Uber amazing Cambodia!

Friendly monks near their Wat.


Influence of French colonial architecture in Phnom Penh.
At first I was really impressed with the city.. Parisianne style cafes, trendy bars scattered along the riverfront, beautiful buildings. After exploring the city a little further poverty cries out everywhere. Children from the age of 5 or 6 years are begging on the streets or trying to sell anything to make money for their parents.. or whoever is taking care of them. A woman sat on the street with her two children lying on a mat.. babies. We visited an orphanage who were funded by a non-profit making restaurant in the city. I was shocked at how happy the children were.. full of life, eagar to learn English, draw or hop around! Many had been rescued from the streets and were happy to have new brothers and sisters and cheerful staff who volunteered to spend time with them. Though they did not have beds to sleep on they had a life on which to build.

Hectic life.. the bus station in Phnom Penh.

Battambang, Cambodia.

I decided to dab my hands in a Khmer cookery class for the laugh. This involved a trip to the market and afterwards cooking 3 dishes with a mix of two Spaniards, two people from the US, a French and an Irish person..


Yours truely in the 'Smokin' Pot' Cookery school.


A trip to the market in Battambang.

Passing by the market in Battambang there are lots of treats for the naked eye! This involved anything you want dead or alive. One scorpion got lucky and escaped whatever basket he was in. This is a picture of him trying to cross the road.. He ran between my legs.. I jumped and squealed.. a motorbike clipped one of his legs and he ducked back into the market for cover.. after posing for a photo. As all this was happening I was mid-conversation with a Cambodian dude. When I shreiked he asked me 'Do you not have scorpions in Ireland?' I looked at him as if he was light.. 'Not ones that move and run across the road!'.. Maybe I'm wrong??

Up the Mekong River, Cambodia.

Many of the poeple living inland in Cambodia rely on farming for a living. To me the cows appeared gigantic. Though big in stature many looked starved with their ribcages visible..


Lunch along the Mekong river.

Our six hour boat journey up the Mekong River from Battambang to Siem Reap was awe-inspiring to say the least! The open air motor spluttered its way through the river giving a glimpse of the lives of many who live on water. Floating houses, schools and even an odd shop lined the river banks. Wat's reflections glistened in the water near some of the floating villages. Children and families sailed by. Life appeared simple, poor yet peaceful.

I loved that particular shade of orange..


Floating house.

One of the faces peering from the Temple of Bayon, Siem Reap.

Exploring the grounds of one Temple I came upon a monk who seemed to want to talk English. Fair enough.. I sat down.. 20 mins later I was still there in the blasting heat. Each time I went to go he'd ask me another question (he had a list of them in his notebook).. 'How many brothers and sisters do you have?'.. excetera! Eventually I figured he wanted something.. cash, my camera or an English dictionary sent from my home to him would do just fine.. (none of these were threats.. he just didn't know what I was saying sometimes and wonderered did I want to give hime some money or my camera.. very politely mind you.. and didn't mind that I didn't!) So in the end we swapped addresses.. I have his in my suitcase now travelling the world with me. I intend to send him a dictionary when I get home.. eek hope he doesn't contact me.. eons of miles away so not to worry (plus he said he will wish/hope for luck for me, aahh..!).

Temples of Bayon (where I met the monk)!

If you want to raise your heartrate slightly there is plenty of opportunity at Angkor Wat. One of the Temples had several step steps inclined to gain access to another enclosure at the top and so on... The views at the top and discovering what lies above allures you to keep climbing despite the scary feeling you might topple any second (and the warning at the entrance 'enter at your own risk').


Ta Phrom temples of Angkor Wat where the trees threaten to eat you. Its fascinating the way they curl their roots around the ruins.

Life in the country.

Banteay Srei, one of the most beautiful temples in Angkor Wat made out of sandstone.. surrounded by water. It was thought that a lady(ies) handmade the carvings-they were so delicate and precise they could not have been made by a man (only quoting history!!).

Nuno taking Khmer lessons. The child was trying to sell us things and got side-tracked. Having bought 4 bracelets the previous day I siad I couldn't carry any more. When we were taking off in the tuk-tuk one of the childer threw a funny hairthing at me saying 'This ones for you jenny.. free!'. I called 'no' as in I didn't want it for free.. then it toppled out of the tuk-tuk after the kid like I pitched it away :(

Majestic head crowned by a tree.

Haunted forest amid ruins.

Caught in a thunderstorm in a Tuk-Tuk!

Washing in the flood waters.

Pigs on vacation.. On the uber, uber bumpy journey by 'road' from Siem Reap to the border of Thailand we drove through flood waters which were causing chaos on the roads. Children splashed around happily in the grimy water, others took the opportunity to wash while this 'boyo' on a motorcyle passed by with a few pigs turned upside down (still alive mind you) on the back..

Thailand slightly uncovered..

Got carried away with the writing.. just skip onto the pics if you dont fancy the read!
En route to the 'Niagara hotel' in Bangkok, the taxi driver with a missing front tooth laughed away to himself for no apparant reason. The hotel was eerie yet quaint, with a few mosquitoes thrown in.. I was on the move again pretty quickly by the following morning. We found 'La Residence' hotel, retro and chic.. a nice place to chill once every so often away from the chaotic city life of Bangkok! I expected Bangkok to be a city of bedlam. It is hectic alright and with humidity of 33 degrees you feel like throwing yourself into the mucky canal.. Strolling around at night it is quite entertaining.
Restaurants and 'lady bars'on almost every street corner are a common sight. The city is bustling with tourists, ready to get their hands on whatever they can.. There is also a choice for the girls- in case they feel left out, Thai-boxing with the added invitation to 'witness all'..
The canal boat trip uptown was an eye-opener. The water is dark brown and murky.. people were actually fishing in the water. As the boat pulled up at each port wafts of smoke spluttered out from the exhausts on the passengers waiting to board.. It was an interesting journey all the same as many temples and old style shacks littered the banks of the canal.
Culture is everywhere in Bangkok.. if you want to search for it! We stumbled across the National Museum of Art, which I thought was one of the most interesting, varied and dynamic I have ever seen. The art ranges from the King's paintings (amusing, simple and smart) to art nouveau 'Bangkok style'(Women scantilly clothed using all shapes and forms of art materials). The Thais are very friendly to say the least and seem to have a fun loving nature. We happened upon an Elvis impersonator in one of the bars. He was slightly decrepid looking but hit all the right notes. After a couple of numbers the ladies in black leather entered the scene.. there was no escaping! Try as you may to avoid the fiendish element in Bangkok, you are bound be succumbed somewhere along the way!
Hua Hin, a beachside city about 3 hours South of Bangkok was our next destination. It was hard to leave straight away with a pool 3 feet from your room and a beach 2 mins down the road. An element of sleeziness lingered, not enough to overrun the city though! The first night we got caught up in Saturday night fever.. a nightclub literally rocking the street and everyone on it under one roof! The band played a mix of rock and metal, sending hips and legs flying in all directions.
The beach in Hua Hin was lovely, horses trotting up and down, warm sea- interspersed with monsoon rains every so often!
Ko Pha nGan, an island further South was the next destination. Entering the ferry you could glimpse views of luscious palm trees encassed in alcoves.. mesmerising calm waters and islands dotted in the distance. This was what I was looking for. We headed off to 'The Sanctuary', a yoga, health retreat on Haad Thien on Ko Phangan.. We hopped on the back of a pick-up taxi-truck, bags on tow and began the rickedy journey up and down hill. My feet were in charge to control the involuntary movement downwards (me and my bags) as we ascended steep hills at record speed.. what fun! Next I realised to get to the destination we had to wade through water to hop into the taxi boat.
Groovy chill-out music greeted us as we hopped off the boat coming from the sanctuary. The tree hut where we stayed came with mosquito net, fan, cold water, outdoor squat toilet.. I could handle this! The Vegetarian and seafood restaurant was my idea of heaven. I woke up the first night to fluttering noises in the room over the bed. Bats had entered under the eaves.. nightmare.. pinch.. still nightmare.. aaahhhh. One attempt to go to the toilet was foiled a couple of hours later by a bat pirrouetting around the room so I ducked back under the net..
I got quite friendly with the ants after having to deal with a fat toad stuck in the drainpipe of the shower..leaping lizards everywhere! Where the jungle meets the sea what dis I expect? It appears the sanctuary attracts alot of 'zen-like'people to the extreme from all corners of the earth. Yoga and detox programmes are a priority here.. colonic irrigation for whoever desires to be flushed out. There was an aura of karma to the extreme at times.. men walking around in skirts kinda thing.. I took flight a few days later..
Finally we headed to one if the twin beaches of Thong Nai Pan Noi. Paradise defined. The beach was postcard perfect, sparsely populated.. a couple of groovy joints to hang out in. It was bliss. I couldn't bottle the mozzies or the nippers in the sea.. I decided to forfeit 10 bites a swim as the view was so nice! I also got rid of a grandad mosquito that ate me one night. He looked overweight after his feed so I put him out of his misery. I had a brief culinary experience in one of the miniture restaurants off the beach. This entailed a one-on-one cookery lesson with a Thai lady in her back kitchen. The kitchen had a smaller four ring cooker, a few pots and veg left on the side (visited by friendly kitchen flies every so often..) Off we started with Thai green curry, veg & tofu sweet and sour and chicken, garlic and pepper stirfry! A few tips on how to chop veg, chefs secret ingredients and a couple of woks and pots later I was eating the 'delights of the night'! Cambodia, culture rich was calling next.>

Some pics of Thailand..

Peeling the sprouts!

Murky waters of the canal, Bangkok.

Inside retro cafe, Bangkok.

Downtown Bangkok.

Keeping watch..

Monk on the run!

'Art Nouveau', National Museum of art, Bangkok. Maybe an advanced yoga position..

Grand Palace, Bangkok.

Thai students outside the grand palace, Bangkok.

Hua Hin beach.

2 mins later..

Backroads Koh Phangan, Thailand. The taxi journey (in the back of a pickup) was very entertaining. I was lucky there was a bar to hang onto as we ascended the dusty steep roads of the island. I gather driving licences are not a necessity on the island.. if you know how to turn the wheel and luck is on your side you will get to your destination!

Dodgy 'Bangkok' hairdo.. This photo doesn't even capture the absurdity of the style ..! As the dude cut, his assistants danced to an aerobic dance music video workout in the salon (I was the only one there..).

Giving my feet a rest..

Balcony view from 'the sanctuary'. The jungle creatures come free with the accomodation..

Enjoying the lazy life.. Hua Hin.