Siem Reap

So, I'm here! Sorry it's taken me a while to update you but I've been VERY busy, dontcha know!!

I arrived into Siem Reap airport at about 9am on Sunday morning and because I already had my visa I was able to whizz through immigration :-D When I got outside there was a stand for taxis, but I was offered a ride on the back of a scooter for 2 dollars - with my 65L bag and everything. So, I thought it best to get into the travelling and adventure spirit and said 'Why not?'!!! Well, with hindsight I can give you a few reasons why not: 1. No helmet was provided for the passenger 2. There is no right of way system in Siem Reap (or perhaps Cambodia as a whole!!) 3. The driver spent the WHOLE trip trying to convince me to buy his guided temple tour, and then said I was lying when I told him I was already booked onto a tour. I realise now that it wasn't the most safe or sensible thing to do on myfirst day, but I came away unscathed and it gave me a good look at local Cambodian culture!! (Note to the olds - don't worry, I will not be doing this again. Well, not without a helmet anyway :-D)

I'm off out for some shopping at the night market and street food now, but will update again later! L xoxo

So, I'm back after a super long day and have set some time aside to fill you all in on what the dealio has been...

Since the beginning of the tour we've been staying in a cute hotel called 'Freedom Hotel' which is apparently the nicest of all of the places we'll be staying on this trip - air con, laundry service and a lush swimming pool. I met the rest of the group on Sunday night (apart from my roommate Amina who didn't arrive til later that night) and they're a fab bunch. There's Jo and Matt from London (28 and engaged), Sue and Barry (Bazza) from Hamilton in NZ, Josh and Sam (Whitey & Blackey!!) cousins from Wellington in NZ but living in Brisbane, and Dave and Nick, mates from Melbourne. We did our intros and then headed out for some Khmer food with our guide, Pho Randa (Randa is the first name) who's a local from Siem Reap and an ACE guide. I got a sneaky video of him today when he was explaining some things to us at one of the temples as I LOVE the way that he speaks!!  I met Amina when I got back to the room after dinner and drinks - she's from the Bahamas and had a nightmare of a journey thanks to Qantas leaving her checked in luggage at London. Not a lot of love to be had for Qantas right now!

So, Monday morning we were up and out by 8 to start an EPIC day of temple seeing - I won't bore you with all of the details as most of it can't really be appreciated unless you see the pictures (and I haven't yet worked out how to upload them to here :-/). Needless to say, they were all amazing in their own ways. They are all between 800 and 1000 years old and hold a lot of history and stories within them. I found them to be very symbolic of what the Cambodian nation has been through over the last millenium, and how they have continued to pick themselves up and rebuild their nation. They really are a nation which has become accustomed to invasion, hardship, and change, due to the climate, surrounding countries and civil war. You would think that they would have become a hard and bitter nation, but they are proud of their heritage and the fact that Cambodia still stands and they are some of the funniest and happiest people I have met. Oh, and the kids are SO CUUUTE that I have had to use all of my will power to not do an Angelina Jolie and just smuggle one home with me.

So, it was a very long day of temples (Bayon, Ta Prohm - the tomb raider temple, and Bantay Srei - pink sandstone), followed by a trip to the landmine museum. founded by Aki Ra. It was yet another example of the adapatability and inherent goodness of the Cambodian people. Aki Ra was employed as a member of the Khmer Rouge at the age of 10 and was taught how to fight and plant landmines. As a young boy he didn't understand the consequences of his actions, but when he became an adult and saw the harm and destruction that the mines were causing he took it upon himself, personally, to start clearing Cambodia of landmines. He has single-handedly cleared thousands of landmines and as time has gone on has received more and more support. The charity now also helps those children who have been orphaned or injured as a result of landmines. I am impressed and overwhelmed by the lengths he has gone to to try and undo the wrongs of his childhood. I'd definitely encourage looking him up and donating to the charity - it's such a worthy cause (there you go, the fundraiser in me is already creeping out!!)

Monday called for an early night as this morning we were up at 4am to be out at 5 to see the famous Angkor Wat sunrise. It was a great experience and I'm pretty pleased with the photos I managed to get - dad would be proud! There were a LOT of tourists there, which was a bit annoying, but you can't expect a sight like that to stay hidden for too long. It's a really amazing temple with a really peaceful feeling about it and some of the most intricate and oldest bas reliefs I've seen out of all of the temples. I could have spent all day on the third level just looking out at the views. Bliss.

Due to our early start, we managed to get the tour of the temple done BEFORE brekkie - which was a relief as today has been an absolute scorcher thanks to the clearer skies - and then headed off to see a floating village on Tonle Sap lake. There are locals trying to sell you souvenirs whereever you go, which I expected. I didn't expect for so many (CUTE!!) children to be selling things as well!! It's so hard to say no to them, but you have to otherwise they all come swarming and then spit at you if you don't buy off any of the rest of them. Most of the time you see the parents stood in the background egging them on. Pretty uncomfortable. Yet another thing which added to my desire to smuggle them home! However, we all broke our 'no buying from kids' rule when we were at Tonle Sap lake. On our walk to get the boat there was a young girl, probably about 7 or 8, with a digital camera who came walking towards us and just started snapping. We thought it was cute and smiled (well, some of us smiled!) and carried on our merry way to the 2 hour boat journey. On our return, she was stood with tiles that had our pictures on them!!! A young entrepeneur indeed! Since she'd gone to all the trouble of making them we felt we couldn't say no. Plus, she was REALLY cute (noticing a pattern?!?!)

The floating village was like something from another age (apart from the phone advertisements and the TV antennae). During the wet season all of their houses become floats, but apparently during the dry season the ground can be walked on rice is grown there. It was really difficult to imagine the lake ever getting that dry, as we had to go 1 hour out into the lake by boat to see the village. For me, this was, yet again, another example of the amazing ability that these people have to adapt and survive in conditions that you wouldn't believe were liveable. Not only were they surviving, but they were LIVING. They have a school there, a pagoda, a restaurant, and the kids and families were the happiest I've seen. All smiling and waving. I'm growing to love this country and it's people more and more by the minute <3

Anyway, I think that's enough for now - I don't want to go too mad with this blogging thing too early on as I may struggle to keep up! Plus, I need to pack my stuff which is all over my room at the mo. Oops... Off to Phnom Penh tomorrow, Cambodia's capital, so will fill you in on that later. I'll also let you know a bit more about what the food has been like (clue: YUM).

Right, sweet surfing my lovely interwebz friends and family!

L xoxo