Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We're celebrating St Patrick's Day here in Siem Reap, Cambodia in Molly Malone's. Cliff is drinking green beer and Liam and I are eating baked potatoes. Exchanged some welcome messages with our genuinely Irish friend, Valerie (on her own adventure in Kenya). Facebook is great. Sometimes.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Our tuk-tuk driver Lucky picked us up at 10am and drove us out to the Angkor Wat complex. Our first stop was the ticket office. We didn't have Liam's passport with us and have some difficulty convincing them that he was under 12 (and is therefore free), his height puts him at about 15 out here. Finally, with three-day tickets in hand, we headed along the shady tree-lined road amid forest and farmland. Our first sight of the temples was the moat around Angkor Wat itself. If you could call it a moat - it's 190 metres wide. But this wasn't our first stop, we headed along through the South Gate into Angkor Thom (Great Angkor or Great City) and onto Bayon. We got dropped off here and agreed to meet Lucky again on the far side.

The Bayon's main feature are the 216 huge stone faces, which all bear a striking resemblence to the Kymer King Jayavarman VII, who built the state temple. There are around 11,000 figures depicted in the bas reliefs, showing life in 12th century Cambodia. This was once a city, but only the religious buildings were built of stone and have survived, the wooden city buildings are long gone. We spent about an hour here before moving on. There are 37 different archaelogical sites so we had some hard choices to make.

The Baphuon was the centre of the city that existed here. Restoration was disrupted by the Cambodian civil war and the Kymer Rouge destroyed all records. So the French team now working on the restoration ave been left with a rather big jigsaw puzzle, but without the pictures to guide them.

The Terrace of the Elephants was used as a viewing stand for public ceremonies.

The Terrace of the Leper King is a 7 metre high terrace which once supported a pavilion. The front walls are decorated with at least five tiers of seated asparas carved into the stone. At the base, Liam found the narrow entrance (we had walked right past it) into a hidden terrace (covered up when the outer structure was built) - the carvings here look fresh and almost new.

We headed over for lunch at one of the many tented restaurants opposite the terraces. We were joined by two young boys (both Liam's age, although much smaller, you would have thought they were around 7 or 8). They were selling little bronze figures of animals and religious dieties. We finally bought five of them ater a long negotiation. The boys' selling point was that they knew all (and I mean all) the world's capital cities. They go to school in the mornings (funded by their sales) and then sell until 4pm when they can have some free time (they said they enjoyed watching the cows and football).

In the afternoon we rejoined Lucky and he drove us out to the Chau Say temple. We met a Buddhist nun out there who performed a prayer and gave us each a pink wool bracelet. She later followed us out and got us to exhange a euro coin she'd been given for riel. After that we drove onto the Ta Keo temple. The steps were incredibly steep. There was another small boy working up here, selling postcards. Cliff had a chat with him and bought some and on our way out he gave Liam a paper origami crane he'd made. He was keen to know the time because he was knocking off at 4pm.

After that we went into Angkor Wat itself. The bas-relief of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk (the Hindu creation story) was undergoing restoration so we only got to see some pictures of it on the east section of the temple. Cliff and I then climbed the central tower for some expansive views. Under 12's weren't allowed so Liam sat down at the bottom reading. We saw the static air balloon in the distance and decided we'd try to take a trip this week. After that we called it a day, it was now late afternoon and as we had three day tickets we didn't have to rush.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Today, Monday 15^th March, we took a bus up to Siem Reap, a fairly easy five hour trip north. We had the choice of either the bus ($11) or the boat ($35) both take around the same time, but apart from the cost of the boat, we'd heard it was very noisy. And it's nice to be able to stop along the way, as you can do when travelling by bus. We arrived at the bus stop, outside of the travel agency about 20 minutes early so Liam and I went around the block to see if we could get any fruit for the journey. But we couldn't find any so came back with new Nike baseball caps (genuine of course!) for $2 each instead. The bus left about 20 minutes late and was packed with foreigners (who pay more for their tickets) and locals. We stopped for lunch at Kompong Thom - cold drinks and stir fried vegetables and rice for $5, for all three of us. And really clean toilets.

It seems pretty weird using US dollars here, but Cambodian Riel are about 4200 to the dollar and whilst you get some in change and use them for small purchases, most things are advertised in dollars and that's what you get from ATMs.

When we arrived at Siem Reap bus station, Cliff saw a tuk-tuk driver with our name on a card who had been sent by our accomodation. It was just as well because there were loads of drivers there looking for customers fresh off the bus. But that was nothing, once we'd got our luggage off the bus (we had to wait for two motorbikes to be unloaded first), they opened the bus station gates (we hadn't realised they'd been closed behind the bus when we'd arrived). It was like the first day at the January sales, with about 50 drivers all running inside, cheering. I had to pull Liam back to avoid getting trampled.

The first thing that strikes you in Siem Reap is the dust and colour of the earth - red. We were staying at a French run place with a pool - $30 a night. Apparently you can get rooms here from $2 to $2000 so we're certainly mid-range. We thought we’d need a cooling swim after a long day at the temples.

We arrranged with our tuk-tuk driver to collect us at 10am the next morning to take us out to Angkor Wat and the temple complexes. This was going to cost us $15 for the whole day.

Siem Reap is a lively town, it has a good night market selling local crafts and lots of places to eat and drink. We were a ten minute walk from the centre, along a dusty road and practically no street lighting. We dropped off our bag of washing ($1 a kilo) with some lovely girls who took a real shine to Liam ('he's so handsome'!) We had some $1 rice and noodles for dinner and an early night.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We arrived in Cambodia’s capital on Friday 12^th March. The immigration process was bizarre to say the least. Having completed 4 forms on the flight, we were handed another to complete as we exited the plane. We then joined the queue for visas, handed in our forms and two passport photos each and then joined another queue to pay for the visa. Only it wasn’t a queue. It was just a mass of people waiting for their name to be called out, whilst the immigration officer held up the passport. If you recognise your photo, you go up, hand over your $20 note and come away with your passport and Cambodian visa. The whole thing took only about ten minutes and not something you’d see at Heathrow! There was a bit of confusion when we were going through the passport control, we were bieng called up individually and Liam went up with Cliff’s passport. All sorted though and our bags were waiting on the carousel for us, as was our taxi driver arranged through the hotel.

The airport is only about 14km away from the city, but the traffic is unbelievable; motorbikes everywhere, weaving across the road, usually with three or four people on them, Liam saw one with five – two adults, a kid, a toddler and a baby. Our driver kept taking different turns to avoid the snarl-ups, he said sometimes if there is an accident, nothing gets cleared until the police arrive and that can take a few hours. Our hotel, Villa Langka was a little oasis. We’d had to book a deluxe room for the first night as they didn’t have anything cheaper and we were then moving into a smaller room for the next two nights. The deluxe room was massive, about twice the size of our old lounge and the bathroom (again huge) had our first bath in Southeast Asia. Only Liam actually had a bath.


At dinner we met the cute hotel cat, he didn't have a name - other than 'Chma' the Kymer word for 'cat' - but he enjoyed sitting on your lap and getting a cuddle.

The hotel had a lovely saltwater pool, in one corner there was a mango tree that at regular intervals dropped fruit into the pool, which Liam dived down for and handed over to the hotel staff to make the drinks. The staff were really friendly here and so helpful. Pretty much like every Cambodian we’ve met has been the same. There is a genuine feeling that they are welcoming you to their country and keen for you to see everything.

On the food front, we’ve not yet had a bad meal in Cambodia. We found a little deli place at the end of our road, that did the most amazing veggie and salad wraps. The restaurant at the hotel was good too; lovely breakfasts and on the first night after dinner we tried their deep fried chocolate and ice cream. This was literally dark chocolate deep fried (not in batter or anything) and it was scrumptious. Cliff also found a really good vegan place near the Independence Monument, where we ordered far too much food, but again it was delicious. On our last night in Phnom Penh we went to an Italian place down on the quay. There were no tables left inside so when we helped them bring one in from outside, there was much hilarity amongst the waitresses.

On the first day we took a tuk-tuk over to Tuol Sleng, otherwise known as S-21 or Security Prison 21. During the rule of the Kymer Rouge (1975-1979) it was transformed from a high school to a prison where around 17,000 Cambodians were imprisoned, tortured and taken out to the Killing Fields at Cheong Ek, where they were murdered and buried in mass graves. Often they were beaten to death to save precious bullets and the victims included children and babies (who were beaten to death against a tree out at the Killing Fields). One of the four buildings at S-21 still has the barbed wire up at the balconies, which was installed to stop prisoners committing suicide.

Four things really hit me here; the first are the hundreds of photographs of the victims (the Kymer Rouge were meticulous record keepers), the rooms that still house metal beds on which the people were tortured (some still with blood on the ceilings), thirdly, the fact that the Kymer Rouge was doing this to their own people, and finally that this was all happening in my lifetime. It’s still hard to fathom what it was they were trying to achieve. Conservative estimates put the total death toll at 1.7 million. If you want to learn more about the genocide, please go here.

On day two we went out to Cheong Ek – the Killing Fields. There is a Buddhist stupa built as a memorial that houses the remains of the victims found there. The mass graves that were found are on full view here and human remains are constantly coming to the surface. Despite this, the area feels a lot more peaceful than at S-21, where I felt there was still so much negative energy.

Back to Bangkok

On Friday 5th March, we flew back to Bangkok for a little regrouping, visa sorting, travel booking. and hopefully a little relaxation. We went back to Imm Fusion hotel; inexpensive, good breakfasts, helpful staff and a pool. You won't be surprised to read that I didn't have a Thai massage this time around.

We ended up staying a week; securing our China visas (which turned out very easy in the end, just a one day turnaround) and applying for our Vietnam visas online which allows us to apply for them on arrival in the country.

Cliff went out for a long training run (21 miles!) one morning, but when he came back he wasn't even sweating (unusual in this 35 degree heat) but his skin was incredibly hot (not sunburned). We feared he'd managed to get heat exhaustion, but his temperature was normal. It was a bit of a puzzle and he had to spend a couple of days in the room with the AC turned up to maximum and drinking loads of water, just to get back to normal.


Liam and I left him to rest and went to see the new Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. On the same floor as the cinema, they had a millionaire's car exhibition which mainly consisted of smart cars with two beautiful Thai models draped over them. And lots of amateur photographers. Liam's developed a bit of a liking to Top Gear in recent months and had his photo taken with a Ferrari (minus the Thai beauty).

One evening we returned to the hotel and were told that there was a problem on our floor (we'd noticed someone doing some electrical work outside our room) and they were going to have to upgrade us (for free) to a deluxe room. This really wasn't a problem! We got twice the amount of space for our last two nights. And a dvd player. Excellent.

We were glad to get on the road to Cambodia by the end of the week, we had enjoyed Bangkok but were starting to get a little bored by the end of our stay. Also we'd planned to leave before the Red Shirt demonstrations were due to start at the weekend, so it was all good timing.

Singapore

A short flight over to Singapore from Kutching on Malaysia Airlines. Excellent customer service on display. I hadn't ordered any veggie food because I thought the flight was too short for a meal. So the air hostess gave us some food intended for the crew :) which was very good of her.

We arrived at our hotel mid afternoon and it was a good 10 minute walk there from the closest BTS/metro, with the backpacks not getting any lighter. This was after a pretty direct trip from the airport. Our hotel was excellent, a huge window with window seat and a lovely bathroom with the best shower yet (these things are becoming increasingly important somehow). And a brilliant swimming pool and gym on the 7th floor which luckily happened to be our floor.

We ventured out to a technology mall (yes, just technology stores) to replace Cliff's heart rate monitor. We think it got left behind in Sandakan. But the specific store that carries Garmin stuff was closed so we had to go back the next day. Apart from that we tried to avoid the malls (there are loads) although it's hard to miss the cutting edge architecture used to bring in the punters.

We went along one day to the Singapore Discovery Centre, mistakenly thinking that it was the Science centre. Not sure how we managed that. It was a well thought out place, billed as an 'edutainment' centre. The kids could do some town planning (actually more fun than it sounds), news reporting, quizzes, dancing and there was an IMAX theatre too. And Cliff and Liam did some target shooting with modified rifles (Liam just edged it with the score). But the constant 'Singapore is great' message started to wear thin towards the end. Good pizza though.

Kutching, Malaysia

We arrived in Kutching on 27th March. We were staying in our last Tune hotel of the trip in a really good location, just off the Waterfront - Kutching is situated on the Sarawak river. We were directly opposite the Hilton. Our hotel leaflet actually urged us to go and hang about in the Hilton's reception to boast to their guests about how little we were paying in comparison :)

This hotel, like many other places we've stayed at do not allow guests to bring in two kinds of fruit to the rooms, namely Durian and Mangosteens. And you can understand why. The juice of the Mangosteens is an inky purple colour and stains everything it touches. The Durian's consistancy has been compared to custard, the smell like old socks and over ripe cheese and the taste like vomit. But they are for sale all over South East Asia so someone must like them.

There are many statues of cats in Kutching. The unlikely story goes that when Rajah James Brooke arrived in Kuching along the river, he asked his local guide what the settlement's name was. The guide, thinking that the English adventurer was pointing towards a cat, said 'Kuching' - Malay for 'cat'. And the name stuck. Or something like that. But Sarawakian Malay for cat is "pusak" so this explanation does not hold much water. It might be a variation on the Indian name for 'port' - 'Cochin' - as the area was first settled by Indian traders.

We had three nights here and planned to do a lot of chilling out; the last couple of weeks had been incredibly hectic and we were all a bit exhausted. We'd all come down with a cold in Sandakan which we were struggling to shake. We had toyed with the idea of making a day trip to the Bako National Park to see the proboscis monkeys, but we were just too tired and also didn't really want to rush the park, which really needs more than just a day to do it justice.

So we did lots of walking (Cliff did a couple more early morning training runs - 6 and 10 miles) and eating. We found a really good place in Chinatown serving good Indian and Malay food. The day before we'd walked through Chinatown, and found it closed for the end of Chinese New Year. And we found a veggie place just up the road from the hotel. No meat allowed!

We went to the Natural History Museum because I'd read that Alfred Russel Wallace had been heavily involved in the setting up of the displays. Wallace was a British naturalist who is best known for independently proposing a theory of evolution (that pushed Charles Darwin to publish his own theory). I'd been interested in Wallace since I'd done an essay on him for my OU course. But unfortunately it was closed for refurbishment, so we went to the art gallery and the aquarium instead.