BEACH!

After a ten-and-a-half hour coach journey, James and I have reached our first beach town, Sihanoukville, on the South Coast of Cambodia.  It is brilliant to be here, leading such a relaxed way of life.  It is a great contrast to our last week of trekking through jungles and exploring ancient temples.  A very welcome rest stop.

Most of our time is spent around the 'Serendipity Beach' area, which is where most of the backpackers hang out.  James and I had an awesome night last night at one of the beach bars, meeting a group of backpackers and sharing stories whilst knocking back the $0.25 beers (just less than 20p).  Tomorrow, we have booked to go on a boat trip around 3 islands to do some snorkelling, other than that, our only plans are to sit on the beach and chill out.

Serendipity Beach

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day from Cambodia!

James and I have been having an awesome time here in Cambodia.  As a country, it's a lot poorer than Thailand.  We had a very interesting bus journey over.  The bus dropped us off at the border, where we went through some ludicrous immigration with three passport checks!  Then we got a taxi to Siem Reap, the town we are currently staying in.  This taxi was without a doubt one of the most interesting journeys I have ever had.  We jumped in the back, Me, James and a French friend we have made called Vianneck.  But, don't let that make you think we were the only passengers.  We stopped along the way to pick up a few locals, so the taxi was fairly crowded (yes, it was a normal sized car)!  The journey was made more interesting by the things we saw: motorcycles with 4 passengers, motorcycles carrying loads of two full sized dead pigs, lorries with 6 or 7 people casually sat on top, and of course, the frequent swerving and braking to avoid the numerous wandering cows that find it difficult to distinguish between tarmac and scrubland!

James and I have definitely been seeing our fair share of temples.  We have been visitng them for the majority of the last two days (and our passes allow us to visit for the next 5!).  Today, the three of us (Me, James and Vianneck), hired bicycles for 1US$ each, and explored 8 or 9 temples.  Bike is a really good way to get about, we have discovered.  It's cheap and easy, you can travel at your own pace, and when it gets hot, the breeze when you cycle cools you down a bit.  Yesterday, we visited a temple called Bayon, very impressive.  The temple is famous for the large stone faces that it has carved into it's many towers.  The faces definitely give the temple a great atmosphere.  Also, there are many stone walls with carvings depicting different scenes of historical and religious relevance.  It's fascinating looking at them all.

The Stone Faces of the Bayon Temple

So, we are  enjoying the heat here (even though we have to take a minimum of two shower and day, and constantly stink), and discovering the temples and Cambodian lifestyle has been amazing.  It's nice to meet a few new people, like Vianneck, and a guy called Mike from Kent., as well as a few older guys from the US, each with many travelling stories to share.  We have a few more days of temples ahead of us, before we move off to a different part of Cambodia, until then, Adios!

Bangkok

Greetings from Bangkok!

We've only been here for a few days, but we love it!  We're staying just off the Khaosan Road, the backpacker area of the city.  Here are a few hard facts.

• We are living off Pad Thai, which is some of the best food we have tasted, for about 60p a dish.
• We travel by tuk-tuk, the most terrifying, and exhillerating way to get around.
• The most we have had to pay for a large bottle of beer is £1.
• Thailand is bloody awesome.

We've visited a lot of temples.  Each of which is exceedingly elaborate, and so beautiful.  Thailand is 95% Buddhist, so temples are ten a penny out here, and I'm not complaining!  Today, James and I visited one of the larger temples of the city, Wat Pho, which is home to literally hundereds of Buddha statues, of all sizes.  When visiting temples, we have been careful to keep our knees, shoulder and elbows covered, as well as wearing shoes, as mark of respect.

We have also tried to master the art of 'haggling', which can be quite daunting at times, with market venders trying to sell you just about everything you can think of... I didn't realise I needed a book sized lighter with the Jack Daniels logo on until I arrived here, or for that matter, an 'Armani' suit!

Having only been here a matter of days, we are not letting anything tie us down, and have booked ourselves onto a bus to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, at 7.30am tomorrow morning.  We are told that it will take about 10 hours, but won't be surprised if it nears 12 hours in length.  Not phased by the journey though, just very excited to be moving on to another completely new place!

I Love Hong Kong

So, our time here has nearly finished.  However, as always, we've managed to cram a lot of things into our last few days in Hong Kong.

On Sunday, Sandy, James and I decided to go up to a huge statue of a Buddha on a mountaintop just outside of the city.  We took the MTR (Hong Kong Underground) to the edge of the city, where we came to a cable car station.  Here we took the scenic trip up the mountainside to the Big Buddha!

Such an amazing spectacle, something so huge, in seemingly the middle of nowhere!  We spent the majority of the day here, sporting only the finest of garments to express our appreciation.

Today, on our last full day in the area, James and I took a ferry over to Macau, a small island about an hours journey away from Hong Kong Island.  The main attraction of Macau is the casinos.  As soon as we arrived we caught the free shuttle bus to the Venetian Casino and Hotel resort.  It was truly colossal!  I'd say the main section of it (made up to look like Venice, with a working canal, with Gondola trips, restaurant, facades and even a fake sky) was nearing the size of a small town, no exaggeration.  No word of a lie, later in the day, when we tried to leave, we got lost... that is how big it was.

Yes... this is inside.

Then, we ventured down to the casino area, which was equally as big and impressive.  Just like you'd expect, from all the movie scenes, stern faced chinese men gambling away there riches, and us, wide smiles and backpacks... true Brits!

This evening, we had a brilliant experience to end our time.  Paul and Sandy took us up to 'The Peak', a viewing gallery at the top of Hong Kong Island, with a spectacular night skyline view over the city.  All the high-rises and skyscrapers with their coloured lights on made us realise just how beautiful this metropolis truly is.  We have been treated so kindly by Paul and Sandy, who welcomed us and helped us cram so much into our short stay, it is going to be sad leaving them.

Fun, Food and Fireworks.

Friday morning, Sandy took us all out to meet her family for Dim Sung, a traditional Chinese meal, consisting of many different small dishes.  It was great to meet her relatives and they were happy to see us. We had Dim Sung in a local restaurant and were the only westerners in the joint.  The food itself was so much better than the 'Chinese food' at home.

Our Dim Sung Dessert

In the evening, we watched a very impressive fireworks display to celebrate Chinese New Year, in the middle of the bay.  The spectacle was amazing, probably the only fireworks display I've ever seen that actually managed to top Lewes Bonfire.

"oooo, aaaaah"

Gung Hei Fat Choi!

Happy Chinese New Year from us in Hong Kong!

James and I in 'The Ice Bar' at -20C

We've been having such a mad time!  It's the year of the rabbit, and there are many Chinese traditions that are flying around.  Firstly, the exchanging of Laisee, which are small money gifts in small decorative envelopes to bid good fortune.  Also, many people have souvenir type-things with them, clearly given to them as presents.  The whole city is on a Bank Holiday until the weekend, so it's plenty busy.

One of the many great views

Over the last few days, we've managed to cram a lot in.  Yesterday morning, we went on an amazing hike over some mountains surrounding the city.  Each of the four peaks had a spectacular view of the city itself, the harbour, and the small islands surrounding Hong Kong Island.  We also saw some big birds flying about, possibly eagles?  The main thing, is that the weather is really warm (about bloody time), so it's difficult to explain how much both of us has missed the heat.

The bay at Stanley, the end point of the hike.

In the evening, we ended up going to this chique modern bar (http://www.sugar-hongkong.com/) for dinner, situated on top of one of the new hotel buildings near where we are staying, which had a panoramic view of the city at night.  It was breathtaking seeing the skyline and the star ferry nip back and forth across the bay, a great experience.  After dinner, we went and met some people of our age, who Paul knew.  James and I ended up going out with them on our own, and it was such a great night, such a laugh.

We're definitely not in Sussex anymore!

After an 11 hour flight (contributing to a 21 hour journey), we have arrived on Hong Kong Island! Neither of us has had more than 3 hours sleep, and we are both fairly bleary eyed, but enough of my moaning, it's nearly time for us to leave for the night market.

Tomorrow, James, Paul and I are thinking of going on a hike to check out the views.  Hopefully not too early though, we probably need a few hours shut eye!