Cambodia: Siem Reap // Ridiculously early mornings at Ankor Wat.

The very next morning after our elephant adventure, we were in for another early morning. This time, we were heading back to the airport to fly on to the next country in our itinerary: Cambodia.

When planning our trip, both of us were so excited to visit Cambodia. It was the strangest thing but we both felt such a connection with the place, despite never having been there before. The only time I have felt anything similar was before going to South Africa for seven months, a country that will always have my heart. We knew Cambodia would be an incredible part of our trip.

In our household, planning holidays most definitely falls as a 'pink job' (mine, not Steve's) but when I asked for Steve's input and ideas, the ONLY thing Steve wanted to do for definite was to visit Ankor Wat. So our first stop in Cambodia had to be Siem Reap, the Cambodian 'city' (said loosely, it's tiny!) situated near to the ancient ruins.

Flying away from Bangkok and arriving in Siem Reap was like going from night to day, it was so insanely different.

Word of advice: make sure you have the $30 something dollars you need for your Cambodian visa handy in your hand luggage when arriving at the airport. 'Someone' left our money in our main luggage and so, after what seemed like an age of glancing longingly at our bags on the other side of the barrier and lots of hushed, angry whispers, we were finally granted entry to the country and found our ever-so-lovely Tuk-Tuk driver, Mr. Bros. 

After dumping our bags at our wonderful hotel and booking in our complimentary massage for later in the evening, we headed into Siem Reap for a wander. We found the best dim sum restaurant and lots of intriguing markets. I fell in love a little that first day in Siem Reap.

Steve modelling the flattering garments needed for our traditional Khmer massage

The next morning, the shrill of our alarm clock woke us at an ungodly hour of 4am. We met our lovely tour guide Chaiiy (who incidentally is probably the most knowledgeable man on the Ankor Wat temples) and hurried off on our rickety Tuk tuk to the Ankor Wat temple complex, chasing one of the spectacular sunrises it is famous for. Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to us and that gorgeous sunrise was hidden behind too many clouds :(

Even in miserable weather, Ankor was a fascinating place with so much to see. If you go, please get a guide - it's worth the £20 to find out the meanings behind all the carvings and hearing the stories behind each temples construction. Whatever you do though, don't leave your water bottle on the tuk tuk. I can tell you from first hand experience that 38 degrees and no water makes for a pretty horrific 48 hours of heat exhaustion.. Enjoy the photos.

Thailand: Bangkok (ish!) // Day three: a magical day.

On the morning of our third (and last!) day in Bangkok, we rose before dawn, sleepily pulled on some clothes and headed out of our hotel for the day of our itinerary I had most been looking forward to.

We left the deserted, slumbering streets of Bangkok and drove two hours through the rolling Thai countryside until we reached our first destination, the bridge over the river Kwai.
I have to be honest here, I've never seen the film or apparently paid much attention in history so I did not know too much about tragic history of the real railroad which snakes through Thailand. Built during WWII, the real railroad that the film is based on was built by prisoners of war. The film only depicts a portion of the terrible atrocities that the prisoners endured whilst building the 258 mile railroad and it is estimated that around 90,000 people died in the sixteen months it took to complete.

After our sombre visit, we drove off past rice fields towards the Tiger temple. This is a controversial place with allegations of drugging the tigers and mistreatment. I can honestly say that in our time there, we did not see docile tigers. In fact, they were frighteningly alert and active which was actually pretty scary when left with them in a cage. We saw many staff who cared and clearly respected the tigers, although there will always be a tinge of sadness to any animals in captivity. Over all, we were pretty impressed with the conditions the tigers were kept in and found it an enjoyable experience.

Our morning at the temple started with offering breakfast to the resident monks. We happened to visit on a national Buddhist holiday so were joined by lots of worshipping public and took part in an interesting but long two hour chanting ceremony.

After a very full morning with the tigers, we headed off to our next adventure and another tick off our bucket list: a bareback elephant ride through the Thai jungle.

Our time in the river with the elephants was probably the most hilarious forty-five minutes of my life. We were tossed around, sprayed with water and laughed our way through it. A truly huge highlight in a month of incredible experiences.

Thailand: Bangkok // Day two: Chinatown, fried scorpions and KhaoSan Road

Our second day in Bangkok was much, much shorter than the the first. Our little jet-lagged bodies didn't wake up until the morning was almost gone and so we decided to catch yet another river taxi to Chinatown to seek out some of the notorious street food in the area. 

Bangkok's chinatown was nothing like our very own Soho's delights. It was crammed full of chinese markets, offering every possible type of goods you could imagine - from towels to live animals. The pricey chinese restaurants you find on London's streets are replaced by street stalls with questionable hygiene ratings and interesting looking foods. I was feeling brave at the beginning of the day and so tried a few different offerings, the best of which being a marinated chicken skewer thing. Then, we wandered for ages before chickening out of eating at the stalls and finding an air conditioned cafe instead!! 

With our feet throbbing, we headed back. This time we opted for the more expensive (and luxurious) boat. 85p bought us an empty boat with seats and a TV - sooo worth it after an afternoon traipsing round the city.
Steve decided to flag down the boat before taking a running jump. This naive move nearly saw him taking an unexpected trip into the dirty river, much to my amusement and the horror of a pair of dutch tourists behind us!

That evening, we gave each-other a pep talk, committed to being braver and headed out on to KhaoSan road determined to try the street food. It was delicious and pretty much sealed the deal for the rest of our food exploits for the following month.

Steve posing with our hotel

Now feeling like locals, we 'enjoyed' an extremely painful street massage (I wish we had photos of Steve's face!) and found the nearest insect seller before washing the rotten things down with yet more cocktails - we were on holiday after all!