Hello from Cambodia!

Another awesome country added to our incredible adventure and we have already seen some of the most amazing things in just three days here. It's incredible that we are over 10 months through our journey and just when you think you're getting tired of moving around so much, you see something that re-invigorates you and makes you realise there is SO much out there still to see, whether it be a spectacular temple or just the simple warmth of a smile shared with a local Cambodian as you pass by. Before we get started on telling you all about what we've seen here we'll just give you an update on the highs and lows of the past week and a bit. Stick with it as it's a bit of a long one but it does get more interesting than some of the last updates:

Thursday 6th Spentember

Our friend Frodo invited us to drive up to the lookout on the island this morning so we headed over to Mai Haad to meet up with him. We then followed behind him on our motorbike up to the track that leads to the lookout, however this was as far as our little bike could manage as the remainder of the track was extremely steep and rocky so Frodo had to take both of us one by one up to the top on his dirt bike, which easily flew up the hill in no time. Climbing up the lookout rock ladder proved to be a little bit more of a problem for Kerry though, with her fear of heights kicking in! Once we climbed up though the view from the rock was incredible, offering a sight of the whole of Rairee Beach and also the bay behind us.

Afterwards we headed over to the bay on the other side of the island called Hin Wong Bay, where we enjoyed swimming in the most beautiful crystal clear warm water with lots of colourful fish swimming around us. We enjoyed a quick beer and then headed back to Sairee beach as Frodo had to head off for a night dive. In the evening we grabbed some dinner and then I started to feel unwell, again!

Friday 7th September

Another day just chilling on the beach! We were due to leave the following day however due to my illness and high fever our departure will now have to be delayed! It didn't get any better by the evening, in fact my temperature was so high that Kerry was afraid to even fall asleep. I tried taking Nurofen but even that won't have any effect. I was so hot that no way of laying down was comfortable and I felt awful.

Saturday 8th September

With my temperature and health feeling no better today we decided it would be best if I went and got a blood test to check for Dengue Fever or Malaria just to be on the safe side. I purchased some Paracetamol and by the early evening actually started to feel well enough to go out and watch a few movies at the restuarant and then go for a drink at Lotus Bar on the beach, however come arriving back at the bungalow my temperature was again going through the roof. Hopefully my results in the morning would yield some answers! We also ended up losing a bag on the beach!

Sunday 8th September

Collected my blood results in the morning and thankfully I haven't contracted either Dengue Fever or Malaria, thankfully it's just a bacterial infection and the doctor has prescribed me some antibiotics, which should do the trick! Feels like every week since I left Fiji i've had some sort of illness. We then headed over the police station to file a report for the stolen bag and then we headed to Scuba Junction to purchase a dive log book as we had accidentally sent ours home when my mum left New Zealand. The management at Scuba Junction then decided to tell us that we owed them an outstanding balance for two dives, which worked out at 3800baht! We were a bit shocked as we had only booked two dives with them (although we did do four dives) and we had been into the shop numerous times since and no-one had mentioned it to us. We argued with them that we had only ever intended to do two dives over two days but when everyone was going out for a second dive on the first day we were told by our dive master that no one stays on the boat so we didn't have much of a choice! It turns out that there had been a bit of a misunderstanding in that the dive masters are trained to 'sell' the second dive once you are out on the boat but there's a bit of a difference between selling you a second dive and telling you that you have to get off the boat and dive! The managed ended up admitting that he couldn't make us pay as basically they had screwed up so we refused to pay! We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon on the beach feeling a little annoyed.

Monday 10th September

Spent the morning sleeping as much as I was still feeling really lousy. Frodo ended up texting us and asking us if we wanted to hang out at his place and watch a DVD so we ended up heading over there. We ended up discussing the problem with Scuba Junction with him and he felt that we should pay for it as the dive master that took us out was his 'girlfriend' Cori! Kerry stuck to her guns and told him that she had no intention of paying anything whatsoever seeing as it was miss-sold to us! Good on her! Don't think that Frodo was too impressed though and when we met up with him at Lotus Bar later on that evening things had become rather strained between us. I think both Kerry and I have become tougher people since travelling and we aren't prepared to let people walk all over us. Bizarrly we ended up spotting a guy called Tom, who we had made friends with on Khao San road in Bangkok one night but had forgotten to take his number so it was good to see him again.

Tuesday 11th September

Spent the morning talking to a really nice guy called Anton, who had just arrived on the island and was booking into the Sairee Cottages. He had been to the island quite a few years back and was shocked at how much it had changed. We headed down to the ferry departure point at the pier and borded the fast Catamaran to the island of Koh Payn Ngan. Upon arriving at Koh Payn Ngan we headed south to Haad Rin and booked in to the resort at the far end of the island, situated up a dirt track that none of the taxis would attempt. Our bungalow was set on a steep hill on stilts with an incredible view of the sea, however the height did leave you with the feeling of being an Ewok out of Star Wars! In the evening we headed down to town to grab some food before hailing a share taxi down to the Black Moon Party that was happening that evening. The party was pretty cool visually as there were loads of paintings and netting up that glowed neon under black UV lamps however the 'music', if you can call it that, was awful! I'm sorry to anyone who likes dance music but it was depressingly awful music that seemed to drift from one hard bass beat to another without anything discernable inbetween. Being unable to drink due to antibiotics and unable to appreciate the rubbish being pulverised out of the speakers, I had soon had enough after a few hours. There's only so long you can sit and laugh at drugged up idiots who think they can dance! It's one experience I could gladly NEVER repeat again! Come back Brush, all is forgiven!

Wednesday 12th September

We heard from our lovely friend Pegah this morning, who is also on the island and arranged to meet up later with her. We spent the day wandering around the area and taking in all the cute little boutique shops. The local beach wasn't great though as it's covered in ciggarette butts from all the people drinking on the bach at night, which is a shame as otherwise it could be a really great beach. In the afternoon the heavens opened and it rained so heavy that the main street resembled more a river than something to be driven down! We holed ourselves up in a local restaurant and when the power failed for a feew hours on the island we read books there by candlelight. Eventually though the rain stopped and Pegah and her friend Ryan met up with us for some dinner and a chinwag! We arranged to meet up again the following day and spend the day together.

Thursday 13th September

Met up again with Pegah and Ryan and grabbed some breakfast at Bongo Restaurant. Afterwards we grabbed a taxi boat together and headed around the island to a beautiful little secluded bay. The sand was so hot it was unbearable to walk on without sandals and the water was warm it provided barely a respite from the heat on land. Kerry and i enjoyed some snorkelling for a while and Pegah and Ryan chilled out on the free loungers on the beach. The water visiblity wasn't too great from all the rain so we only managed to spot a few colourful fish and coral. Just as the sun was setting our taxi boat came back to the secluded bay as promised and we headed back to Haad Rin for more dinner at Bongo's Restaurant. Afterwards we wandered down the beach together and drank some beer and cheap buckets of Sang Som whiskey while soaking up the barmy evening atmosphere of all the bars lit up along the beach.

Friday 14th September

Went for a final breakfast at Bongo's this morning before starting our lengthy return trip to Bangkok and then on to Cambodia. Our taxi picked us up at 11:30 and drove us up the rather steep hill to the ferry departure pier, where we caught a boat back to Surathani on the mainland, which took us four hours! We just about made it in time for the train so we quickly found the right carriage and jumped aboard to be greeted by an unconvincing but sweet ladyboy hostess who served us a beer as we settled down for the 13 hour crawl back to bangkok! It wasn't too bad though as our seats were turned into bunk beds and got some sleep for a good few hours.

Saturday 15th September

Once we arrived in bangkok train station we then began the next part of our journey by grabbing a taxi across the city to the bus terminal, where we purchased tickets to the border town of Aranya Prathet. We only had to wait half an hour for our bus to depart and then we were soon making a comfortable 4 hour journey to the border, which featured both of us nodding off frequently! Upon arriving at Aranya Prathet the next stage of our journey began by grabbing a Tuk Tuk 6km to the Cambodian border town of Poipet. As we went through customs we were ordered to pay 8000baht for overstaying our visa in thailand by over a week! How could we have so stupid you ask? Easily. By mistakingly reading 17 September instead of 07 September on the expiry date, that's how! D'oh!! We then walked across the border and was greeted with the sight of the Cambodian town Poipet, a place seemingly covered in mud and mess with nothing promising on offer, but when you consider that this was a place shelled with intermittent mortar fire by the Khmer Rouge as recently as 1996 it's easy to see why the place conveys such a transient appearance. From here we managed to arrange a taxi with some Cambodian locals who approached us, as there is no such thing as metered taxis in this country. We then had a 4 hour journey of endurance along the worst road we have ever seen in our lives. The road is in a horrendous condition and the drivers appear to have to have to know every pot hole in the road just to keep their car on the road. Large sections of the road have become nothing short of rivers with the heavy rainfall and drivers seem not to care what side of the road they drive. Once sun had set the journey became even more dangerous with heavy work vehicles randomly parked in the middle of the road and a large proportion of motor bike riders driving with no lights on.

Eventually though we made it in one piece to the concreted roads of Siem Reap, where we checked in to a lovely cheap hotel and arranged a pick up with a driver for the following day's visit to the temples.

Sunday 16th September

Hey there. Kerry here to update you on our fantastic first full day in Cambodia. We were picked up at 8:30am by a sweet Cambodian guy called Eron. The first stop was to the unforgettable Angkor Wat, which is said to be the largest religious building ever made. Surrounded by a huge 190metre moat, which puts English castles to shame, it stands in an area of peace and tranquillity. Using symmetry and spirituality this Wat is a fine example of man's devotion to his Gods. It took us a few hours to walk around the grounds, taking in the fine examples of carvings on the walls and the perfectly manicured grounds. It is believed that Angkor Wat was originally built as a funerary temple for Suryavarman 2nd (r1112-52), one of the ten Kings of Angkor. This is because it is the only temple to face West, symbolically the direction for death, and the temple carvings were made to be observed in an anti-direction manner, a practise that precedents in ancient Hindu funerary rites. It started to rain as we finished our viewing at Angkor Wat so we waited under the shelter of some trees whilst watching some monks play in the Temple grounds, all dressed in their orange attire. The next stop was Phnom Bakeng, a temple with some excellent examples of facial carvings, Baksei, Chamkong, Angkor Thom; which included the City Wall and gates, the Bayon, the Baphuon, the Royal Enclosures, Phimeanakas, North Kleang, South Kleang and 12 Towers of Parasat. After eating some pineapple, sold by a street vendor, we then headed to Chau Say, Teuoda and Thommanon. Outside the Temples you see lots of children, and a few adults begging and also many selling their handicrafts such as flutes, made from bamboo, each in a little case of coloured weaved reeds for just 25pence each. They must have taken ages to make! We bought four of them as the children asked so sweetly, although we have no way of carrying them safely back to the UK with us! The next stops were Spean Thmor and Ta Keo, which were all nice, but none of the days sights could compare to our final destination for the day, Ta Phrom, an ancient Temple which had been left to nature so that a Man V's Nature effect had taken effect. Ta Phrom definitely had the most spiritual aura around it and walking through the building, covered in deep bright green moss and inhabited only by a stream of inch ants, carrying about their day in a huge line. The highlight of the day for me was witnessing some of the trees which had grown deep into the crevasses between the huge stone rocks in the Temple, spacing the huge bricks further, but still remaining solid as a Temple Structure. We wanted to stay there for hours and take it all in. It is no wonder why ta Phrom was used in the 'Tombraider' films. Standing there you felt as though you were in another world. Ta Phrom for me is one of the best sights I have seen in the world... right up there with Ayers Rock, Australia and Fox Glacier, New Zealand. Today, by itself is a reason for everyone reading this to save up their pennies and visit the beautiful secrets hidden within the jungles of Cambodia. After our wonderful Temple Day we grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading back to the hotel and passing out before 10pm!

Monday 17th September

After a really early night we finally woke up in time for Eron to pick us up from the Bequest hotel at 8:30am. With the camera batteries and our leg muscles fully recharged we set off on the 'Big Circuit' Route around the Temples of Angkor. Eron drove us half an hour on our remorque-moto ( a motorcycle with a a twee little hooded carriage towed behind it!) to two sites that we were supposed to have seen yesterday, Banteay Kdei and Sra Srang. We spent so much time in awe of Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat yesterday that we ran out of time so played catch up for the first part of today. We saw a variety of Temples today including Preah Khan, Preah North, Ta Som, then via the Eastern Mebon to Pre Rup. Some of the Temples were built up into almost a pyramid shape, with huge steep steps enabling us to explore the upper levels. As I cannot shake my fear of heights I absolutely prefer, without a shadow of a doubt, the Temples that are built on a single level. The stone work is absolutely fantastic and some of the the carvings still remain in such great detail that it looks as though they were created within the last couple of centuries, certainly not as long ago as 875A.D!! Whilst wandering around these magnificent Temples it is hard to picture that the Angkor area was home to 1.3 Million people at that time, far more than London which paled as just a small town in comparison. After years of rebellion and war Angkor is now just a small area and the Temples have unfortunately been left to disrepair, in a lot of cases at least. After a few hours we fell victim to the infamous 'Templed Out' Syndrome, a condition caused by seeing too many Temples in a small amount of time. After a while you know that you are looking at an incredible sight but the Temples start to blend into one another and it is hard to differentiate between each area. Also, there are a LOT of tourists, all hoping to capture that one picture that will portray the Angkor Temples better than the ones in the 'Lonely Planet'! After waiting patiently for the Chinese tourists to carry out their V 'peace' signs you are Lucky to get a decent picture on your mobile phone. Still, it is understandable as the Temples are unlike anything that either of us have ever seen. Today the children selling their handicrafts were out in full force. We bought some postcards, a cold drink and some pineapple but I wanted to buy everything they had, just to help them a little. The children are so clever and can count to ten in seven different languages. Although you don't want to be hassled when you are going around the temples it is hard to be annoyed with the kids as they are so adorable! They have the sweetest innocent faces and they are obviously very family orientated. When you buy something off them as well there faces lighten up and it melts your heart! After spending most of the day at the Temples, taking in the wonderful atmosphere and saying a prayer or two to the Buddhas we set off again for our hotel. Once we returned to the hotel we watched Arsenal beat Tottenham on Cable before heading out to 'Bar Street', which is a street that has adopted the name 'Bar Street'due to the many bars and restaurants lining each side of the pedestrianised road. The buildings look French, maybe taking inspiration from when Cambodia was under France's rule. The atmosphere is fantastic, so much friendlier than Khoasan Road in Thailand. The bars are alfresco and you can sit and watch the word go by. The Cambodian folk are all very hospitable and for $3 you can have a great meal, either opting for the local Khmer variety or a host of other national dishes, including Italian, Thai and Western. We had a fantastic meal, with a beer (which is only 35 pence a glass!) then made our way to the very Internet cafe that we are using at the moment to update this blog. That's all for now, which is probably enough reading for you all to last the rest of the week, if you are still all reading this anyway! Seriously though we love updating you all about our travels and we hope that you're still enjoying reading about them. More temples to see tomorrow and then off up the river on the day after to a town called Battambang. Take care, miss you all lots.