turbulance and a few noisy kids the flight was good. Singapore airport is huge and beautifully designed with tropical foliages and tumbling waterfalls. We arrived in Singapore about 4:30pm to full on sticky sticky heat aaaah.

We got a shuttle bus to our accomodation and after being shown to our room for the night we were directed to a great eating place called Sing Ho Chicken Rice. Yum it was yum and so cheap. Back to our room for a much needed sleep. See you in the morning Singapore.

10/01/2011

Set out to explore the city. Firstly little India. It was basically that a little India in Singapore.

It was a fasinating place full of street vendors and markets selling their wares.Lots of colours and aromas.They like to hound you though to buy their goods. I'm going to have to get good at haggling!!! Tried a few interesting Indian sweets then off to Kampong Glen area which is the Muslim area. Had a bite to eat then made our way to the famous Raffles Hotel for a Singapore sling or should I say Singapore empty your wallet!!! Aaaaagh an orange juice and a sling cost me $42.50, lets just say I won't be doing that again but that it had to be done.

Back to the hotel to get ready to go to airport.

Well the hotel at the airport must have misunderstood me when I made the booking but after a long drawn out procedure it was sorted. A big thank you to the airport staff . I must say the staff at the airport were unbelieveably helpful. If you ever have any travelling problems make sure they are at the Singapore airport because you will be well looked after.

Thanks Singapore for a lovely time.

11/01/2011

After four hours sleep we were up and on our way to Siem Reap. We were greeted by our Tuk Tuk driver who drove us to our hostel. The roads are crazy. Everyone shares the road, the road rules are mad, actually it doesn't seem to be many if any road rules. Its mad but it kind of suits the place.

After a much needed rest we took a couple of bikes and decided to venture out on the street.

At first it seemed a bit daunting but it didn't take long to get the hang of it. It's quite amazing nobody gets injured but everyone just darts and ducks around each other. It's really a sight.

The roads are full of people selling there wares, everyone is trying to get by .There is no welfare system here so if you haven't got a job you're on the street begging. It is very prevalent here and dam sad.

In the evening we arranged for a massage in our room. These two tiny Cambodian woman massaged us. Was it relaxing aaaah Nah. It was a good pain though. Man for little ladys they sure were strong!!! I was told later that it was a proper Khmer massage which involves getting right in there, not the lovely Swedish massage that we know of.

12/01/2011

Temples of Angkor here we come. We set off on our trusty push bikes and made our way to the temples. They are truly one of the wonders of the world. Truly amazing. Words can't descibe. Many of the temples have been ruined by the Khmer Rouge, all of the Buddhist statues have had their heads knocked off.

Around the temples the local people sell there wares and boy are they pushy.You just have to glance their way and they are on you. These people are extremely poor so you can understand their desperation. Being hounded all the time does take it's toll, you have to be very patient but boy is it tiring.

After visiting Angkor Wat we headed to Ta Prohm. Famous for Tomb Raider. We enjoyed this more than Angkor Wat. It was a hidden jungle of vines and fulling temples and tree roots enveloping and erupting out of the stone work. Wow a giant adventure playground!!!

peekaboo

Ta Prohm

yipee

We didn't get to see half of the temples it is a huge area, but what we did see was truly amazing.We biked back to Siem Reap. We are incredibly exhausted this travelling thing really is hard work.

13/01/2011

We headed into the heart of Siem Reap town today. We are trying to be conscious shoppers. There are many places where you can help the people of Cambodia. Bascically all of it helps but there are some that truly benefit the ones that need it the most. We bought a couple of things where the proceeds help organizations working in disadvantaged communities to provide training education opportunities and life skills to Cambodian woman and children. We bought these money belts called hipsters. They are hip!!! We also bought some bags which are entirely made from recycled materials. They are made out of animal grain sacks. It's so awesome to see this thing happening.

We had an interesting day we got a foot massage by real live fish. You put your feet into a fish tank and all these little fish come and massage your feet. It was tickly at first then it felt great. Then we got a blind massage which helps fund the blind schools. AAAH now this one really hurt but it was meant to and I did feel good afterwards. Will I get another one aaaah probably not!!!! All this massaging made us hungry so we ventured to the Alley which is very much the upmarket part of town. It reminded me of Wellington. We had a Khemer babecue which consisted of our very own personal cast iron barbecue in the centre of our table and a selection of foods to cook on it. Aaaah sorry all you vegetarians we tried snake and crocodile.

It was actually really nice and so much fun.

14/01/2011

Up at the lovely time of 5am to catch the boat along the river Prek Taol to Battambang. We left about 8am and didn't arrive til 6pm. It was noisy, uncomfortable but boy it was worth every aching muscle especially in the rear regions.

We passed numerous floating villages. Wow it is truely fascinating how these people live. They rely on this river for their survival. They live on it, swim in it, wash in it, drink from it, fish from it and you guessed it do their business in it. How the other half live. We passed so many gorgeous children waving and blowing kisses at us. My experience so far of the Cambodian people is that I have found them to be very warm and friendly and they have a great sense of humour.

As we approached Battambang the rubbish along side the river got increasingly bad. They just seem to tip it over the side of their properties into the river, yet they use the river to swim, wash and eat?? It doesn't make any sense. They seem to be very heavy polluters here. I don't think the environment is at the top of their agenda. It is a shame and I'm finding it hard to comprehend.

15/01/2011

Hired Mr Tuk Tuk for the day and ventured out to the bamboo train. Basically it is a bamboo platform resting on barbell wheels, if that's what you call them. If there is another coming the other way one train has to be manually lifted off the line. Hard heavy work. It took us down through harvested rice fields and stopped at an area where of course they were selling drinks etc.

It's very hard work with people wanting your money all the time. It's everywhere, and even though I understand this it is extremely tiring.

We were greeted by this lovely boy called Ho and his friends. They showed us around the back of the rail line to a brick factory. He showed us the massive brick kilns where the bricks are fired. He had made some clay animals and gave Eden and I a chicken and a bird. So sweet and kind. After a Khmer language lesson, we can now say hello, goodbye and thankyou very much, we headed back the way we came.

Our next port of call was Phnom Banan 358 steps later. Phew!!! Hot work. It is a temple reminiscent of the layout of Angkor Wat. The view was pretty impressive. It was well worth the climb.

Onto Phonm Sampeau and the killing caves, where 100s of Cambodians were blungeoned to death. We were taken by motorbike up to the mountain. We would have walked but it was getting late. The sun goes down really early here like 6 30pm, but I tell you the sunsets are magic.

Our guide Phen talked about the history of the place and showed us down into the cave where the killings took place. There was a glass enclosed memorial full of human skulls and bones. It was heart breaking. The Khemer Rouge blugeoned the people and threw them down this big gapping hole overhead. I can't even begin to explain how we felt. It was heartbreaking to see and hear.

After we were taken to the summit where there stands Phonm Sampeau a complex of temples with gorgeous views.

Back into Battambang.Our day has made us hot, exhausted and emotional.

hot heavy work

posing

the killing cave memorial

16/01/2011

We headed out for breakfast and we ended up at a cafe called none other than Eden!!!!

Great coffee and poached eggs.

We decided to take a day out from being a tourist so we just blobbed. Well and truly needed.

17/01/2011

Preparing again for another long trip!! This time to Phnom Penn the capital of Cambodia.It took over 6 hours to get there!!!!! Unfortunately we have arrived in Cambodia when all the rice has been harvested so not one lush paddy field in sight. Oh well you can't have everthing. The bus ride prooved to be rather noisy. They had a tv screen playing really really bad Asian music,trying very hard to be like Americans. Asians trying to do rap and hip hop is hilarious!!!!

Arrived to a hustling bustling city. They love their motorbikes. The fumes are revolting its the case of covering your mouth or gagging!!! You don't see many Cambodians walking. Actually I haven't seen any!!!!

banana man

Our accomodation is fab, we are off out to find something to eat we are starving.