Siem Reap

After a few weeks lazing around at the Beach we had to get back to some sight seeing. Siem Reap is the Cambodian town from where you can see the many temples of Angkor, supposed to be the most impressive temples of SE Asia.

Iain had been having a few foot problems so he tried out a fish massage in preparation for all the trudging around temples that was to come.

 

   Trudging around temples.

  We tried to see sunset at Ta Prohm but there were a few people in the way.

  We were the only people at Angkor Wat for sunrise but we had a terrible time keeping our eyes open after having to get up at 5am.

Iain having to deal with Sarah’s moaning again.

  The temples were worth all the trudging.

Our favourite – the Tomb Raider one, with the jungle trees clinging to the buildings as they’ve grown through them.

 

Silk worms.

  Giant pig on a bike.

We managed to meet up with Amanda and Tony (from Hove) on the last night in Siem Reap. They had the temples to look forward to the next day.

Cambodian Beaches

Sarah purchased some lovely new goggles for the occasion and we headed straight for Sianhoukville, believing it to be the undiscovered beach paradise we were looking for. Unfortunately we found it to be thoroughly discovered (by 18 year olds) and that the beach had been washed away by a particularly stormy rainy season.

So we headed off up the coast and found this nice spot.

Food pic #19 – Fresh shrimp delivered straight to our sun lounger.

  But that wasn’t deserted enough so we chartered Captain Sang to take us to a nice little island called Ko Ta Kiev.

This was our house for a few days.

After lying in the hammock or on the beach we thought we’d get some exercise but Iain couldn’t really be bothered.

  Orion over bungalow, umm nice.

Our second home on the island was this tree house at Jonty’s Jungle Camp where we had the place to ourselves being the first customers of the season.

  The view from the tree house just before the noises from the creatures of the night tried their best to stop us from sleeping. When we took this picture there was nobody on the beach or so we thought, ooh spooky.

Food pic #20 Freshly caught crab from the beach.

  Jonty’s staff were better at sucking the flesh out of crab claws than us.

Sarah enjoying her new goggles.

Bangkok

Bangkok was just a necessary 2 day stop over on the way to find the beach in Cambodia but, despite the worst accommodation we’ve had yet, we managed to have some fun.

  We stayed in a ‘guest house’ that consisted of bamboo huts and pre-fab rooms raised above some dirty water at the edge of the river. We managed to drink enough to not think about the rats under the room and to play with water snakes handed to us by some locals.

The Tuk Tuk driver struggled to understand Iain’s request to go skyline drinking.

We had a night out with the lovely Nino, including skyline drinking even higher than Hong Kong and some great Thai seafood.

We had to trudge through the flooded alleyways to escape our guest house because it was high tide when it came to leaving.

Food pic #18. Chicken Satay (being eaten by a Kho San Road alley cat after we decided it was a bit too pink for us).

Hong Kong

  We spent a few days in hectic and expensive Hong Kong but it was made much more comfortable and affordable by staying with Adam (Sarah’s long lost cousin) & Gemma.

The lovely hosts. 

  Skyline drinking on the 32nd floor

  We were joined by Hannah & Peter from Lake Baikal so the ping pong tournament was resumed. Sadly it had to take place in this municipal sports hall after we were thrown out of a swanky private club.

  Happy Valley cheap tram, 20p a go and originally from Glasgow.

  Best value boat trip, just a few pence to cross the harbour to see the light show from another skyscraper bar.

  Cocktails in the skyscraper bar cost a bit more than a few pence as you can tell by Iain’s face when he realises he’s only allowed one.

  Food pic #17 – Market noodles (more like tinned spaghetti), the worst food we had in Hong Kong. Can’t believe we didn’t take a pic of the amazing Chinese feast we had with Ad and Gem.

No picture of the feast, but evidence of the Hay booking.

Yangshuo

We went to Yangshuo in South China because the Prendergasts advised us it would be a good place to chill out for a week, they were certainly right. We fancied slowing our pace of travelling down (we haven’t managed to pick it up since).

We arrived via a complicated combination of minibus, bamboo raft, electric car and local bus. Thankfully a friendly group of Chinese tourists took us under their wing and ensured our safe arrival.

We spent the first 3 days bumping into our new friends everywhere we went. They were always very excited to see us.

  Food pic #15 Beerfish, the local speciality.

Most of our time was spent cycling along rivers and through rice fields surrounded by amazing craggy limestone hills.

  When we were fed up of cycling we decided to learn how to cook beerfish. Under close supervision it was quite successful but we’ve only managed beer and fish separately since.

Food pic #16 – Iain samples his beery fish.

  We also visited some interesting caves where every other rock or stalactite formation was meant to represent some animal or someone doing something. This is one of the better ones but you still need a bit of imagination. Can you see what it is?

    After guessing the shapes correctly we were allowed to play in a pool of stinky cold mud. It was supposed to be good for your skin but with a steady stream of tourists bathing in it daily we suspect otherwise. Afterwards we washed off in a “natural” hot spring. It was suspiciously just the right temperature and had perfect bath sized openings in the cave.