PERTH!!!

Hello everyone! I know I haven't updated my blog in AGES and I have a whole chunk of my travels to update you on so I am just going to quickly skip back to Cambodia!!!

So from Phnom Penh we went south to Sihanoukville. Oh my god i never realised Cambodia had places like this!!! We stayed on Serendipity Beach in a little guesthouse for like 3 quid a night and it was right next to the beach! After our mammouth journey through Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, we really made the most of this beautiful chill out spot and relaxed on the beach for a few days! Cor... travelling is so hard sometimes!! :) The nightlife was brilliant here, after sunset all the beach bars and restaurants come alive! Most of the restaurants have bbq's on the beach and the bars are open late, and get VERY wild! The beach was perfect, lovely white sand and clear blue sea... but the beach sellers were in full force here! Literally every 2 mins there were women pestering us with massages, fruit, pedicures, doughnuts... THREADING!!??!! For those of you who dont know, that is a form of hair removal using tiny threads to rip the hairs out... i couldn't belive they were offering threading on a Cambodian beach... they all insisted my legs were too hairy and i needed it but i just turned up my ipod and ignored them!! Keeps the mossies away thats what i say! There were young girls selling bracelets, beads and books and loads of people begging with no legs/arms and even a blind man wandering around with his young girl trailing after him asking for money. Very sad.

So from Sihanoukville we headed up to Siem Reap.. the home of the famous Angkor Temples and i would probably say this was one of the best travel experiences of my trip so far. It was amazing... we got a tuk tuk driver who just drove us around all day .. there are over 100 stone temples in all, the most famous of course being Angkor Wat. The temples were built by Khmer civilisation between 802 and 1220 AD and walking around them is just mind boggling! So we wandered around Angkor Wat, then around Ta Prohm - the site used for the location of Tomb Raider - this was my favourite, it has been left in just the condition it was found, deep in the jungle, trees have grown up through the temple and they look amazing! We then went on to see the Byon temple which is known for its huge stone faces which kind of smile to you! I found this a very happy place to wander around.. me and Mike were fascinated by this, a very impressive sight! Then we climbed to the top of one temple, a long HOT and tiresome trek but was well worth it as we watched the sun set over Angkor Wat whilst a few monks wandered around next to us! Ahhhh... an unforgettable experience!

As for Siem Reap itself - i loved it!!! Despite being dropped by our dodgy bus right on the outskirts of town and having to make our way in to town and avoid the nagging touts, we found a nice place 2 stay. Cant remember what it's called now! The markets are excellent here and me and Mike purchased a couple of nice scarves which are made locally, very cheap! The bars & restaurants are nice.. good selection but we ate every night and the delicious food stalls which were SO cheap! Oh how i miss the little food stalls of Asia with their plastic cups and chairs!!! :)

The only downside to Siem Reap was the amount of kids begging on the streets. But they weren't just begging... they would literally GRAB me and Mike and try to TAKE us to the shop to buy them things or reach for our pockets/bags to try to rob us!!! And not just one or two of them.. it would be a whole herd of them all together charging at us! I had to rescue Mike on a couple of occassions as he's just too nice!! Sad though. their mums encourage them to do it!

So we left Siem Reap for Bangkok on a terrible bus journey. Now i had heard this was a bad route to take (Katy - i did listen to you i promise!) but we figured nothing could be worse than our 28 hour Laos to Vietnam ride. We were squidged into this tiny van/bus with no storage space for bags and about 25 backpackers when i swear the bus could only hold about 10! there were bags above our heads at the back, in the aisles, stinky backpackers everywhere all sweating bcs there was no air con on the bus!!! HAHAH!! good memories now though!!!

So, we got back to Bangkok and stayed on our favourite Rambuttri St (for the food stalls of course) and waited for Sar to return!! WOOO!!! We found a room which we called our penthouse! It was the top floor of a hostel, we had a shared bathroom etc but still... we loved it! The room could have fit 5 people in so we had a choice of beds even!!!

So,with all the excitement of Sar coming back, me and Mike decided to get tattoos!!! HA! and when sar did arrive, she decided she wanted one too so we all went back and sar had her first and me and mike had our second! we naturally had to have a few changs first!!! :)

So, next we made our way to Koh Lanta on the west coast of Thailand. We got a cheap bus from BKK and wish now we'd spent a bit more as it turns out my ipod speakers and sar's towel and glasses case were stolen. VERY annoying seeing as this is how we've been charging our ipods, and we miss music SO much! Lanta is a beautiful island but i'm afraid we had a bit of bad luck here. We rented motorbikes and Mike ended up having a bad fall as a result of some crazy europeans driving on the wrong side of the road, and later on the SAME day, Sar fell off hers too! Mike went to hospital and Sar to the doctors surgery. Luckily some lovely Thai families were around just when they fell and took time out to take us to hosp/docs and waited until we were sorted and drove us back! They wouldn't accept any money either! They were both bandaged up with wounds to their shoulders, hands, arms, knees and feet and could hardly walk! I had to clean and dress the wounds daily so we stayed on Lanta until they felt a bit better. We would literally hobble out to get some food then hobble back!! Funny! Anyway.. before the accidents we werehaving a lovely day! We went to a viewpoint which was stunning, and to the old Lanta Town and tothe sea gypsy village - the home of the first settlers on the island and are still there now!

When they had recovered, we moved on to Malaysia - a absolutely beautiful island called Langkawi.. oh my god PARADISE!!! a very strong muslim presence here- similar to Koh Lanta and southern Thailand - which meant most of the restaurants didn't serve alcohol but we made up for that with some beach parties! The only downside here was it was VERY expensive - particularly bcs it was the run up to xmas and lots of Malaysians come here the the holidays. We stayed at Amzar motel which was ok. We couldn't do much really bcs Sar and Mike were still healing from their injuries so we just chilled on the beach and went to the sealife centre called Underwater World which was great!

From here, we decided to move to Penang and spend xmas there! We spent the first night in a really grotty horrible hotel and then decided to splash out a bit and stay at Hotel Malaysia for 3 nights over xmas - not quite a 5 star hotel but after 3 months of guesthouses&shared bathrooms with cold showers this place was a palace!! Massive white beds, a tv with films in English, a BATH!!~ We spent loads of time enjoying that room eating xmas treats and enjoying the luxury. We even had a fridge!!! Anway.. we had a good few festive nights in a bar called Soho Bar which reminded us of home!!! And our xmas dinner was spent here - not quite the same as home and we were the ONLY ones there!!! HAHAHAH!! still.. we had our xmas hats and free flashing shot glasses and party poppers !!! WOOO!!! It came and went quickly this year and i do admit i really missed home - xmas is a family time and i missed you all SO much!!!

So.. after xmas we moved up to Batu Ferringhi.. the most popular beach on Penang. We only stayed one night here. The weather wasn't great so we decided to make our way back to Georgetown and then over to KL. There is a GREAT night market at Batu Ferringhi, very cheap and some lovely restaurants and water sports, but we needed to get a move on for new year too.

So - KL - i LOVED it!!! We did a hop on hop off bus tour around the city and saw the Petronas Towers - 2 of the worlds tallest towers, the botanical gardens and orchid gardens, there is a massive bird park there (mum & dad - u would LOVE it!), and the shopping in the golden triangle is brilliant! We stayed in China Town and there is a very very cheap market there where u can pick up anything u want dirt cheap, if you can deal with the sellors hassling u everywhere u walk! Some lovely little eateries here too!

New Year was a good night - we went for dinner and drinks at a restaurant near the golden triangle and watched some live music and before we knew it it was 12 and these amazing fireworks were going off.. .but mike had dragged us into an off license to get beers so we missed most of them!!! Everyone was out in the street spraying each other and us with silly string and fake snow!! it was such an amazing atmosphere there were hundreds of people out in the streets! But on the way home we witnessed a gang kicking and beating up this poor boy. Put us off a bit so we went home.

I have to admit though, most of our time in KL was spent spying on the indian ladyboys who congregated outside our hotel!!! We spend hours watching them ... it was hilarious!

From KL, me and Sar flew to Perth on 4th Jan and said a very tearful goodbye to Mike who went back to Thailand for some sun and full moon party action before heading home. I am still missing him now... having travelled 3 months together around S.E. Asia i got so used to having him there that we felt a bit lost without him!

We arrived in Perth to the most scorching heat i've ever felt in my life! Joy joined us from New Zealand and we stayed in a lovely hotel thanks to her staff discount!! :) we have spent the day in Kings Park, been to Rottnest Island (no cars allowed, you just ride around on bikes all day pulling up at deserted beaches to snorkel and swim!! ahh perfect!!) where we saw the famous Quokkas, a cross between a rat and kangaroo!! We sussed out Fremantle and Cottlesloe and had some nights out along the river and in Northbridge. When Joy left me and Sar checked into a hostel called One World in Northbridge.. oh dear... bad experience.. it was so expensive and we were stuck in a room with a couple who were canoodling all night!! we couldn't wait to get out! We got on a train down to Fremantle the next day and have been staying htere since, looking for work and a house share. Fremantle is lovely! A really vibrant city with great beaches, beautiful heritage buildings, historic markets, and it is full of artists, musicians and designers!! A very cool place with a relaxed vibe... we are hoping to stay here for a while... this is my kind of place!!!

Anyway - more to come soon - just wanted to keep you up to date on my whereabouts! Mum's coming out next week and i am SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!

Missing you all but not missing the weather!!! HA!! Hope it's not too miserable back home.Oh - one bad thing... my tooth is killing me and i think i need to have root canal after all!! i'm off to the dentist at 9am 2mo... wish me luck!!!

Ems xxx

Sorry - gotta add a bit to this.. i've done so much since Asia that i forgot about Singapore!!! Me and Sar left Mike in KL and we got a bus to Singapore. We only had one night here and felt like we needed more. I got a very good feeling from singapore.. ! SO clean and LOADS to do... it was a toss up between going on the night safari or going for a Singapore Sling at Raffles hotel!!! Since i was still feeling teary about leaving Mike we decided the Singapore Sling would be best! OH MY GOD the hotel was absolutely STUNNING!! i WILL stay there once in my life... i must i must!!! It was so posh... there were men walking around the courtyard in top hats and DJ's and women in the most magnificant dresses i've ever seen.. up close!!! there is a shopping arcade full of Gucci, Tiffany and Prada to name but a few... just walking around there felt like a dream!!! So me and Sar went to Long Bar and ordered a Singapore Sling and ate peanuts, throwing the shells on the floor in style of course... until we felt SO sick and couldnt face the thought of another drink... yes we had just the one and at about £10 or £15 for one cocktail (cant remember now).. it was certainly out of our budget so we moved on.

Singapore was our first tast of hostel life.. we stayed at a big one called 'The Inn Crowd'... we actually moaned there bcs we had no sleep due to a disgusting man next to me who was snoring the whole night ... but since there we have realised that that place was actually bloody nice... that is compared the the holes we've been staying in in perth!!!!

Anyway.... so not much more to say about Singapore.. we had a look around the shops which were GREAT !!! would have loved more time and that hostel offered free city walks and evening tours to all the best pubs etc... would have done them if we'd had time but hey!!! next time!! :)

x