Author: adaydreamerabroad

What Sunrise? Unfortunately the Manchester clouds have followed us to Cambodia! Despite the sticky heat (the kind that makes you sweat without moving. The glamour!) we’ve had nothing but clouds and rain. Our 4am alarm was not worth the hassle as we went to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat which obviously, being cloudy, meant there was no sun (boo). Thinking about it, our temple sightseeing didn’t get off to the best start! We arranged with the hotel for a tuk tuk to come and collect us in the morning. On our way, our driver made a turn down a very dark, very quiet country road with no street lighting! We had no idea where we were or why our driver was taking us a different way to all the other tourists. I was a little scared at this point, especially as we pulled up to a tiny shack with 4 men sat around with torches. As they came over to us I thought this was the end. Thankfully it wasn’t – they just wanted to check out tickets! A little further up the road our driver dropped us off and told us to walk straight ahead for about 15 minutes. With no lights and the area turning into  a bit of a jungle I was starting to question the whole thing. Eventually, we saw our first glimpse of Angkor Wat, the dark shadow of this incredible building. Turns out we were dropped of the back way where it was quieter and we soon found the (100’s of) other tourists all lined up waiting to take a photo of the beautiful sunrise. After giving up waiting and exploring the temple we then went to one of the cafe’s to ask where we could get a map from. We were greeted by a Khmer man who goes by “Bond, James Bond – licence to coffee!” (he repeatedly said throughout our whole experience with him). He had a spare map in his pocket and gave it to us whilst also giving us advice on which temples we should visit and told us to tell our tuk tuk driver to take us there. This is where we incurred a slight problem – we sent our tuk tuk driver back after realising the hotel had booked for him to take us there and straight back in the morning (we planned to stay all day and cycle the route). Mr James Bond seemed quite concerned and explained that the route was quite long, and, with it being so hot we would get tired – also, there was nowhere to hire bikes from! On that note he offered us a lift to the first temple and would help us find a driver; “Bond, James Bond – licence to coffee, licence to drive!”. On route he showed us his village as we drove past it and explained that he built his own house! He also told us about his family (his wife has 10 siblings), music & the general way of life. Once we arrived we couldn’t find any spare drivers as everyone was already hired by other tourists that day. To help us out he offered to drive us to the other temples for the whole day; once we had finished looking around the first temple we could not find our Bond (Maybe he was saving the day on a coffee run?). We were stranded! A young tuk tuk driver saw that we looked a bit confused and offered us a lift to the East side of the temple to find a driver for us, after speaking to a few drivers a guy selling banjos offered to take us round for the rest of the day. He was a life saver. The rest of the day we visited the temples and he even suggested a few that he liked that we stopped off at.

In the evening we visited the circus Phare (anyone who knows me well will know i’m slightly obsessed with the circus since starting aerial hoops) and watched the show “Same Same but Different” which explores the differences and similarities between locals and tourists. To be honest, it just took the piss out of all the tourists in Siem Reap, but done in good humour with amazing talent and great storytelling! I couldn’t believe some of the things I saw, it was like a homegrown Cirque Du Soleil. The artists in the show are graduates from the specialist performing arts school which trains in music, art, acting, circus skills etc. The school was opened in 1994 by 4 Cambodian men who returned home from a camp after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. They found art was healing and offered classes to street children. Now, the school is still going strong, helping children on the streets have a better life through free education and training.

 

Day 2: Silk Farm & More Temples

Day 2 was a lot more successful – we organised for a tuk tuk to escort us all day and we knew what we wanted to see. In the morning we visited a silk farm and had a guided tour. The company makes all their silk by hand and each worker is trained for a year in a specialized field which provides opportunities and a good life for poor and local village people. At the factory everything is done by hand – they grow their own mulberry leaves to feed the silk worms. They then spew out fibroin to create a cocoon which is boiled in water and the strands are twisted together to create what we know as silk thread. Then through a series of different processes and machines the threads are dyed and weaved together to create the silk fabric that we all know. As we were driving back from the silk factory we passed a small van with about 12 (we genuinely counted 12) people crammed in the back, with the boot wide open, holding on for dear life not to fall out! A moment later we saw 5 people squished onto 1 motorbike! These were quite funny sights to see and make me love Cambodia more but unfortunately I did witness one bike with a cage stuffed full of dogs with pots and pans tied to the back. They had no room to move, their faces were pressed up against the cage with their bodies stuck at an awkward angle. It made me really sad to see that as you can only imagine their unfortunate fate.

Photos from the silk factory 

As we arrived at the next lot of temples I preferred these a lot more – they were far less touristy and offered a variety of different sights; some were surrounded by water and others were smothered by tree trunks and crumbing down. Something I have noticed in all the temples is that a lot of the statues have their heads taken off, which was done by the Khmer Rouge to destroy all religious symbols.

In the evening we had our final night in Pub Street! After a couple of drinks and some food we had a full Khmer body massage and then went off to have our feet munched on by some fish! The perfect way to end the day… 

The main temples we saw were:

Angkor Wat: I felt slightly underwhelmed by it i’m honest, probably because I was exhausted and there was no sunset & it is the most touristy of them all.

Ta Prohm: Also very tourist but Tomb Raider was filmed here. Is smaller but more enclosed and falling down in parts which makes it interesting to walk around.

Angkor Thom & Bayon: The biggest of them all  but felt quieter then the others because it is spread out over a lot more land.

 

Preah Khan: This was my favourite, on the larger circuit meaning it was less touristy. There were lots of different areas to explore and it was so peaceful.

Neak Pean: Was so unique, it is very small but completely surrounded by water. Unfortunately it’s very touristy!

 

 

 

As we left the airport I felt slightly overwhelmed at the chaos on the streets and the way everything looked and smelt. Children were playing bare foot on the side of the main road, cows were roaming freely, wild/stray dogs were running around and I saw a couple of monks dressed in bright orange robes walking into a shop. I cant even count how many times someone nearly crashed into us on their scooter! One man was riding his with a bird in a cage balanced on the handles and another was driving a car down the wrong side of the road! Although I see the police about quite a lot – most of the time they are sat down reading a paper ignoring the world or playing cards with friends at the road side.

Despite the lack of law the Khmer people are one of the friendliest I’ve met with strong morals. Respect is deeply rooted in their culture, for example, I’ve noticed how some people take of their shoes when entering some shops as a sign of respect and they greet each other with the sampeah (learn it here: http://www.visit-angkor.org/blog/2013/02/24/how-to-greet-in-cambodia-the-five-version-of-performing-sampeah/). 

For our first evening we ventured out to the famous Pub Street on a tuk-tuk, which was, an experience. I would be lying if I said I thought I might die, the driver was whizzing past people and weaving in and out of the traffic erratically. When we got to the area nothing had prepared me for how mental it really is (and cheap – $0.40 for a pint of beer). People  were parked up in the road with little makeshift bars blaring music full blast, the general chaos of drunk people milling about, dancing in the street, food stalls selling cooked frog and scorpions and clothes markets everywhere. We found a place to grab some food (I’ve finally mastered the chopsticks) and have a couple of drinks (the food here is GOOD). And then went off to get a foot massage ($3 for half an hour!!). After this we then ventured to a couple of bars before going to a club called Temple where they play the music loud and serve the drinks strong, needless to say we did get quite drunk and I don’t remember much apart from dancing like a loon.

There are a few things I have found quite difficult though; when we were eating dinner a disabled man on all fours with a basket strapped to his chest came up to us begging for money. A little later I saw a group of young children playing in a building site bare footed, and lots of children with babies laying in front of them begging for money. I feel torn when I see them; it makes me sad that they feel they have to do that to make money, but I don’t know who’s being genuine and I don’t like to encourage it, but still want to help. Hopefully one day I can come back and be involved in a charity but for now I will donate to some of the charity boxes at the hotel.

 

Despite my nerves the flight was fairly easy, until we got to Bangkok that is. As we were being driven to the runway I noticed we were being taken to a very old, very rickety looking plane, vintage! This worried me, a lot. When we got on it, it resembled one of the old busses I used to get to school every day, only smaller… To say I was nervous getting on this was an understatement! However, once in the air it felt fairly smooth and I relaxed a little. Looking out of the window I got my first glimpse of Cambodia. You could see floating houses along rivers and huts on stilts all huddled together in little villages between a lot of flooded countryside. Once we landed it felt surreal, I couldn’t believe we were finally here! There was a thin haze of cloud but the sun was still burning on my back as we walked from the plane to the airport.

The plane to from Bangkok to Siem Reap

Before we left we went to double check we had arranged the airport transfer but then found out our hotel booking had been cancelled! In a slight panic we managed to find somewhere else to stay relatively easily. But as we were on our way to the hotel it was explained to us that there was a problem with our room so we had been moved to a different one which was slightly further away. To our surprise it was a 5* hotel and spa! It’s amazing, we have full use of the spa area as well as a large swimming pool. Upon arriving we were greeted with a cold drink and a traditional Cambodian sweet wrapped in bamboo leaf – It was a mint green coloured square jelly with an almondy paste in the middle, very nice! All the staff are so friendly and helpful; Robs made a friend with the doorman who’s been teaching him how to speak Khmer and the hotel Representative, Alex, calls us King Rob and Queen Sarah because we are from Manchester (Alex is a fan of Manchester United and apparently David Beckham stayed at this hotel!).

Once we arrived we spent the day lazing around unwinding so In the evening we decided to go to the famous Pub Street to get some food, have some drinks and visit the night market! More on this in my next post!

 

The view of Cambodia!

This week I’ve been back in Kent spending time with family and friends for a pre Christmas! It was so lovely catching up with everyone but the time always fly’s so fast. Before I left, my mum made me decorate the Christmas tree… As you can see from the photo at the bottom I got a bit carried away… But I did get to use the selfie stick that my sister bought me for Christmas! Thanks sis!

Since I’ve been back in Manchester I’ve not stopped running around getting last minute bits and sorting the house out (all the boring stuff pre holiday). But I’ve finally finished packing! After what feels like an eternity (why is it so hard??) So I can actually relax and look forward to our trip. Although I am quite a nervous flyer, the last time I did a long haul flight my ears wouldn’t pop when landing and I had the worst ear ache for 2 days so I really hope that doesn’t happen this time! I’ve also seen on the news recently that there’s been a plane crash, although that was in Pakistan it doesn’t ease my anxiety pre flight.

Focusing on the positive though, I did a little research on how to kill some time as we have a 5 hour layover in Paris de Gaulles. Discovered there’s a spa! If I can find it… I’ll be there straight away! For the full 5 hours probably (I wish!!) what better way to relax before a 10 hour flight then In a spa? (After a gin and tonic.. Obviously…) Let the holiday begin!

This is what happens when I’m left in charge of decorating the Christmas Tree!  

Bonjour! Here I am, writing my first blog, catching the writing bug, loosing my bloginity!!!

Whats this blog about? TRAVELLING (duh)!

I’ve always been a keen traveller but I’ve never had the opportunity to go backpacking; my excuse has always been “I’ve not got the money right now, maybe next year” (and then I’ll end up spending money on clothes and nights out and then wonder why I can’t afford a holiday….) or “now’s not a good time, I’m too busy at uni/freelancing/starting a new job”. But now I have finally come to the conclusion that if I always have this attitude it will never happen, another year will pass by and I’ll be wishing and wondering why I never went traveling. My circumstances  have also changed these past few years: I have an amazing boyfriend who shares the same passion and drive to see the world, I have graduated, trained & now in a secure job that allows me to save enough, and finally, I am fortunate enough to have a job that allows me the time to take a few big trips a year.

In hindsight I’m glad I didn’t go backpacking straight after college or uni. These past few years I’ve changed a lot, I’ve grown up (a little bit…). Now when I go traveling I will appreciate it and learn more than I would have 5 years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to party & let my hair down but I equally enjoy experiencing new cultures, meeting new people and learning new things.

I realise I sound like I’ve never been abroad before… I have! Many times, to many different places, mostly in Europe and once to Australia. The difference now is that I want to explore countries that are worlds apart from how we live, to experience a different way of life and to learn more about the world.  My first big trip I’ll be taking in just 5 days from now! More on this in my next post!

Au revoir! Sarah x