Siem Reap

I really do think I have seen it all now with buses. Kerry and I looked at our seat numbers when we bought the tickets and we were given 3B and 4B – we thought brilliant that should be near the front and neither of us will be stuck with the dreaded 3-seater at the back! However when the bus did turn up we were more than shocked! It was nothing like I’d seen before – they were essentially bunk beds inside this bus! Only it was two people to every single mattress with a giant metal bar going halfway down the middle! It was a very tight squeeze and with no where to put your day backpack (obviously mine is getting rather large by this stage) other than at the bottom of the bed it was not a comfortable nights sleep!A word of warning to solo travellers – check what type of sleeper bus you will be getting on! Or you could end up in a tight squeeze with a complete stranger!

We arrived in Siem Reap dazed and confused from very little sleep to of course be pestered by another tuk tuk driver wanting to know our life plans to see if his services would ever be needed! We managed to push him off and checked into another bargain luxury hostel for a snooze before figuring out what to do with the day.

Refreshed and ready to take on Siem Reap we headed down to the markets to score ourselves a few more bargain rings and paintings – and sure enough that’s what we did! I get so involved in the bartering games that I end up purchasing some items I’m not even that interested in! Rookie error! Although I am getting extremely good at getting the price I want now so that definitely comes in useful when I do really want an item!

For sunset we headed out to Angkor Wat on the recommendation from the hostel staff and tuk tuk driver as apparently there isn’t enough time to get up Bakheng Hill in time for sunset – this seemed pretty odd to me as we had at least an hour at Angkor Wat before sunset so I’m sure that would have been enough time! A word of warning to others – Angkor Wat closes at 5:30pm and sunset isn’t until after 6pm!! Although we did get some great pictures in the clear blue sky we didn’t get to see any spectacular sunsets. 

Angkor Wat itself is meant more for sunrise at this time of year so we braved the 4am wake up call and pitched up camp ready for the sunrise however luck was not on my side again with too many clouds in the sky this morning. We had a look around the other ruins, including the infamous Lara croft movie set but our lack of sleep got the better of us by about 10am and we headed back to the hostel for a nap. 

I said my goodbyes to Kerry and within an hour of settling down to catch up on some work in the room I’d met a new group of people and we headed out for dinner, a few drinks and a massage infront of Siem Reap’s ladyboy show. Cant complain at that! Even if it was an extremely bizarre show!

The next day I finally got to catch up on some work in a typical Aussie cafe whilst enjoying a delicious eggs benedict and chocolate milkshake – if I don’t look outside I could have been right back in Melbourne… But when I did look outside I was reminded of the thunderstorm that was currently in full swing! Luckily it eased off in time for us to head out again for dinner and a few bizarre cocktail shots at the infamous Temple Bar before I set off for my next journey en route to Bangkok!

‘VIP’ buses and backpacker heaven

After a VIP luxury journey from Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam to Phnom Penh in Cambodia we arrived to hordes of Tuk Tuks trying to charge us $10 for a $2 trip to our hostel. Thanks to another travellers tip we knew no city journey was worth this much so managed to barter down an unsuspecting driver to the $2 mark. 

Once we got to our hostel we were beat! With only enough energy to eat and sleep we treated ourselves to a burger in the attached restaurant and then climbed our way up the steep steps to our room. I’ll admit I was very doubtful as to how the night was going to end up after we exited through the back of the restaurant and past the owners bedrooms on the way up to our room however fear not, as when we were shown into our room it certainly did not disappoint!! Luxury queen sized bunk beds, soft blankets and extremely clean room and ensuite – we were in backpacker heaven!!  

 The next morning after we had finally finished planning and booking the rest of our Cambodia adventure we set off for the local markets to pick up some more jewellery and of course I couldn’t say no to a few extra souvineer pieces, they don’t seem to have many masks for sale here to add to my collection so instead I’ve started developing a collection of local canvas paintings. If I ever do end up settling down into my own house I’m going to have some fantastic pieces to decorate it with!  

 We’ve treated ourselves to a bit of a bakery day today after needing a break from noodles galore! You can definitely tell that Phnom Penh is a bit more of a tourist city! 

   
Next up was a chance to appreciate some of the Cambodian beauty at the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda – despite the hefty price tag ($6 extra if you don’t turn up in appropriate clothing)! Unfortunately we didn’t get much of a chance to sit back and admire with another bus to catch this evening but I don’t think I could have stayed much longer in the blazing heat anyway! The tshirt which is sold (not provided!) was far too thick to sit around in for any longer! 

    
    
 Back to our hostel for a quick rinse down before catching a supposed VIP bus to Sihanoukville – supposed being the key word there! There was definitely nothing VIP about this bus! It was very crowded and very small!! On the way out of Phnom Penh we managed to get some photos of the crazy ways in which Asians travel around! 

    
 Kerry and I went for window seats either side of one aisle but boy was that a bad idea! A young couple then joined our bus and the only remaining two seats were between us… This would have been fine if the couple could keep their hands (or faces) off each other but of course knowing our luck they couldn’t! Shortly after the man in front of us began watching some kind of porno on his iPad! We really worried what kind of bus we’d gotten on!

Luckily we arrived safely in Sihanoukville and after a few taxi/tuk tuk issues we made it to our hostel for a good nights sleep before heading off to Koh Rong tomorrow morning for a piece of the island life!

Sunny… with a chance of thunderstorms

Yesterday I finally arrived to the Gold Coast and spent a couple of hours checking out the view from Coolangatta first… It did not disappoint! It’s so nice to be finally seeing it in person after listing over pictures for so long! 

  

Getting the chance to feel the sand between my toes again was glorious!!

In the evening I got the greyhound bus up to Surfers Paradise and had a quiet night to recover from my 3am start!

There had been constant reports of a potential storm coming today but thankfully it never made it to ruin my plans! I caught the bus down to Burleigh Heads, checked out a cute little village market with lots of fashion and arts stalls… 

 

Then I began walking up the beach, 5km in total from Burleigh Heads up through Miami Beach to Mermaid Beach. It was a beautiful walk And just what I needed to relax with some music to but boy was I burning by the end! I got the bus from Mermaid as could feel the pain already and when I saw the damage…. Well I definitely was a sight for sore eyes! 

            

 

I stopped off for a quick refreshment at this beautiful little garden cafe, something I’d definitely expect to find in melbourne!!  

 

Then made my way up to Main Beach by tram and had a brilliant *Only in Ausltralia* moment… 

 

I was hoping for beautiful sunset views from Main Beach but unfortunately the sun wasn’t cooperating! Luckily this sand art made up for it and instead I spent my evening up the sky view tower to check out the city in lights! And then headed over to see what the night markets had to offer… Unfortunately no delicious food but there was some amazing photographs mounted onto metal! Might have to purchase one of them before I head home!

   

 

   

A sad farewell to Tao

The second day with the elephants was so much harder for so many reasons.

It was our final day with them and only half a day at that, we had almost zero sleep thanks to the numerous wild dog fights and the cockerel who didn’t realise it was only meant to sing at sunrise and oh my god….. The pain!
I felt like I have had a full body work out! Everything attached to me aches, inner thighs particularly!

But we powered through, woke up early to collect the elephants from the forest, bathed them twice and took part in another show. At the end of the morning we said farewell to our elephants (mine was called Tao) and Mahouts and were presented with a beautiful certificate of achievement for our brief time at camp.

We managed to flag a bus down eventually to make our way back to Chiang Mai and spent some time wondering the city and night markets again. We got back to the hostel where we stored luggage around 9pm and told them of our intentions to just make our way to the train station to catch the next night train but boy were we wrong.

Our casual attitude was laughed at as for starters you are meant to boon in advance and secondly the last one leaves Chiang Mai at 5:30pm. Oops.
We rushed to the bus station in time to catch the last bus and luckily made our way to Bangkok.

And so the journey continues…

Colombian Party Bus

Guatape was the start of our trip and definitely did not disappoint. It’s a short distance from Medellin where we stopped for lunch.

Firstly there was the walk to the top of the large rock, the stairs weaved in and out of the rock and the views all around were of beautiful lakes and mountains.

We had a tour around the lakes which turned into a party boats of sorts – nothing to rival Ibiza’s legendary party boats but it played an array of Colombian music with the dreaded Gangnam Style thrown in too. The views were beautiful however the wind was so strong and the sun not staying out for long enough to warm us it was a cold journey!!

Just off the (small) port of Guatape was the most beautiful Colombian street I’d seen so far, full of vibrant colours, olden style lamp posts and lots of flower baskets it made for perfect pictures!

Road trippp

I have a whirlwind trip coming up including 2 days in Medellin, 2 days in Cartagena and 2 days in Santa Marta… Very very excited for a week off work and travelling around the country!! – not so excited for the 3 overnight bus trips and trying to get some sleep on them!!

The apparent excitement for Salento

Salento is a beautiful town. I’m not sure whether the beauty or the tourists came first but you can certainly tell the difference from Ibague!

It is full of bright painted houses and traditional Colombians going about their daily businesses – which seemed to be trout fishing or making money out of tourists.

In the centre are beautiful craft stalls full of jewellery, candles and coffee and then up the Main Street there are more shops full of similar goodies. Salento is a more expensive town due to the tourism however things definitely do seem better quality. The lunch we stopped for just off the Main Street was delicious!! Unfortunately as obvious tourists (pale skin!) we got pestered by a few street singers who made their way into the restaurant and felt it was necessary to loudly serenade us – we didn’t appreciate this so much!

You can walk to the top of the stairs at the end of the street for views of the mountains and valleys – I would definitely recommend this!! The views really are stunning and stretch for miles.

However it is a small town with few activities, although I would definitely recommend going I wouldn’t say there is more than a days worth of activities or sights to see (unless you’re off on an enthusiastic hike/cycle through the mountains).

However the bizarreness of this day came in the bus journey where several people (who I don’t think we’re travelling together) began to sing (loudly!) all the way to Pereira presumably about their day in Salento?? All I could make out was a couple of songs about Agua (water) and Arepas (a corn like type of food). Very strange indeed – and I can certainly say that not all Colombians can sing well!!!

Spa Day – Colombian style

We set off at 7am to make the most of our day – 5 hour journey to get there!

The journey there was okay, aside from the crazy bus driving and our fear of having a crash forcing us to roll all the way to the bottom of the mountain – no one would survive that, seatbelt or not! Guess it didn’t matter that we were in the not category!

As we travelled up and down the many mountains we found it going from warm to cold very quickly with the sun only popping out for a few minutes in between – this did not bode well for our day of spa relaxation and topping up the tan!

We get to Santa Rosa and jump on the nearest Jeep – definitely not the safest option and I’m starting to think the bus wasn’t too bad but it was definitely an experience!!

As we get closer and closer the weather worsens and literally the moment we change into our bikinis the heavens open up and the heaviest rain begins to fall! We try our hardest not to let this dampen our experience and luckily it has passed by the time we’ve eaten lunch (and gotten soaked)!

As we walk up to the Springs we notice a small Hotel much much nicer than our own and decide to ask how much more expensive it is – 5,000 pesos more (<£2) so quickly run back to the other hotel, collect our bags explain a false mixup and move onto the other one. Happier already, we move onto the Springs!

30,000 pesos to get in and large queues – we’re hoping this mean its going to be good!! We walk through a jungle/rainforest type path and trying to push malaria worries aside move on up to the ‘changing area’ – good sign! People in bikinis and trunks!

We take a quick look around and there are several pools of steaming hot water… Although they don’t look like the cleanest of waters!! We change, get in and soon forget about all of this – its luxury! Difficult to avoid the screaming and splashing children but once we’ve got a beer in hand (did they just say they don’t serve cocktails?!?!) we don’t care!

Massage next – odd experience but beautiful orange smelling oils! Back into the pool and then dinner and back to the hotel.

It’s then that we realise how bad the luxury pools smelt and of course how bad we now smell! More cold showers and they were NOT fun as we no longer had clean towels to dry/warm ourselves with afterwards but all in all it was a good day!

Interesting thought – boob jobs are quite a popular thing here and apparently only just over £1000…

Colombia needs trains

First weekend away trip and I am very excited!!!! – although I’ll admit it is mostly for the warm shower I’ll be able to have when I’m there!!

We are going to Santa Rosa to some Thermal Springs for a nice relaxing weekend of sun bathing – if the sun decides to come back out that is. If not we’ll be hiding in the warm springs away from the rain…

5:30 AM alarm set to get to the bus station for 7am to start our journey: two buses and a chiva or jeep!

Colombia really needs to invest in trains! Travelling around would be so much easier if you could get fast trains to and from!!

Don’t think bus, think Rollercoaster

I don’t even know where to start with the buses in Colombia – never again in my life will I think my driving is bad!!

I literally fear for my life in these things, everything from hauling them down to jumping out of them whilst still moving terrifies me.

Once you have successfully located the correct bus an got on don’t expect the delightful driver to wait until you’re in a seat until he moves, no that’s too much to ask even in England sometimes… In fact here, don’t expect him to even wait until you’re fully on the bus for him to set off!

You pay your money whilst seriously trying not to fall onto someone’s lap – eagerly wait for your change that they are always so reluctant to give and then battle your way to a seat… I say battle because it feels to me like a battlefield – I could be stricken down at any minute!

I chose a seat by the back to be close to the exit but not was that a mistake.

Roads in Colombia are full, FULL, of potholes and bumps that haven’t been fixed and although drivers will slow down for the front two wheels they do not extend that curtsy for the back to.
They also don’t avoid curbs… I. WENT. FLYING. Hot my head on the roof and prayed to open my eyes in a clean hospital bed. Damn – nope still on the bus!

I’m not even sure over time I will find a place in my heart for these journeys, I’m not sure anyone could – but hats off to the elderly that manage to do it with far more grace than I can manage.