Today we had a lay in and enjoyed the delightful breakfast the hotels have to offers - albeit a little different to what we are used to at home, here you can have noodles and rice for breakfast, apparently they have rice and noodles morning noon and night (a little too much for us). We then walked around Bangkok - we again tried to find the golden Buddha but again NO LUCK! The locals apparently have a scan where they tell you places are shut and con you into coming back another time for more money, but they are also a little worries and apprehensive about the protests so they refuse to go to those areas with Taxi or Tuk Tuk as it was an area of unrest.
After more walking we finally met our tour group at a new Hotel on the other side of the city. Everyone seems really nice - a real mix of nationalities. We are two out of only 3 English which came as a surprise but everyone is really open and chatty which is good. After our meeting we went to a local restaurant together to get to know each other. We tried some very traditional food which was fantastic! After the meal our new guide Mr Yoo told us about some places we might like to go that evening and we decided to go to Khao San Road which also known as a backpacker hot spot. It was amazing! There were clothes stalls and bars and food stalls!! We went to a few bars and got to know a few people really well - a Couple from Norway, Canadian brothers, a German Mum and Son combo and the other English guy.
Safe to say we had a good evening although a little late home with a very early start in the morning but as everyone says.... YOLO!!
The next day we were up and 'ready' to head to Cambodia. The journey from Bangkok to the border crossing was around 4 hours drive. The crossing itself took about an hour - all on foot with a lovely heat! After the crossing we headed to Siam Reap where we are staying. That journey was also a few hours so by the time we got there we were sick of a bus. The difference between Cambodia and Thailand are remarkable. Cambodia is a very poor country with the average wage a year being around $1800 a year.
We settled into our Hotel and headed straight to the G-Adventures foundation (some of the money we paid for our tour goes towards this foundation) called New Hope Foundation Cambodia. We saw the old premises which was really run down and dilapidated which they now use as a halfway house and Crisis centre for families who are homeless as well as women and children who have suffered domestic abuse. This was situated in one of the big slums in Cambodia. It was shocking to see how little these people had but everyone still smiled and shouted Hello ad we drove through. We even gave a few kids high-fives as we went past!! After this we went to their new school/centre. This was fantastic, they have done a brilliant job in building a school ad well as a medical centre and training areas which they can offer for free of charge for the locals who live in the surrounding slums. Here we went into a classroom to talk to some of the students and Rob even made a new friend who said will add him on Facebook. In this school their main focus is English and some of these children had brilliant English - outshining us! They also offer courses and textiles for the women and also have a training facility for cookery and hospitality, which boasts a lovely dining room where we had a lovely dinner accompanied by a musician on the guitar.
After the evening there we went back to the hotel as again another early start for the Ankor Wat Temple tour.
On the 31st we had to be up again very early as we were off to Ankor Wat Temple for sunrise! It was amazing! We then returned later in the day to walk around the temple! There is not much we can say to describe it but absolutely vast and awe inspiring. It is the biggest temple in the world and we climbed to the top up some very steep steps! Rob was also lucky to have a photo with a monk who came to the temple. Ankor Wat was originally designed to be a Hindu Temple but it was converted into a Buddhist temple later one. Today we also went to 3 other temples! One was called Bayon temple which is a Buddhist temple that boasts a impressive 54 towers all with 4 Buddhist all around to symbolise the different faces and forms of Buddha looking out. the carvings in these temples were amazing. The second temple was very high, again Buddhist so very similar in carvings and engravings. we climbed to the top of this temple and the view was amazing across the Ankor Wat city. The 3rd temple was the temple in which Tomb Raider was filmed. This one had unique features and it is often known as the Nature temple as there are trees that are growing inside the walls where the tree bark encase the walls. They can remove the trees as otherwise the temple will collapse.
After a very long day of all the temples we decided to do an extra activity of an evening countryside tour on quad bikes. IT WAS AMAZING!! After a tutorial of the bikes they lead us to the Cambodian countryside, driving through the villages and seeing some rice paddy-fields. We then stopped and saw the sunset across the countryside (unfortunate we didn't take a camera or phone so others have pictures of and for us but non personally). When we got back we went for night out at Pub Street where we danced the night away in the street!
1st Feb - Today we sat on a bus for around 6 and a half hours travelling from Siam Reap to the capital city Phnom Phen and went for dinner along the riverside and will go to the rooftop bar and pool to relax and get an early night. Tomorrow another full day of sightseeing!
Until then - See you all soon,
Lots of Love
Rob and Katrien
xxxxx
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