Arriving in Delhi, India

The air is black with pollution and the noise is incredible, horns go all though the day and night continuously. The smells are mixed, sometimes the air is delicious with spices and cooking, other times the burning incense makes me light headed and frequently it just smells of shit. The lack of public hygiene is apparent as soon you step out of the door. The colours are vibrant with bright materials and spices and gold and silver sparkles everywhere. Instantly we love the people, everyone wants to sell us something or give us advise about getting ripped off by scamers. We have spent hours talking and laughing with them. One guy gave us tea and another lunch which we ate standing in a dusty market with the roof falling in. It was incredibly tasty but Glen was slightly put off when he found a finger nail in it. We have wondered through the bazaars where men chased us to buy there goods and cows wander freely amount the traffic of motos, cycle rickshaws, cars and people. The evening brought a realisation of the poverty here as we watched men, women and children burn cardboard to warm there bare feet and other crawl under buses to stay warm to sleep. It's heartbreaking. The view of the city from the tower of the mosque was incredible. We saw tin roofs spread as far as the pollution would allow and the crazy streets seemed no less manic. There is no clear order to the buildings and the people and transport merge around them, eagles circle the skies above watching.

Already we love incredible! India

A Second crack at Perfection?

After we got back to Sihanoukville we decided to find a quiet beach on the mainland for Christmas and headed to the not too distant Otres Beach, arriving in the dark we found a bungalow, not only was it directly on the beach but it was also made ontop of an old boat, we slept the night and awoke in the morning opening the door to a view over the calm blue ocean, paradise had been refound....unfortunately the boat was only the size of a double bed, and contained a double bed. So we walked down the beach looking for something a bit more roomy, who says beggars can't be choosers.

A straw bungalow with a wooden interior 20 feet from the water on a quiet stretch of beach, our own table, chairs and sunloungers on the sand where the restaurant would bring our food, and the door an large window opening onto the sea. We made the most of the loungers and the fly free sand, dipped in and out of the water as we pleased, and ate the delicious food from the restaurant, and fruit we had bought from the market while watching the sandcrabs run up and down the beach. We had a nice couple from Germany with a baby in the next bungalow and a couple from Horfield (!) that we could share some Christmas drinks with. We had found our paradise and it was still a day until Christmas.

After a night in our bungalow we awoke on Christmas Eve to the view of the early morning sun catching the flat sea and ate a fresh mango on our porch, unfortunately (again) there had been a mix up with the bookings and we had to move again. It was tough but we had to move to a not quite such luxurious bungalow a bit further down the beach, it was not the end of the world and we were back on the beach and had a fre lunch as compensation.

A quiet Christmas Eve included my foot being 'pinched' by a crab while in the sea, a few drinks in the evening and returning to out new bungalow to find a bat flying round the room, a cockroach on Vicky's toothbrush and being jumped on by large beetles. We jumped under our mosquito net, so much for 'nothing was stirring not even a mouse'. We kept laughing.

Christmas was a beautiful day, we woke up early and swam under the rising sun, ate a breakfast of fresh dragon fruit and watermelon and opened a few presents on the beach (Thanks Ann, Pete, Sarah & Ben). We maintained soem traditions by hanging a silver snowflake from our beach umbrella (unfortunately no cracker hats), spent time with new found friends and ate and drank lots - the coconut shakes topped up with rum were particularly good as the sun was going down. We ended the day as it had begun with a quick swim. A brilliant day - we hope you all had a great Christmas too.

A Secluded Paradise

We arranged with a local dive shop to be dropped off by their dive boat at an island 2 hours off the coast of Sihanoukville called Koh Rung.  The island has 4 small villages (each with about 20/30 homes) on the coast, a hilly jungle covered centre and numerous white and yellow sand beaches.  As we approached in the boat all we could see was white sand and a few wooden huts and were prpared for a quiet christmas on the beach.

 

The room that we took was in a wooden beach house built on the pier, so we slept with the sound of the waves washing underneath us.  The island was a true paradise, we explored the beaches that we had to ourselves, swam in the warm sea and basically relaxed.  The pier was in one of the small villages and everywhere we went we were greeted by hellos and smiling faces, from every single person we met.  Vicky was even escorted down the pier by a small child to make sure she was ok.

 

As a break from the beaches we went exploring the centre of the island and headed to the opposite coast.  We were climbing through jungle again, although this time inapprpriately dressed in shorts and vest.  We pushed our way through bushes, climbed along logs and opver boulders till we came to the top of the island and looked down at the perfect beach!  It was a bay about 2 miles long with a turquoise sea lapping onto it and there was not a soul to be seen.  We quickly made our way down the rocks and to the beach and into the ocean before doing some more of what we do best, relaxing on the beach.  After a few hours on the beach we made our way back and had dinner in a beach hut over looking pcean under a clear starlit sky - we truly had found 'bounty island' .

 

Did you sense a 'but' coming?  Despite the sheer beauty of the island and the people on it, we made the decision to leave after only 2 days and before Christmas.  Sandflies!  such a shame.

 

turning 28!

We woke up in our little wooden room and opened some pressies from home under the safety of our mosquito net then we took motorbikes through some brilliant scenary of long grasses and orange dirt roads.  We crosse3d the river by putting the bikes on a raft and and continued, untill we were stopped by local police who were quickly given some cash for apparently nothing, to a nearby town. The bus to Shonokville stopped and Glen surprised me with a birthday cake from a street seller and some delishous fruit - what a breakfast!!  We relaxed on the beach watching the sun set sipping cocktails and eating barbequed fish, squid and prawns caughet earlier that day.  Once darkness arrived there were fireworks - what more could a girl ask for?

Awimbawey Awimbawey .........

After our first spell in the Mighty Jungle we were hungry for more, so took a bus and boat deeper into the Cardamoms to a small community called Chi Phat where we arranged to do another trek with our own personal guide and cook.

We set off early morning back in a boat, a motor boat for 2 hours then a traditional row boat where the 'driver' stands up and crosses the oars to row, we were right amongst the jungle with kingfishers swooping down into the water to fish . After1 hour in the row boat we docked up, donned our rucksacks and headed into the under growth towards our 'sleeping place' and back in the hammocks, it doesn't take long to get used to the constant and variety of noises - we still didn't see any tigers! although our guide did point to some elephant dung.

We hiked through many different landscapes, with open grasslands and banana plantations as well as the jungle. In the midday sun we arrived at a large waterfall with a huge pool so we took a well deserved swim before heading back to Chi Phat where we had a delicious dinner in the company of a huge lizard.

We have now reached Sihanoukville in great need of a shower! we plan to head to a remote island for Christmas, so hope you all enjoy the snow ;o)

The Cardaman jungle, Koh Kong, Cambodia

The 8 of us set off, Glen and I, a lovely couple from Belgium and our 4 Khmer guides/drivers Sam, Pan, Map and Ot. The motorbikes were great fun and perfect for the 'óff roading' despite that our faces, clothes and eyes got full of red sand. After a couple of hours we left the bikes and headed into the jungle on foot, walking was difficult as so many vines caught our feet and tripped us up. We got to a beautiful waterfall where we saw monkeys running through the water then swam in a warm lake which washed away all the sand. We trekked for another 4 hours taking in the breathtaking scenery and climbing over and under tress and wading through rivers. We saw several gigantic bugs, a snake and crocodile eggs - no tigers, but some footprints!!
Our camp was spectacular 8 hammocks, 2 fires and a few washing lines to dry our drenched clothes. It was right on the edge of the river so we the relaxing sound of running water.
After dinner cooked on the open fire we went for a night walk, it was pitch black apart from our head torches which attracted all kinds of flying bugs. Walking was harder than in the daylight and the wildlife seemed allot noisier. High up in the trees we saw monkeys, there bright yellow eyes looking down on us like burning stars while they screeched to each other.
When we got back to the camp we realised we had been attacked by leaches - there was blood everywhere, in our socks and shoes and our trousers, we had to burn them off. we couldn't stop laughing, it didn't hurt at all but there was so much blood due to there anti-clotting ability.
Once we had debugged we climbed into our hammocks and slept listening to the sounds of the wildlife at night.
As the sun came up we detangled the fish from the nets and cooked them for breakfast, they were so delicious then we made our way out of the forest, some time and a few more leach attacks later we were back on the bikes. We went to a huge waterfall where we jumped off the rocks into deep pools of water and backed in the sun before saying goodbye to our new friends - a fab trip.

Phnom Pehn

We stayed in the capital city for just one day before moving on, paying a heart wrenching visit to the S-21 Toul Sleng museum.

Before Pol Pots Khmer Rouge regime this had been a high school but was turned into a prison where people were beaten before being taken to the 'Killing Fields' for execution. The museum has a cloud over it and shows what happened here, displaying hundreds of photographs of inmates, only 7 of which survived. Its a horrowing experience to visit, but a poignant reminder of Camobdias terrible recent past.

Bamboo train

From Siem Reap we took the bus to Battambang for a quick stop, travelling through lots of flat open countryside with small stilit shacks to the sound of the Cambodian Karaoke video they seem to play on all bus journeys.

We chilled out by the river for a while sipping from our fresh and sweet coconuts before grabbing some lunch and jumping on the back of a moped to be taken to the 'bamboo train'.

Slightly different from the trains we were used to on the Trans-Siberian line, this is made up of a 10ft sq bamboo board resting on 2 axles and powered by an old motorbike engine. When a train comes the other way it can be disassembled taken off the tracks and reassembled in a matter of minutes. We met 2 other Bamboo trains on our journey, the etiquette is that the train with the lightest load/fewest people is taken to bits, we had picked up a couple of locals on the way meaning we 'won' on both occasions with our six people (I think counting a baby was maybe cheating a bit).

The ride is bumpy and winding as the train gets up speed along the old tracks like arickety old rollercoaster, taking us past people fishing in small ponds and stopping at a brick factory where the bricks are made using a small hand operated machine before being put into a kiln powered by burning rice, there was a bed in the middle of all the clay where the woman and her children slept.

So we have continued our journey with another train ride, unfortunately this small, quirky version will only be running for another few months as a new line is being put in and bigger trains will on the tracks meaning the bamboo train will soon have to stop.

living on the flood planes in Kampong Khleang

Our driver, Chom, spoke good English so acted as a fab guide all day. He took us to Kampong Khleang in his tuk tuk, the road passed busy markets then padi fields where we saw women working hard. We saw pigs strapped to the back of motorbikes and chickens running wild, the cool breeze was lovely in the scorching heat. Kampong Khleang is a community build on the flood planes of Tole Sap lake so most houses are built on stilts of 6/7 meters, some are permanently floating. We chartered a boat where we saw children paddling there way to school and monks in the temple, also on stilts where we were greeted by hundreds of kids shouting susdai/hello. It's the dry season so the water is low and rice and corn is being planted. On the way back we stopped and ate sticky rice cooked in bamboo rods with coconut, it was delicious. A fascinating experience to see how adaptable some communities are.

On the road again

2 weeks of white sands, blue skies and clear water were brought to an abrupt halt as the monsoon rains arrived signally the end of our 'holiday', so we took a boat and 3 buses to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The city is quite small and has obviously had some money poured into it since the civil war as there are new roads and buildings and there is a laidback atmosphere in the tropical heat, although it doesn't take long to get away from the centre to see the the locals housing in wood and steel sheds on stilts.

After just 1 meal we decided we need to get find out more about the Khmer food so enrolled on a cooking course, there were 2 other couples on the course and after a quick trip to the market (where they were selling deep fried tarantulas!) we spent 3 hours wielding knives and applying liberal dashes of garlic and oyster sauce to our various dishes. At the end of the session we got to sit down and eat the food we had prepared which was delicious (even if I do say so), I'm not sure what it says about us, but the other 2 couples took away doggy bags, we had nothing left to put in them!

Siem Reap is all about the temples, so we hired bicycles and rose before dawn to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, due to the lack of lights and unmarked roads we were still on the bikes when the sun rose but it was a pleasant ride and we got to the temples nice and early, having to stop at one point to allow a school of monkeys to cross the road in front of us . The temples we visited were all impressive, with various styles, sizes and conditions including the famous Ta Prohm which is still almost a part of the jungle.

We are soon heading into the countryside/jungle where many places are lacking electricity nevermind internet connections, so unless we find one before then, Marry Christmas to you all!