Day 17 - Going home

WE'RE HOME! The journey back wasn't as chaotic as the journey at the beginning of the holiday, pretty much no traffic getting to and from airports. Before we left our hotel in Siem Reap we spent a few hours by the pool before we had to vacate our rooms.

We had to fly from Siem Reap to Bangkok which is just under an hour long flight, which is good. Once at Bangkok we had 3 or so hours to kill at the airport before our midnight flight from Bangkok to Heathrow. Our flight home was about 12 hours, in which I got about 4 hours sleep, watched a film and some programmes and did some work.

We got back home about 10am and have had to stay awake, despite how tired we are so that we get back into the UK time and don't remain jet lagged. It's been a really good holiday, and it's a shame it's all over, but we have about 1000 photos from the holiday and dozens of videos.

Day 16 - Ta Phon and the last night.

Roots of a huge tree reclaiming the temple.

Big damn trees.

Today we went Ta Phon, the last of the 'big 3' must see temples in Cambodia. This was the one used in one of the Lara Croft films. Ta Phon was probably my favourite of the temples, even Angkor Wat, as it is almost as though nature has claimed it back. The temple is very overgrown with huge trees growing out of the ruins and roots all over the buildings. As a result its very awe inspiring and mysterious looking. It took roughly an hour and a half to get all the way through it, from East gate to West gate. Out of all the temples this was the one with the worst hassle from locals, but it was still extremely mild and definitely not anything to whine about, and it only occurred at the East gate.


After we had got back from the temple, we predictably stayed by the pool for a few hours before heading back out to 'Pub street' to find somewhere for dinner. We ended up at a place called 'Red Piano' which did international cuisine as well as Cambodian and other South Asian food. I had a Cambodian curry which was pretty decent followed by a huge pancake covered in cream and chocolate sauce which I can't decide whether or not I regret (make of that what you will). But overall a decent meal and ending to the day as we soon went back to the hotel to pack and sleep.

Pancake of regret?

Day 15 - Angkor Wat & Bayon temple

Angkor Wat

This morning we went back to Angkor Wat to have more of a look around. After walking around for a couple of hours we headed back to the pool at the hotel for a bit. Later in the afternoon we went to Bayon temple which is a smaller version of Angkor Wat basically.

At Bayon temple there were monkeys walking around the temple, MONKEYS! Bayon temple is in less good condition than Angkor Wat, but its smaller and easier to navigate and so it's arguably more enjoyable to look around.

Weird and awkward.

After Bayon temple we went to the night market, found a restaurant where we watched Arsenal (somehow) beat Norwich. Once the match was over we walked around the market some more and then got persuaded to get a foot massage. My sister had a manicure and pedicure while me and my dad had a foot massage. My masseuse was some weird grumpy old woman and was possibly the most awkward and weird experience of my life.

The gate to Bayon.

Day 14 - Market and Angkor Wat

Me touching BOOBIES!

Today was our first full day in Cambodia. We started off by heading to the French quarter of Siem Reap where the markets are. As Siem Reap is more tourist orientated than the other cities we've visited in south east Asia, with over 3 million tourists a year coming to Siem Reap, as a result their markets are more westernized. However you can still see fish being beaten to death, or skinned alive by old women sitting in the middle of the market. It's hard work to walk around for more than 45 minutes or so due to the heat and humidity so we found ourselves frequently stopping at cafes for drinks. My sister and I were forced to go into countless numbers of art shops, where of course, we bought nothing.

After a couple of hours at the market, we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel and stayed by the pool for a bit, and freshened up before we headed back out, this time to Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat

We arrived at Angkor Wat just before 5 as we were hoping to look around for an hour or so before seeing the sunset at 6:15. Its easy to see why Angkor Wat is one of the wonders of the world, as not only is it huge, but the detail is also incredible, a lot of this detail being on statues of nude women, which seems to be a popular theme in South Asia. It was at one time the largest city in the world, and was constructed in the 12th century. It was very cloudy so we didn't really get a chance to see the sunset.

After Angkor Wat we went to the night market and a street called 'Pub Street' where we had a Cambodian BBQ. During the meal, it began to rain, it was like a 'Day After Tomorrow' downpour. I took an empty glass from our table and held it out into the rain and it filled up to the top within a minute. Once the rain had died down, we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel and went to bed.

DAT ASS

Day 12 & 13 - Old town and another long journey

Temple

Yesterday we went back to the old town for a proper look around, as we didn't see all of it last time. We went into a couple of cafes by the moat and walked around the old town's market's and small temples. Afterwards we went to the shopping centre for dinner and then back to the hotel to pack.

Today we left the IndoChine Palace in Hue and traveled to Cambodia. First we had a 2 and a half hour drive to an airport, as Hue's airport was closed for renovations. We took a domestic flight from Da Nang airport to Ho Chi Minh airport and from there flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia. We were one of the few westerners on this flight, and clearly the most used to flying as almost everyone else on the flight was praying ferverently or running to the toilets and being ill.

We arrived at the airport to be greeted by yelling Cambodian people grabbing at us and shoving us towards passport control. After a short drive from Siem Reap airport we arrived at our hotel, ordered some room service, I ordered a Cambodian chicken curry, which was quite nice, mildly spicy. And then sat down to watch the Chelsea vs Rubin Kazan. During which time we have already experienced 2 power cuts, something I expect will be quite common during our stay in Cambodia. Despite all this however, Cambodia does look like an amazing place and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it in the coming few days.

ITS A HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA!

Day 11 - Pool and the Pagoda

Despite the lack of improvement in the weather, we were determined to use the hotel pool. So straight after breakfast we hung around the pool for a couple of hours and braved the icy embrace of the water.

Pagoda.

After we had dried off from the pool we washed and got ready for our 3pm boat ride to the Pagoda. The Pagoda was situated on the 'Perfumed river' on the North and South Vietnam divide. An area which saw some of the worst fighting during the war of independence. The pagoda which has 7 ridges apparently symbolizes our 7 senses. The added 2 Vietnamese senses being the mind and speech. After walking around the Pagoda, which, like a lot of monuments in Vietnam is basically a temple, we headed back to the boat. On our boat ride back to Hue, we were basically forced to buy souvenirs which the boat owners sold, which was uncomfortable, as the whole journey consisted of them shoving t-shirts and crappy wooden carvings in our faces.

Once our awkward boat ride was over, we headed to DMZ, a bar/restaurant specializing in typical fast food: pizza, pasta, burgers etc. At this bar you can write on the walls which is always fun when you find a scrawl written by someone local. If anyone visits DMZ, which I do recommend, as the food and service is good, maybe you will find our message.

My sister looking terrified on the rickshaws.

When we had finished in the restaurant we decided that we would get rickshaws back to the hotel. My dad signaled to a group of rickshaw drivers and suddenly hell broke loose. It was almost as if every rickshaw in the city was crowding around us; drivers yelling, and trying to pull us all into rickshaws, people arguing. It was manic. A bit later, once we were in our own individual rickshaws, and the dejected, rejected empty rickshaws had left, we were suddenly on the streets weaving in and out of mopeds and cars, heading into oncoming traffic. Terrifying. Somehow we survived the journey and made it back to the hotel. I definitely recommend getting a rickshaw at least once when you visit Vietnam, but be prepared to cling on for dear life as mopeds pass inches from you as you go through red lights on cross roads.

The eyebrow King.

Day 10 - Hue and the Forbidden Palace

At the forbidden Palace.

The weather sadly won't be as good as it has been for the last 10 days of the holiday, and looks as though there's going to be rain in the coming few days. Despite the bleak looking weather we went to the main tourist attraction in the city of Hue, the forbidden palace and ancient city. As impressive as the Palace was, it is hard to get a real sense of its grandeur and royalty due to its dilapidated and poor condition. If you go to Hue it is a must see, but expect to see overgrown gardens, broken tiles, stairs and ornaments.

Once we had left the Palace we walked around the ancient city, which to be honest looks like any other part of Hue. We went through some markets and saw a group of female vendors all screaming at each other. This was the first public argument I have seen in Asia as anger is a taboo over here.

Back at the hotel which had been previously empty, a wedding party had arrived. After dinner at the hotel we went back to the rooms, watched a film and then hit the sack.