Slow Boat

Got to the docks at 8:30 to get the boat for 9:00 only to discover as I should have predicted that the Thai attitude towards timings is employed across the border as well. At 11:00 we finally departed after changing boat which resulted in me losing my good seat and winding up next to a chain smoking old Japanese man. The scenery was beautiful though and I met some lovely people including an Australian couple who were nurses in Australia and a guy who did his Dive Master in Ko Tao at the some place I dived. Once we reached Pakbeng, Max (the diver) and two of the girls we met got rooms together which proved an experience as we lost power at about 10 O'Clock resulting in no fan and no light in a tiny room with a thunderstorm outside and then of course I got ill...less than ideal. The next morning it was all I could do to make it to the dock where I spent the next 7 hours in the back of the boat. It was the only place there was space to lie down but was so hot and noisy. Luckily I was so out of it that I managed to sleep quite a lot anyway!

Houyxai

Tuesday 11th May - Bit of a stressful morning today! Got up at 7:30 to call the publc bus station to find out what time the bus to Houyxai was and discovered that it went at 8:30 so after speedy packing, shower and breakfast got to the bus station at about 8:20. After waiting in the huge queue for 45 minutes with my bag on only then did I discover that the bus was full...not happy. Ended up just going back to the guesthouse and getting a minibus which cost more but was nice as I met some people who I could chat to and when we reached Chiang Khong we decided to cross the border together. When the driver said a 5 minute walk to the ferry it turned out to be about half an hour but we eventually made it across with no problems. Excited about the slow boat tomorrow!

Back to Chiang Mai

Monday 10th May - Second day in Phenom Penh and this morning I did the Royal Palace which was a bit of a dissapointment as the Prime Minister was in residence so I wan't actually allowed into any of the buildings! Also did the Silver Pagoda which had an amzing mural of the Ramayana myth and alledgedly Buddha's footprint but I missed this! Next stop was the National Museum which wasn't quite what I expected, just lot's of bits of the temples at Angkor. The highlight was the paintings of Angkor which were stunning. Had my flight to Chiang Mai this afternoon and got checked into the same guesthouse as last time I was here ready for the border tomorrow morning.

Phenom Penh

Sunday 9th May - Made the massive mistake of taking the 'sleeper' bus from Siem Reap last night...it was horrendous. It was basically just a normal bus with poor air conditioning so trying to sleep was practically impossible. In the end I just gave up and slept in the aisle, I'm sure all the locals must have thought I was nuts. Managed to get about 2 hours sleep and then checked into a lovely guesthouse after being taken to my driver's guesthouse which I did not ask for and was not best pleased about at 6 O'Clock in the morning! After a couple of hours kip I got up and started the sights. On the way to the Toul Sleng Genocide museum we stopped off at the Liberation monument celebrating relations with the Vietnamese and the Independence Monument to celebrate independence from France. The genocide museum was shocking, it's so sad that the exterminations happened so recently (1975- 1979) with about 15,000 children killed and yet hardly anyone knows about it. This afternoon I went to the Killing Fields which is wehere the prisoners from S21 were taken for the exterminations. Finished off the day by going to the Quay which is where the tourists go to eat and drink and all the locals meet to socialise. It's a great atmosphere and I keep being amazed by the French influences all over the city. I was walking along the Quay and came across a massive group of people of all ages dancing on the Quay, kind of like an outdoor aerobics class... did look like fun though!

p.s. I undrestand why celebrities get annoyed with the papparazi now...the whole time I have been here I have just been heckled by tuk tuk drivers and children selling books. The manage to get to you before you even leave the guesthouse but the worst is when you are eating and you can see them watching you from outside ad when they see you get up they all crowd to the door like vultures...it's horrible!

Louang Phabang

Realised I have been rather neglecting the blog over the last week due firstly to doing a lot of travelling, Phenom Penh to Luang Phabang in 4 days and then being quite ill. At some point during the travel I picked up the dreaded traveller's sickness which I was pretty gutted about having managed to make it the whole way through with only a week left! Luckily I am on the mend now and glad that I budgeted an extra day into the itinerary. I will try and catch up with the diary over the next couple of days. Today was the first day I dragged myself out of bed so I went up to the Kouang Si Waterfall which was just as stunning as I was promised and home to a bear sanctuary and some huge, purple spotted butterflies which made the whole area magical. The water was freezing cold (well relatively compared to the sea in the south anyway) but was lovely for a swim after the sun. I am about to be very cultural and go watch a film next door so I can have a good rest! I am so excited about tomorrow because I am going elephant riding!! I actually can't wait...should be so much fun!

Angkor Temples

Saturday 8th May - Today Rich and I did Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples which was amazing! We went out to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat which was the first stop on the tour our tuk tuk driver did for us. It was funny because it was pretty busy at sunrise but after that everyone seemed to disappear. Unfortunately quite a lot of the temple was under construction which ruined the photos a bit. Next stop was Angkor Thom ...the Bayon was actually my favourite temple, it was pretty run down but so beautiful and I can add another two blessings for good luck to the list now. Angkor Thom is a collection of temples and as we walked to the Baphoun we came across some wall rubbings of Angkor Wat which I was persuaded into buying and am now trying to carry around with me! Ta Keo is a replica of Mount Meru with all the stones for the temple brought from the Mountain. They were transported using bamboo sticks which are driven through the stone (no idea how). Next stop Ta Phrom which was used as the set for the Tomb Raider movie. This is the one which has been left completely as found after it was claimed by the jungle so there are trees growing out of the structure which is pretty magical. This was one of the most important temples as over 12thousand people lived there! After a couple of the smaller temples we decided to call it a day as a 4 O'Clock start was a bit difficult! This afternoon I spent planning the rest of the trip as I realised how little time I actually have left. We then went to have a look at the market and tried cricket for the first time which was surprisingly not disgusting at all!

Siam Reap

Had an absolute emotional rollercoaster of a day on Friday. Got up at stupid O'clock to get the bus down to Bangkok although I was very happy that this only cost 1 pound. I was having a massive panic before I got there because I was running around Ayutthaya at about 7 in the morning trying to find somewhere to exchange Baht into Dollars and get passport photos ( these are needed for the visas and the stupid dive resort used all of mine!). The journey was uneventful until we got to Bangkok and I realised that we had stopped at a different station to the one we left from on the way out. The annoying thing was I knew where I was but not how to get to the bus terminal as the maps are awful and Thais generally have no idea either where they are or where anything else is. After crying in the middle of the station I bought the most sugary drink I could find and bouyed up on E numbers I told the driver to just drive and discovered the bus terminal was just around the next corner! Bus to Aranyaprathet was less eventful and luckily I found a woman from Australia who worked in Cambodia who helped me painlessly through border control. Turns out I managed to get away with not having photos by paying 100 Baht extra. Arrived In Siem Reap after having to wait 45 minutes for my taxi driver to pick up two other passengers who never turned up! I couldn't stay angry at him though, he was so charismatic and pretty soon we were both laughing hysterically as I tried to negotiate the price in Cambodian and him in English. When we got to Siem Reap I hadn't decided where to stay so hailed the first Westerner I saw intending to ask him directions to the place I had picked out of the guidebook. Turned out it was a guy I had already met in Ko Phangan called Rich. We were planning to go for a drink which then turned into dinner and then turned into me just staying with him. Hotel room for $3 and organised trip to the temples the next day was definitely a bonus!