Siem Reap, Cambodia

The journey there was bad; the absolute worst part (for me) was the stench. I'd heard of durian (the stink fruit) but had never been exposed to one in an enclosed place. A lady monk sitting next to me was happily munching her way through one and the pungent aroma penetrated every part of my soul. It was so bad at points that I kept gagging. No-one else had quite the reaction I had, I thought I was going to be sick and Talitha said I looked extremely pale. In the end I sat at the back of the coach where it wasn't so bad, and I could put my nose up a freezing cold aircon vent. I'm pretty sure these things are banned in public places, but maybe monks are allowed. When the coach stopped I was always first off.

Durian - the worst smelling thing on the planet

During the whole trip there was a massive thunderstorm raging and we're waiting to get back on the coach when an angry Thor produces a gigantic FLASH and CRACK all around us and immediately the loudest thunder I've ever heard, shaking the ground. The lightning hit the restaurant, or as near as. My ears were ringing afterwards and people were almost huddled into one area in the middle of the restaurant making nervous excited noises. Quite an exciting and scary experience!

Savage rainfall

Arriving in Siem Reap we're greeted at the coach by a smiley tuk-tuk driver, who later becomes our guide, driver and facebook "friend". He takes us to the "Backpacker hostel" (great name!) and we're shown to a dormitory which is a row of hammocks in the loft, with no lockers anywhere and peoples stuff lying about. Not sure I trust my camera and laptop to be left in here. We opt for a triple room, which works out the same at $5 per night each. The room is huge containing three double beds. We'll take it.

A room full of beds

Next day we shake off the few "pub street" beers from last night with a quick breakfast of "toast and cheese" when an eager Walter turns up (in an amazing T-shirt) to take us to Angkor, bang on time at 9am.

Cheese and toast

Tooled up with shades, hats, water and brollies we head off. Twenty minutes in the tuk-tuk and we arrive at the edge of the old city of Angkor. The whole area is littered with ruins and Walter starts with a few smaller ones to get us in the mood; dropping us off at one side and patiently waiting for us at the other end. The scale is immense with the ancient Khmer capital covering an area of 1000 square km and some estimates of 1,000,000 people living here. Where the trees have taken root on and under some temples they twist and drip their way around the stones - it looks incredible!

Most of the morning is spent around these smaller ruins until we stop for some lunch at Walters favourite food joint (i.e. the place he gets commission / free food). I have what Walter has: a special "morning glory" not on the menu which is spicy delicious!

After lunch we decide to leave Angkor Wat for sunrise next day so do the bigger Buddhist temples at nearby Angkor Tom. For me these are even more impressive than Angkor Wat; the Bayon temple is especially magical.

Hug a Monk

You couldn't plan this

That sunset we walk up Bakheng hill. Although not treated to a sunset we saw an impressive storm
approaching followed by monster rains; pre-planned umbrella goodness! Once they realised the sunset wasn't going to happen we're kicked off the hill by security and head back down to meet Walter who takes us back to Siem Reap; the tuk-tuk rain covers in place.

 Sunset

Walter organises a $12 traditional Aspara and all you can eat buffet evening for us at the Koulen II restaurant. We arrive in his tuk-tuk and walk in to the hue covered seating area, with a giant buffet selection of any Asian food you could ever want to eat! Full of hunger we attack the buffet with the usual vigour, going back for seconds (and in Talitha and Em's case thirds). I don't have the same skills in plate design as the girls though.

Stuart = ugly

Talitha = beautiful

Once bellies are full the traditional musicians leave the stage and the show starts. The dancing is hypnotic, the moves being so carefully orchestrated and depicting everyday scenes from Cambodian life, like fishing and farming. The costumes are stunning, as are the dancers themselves. I would recommend this to anyone with an evening to kill in Siem Reap. During the show the storm picks up pace again and the rain on the metal roof almost drowns out the musicians! The wind howls through the open sides of the venue and brings fine sprays of rain to everyone! The ceiling lights shake and wobble with the thunder. Highly dramatic are the storms in Cambodia, unlike anywhere else I've been so far.

Pre-show musicians (possibly playing gamalan?) 

Aspara dancers

Roof lights moving and shaking in the storm

After the show we head to pub street for a couple of beers. The rain has created rivers of roads and the tuk-tuk drivers can barely get the tuk-tuks down the road! Wading though the water we get to the bar and have a beer. Later we move to another bar over the road as the premier league final is on the TV. Not normally one to watch the football I'm not so interested at first but it turns out to be a historic game between the Manchester rivals - with Manchester City clinching the title in the last two minutes! The staff in the restaurant go crazy, all Manchester United supporters of course.

Beautiful ladies

Next morning we're blearily up at 4am to see the Angkor Wat sunrise. Pitch black and a little cool on the way there the rain has stopped but the clouds are still around. On arrival we're given (English) names and numbers of food stalls to go to for breakfast once the sun was up; the one that stood out for me was John and we promise to go to his stall. We perch in a temple on the right of Angkor Wat, defying the "best view here" cries from locals who had set up mats on the ground near the left hand lake.

Waiting for the sun

The clouds stubbornly refuse to budge and we never get to see the actual sun over the Wat but there's something about this place; just being there and seeing such a famous view it's breathtaking, for me the same as the Taj Mahal at sunset. The sun rises and the silhouette of the famous towers take shape.

Once light, as promised, we're off to John's cafe for an omelette and baguette then before the crowds and heat arrive we nip over to the Wat for a look around. Inside it's huge, but quite serene, and we go our own ways for a little "me-time" with Shiva and the incredible architecture. It's a shame you can't go up into the towers, although someone later said that it was possible at certain times. The heat levels rose dramatically as the sun burned away the clouds and I wondered out into the gardens for some shelter under the trees.

Rapidly I developed almighty stomach cramp and ran to the nearest toilet; It could only have been the buffet last night. I later found out that Emily had the same issue not an hour before. In the toilet this sign amused me greatly;

Old habits die hard in Asia

Sri Lanka - Colombo to Mirissa

A quick half-full flight from Chennai and i'm in Sri Lanka. The guide books tell of pollution, noise, hassle and scams. This is of course relative as I've just been in India: Colombo is sleepy town! Walking off the plane the heat difference is noticable and as soon as I get out of the terminal sweat literally runs from every pore. I've already lost a few kg's in India. If i lose 12 in total it makes up for the weight of my backpack and i'm neutral! (jokes)

I'll try not to make too many comparisons with India for obvious reasons but i will say that it's a cleaner, friendlier, more accessible alternative. Colombo has a city centre banking district, the streets have pavements (bliss) and there's even western style supermarkets, of which India has none.
I stayed in a beach hostel south of Colombo called Adikram. Cute hostel, i would recommend. There are 3 mixed dormatory rooms (sleeping naked not an option) and the rest of the place is the owners house. A quick jump over the busy train tracks and you're on the stunning empty beach. All the tourist resorts are further towards Colombo.

I was sharing my dorm with one other. A 70 year old (next birthday) spritely lady from Finland. She had been travelling since her husband died, and had pretty much done the whole world looking at some stat's she kept. She SMS'd her daughter every day to tell her she's ok still.
I went for a drink and some food with her one evening and i then realised that she likes a drink! I had to duck out after 2 (large) Lion beers as my tolerance has gone right down from not drinking. She had 3 Lions then wanted to go to a nightclub! (which never happened). 70 is the new 20 apparently.

Spent a day in Colombo getting hassled most of the time. People who just want to practice their English, and then take you to a shop, or ceremony. Constant "Hello!" from tuk-tuk drivers and guides wanting to show you the real Colombo. A beautiful sunset on the city promenade, where EVERYONE had gathered and food stalls had popped up from nowhere. Spoke to lots of genuine people, families would come over and say hi, wanting to know where you're from. Had a tandoori with two locals lads who were out looking for girls, but with no luck! I wished them luck and headed home. Thought about a bus but it was such a nice evening i did a Forrest Gump and just carried on, walking all the way home.

Caught a bus from Colombo to Galle and got off, expecting to find accomodation. Turns out there was a music festival on so i had to re-think and head further out: 16km further out. The only place i found was somewhere called the Lace Rock Cabanas. Walked in and no-one about. An elderly Indian man asleep on the floor woke up and through broken English I ended up in a room. No passport taken, no money or anything. The Cabana was right on the beach, with booming crashing waves and palm trees it was lovely, but it was dead. I have no idea if anyone else were in any other rooms. I left and got the bus to Galle to check out the Dutch fort and old town: very beautiful. Got back to the Cabanas and still no-one about. Went to bed. Got up and still no-one about! Decided to (after finding someone) pay and leave then head further down the coast, this place was soul less. Don't go here!

Next stop Mirissa. Incredibly picturesque surfing beach with lovely restaurants dotted up and down the palm fringed shores. Found a room for a great price, in the back room of this lovely family home.
I wanted to surf but looking at the enormous break (about 0.5km offshore) i decided against it. The shore break was hectic itself, some waves looming over you and booming down onto the beach. I love it and spent most of the first day getting thrown at the beach by the waves then chilling with a curry under a palm tree.
There's not much social here. No dormatories and all couples or friends. Had fleeting conversations with people at the cafe's but people aren't interested in making friends when they already have their friends here!

Went whale spotting. This part of Sri Lanka is on the migration route and they come here to feed. Of course as soon as someone realised this multiple companies were created, fishing boats converted into whale spotters and tourists pay a bomb! That is unless you're staying in my room! The father could get great rates, almost half of what some people paid on the same boat and I was told not to tell the other tourists about this.
Me, a portly Italian chap and four mid-twenties French girls had the top "luxury" platform, with comfy mats on the floor and a better view. Down below were the people that paid a wedge. After a 1 hour ride out we spotted two blue whales in the distance and we raced over but their tails were in the air and they dived down. Twently minutes later up again for air then the HUGE tails in the air and down. Quite incredible creatures, the size is bewildering. To think animals so big are just cruising about down there gobbling plankton. After a few more viewings our driver heads back, much to the disgust of a Russian chap who starts raising his voice to stay longer, even pushing our driver. The other Sri Lankan men hanging about (there's always some hanging about) bunched up and the Russian man shut up.
I have a new favourite thing. On the way back we spotted flying fish. Wow, these guys can fly fast! Skimming the water and plopping back in. I'm maybe going to have some of these when i get a flat but i'm not sure on the logistics. Maybe two tanks, one either side of the room so they can fly between. I will need to think about this more.

One tuk-tuk journey i took the driver seemed nervous. He kept looking at me in his mirror. Eventually he asked me if i wanted to go for a beer. I said no, i want to get back. Silent for a few minutes he then said "sir, do not take this wrong. Do you want sex?" Assuming i misheard over the noisy tuk-tuk i said "sorry?" He repeated. I said "No. I don't like men in that way. I like women!". He seemed pretty embassased by asking and I told him it's fine, don't worry, there's nothing wrong with being gay, but of course it's not the done thing in Sri Lanka and he begins to tell me that he's married, his wife is 6 months pregnant and he does not get sex at the moment. A this point we arrived. Dumbstruck and unsure what to say I just thanked him for the ride!