Bali - first impressions

First impressions of Bali (Kuta) were get me out of here. Typical resort with lots of bars and bright lights! wasn't busy tho. I think i would probably enjoy a few nights out here but ten days might be too much! After Ko Chang its the last thing i wanted. Luckily our hotels not on the main street.

This morning my mind has been changed. i went for a walk and I'm now feeling happy about being here. We're staying in the surfer bit of town which has some chilled out bars and Kuta beach is 5 mins away and is amazing! love it!

Tomorrow i start my Rescue Dive Course - its gonna be like bay watch ha ha and then Abbie arrives tomorrow - yey!

Singapore - the night zoo - finally!!!

After hearing a lot about Singapore i didnt think i was going to like the place but infact it was totally the opposite - I love it!! (they've got a topshop - woo hoo! i've obviously lived in hk too long!)

I stayed in little india which i loved. It was definitely my favourite place in Singapore and the curries were amazing. I did lots of touristy things...the sunset river cruise, heritage tour, the ducky boat (nearly as much fun as the Liverpool one!) and of course went to china town as it was Chinese new year. And guess what else.......
Me, Emma and Rachel went to the Night Safari. It was so much fun. I couldn't believe how close you get to the animals. We even started off a craze of having photos on the Zebra (not a real one!)

Only one more thing to do when i return - yep.... the air balloon ride (it was cancelled today coz of wind :( Was very excited about meeting Mrs Lawford at the airport (A.K.A monkey or Rebecca lol!) Only to find out we were in different terminals, divided by a wall :(

Jimmy knows how to treat a woman...(Bangkok)

Well as you all know it was valentines day today. Guess where Jimmy and Scott took me and Laura....bet you can't..... to a Ping Pong show - classy guys ha ha (we love you really Jimmy). To be fair we had said we were intereasted in seeing what it was about. It was different to what i had expected, a bit strange and some wierd tricks going on!

The rest of the evening was spent drinking buckets of cocktail - a good night had by all (right, Laura hee hee!) i finaly hit my pillow at 5.30 am to be rudely awoken by the alarm at 7. Singapore here i come!

Ko Chang

The bus drive to the Thai boarder from Cambodia was lovely. After hearing so many horrific stories about peoples lifes been taken out of their hands whilst doing this journey we were a little worry of what was instore for us. it was a tough decision for us to decide weather to drive or fly. Being brave me and Laura decide to risk our lifes and get the bus ha ha! The road was bumpy but by bumpy i mean like driving on gravel. i don't know where all these rumours came from. If you've been on the buses in Loas this will be no problem! The drive was really interesting we drove through local villages and markets, i really enjoyed it.

Anyways, Ko Chang is lovely. We're staying right on the beach in little bungalows. We spent most our time here topping up our tans and the nights making the most of the mega long happy hours. Buckets are the way forward! Laura has been feeling the effect of them today though ha ha! We going to watch the Thai boxing tonight and tomorrow we're going snorkeling before heading back to Bangkok to meet Jimmy Jimmy!

Siem Reap

Siem Reap was amazing! The ruins lived up to my expectations and i didn't get templed out like i thought! Check out the pictures.....don't want to bore you with more of my babble of how great the temples were.

Angkor Wot

Climbing up to the top of Angkor wot!

Ta Prohm

Bayon

Banteay Srey

Kbal Spean

plus many more.....

The evening in Siem Reap were fun! The Khmer food was lush. We went to see traditional dancing which was fun and to a bar with a crocodile pit (was going to feed Danielle to them ha ha)

On our last morning we said goodbye to Danielle (its going to be weird without her) and went to see sunrise over Angkor Wot. It was amazing and to top it off we were served breakfast whilst watching the sun come up. A once in a life time experience - definitely! Topped off with an elephant ride from Angkor Wot to the next temple.

Phonom Penh - an emotional experience!

Phonom Penh seems poorer than both Vietnam and Loas. Is it there way of life? or are they actually more deprived than the other two countries i found myself thinking. We've been staying in a lovely guesthouse here that floats on the lake. Very relaxing, i think the hammocks might help! There are a string of chilled out rs near by which have been nice to chill out in (even tho me and Danielle have gone t-total for a week of detoxing!!)

We have visited the royal palace (which is very similar to the one in Bangkok if not a little more spacious!) and we went shooting and did the trip to the killing fields and s-21.

The killing fields and s-21 trip was very shocking and demonstrated how tragic things were here (not even 30 years ago!) I can not believe i was so nieve about all of this. until i came here i had no idea about Pol Pot and what he did. I feel like this is something we should be taught about in school. He's worse than Hitler!

The memorial towards the thousands of people he tortured was really striking and effective as it demonstrated to everyone just how intense the situation was (8,000 skulls in a glass cabinet - not even half of the body's killed here). I had a very emotional walk around the killing fields, reading about what had happened and seeing the exsuvated sites. About half way round I'd had enough and all i wanted to do was get out of the place. As i looked around for my quickest way out i saw a path which lead up to the memorial and then on to the exit. that would be the way to go....but looking down at the flour i was face with a situation i never thought id be in and really never want to again. Through the soil path were bits of clothes and bones poking up. There was also teeth on the surface i couldn't believe it! so the long way round it was. And when i shared my experience with the others i was informed that not all the bodies had been dug up yet only a small percentage so therefore we were walking around one huge grave. mi couldn't believe that they've made this site into a tourist attraction and have not finished exscuvating it Could you imagine this happening in England?

The return to Vientene - Jimmy's near death experience!

Today we left Vang Vien :( We could have just got the bus but me being me managed to persuade everyone that the way forward was to canoe back and they all agreed!!!! yey! It was so much fun. We were going down stream and there were mini rapids. Me and Jimmy managed to capsize on our 3 time down the big one ha ha. Jimmy followed his paddle and ended up getting dragged down the next set of rapids appearing an hour later looking like a drown rat and exhusted after our canoe guide bhad gone after him on the boat - bless him! It was ok tho... He was back in action after a wee while and we managed to come second in the big race back to the van. And we got stuck on a rock! think i might have some muscles tomorrow!

Vang Vien - vol.2

ok....yes we're back (minus the beast - we miss u Lyndon). All for a day of tubing - and yes it was just as fun if not better than the first time. I did the big rope swing (check me out on the film!) Don't know what happened to the legs ha ha!